Photo by Jonathan Weiner

Having seen Saves the Day three times in the past year alone, I can honestly say with the highest confidence that the beloved New Jersey emo rock veterans are so very back and in tip-top form once more. You get a taste of that renewed energy in the music video for “INVADER”, the band’s first new single in 8 years. Filmed on stage at this past August’s Sound and Fury fest, Chris Conley alongside guitarist Arun Bali, bassist Rodrigo Palma and drummer Claudio Rivera had the crowd in full-on anthem with bodies flying everywhere the moment they hit the gas pedal and did not slow down.

That sense of urgency carries throughout the listen — a rumbling post-hardcore headbanger cosigned with guest vocals by Quicksand’s Walter Schreifels that softens the blows with flourishes of their trademark morbid power-pop-punk poetry as Conley let’s his feelings go down some sinister paths. “Rushing thoughts flood in your brain / Fire burns in your lungs / With the world by the neck, bloody fangs drain the globe / Back against a Machiavellian wall bought and sold / Up in smoke as you choke on the knot in your throat,” he sings. When it comes to songcrafting doom and morbidity like some kind of emo Edgar Allen Poe, the pen is sharp and the blood tastes even sweeter. “We’ll feel our way through the dark together.” It’s a good feeling, even as everything around you seems like it’s being swallowed into a void.

Directed by: Sean Stout

Saves the Day’s “INVADER” single is available now on Equal Vision Records.