STAIND will release their ninth studio album, The Space Between The Darkness And The Light, on March 5, 2027 via Alchemy Recordings/BMG. The Massachusetts band previewed it today with "Watch Me Break", the record's opening track, out now with an official visualizer.
The lineup — Aaron Lewis (vocals, guitar), Mike Mushok (lead guitar), Johnny April (bass, backing vocals) and Sal Giancarelli (drums) — worked again with producer Erik Ron (GODSMACK, BAD OMENS, PAPA ROACH), who also handled 2023's Confessions Of The Fallen. The songs were written and tracked across 2026 in Nashville, Los Angeles and back home in Massachusetts, in between a sold-out arena run celebrating the 25th anniversary of Break The Cycle.
Lewis says the title came almost by itself. "The struggle in the middle of dark and light is so fucking present throughout the entire album," he explains. "The songs are stuck in the conflict between opposite ends of the spectrum. There are a couple of songs where I'm straight up talking to God."
"Watch Me Break" pairs soft keys with a thick, down-tuned seven-string riff and is pitched by the band as one of their heaviest cuts, aimed at fans of "Tormented" and "Dysfunction". According to Lewis, it was the last song written for the album and it's aimed squarely at the music business: "It's definitely pointed at this insane machine the music industry puts human beings in and expects them to come out normal."
The album already includes "Ghosts", the single that opened the campaign earlier this year, built on a big, low-tuned riff from Mushok and featuring a rare guttural scream from Lewis.
Speaking to Full Metal Jackie's "Whiplash" show on KLOS, Lewis said the Break The Cycle anniversary tour didn't shape the new material, which was mostly finished before it began: "There would be no reason to go backwards." He calls each STAIND record "a timestamp in my life" and the lyrics "my diary" — "the common thread is it's still the same struggle."
The Space Between The Darkness And The Light tracklist
- Watch Me Break
- 100 Mile Stare
- Broken
- All Along
- Ghosts
- Pull Me Down
- Digging My Own Grave
- Why
- Free
- Get Away
Follow STAIND: Official site · YouTube