CONVERGE frontman Jacob Bannon has joined forces with guitarists Sean Martin (TWITCHING TONGUES, ex-HATEBREED) and Mike McKenzie (THE RED CHORD, STOMACH EARTH), bassist Greg Weeks (THE RED CHORD) and drummer Jon Rice (UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS, ex-JOB FOR A COWBOY) in a new death metal project called UMBRA VITAE (named after a poem by Georg Heym, first published in 1912). UMBRA VITAE's debut album, "Shadow Of Life", will be released on May 1 via Bannon's own Deathwish Inc. label. Recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studios (with guitars and bass recorded by McKenzie at The Black Coast), "Shadow Of Life" contains 10 songs which "traverse from blackened to brutal from one moment to the next," according to a press release. UMBRA VITAE's latest single, "Mantra Of Madness", can be streamed below. UMBRA VITAE formed as Bannon, McKenzie and Martin — who all have roots in aggressive music — warmed up for "Wear Your Wounds" rehearsals by playing heavy riffs. Following the "Wear Your Wounds" album cycle, the trio recruited Weeks and Rice for the rhythm section to back their aggressive riffs and UMBRA VITAE was born. Driven by traditional death metal riffage coupled with inhuman percussion, "Shadow Of Life" is an all-encompassing entry point for UMBRA VITAE. "I absolutely adore being in CONVERGE — it's been a part of the fabric of my being since I was a kid," Bannon tells Revolver. "I've spent more than half my life in it. But it's also not really a metal band, although it has metal leanings at times and it's hyper-aggressive. This is the closest thing I've done that's rooted in more traditional death metal, at least in terms of speed and ferocity and heaviness." The "Shadow Of Life" cover art was created by Janusz Jurek and can be seen below. "Shadow Of Life" track listing: 01. Decadence Dissolves 02. Ethereal Emptiness 03. Atheist Aesthetic 04. Mantra Of Madness 05. Fear Is A Fossil 06. Polluted Paradise 07. Intimate Inferno 08. Return To Zero 09. Blood Blossom 10. Shadow Of Life Expect a lot more to come from this supergroup, and look for more songs from their ferocious debut album to surface soon.
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