Phew, what a week! Loads of new releases and some news across hardcore, punk, metal, rock, and other moods and styles. 165 quick notes collected! Use the jump links below to head straight into the section that fits your taste.
⤵ Hardcore / Metalcore, ⤵ Screamo / Post Hardcore, ⤵ Post Rock / Post Metal, ⤵ Punk Rock, ⤵ Metal, ⤵ Rock, ⤵ Experimental / Other, ⤵ Pop, ⤵ General / Industry.
⤵ Hardcore / Metalcore
Silent Pendulum Records has launched the first single and video from BORE’s upcoming album Feral. The track, “Hopeless Poet,” is a feral burst of mathy, chaotic metalcore—produced by Adam Cichocki at Timber Studio and shot by Sean Ageman (Washed Up Media).
Anti-capitalist metalcore wreckers SPIT LOCKET just dropped their self-titled track Spit Locket. Barely two minutes long, it rips with lines like “we work / you play / you leave / we stay” before spitting out “keep me in your spit locket / it is a name you won’t forget.” Chaotic, hostile, and straight out of Portland, the band tags it exactly how it sounds: anti-capitalist chaotic metalcore.
INK & DAGGER are officially back. The Philadelphia hardcore punks have announced three reunion shows at First Unitarian Church — Oct 30 with PAINT IT BLACK, Oct 31 with DEADGUY, and Nov 1 with SOUL GLO — plus a full run of reissues. Out on Halloween via Trust Records are Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart, The Fine Art Of Original Sin, and Ink & Dagger. A deluxe box set, Ink & Dagger: The Complete Works, arrives March 2026 and includes Experiments In Nocturnal Sound And Energy: Singles 96–99.
Denver smooth and fast hardcore outfit DESTINY BOND just dropped their new single “Out Loud,” backed with “Mind to the Mirror,” ahead of their upcoming LP The Love out October 17 via Convulse Records. Both tracks are streaming now, alongside their earlier cut “Peace as a Punchline,” showing the band sharpening their edge as the release date closes in.
The band says, “Out Loud” and “Mind to the Mirror” were the last songs we wrote for The Love. As soon as we heard them back to back, we knew they were best as a one-two punch. We’ve been opening our sets with them on this tour and it’s great to finally share them.
Australian hardcore superstars SPEED just dropped their new single “Ain’t My Game,” the follow-up to September’s “Peace” and the second preview of their upcoming EP All My Angels, out October 23 on Last Ride and Flatspot.
Recorded with Elliott Gallart, the three-track release digs into the grief of losing close friends, channeling heartbreak into SPEED’s usual bounce-heavy fury and community-first ethos.
The track’s bouncy, groove-driven riffs and shouted vocals create a tough and compelling sound made to get the listener moving. Lyrics address living one’s truth instead of being caught up in a fantasy world.
After runs with Turnstile and Malevolence, they’ll close the year back home at Rolling Sets alongside Hilltop Hoods, Spacey Jane, and The Jungle Giants.
SHOW ME THE BODY teamed with documentary platform Popular Front for a new video, “Sabotage,”, their own version of the Beastie Boys classic Directed by Jake Hanrahan and Jonny Pickup, the clip folds gritty visuals into the band’s decade-long streak of confrontation, dropping just as they mark 10 years since Body War. A special anniversary show goes down October 17 at 99 Scott in New York, with limited vinyl reissues tied to the milestone.
London noise-punk wrecking unit CAN YOUR MACHINE DO THIS? keep it short, filthy, and pointed with their one-minute broadside “Fuck You Daniel Ek.” A huge guillotine riff and a shouted middle finger at Spotify’s billionaire boss, spat out over raw punk/sludge crunch.
Swiss hardcore/metalcore unit DRILL have unleashed a new single, Gilded Rot, featuring guest vocals from Johannes Bruderer of Fever Dreams and Philipp Aeschlimann of Excoriated. Mixed and mastered by Chris Whited at Dead Rabbit Audio, the track tears into hollow status-chasing with lines like “Gold on your lips, rot in your breath / You bleed for status, then choke on the crown.” The video, shot by Gabor Toth, premiered October 1 and doubles down on the band’s heavy, blunt mix of subgenre influences. Founded in St. Gallen in 2018, DRILL dropped their first full-length in March 2024 and continue pushing their technical, unflinching sound.
HAEXLER have unleashed their new EP Talkshow via LOWER CLASS KIDS RECORDS (cassette) and HOLY GOAT RECORDS (vinyl), recorded by David Deutsch at 1408 Studios.
Stripped down to pure powerviolence, the Leipzig outfit tears through themes of liberal democracy, lobbyism, media rituals, and western values in less than ten minutes, stitching in cynical Mad Men samples. It’s blunt, noisy, and politically loaded—another step forward from their earlier Wage, Work EP, but with an even harsher, lo-fi edge.
BALMORA have dropped a new video for “Blighted To Pine”, the opening track from their Prologue EP out via DAZE and Ephyra Records. The clip compiles live footage and tour chaos, channeling the band’s blend of blast beats and caustic vocals into raw visual energy. Emerging from Connecticut’s heavy scene, BALMORA have sharpened their lineup since early releases like With Thorns of Glass and Petals of Grief (2023) and their 2024 split with Since My Beloved. They’ll play Furnace Fest this weekend before hitting the road with FLESHWATER and CHAT PILE starting October 9 in San Francisco, followed by December dates at For The Children Fest and a Philly show with TURMOIL and FOREIGN HANDS.
Austin hardcore punk unit MUGGER will release their new one-sided 12” EP Want The World on October 24 via Quiet Panic. The title track, streaming now, sharpens their blend of ’77 punk grit and hardcore urgency into a four-song statement on power, inclusion, and collective spirit. Featuring members of Creepoid, Radioactivity, and The Well, MUGGER have already played alongside Scowl, End It, Show Me the Body, Circle Jerks, and Gel, cementing their place in Austin’s hardcore surge.
Singapore metalcore crew XDETESTERX have dropped their new album Take This To The End…, a nine-track blast recorded at TNT Studio and mixed/mastered by Anthony Burke. Out now digitally with a 12” vinyl via The Coming Strife Records, the release tears through cuts like Hammerfall, Heart Once Pure, and Hellscape, wrapped in artwork by XHATEKEEPERX and steeped in Lion City’s edge-metal fury.
VVM just dropped Four Square Fastcore Flexi, a split EP pulling together SICK BURN from Sacramento, TOTAL VACATION out of Los Angeles, Malaysia’s TOLAKKOK, and VVM themselves from San Francisco. Four tracks, all speed and no brakes, nodding straight to the lineage of SIEGE, HERESY, RIPCORD, early DRI, STARK RAVING MAD, and the 625 Thrash catalog. Co-released by Thrashtapes and Lower Echelon Records, it’s all circle pits and fastcore fury, no filler.
Hardcore legends CATHARSIS are back on the road this month. First a quick East Coast run with SECT and FROM BELOW, then straight into Europe for a string of shows with POINT OF NO RETURN, GHOSTCHANT, VLKN, and MOIRA. Dates stretch from Raleigh and Richmond all the way to Warsaw, Berlin, and beyond. Raw stages, packed basements, no filler — just the kind of fire that made their name.
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Singapore hardcore unit RENEGADE just tore through with a fresh 2-song promo on Divided We Fall Records. Marked for War / Let Chaos Reign pushes past their earlier sound, pulling in new influences and sharper edges while keeping things raw and unhinged. Recorded at TNT Studios and finished at Griffin Studio, it’s a short, chaotic blast that hints at what’s next — always out here, always schemin’.
Hardcore collective SECRET SOCIETY HC have unleashed a new single, “The Embrace.” Written by Don D with lyrics from JR and Crushing Boo, the track was cut across sessions in DC, Baltimore, and Sofia, with final mix and gang vocals laid down at The Riff Dojo. Mixing and mastering came courtesy of Michael Hatalak.
FUCKED UP have announced Grass Can Move Stones, the monumental ten-part finale to their two-decade-long Zodiac series. The cycle begins with Year Of The Goat, set for physical release on December 12th through Tankcrimes, following digital installments starting this week.
The finale will span three albums — Goat, Monkey, and Rooster — nearly five hours of music weaving characters, narratives, and motifs from all nine previous Zodiac entries. The story follows Monkey and Good Goat on a journey inspired by Journey to the West, while reflecting on the band’s own 25-year path.
MERAUDER have announced the addition of drummer Ely Castillo (ex-BITTER END, HARDSIDE) to their lineup. Castillo steps in for Jay Shine, who had been with the band since 2018.
Frontman Jorge Rosado commented that the change reflects a push to bring in “seasoned professionals” as the NYC metallic hardcore mainstays enter their next chapter.
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Adelaide metalcore unit OUTSIDER have dropped a new single, Left To Wilt And Die. Clocking in under three minutes, it was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Jarred Nettle at House Of Sap and drags their sound through bleak heaviness that fits the title all too well.
BDHW Records has dropped DEAD END TRAGEDY’s new album Electrical Impulses Of Hate. Ten tracks of straight, uncompromising hardcore — raw riffs, crushing breakdowns, and lyrics tearing into anger, despair, and a collapsing society. The band keeps pushing heavier with every release, and here the message stays clear in both English and German: no illusions, no compromise.
New York hardcore mainstay SICK OF IT ALL have shared heavy news: vocalist Lou Koller says his cancer has returned, just four months after being declared cancer-free. In a video posted to the band’s socials, Lou explained, “The cancer’s come back and he brought some friends with him,” adding that he’s been struggling with recovery, weight loss, and keeping food down.
He thanked fans for their support and said he’ll take things “day by day.” Last year a massive benefit at Irving Plaza brought together acts like Vision Of Disorder, Life Of Agony, and Municipal Waste, raising funds for his treatment with donations from AFI, Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, and others.
IODINE RECORDINGS has dropped the Iodine Furnace Fest Sampler, a digital release featuring contributions from MODERN LIFE IS WAR, THE CASKET LOTTERY, STRETCH ARM STRONG, JEROMES DREAM, NØ MAN, HORSEWHIP, BLOODHORSE, and more. The compilation, out October 3, 2025, brings together twelve tracks spanning hardcore, post-hardcore, and experimental punk, showcasing artists tied to the label’s Furnace Fest presence. Available as a name-your-price download, the sampler includes both veteran acts and newer names, reflecting Iodine’s long-standing role in Boston’s underground since 1998.
SCHOOL DRUGS will release their new LP Funeral Arrangements on October 24 via Indecision Records, their first full-length in six years since Modern Medicine. The record shifts the band into darker territory, weaving strings, synths, and atmosphere into their hardcore base, with Brian Baker (MINOR THREAT, BAD RELIGION) calling it “ambitious and excellent.”
Built gradually over four years as singles before becoming a full album, the band described it as both a survival tactic and a way to push creative limits. Much of the material draws from lived frustration and personal exhaustion, while the sequencing and balance of raw urgency with cinematic textures became key to its final form.
This week, IDIOTEQ ran a full feature an interview with the band, covering their creative process, New Jersey scene perspectives, and the darker direction of Funeral Arrangements.
Baltimore hardcore crew OUSTED slam grief head-on with their debut EP How Do You Cope?, seven tracks that swing from anger and bitterness to depression and anxiety without letting up. Built from members tied to Pulling Teeth, Ruiner, Neolithic, and Dosser, the record packs urgent riffing, melodic hooks, and restless rhythm shifts, with guests Justin Smith (Sweat, Dangers) on “Sunkissed” and Alex Cha (Pig Destroyer) dropping harsh noise into “Heavy Breather.”
Full feature on IDIOTEQ this week.
Mathcore wrecking crew PUPIL SLICER are back with Fleshwork, out November 7 on Prosthetic Records, and they’ve dropped the single “Nomad” to set the tone. The London trio call the record “a deconstruction of what it means to be human,” diving into cycles of cruelty, self-destruction, and survival. “It’s more grounded and emotionally charged than previous work,” they explain, pushing the idea that humanity’s worst wounds are self-inflicted.
Offers Davies on the band’s latest single, “‘Nomad’ is about living in a post truth society where people are living in entire echo chambers that allow them to get caught up in massive conspiracies and how much you can dehumanize other people. It’s about the naivety of masses to how malevolent and self-interested those in charge are and how to survive in this world that can just lie to justify actions that lead to the deaths of so many people; the idea of no one being safe besides those that make the rules in our society and that the internet is a wasteland of primarily disinformation and bad faith interactions.”
Swiss heavy hitters PALEFACE SWISS have teamed up with STICK TO YOUR GUNS for a new track, Instrument Of War. The collaboration was sparked during their U.S. tour, with Jesse Barnett sharing a Pablo Picasso line that inspired the title: “No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defense against the enemy.” Both bands frame the song as a raw stand against oppression and a defense of mental health. An official charity shirt tied to the release directs proceeds to Doctors Without Borders.
FUGAZI’s Live at Metropolitan University Leeds UK 10/31/02 is now streaming, a 33-track set from their 2002 UK run clocking in at just under two hours. Part of the band’s ongoing live series, it captures them in full late-era stride, recorded the night of Halloween in Leeds.
