“From the rain-soaked streets of Seattle, Oathbound emerges as a powerful voice in progressive metalcore. Their music is a raw exploration of the human condition—addressing loss, addiction, and the search for hope within the shadows. With their debut full-length album, ‘Colors In Grey’, set for release via Eclipse Records on March 6th, 2026, the band is stepping into a new, intensified chapter. Today at Soundstoriesbyjo and metalwar.gr , we dive into the creative evolution of the band, the technical precision of their new material mixed by Aaron Chaparian, and the honest storytelling that defines their soul-searching sound.”

Jo: The title Colors in Grey is very evocative. Does it refer to the grey areas of human emotion that you explore, or is it a metaphor for the musical diversity you’ve injected into this specific record?
Taylor: In general, we like to leave a lot of the interpretation up to the listeners, because I don’t think there’s one correct answer for how an individual should consume or enjoy any form of art. But for me individually, the title refers to situations, conversations and especially people that draw lines in the sand where everything has to be neatly
categorized as either this thing or that thing. It’s trying to tackle the concept that many things can be true at the same time and that life is inherently complicated and can’t be so easily explained. It’s about finding a way to build a bridge between two points of view and find a common ground or a shared experience and the beauty that comes from
growing as an individual.

Jo: Since the album is coming out in March, how do you feel your songwriting has evolved compared to your previous singles? What was the biggest lesson you learned during the creation of this full-length?
Taylor: Songwriting is like anything where the more you practice, the more confidence you get. Musical influences and current world events play a role in how you’re feeling when you’re writing a song too, so each song from the album is very much a snapshot of that moment in time for where I was mentally and emotionally. As a whole, I feel like these songs are more deliberate in their arrangement and bring a bit more technical prowess to the table as we all continue to hone our crafts as musicians. I think more than anything, the biggest lesson I learned while writing this album was to have patience and not try to force things. For example, there’s a bridge on the title track that was completely different in the demo version of the song. I think I wrote 3 completely different bridges for that song. Each one was better than the previous, but it took weeks of letting it sit and not trying to force anything before I was finally able to write the part that made the final album cut, and the song is so much better as a result.

Jo: Choosing the first piece of music to represent a new album is always a statement. Which track did you feel carried the most of the new record’s identity, and why?
Taylor: We asked a lot of people in our circle which song they thought should be singles for the album. Sometimes, it’s good to get a sampling of perspectives from people that aren’t so close to the source. It was pretty overwhelmingly “Searching for an Answer” that people thought should be our first single. It represents a bit more development in
our songwriting ability but remains one of the more accessible songs from the album from a broader perspective. We also wanted the first music video to be a statement and this song offered the strongest subject matter for an impactful video, which played a big part of the decision making.

Jo: For someone who hasn’t heard the new material yet, how would you describe the sonic soul of Oathbound in 2026? What are the three main pillars that support your sound today?
Taylor: If I had to describe the soul of this album in three words, I would choose: dynamic, sincere and consistent. It’s dynamic in that it’s not always “in your face” crushing you with breakdowns. Songs build and they deliver and they ebb and they flow. I always feel like a song is more interesting and impactful if there is an emotional progression in the music. The heavy parts aren’t as heavy if everything is heavy. It’s sincere because the music is from the heart. We put everything we are into our music and write from a place of vulnerability and honesty. Lastly, I’d say that the songs are consistent with previous Oathbound songs in the fact that it still sounds like us. We have evolved and will forever continue to do so, but you’ll always be able to tell that it’s an Oathbound song.

Jo: Your lyrics often feel like a dialogue with the self. Is ;Colors in Grey a concept album that follows a specific narrative, or a collection of isolated moments of introspection?
Taylor: Definitely the latter. Although there has been talk of doing a concept album in the future, this album bounces back and forth between introspection and observation. Songs like Colors in Grey and False Ideals are definitely more observational in nature and are written more as a social commentary whereas Set Adrift, The Masks We Wear and others are inward looking and revolve around our insecurities and what we see as our flaws.

Jo: There is a delicate balance between heavy grooves and melodic layers. In the studio, how do you decide when a song needs more atmosphere and when it needs more aggression?
Taylor: I genuinely believe that if every part of a song was “heavy” then none of it is “heavy”. There’s nothing to compare it to within the song. Don’t get me wrong, there’s certainly a time and a place for an unapologetically bone crushing song, but I tend to find songs more interesting when they play on dynamics. I don’t think we ever do it on
purpose – so much of what we write just happens organically. Ultimately, it’s about what we can do to best convey the emotion that we are trying to hit upon, and oftentimes for us, that leads to parts that are just naturally more melodic.

