BLACK LUNG drop the opening track ‘Traveler’ as the first single taken from the American heavy psych rockers’ forthcoming new full-length Forever Beyond. The fifth album from the Baltimore, Maryland outfit is scheduled for release on March 6, 2026.
BLACK LUNG comment on ‘Traveler’: “This song is about relying on one’s anxiety and depression – almost like a super power”, vocalist and guitarist David Cavalier writes. “You think, it’s the things that are going to keep you safe and sharp. In reality, it’s the complete opposite. The song also touches on the idea of living in a blameless world. Radical acceptance of people and who they are. Musically, this is one of my favorite tracks. We made it as dynamic as possible and each section feels like its own moment.”
Not so long ago, and not for the first time I got quite excited about WENCH! when they made the journey to York and performed an absolutely killer set.
Well, now the feisty riot grrrl punks have joined forces with electro party punk Jodie Langford to produce this stomping new single ‘You’ve Got Male!’ – a playful tune that mocks the stupid things heard coming out of men’s mouths when talking about women – and the single’s a taste of what’s to come from the upcoming album collaboration, released by the Hull based Warren Youth Project’s label Warren Records.
Recorded at The Warren’s in-house studio & produced by local indie maestro Adam Pattrick, ‘You’ve Got Male!’ is about misogynistic mole-rats who hold women at an unattainably high standard due to their perception of femininity being affected by unrealistic media imagery.
Excited to try out new ways of working, Jodie says “it’s not often I want to collaborate, so to get the opportunity to spend time in the studio with WENCH!, a band whose message & ethos I strongly agree with, was a real treat! I’ve gotten used to working with a producer of late, so it was eye-opening to see how a band form their ideas & structure a song” – as for WENCH!: “We loved working with Jodie as it’s not every day you get the opportunity to work with the queen of poetic party punk! She’s the perfect person for us to work with as we all fit together so well, like an unconventional punk family!”
Jodie Langford is well established on Hull’s local music scene & in recent years has become a festival showstopper, dominating stages across the UK with her unique blend of spoken word / electro party punk & visceral vocal deliveries – to boot, WENCH! are a powerful all-female, all-queer punk trio fuelled by female rage who’ve already made a strong impact on their local scene since forming in 2023! Both Jodie & WENCH! have individually performed at Reading & Leeds as well as other festivals across the UK in recent years.
Click on image to listen – we’re having site issues with embedding it right now.
Portion Control are a highly influential British electronic group who formed in London in 1979. Their early, innovative use of drum machines and samplers on classic albums such as I Staggered Mentally (1982) and Step Forward (1984) inspired a subsequent generation of acts that included Skinny Puppy, Nitzer Ebb, Front Line Assembly and Nine Inch Nails.
True forefathers of scenes such as electro-punk, Industrial and EBM, they continue to excite and inspire, regularly releasing new material promoted with bursts of hi-octane live energy, vocalist Dean Piavani prowling the stage as audiences are assailed by a deluge of electronic sounds aligned to a barrage of visuals.
Following decades of staunch independence, Portion Control have just signed to Artoffact Records with the intention of providing a much deserved broader platform from which to promote their work. Alongside new material, the label will curate and reissue the group’s back catalogue, allowing their work to be fully appreciated at last.
Marking the announcement of this exciting new partnership is the release today (5th December) of a fully remastered and expanded version of SEED EP3, first issued in 2021 as a set of short and long-form pieces. Expertly overseen by Paul Lavigne at Kontrast Mastering, SEED EP3.1 boasts an additional three new tracks that include ‘Possessed’ video. Now containing 16 electronic songs and instrumentals, with a total duration of almost 64 minutes, SEED EP3.1 acts as both a starting point to discover Portion Control as well as providing an enthralling revisit for existing fans.
Finnish industrial band, THE FAIR ATTEMPTS welcomes the coming year with a haunting new single, ‘Anniversary of Our Destruction’. Diverging from their usual bombastic fusion of industrial rock and metal, THE FAIR ATTEMPTS founder, Timo Haakana along his wife & lyricist, Starwing step boldly into the realm of gothic dance music, drenched in deep emotion.
’Anniversary Of Our Destruction’ has a very personal story attached to it. As founding member, Timo Haakana explains, “One year, our wedding anniversary was a lovely, romantic day with a twist. So many things broke that day. Together, we laughed about the destruction the day left behind, and thus, that special day became the ‘Anniversary of Our Destruction’”.
The song was also inspired by Timo’s personal trials and the struggle that we all often walk through. Amid disease and hardship, The Fair Attempts found beauty and elegance in how we’ve always held our dignity even during our darkest hours.
