Umbra Vitae unveil Velvet Black, a compelling new track featured on their upcoming second album, Light Of Death, set for release on June 7th, 2024 via Deathwish Inc. Accompanying the single is a mysterious new music video directed by John Bradburn. The album was recorded by Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks at God City Studios, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.
Umbra Vitae vocalist/lyricst Jacob Bannon comments: "Lyrically this song is about pressure and how it forces actions that aren't in line with who we want to be. It breaks and changes people; making monsters and the meek. These cycles of dysfunction indiscriminately harm everything around us.
Metaphorically I explore this in two interlinked ways. Firstly, the idea of growth coming from decay. Secondly, as an afterlife scenario where dead attempt to overrun golden gates. Not worthy of passing through due to their actions on the mortal plane, they retreat back into the 'velvet black' darkness which they came from."
Umbra Vitae's Sean Martin adds: "Jake had to convince me to use this one. It was hanging around within the realm of the demo folders forever and I wasn't 100% sure about it. That being said I'm glad we moved forward with it. Coupled with Jake's lyrics, vocals and vocal arrangements utilizing myself, Greg and Mike the song stands as an outlier on the record."
Guitarist Mike McKenzie continues: "This track grew quite a bit over time. I love the clean vocals that Jake, Sean and Greg sang in this one. I had no idea what they were actually recording until I heard all three voices and it's one of my favorites from the record."
Bassist Greg Weeks concludes: "This one is a departure from the rest of the record. The tune started out as a Sean riff that Jake really pushed to put on the record. I was not expecting to sing on this record but Jake heard something in his head with multiple vocalists. It turned into a gloomy clean sung song that adds a sadness and hopeful tone to the record. I also wanted a synth sounding section for the bass so I was given the chance to raid Kurt’s pedal collection. He suggested his God City Brutalist pedal and it was perfect!"
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