Long Island crew RESISTOR have dropped a video for their new single “MUTT,” a nu-metal/hardcore hybrid cut with turntable squeals and raw spit. Bassist Ian Schneider says the song reflects on growing up in a multi-cultural family, “never enough of this for one side, never enough of that for the other, and always ending up as the ‘mutt’ stuck on the wrong side of both.” Formed in 2020 from skate park hangs and shared love of Linkin Park and Slipknot, the band has since toured off their HEADCASE EP and now set the stage for their next chapter.
MORAL FEVER have dropped their new single “Path Of Fire,” a metallic hardcore strike rooted in late 90s/early 00s metalcore with heavy modern hardcore and death metal influence. The Cologne band, who’ve shared stages with acts like SANGUISUGABOGG, JUDICIARY, DEAD HEAT, and KRUELTY, are gearing up to release their new EP Forged In Suffering via @badbrain_records (pre-orders available now). The track was mixed and mastered by @thecult_prod with artwork by @snuffedwork.
NO MATTER WHAT just dropped their new single “Tunnel Vision,” now streaming worldwide. Recorded and mixed by @deadbeat.wav, mastered by @westwestsidemusic, with visuals from @levelup_film and artwork by @antlanau, this one hits hard.
Tacoma crossover crew DENIAL OF LIFE will release their new EP Witness The Power on November 7 via Creator-Destructor Records. The six-track assault was engineered by Jason Brooks, mixed by Taylor Young, and mastered by Brad Boatright, with cover art by Stein Hansen. Lead single “Circle The Drain” is streaming now, a furious love song about loss and regret.
Formed in 2019, DENIAL OF LIFE have built their name through relentless touring and their 2022 debut No Reason. They’re currently in Europe supporting DARKEST HOUR, BLEEDING THROUGH, and SHAI HULUD, before heading back to the US for another run with SHAI HULUD in November.
Metalcore/electronicore outfit EVERYONE DIES IN UTAH have dropped their new album The Cost of Clarity . It runs fourteen tracks, including songs like “One Missed Call,” “404: Purpose Not Found,” “The Cost of Clarity,” “It’s Not Me, It’s You,” and “The Exchange.”
Musically, the band leans into their hybrid sound: heavy riffs, electronic textures, and emotive vocals are all in the mix.
NASTY have dropped their new single Peacemaker, backed by a furious video that captures their trademark chaos. The Belgian hardcore giants come out swinging with razor-sharp riffs, savage vocals, and breakdowns built to split pits wide open.
The video is every bit as violent and urgent as the song itself—dark, relentless, and channeling the same raw energy that defines their live shows. With Peacemaker, NASTY double down on their reputation as one of Europe’s heaviest and most uncompromising hardcore acts.
Shreveport heavyweights CROOKED LIFE just dropped a surprise single, Formerly Known As. The track leans into grim, metallic beatdown territory—three minutes of hostility that feels tailor-made for pits and broken floors.
HOT FIENDS just dropped their new single Gunk via Unibrow Villain Records. Clocking in at under two minutes, the track is a wild blast of hardcore punk centered on the tale of a wizard who accidentally summons a flesh-eating goo.
New Noise Magazine’s latest We Wreck Records podcast digs deep into AGNOSTIC FRONT’s landmark 1984 release Victim in Pain. Roger Miret joins Christina Rowatt and Chris Enriquez to revisit the squats, CBGB nights, and raw Don Fury sessions that shaped the record — a blueprint for New York hardcore.
NYHC vets MAXIMUM PENALTY have their 2001 full-length Uncle Sham back in circulation, freshly added to the Reality Records roster. Originally dropped via Belgium’s I Scream Records, the record blends heavy grooves with sharp hardcore bite, carrying tracks like “Rotten Apple,” “Don’t Walk Away,” and the title cut.
CRUEL HAND will bring back their Prying Eyes lineup for the first time in 15 years at Eyestone Fest North, a benefit for photographer Ryan Eyestone, on November 2 at Old Town Theatre in Old Town, ME. Eyestone has long been a backbone of the Maine scene, creating flyers, photos, and artwork for bands like CRUEL HAND, TRASH TALK, ROTTING OUT, and GRAVEMAKER. Also on the bill: LAST EMBRACE, FAKE SMILE, FREE TO THINK, and more. Tickets go live October 3 at 10am.
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Melodic hardcore punks THE MANSTERS are back with Snapshots from a Shitshow, out October 1 via Loyal Blood Records. The album swerves between skate punk grit, Ramones hooks, and shoegaze haze, stitching together beach anxiety, online validation, and economic burnout with irony and self-loathing. We’ve got the full premiere and deep dive on IDIOTEQ this week.
Crushing mathy hardcore crew GODSEYES just rolled out their new single “And Fear,” complete with a video shot by Kyle McDowell. Tracked at Vudu Studios with Frank Mitaritonna on engineering and mastering duties and Mike Watts on the mix, the track digs into repetition, surrender, and that creeping edge-of-collapse vibe. Out through Silent Pendulum Records, it’s streaming everywhere now.
PLANET ON A CHAIN drop their new LP Ritual Routine today via Revelation Records. Tracked by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden and mastered by Will Killingsworth, the album drives straight into the core of fast, politically charged hardcore with no let-up.
The record follows Deprogram (2022), Boxed In (2023), and Culture Of Death (2024), pushing the band further as fixtures of the Revelation roster. Songs like “Mangled And Twisted” confront the lingering horror of landmines, “Poor Excuse” takes aim at the glorification of violent actors, and “Reveal The Worst” zeroes in on the deadening of outrage in the face of atrocities like Gaza.
The song “Mangled and Twisted” discusses the ongoing nightmare of landmines used in ground warfare and the terror they continue to force communities to suffer through years after a conflict has ended. “Poor Excuse” was written about platforming and making a celebrity of those who carry out or attempt to carry out acts of violence against others that escaped consequences under the guise of “self defense.” “Reveal The Worst” delves into the desensitization of the public after years of armed actions, diminishing outrage to heinous acts being carried out in Gaza in the present day.
IDIOTEQ featured hardcore outfit BAYWAY are about to storm the US with none other than BIOHAZARD and ONYX riding shotgun. The tour kicks off October 3 in Pittsburgh and rips through the country with stops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, Brooklyn, and more before closing out November 2 in New Haven.
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Hardcore mainstream agents TURNSTILE had chaos at their Richmond show when a sheriff’s deputy allegedly pepper-sprayed fans during the encore of “Birds.” Videos show bassist Franz Lyons helping kids on stage while clashing with security, before an officer pulled out spray and blasted the crowd — even hitting Lyons himself. Richmond Sheriff Antionette Irving says her office is investigating. The band hasn’t commented, but the Never Enough Tour keeps rolling with SPEED, Jane Remover, and guests like Amyl & The Sniffers and Blood Orange.
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Melodic hardcore rock’n’rollers TRUE GLOOM drop a fully formed debut LP on October 3, built by former members of Glasses, Just Went Black, Krank, and No Weather Talks and wired for risk—hardcore punk at the core, colliding with Australian-style wrecking-ball rock’n’roll, ’90s Swedish hardcore, and New Orleans sludge, then laced with percussion layers, keyboards, glockenspiel, trumpet, even strings.
Full feature on IDIOTEQ this week.
Hardcore staples GORILLA BISCUITS and AMERICAN NIGHTMARE are teaming up for two shows this December — December 19 in Richmond at The National and December 20 in Rutherford at William Carlos Williams Center. Support comes from Desperate Measures on both nights, with tickets going up October 1 at noon EST.
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⤵ Screamo / Post Hardcore
Raw emoviolent skramz, melodic emo MySpace stuff, but also rockish 90s post hardcore.
Zegema Beach Records has issued a new 7” split (ZBR384) pairing LUCIDITY and OUR FUTURE IS AN ABSOLUTE SHADOW. LUCIDITY tear through two blistering tracks of technical, razor-cut screamo, while OFIAAS stretch out with expansive, atmospheric pieces mixed and mastered by Josh Jakubowski (Neil Perry, Hot Cross). Pressed on 100 green vinyl copies, the record follows both bands’ earlier LPs and is also available bundled with the recent OFIAAS x Komarov split. For fans of Hawak, Old Soul, Capsule, and Crowning.
London’s INCASYOULEAVE dropped their new single Ink Labyrinth , their first track to get a proper video treatment — premiered this week on IDIOTEQ. The song leans into their usual mix of frantic vocals, raw emo screamo, and post-hardcore tension, tracing the spiral of panic when rational thought slips away.
São Paulo’s DE CARNE E FLOR will release their first full-length Em Teus Olhos Vejo Fendas on October 31. Active since 2016 and made up of members from acts like Jovem Werther, We Are Piano, and Violeta, the band describes their sound as “self-exorcism,” a collision of screamo, post-hardcore, and post-rock with jagged highs and suffocating lows. The record pulls together songs written across seven years and shaped by lineup changes, circling themes of death, addiction, fractured relationships, and survival. Following their 2018 EP Teto Não Familiar, a 2021 split with Chile’s Cienfuegos, and singles like “A Última Canção do Mundo Não É Essa,” this is their most complete statement yet.
SOLAR/SONAR has reissued THE NATION BLUE’s Damnation on vinyl for the first time, marking its 21st anniversary with a double LP featuring five unreleased tracks and demos. Originally released in 2004, the album stands as the band’s definitive statement, capturing the bleak dissonance of 1990s Tasmania and their relentless, visceral sound that has carried them across three decades of underground punk and hardcore.
Mastered for vinyl by Mikey Young and updated with new artwork from Hollow Bones Studio, this edition stretches across 75 minutes and arrives exactly 21 years to the day of its first release. Limited to 300 copies.
VÄYLÄ from Helsinki have released their LP Pinttyneet kuvat, a record born from years of persistence, friendship, and shaping their own sound since first appearing on the Finnskramz compilation with “Unohdun.” Starting in 2021 with little prior band experience, the four-piece grew naturally into a screamo band that thrives on raw emotion and long, careful songwriting processes. The album reflects that — hopeful guitar melodies collide with lyrics rooted in doubt, memory, and blurred personal histories.
This week we published a full interview with the band, where they trace their roots from small Finnish towns to Helsinki’s underground, discuss the challenges of shaping their sound, and share the inspirations that fed into Pinttyneet kuvat.
Minnesota outfit TOO LATE, BUT STILL have released Night Songs, a four-track set blending experimental edges with post-hardcore and emo weight. Recorded with Adam Tucker at Signaturetone alongside Dean Bruhn at The Anger Castle, the EP runs through cuts like Feedback City, Gentle Howls, Nine Years, and Auspicious Fictions, carried by the lineup of Jorge Martinez, Rob Barnes, Jason Nash, and Bruhn.
Portuguese post-hardcore unit JUNKBREED have unveiled their new single “51% Gone,” a cut from the upcoming album Sick of the Scene, due October 10 via Raging Planet. The track circles around breaking points and the pull between holding on or letting go, with the band calling it “an honest portrait of a person at their breaking point, torn between continuing the fight or simply letting go.” We’ve got the full feature on this one running over at IDIOTEQ this week.
JOHNNY FOOTBALL HERO just released their debut LP Contingency Plan, a record three years in the making that sharpens their post-hardcore edge while digging into themes of political unrest, financial strain, death, and climate change. Across ten tracks, the Philadelphia trio explores how forces beyond our control shape daily life, pushing the psyche toward collapse but still searching for ways to persevere. Out now on Bandcamp, the album features contributions from friends on gang vocals and was recorded across multiple Philly studios, with production, mixing, and mastering by Zach Brown.
Sacramento post-hardcore rockers A LOT LIKE BIRDS have returned with When in Love, their first new single in eight years, featuring Geoff Rickly of Thursday. The track marks their first release since reuniting in 2024 after a 2018 breakup. “Finding a path to reconciliation together has been a monumentally meaningful and healing experience for each of us,” the band said, calling Rickly’s contribution an honor given his influence on their early years.
San Diego punks GLEAN have dropped their new record Worlds Apart, their first full album in years and debut on Sunday Drive Records. Built on the city’s lineage of bands like Drive Like Jehu, Blink-182 and Heroin, the five-piece twist melody into scratchy, emotional punk in the spirit of Jawbreaker, Samiam and Title Fight. Lead single Sediment hears Barkley and Muñoz trading vocals over jagged guitars, while Receive You brings in guest vocals from Sam Allen of Anxious and G.I. Bill. Tracks like Exit Wound slow things down into Mineral-style melancholy, rounding out a set that swings between abrasive and intimate.
Dallas noise-rock post hardcore band STRESS PALACE have announced their second full-length, Paradise, out soon via The Ghost Is Clear Records. The LP was tracked in February 2025 with Greg Norman at Electrical Audio in Chicago, and is billed as a furious, satirical portrait of America’s fractured soul.
They’d already hinted at this direction earlier: their split 7″ with All Clean dropped in early 2025, and that release confirmed they’d been at Electrical Audio preparing follow-up material. Their 2023 self-titled debut was built on tension, frustration, and noise riffs that tackled political decay and psychic collapse.
DRILL FOR ABSENTEE have released 7riangles, the second single from their upcoming double LP Strand of a Lake Volumes 1 and 2, due October 24 via Expert Work Records.
The new track marks the trio’s first fresh material since 1998, carrying forward their math-rock/post-hardcore roots while weaving in the eclectic influences picked up over 25 years. Guitarist/vocalist Michael Nace describes the new sound as both a continuation and reinvention: “These songs honor our 90s selves while embracing the freedom of now.”
