We’ve been waiting on this one for a looooong time, and all of a sudden, it’s here!
But first, a history lesson. Viva Death started as a baritone-guitar driven project spearheaded by Face To Face’s Scott Shiflett and Trever Keith. The lineup on the band’s first few albums (2002’s Viva Death and 2006’s One Percent Panic) was filled out by Shiflett’s younger brother, Chris, the omnipresent Josh Freese on drums and producer extraordinaire Chad Blinman (Face To Face, Saves The Day, The Get Up Kids and more). 2010 brought the project’s third release, Curse The Darkness, but also had turned into a labor-of-love project between Blinman and the elder Shiflett, who played virtually all of the instruments on that go-’round.
In the years since Curse The Darkness, Face To Face has obviously become much busier again and Shiflett and Blinman live on opposite coasts, so Viva Death took a back seat. They came together a while back to record a brand new album, and the fruits of their labor are finally upon us. The new album is called Illuminate, and it is due for release on October 26th. Pre-orders are available at all the normal outlets here, and you can check out the album opener “Ready To Go” below!