Listen to new Rival Sons track Mercy from upcoming album Lightbringer

Rival Sons group shot
(Image credit: Patrik Skoglöw)

Rival Sons have released another track from their upcoming album Lightbringer.

The new song, titled Mercy, can be heard below and is available on streaming platforms.

Lightbringer is the companion album to Darkfighterwhich was released in June. The new album, which was announced in January, will arrive on October 20.

The band previously released the single Sweet Life from the album.

Discussing Mercy, vocalist Jay Buchanan says: "You know that anger moves like electricity. It's so conductive, the way trauma moves from person to person. Anger moves like electricity in a similar way, once it gets inside you it immediately seeks transmission to latch onto someone or something else.

"The verses have this cyclical friction to them and it brought this to mind – inherited trauma and its vicious, silent grip. Breaking these cycles begins with recognition and I wanted to sing about that.

"Try a little mercy, mercy never lets you down."

Lightbringer was recorded during the same 2021 sessions as Darkfighter, with longtime producer Dave Cobb.

"It started out as one album, and the collection grew too large,” Buchanan told Classic Rock, “so we had to split it because the mass was going to be too large. So we needed to partition the collection for there to be a short refractory period between the two."

Rival Sons tour dates 2023

Sep 25: Louisville Louder Than Life 2023, KY^
Oct 13: London The Roundhouse, UK                                     
Oct 14: Newcastle NX, UK                                 
Oct 16: Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom, UK                                    
Oct 17: Birmingham O2 Academy, UK                               
Oct 18: Manchester Academy, UK                                
Oct 20: Cambridge Corn Exchange, UK
Oct 21: Bristol O2 Academy, UK
Oct 22: Southampton Guildhall, UK                              
Oct 24: Nantes La Carrière, France                                 
Oct 25: Lyon Le Radiant, France                                    
Oct 27: Paris Olympia, France                                    
Oct 28: Lausanne Les Docks, Switzerland                       
Oct 29: Milan Alcatraz, Italy                                       
Oct 31: Vienna Gasometer, Austria                                 
Nov 01: Zurich X-TRA, Switzerland                           
Nov 02: Munich Theaterfabrik, Germany                              
Nov 04: Prague Lucerna Music Bar, Czech Republic                      
Nov 05: Warsaw Klub Stodola, Poland                                 
Nov 06: Poznan Music Club B17, Poland                                  
Nov 08: Berlin Huxleys, Germany                                 
Nov 09: Amsterdam Melkweg Max, Netherlands                     
Nov 10: Cologne Kantine, Germany                              
Nov 12: Brussels Ancienne Belgique, Belgium                                 
Nov 13: Hamburg Grosse Freiheit 36, Germany                             
Nov 14: Copenhagen The Grey Hall, Denmark                         
Nov 16: Bergen Forum Scene, Norway                                   
Nov 17: Oslo Sentrum Scene, Norway                                        
Nov 18: Stockholm B-K, Sweden                               
Nov 20: Helsinki House of Culture, Finland
Nov 21: Tampere, Hall Finland 


^ = festival date 

Tickets are on sale now.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.