Belgian post-metal outfit JUNEAU have dropped a video for “Observer,” the first cut off their upcoming album Scraps of the Final Lights, due digitally October 15. Vinyl is up now via De Mist Records and Bandcamp, with CDs to follow through Tokyo Jupiter Records and A Cheery Wave Records. The track shows the band diving into their usual mix of weight and atmosphere—dark, stretched-out, and heavy on mood.
Post-hardcore emo rockers PYRO, OHIO are back with I’ll Be Here, their first new music since 2015. The single features Nathanael Pulley of ARCHERS and leads into the upcoming EP Where Do You Find Yourself?, due October 17. Vocalist Peter Verity calls the track “about the feeling of being stuck in a bad headspace… a reminder that you’ll get through it, no matter what you think at the time.” He adds that having Pulley guest was a full-circle moment from their early touring days, bringing “a smooth, yet haunting tone” that shifts the song’s mood in the bridge.
⤵ Post Rock / Post Metal
Heavy post-metalers OAKEN just dropped From The Bonfire, a three-track slab recorded at Ól Recording in 2024 and mixed by Miklós Nagy. The Budapest band leans on “2 guitars, 1 bass, 4 synthesizers, 1.5 drumkits and fell voices of collective desolation,” and they back it up with lines like, “Born inside the fire. Glaring wings without a king to pacify its power. A king of its own, without a God to admire. Rose from the bonfire without a God to admire, a king to answer.” Artwork comes courtesy of Viktor Nagy, layout by Tamás Slabéczi, with a nod to Marci of Fractions of Life Records for helping shape the vision.
LONG DISTANCE CALLING will release Live at Lichtburg on December 5 via earMUSIC, capturing their sold-out 2024 performance at the historic Essen cinema. The Münster quartet—David Jordan, Florian Füntmann, Jan Hoffmann, and Janosch Rathmer—reimagined their catalog with strings and brass, delivering a career-spanning set that moved from delicate atmospheres to massive crescendos.
The live album and film focus on highlights from Eraser and Avoid the Light, with lead single Kamilah accompanied by a video from the show. Available in 2LP + Blu-ray and CD + Blu-ray editions, the release documents a defining moment for the band, bridging their past with a forward-looking vision of cinematic instrumental rock.
Roadburn 2026 just dropped its first wave, and the big headline is the long-awaited return of OATHBREAKER. After years of silence, the Belgian post-metal outfit will break their hiatus in Tilburg with a full performance of Rheia, their landmark 2016 album that pushed the boundaries of blackened hardcore and atmospheric metal. For many, this is one of the most anticipated reunions the underground could have asked for, and Roadburn feels like the only stage fitting for it.
The announcement also brings a stacked mix of cult names and boundary-pushers: AGRICULTURE will play their new album The Spiritual Sound in its entirety, COALESCE return to Europe for the first time in 17 years, and KRALLICE step in as both commissioned artists and artists in residence, performing three different sets including one made up of brand-new material. HEAVEN IN HER ARMS will perform White Halo and The End of Purification in full, while KISS THE ANUS OF A BLACK CAT make a rare appearance. The lineup is rounded out by CRIPPLING ALCOHOLISM, HABAK, QUEST MASTER, SHEARLING, and WORLD PEACE.
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Roadburn’s first drop confirms what fans already know: this isn’t just a festival, it’s a pilgrimage. Tickets are on sale now at roadburn.com.
Belgium’s sludge collective MODDER are streaming their new album Destroying Ourselves for a Place in the Sun in full via Decibel Magazine, ahead of its official October 3 release on Consouling Sounds and Lay Bare Recordings.
The record pushes their sound further into experimentation, mixing their sludge/doom backbone with industrial textures, psychedelic synths, and polyrhythmic structures. Across six tracks, the band drags listeners from crushing riffs into cosmic soundscapes, drawing comparisons to a collision of GODFLESH heaviness and early PINK FLOYD expansiveness.
South African post-rock project AS TRUE AS THE SKY has released a new single, “The Shadows That Consume Us”, the title track from the upcoming album arriving November 28. The track blends darker post-rock atmospheres with progressive metal elements, drawing on influences like CASPIAN, IF THESE TREES COULD TALK, and WE LOST THE SEA. Derik Nieman, the musician behind the project, frames the record around the theme of the unseen weight people carry, with this song setting the tone for its introspective and heavy direction.
⤵ Punk Rock
Punk, Pop Punk, raw, fast, melodic, and more.
Stockholm punks ŚMIERĆ have dropped their own spin on “Farrus,” paying tribute to Polish legends Post Regiment. Out now via DIY Kolo Records and Hasiok Records, the single carries more than just a cover—it’s a nod to a scene that shaped the band. As vocalist Nina put it, “Post Regiment is a part of the Śmierć DNA, even if our songs don’t sound at all the same. I ever so often feel the attack, the beat and the beautiful stress of the Post Regiment compositions when playing live.”
Industrial post-hardcore punks PAIN MAGAZINE drop their debut album Violent God today via Humus Records, a studio-born union of Birds in Row with Maelstrom & Louisahhh that splices electronic heft to guitar-driven hooks. The record tackles mental illness, systemic exploitation, addiction, and redemption, with vocals trading between Louisahhh’s roar, Bart Balboa’s growl, and Quentin Sauvé’s calmer edge; as the title track puts it, “Do I believe in a violent god? You make me believe.” Alongside the album, the band share a new video for “Magic” and roll out autumn dates across Europe and the UK.
Colorado punks THE SLEIGHTS are back with Atari, a four-song EP landing October 24. First single Earthworms comes with a storm-soaked DIY video shot by Jarrett Barnes, matching its theme of watching a relationship collapse with no way out. “It hits all the right spots and ends shows with a sense of finality,” says vocalist Luke Blanton. Formed in 2014, the band has built a reputation on raw hooks and explosive live sets, and Atari looks to carry that same grit straight into their fall tour.
Boston pop punk veterans A LOSS FOR WORDS are back with The Night, their first new material in nine years and the lead single off the upcoming 7-inch These Past 25 Years, out October 3 via Negative Progression Records. Guitarist Marc Dangora calls the track “about the helplessness one feels with the horrors happening around the world. Hoping to find humanity in others, when it seems there is none to be found,” while vocalist Matty Arsenault adds, “This band is my everything. Getting to play this music after 25 years gives me hope to keep fighting for everyone who doesn’t have a voice.”
Punk rock dads GREEN DAY are rolling out Warning (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) on November 14. The set brings a new remaster plus demos, B-sides, and live material from the band’s sixth album era. To mark the announcement, they’ve shared the demo of “Castaway.” Back when Warning first dropped in 2000, Billie Joe Armstrong told Kerrang!: “There’s a sense of freedom about this record. I think we’ve gone to some places that we’ve never been before.”
UNSEEMLIER and LITTLE LOW have teamed up for a split single arriving October 3, just ahead of their run of shows and Unseemlier’s debut U.S. tour, including FEST 23 in Gainesville. Unseemlier’s track, “I’d Quit This Band If I Weren’t Financially Invested,” captures the drift of growing apart from someone you no longer recognize, recorded by Kyle Paradis and mastered by Zach Weeks at God City. Earlier this year the Boston band released their debut album I Have a Screw Loose, Somewhere via Sell The Heart Records, while this new split adds another layer to their raw and reflective catalog.
We covered the full story and tour details this week on IDIOTEQ.
Punk rock veterans THE PENSKE FILE return with Reprieve, out October 3, a record that moves between raw punk blasts, brooding anthems, and more spacious reflections. Written after a burst of touring behind 2023’s Half Glow, the trio tracked live-off-the-floor at Halo Studios before finishing vocals and overdubs with longtime collaborator Adam Michael. Lead cut “Almost Young” is the heart of the record, a song about holding onto the glow of youth while staring down change.
Midwest emo punks BEN QUAD have dropped a new single, Painless, while announcing their sophomore album Wisher, out November 14 via Pure Noise Records.
Written at producer Jon Markson’s New Jersey farm-studio, the record shifts from the doubt of their 2022 debut I’m Scared That’s All There Is toward something more hopeful. “It’s about living with constant existential insecurity and questioning whether life now is any better than before,” guitarist Edgar Viveros says, noting its pop-leaning synths and even a guitar solo as firsts for the band.
“Painless” is about processing feelings of grief and guilt after the loss of a close friend. It deals with the struggle of seeing someone you love show depressive warning signs and feeling helpless in your attempts to reach out to them. In the aftermath, you just wish you could have done something more to show this person how lucky you felt to have them in your life.
“We knew early on in the demoing process that we wanted the vocals to pull from 2000’s emo. The chorus is a big nod to bands such as Taking Back Sunday and features Sam and Henry trading off lines in the classic emo co-vocalist style” says guitarist Edgar Viveros. “For the outro, we wanted to bring back the post-hardcore/screamo heaviness that we showcased on our previous release, ‘Ephemera’. ‘Painless’ not only has the pop-sensibility that we’re introducing with the new record, but also the shreddy, midwest emo guitar lines we’ve come to be known for and the raw, aggressive sound we displayed on our last EP.”
Pop-punk vets NEW FOUND GLORY have announced their new album Listen Up! will land February 20, 2026 via Pure Noise Records.
About “Listen Up!”, the band shares: “The overall message/theme of this album is to encourage hope through hard times, while also looking at the world as somewhat of a fly on a wall: seeing people’s fear, negativity, and stress about small things that only scratch the surface of what life will eventually – but bring in a hopeful way. We want to encourage hope that the hard times will bring growth and strength. So the music is super fun and anthemic and loose feeling. We’re singing loud and proud about the scars and not in a pity party sort of way.”
Our new single “Laugh It Off” is out now on @Spotify! Check it out, add it to your Liked Songs and stay tuned for A LOT more! https://t.co/H7NOYkBfoC pic.twitter.com/640wHrtmBR
— New Found Glory (@newfoundglory) September 30, 2025
The band just put out the single “Laugh It Off,” streaming now, with the full tracklist promising cuts like “Boom Roasted,” “Beer and Blood Stains,” and “Frankenstein’s Monster.”
Post hardcore punk rockers MIRRORLESS—built from members of Elliott, Fotocrime, Falling Forward, and Coliseum—have shared a video for Golden Treason, the closing track from their self-titled debut EP due October 17 on Equal Vision Records.
Chris Higdon’s unmistakable voice cuts through the track’s brooding riff and into its searing refrain, joined by Hannah Blakeman of Louisville cult act Shitfire. Engineered and mixed by Ryan Patterson, the six-song set pulls from DC hardcore, early West Coast pop-punk, and melodic post-hardcore roots. The band heads out in November supporting Shiner across the Midwest and East Coast.
Dublin oi! punks GRIT have surfaced with Perfect Storm, a final four-song EP released September 26 ahead of its vinyl drop on A.U. Vinyls in February 2025. Tracked at Last Light Recordings and mastered at Roy de Rats Studio, the record closes the book on a lineup of John, Clodagh, Sean, Byrneos, and Eric, pushing through cuts like Shoulder High, Good Things, Requiem, and G.R.I.T.
SMASHING TIME just dropped their debut Brand Spanking New 10″ through Mendeku Diskak, with vinyl coming later this month and the digital already up. The project straddles the UK and US but has settled in New York with players tied to THE RIVAL MOB, VENENÖ, HYSTERIC POLEMIX, INTIMIDATION, DUSTERS, and ANTAGONIZM. Five cuts of raw Oi!-punk spill out here — rough, loud, no gloss — nodding back to the likes of The Accused, Chiswick-era brawlers, and The Business.
Canadian punks MIDNIGHT PEG have unleashed their sophomore album Skinning, out October 3rd via Thousand Islands Records. The Edmonton crew sharpen their attack with twelve tracks of paranoid noise, post-punk atmospherics, and hardcore bite, carried by Rocky Mann’s expanded vocal presence. Guitarist Eric Neilson calls it “the apotheosis of our songwriting style… the album resolves its own chaos,” while Mann frames it as a collision of pit-banging aggression and “quiet, guttural despair at the ubiquity of violence and how we survive it.” Featuring the singles “Swallow,” “Thirstland,” and “The Hag,” Skinning is their loudest, most unhinged statement yet.
Birmingham punks BACK TEETH drop their debut album Ultimate Worrier on October 3 via Little Rocket Records and A.D.D. Records. Ten tracks deep, the record digs into ageing, anxiety, grief, and information overload, with vocalist/guitarist Lewis Bloor calling it “a record that acknowledges the mess but doesn’t give up on finding meaning in it.”
Detroit pop-punk crew UNWELL have unveiled Craven, the third single from their upcoming album Allegoria, out November 7 on Pure Noise Records. “It’s about the kind of person who hides behind anger, ego, and loud words, hoping no one notices their fear,” says vocalist Matt Copley. “This song gave me the space to finally say: I see through it. And I’m done.” The band frames Allegoria as a symbolic tapestry of stories—love, loss, power, addiction, and redemption woven into a modern set of bruised parables.
Sell The Heart Records just announced General Hermitude by BENEATH YOU. Featuring members of the legendary ska-punk outfit DANCE HALL CRASHERS (brothers Jason and Gavin Hammon) and pop-punk perfectors LIMP (Serge Verkhovsky), and rounded out by upstart frontwoman Mary Diridon, the album blends punk and ska in a way that showcases their pedigree to the highest degree.
