Two years ago the phenomenal Las Vegas metallic hardcore band SpiritWorld gave us Deathwestern, a powerhouse concept album about a lowlife cowboy reborn as a crusading avenger against demonic forces. Or something like that. It’s been a while since I pieced through the narrative. The point is the album ruled, and it had an incredibly distinctive point of view.

Today SpiritWorld are back with their first song since then. “Western Stars & The Apocalypse” keeps that same energy, to similarly resounding effect. “I wrote ‘Western Stars & The Apocalypse’ right after Deathwestern came out, when we got home from touring Europe with Agnostic Front,” bandleader Stu Folsom tells The Chain World. “I was revisiting a lot of Bob Dylan in my bunk on that tour and there is a nod to his song ‘Desolation Row’ in the lyrics.”

Watch Balázs Gróf’s animated video for the track below.