Watch Ceremony’s New Video for ‘The Separation’ + ‘The Understanding’

Ceremony are back with their fifth album, The L-Shaped Man, and to celebrate the announcement, the California punk band has released a video combining both "The Separation" and "The Understanding." Check it out above.

Premiering on YouTube this week, the video is a dark one -- both in color scheme and in mood. Since the set is mostly lit with blue lights as well as patches of white and green lasers peaking through, all you can see is the silhouettes of the band members playing their instruments. Both tracks, though different in tempo and sound, carry the same theme -- the breakdown of a relationship.

Frontman Ross Farrar is the star of the story along with a woman. As the band transitions into "The Understanding," the camera closes up on Farrar and shows his pain and anguish over their breakup.

"A lot of the content has to do with loss, and specifically the loss of someone who you care deeply about," Farrar said in a statement. "There is no way for you to go through something like this artistically and not have really strong emotions of loss and pain. There's not really any way to hide that."

Like the video, The L-Shaped Man explores the stages of going through emotional hardship. Inspired by Farrar's own breakup, he writes about the motions he went through during that time. In order to convey these feelings, the band dialed back on the punk sound and went as minimalist as possible. . "We've always tried to be minimalists in writing, even if it's loud or fast or abrasive," lead guitarist Anthony Anzaldo added. "It's really intense when I hear it. Not in a way where you turn everything up to ten. Things are so bare, you're holding this one note for so long and you don't now where it's going-to me, that's intensity."

Produced by John Reis, The L-Shaped Man will be released on May 19 via Matador and you can pre-order the record on iTunes or Amazon. If you want a CD or one of the sea foam colored vinyl versions of the album, you can grab your copy on Matador's website.