Rival Sons have announced the release of their new album, Lightbringer, on October 20. It notably marks the group’s second full-length offering to be unveiled in 2023, following June’s companion album, Darkfighter.

Today, Lightbringer is available for pre-order/pre-save. The pre-order includes two vinyl variants - Fruit Punch and Lemonade - as well as a CD version.

About Lightbringer, guitarist Scott Holiday said, “When you do two albums back-to-back like this, there are a lot of things to think about. The first record has to pack enough of a punch and tell enough of a story for the second half to have an even bigger impact. We balanced them out with energy and meaning, but the follow-up always needed to deliver a bigger blow. I think Lightbringer provides this.”

Vocalist Jay Buchanan added, “Darkfighter is a new Rival Sons, and Lightbringer is the clear definition of what we are now. We broke ground on Darkfighter, but Lightbringer is a step beyond the personal innovation and exploration. It goes a little further. We really took everything into our own hands and pushed to see how far we could go. It was a self-exploration to see who we were and who we’ll be now. We had more friction and compromise than ever, because we isolated the bare essence of where we needed to go—and then we went there.”

The band set the stage for Lightbringer with a rollicking, roaring, and righteous new single entitled “Sweet Life” - available on all streaming platforms now. From the jump, a frenetic drumbeat gives way to a rip-roaring riff. Meanwhile, Jay’s bluesy wail bounces between a cathartic hook and boogie-down groove as he bemoans, “I’ve got to shake, shake, shake the bad rhythm for good,” shimmying in lockstep with the guitar. Watch a lyric video below.

Regarding “Sweet Life,” Jay promised, “It’s the most old-school Rival Sons song on either of these two records. It has all of the early elements of what Rival Sons is and was. It was born out of my love mid-sixties rock like The Animals, The Kinks, and the bands I was raised on. It’s a bit of a break from all of the heavy subject matter too; it’s a barnburner.”

Rival Sons crafted Darkfighter and Lightbringer during the same sessions over the course of 2021. Once again, they recorded with creative confidant and longtime producer Dave Cobb behind the board. The band initially dropped Darkfighter to unanimous tastemaker praise earlier this summer.

Tracklisting:

"Darkfighter"
"Mercy"
"Redemption"
"Sweet Life"
"Before The Fire"
"Mosaic"

"Sweet Life" lyric video:

Right now, Rival Sons are on the road with The Smashing Pumpkins and will be touring through the end of 2023 with select US headline shows and festival appearances.

(Photo - Patrik Skoglöw)