After a decade defining, redefining, and perfecting their art, Fission finds Dead Poet Society poised to be rock’s next breakout act. The album is a 13-track study of personal change and the turbulence of growth that, as frontman Jack Underkofler attests, takes “a microscopic and broad look at the events that changed who we are.”

Today, the band has dropped two singles — “I hope you hate me.” and “How Could I Love You?”

Both songs address the sometimes bittersweet, more often simply bitter, fallout from a tumultuous relationship. The latter is an excruciating yet intoxicating journey, backed by searing guitars, while the former addresses the aftermath of a relationship.

The video for “I hope you hate me” features dancer and breakout social media star This Robot Cannot Human, whose carefully choreographed moves perfectly reflect the song’s tension and slow, calculated build up. The track effortlessly mixes a subtle take on ’80s nu wave with alt rock fury, thanks to pulsating riffs and drumbeats that echo your own heartbeat.

Ultimately, Underkofler says the band has one mission for fans and listeners of the new album: “We want to leave them with the truth.”

Further elaborating on the concept, he says, “It’s not as simple as saying we want our music to leave people with a positive outlook. You want music to speak to wherever you find yourself. We want to leave people feeling that whatever they are experiencing is valid, no matter what place they are at in their lives.”

To that end, there are deep rakings over the coals of relationship breakdowns, examinations of addiction in all its guises, ruminations on the responsibilities and challenges of adulthood, and struggles with the evolution, loss and continual search for self. “In a lot of ways this album is about unpacking those emotional pains that come with being an adult,” Underkofler says. “The past few years have left me in a constant state of growth through the life events of which I’ve had little control, or which didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to. There’s a ‘before’ you, and an ‘after’ you, and there’s no going back. Life tends to force your hand, and it’s futile to fight it. You have to accept that things that happen to you will change you, and let them build you into the next phase of who you are. There is a constant battle to not mourn who I was, because the things you go through define you as a person and turn you into a person worth being. But that can be difficult to wrestle with. There is a positive to it, but it is birthed through a lot of pain.”

While the lyrics are fully relatable, the music is a DNA-distinct blend of anthemic alternative, dark and moody hard rock, and progressive indie. FISSION is truly unlike anything you’ve heard in recent times.