RSS Feed


UNLEASH THE ARCHERS Issue Lyric Video For ‘Legacy’ Track
October 9th, 2020

Vancouver, BC, Canada-based melodic power metal band Unleash The Archers have released an official lyric video for the track ‘Legacy’, which can be viewed below.

Speaking about the song, frontwoman Brittney Slayes said: “This song means a lot to us as a band; it’s pretty different from everything that we’ve done before and really set the tone for the sonic exploration that is Abyss.

“When Andrew [Kingsley, guitar] first brought the intro riff to us we immediately loved it, but we were a little hesitant as we felt our fans might not understand why we were choosing to include this style of track on the album. The hesitation was momentary though, as we all very quickly decided it was too cool not to continue writing, and luckily it seems like our fans have fallen in love with it as well. It’s quite theatrical, and yet somehow very simplistic as well.”

Unleash The Archers issued fifth full-length studio album Abyss on August 21st, 2020 through Napalm Records.

The third and final track-by-track breakdown video for the album has been released and can also be viewed below.

Thematically, Abyss is the direct sequel to the band’s 2017 album Apex. Brittney Slayes explained the concept: “Our protagonist, The Immortal, is once again awakened at the beginning of our story, but this time he is in an unknown place: a ship out in deep space. He wanders alone for a time, reflecting on his misdeeds, searching for his new master. Finally, he finds him, and learns that it is the Grandson of The Matriarch, our antagonist. The Immortal had taken The Grandson’s father away some 60 years before, to be sacrificed by The Matriarch in a ritual to achieve immortality (the events from Apex) and now the Grandson seeks revenge against The Matriarch with the aid of her own weapon, The Immortal.

“This album is a classic take on good versus evil, light versus dark, The Grandson versus The Matriarch, but it also uses the ‘person versus self’ literary device in that The Immortal is battling with the good and evil within himself, and must decide in the end if he is simply a tool for others to use, or a man with free will and the ability to choose his own path; a struggle I think every human can relate to.”

The Deluxe Earbook edition of Abyss features two bonus tracks – synthwave and gothic folk-pop versions of ‘Abyss’ (‘Abysswave’) and ‘Soulbound’ (‘Soulcoustic’), respectively. Speaking about the songs, Brittney Slayes said: “I hope you enjoy our alternate interpretations of ‘Abyss’ and ‘Soulbound’, because they honestly show a side of us as musicians that we probably wouldn’t be able to showcase otherwise. We all listen to a lot of different genres of music, but these two bonus tracks give huge insight into the music we were listening to as we recorded Abyss… not just metal, but synthwave, pop, and even a bit of country!”

Abyss was once again engineered, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark, with production by guitarist Andrew Kingsley. Additionally, the closer track ‘Afterlife’ features orchestration contributions from Francesco Ferrini of Italian symphonic death metal group Fleshgod Apocalypse.

Cover artwork was created by Adam Burke.

The track listing is as follows:

01. ‘Waking Dream’
02. ‘Abyss’
03. ‘Through Stars’
04. ‘Legacy’
05. ‘Return To Me’
06. ‘Soulbound’
07. ‘Faster Than Light’
08. ‘The Wind That Shapes The Land’
09. ‘Carry The Flame’
10. ‘Afterlife’
11. ‘Abysswave’ *
12. ‘Soulcoustic’ *

* deluxe earbook edition bonus track

Unleash The Archer’s line-up is as follows:

Brittney Slayes (clean vocals)
Grant Truesdell (guitar and unclean vocals)
Andrew Kingsley (guitar and unclean vocals)
Scott Buchanan (drums)

Music videos were filmed for the title track and the songs ‘Soulbound’ and ‘Faster Than Light’. All three clips can also be viewed below.

Fourth full-length studio record Apex was released in June 2017.

Promotional photograph by Shimon Karmel.