Good news Halestorm fans: The wait is over. Today, the band premiered their brand-new single, "Uncomfortable," along with revealing the details of their fourth full-length album, Vicious, which will arrive July 27.
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"Uncomfortable" showcases lead singer and guitarist Lzzy Hale at her most electrifying and enraged, unleashing her signature soaring aggressive vocals over the band's barrage of thrash riffs and drummer Arejay Hale's relentless pounding rhythms. The song's intense black-and-white video, directed by Evan Brace places Halestorm in a gritty, double-exposed world. The stark visuals reflect the songs message of standing out by focusing on who you truly are as a person.
"This song is really just about being unapologetically yourself," says Lzzy Hale. "For me, to put this out there as our first 'hey, how you doing?' for this new record was really important, because it definitely has that rock and roll with a smile, but to me, it's something we've stood for for many years… make yourself happy. You can't please everybody."
Halestorm recorded Vicious in Nashville, Tenn., at Rock Falcon recording studio with GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer Nick Raskulinecz, who has been behind the board for some of rock's biggest bands, including Foo Fighters, Alice In Chains, Rush, and many more.
"He's a rock superfan first and foremost, and then a producer," says bassist Josh Smith. "When you're working with him, he's talking to you like he's your biggest fan, and this is what he wants to hear. And he didn't let us settle, ever."
Vicious follows Halestorm's 2015 album Into The Wild Side, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. Three years prior, the band earned a GRAMMY for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 55th GRAMMY Awards for "Love Bites (So Do I)," the lead-off track from their 2012 sophomore album, The Strange Case Of….
Halestorm will head out on the second leg of their landmark U.S. tour featuring all female-fronted hard rock bands. Co-headlined once again by In This Moment and featuring New Years Day on select dates, the tour will pick up on the day Vicious is released, July 27, in Kansas City, Mo., and hit 25 U.S. cities through August before taking on the rest of the world with international dates kicking off Sept. 14 in Moscow, Russian and crossing through Europe before wrapping Oct. 25 in Madrid, Spain. Halestorm will also perform at various festivals and make several special appearances over the summer.
"One of the coolest things about being out with Maria Brink [of In This Moment] and Ash Costello [of New Years Day], and on this leg we had Mixi from Stitched Up Heart opening up as well, everybody was on the same page," says Lzzy Hale. "I know we don't normally bring up that we're females in the rock industry, usually we just let the music speak for itself. But we all decided in the beginning it was really important to just talk about that, and from that first date on we started noticing that instead of it being 60/40 male/female with the crowd, it was pretty split up the middle, if not tipping the other way."
Deluxe album packages of Vicious are available for pre-order now, and a full list of tour dates and ticket information can be found at Halestorm's website.
