The Agonist are the rare band that just keep getting better and better as the years go by. Maybe it’s the fact that the outfit never quite hit it big the way many of their contemporaries did, instilling in them a hunger and drive to work harder and smarter. We’ve seen this story before, as it’s often the underdogs that put out the strongest, most inspired music: I’d point to Anthrax and Death Angel as other recent examples.

In any case, The Agonist have just dropped a new song called “In Vertigo” and announced their forthcoming album, Orphans, and the debut single is an absolute smasher. It’s one of the heaviest songs of recent The Agonist vintage, with vocalist Vicky Psarakis sticking mostly to growled vocals over her operatic cleans (not that I mind either way — she’s phenomenal at both styles), but it’s also got plenty of nuance and dynamic, with a healthy dose of deft guitar work and a pensive middle section that gives Vicky’s cleans the spotlight.

Vicky herself validates my reaction to the heavy nature of this track, offering on the album as a whole:

“When I heard the first instrumentals for Orphans I was a bit shocked and confused. The music was really dark and heavier than anything we’ve done in previous albums and I wasn’t quite sure how I’d be able to match that emotion. But then you know all it took was writing one full song to get the ball rolling and two-three months later everything was done!”

It’d sure to be great to see the new album act as a career turning point of sorts for The Agonist, who deserve to be headlining theaters at this point, so it is my sincere hope that this track is the start of something big.

Orphans comes out on September 20th via Rodeostar Records and can be pre-ordered here.