France's Destructure Records just gave us a nice little new year's present, surprise dropping a brand new LP from long-running French hardcore band Youth Avoiders! You can stream the entire LP on YouTube, and Sorry State is also offering a pre-order for the vinyl version--including red, red-and-black-splatter, and black vinyl variants--which is due to ship in early February.

Eight years have passed since Youth Avoiders released their second album, Relentless. In a world ruled by urgency and immediacy, taking the time to do things properly still matters. Beyond the hundreds of shows played worldwide, this period in the band’s life was marked by major events: a global pandemic and a lineup change. These shocks required the band to step back in order to finish this new record the way it deserved. Defiance is a collection of observations on the social injustices at the core of today’s society. A set of anthems calling for resistance, urging listeners to stand up, fight back, defend the oppressed, and reclaim power. Defiance is the natural continuation of Relentless: the same frantic tempos driven by Marlon’s ultra-tight drumming, the same sharp and melancholic guitar riffs from Christoph, and the same melodic rage carried by Christopher’s voice. For this album, Nico (Bleakness, Deletär, Destructure Records) handled the recording and also played bass. As with Relentless, mixing was done by Guillaume Doussaud at Swan Sound Studio, with mastering handled by Daniel Husayn at North London Bomb Factory Mastering. The stunning artwork for this new album was created by Gaspard Le Quiniou of Arrache Toi Un Œil.