BYZANTINE: “NEW WAYS TO BEAR WITNESS”

I’m going to make this short and sweet. West Virginia’s Byzantine have just released a new video for a new song off their new album, The Cicada Tree, which will be released through Metal Blade on July 28th. We’ve been long-time fans of Byzantine at this putrid site, and have had high hopes for this new album. Based on this song, it sounds like those hopes will be fulfilled.

“New Ways To Bear Witness” is, among other things, catchy as hell. And those other things include the fact that it’s a primal, high-energy, thundering, grooving, thrashing, ass-kicker of a heavy metal song. Main man Chris “OJ” Ojeda is in fine voice, both when he’s putting the grit into the sound and when he sends his voice soaring, and the song also includes some memorable soloing, plus a dramatic melody that suits the serious-minded lyrics.

The video is also a kick to watch, though the narrative is maybe not quite so much fun for OJ as he fights his way to a venue after oversleeping — arriving just in time to kick out a jittery riff that’s like an electric charge to the brain stem.

Check it out below, and pre-order the album here:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/byzantine2017

Byzantine on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Byzantinewv/