letlive. premier new track - 'Banshee (Ghost Fame)'

         After announcing last week that their third album The Blackest Beautiful was slated for a July release, letlive. have graced us with their first new single - 'Banshee (Ghost Fame)'. To say this track showcases an utterly unexpected turn of events is an understatement. Compared to Fake History's introductory tack 'The Sick, Sick 6.8 Billion', an energetic, unclean ballad featuring the band's signature agnostic lyrics, 'Banshee' takes a notably more nu-metal influence.
         Whether it's frontman Jason Butler's rap-screaming - an at-first arresting new development, or the harsher cleans, which sound nothing like the clean breaks on the band's previous work. This is a dirty, punishing song that instantly conjures up memories of Static-X and early Linkin Park - at times Butler's vocals sound startlingly similar to Chester Bennington's - but retains letlive's signature staccato attack.
           Lyrically, this is typical punk 'screw the establishment' fare, featuring a winceworthy 'where's your faith at?' one-liner. This song definitely requires a few listens, but it is promising. The band will be playing Warped this summer, and you can stream the video below!

 

August Burns Red release new song - 'Spirit Breaker'

      

          With the release of ABR's fifth album Rescue and Restore only four weeks away, the band has seen fit to bless us with some new material from the album. May's debut of 'Fault Line' polarized fans, and I found myself doubting the band's new direction for the first few listens. Eventually, however, I found myself missing the rhythm and the chorus, and while it's still radically different from ABR's previous work, that doesn't mean it's not going to be fun.
       So, how about the new song? Entitled 'Spirit Breaker', the song tackles a common ABR theme - hope in the pits of despair. Think 'Composure' with more melody. 'Spirit Breaker' does a stellar job of conveying a sense of listlessness and anguish with a combination of mournful orchestral elements and the signature plaintive call of J.B Brubaker's guitar.
        The song opens quietly, with a cello, violin and clean guitar riff, before exploding into an emotional, melodic metalcore ballad punctuated by rapid drumwork and a vast soundscape. There's even a spoken word break in the middle, and clean passages abound. Through a mix of sadness and triumph, 'Spirit Breaker' 's mystifyingly beautiful instrumentals hold the listener enthralled through all four minutes. Stream it below: