Saint Agnes have released an emotional live video for their poignant new single, "This Is Not The End", a tribute to Kitty A. Austen's grief for her late mother. The track is taken from the band's upcoming album Bloodsuckers, out July 21 via Spinefarm. Stream the single and pre-order Bloodsuckers here.

"I really wanted to write a song directly about my grief to have on the album, but it was just too difficult for the longest time," says Austen. "I was so raw and broken that I struggled to put myself in the place I needed to be in to get it done. But I did get there. The song was written and recorded as the very last thing on the album at the eleventh hour. It's a tribute to my mother and the depth of my love for her. Then for the video we recorded a live piano version of the song at Rockfield Studios, it was a very vulnerable but special moment for us as a band."

Hailing from the UK, Saint Agnes are all about honest lyrics and intense vocal performances, plus rage-fueled music intended to give a voice to those closer to the fringe than the center. With its violent riffs, venomous vocals, and punk attitude, the title track single serves as a no-holds-barred introduction to the Bloodsuckers album.

Vocalist Kitty A. Austen comments on the single and video, saying, "I wrote 'Bloodsuckers' when I couldn't take it anymore - when I decided to stop allowing people to crush me, to diminish me. I took my rage and my pain and used it as fuel and I burned. We are not defined by what has been done to us. We decide who we are. We choose who we want to be. We are whole. We are worthy. The video is an introduction to Team Bloodsuckers. Join us."

As much gang as band, Saint Agnes seek to empower those who've been battered and bruised yet refuse to lie down, and it's a thread that runs deep within Bloodsuckers - SA's first album for Spinefarm and the follow-up to 2019's Welcome To Silvertown, issued on the band's own label.

From the title track onwards, Bloodsuckers is a genre-jumping body of work, taking in elements of metal, punk, industrial, and grunge, without being bound by any specific style; the 11 tracks here come straight from the source, largely self-produced and mixed (NIN collaborator Sean Bevan lends his mixing and production skills to "Follow You"), and this self-contained approach provides an extra emotional weight throughout, with doom trap provocateur Mimi Barks further fuelling the chaos on the short, sharp shock that is "Body Bag."

Created in the months following the unexpected and untimely death of Kitty's mother, Bloodsuckers explores a number of themes, including mental illness, pent-up rage, undying love and, of course, grief; from the trash-metal howl into the night that is "Bloodsuckers" right through to broken ballad, "This Is Not The End," a poignant reflection of Kitty’s still-raw emotions, this is a call to outsiders everywhere...

Concludes Kitty, "Creating this album gave me a reason to get to my feet at a time when I really wasn't sure if I could. I've tried to put everything I've been feeling into it, all the pain, the rage, the grief, even the unexpected moments of beauty and belief. I hope it makes you feel less alone. I hope it makes you feel bigger, badder, and stronger. We might be damaged but that doesn't mean we're worthless. This is a record for the defeated, the crushed. We might be broken but that doesn't mean we're not whole. Bloodsuckers forever, Saint Agnes forever."

Tracklisting:

"Bloodsuckers"
"Animal"
"I Mean Nothing To You"
"Outsider"
"This Is Not The End"
"Follow You"
"I Am"
"At War With Myself"
"Middle Finger"
"Body Bag" (Feat. Mimi Barks)
"Forever And Ever"

"Bloodsuckers" video:

Lineup:

Kitty A. Austen - Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Jon James Tufnell - Guitar, Vox, Bass
Andrew Head - Drums
Ryan Brown - Bass

(Photo - Rob Blackham)