To celebrate the release of LET US PREY‘s new album “Virtues of the Vicious”, the band has released a video for its title track, which features a guest guitar solo by Metal Mike Chlasciak (Halford, Testament). The clip – which debuted yesterday via Germany’s Rock Hard Magazine – can be streamed below.

Says vocalist Marc Lopes (who helmed the video himself):
“’Virtues of the Vicious’ in simple terms is about if we are inherently violent by nature and born this way, or if it’s a learned trait and a product of our environment. I actually did a two-week study about this before writing the lyrics. The conclusion is up for endless debate, and a conversation I would only have in a personal one-on-one encounter with a person of open and sound mind. The title was inspired from an episode of ‘The Punisher,’ and the artwork is relief sculpture from Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo by Gustav Vigeland. When I saw this piece while visiting Oslo in 2017, I was immediately drawn and fascinated by the work, so I took a series of pictures knowing I would use them in some manner in the future. The image and title just worked for me. The music itself is chaos, mixing many styles of metal into one sitting. I wanted total mayhem for the guitar solos, so I called on Metal Mike Chlasciak, who also I jam with in another project. I could not be happier with the results, which are my personal musical to the subject matter.”

“Virtues of the Vicious” is out now digitally on all major streaming platforms, while physical copies on CD and limited-edition blood red vinyl can be purchased via smarturl.com/LUP and http://www.m-theoryaudio.com/store. The album was recorded by Nick Bellmore (Hatebreed, Toxic Holocaust, Five Finger Death Punch) and Pete Rutcho (Revocation, Havok, Bury Your Dead), with the latter also handling mixing and mastering.

In recent weeks, LET US PREY has premiered music videos for several of the tracks on “Virtues of the Vicious” that feature guest guitar solos by notable friends of Lopes, best known as the front man of Manowar/The Dictators co-founder Ross Friedman’s group Ross The Boss. In addition to Chlasciak, the album includes appearances by Anthrax’s Jon Donais (“Halo Crown”), Jimi Bell of Autograph and House of Lords (“Ghost Echoes”) and late All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert (“The Saint of Killers”).

Led by Lopes and guitarist Jon Morency, LET US PREY incorporates numerous subgenres of metal into their style while still sounding organic. The group’s adventurous music sees elements of thrash, death, power and progressive metal meld seamlessly with industrial samples and symphonic keyboards. The drumming is surgically precise and blisteringly fast without sounding mechanical; the guitars mix crushing, down-tuned brutality with dense harmonies and ripping leads; and Lopes shifts effortlessly from thrash/death metal growls to soaring melodic vocals and searing Halford-esque highs with layered harmonies.

“A little Nevermore here, some Soilwork there, plus a smattering of Fear Factory cyber-ness and Testament ferocity… LET US PREY deliver and crush!” (Dead Rhetoric)

The album’s track listing is as follows:
Above The Vaulted Sky
Virtues of the Vicious (feat. Metal Mike Chlasciak)
In Suffering
Halo Crown (feat. Jon Donais)
Murder Thy Maker
The Saint of Killers (feat. Oli Herbert)
Ghost Echoes (feat. Jimi Bell)
The Cruel Creation of Me
Prey
And Hell Followed With Me

LET US PREY have performed in and around the northeastern United States alongside the likes of Soilwork, Suffocation, Soulfly, Life Of Agony, Metal Church, Battle Beast, Doro and Scar Symmetry, among others.