Los Angeles punks STOKE SIGNALS have lined up a new EP, Making Enemies, set for October 31st via Hey! Fever Records. Tracked DIY in their Culver City lockout—amps cranked, gang vocals screamed from bathrooms, even a toilet reverb mic—the four songs were later mastered by Paul Miner, keeping the rough edges intact. Lead single “rockville winters build character” lands with a Tucker Bennett–directed video, an anthem for overlooked working-class grit that sets the tone for what the band calls their hardest and loudest material yet. West Coast shows kick off in November, including a live KUCI radio spot.
THE RAGING NATHANS just dropped Head Back Home, a two-song single via Rad Girlfriend Records, also set to appear on their upcoming singles collection Bad Timing: Sordid Youth Vol. 3. The title track carries a mid-tempo punch the band admits they sat on for a while before finally releasing. The splatter vinyl variant has already sold out, with remaining copies available through Brassneck Records.
The single features Head Back Home (3:09) and Sorry to Keep You Waiting (4:01), both rooted in the band’s sharp, hook-heavy punk sound built over more than a decade of DIY touring and nonstop output.
THE RAGING NATHANS are heading back on the road this month with Screeching Weasel, Hayley and the Crushers, Kilograms, and Pietasters, including FEST dates in Gainesville. Purple and green LPs of the singles collection are still available.
MAJORS just teamed up with WE WERE SHARKS for a new single called “Propagolfi,” a tongue-in-cheek blast of modern punk attitude wrapped around the unlikely world of golf.
Formed in 2023, MAJORS throw high-energy hooks and 2000s-style punk riffs into the mix, turning country club culture into raw, fast, and very loud fun. The band is all about showing that punk can tackle any theme, and this one hits with both humor and sharp execution.
N.E. VAINS have announced their debut full-length Running Down Pylons, out soon on Big Neck Records, with the title track now streaming via New Noise Magazine. Formed in late 2022 by Jeffrey Thunders and TJ Cabot after connecting through the Budget Rock Facebook page, the cross-border garage punk project quickly expanded into a full band, releasing a split with Chinese Junk in 2023 on Big Neck and Brassneck Records.
Following the passing of bassist Bill Bates, the group enlisted New Haven musician/engineer Scott Fitch for the final recording sessions that shaped this 11-song LP. From country-tinged slide guitar on “The Grounds” and “Through with It” to the snarling hardcore of “Pinched Nerve” and the Freeze-inspired title track, Running Down Pylons captures the band’s raw, no-frills energy—short, sharp, and built to sting. Pre-orders are live now via Big Neck Records.
IF IT KILLS YOU teamed up with London’s RITUAL ERROR for their first UK run this September, hitting Cardiff, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, and London. Instead of standard promo, the bands documented the trip with a tour diary, capturing the small details of DIY touring: long drives, late nights, shared influences, and the bond of hardcore across continents. With history behind both groups and new material on the way — including IF IT KILLS YOU’s upcoming release recorded at Electrical Audio by Steve Albini — the diary offers a raw look at community and connection on the road.
This week, IDIOTEQ published the full feature with the complete diary written by the band.
ZERO BOYS will release Playback Is Hell on October 10 via Secretly Canadian, a collection that remixes and remasters their early ’90s albums Make It Stop and The Heimlich Maneuver while unearthing two previously unheard tracks, “Make It” and “In the Back of My Mind.” Frontman Paul Mahern, who handled the remixing, described the process as both archival and transformative — a chance to correct rushed mixes and reconnect with forgotten material that now feels like “a gift from the past.”
In our full feature this week, Mahern talks about rediscovering those tapes, balancing production work with fronting a punk band, teaching the history of punk at Indiana University, and why the Indianapolis scene remains vital in 2025.
Wichita pop punk/easycore band STAY THE COURSE have dropped their new single “Pocket Sand” today, via Punkerton Records. The track blends chunky melodic hooks, a cello-led bridge, and a crushing vocal breakdown, showing the band’s range in one sharp punch. Vocalist Joseph Meador calls it his favorite to play live: “The driving verses and big choruses get me hyped every time… it’s a musical journey from start to finish.”
Chapel Hill punks SUPERINTENDO fire off “Evergreen,” a sharp melodic punk anthem that calls out the habit of waiting for someone else to fix things. Frenetic drums and layered guitars push the track forward while Luke West’s lyrics turn the finger inward as much as outward: a rally to quit hiding behind screens and actually move. Urgent, hooky, and a little self-deprecating, it’s punk tough love dressed up as a danceable wake-up call. Out now on Punkerton Records.
UK hearty punk rock / rock trio TEMPLETON PEK are back with Savages, out October 3 via SBÄM Records in Europe and Double Helix in North America. Neal Mitchell, Kev Green, and Jon Keen push their sound into heavier, darker territory without dropping the sharp hooks they’ve built a career on. Across twelve tracks, the record thrashes through political fracture, anger, and resilience—loud, pissed-off anthems that still reach for unity. Mitchell sums it up: “It’s loud, it’s pissed off, but it’s also about unity. These songs are for anyone who’s ever felt like they’ve had to stand up and shout to be heard.”
Toronto melodic punks THE BARE MINIMUM have a new single out called Fare Inspector. Clocking in under two minutes, it lands with the same chaotic skate-punk energy they’ve been known to bend and twist on stages from Pouzza Fest to NXNE, where they’ve shared bills with acts like Meat Wave, No Fun At All, and Adrenalized.
⤵ Rock
Alternative, Indie Rock, Hard Rock, Emo, Noise Rock, Post Punk, Grunge, Shoegaze and more
Canadian post-hardcore vets ALEXISONFIRE have finally put out a studio version of their live-staple cover of “Fully Completely” by The Tragically Hip.
Copies of Old Masters: Volume 1, a four-track cover collection to be released November 7th, 2025. True to form, the band puts their unmistakable stamp on reimagined versions of songs from beloved 90s Canadian bands The Tragically Hip, Doughboys, Shallow North Dakota, and Rusty.
“This is like one of those things where you come up with the idea, you say it out loud and then you never do it. Well, we did it. You can imagine Alexisonfire sitting around backstage with a bluetooth speaker playing all of our favourite 90s CanCon songs and someone saying, ‘we should do a record of Canadian 90s covers’. For most people it would probably end there. Lucky for you, Alexisonfire isn’t ‘most people’. We love fun.” – George Petit of Alexisonfire
OASIS are marking the 30th anniversary of What’s The Story Morning Glory? with a deluxe reissue out October 3 via Big Brother Recordings. The expanded formats feature unplugged versions of “Cast No Shadow,” “Morning Glory,” “Wonderwall,” “Acquiesce,” and “Champagne Supernova,” plus new artwork by original designer Brian Cannon and updated sleeve notes. Fans can grab it on 2CD, digital, or special 3LP editions, including exclusive colored variants tied to individual tracks—Crystal Clear (Cast No Shadow), blue marble (Morning Glory), sepia marble (Wonderwall), and neon orange (Acquiesce). Each set includes the 2014 remaster alongside the bonus material.
Heavy and atmospheric alt-rock unit THE COMFORT have dropped their new album Let The Love In. The Brisbane band runs through ten tracks that swing from the bleak opener “Existence Is Suffering” to the closing title cut, digging into loss, fragility, and the urge to hold on. It follows their past records What It Is to Be and Experience Everything. Live And Die., pushing further into that mix of weight and self-reflection.
Serj Tankian has unveiled a new single, “Kneeling Away From The Sun,” taken from his upcoming album Covers, Collaborations & Collages, due out October 24, 2025 on Serjical Strike Records / Create Music Group.
The album will feature ten tracks blending different genres, with contributions from Deadmau5, Bic Runga, and Lucas Vidal. Following the lead single “Electric Dreams,” “Kneeling Away From The Sun” continues Tankian’s rollout plan — the frontman will release one song per week until the full album drops.
Brooklyn indie-emo/post-hardcore band STAY INSIDE have dropped their new album Lunger, out October 3 via Tiny Engines. Recorded at Thunder Palace and Brooklyn Recording Paradise with Chris Johns and Brian DiMeglio producing, the record folds in clarinet, melodica, sax, trumpet, banjo, and more across 14 tracks.
Post-hardcore rockers BURIAL WAVES (members of Pianos Become the Teeth, Black Clouds) have a new single out now called Arc, a sharp cut from their upcoming album Washed Clean, due October 10 via Dark Operative. The Washington, D.C. crew call the record “ambitious, cohesive, lean, and hungry,” a step up from their 2020 debut Holy Ground.
Five years after their debut Holy Ground, the band’s hive-mind chemistry pushes further, leaving no corner of rock untouched while keeping it all tied to their own pulse. Produced with J. Robbins and mixed by Paul Malinowski, it lands October 10, 2025.
AFI have returned with their twelfth album Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, out now via Run For Cover Records. Featuring the singles “Behind the Clock,” “Holy Visions,” and “Ash Speck in a Green Eye,” the record aims for a single, dreamlike mood—dark, ethereal, and stately.
Davey Havok frames it as “a sonic manifestation of the struggle to reconcile existence in the godless, uncanny dystopia that is modern life.” Three decades in, AFI continue their tradition of reinvention, pulling long-standing influences to the surface while reshaping them into something both familiar and otherworldly.
The BBC reports that Spencer Elden — the man photographed as a baby on NIRVANA’s 1991 Nevermind album cover — has once again lost his legal battle against the band. Elden had sued NIRVANA and photographer Kirk Weddle, claiming the cover amounted to child pornography and tied him permanently to “commercial sexual exploitation.”
US District Judge Fernando Olguin ruled that the image does not depict “sexually explicit conduct,” noting that nudity alone is not enough to meet the legal definition. He compared the photo to a family bathing snapshot and emphasized the lack of lascivious context. The ruling also pointed out Elden’s prior willingness to embrace and profit from the image.
This marks the latest dismissal after Elden’s original 2021 suit was thrown out due to being filed past the statute of limitations. Although an appeals court allowed him to refile, Judge Olguin has now dismissed it again. Elden’s legal team said they plan to appeal, arguing the case highlights failures in protecting childhood privacy and consent in the entertainment industry.
FOO FIGHTERS just dropped a surprise live album, Are Playing Where??? Vol. 1, exclusively on Bandcamp. The six-track set captures their string of tiny club shows last month in San Luis Obispo, Santa Ana, Washington D.C., and New Haven—“ripping live tracks recorded in front of dozens, possibly hundreds,” as the band put it. The release digs into their 1995 debut with “Alone + Easy Target,” “Exhausted,” “Wattershed,” “Weenie Beenie,” and the deep-cut “Winnebago,” plus a feral run of 2011’s “White Limo.” It’s streaming free or “pay what you want,” with proceeds going to local charities in each city.
Croatian post-hardcore rockers DEAD DOG SUMMER have a new record out called Building Again. Tracked by Igor Bistrovic at Grid Studio and finished off by Ivan Jakić at Kut Sobe, the nine-song set runs from bruised cuts like “Scars” and “Traces” to the longer burn of “Never Again.” Formed in Čakovec in 2020, the band—Bistrovic, Kreso Zerjav, and Boris Strahija—keep it raw, splitting vocals and leaning into that emo-hardcore edge.
New York grungegaze outfit GLIMMER drop their debut LP Get Weak today, recorded in Brooklyn with Jeff Berner and mastered by Will Yip. The record runs from fuzzy hooks (“Dissolve,” “Slow Saturday”) to weightier cuts like “Been Down” and the drifting haze of “Bloom,” closing on the title track’s slow-burn comedown. Stereogum called them “a blissed-out, fuzzed-up take on the early Foo Fighters,” while Vice praised their “dreamy, grungegazy” pull. The band hits the road October 9, starting in Philadelphia and running through the Midwest before looping back to New York later in the month.
Norwegian trio LES DUNES have dropped a new video for Den Hopsack, a cut off their second album From Etne To The Edge Of Space on Kapitän Platte. The track is taut and hypnotic, a stripped-down push of momentum that recalls the slow-core haze of the 90s while nodding back to the band’s roots in THE LOW FREQUENCY IN STEREO. Built on steady drive and cinematic edge, it plays like the spark before liftoff — a night freeway soundtrack where time slips and the mind drifts.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA have released “Eyes”, the latest rock single from their upcoming ninth album Flowers, due November 14 via Solid State Records. Directed by Wyatt Clough (SILVERSTEIN, BEARTOOTH), the video pairs tight melodic verses with fuzz-heavy riffs, reflecting the track’s lyrical focus on disillusionment, anxiety, and the search for clarity when old beliefs collapse.
Jonathan Gering describes it as confronting hollow convictions, while Jeremy DePoyster frames it as “desperately yearning for answers.” The release follows a turbulent year for the band, marked by the death of founding drummer Daniel Williams in a plane crash and the departure of bassist Mason Nagy in July, yet they continue pushing forward with what’s shaping up to be one of their most personal records.
Belgian alt-rock powerhouse BRUTUS are lining up a big October. Their Live in Brussels concert film hits the big screen at White Cinema on October 24, with proceeds going to charity De Warmste Week, before streaming worldwide via Veeps on October 29. The live album follows on November 29. A new etched black vinyl pressing has also been announced after the clear variant sold out. One of our favorite alternative rock bands with a style entirely their own — just the thought of their live set is enough to bring chills back.
