Umbra Vitae Release New Single “Velvet Black”

With their sophomore album Light of Death coming out this June, Umbra Vitae are back with a new single titled ‘Velvet Black.” Recorded by Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks over at God City Studios and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, the upcoming album is the band’s followup to 2020’s Shadow of Life.

Consisting of Jacob Bannon (Converge), Sean Martin (Twitching Tongues, ex-Hatebreed), Mike McKenzie (The Red Chord, Stomach Earth), Jon “Charn” Rice (ex-Job for a Cowboy, Scorpion Child, etc.), and Greg Weeks (The Red Chord), it would probably be a bit of an understatement to call this one hell of a death metal supergroup.

Speaking of the track in question, Bannon said the song was about life and its pressures causing changes within a person, whether they want it to or not.

“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.”

According to Martin, the song almost didn’t make the record, as he “wasn’t 100% sure about it.”

“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.”

Light of Death will be released on June 7 via Deathwish, but you can preorder your copy today.