Light This City are back in the saddle following a nearly decade-long hiatus. The melodic-death-metal upstarts took to social media to confirm the reunion and announce their fifth LP, due out in March via co-founding drummer Ben Murray's Creator-Destructor label. According to Murray, the band has finalized eight tracks for their as-of-yet untitled follow-up to 2008's Stormchaser, which they'll track this December with longtime engineer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, All Shall Perish).
"I think I can speak for all five of us when I say that we couldn't me more excited to resurrect Light This City, finish this upcoming fifth album of ours and get back out there to shred some new and old songs for all ya' headbangers out there!" he said of the reunion. "We are eight tracks into this record and it tops anything we've ever released, by far. Thank you for waiting 10 years — we'll see you all soon!"
"Performing and writing with Light This City has never stopped being fun," vocalist Laura Nichol said. "Now that I have the perspective from a guitarist/vocalist standpoint, I love to be able to switch it up and engage an audience with the freedom of only my voice, words and a microphone in my hand."
After Light This City disbanded in 2008 due to "personal and practical reasons," Murray and bandleader Laura Nichol formed the punk-rock outfit Heartsounds. the group went on to release four albums; their last full-length, Dualistic Nihilist, came out in June. Meanwhile, Ryan Hansen and Jon Frost (Light This City's guitarist and bassist, respectively) formed a metal band called the Urchin Barren. Light This City have played five reunion shows since the split, most recently in 2015 — you can see footage from one of those gigs below.
"The personality that Light This City's music and influences draw out of me is something that I really enjoy exploring and embodying," Nichol said. "While Heartsounds feels like an exhilarating challenge every time I step onstage, when I'm in front of an audience with Light This City, I always feel at home. I don't know if I could have both of those feelings with one band, but luckily, I have two to round it out!"