Psychedelic metal/noise rock veterans TODAY IS THE DAY have returned with their fourteenth LP Never Give In, out now on Steve Austin’s own SuperNova Records.
Conceived as the first half of a two-part concept, the record drags together decades of the band’s chaotic lineage—metallic core drenched in cinematic, psychedelic motifs and fuelled by themes of loathing, despair, and antagonism toward the powers that be. Written and recorded by Austin in Maine, with guests including Mac Gollehon (trumpet/trombone) and David Brenner (synths/vocals), the album follows the pandemic-era No Good To Anyone and marks a new phase of self-released defiance. The band will join Primitive Man on the American Observance Tour this December, with stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, New Orleans, and beyond.
OASIS will chronicle their sold-out 2025 reunion tour in a massive new coffee-table book, Oasis Live ’25 OPUS. Shot by Simon Emmett, the 400-page collection captures the Gallagher brothers’ first tour together in 16 years, from the initial portraits that announced their comeback to triumphant images of them onstage. A deluxe Marquee edition will be limited to 100 copies worldwide, with several other versions planned for broader release.
At the same time, the band’s website briefly crashed after radio host Chris Evans teased “big news for 2026,” while Liam Gallagher fueled speculation online with cryptic posts. Fans are already guessing at anniversary gigs at Etihad Stadium or Knebworth, though nothing has been confirmed.
Meanwhile, OASIS continue their globe-spanning Live ’25 trek with dates in Asia, Australia, and South America through November. Tomorrow (October 3), they also release the 30th anniversary reissue of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, featuring new unplugged versions, updated artwork, and sleeve notes, alongside a 25th anniversary reissue of Familiar to Millions.
SMASHING PUMPKINS are going all in for the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. On November 21, UMe drops an expanded reissue loaded with unreleased 1996 live recordings, deluxe CD and vinyl editions, and extras like a tarot card deck, lithographs, and a velvet slipcase. Billy Corgan says revisiting the original lineup’s last big tour was “bittersweet,” but the tapes capture the raw power of that era.
Beyond the reissue, Corgan teams with the Lyric Opera of Chicago for A Night Of Mellon Collie And Infinite Sadness (Nov 21–30), reimagining the album with full orchestration and opera staging. There’s even a collaboration with Vosges Haut-Chocolat on The Mellon Collie Sessions, a limited chocolate box with bars themed after “Zero,” “Tonight, Tonight,” and “1979.”
Alt-rock outfit SCARLET STREET have dropped a new single, Palo Alto, ahead of their upcoming album No Alternative, out October 24. Riding a shoegaze-grunge undertow, the track swings between hushed verses and choruses that rip wide with raw shouts and heavy guitars. Lyrically it locks into the endless scroll, nodding to capitalist realism and asking straight up: what’s so normal about this?
San Jose outfit SUMMER BLUE have dropped their self-titled debut EP via New Morality Zine. The five-song set leans into jangly guitars, moody hooks, and a dreamy power-pop haze that feels ripped from early 2000s coming-of-age soundtracks. Written as a side project between friends tied to other Bay Area bands, the release lands with both nostalgia and freshness, even slipping in a playful Smiths cover on the CD edition.
Legendary Tokyo emo/indie outfit AKUTAGAWA are back with 鱗光 / Rinkou, their first full-length in 14 years since dawn. Out November 7 via Dog Knights Productions, the record stretches across seven tracks, including the vinyl-exclusive cut “Friday Afternoon” featuring Nekota Netako. Pre-orders kick off October 3, with the label calling dawn “one of my all-time favourite emo LPs” and framing this return as a long-awaited continuation of that legacy.
Indie/emo veterans BOYS LIFE have broken a 29-year silence with the announcement of Ordinary Wars, a four-song EP arriving November 21 via Spartan Records. The Kansas City band’s first new material since 1996 captures raw, live takes and themes of mortality and societal decay. The title track, now streaming with a video, digs into the hollow fabrications of money, status, and corporate control. “America is a business and we all work for the company… the war would be inside each of us,” says vocalist Brandon Butler.
Setterwind Records has released One Week Off, the new album from RYAN ALLEN. Written between 2021–2024 and re-recorded at home during a staycation, the record collects reworked demos with a consistent sonic aesthetic, led by the single “Time Stealer.” All instruments were tracked by Allen at Elgin House Studios in Oak Park, MI, with mixing and mastering handled by Paul Miner at Buzzbomb Studios in Orange, CA. One Week Off is available now digitally via Setterwind Records.
Cincinnati alt-punk ]emo rockers SCARLET STREET are gearing up to drop their new record No Alternative on October 24 via We’re Trying Records. Four cuts are already streaming — “Victory Speech,” “Warning Sounds,” “Palo Alto,” and “Corporate Memphis” — showcasing the band’s jagged mix of emo, indie, and pounk rock bite.
SECOND IDOL have dropped their new video for “Spineless Wonders,” out October 3 via Gloomshift Records, and we premiered it this week on IDIOTEQ. The Sydney band channel gothic tension and political bite, with Kate Farquharson describing the track as a critique of corruption and cowardice. The video, directed by Jack Fontes, leans into themes of power and control with a dark dominatrix narrative, echoing the song’s sinister edge. Recorded and produced by Clayton Segelov at The Brain Studios, the track sits in a lineage that recalls Placebo, Sonic Youth, and Siouxsie and the Banshees, while pointing toward the band’s upcoming debut LP.
Post-hardcore rockers THRICE have unleashed their twelfth album Horizons/West via Epitaph, the darker twin to 2021’s Horizons/East.
Where its predecessor closed with a flicker of hope, this one sinks straight into shadow—opener “Blackout” creeps like storm clouds, “Gnash” glitches with aggression, and “The Dark Glow” hums with Radiohead-esque unease. Still, the band bend moods as always: “Albatross” swings grungy and anthemic, “Vesper Light” defies apocalypse with falsetto lift, and closer “Unitive/West” sounds like the world folding in on itself. Nearly three decades on, THRICE remain restless, stitching philosophy, identity, and collapse into one of their bleakest, most ambitious records yet.
London sludge unit GHOLD have announced their first album in six years, Bludgeoning Simulations, due November 14th via Human Worth. Recorded in the Welsh valleys with producer Wayne Adams, the record digs into loss, abjection, and isolation, pulling their sound into darker, more experimental territory. The band calls it “a culmination and a sort of tribute to all our previous work and experiences together.” First single “Cauterise” is streaming now, with proceeds from Bandcamp sales set to support SkatePal.
SPOTLIGHTS will release Rarities on November 21 via Ipecac Recordings, a nine-track collection spanning material from 2009 through 2023. The set includes remastered early cuts, EP tracks, and rarities, most appearing on vinyl for the first time.
A preview comes with “050809,” the first song Mario and Sarah Quintero ever wrote together, now given a 2025 remaster. “You can hear and feel the development of the band over the years, not only musically but emotionally and production wise as well,” Mario says. The trio also join A.A. Williams for a European tour this winter.
Industrial juggernaut NINE INCH NAILS will extend the Peel It Back Tour across North America in February–March 2026, fresh off their TRON: Ares soundtrack. The second leg hits arenas from New Orleans and D.C. to Boston, Montreal, Dallas, Las Vegas, San Francisco and more, with BOYS NOIZE returning as opener.
The trek follows a sold-out 2025 run that leveled Europe/UK and major U.S. markets with multi-night stands in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale now.
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MODERN BASEBALL are revisiting a fan-favorite era with MOBO Presents: The Perfect Cast LP feat. Modern Baseball (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition), out October 24 via Lame-O Records. First released in 2015, The Perfect Cast sat between You’re Gonna Miss It All and Holy Ghost and became a cult favorite. This new edition collects live tracks from 2015 shows, freshly mixed and mastered, alongside acoustic sessions like Altered Course and Sunday Night Salad, plus updated artwork by Jess Flynn and Perry Shall. The band calls it “a small thank you” to mark the EP’s 10-year milestone.
Goth metal rockers UNTO OTHERS just slipped out a short new single, “What I Did…,” clocking in under two minutes and steeped in the same campy Halloween spirit as their 2021 release I Believe In Halloween. The band admitted that the concept was meant to become an annual “Treehouse Of Horror”-style tradition, but only now returns with part two after a four-year gap. In their own words: “On the following morning, a dream I was certain of this, but there was something amiss. I was in the cemetery, caught in some sinister business… I saw ‘In Loving Memory’ it couldn’t be …that’s my name!”
SLEEPWALK have dropped a remastered version of their single Flesh from the breakout LP Splatter, now pressed to vinyl for the first time via Quiet Panic. The Chicago nugaze band frame the track’s punk edge against a wall of shoegaze atmosphere, pairing it with an acoustic b-side of Hit The Ground. Recorded at The Echo Mill and mastered by Adam Stilson at Decade Music Studios, the reissue arrives as the band heads out on tour with THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE and ASKY SOBLACK, with dates through the East Coast and Midwest this fall.
Hudson Valley shoegaze/alt-metal unit SOUL BLIND have dropped the new single “Mistake To Wonder” while lining up their second album Red Sky Mourning, due October 10 via Closed Casket Activities. Guitarist Finn Lovell tied his contributions to his own sobriety, saying, “I really don’t think I would have been able to contribute what I did if I hadn’t gotten sober… we all individually had turmoil… but we allowed ourselves to be vulnerable. All of it shows on ‘Red Sky Mourning’ and I think that honesty shines brightly.”
Łódź outfit KISU MIN have released their new album Rudolf Steiner House through Antena Krzyku, a record wrestling with fractures of war, exile, AI creep, and environmental collapse across twelve tracks. From the Pixies-tinged “Not Your Girl” to the Carpenter-inspired “Uncanny Valley,” the band keeps one foot in political urgency and the other in raw alt-rock experimentation.
We’ve got the full feature and track-by-track commentary up on IDIOTEQ this week.
Emo veterans MAYDAY PARADE have dropped Sad, the second part of their 20th anniversary trilogy, following this spring’s Sweet and leading into a final chapter set for 2026. The record’s focus track, “Promises,” comes from drummer/vocalist Jake Bundrick, who calls it a reflection of a personal breaking point: “I was on a ledge and in a terrible situation… I haven’t been the same since.” Alongside “One Day at a Time” and “Under My Sweater,” the album balances nostalgia and sharp hooks with the band’s trademark confessional edge. A massive North American run with All Time Low kicks off next week before they head to When We Were Young and Europe early next year.
Grungy punk / rock unit FEVERSLEEP have a new track out called Glassing, their piece of a four-way split with Amusement, ERRTH, and Carnivorous Flower. The Portland band—stacked with former YOUNG LIVERS, DIKEMBE, and LOCK AND KEY members—kicks it off with a filthy bass throb and hard-driving drums, landing somewhere between melodic HELMET weight and SONIC YOUTH abrasion. The split drops October 24 via Creep Records and Protagonist Music, with all four bands set to showcase at The Fest 23 in Gainesville.
THE CURE have been confirmed as the first headliners for Open’er Festival 2026 in Gdynia, Poland. The band will take the Orange Main Stage on July 3, as part of the festival’s run from July 1–4.
The announcement follows news of the group’s wider European festival appearances and UK headline shows next summer. Alongside classics, fans can expect material from their 2022 album Songs of a Lost World—and possibly tracks from the two nearly finished LPs Robert Smith hinted at last year. Early bird tickets go on sale October 8.
Dark post punk rockers CLONE have announced their new 3-song EP Care to Try?, out October 3rd via Little Cloud Records, also available as a clear 7” vinyl. The EP includes “Care to Try?” backed with “Libras at Dusk” and “Galvanized,” recorded and mixed by Martin Bisi (Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth) and paired with photography from Simon Larbalestier (Pixies, 4AD). Pre-orders for the vinyl and digital release are up now through Little Cloud Records and the band’s Bandcamp.
Seattle’s MALE//GAZE have a new single out, Get Well, leading into their self-released record Too Late Now due November 28. Known for what friends call “aggressively cathartic” performances, the band threads trauma, healing, and identity through a sound that swings between heavy impact and vulnerable clarity. Active in the Pacific Northwest scene, they’ve played Port Townsend Pride, Kitsap Pride, and Tremolo Fest, alongside acts like Dank, Flesh Produce, and Mt Fog.
’90s emo fixtures POHGOH and SAMUEL S.C. have teamed up for a split 10-inch, set for release October 8 through New Granada Records in the U.S. and Waterslide Records in Japan. The collaboration grew out of a reunion last fall when Susie and Keith of Pohgoh caught a Jawbox show in Pennsylvania with Samuel S.C. on the bill, sparking the idea for new music together. Pohgoh contributes “I’m A Fan” and “The Interlude,” their first new tracks since 2022’s du und ich, while Samuel S.C. adds songs like “Evergreen,” with vocalist Vanessa Downing describing its lyrics as confronting mid-life demons while accepting that “some things never change.”
Both bands have reemerged in the last few years—Pohgoh after two decades away, releasing J. Robbins–produced albums and touring the U.S. and Japan, and Samuel reforming in 2021 with a refreshed lineup. Their upcoming split marks a continuation of that momentum, with a joint appearance scheduled at Several States Fest in Chicago on January 17, 2026.
