We Sing of Only Blood or Love is the new album from Dax Riggs. Due out August 7 on Fat Possum, The 15-track record finds the Houma, Louisiana singer/songwriter who'd previously fronted deadboy & the Elephantmen (and long before that Acid Bath) finally making his maiden voyage under his own name. Written and recorded in the aftermath of extensive touring behind deadboy's critically acclaimed We Are Night Sky, We Sing of Only Blood or Love is as much the debut of an astonishing new musical voice as it is the culmination of a career (and passion) that's consumed more than half of Dax's young life. That DNA runs deep through the rough hewn "Demon Tied To A Chair," "Didn't Know Yet" and "Radiation Blues," all of which will strike warm familiar notes with the deadboy contingent, though they may be a bit more on the muscular side. Those wading deeper in however are in for some pleasant surprises: Dax's vocals straining to more passionate extremes on "Terrors of Nightlife" and "Ouroboros," the ragtag assortment of musical misfits helping Dax bring some serious glam rave-up to "Living is Suicide" and "I Forgot I Was Alive," a complete curveball cover of Richard Thompson's "Wall Of Death," and, yes, a few more nods to the deadboy faithful in the form of "Scarlett Of Heaven Nor Hell" and "Dog Headed Whore" before the album collapses upon itself, spent but still mustering the final throes of "dethbryte" (chopped and screwed by Andrew W.K.). All told, We Sing of Only Blood or Love is Dax Riggs stepping out as a markedly grown up deadboy -a work imbued with newfound vitality, intensity and maturity, yet one that still begs anyone's best guess as to where things go from here. deadboy is undead, long live Dax Riggs. We hope.