There’s a sacred alchemy that happens when a metal band sheds its armor for a moment and bares the soul. With their latest single, Love of My Life, Pittsburgh’s own XDB taps into that elusive balance between muscle and melody, and it hits like a gut punch wrapped in velvet. Out September 26 via MTS Records, the track is a reminder that heavy music doesn’t have to sacrifice vulnerability for volume—it can carry both in the same breath.
Rob Kane’s voice is the anchor here, a cry from the chest that feels carved out of the same rock that built the genre. He doesn’t just sing the words “You’re the love of my life, I swear / Every breath, every moment we share”—he testifies them. You can almost hear the history in his delivery, as though this isn’t just a lyric, but a lifeline. That’s what makes XDB different: they’re not painting pictures for effect, they’re bleeding their truth into the groove.
And then Xander Demos. The man has long been celebrated in guitar circles as a virtuoso, but what he does here isn’t about notes-per-second—it’s about emotion-per-string. His solo midway through Love of My Life is the sound of someone turning memory into electricity, every bend pulling you deeper into the song’s gravity. Demos has shared the stage with metal titans, yet on this track, he feels most at home—pouring everything into a declaration of devotion.
What seals the experience is the band itself: Brendan Callahan painting atmosphere with keys that shimmer like candlelight, Emily Stroup grounding the track with bass that pulses like a heartbeat, and Guy Cole driving it forward with the kind of drumming that reminds you passion can be both thunderous and precise. Together, they craft a soundscape where intimacy meets epic—a ballad draped in armor.
The lyrics don’t hide behind metaphor. They’re unflinching in their sincerity: “Bound by a promise and the stars above / We are one, we are endless love.” In another band’s hands, those lines could collapse under their own weight. But with XDB, sincerity becomes rebellion. At a time when irony rules, here comes a band unafraid to speak plainly about love’s power, unafraid to sound big, bold, even mythic.
The lyric video, set to drop alongside the single, promises to take that emotion one step further, pulling fans deeper into the orbit of the song. It’s less about spectacle and more about communion—words, images, and sound converging in a shared ritual.
With Love of My Life, XDB doesn’t just release a song—they extend an invitation. To feel. To believe. To scream the words at the top of your lungs whether you’re in a stadium or sitting alone at midnight with headphones on. It’s not just metal, it’s medicine.
–Lonnie Nabors