LAVISHER will release their second LP Aligned & Vital on November 14th through NEFARIOUS INDUSTRIES. Formed by Gavin Cushman III (vocals, guitars, bass, synths) and Benjamin Standage (drums), the Chicago band blends grunge, space rock, and alt-metal textures reminiscent of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, FAILURE, and A PERFECT CIRCLE.
SELL THE HEART RECORDS has reissued the self-titled full-length from Santa Rosa’s GOOD CITY LIE STILL, originally out on CD during the band’s 2005–2009 run. Newly remastered with updated artwork, the record finally gets a proper vinyl release. Active for just a few years, the band left behind one EP and this album, which now resurfaces for fans of Brazil, Circa Survive, Cursive, Minus The Bear, and Pretty Girls Make Graves.
THE HIVES have revealed a new set of custom-made suits designed with Tiger Of Sweden ahead of their upcoming UK and European tour. Based on sketches from frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, the sharp black-and-white outfits feature pagoda shoulder construction inspired by Pierre Cardin’s 1979 designs, engineered to withstand the demands of the band’s explosive live shows.
The tour kicks off October 17 in Oslo and runs through December with stops across Europe and the UK, including London’s Alexandra Palace. It supports their new album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, released in August via PIAS.
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Indie outfit PYNCH have released their second album Beautiful Noise via their own Chillburn Recordings with support from State51. Produced by frontman Spencer Enock and mixed by Jimmy Robertson, the record dives inward—through love, death, and small existential snapshots—while wrapping lo-fi sincerity in distortion, breakbeats, and glitchy vocals. Songs like “Post-Punk” and “Microwave Rhapsody” balance meta-pop playfulness with plainspoken philosophy, while “How to Love Someone” and “Revolve Around You” trace heartbreak in sharper detail. The band hits the road across the UK this month, with shows in Manchester, London, Brighton, Glasgow, and more.
Noise-pop outfit THIS HOUSE IS CREAKING just shared 2 Lamp (lava lamp), a track written right after bandmates Micah Miller and Ehmed Nauman moved into a new apartment together. They call it “an extremely cathartic song about cleansing yourself of old habits, relationships, mental blockades… and starting fresh,” ending on the line, “Sometimes you just have to stare into a lava lamp.” The Chicago duo will open for WATER FROM YOUR EYES at Sleeping Village on October 2, then head out with Delaney Bailey in November and December. Their second album, I Want To Feel At Home Here, is also out, tracing noise, melody, and restless shifts in sound.
LOWINSKY’s new album Alice inizia a capire, out September 19 via Waddafuzz and RocketMan Records, sharpens their mix of indie rock and power pop with cello-driven melancholy and ironic literary twists. Produced by Ettore Gilardoni, it stretches from the punchy single “Brucia” to the mournful “Il trono d’oro” and protest anthem “Respirare,” while the title track nods playfully to The Lemonheads.
We covered it earlier this week at this location.
Shoegaze collective MRC_BCP just unveiled Live in The Cave, a two-song session filmed inside the old Cap Garonne copper mine in Le Pradet. The Toulon band leans into noise and ambient edges, letting saturated riffs crash into fragile melodies. The set pairs Backseat, a tense, disillusioned drift, with The Cave, which builds inwards before breaking open. Shot with flashes, night vision, and a found-footage feel, the performance turns the mine into a stand-in for the mind—dark, raw, and echoing with struggle.
Dream-soaked and ritual-heavy, OSLO TAPES just shared “Analemma,” the second single from their upcoming album LÅST COMET, out November 14. Led by Marco Campitelli, the track drifts in layers of fuzz, synth arpeggios, and blurred vocals, with Emilie Lium Vordal adding an ethereal counterpoint. Produced by Amaury Cambuzat and mastered by James Aparicio, the record was pieced together between Italy and Norway with help from Emil Nikolaisen and Motorpsycho’s Håkon Gebhardt, pushing the collective further into cosmic, esoteric terrain.
Alternative rock staples THE RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS are dropping their sixth album X’s For Eyes this Friday via Better Noise Music. The record leans into caffeinated pop hooks, heavy riff work, and electronic flourishes, with Ronnie Winter’s high-register delivery at the core. Guests include Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens and Craig Mabbitt of Escape The Fate, while producer Matt Squire helps shape the title track’s blunt take on America’s current chaos. Winter frames it as both a reunion with the Don’t You Fake It crew and a personal reckoning, noting: “For the first time in my life at 42 years old, I no longer identify as a Christian.”
Shoegaze/post-hardcore veterans SHINER have released their new album Believeyoume via Spartan Records. Recorded at bassist Paul Malinowski’s Massive Sound Studio, the record mixes their signature heaviness with more open, instinctive writing. Lyrically, the band digs into aging, relationships, manipulation, and denial, with tracks like “Asleep in the Trunk” framing the album’s themes of ambiguity and fragile belief. Allen Epley describes the process as less brooding than 2020’s Schadenfreude, noting, “We came in with fewer pre-written ideas and just reacted to each other in real time. Less brooding, more instinct. Still heavy, still weird—just breathing a little more.”
The band will support Believeyoume with a 19-date U.S. tour starting October 5 in San Diego and closing November 15 in Detroit, including November dates alongside MIRRORLESS. With more than three decades behind them, SHINER continue evolving their sound while staying rooted in their trademark mix of weight and melody.
Grand Rapids pop-punk/emo unit MOTION SICK have a self-titled EP landing October 3 via PNWK Records. The first single, “Stand Up Straight”. Recorded at Furniture City Soundworks and polished up by Steve Perrino, the EP will get its live baptism at a November 7 release show where the band plans to play it front to back.
BREAKING BENJAMIN guitarist KEITH WALLEN has shared a new video for his single Dead Inside, following last year’s solo album Infinity Now on Rise Records. The clip mirrors the track’s tense energy, with Wallen summing up its theme simply: “Sometimes, life can feel like a bad dream.”
Wallen’s solo work blends ‘80s pop influences with the heavy moods of ‘90s grunge, expanding on a career that includes stints in ADELITAS WAY and his long-running role in BREAKING BENJAMIN. Alongside his own material, he’s also written for SAINT ASONIA, WE CAME AS ROMANS, FUEL, RED, and KORN guitarist Brian “Head” Welch’s LOVE AND DEATH.
Philly slacker-rock outfit SNOOZER will drop their new EP Little Giants on October 31 via Born Losers Records, with lead single “Just Sayin’” arriving October 3. Written around a riff guitarist Mike Kelly played on tour, the track balances self-deprecating humor with scorched guitar noise, framed as a man-child’s slow crawl toward growth.
The EP leans into straightforward rock songs about relationships, loss, and letting old selves die off, with the band describing it as “not trying to reinvent the wheel, just embracing the cool little thing we do well.” SNOOZER close out the year touring with They Are Gutting A Body of Water and Algernon Cadwallader.
PEEL DREAM MAGAZINE are back with Taurus, a mini-album dropping October 1 via Topshelf Records. The eight-track release collects material cut from last year’s Rose Main Reading Room sessions, showing Joseph Stevens stretching from motorik haze to shoegaze shimmer and space-age pop detours. Lead cut “Venus In Nadir” hits twee and jangly, while the title track drifts on vibraphones and “Seek and Destroy” rides bubbly synths. The closer “Believer,” sung by Olivia Babuka Black, folds in Philip Glass-like woodwinds and mantric vocals, tying the record back to the hypnotic mood of their previous full-length.
Swedish noise-punk outfit STATUES return with their fourth full-length Dopamine, out October 31 via ORD. The Umeå veterans—Johan, Magnus, Henrik, and Mathias—have unveiled a new video for Big Freeze, showcasing their sharp, chaotic blend of SST grit and Dischord precision. The album follows Black Arcs Rising (2023) and features ten tracks, including Cures with Christian Kjellvander.
With three decades of stubborn DIY spirit behind them, STATUES keep pushing distortion into melody, turning the three-minute song format into something tense and unhinged. Release shows are set for Umeå, Stockholm, Malmö, and more this fall.
Industrial-scorched post-punks GLOIN just dropped Buckets of Blood, a double-single via Mothland built around “blind” covers of their track “Bucket of Blood.” Sunglaciers and We Owe each recorded their own takes without hearing the original, only working off the lyrics and instrumentals. The song first showed up on Gloin’s 2025 Polaris long-listed album All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry), and the Toronto crew are now taking it overseas for a run of EU/UK shows.
UK psych-rock survivors THE CHARLATANS have unveiled “Deeper And Deeper,” the second cut from their upcoming album We Are Love, due October 31 on BMG. Driven by Hammond organ, thick bass, and fuzzy guitar, the track channels their psychedelic roots while edging into new ground. Tim Burgess calls it “Altered States meets Pincher Martin,” with a pull that feels both immediate and irreversible.
Indie rockers REMEMBER SPORTS are back with new single “Across The Line,” their first since the 2022 Leap Day EP. The Philly crew—Carmen Perry, Catherine Dwyer, and Jack Washburn—sound sharpened but still true to their basement-bred charm, Perry’s vocals cutting through with the same mix of bite and tenderness that’s carried them for a decade.
FAULTY COGNITIONS have released their sophomore LP They Promised Us Heaven via DEAD BROKE REKERDS in North America and Shield Records in Europe. The San Antonio band — with roots in LOW CULTURE, SHANG-A-LANG, and NOCTURNAL PROSE — sharpen their mix of jangly kiwi rock and American punk into a darker, more melodic record that balances shimmering tones with blunt socio-political commentary.
Lyrically, Chris Mason reflects on global capitalism, inequality, and the Palestinian genocide, framing the album around the “hypernormalization” of daily horrors. Pressed on 200 black and 100 opaque red vinyl, the record follows their 2024 debut Somehow, Here We Are and pushes closer to late ’80s Britrock while retaining energy reminiscent of THE REPLACEMENTS, HÜSKER DÜ, and DINOSAUR JR.
UK alt-rock trio KROOKED TONGUE are gearing up for their debut album I Know A Place with a new single, Drugstore Cowboy, landing October 3. Built on fuzz-heavy guitars, driving drums, and a hook made for shouting back, the track looks at the fallout of selfish living. Alongside it comes a self-made video shot by guitarist Dan Smith—three minutes of DIY creativity and cinematic nods, pulled together on a zero-budget grind.
Progressive post-hardcore rockers MURALS have dropped a new single, tough, ahead of their self-titled debut EP arriving November 14 via Equal Vision Records. Featuring Shane Gann, Blake Dahlinger, and Tony Bautista—names tied to Hail The Sun, Sufferer, and Slenderbodies—the track wrestles with resilience and the shared weight of personal struggles.
“Sometimes I win, sometimes I fail. Sometimes I care enough to open up. It’s all about the journey, not the destination,” Bautista says. The band makes their live debut October 5 at Kill Iconic Fest in San Antonio.
Leeds noise-punk / alt rock collective VOLK SOUP are dropping their debut LP 10p Jazz this Friday, October 3 via Dipterid Records, with cassette support from Cruel Nature. Alongside the announcement comes the new single Friends, a bitter, sax-and-trumpet-laced churn that vocalist Harry Jones calls “a song written in a time between friendship… perhaps the sexiest song on the record?” The six-piece fold wiry post-punk, brass bursts, and free-jazz chaos into something equal parts menace and collapse, pushing their live volatility straight onto tape.
DREADNOUGHT have premiered their version of The Becoming by NINE INCH NAILS, taken from the upcoming The Downward Spiral Redux tribute compilation via Magnetic Eye Records.
The Denver avant-garde metal band bring their trademark blend of prog, doom, folk, and jazz into the NIN classic—yes, even weaving flute into the mix. Vocalist/instrumentalist Kelly Schilling explained that the challenge was covering an artist with a completely different sound while still honoring the original. “We had a lot of fun interpreting the melodies and nuances with different voicings and instrumentation, and we couldn’t resist adding a new flair of our own,” she said.
The Redux album, out November 28, 2025, features a stacked lineup including BLACK TUSK, SANDRIDER, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, and more, each reimagining a track from NIN’s landmark 1994 album. Alongside it, Magnetic Eye will also release Best of Nine Inch Nails Redux, a companion tribute spanning the band’s full catalog.
Connecticut rockers WOLVES AT BAY return October 10 with Dissolve, their first album in over a decade. The eight-song record marks a rebirth, weaving themes of aging, mental health, and friendship into a mix of urgency and introspection. Its centerpiece, “Guilt Cycle,” features Jonah Matranga of onelinedrawing, bridging generations of emotive punk and post-hardcore. A hometown release show with Many Eyes follows on October 11 at The Space Ballroom in Hamden, CT.
xxLUCKY HORSE RED have released their self-titled debut album via Shuga Records, a 13-track journey through love, cheating, addiction, sex, and restless desire, all framed by the sun-scorched imagery of the American West. Fronted by Bunny Gaubert, whose cracked, magnetic vocals lead the storytelling, the record blends psych, indie, Americana, jazz, punk, and rock ‘n’ roll, recorded at Joshua Tree Recording Studio with a lineup drawn from LA’s DIY underground, including members of TWIN PEAKS, THE AQUADOLLS, and BABE RUTHLESS.
⤵ Metal
Alt Metal, Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Black, Thrash, Sludge, Nu Metal, and more.