Jo: Did you aim for a specific color in the production? Was there a conscious effort to make the mix sound as monochromatic or as vibrant as the title suggests?
Taylor: There are a number of different vibes throughout the album, which I think lends itself to the vibrance that the title suggests. There are elements of synthcore in songs like Searching for an Answer and The Masks We Wear whereas other songs like Set Adrift have a lot of strings and more of a cinematic feel to the music. I don’t think it was
necessarily on purpose, rather, we like to write songs that don’t sound identical to one another. It’s more interesting and fulfilling for us to push the envelope and try new things.

Jo: Does the atmosphere of Virginia Seattle play a role in the heaviness of your music, or is the Oathbound sound strictly an internal, psychological landscape?
Taylor: I think more than anything, my upbringing in Alaska has influenced my heavy tendencies more than any other place I’ve lived. There’s just something about the long, cold, dark winters that make a lot of people gravitate toward heavier music. You see it a lot in similar places like Sweden too. As a musician, it’s not like there were ample
opportunities to go outside and do anything during those winters, so I spent a lot of my younger years in my room just playing guitar for hours on end. Seattle is similar in the fact that the winters here are usually pretty rainy, so it makes it easier to hunker down and write riffs.

Jo: As a musician, which track from the upcoming album pushed your technical limits the most? Was it a matter of speed, complexity, or emotional delivery?
Taylor: That’s tough because this whole album was a pretty big step forward technically for the music. But it’s probably a tie between the intro to Misunderstood and the sweep picking harmonies toward the end of Insomniac. The intro to Misunderstood is just fast and all over the fretboard and it’s really easy to get lost if you’re not completely locked in. Sweep picking has never been my “thing” so it was something I worked hard to improve so we could pull off Insomniac live. It still gives me high levels of anxiety if I think about too much.

Jo: Having total creative control over a full-length release is a huge responsibility. How did you ensure that the Colors in Grey vision remained uncompromised from the first demo to the final master?
Taylor: I’m pretty obsessive over the music we write. I will rarely write a riff I really like and not develop it into a full song. I’ll sit and work on it, sometimes for weeks, until it’s fully realized as a complete composition. We pride ourselves on not settling for “good enough”. There were a few songs that were supposed to be on this album that we weren’t stoked on how they were turning out so we decided to pull the plug and not rush them into being something we weren’t happy with. We’ll probably come back to those on the next release once we’ve had enough time to reflect on what we didn’t like about them. Ultimately, we just need to keep true to ourselves and write the type of music that we would want to hear as fans. I feel like as long as we can keep doing that, we’re on the right track.

Jo: How does the artwork of the album tie into the musical themes? Is the visual side of Oathbound intended to be an extension of the lyrics or a separate entity?
Taylor: The art is every bit as critical as the music for us. Our album art (and most of our art in general) was created by the insanely talented Aaron Varshay. He has an amazing ability to turn our basic concepts into something even more fantastical than we could ever have imagined. The art for Colors in Grey was something we talked about pretty
early on during the recording process. We wanted to convey the idea of a person shedding the hardened husk of their old selves and allowing the light within to break through. It’s a story of metamorphosis that parallels the same journey that Oathbound has undertaken over the years.

Jo: March 2026 marks the beginning of a new era. What is the ultimate goal for the sound of Oathbound? Where do you see this metamorphosis leading the band in the next few years?
Taylor: It’s funny because as Colors in Grey is released, we are already hard at work on the next release. The songs are largely already written and we’ll be recording over the summer between tours in hopes of an early 2027 release. We have some surprises in store for fans with those songs. It’s definitely going to be a new evolution of Oathbound and one I think people will really enjoy. We’re just going to keep working hard and touring as much as we can and putting out new music as often as we can until people tell us to stop. Hopefully not for a very, very long time!

“As we look forward to the release of ‘Colors In Grey’ and their upcoming spring tour, it’s clear that Oathbound is a band that values connection above all else. Their journey from the ‘Until It’s Gone’ EP to their current global signing reflects a commitment to turning pain into uplifting art. We would like to thank the band for sharing their story with us. Make sure to follow their path as they hit the road this March, starting from Seattle’s Substation. Stay tuned to Soundstoriesbyjo and Metalwar for more stories that resonate deep within the metal community.”

Interview – Text: Joanna Gonas
soundstoriesbyjoblog.wordpress.com
https://www.metalwar.gr/