UPDATE: Band Uploads Brand New Version Of Single After 'Mix'ed Fan Reviews

Yesterday, Metal Injection reported that Boundaries and their newest single, "Skies cast amber black" had received quite a few critiques on the track's mixing. To some, it sounded great, to others, they felt the mixing was dampening some of the best material of Boundaries' career – all publicly stated in the comments of the music video and on the r/metalcore subreddit. And, Boundaries frontman Matthew McDougal caught wind of this as he responded through a verified Reddit account, addressing people's criticisms.

Now, McDougal has gone the extra mile, not only by interacting with fans, but taking their ideas to heart and releasing another mix that the band had been sitting on. In the caption of a post titled 'Boundaries new song with a different mix' is both a Dropbox link (which at time of writing is temporarily disabled most likely due to the fact that "the link has been shared or downloaded too many times in a day") with the new mix, and an explanation from McDougal saying the following (edited for clarity):

"Hey guys, I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

"The connection we have with people who listen to us has always been at the forefront of our intentions behind what we make. We love you guys and everyone who has ever bought a shirt or sang a lyric at a show or just listened at home – ultimately, this doesn't work without either of us, it's 50% us, 50% you in a weird type of way.

"Obviously, we've seen how all over the place the reaction to the latest song mix has been. When we reached the finish line for turning in this latest song we had two mixes we were in love with and we were going back and forth over and over on which to put out. We felt the one that came out was something we identified with and love the sound of and are still completely willing to stay with.

"That being said, there was the other mix that didn't make the cut. We loved it just as much to the point where I was sending both to friends and asking them to pick one because we just couldn't.

"In this thread, I am putting the other mix. Do you guys like this one more? Because we loved both and could be happy with either, especially if one makes our listeners happier, in a way that might make us like it even more.

"Just to be clear, it's the [version] that's out or this one, there are no other versions we liked, and we don't want to bring this to anyone else to mix – that's not fair to who we made this music with. I know this is a unique situation we've found ourselves in, but we did not want to ignore how gentle and loving a lot of the reactions were to what we put out. It seemed to really come from the hearts of people this band means a lot to, that liked the song and wished they could like it even more.

"And it's obviously completely fine to not like either mix, I'm not looking for people to feel like they need to say one is better to them – this is just such a specific situation where we happened to have two mixes we really liked haha.

"Anyways, thanks for your time and continued support, ya'll are our world. Also I don't know how to make posts with links in them and stuff so I just did my best."

Fans are already raving that they much prefer this newer mix, saying things along the lines of, "Holy fuck this mix is so much better," and "both mixes are hard as fuck but this new one is a lot more raw and fits the original style you guys had, very nice."

Hopefully, people will stop spamming the link and you'll be able to check out the track for yourself to see what you think of either mixes.

New BOUNDARIES Single Seems To Be Met With 'Mix'ed Reviews; Band Responds

Everyone is a critic these days – and no one is immune, Boundaries included.

After signing to Sumerian Records and releasing their newest single, "Skies cast amber black" this past Friday (20th March), there were quite a few fans in the comments, commenting on the production and mixing of the track, disappointed by technicalities which, for some, overshadow what could be Boundaries best song yet.

Between YouTube and Reddit, remarks like "someone put a boundary on the low-end in the mix I believe," and "awesome buildup and then just completely fucked by the horrible mix" were pretty common, and Boundaries vocalist Matthew McDougal caught wind of this while scrolling through the r/metalcore subreddit.

Commenting on a post of the band's new video in the subreddit, McDougal says that (edited for clarity): "Really appreciate y'all for checking this out early, this sub has always been so supportive of us. I look forward to seeing how you guys react to our art more than I do any other platform at this point.

"As far as why Sumerian, it's pretty much the new Sharptone because the guy that ran that label moved to Sumerian and we went with him, shopped labels for a bit but [in] real life we'd get responses back akin to "They don't make r&b music over low-tuned guitars or stream well enough – not interested," so the landscape for places that will take on what we do artistically is sadly not as wide as one might think.

"More and more labels are looking for overnight success-TikTok bands they can rob blind and dump after a year, which is largely what this song is about coincidentally. So far, [Sumerian] has been great to us and we are looking forward to making a home here for at least the next little while, and using the significant step up in resources to make even cooler stuff.

"That all being said, we had no clue the mix would be so divisive – we spent months on it and really love how it came out and we're thankful for your honesty regarding how it hits people's ears for the first time. I've been listening to this song in my room since fucking November and this mix really grew on me… maybe it will with everyone else as well? Who friggin knows.

"I can't wait to be on the road playing it for you guys. We have so much more music locked and loaded."

A few fans noted that the mix didn't seem as bad with the YouTube music video, and McDougal pointed out that streaming platforms have their own settings which can impact the sound people hear, "All the platforms sound different, to be honest. Spotify has lossless listening now and they have their own EQ, YouTube has their own EQ – it legit sounds mad different on everything, but I can tell you the downloaded version on PC I am in love with." A Qobuz user replied in turn that it sounded "fantastic," through that streaming platform.

Guitarist Cody DelVecchio was also in the comments, confirming he was indeed providing screaming vocals throughout the track.

You can check the song – and the mix – out for yourself below, and pre-save the new Boundaries single on streaming platforms here.