OF MICE & MEN To Release 'Defy' Album In January; 'Warzone' Video Available

OF MICE & MEN will release is new album, “Defy”, on January 19, 2018 via Rise Records. The disc will mark OF MICE & MEN‘s first full-length release without vocalist Austin Carlile, who left the group due to his ongoing battle with Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that afflicts the connective tissue holding the body’s cells, organs and tissue together. Handling lead vocals in the band now is bassist Aaron Pauley.

The official video for the disc’s new single, “Warzone”, can be seen below. The clip lives up to the song’s explosive combination of metallic insurgency and irresistible hooks.

“We’re excited to be debuting the music video for ‘Warzone’ today, a song from our new album, ‘Defy’,” said Pauley. “For us, this new album encapsulates and showcases our desire to return to an aggressive, live-oriented sound, and ‘Warzone’ is of the heaviest tracks on the album. Because we love releasing new music as often as we can, it only seemed fitting to release it right before our massive EU/UK tour with IN FLAMES and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH this fall/winter. So turn it up, and bang your head.”

Earlier this year, OF MICE & MEN teased the forthcoming album with the one-two punch of the singles “Unbreakable” and “Back To Me”. Those songs have clocked over seven million Spotify streams and five million YouTube/VEVO views in six months. Both tracks were recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson (IN FLAMES, ALL THAT REMAINS), mixed by Grammy winner Chris Lord-Alge (DEFTONES, MUSE) and mastered by Chris Athens (DRAKE, OZZY OSBOURNE).

“Defy” track listing:

01. Defy
02. Instincts
03. Back To Me
04. Sunflower
05. Unbreakable
06. Vertigo
07. Money
08. How Will You Live
09. On The Inside
10. Warzone
11. Forever YDG’n
12. If We Were Ghosts

Carlile originally left OF MICE & MEN in 2010 after his doctor forbade him from touring to undergo heart surgery tied to complications with Marfan Syndrome. He returned in 2011, but his ailments didn’t cease, forcing him to exit the band for the second, and presumably final, time at the end of last year.

An OF MICE & MEN documentary called “Unbreakable” was released on October 13. The short film, which was directed by Johann Ramos, follows the band across multiple continents on their tour earlier this year.