Staind release Ghosts and name their ninth album
On October 14, 2026, Staind released the single and video Ghosts through Alchemy Recordings / BMG. It is their first new song since Confessions of the Fallen (2023). Erik Ron produced it. His other credits include Godsmack, Bad Omens, and Papa Roach. The band is Aaron Lewis (vocals, guitar), Mike Mushok (lead guitar), Johnny April (bass, backing vocals), and Sal Giancarelli (drums). The release describes a detuned riff and Mushok’s harmonics, a verse pinned to April’s bass, and a guttural scream from Lewis at the end. The refrain runs, “Fading and failing… Ghosts that I've never found.” No video director is named.
“We went down to Nashville for a writing trip with Erik. We had gotten together, and I came up with the riff on the spot. From there, Erik and I put the track together in just one day and finished it up. Aaron listened to it a little later and did this really great vocal over it. ‘Ghosts’ ended up being a very dynamic song.”
Mike Mushok
“It seemed like everybody had gravitated towards ‘Ghosts.’ It’s a little different, and it surprised all of us. It’s got some heavy elements, but it’s certainly melodic too. It’s definitely Staind.”
Aaron Lewis
On October 15, Lewis told Abe Kanan of Audacy that the ninth album is called The Space Between the Darkness and the Light. ThePRP reports that the band finished recording it with Ron in the spring. He did not give a release date.
“I don’t know when the record comes out. I know it’ll come out soon. I know that it’s done. I’m pretty confident in saying that it’s a hell of a record, and I’m proud to put it out. And that’s kind of where I’ve needed to be at the end of every writing and recording process for Staind, is to be proud of it and feel like anybody could pick any song off the record and that could be a single, and I’d be perfectly okay with it. And that’s where we got, and I think this is a great record, and I think it’s a great continuation of the thread that you can follow in Staind’s music, which is my lyrical content. And it fits right in with everything before it perfectly.”
Aaron Lewis
“Basically, all the Staind records — start from the beginning and move forward — has been an adult man trying to navigate his way through the wreckage that was left behind from childhood trauma. And I’m 54 years old now, and I’m still trying to make my way through the wreckage that was left behind.”
Aaron Lewis
The single arrived during the tour for the 25th anniversary of Break the Cycle (2001). That album is seven-times platinum and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The press says nearly every date on the first leg sold out, and a second North American leg is set for 2027. Lewis said of those rooms, “It’s so crazy that it feels like a second chance. It’s insane. Humbling. It’s a so full of gratitude moment. To have somehow been given the opportunity to play for a whole new audience after 25 years, almost 30 years.”