We’ve teamed up with Maryland group Ego Likeness to bring you the exclusive premiere of their upcoming album When The Wolves Return! The album uses elements of electronica, darkwave, trip hop, and rock, all overlaid by powerful vocals from singer Donna Lynch.

Lynch has stated, “You will hear all of this on it. Not in specific words, but it’s all there, in metaphor. It is the hardest thing I’ve had to write yet, lyrically.”

The album, which comes out July 10th via Metropolis Records, is available for pre-order here. Head below to stream the full album.

Lynch gives a lengthy explanation of the album, stating:

This was not an easy album. It took five years (through no fault of EL’s co-founder and co-writer, Steven Archer) for me to come to terms with what this album needed to be: an apology to my partner and to myself, and more importantly, a reminder that the beasts can come slinking back in at any time, and I have to keep my eyes open.

The beasts––the wolves––are my illnesses, my obsessively looping brain, my bad wiring, my past, and my fear. They manifest as anxiety, OCD, and Borderline Personality Disorder (aka Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder) and complications due to Lyme Disease.

This all seems so personal, I realize, but there’s no way to talk about the themes of the album without that basic background. We held back very little and didn’t go to great lengths to conceal very much.

One defining quality of EL that I wanted to maintain amidst the emotional outpouring was the use of allegory. I have always written between the lines of existing stories from myth, religion, and lore, making allusions wherever appropriate. We began the album this way with Leave a Light On, Thomas. The title comes directly from a line of dialogue from the film The Prophecy, where the Devil confirms an impending war between the angels for the character Thomas (in an allusion to Doubting Thomas, who has lost his faith). I used this to represent my own feelings of being a villain and to warn myself and those around me of the internal war that will inevitably come.

Allegories can be found in New Legion and En Rouge, both dealing with the summoning of ancient entities in order to seek revenge, some successful, some gone horribly wrong.

The songs occasionally express rage––at others, at situations, but mostly myself, as well as disappointment, grief, loss, and the acceptance of consequences. I worked very hard to steer clear of pleas for sympathy, rather owning the damage. I Let You and Someday address this most directly.

But the defining song of this album is the title track, When the Wolves Return. The message is not uplifting, nor is it defeatist. It’s simply the reality, because the wolves can always come back. They haven’t been destroyed, or even incapacitated. Merely driven off for now, and hopefully for a long time to come. But if they come back––when they come back––I will be better prepared to defend my family and myself, as long as I remember what I’ve learned. This album is my way of ensuring that, because I haven’t said these words only to myself, but to anyone who wants to hear them in a medium that can’t be erased. I’ve written them in stone, so to speak, and that leaves me with the responsibility to fight and keep the wolves at bay.

Ego Likeness online:
Official Website
Facebook
Twitter

Tour dates:
7/27 The Dead Milkmen, Ego Likeness, Bastards of Fate @ The 9:30 club Washington DC.
8/27-8/30 Aftermath Festival @Phoenix Concert Theater Toronto,Canada
9/27 Gothic Cruise Departing New Orleans, LA