The most immediate thing that fans of screamcore band Veil of Maya will notice on Matriarch, the band’s new album that arrives May 12 on Sumerian Records, is the introduction of clean vocals in the band’s repertoire. They come courtesy of new singer Lukas Magyar, who made his performing debut with the band at Knotfest in October 2014.

According to Veil of Maya guitarist Marc Okubo, “We had been wanting to incorporate singing into our music for a while. We were even planning on having guest vocalists to help us before Lukas entered the picture. We got very lucky finding a dude that could both sing and scream. Lukas went beyond our expectations, so we decided to take it as far as we could."

Now, you can listen to an exclusive premiere of the Matriarch album, via Billboard, below.

“Musically, I wanted to write our most accessible release,” continues Okubo. “My goal was to maintain our progressive metal fans while also attracting new people that come from other musical backgrounds. Lyrically, Lukas wrote about the obstacles we face while pursuing our goals and overcoming them. Collectively, we wanted to make an inspiring, fresh and unique sound while still giving the familiar Veil vibe.”

Okubo says that Matriarch does have a theme — most of the tracks, such as “Lucy,” “Ellie” and “Lisbeth,” have female names. “All the tracks are named after powerful female characters that I found interesting,” he explains. “ I always make code names for whatever songs I'm writing, and this time they all stuck to a theme.”

The image of a powerful woman carries over to the album’s artwork, which seems to depict the figure of Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. Natsumi Suzuki, a friend of the band who appeared in the music video for album track “Mikasa,” acted as the model. Watch the video below:

“We really liked her, so we ended up asking her to be in our artwork,” says Okubo of Suzuki. “The rest was taken care of by Daniel McBride and Nick Walters at Sumerian. They took the concepts we discussed and brought them to life. We have been working with them for years, so they really knew how to visualize what we were going for.

"I hope everyone enjoys this release,” he concludes. “I can't wait to share it with you live!”