LAMB OF GOD have returned with “Sepsis”, their first new original track since 2022’s Omens. Produced by Josh Wilbur, the song digs back into the band’s Richmond roots, with Mark Morton citing underground locals like Breadwinner, Sliang Laos, and Ladyfinger as inspiration. The single comes with a lo-fi Gianfranco Svagelj–directed performance video, capturing the city’s grit and the track’s slow-burning menace. Out now via Epic Records, Sepsis lands during the band’s 25th anniversary year, following their Black Sabbath cover and a string of major festival appearances.
Screamy black metal outsiders AGRICULTURE have dropped their new full-length The Spiritual Sound, a ten-track plunge into collapse, devotion, and the grit of everyday life.
Written by Dan Meyer and Leah Levinson and pulled apart then rebuilt by the whole band, the record runs from “My Garden” to closer “The Reply” with Emma Ruth Rundle guesting. Levinson’s lyrics dodge slogans—“I don’t think I ever use the terms queer, gay, trans… it becomes a kind of ‘show, don’t tell’ thing”—while guitarist Richard Chowenhill calls the process “a merging of our individual identities in a way that generates potent results.”
We have the full interview with the band posted at this location.
Moment Of Collapse Records has released Breath, the debut full-length from German post-metal/post-black outfit AUßERWELT. Out October 2, 2025, the record blends crushing post-metal frameworks with blackened surges, shifting between restraint and chaos across expansive tracks.
The lineup—Manuel Klein (guitar, vocals), Kris Lucas (drums, piano, cleans), Meredith Schmiedeskamp (guitar), and Steffen Wolter (bass)—self-recorded the album, achieving a massive and organic sound. Songs like Old Dreams Of The West and While The Ruins Still Linger highlight their balance of atmosphere, melody, and heaviness, while closer In The Night’s Coating, We Contemplate Hope stretches into an eight-minute storm of riffs, harmonies, and tempo shifts.
Ukrainian war-metal force 1914 have unveiled a new track, The Siege of Przemyśl, out now via Napalm Records. Written by vocalist Dmytro Ternushchak and produced by Alexander Backlund, the single digs into one of World War I’s longest and most brutal stand-offs, where Austro-Hungarian forces finally collapsed to the Russians after more than 130 days. Mastered by Tony Lindgren and engineered at Jenny Records, the piece keeps 1914’s fixation on trench horror and battlefield history alive in grim, unflinching detail.
Long Island slam originators INTERNAL BLEEDING are back with their seventh full-length, Settle All Scores, dropping October 17 via Maggot Stomp. Fueled by three decades of betrayal, loss, and grind-it-out survival, the record zeroes in with eight tracks of pure vengeance, featuring guest spots from voices tied to their past and allies like Sherwood Webber of Skinless.
Produced with Taylor Young at The Pit and mastered by Brad Boatright, it’s as ugly and relentless as anything they’ve put their name on. To celebrate, the band will tear through a release weekend November 14–16 in Poughkeepsie, Amityville, and Hamden with Final Resting Place riding alongside.
Sweden’s ORBIT CULTURE have unleashed “Bloodhound”, a horror-fueled new single taken from their upcoming album Death Above Life, out tomorrow via Century Media. The track marks the band’s angriest moment yet, breaking past their usual restraint with a primal, explicit fury that mirrors its crushing riffs and unrelenting energy.
Death Above Life arrives in multiple vinyl variants, CD and digital formats, and will be supported by a UK/EU run with GAEREA and ATLAS this fall, as well as ORBIT CULTURE’s first shows in Japan. 2026 already has them confirmed for Wacken, Bloodstock, Alcatraz, Summer Breeze, Reload, Rockstadt Extreme Fest and Leyendas Del Rock.
EPHEMERAL shared their debut full-length Envisaged Human Collapse on October 3 via Armageddon Records and Crows Nest Records. Recorded and mixed by Nick Corcillo at The Crypt Studios and mastered by Arthur Rizk, the eight-track album pushes metallic death metal through a bleak, suffocating lens.
ÆNON (Sydney, Australia) have released the official video for their new single “Spirit of Fear”, premiering via BVTV Music. The track blends intense lyrical themes of anxiety, paralysis, and self-confrontation with a crushing, modern metalcore delivery.
Occult doom-rock coven WOLVENNEST just dropped their second single “The Shadow On Your Side,” previewing the massive double album Procession due October 17 on Consouling Sounds. Built on layers of guitars, theremin wails, and ritual weight, the record stretches toward 80 minutes of atmosphere, once again mixed and mastered by Déhà at Blackout Studio. Guest turns include Hekte Zaren of Adaestuo on “Tarantism,” while new bassist VaathV makes his recorded debut. As guitarist Marc De Backer puts it, “This procession is the soundtrack of our extinction, plain and simple.”
AUGUST BURNS RED have entered the studio to record their 10th full-length, slated for release in 2026. It will be their first new album since Death Below (2023).
Earlier this year, the band marked the 20th anniversary of their debut Thrill Seeker with a full re-recording featuring current vocalist Jake Luhrs.
WODE have unleashed their fourth album, Uncrossing The Keys, now out via 20 BUCK SPIN. Expanding on their feral black metal roots with a heavier, more melodic sweep, the record channels jagged post-punk, doom-laden grandeur, and gothic atmospheres without losing its fire and fury. Echoes and Dust called it “classic metal delivered under a blackened death metal roar,” and tracks like Transmutation, Under Lanternlight, and the haunting instrumental Phantom show the band’s evolution into something both elegiac and savage.
AS I LAY DYING appear to be preparing a North American run to mark the 20th anniversary of Shadows Are Security, following the announcement of their European anniversary tour earlier this year. The band’s social media teased “an evening with AS I LAY DYING,” promising full performances of the 2005 record alongside fan favorites.
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The European leg kicks off October 30 in Moscow and continues through mid-November with stops across Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. For now, no lineup details beyond Tim Lambesis have been confirmed, but the anniversary shows will be the band’s first major activity under FM Music Management.
VESSELES have announced their sophomore full-length Home, set for release on January 16th, 2026, and unveiled its seventh track, “Scriptures Etched Into the Mind’s Pillars.”
The new single channels the grand tradition of symphonic black metal with a blend of sweeping orchestration and blistering aggression. Lyrically, it shifts the project’s narrative away from searching for solace toward confronting internal struggle and the elusive search for peace.
Portland death/doom unit DISPOSSESSED have unveiled “Concrete Tomb,” the second track from their upcoming album Dêmocide, streaming now via No Clean Singing. The LP lands October 3 on Carbonized Records and features five slabs of sludgy, politically charged doom, recorded by Mike Vera and mastered by James Plotkin. Alongside tracks like “Opulent Doom” and “If I Must Die” (which incorporates a poem by the late Dr. Refaat Alareer), the record channels themes of systemic violence, environmental collapse, and carceral injustice through crushing riffs and bleak atmospheres.
Formed in 2014, DISPOSSESSED have built their sound on slow, feedback-driven weight influenced by Corrupted, Asunder, Winter, and Grief. Dêmocide follows their 2019 debut Exanimate and 2022’s Makhnovshchina single, continuing their mission to confront oppression through sound. The band will mark the release with a hometown show in Portland before hitting the road October 3–11 for a West Coast run.
Spanish black industrial force NOIR NOIR will see their works Black Curtain (2016) and Divine Swelling (2022) reissued together as a full-length compilation on October 17 via Sentient Ruin. Remastered by Grant Richardson, Black Curtain / Divine Swelling marks the first time these pivotal recordings appear on vinyl and CD, alongside cassette and digital formats. The release captures the project’s most focused death-industrial output, channeling oppressive ritual rhythms and glacial voidscapes in line with acts like Brighter Death Now, Trepaneringsritualen, and Lurker of Chalice.
German grindcore wrecking crew CONSTRICT have unveiled their new EP Kadavergehorsam, premiering it through Mystification Zine ahead of its October 3 release on 7Degrees Records, Loner Cult Records, and 783Label.
Written and recorded entirely DIY in Potsdam, the record takes aim at forced labor, capitalism, and systemic inequality with tracks like “Rats,” “Bloom,” and “Cattle,” while “Fight Back” leans toward resistance over despair. Blistering grindcore at its core, the band sharpen the edges with tempo shifts, tension breaks, and riffs that stick like shrapnel.
German sludge-doom crushers GRIM VAN DOOM have dropped Fibers of Ruin, recorded back in March “just for the fuck of it” and first appearing on a Weedian sampler in May. Tracked in their own rehearsal space by guitarist Leonardo Bardelle, the song marks the debut of new bassist Oli, with former bassist Niles moving over to guitar. Mixed and mastered at Die Tonmeisterei in Oldenburg, the track lands now as a standalone release.
PILE OF KNIVES have dropped their new single “Shank” via a lyric video premiere at Metal Injection, serving as the second preview of their upcoming EP Driven By The Blade, out October 31. The Eastern Pennsylvania death metal/slam unit, featuring former members of Existence and vocalist Bryan Martinez (ex-Grimus), channel influences from DYING FETUS, INTERNAL BLEEDING, and NO ZODIAC into a relentless, groove-heavy assault.
Seattle death metal force DEGRAVED will unleash their debut full-length Spectral Realm of Ruin on November 14, 2025 via ME SACO UN OJO RECORDS in collaboration with DARK DESCENT RECORDS.
After sharpening their sound through demos, an EP, and a split, the band steps into full destructive form—delivering cavernous riffs, frenzied blast beats, and venomous growls soaked in morbidity. Tracks like “Inept Descent” already hint at the balance between merciless aggression and eerie, doom-laden atmosphere, while slower passages inject an eldritch weight into the chaos.
Rooted in the classic 90s death metal tradition but sharpened with fresh brutality, Spectral Realm of Ruin promises a mix of old-school charm and modern ferocity, carving DEGRAVED’s name deep into the underground. Preorders are live now through Me Saco Un Ojo.
Atmospheric black metal relic SAKNA is finally seeing the light with De Syv Dødssynder, the one and only full-length from the late Canadian multi-instrumentalist Solemn, set for release October 31st on Hypaethral Records. Tracked entirely by Solemn between the ages of 14 and 18, the record blends Windir-inspired Sognametal with funeral doom, neo-folk, and dark ambient, a project cut short by his death in 2011. His brother S., known from Lunedi, has since recovered and finished the work, calling it “the culmination of two decades of work.” To mark the unveiling, Hypaethral has dropped SAKNA’s heavy, orchestral cover of Windir’s “Sóknardalr,” a piece S. hopes Valfar himself “would approve of.”
Italian post-black/post-hardcore artist LUCYNINE has unveiled Oltre La Soglia, the latest single from the upcoming album Melena, due October 3 via Talheim Records Germany. The track fuses post-black, crust, hardcore punk, and synthwave, with suffocated Italian vocals buried in the mix to heighten its sense of claustrophobia. Centered on a man stripped of all ties, channeling frustration into violent anger and self-affirmation, the song closes on a slow, crushing breakdown. Melena itself was written during a period of acute personal turmoil, intended as a raw, oppressive expression of that state.
Bay Area thrashers FORBIDDEN have dropped a video for their new single “Mutually Assured Dysfunction,” the follow-up to this summer’s “Divided By Zero.” The band calls it “like a crack to the skull,” a track about endless arguments, sound bites over substance, and the doctrine of mutually assured destruction that “will ultimately lead to our destruction as a species.” FORBIDDEN are back on stage this fall, hitting Sacramento’s Aftershock Festival and Colombia’s Grita Festival before digging further into their first batch of new material in over 15 years.
Heavy doom stoners SKOGSKULT have dropped “Turs,” the second single off their upcoming self-titled debut, out December 5 on Bonebag Records. Rooted in Umeå and sung in Swedish, the track leans on folklore, fuzz, and forest-born imagery, with riffs written first and lyrics pulled from reworked poems. We’ve got the full feature and interview on IDIOTEQ this week.
Sentient Ruin Laboratories have unleashed …Towards Doom…, the long-delayed debut from Vancouver’s DEATHWINDS. Over a decade in the making, the record drags war-charged blackened punk back to its primitive roots, channeling the raw ferocity of HELLHAMMER, CELTIC FROST, DISCHARGE, DOOM, BLACK WITCHERY, and BLASPHEMY. Issued as SRUIN252, the album is steeped in apocalyptic savagery and nuclear vice, a pure invocation of chaos. Black vinyl editions are still available in limited numbers, with EU-ground stock shipping now.
HARVESTED have unleashed a playthrough video for “Voices of the Void,” highlighting one of the fiercest cuts from their debut full-length Dysthymia, out now. Formed in 2019 with members tied to projects like A SCAR FOR THE WICKED and FUMIGATION, the Montreal band fuses old-school death metal with technical deathcore aggression.
The album’s nine tracks dive into mental illness, dissociation, and global turmoil, pairing brutal riffs and chaotic shifts with psychological depth. Mixed and mastered by Joe Lyko at Darkmoon Productions, Dysthymia positions HARVESTED alongside influences like CATTLE DECAPITATION and THE ZENITH PASSAGE, while proving themselves a fresh force in Canadian death metal.
