From deep within the belly of the beast, Texan harbingers of doom Destroyer of Light rise in 2018 with the release of a brand-new EP and string of West Coast tour dates throughout North America.

Hopeless EP is the latest in the Austin-based quartet’s devastating canon and will get an official release on 11th May through Heavy Friends Records. Containing two, practically feature-length tracks which set out to fill the silence between the praise of last year’s Chamber of Horrors and the promise of their follow up full-length next year, the EP charts an ominous course into the heart of darkness which deals directly with depression, suicide and drug addiction. Reworking the grim theatricality and crushing, heavy metal dirges of their earlier recordings, death and destruction is very much the order of service but with a new and somewhat progressively charged life-force.

“With Hopeless, I wanted to focus more on my clean singing, and our song writing has become more melodic while still maintaining the heavy riffs,” explains guitarist/vocalist Steve Colca. “We don’t limit ourselves to what we write, and the direction you’ll hear on this EP is a taste of what’s to come in the future.”

Unmistakably influenced by the likes of Electric Wizard, Mercyful Fate, EYEHATEGOD, Sleep and Autopsy, along with countless literary and horror anthologies, this new EP signals a massive shift in potential and a development that will see the band step out of cavernous, dank basements and into psychedelic realms hitherto unknown. What’s more, on their way to that strange place, over the coming months the band takes to the road for an extensive West Coast tour (see tour info below) in support of Hopeless, which will be released on 11th May 2018 on Heavy Friends Records.

TOUR DATES:

20th April – El Paso, TX – Neon Rose
21st April – Albuquerque, NM – Sister Bar
22nd April – Denver, CO – Streets of London
23rd April – Boise, ID – High Note Cafe
24th April – Richland, WA – Emerald
25th April – Tacoma, WA – The Valley
26th April – Portland, OR – High Water Mark
27th April – Sacramento, CA – The Blue Lamp
28th April – San Francisco, CA – Thee Parkside
29th April – Pacifica, CA – Winter’s Tavern East
30th April – Los Angeles, CA – Five Star Bar
1st May – San Diego, CA – Til Two Club
2nd May – Tempe, AZ – Yucca Tap Room
3rd May – El Paso, TX – Rockin’ Cigar Bar
4th May – Odessa, TX – The Gabby Doo Saloon
5th May – San Antonio, TX – Faust Tavern

Stream and share the new video for ‘Nyx’ – as premièred on Decibel earlier this week – right here:

Led by visionary musician Trond Engum, composer and guitarist for Norwegian experimental band The 3rd and The Mortal, The Soundbyte is a solo venture intended to pierce the dark heart of avant-garde and experimental metal.

Since their formation in 1998 in Trondheim, Norway, The Soundbyte has become an unstoppable vehicle for creative exploration and one that has found Engum drawing on a myriad of outsider influences ranging from Norwegian folk, electro-acoustic and ambient forms of progressive and post-rock. In collaboration with fellow The 3rd and The Mortal member and accomplished drummer Rune Hoemsnes, in addition to the central line up for Solitary IV – their fourth full-length album and first for new label Temple of Torturous Records – the album also consists of contributions from several excellent guest musicians, including amongst others the expressive vocal styling of singers Tone Åse and Kirsti Huke.

Built almost entirely around Engum’s unique guitar and electronic sound, Hoemsnes’ signature rhythms and haunting and ethereal vocal work The Soundbyte has created what is undoubtedly their finest work to date and 2017’s most progressively breathtaking record. Solidifying the duo’s off-kilter vision for sonic expression and paying painstaking attention to every detail, it is a multifaceted endeavor designed for constant re-visitation and one that will reward listeners time and time again.

Recorded by Engum himself, co-mixed with Michael Tibes (Helloween, Kamelot) and mastered by Neil Pickles (Piano Interrupted, Fernandez 4), Solitary IV by The Soundbyte will be released on 30th June via ToT Records as a deluxe digipack with a limited LP release to follow this Autumn.

Check out the trailer for new song ‘Descending’ here: