Strung Out share "Daggers" off new album 'Songs of Armor and Devotion'

Following last year’s acoustic EP, thrashy skate punk vets Strung Out have announced their ninth full-length album (and first in four years), Songs of Armor and Devotion, due on August 9 via Fat Wreck Chords. The album was produced by Cameron Webb (who’s worked with Motorhead, Megadeth, NOFX, and more), and the first single is “Daggers,” which — like most of this album — was inspired by the dreary state of America. Singer Jason Cruz explains:

This opportunity I’ve been given, and everything I’ve been doing, I don’t have any say in it. I don’t have a choice. I have things inside of me that swell up when I go through this, but it’s what people put into what they hear and what they then take out of it, that’s the magic. I need to do this, but if it’s not making a connection, I have no right to be here. My favorite part about America is the pain of the poor people and what they create out of it – the culture that the poorest people of this country have created. From that came blues, jazz, rock’n’roll, and, to me, coming from nothing and creating something is everything to me.

The band’s trademark mix of metallic riffage and soaring, melodic punk choruses are in fine form on “Daggers,” and there’s an atmospheric bridge that makes for an unexpected curveball too. Listen below.

Tracklist
Rebels and Saints
Daggers
Ulysses
Under The Western Sky
Monuments
White Girls
Demons
Hammer Down
Disappearing City
Politics of Sleep
Diamonds and Gold
Strange Notes
Bloody Knuckles