Photo by Danika Zandboer

If you’re going to hit back, then do it with purpose. That’s always been the intent of Paint It Black with not half-assing the messages burning through the Philadelphia modern day post-hardcore trailblazers music since day one. It’s been a quiet decade for the band featuring former Lifetime and Kid Dynamite cornerstone Dan Yemin alongside CEREMONY guitarist (and Yemin’s Open City bandmate) in bassist Andy Nelson, guitarist Josh Agran, and drummer Jared Shavelson, and their collective ripping through the societal cesspool conscious with their tilt on a melodic hardcore headcharge, but “Famine” — the title track and opener from the band’s long-awaited fourth full-length album — returns with a purpose, reentering our atmosphere in a state of combustion. There’s no slowing down as the years go by either, with the listen smashing pedal in under two minutes while Yemin’s damnation of an American culture steeped in apathy being set firmly in sight. “I’m not staring at my feet, I’ll look you right in the eye / My heart is not a closed fist, it’s an open sky.” And cracked from that sky is the sound of hard intention.

Edited by: Ali Donohue

Paint It Black’s Famine will be released November 3rd on Revelation Records.