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Italian post-hardcore band LAGS have announced their new album with new single 'Knives and Wounds'.

Speaking about the 'Knives and Wounds', frontman Antonio Canestri says, "‘Knives and wounds’ is the opening track of our new album and is the first song we wrote for the new album. It’s a song written in collaboration with our former singer (Luca de Santis aka SUVARI) and addresses two very important themes in the record: a disease and the search for a cure; the difficulty of being sabotaged by our own body, the failure in breaking down the "walls" in our mind, that most of the time we build as a form of self-defense from others and also from ourselves. The video is based on the concepts expressed in the lyrics and it was written by the director Stefano Pedretti: “I am my own fears, that’s what I’ve become.”"

The new track is taken from their forthcoming sophomore album 'SOON', which is due out 29th March 2019 via the newly-formed UK/US Casu Marzu Records, as well as the lauded Italian label's To Lose La Track (Crash of Rhinos, Delta Sleep, Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!, DAGS etc.) and Fuzzy Cluster Records.

More than three years have passed since Rome’s post-hardcore quartet LAGS released their debut album ‘Pilot’; a cult favourite across the Italian scene, but a well-kept secret to most. Since releasing their debut on Italian label To Lose La Track (home to likes of: Crash Of Rhinos, Delta Sleep, Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!), LAGS have played over 80 shows throughout the peninsula with the likes of Beach Slang, Delta Sleep, Screeching Weasel and Raein, as well as performing at a number of national and international festivals, winning over new fans with each set. Now, March 2019 will finally see the release of their highly anticipated follow up album ‘SOON’.

Punchier and more proactive, the new album distils the sound of 2015’s ‘Pilot’ LP, coupled with a production that is consciously raw and provocative. ‘SOON’ is the sound of LAGS at their intoxicating best, mirroring the restless energy of their live shows alongside moments of measured temperance that balances the whole thing on a razors-edge.

Architects of intense contrast the band’s powerful instrumentation regularly flirts with the fragility and weight of the emotionally driven lyrics, flitting between huge anthem-to-be, shout along vocals, intricate guitars and decisive drum work. From the immediate and incendiary opener ‘Knives and Wounds’, to the hook heavy vocals of ‘Echoes’, right through to the emotive and climactic LP closer ‘I Still Remember’, the new record places its focus squarely on power, melody and understated complexity. With a nod towards classic Dischord, 90s post-hardcore and anthemic 00s indie-punk, whilst calling to mind the likes of ‘After The Eulogy’-era BoySetsFire, At The Drive-In, DeSoto, METZ and Self Defense Family, it's safe to say that long-time fans, and fans anew, will not be disappointed.

Thematically, the new album is about arrivals and departures, losses and conquests, and illnesses and healings. Full of deeply honest lyrics ‘SOON’ is a cathartic and self-realising record with moments of surprising uplift. Speaking about the record, frontman Antonio Canestri says, “Soon is a word inextricably linked to the present. It suggests immediacy, but also anticipation and uncertainty about arriving safe and sound to some place that can be either extremely beautiful or extremely painful.”

Incredibly sentimental and sonically accomplished, the new album sees LAGS hone familiar expressions from their debut into refined, darker aesthetics that give their direct sound renewed vigour. ‘SOON’ is a brazen statement of intent and a chance to prove their true prowess having spent the last few years writing and touring. LAGS are climbing steadly, gunning for soft spots and proving that they should be anything but a well-kept secret.

Track listing:

1. Knives and Wounds
2. Echoes
3. Showdown
4. The Bait
5. Magic Bullet
6. Second Thoughts
7. What It Takes
8. Acceptable
9. I Still Remember
10. Il Podista (Bonus Track)