GRIDFAILURE unleashes Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III, the final, most unhinged chapter in their five-album collapse saga. Eighty-plus minutes of post-industrial/dark hardcore warped through black metal, jazz, techno, Americana, and noise, it drags listeners into visions of climate ruin, cannibalism, AI dependency, and humanity eating itself alive. David Brenner pulls it together at The Compound with mastering by Dan Emery (Black Matter), while guests sprawl from Steve Austin (TODAY IS THE DAY) to Leila Abdul-Rauf (VASTUM), Jeff Wilson (CHROME WAVES), and Hazard (LES CHANTS DU HASARD).
A grotesque carnival of extremes, boxed with the entire Skulduggery cycle or on its own, out now via Nefarious Industries.
Finnish death-doom cult HOODED MENACE have unveiled their seventh full-length Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration via Season of Mist, a record that drags classic horror worship into new, spectral shapes. Tracks like “Pale Masquerade” grind with bone-crunching chugs and tomb-stenched growls, while “Save a Prayer” twists a pop glimmer through blood-soaked dread. The album leans heavier on ‘80s metal textures—galloping drums, neon-soaked leads, even a cello ghosting beneath “Portrait Without a Face.” Still rooted in Candlemass and Paradise Lost shadows, HOODED MENACE keep breaking the mold, turning death-doom into something both haunted and strangely luminous.
⤵ Experimental / Other
Chicago’s experimental band TORTOISE have dropped “Works and Days,” a new cut from their first album in nearly a decade, Touch, landing October 24 via International Anthem and Nonesuch.
The track shuffles through percussion, guitar figures, and synth glimmers, paired with a slice-of-life video by Alee Peoples. Recorded between Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, the record sees the five-piece reconnecting after years apart, aiming for their most wide-ranging set yet. Advance listening parties hit 150+ indie shops worldwide on October 18 before the band heads into a run of special shows, including dates with the Chicago Philharmonic and a three-night stand at Bowery Ballroom.
Mind-bending experimental rockers YOWIE return with “Taking Umbrage” after eight years, out October 3 via Skin Graft Records, rebuilt around new guitarist Jack Tickner (Wollongong) and bassist Daniel Kennedy (Philadelphia) alongside Saint Louis drummer Defenestrator—who all played together as a full unit only hours before recording.
They call it “hyper-composed” but crookedly swinging: “The little parts make the big picture,” Kennedy says, while Defenestrator adds, “This band tortures rhythms until they reveal their most angular anti-groovy essence.” The internal rulebook is ruthless—“No major, no minor, no 1-4-5, no four times of anything, no solos, no bullshit” (with “up to 11% bullshit” allowed)—and the premiere cut “Throckmorton” is the cleanest on-ramp before deeper knives like “Grimgribber” and “Skrimshander.” Full feature on IDIOTEQ this week.
WREN have unearthed Runes Ahead, a companion EP to their 2020 album Groundswells. Released digitally via Bandcamp, the record gathers noise experiments tracked at Middle Farm Studios and reimagined fragments of Groundswells, stretched and reshaped into unrecognisable states.
Compiled in a single day during the pandemic, the seven tracks dive into drone, sludge, and ambient noise — claustrophobic yet expansive. Contributions come from Scott Evans, Fvnerals, and Jo Quail, with mixing/mastering by Owen Jones at The Well Recordings.
Dark synth architect PERTURBATOR is back October 10 with Age of Aquarius, a black metal–inspired, EBM-driven LP out on Nuclear Blast Records. The record ropes in Alcest, Ulver, Author & Punisher, and Greta Link, pushing his mix of post-punk, goth, techno, and industrial into heavier territory. Singles like “Apocalypse Now” (with Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg), “The Art of War,” and the Carpenter-leaning “The Swimming Pool” sketch out a vision of conflict, war, and fractured individualism, while the Greta Link-assisted “Lady Moon” comes paired with an anime video.
French noise-rock experimentalists TORPEDO are rolling out the next piece of their sprawling album What the fucked do we all do now? | – Lights. A 10″ vinyl drops October 10, carrying the second movement of the 22-minute track “| NOISE,” while the band also unveils the second chapter of their video clip Some Wolves. Built from noise, industrial edges, psychedelic turns, and spoken-word fragments, the project takes shape across two records, video, and fanzine, framed as both resistance and resilience—a call, in their words, to “be louder and louder like birds.”
Philadelphia’s noise-bent outsiders HER NEW KNIFE just shared a remix of “vesselera” by New York DJ SILICONE VALLEY, twisting the original’s delicate guitars into a haunted, club-ready techno sprawl. “I like how the pitched-down vocals sound like they are coming out of a breathing tube, and I can finally play this song in the club,” SILICONE VALLEY says. The track will land on Chrome is Lullaby: Re, a deluxe version of last year’s EP featuring remixes from Tagabow, Angel Emoji, Grimace, Red Rakes, and Certain, due October 31 on Julia’s War Recordings.
Norwegian darkwave duo RULE OF TWO have dropped a new single and video, “Cloud Nine,” ahead of their debut album due in November. The track drifts between euphoria and emptiness, layering hypnotic synths, raw guitars, and deep vocals into something both bleak and oddly uplifting. Influenced by Depeche Mode, Crosses, and Soft Kill, it captures that limbo of being lost yet fully alive. The song was mixed and mastered at Crystal Island Studios, with the video shot by Kristian Liljan.
Swedish black metal veterans OFERMOD are streaming their fifth album Drakosophia in full via Black Metal Promotion, ahead of its October 3 release on Shadow Records/Regain Records. Led since 1996 by Belfagor (Mika Hakola), the record features North American vocalist Adeptus, drummer Florian Musil, and bassist Devo (ex-Marduk). Pitched as Orthodox Black Metal rooted in theistic Satanism and esoteric tradition, Drakosophia carries Ofermod’s trademark sinister weight while pushing further into their left-hand-path mysticism.
PICTUREPLANE has shared “Dream Machine”, the latest single from his upcoming album Sex Distortion, out October 31 via Music Website. Inspired by Brion Gysin’s 1959 stroboscopic art piece that induces altered states of consciousness, the track pairs lo-fi drum machines and shadowy synths with Pictureplane’s deep-register vocals. Described as “a gothic romance,” the record was crafted in his Brooklyn studio with additional work from Ben Greenberg (Uniform, The Men), Mike Birnbaum, and mastering by Joe LaPorta. Sex Distortion promises distorted love songs and hazy, neo-gothic dance anthems, with Gothboiclique’s Yawns contributing guitar on the title track.
Experimental shapeshifter ENEMY ZERO is set to drop Move Fast and Break People on October 29 via Already Dead Tapes and Records. Built as a staged traversal of grief “inside the simulacrum,” Side A drifts from denial into system collapse, while Side B turns toward acceptance with the closing piece “Heartbeats.” Across the record, pulse trains and genre fragments are chewed down into microtonal residue, recursive resampling, and clipped dynamics. Recorded on Harstine Island and mixed at Dracula’s Castle in Seattle, the album is both jagged and minimal, a meditation on what remains when the signal finally empties itself.
THE DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA—Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop, Sam Shalabi—return with Sasquatch Landslide, their first for Constellation Records. The trio stretch rhythmic psych-trance improv into a blurred, ecstatic sprawl: guitars twang and moan, saxophones slip and stutter, keyboards and beats pulse in crooked grooves.
Recorded in Berlin and mixed in Montreal, the album feels like a landslide of shifting tempos and smeared light—no center, no anchor, just a hallucinatory dance of sound. RIYL SUN CITY GIRLS, THE NECKS, LAND OF KUSH, NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY. Out now on vinyl, CD, and digital.
AUTHOR & PUNISHER’s new full-length Nocturnal Birding is out now via Relapse. Marking 20+ years of Tristan Shone’s industrial-doom machine craft, the record pushes further outward than ever—melding mechanized heaviness with birdsong-inspired riffs and field resonance drawn from his volunteer work with Border Angels along the US/Mexico border.
Dedicated to lives lost in migration, the album finds Shone joined by guitarist Doug Sabolick (ECSTATIC VISION) as a permanent collaborator, sharpening the project into something fiercer and more immediate. Guests include France’s FANGE, Indonesia’s KUNTARI, and Megan Oztrosits (COUCH SLUT), with mixing/mastering by Will Putney and artwork from Lucile Lejoly.
⤵ Pop
Pop, Synth Pop
CRUSHED have released their debut album no scope via Ghostly International. The duo — Shaun Durkan (formerly of WEEKEND) and Bre Morrell (TEMPLE OF ANGELS) — piece together heavy, twisted pop electronica that veers between harsh, visceral edges and moments of sheer melodic beauty. Singles like “oneshot” and “cwtch” set the tone for a record driven by instinct rather than logic, flashing with ideas like fireworks.
Boston retro pop/soul collective COUCH have dropped their new single On The Wire, the latest preview of their debut album Big Talk, due October 24. The track pairs bright horns and sharp hooks with Tema Siegel’s candid reflections on impatience and self-awareness, setting the tone for a record that blends analog warmth with bold pop immediacy. Mastered by Colin Leonard, the album explores multidimensional love through lush arrangements and collaborative energy.
The band will mark the release with their national TV debut on CBS Saturday Sessions and a 40-date international tour across North America, the UK, and Europe, including headline stops at Roadrunner in Boston, Brooklyn Steel in New York, The Fonda in Los Angeles, and KOKO in London.
RADDERALL and MUZZY FOSSA have released a new single and video, “Planted,” ahead of their collaborative concept album The Club Is Open, arriving October 31 via Wax Mage Records. Rooted in fuzzed-out psych-pop with early 2000s R&B flourishes, the track explores self-love and ecological awareness, framed as a metaphor for personal renewal. Shot in Cleveland’s historic Masonic Temple, the accompanying video unfolds as a Lynchian self-reckoning where illusions collapse and characters transform into plants.
⤵ General / Industry
Streaming giant SPOTIFY just dropped a long-overdue fix for one of its most cursed features: shuffle. After years of people moaning about hearing the same tracks on loop, the app now lets you pick your poison—pure chaos where every song has an equal chance of popping up (even if it’s the same one three times in a row), or a “fewer repeats” mode that actually remembers what you just heard and keeps it out of the mix for a while.
Premium listeners are also getting some bonus tweaks like smarter recommendations and the ability to snooze tracks for up to 30 days, but the real headline is shuffle finally acting the way people thought it should all along.
A new Pew survey shows Americans react most negatively to AI in politics, with 71% saying they’d like a candidate less if an AI wrote a speech they liked. Finance and journalism follow close, as 57% would feel worse about a loan approval and 56% less confident in a news article if AI was behind it. Nearly half would like a painting less (49%) or distrust a treatment recommendation (45%), while 41% would sour on a customer service chatbot.
Music, however, is where people are most forgiving—only 38% said they’d like a song less if it turned out to be AI-made.
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Anthony Fantano just dropped a scorched-earth rant on Ticketmaster, tearing into the company after the FTC filed a lawsuit accusing it of knowingly enabling mass scalping. He runs through receipts: brokers creating tens of thousands of fake accounts, flipping Coldplay tickets from $81k into $170k, and Ticketmaster happily pocketing fees at every step. The kicker? New terms of service now sneak in a class action waiver, essentially blocking fans from suing after being gouged. Fantano’s conclusion is blunt: “Fuck Ticketmaster, fuck their CEO, fuck their fees.”
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino drew sharp backlash after saying concert tickets are “underpriced” during CNBC’s Game Plan conference in Los Angeles. Comparing live music to sports, he argued fans think nothing of paying tens of thousands for courtside NBA seats, yet complain when major artists charge $800. He cited an “average” concert ticket price of $72 — a figure critics say overlooks the reality of skyrocketing arena and stadium costs.
Fans and artists were quick to call the comments out of touch. Jack Antonoff called Rapino’s stance “heartbreaking” and “sick,” while many online pointed to Billboard data showing top tour ticket prices up more than 30% since 2024, averaging $130 this year. For critics, Rapino’s framing ignores how rising service fees and resale markups are already pricing out everyday listeners, turning concerts into a luxury event.
Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek will step down as CEO on January 1, 2026, moving into a newly created Executive Chairman role. Longtime executives Gustav Söderström (chief product & technology officer) and Alex Norström (chief business officer) will become co-CEOs, also joining the board pending shareholder approval.
Ek stressed he won’t disappear from the company: he compared the change to moving “from a player to a coach,” saying he’ll remain more involved than a typical U.S. chairman, focusing on strategy, capital allocation, and mentoring leadership.
Spotify now counts 700M+ users and a market cap near $149B. Shares dipped after the announcement. The shift formalizes how operations have run since 2023, with Söderström and Norström already leading day-to-day management.
Disney’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the host’s comments on the killing of Charlie Kirk led to an estimated 1.7 million subscriber losses across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN. Kimmel returned on September 23, drawing 6.2 million viewers — nearly four times the show’s usual audience — despite 20% of ABC affiliates refusing to air the episode.
While Disney claimed its streaming price hikes, announced the same day, were planned months in advance, critics argue the subscriber exodus pushed the company to reinstate Kimmel. The controversy has highlighted the sharp political and cultural divides surrounding both Kimmel’s remarks and Disney’s handling of its media platforms.
Previous roundups:
- Sept 19-26
- Sept 12-19
- Sept 5-12
- August 14 – September 5
- August 8-14
- August 1-8
- July 25 – August 1
- July 23-25
- July 21-23
- July 19-21
- July 16-18
- July 12-15
- July 9-11
- July 5-9
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