Kingdom Of Giants released their fifth studio album on Friday, Nov. 13, and it’s the first with a new voice in the lineup. Kingdom Of Giants Usurper is out now on SharpTone Records, with JT Gutierrez replacing Jonny Reeves on bass and clean vocals. The Northern California metalcore band also premiered a video for “Past Life,” the album’s closing track, and they start a fall headlining tour in Seattle on Nov. 14.
The “Past Life” video, the first clip released alongside Kingdom Of Giants Usurper, premiered on SharpTone’s YouTube channel. Orie McGinness directed it, and ThePRP notes his earlier credits include Bad Omens and Poppy.
Kingdom Of Giants Usurper track list
The label’s SharpTone store listing gives the release date as Nov. 13, 2026, and lists 11 songs. Apple Music puts the running time at 40 minutes.
- Respawn
- Out Of Step
- Reign
- A Part Of You (ft. Gabi Rose)
- Void Of Form
- The Edge Of A Dream
- Roll Credits
- Jaguar
- 10 Cent Martyr
- Gods Of Karma
- Past Life
Four of those songs came out ahead of the album: “Respawn,” “Reign,” “The Edge Of A Dream” and “10 Cent Martyr.” Gabi Rose, the guest on “A Part Of You,” also sings on Dayseeker’s “Bloodlust,” which shows up remixed on the Creature in the Black Night Redux album. Kingdom Of Giants Usurper is the band’s first full-length since 2020’s Passenger. In between, they put out EPs, including Burning Chrome.
JT Gutierrez steps in for Jonny Reeves
Reeves left to join The Amity Affliction. Gutierrez made his debut on “Respawn,” the first Kingdom Of Giants Usurper single, which arrived in June with a video directed by Stephanie Zapolska. “‘Respawn’ is the start of a new chapter for the band, and for me stepping in,” Gutierrez said at the time. “I’ve been working for 15 years trying to get to where I am today, and joining this band marks a turning point in my life that I will forever be grateful for.”
In an interview with Dead Rhetoric, vocalist Dana Willax said he’d been a fan of Gutierrez’s voice from his work in the afterhour, and that the band’s long love of synthwave made him “a bit of a no-brainer when it came time to find a fill-in and someone to eventually join.” Willax also pushed back on fans who wondered whether the band would survive the change. “There was no producer or outside influences, just us,” he said of the record. He explained that the band wrote every vocal together in the same room, over stretches in Long Beach and Las Vegas, while Max Bremer wrote most of the instrumentals.
That mix of metalcore and synthwave is all over Kingdom Of Giants Usurper. Gutierrez told Metal Insider in a track-by-track guide that “Reign” was one of the first songs written after the band came off the Like Moths To Flames tour in November 2025. Like Moths To Flames are back in San Diego this month with Saosin and Silent Planet at SOMA on Nov. 28.
Fall tour skips San Diego
The Kingdom Of Giants Usurper tour runs from Nov. 14 in Seattle to Dec. 18 in Sacramento, with Deadlands, Holy Wars and Night Rider. The lineup changes at a few stops: Holy Wars aren’t on the Seattle show, and Deadlands miss Denver, Lawrence, Greensboro, Nashville and San Antonio. The routing doesn’t come through San Diego. The closest dates are on the final West Coast swing:
- Dec. 15: Albuquerque, N.M., Launchpad
- Dec. 16: Mesa, Ariz., Rosetta Room
- Dec. 17: Los Angeles, The Roxy Theatre
- Dec. 18: Sacramento, Goldfield Trading Post
No lineup changes are listed for the Roxy show, so it should have the full bill. Set times and ticket prices for the Los Angeles date haven’t been announced in the tour posts. The run joins other recent tours that bypass the city, such as the Boundaries 2027 tour. For heavy shows that do come to town, see our San Diego shows calendar.
For San Diego fans, that means a drive up to the Sunset Strip on Dec. 17 to hear the new songs live. Until then, Kingdom Of Giants Usurper is streaming now, and “Past Life” is a fitting way into the record, even though it’s the last song on it.
