Death Lens might be the perfect punk band for the moment: four working class, multicultural musicians from Southern California who write stage-dive anthems for the oppressed, wielding a message of resilience and a sound of sweat-soaked celebration that appeals to outsiders of all stripes. Today they are releasing their new album titled What’s Left Now?. Their first since 2024’s Cold World and their second for Epitaph Records, it was produced by Zach Tuch (Knocked Loose, Touché Amoré, Movements) for the band’s most fully realised record yet: crunchy, urgent, melancholy, raging and so goddamn easy to headbang along to.
What’s Left Now? is the product of two tumultuous years for Death Lens, both as people and as bandmates. The year Cold World dropped, the band toured for nine long months, honing their craft as live performers and increasing their fanbase tenfold. However, all of that time on the road stress-tested the band as an interpersonal unit, and Death Lens ended up shedding two members from the subsequent growing pains. Ultimately, they bounced back stronger than ever, gaining guitar virtuoso Ernie Gutierrez into the core lineup of frontman Bryan Torres, guitarist Jhon Reyes, and drummer Tony Rangel. Now, Death Lens are closer as friends and more musically in-sync than they’ve ever been, and What’s Left Now? is a testament to their glow-up.
“Every time we feel like we’re gonna implode, we end up expanding,” Torres exclaims. “We thrive on stress and the energy of anxiety.”
What’s Left Now? is an honest record by a band who’ve always cut the bullshit. Growing up in lower-income homes 20 miles east of Los Angeles, Death Lens’ members weren’t afforded the privilege to effortlessly ascend in the music scene. They’ve had to grind for every opportunity they’ve gotten, and they continue to write music for people just like them. “Our messaging is towards those who always feel like they don’t have a voice,” Torres explains.
Album opener ‘Monolith’ , begins with an acoustic guitar and lyrics crooned in Spanish, it explodes into a frenzy of churning guitars and anthemic howling. Vocalist Bryan Torres says of the song:
“Born with stones in my hands, I carry the weight my parents left behind. Forged under pressure, hardened by everything I had no choice but to bear.” He continues, “Monolith is born from a lifetime of hardship, weight and repetition. It’s my revelation that the role life gives you isn’t the only one you have to play. A testament to how being born with nothing became the source of my strength.”
Death Lens – ‘Monolith’
In December, fresh off a tour with Militarie Gun, Death Lens shared rousing single ‘Power’. The punchy single is up next to be featured in the latest edition of the Skate video game series from EA.
The track’s hooky guitar riffs and uplifting lyrics are a positive omen to close out a tumultuous year. Frontman Bryan Torres comments:
“I know the world feels out of balance, nothing seems certain, and waiting isn’t an option anymore. We can’t let time dictate our choices or our purpose. The world has never waited for anyone, so we stopped waiting too. That’s POWER. Strength. Resilience. When life feels bleak, we push harder for what we want and the vision we hold for ourselves. A song for anyone who loves it fast, with a message that lifts you up.”
Check out the music video for ‘Power’ below, directed by Marco Hernandez and featuring pro skaters Zach Allen, Ethan Loy, Tyler Pacheco, Marley Humphrey and O’Connor Nelson.
Death Lens ‘Power’
Album closer ‘Debt Collector’, is a righteously pissed punk ripper about “The enslavement of society and just having to pay, pay, pay,” frontman Bryan Torres laments. “And there’s really no way out.”
Death Lens – ‘Debt Collector’
Finding the peace in the panic on their latest single, ‘Waiting to Know,’ features Ian Shelton of Militarie Gun. The exhilaratingly punchy duet was co-written by Shelton and Death Lens for their new album What’s Left Now? . Shelton’s hooky force meeting Torres’ time-and-death dread head-on—two voices making panic feel communal, locking in with intuitive chemistry, balancing fist‑pumping release and sober reflection.
“’Waiting to Know’” sits somewhere between growing older and not knowing if you ever really do,” shares Bryan Torres, “It’s fear and acceptance sharing the same skin, looping the same question until it stops sounding like a question at all. What’s next? My biggest fear: the unknown. It’s about spending your whole life waiting to know, waiting to go, like the answer is always just out of reach but already written somewhere you can’t read yet.”
Check out the music video for ‘Waiting to Know’ directed by Joél Verges and featuring Ian Shelton from Militarie Gun.
Death Lens & Militarie Gun – ‘Waiting To Know’
Death Lens
What’s Left Now
Tracklisting
- Monolith
- Power
- Out Of My Skin
- Waiting to Know (feat. Militarie Gun)
- Drown
- Am I A Drug To You?
- Saints In the Panic Room
- Off The Edge
- Useless
- Last Call
- Pulling Teeth
- Debt Collector
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