August Burns Red put the pedal to the metal on "Bones," a punishing new tune and the latest release from the band's upcoming Guardians album. The song arrived Wednesday (Feb. 26), and it follows the effort's first single "Defender," which came earlier this month alongside word of the metalcore mavens' ninth studio effort.

Guardians hits the streets April 3 via Fearless Records and is the group's first full-length release since 2017's Phantom Anthem.

Since that time, however, August Burns Red have kept fans occupied with plenty of other music. A remixed version of the act's linchpin album Constellations arrived in 2019. That same year, the Phantom Sessions EP gave listeners another taste of the band's sturdy songcraft and instrumental prowess.

Listen to "Bones" down toward the bottom of this post and read the lyrics directly below.

We built this new resistance to help keep our distance
Don’t feel bad for us
We are content in this new existence
We may never remember what is was like
Everything was better then you arrived
You carved your scars, and left everything fending to survive
We made a deal with the devil disguised as help
We made a deal with the devil
We should have trusted ourselves
You imposed your will, and we’re left wondering why
You’re not here to gain knowledge.
We caught you in your lie
We aren’t the kind to stand up
We aren’t the kind to rebel
People can change, especially when they’ve been through hell
It’s in our bones to be benevolent
It’s in our souls to be of service
We’ll be nursed back to health, no longer a shell of our former selves
With our resolution we’ll find the infiltration
Now your deception will be annihilated
You tried to increase your reach, but now the levees are breached
You got swallowed up by the people of the sea
It’s in our bones to be benevolent
It’s in our souls to be of service
Halfway is not somewhere we will ever meet

Before the band started work on Guardians last year, August Burns Red vocalist Jake Luhrs explained that the group was focusing on making their material more concise and easier to understand and that certainly seems to be the case judging by "Defender" and "Bones." Both mostly focus on unrelenting riffs and the band's trademark metalcore breakdowns while letting go of some of their proggier aspects.

"The direction that the band is going as far as songwriters is really kind of cool, and I think it's going to be a little bit more the ability to digest the music," Luhrs said at the time. "Not saying that it's going to get any more simplified per se, but it's going to be easier for the listener to really grasp what's going on."

August Burns Red, "Bones"

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