"I absolutely adore being in Converge — it's been a part of the fabric of my being since I was a kid," the band's frontman Jacob Bannon tells us. "I've spent more than half my life in it. But it's also not really a metal band, although it has metal leanings at times and it's hyper-aggressive. This is the closest thing I've done that's rooted in more traditional death metal, at least in terms of speed and ferocity and heaviness."

He's talking about his new death-metal quintet Umbra Vitae (named after a poem by Georg Heym, first published in 1912), who are gearing up to drop their 10-song debut LP, Shadow of Life, digitally on May 1st on Bannon's own Deathwish Inc. (You can pre-order it here.) Like the antagonistic shadow sibling of the singer's post-rock group Wear Your Wounds, the band also features WYW guitarists Sean Martin (Twitching Tongues, ex-Hatebreed) and Mike McKenzie (the Red Chord, Stomach Earth), as well as bassist Greg Weeks (the Red Chord) and drummer Jon Rice (Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, ex-Job for a Cowboy). Today, Umbra Vitae have teamed with Revolver to unleash the album's lead single, the ferocious "Return to Zero." Blast it above, and check out Bannon's comments on the song and see the album's cover art (by Janusz Jurek) and track listing below.

"'Return to Zero' is about removing resistance in one's life in order to be best version of 'you' that one can be," Bannon says. "I feel that this is a relatable topic for many. What resistance is and how it manifests is unique to every single one of us. For me, this is a constant process and essential to being a better husband, father, friend, artist and human. Below you'll find a section of the lyrics that state this better than I can in paragraph form. Thank you to everyone who continues to listen.

"Bite down on the chain

Bow down to no one

Destroy the ego

Radiate love

Carve out a purpose

Where there was none

Compassionately

Wipe up the blood

Remove resistance

And exit the cage

Climb to your feet

Accept your rage

It's time to reclaim

What's rightfully yours

Bite down on the chain

And bow down to no one"

Shadow of Life track listing:

Decadence Dissolves

Ethereal Emptiness

Atheist Aesthetic

Mantra of Madness

Fear Is a Fossil

Polluted Paradise

Intimate Inferno

Return to Zero

Blood Blossom

Shadow of Life