The message of ‘Anniversary Of Destruction’ is this; We live through our ruin and walk this path collectively – all of us. It’s dark times. As Timo states, “If I could share a New Year’s message and piece of inspiration in the fashion of The Fair Attempts, it would be this song.”
There’s a very good reason not to compile ‘best of the year’ lists until after the year is finished. There are always late contenders, and this is a prime candidate by way of a late entry for one of the singles of 2025.
‘Bound’ is the new single and collaboration from the past and the present of the femme, gender queer, punk scene, featuring Pettybone, Shooting Daggers and Petrol Girls. 2 and 1/2 years in the making, this is the first new music from Pettybone since their split in 2012.
Pettybone formed in 2010 after being drawn together through the individual struggles they had encountered in their lives, with the desire to speak up about their experiences. Their debut album From Desperate Times Come Radical Minds followed in 2011 and by 2012 the band split, but their impact and influence is still felt to this day, with both Petrol Girls and Shooting Daggers being inspired by them.
The same year that Pettybone split up, raging feminist, post hardcore band Petrol Girls were formed. Most recently they released their 3rd album Baby in 2022 (Hassle Records). While queercore punk band Shooting Daggers formed in 2019, going on to release their debut album in 2024.
The punk scene is small, in the femme, gender queer scene it is even smaller. All 3 bands know each other – Zel (Pettybone) taught Raquel (Shooting Daggers) to play drums way back in the day, and Zel also filled in on drums for Petrol Girls a couple of times. Raquel from Shooting Daggers comments, “We’re all friends as well as having massive respect for each others bands. So, what better than do a collab that spans the Globe?!”
Pettybone guitarist Ivona first had a guitar riff and sent it to Zel in Aotearoa to get some drum ideas, then sent it onto Lianna (Pettybone) in London for the bass. They met up in London early late 2024 to lay down the instrumental track with Sam Thredder in London (who also recorded the Pettybone’s debut album). The instrumental was sent to in Petrol Girls vocalist Ren in Austria to come up with some lyric ideas. At the time she replied: “I have something brewing! Something against white liberal feminism and liberation for everyone. It’s about discomfort not being the same as unsafe.”
Shooting Daggers vocalist Sal worked on melody and there was some back and forth on the lyrics and vocal lines with Petrol Girls’ Ren and Pettybone’s Ivona.
Unfortunately, Pettybone singer Amy was unavailable to take part in the project, and Ren also couldn’t do it from Austria, so Sal from Shooting Daggers stepped in and smashed out the vocal at Holy Mountain studio. The track was then mixed and mastered by Casper Maxwell in Naarm/Melbourne.
Ren (Petrol Girls) comments on the lyrics for the new single,
“’Bound up in our liberation we are bound’ comes from the Lilla Watson quote in the context of the aboriginal liberation movement in Australia, but its so well known because it expresses such a vital idea. I was really touched to be invited to write lyrics for this feminist collaboration and wanted to express faith in liberation and collectivity, which are the core of any meaningful feminism. The lyrics are mostly a response to arguments I was having at the time with people around me where I live in Austria about the genocide in Palestine, but I think they can apply pretty widely. We need feminist solidarity across borders. We need anti-racist feminism, abolition feminism, anti-colonial feminism, anti-fascist feminism. And we need each other.”
‘Bound’ will be self-released by Petttybone via their Bandcamp on the 5th Dec 2025.
Big Big Train, the award-winning, progressive rock band, will issue their 16th studio album via InsideOutMusic on 6th February 2026. Woodcut is a landmark release for the group, whose line-up draws together members from England, Scotland, Italy, the USA, Sweden and Norway, in that it marks their first ever full-length conceptual piece – quite a statement given the musical depth and storytelling qualities of a band formed in Bournemouth way back in 1990. Woodcut is a continuous narrative exploring creativity, sacrifice and the thin line between inspiration and madness and featuring a character called The Artist.
Today they launch a second single from the album, titled ‘The Sharpest Blade’, a track that sees violinist Clare Lindley sharing lead vocals with the band’s frontman – and Woodcut producer – Alberto Bravin.
Lindley, who also wrote the lyrics for ‘The Sharpest Blade’, explains: “Having gone for a walk in the woods and happened upon an amazing piece of heartwood, lit by a natural beam of sunlight, the Artist has taken it home. In the song ‘The Sharpest Blade’, he begins to carve the heartwood. Although he still has doubts and dark inner thoughts, he finds himself carving a wonderful scene. It’s so good that he feels it is perhaps not of his own hand…”
Watch the video for The Sharpest Blade, once again created by Crystal Spotlight, here:
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Additionally the band have just announced a UK/European headline tour for September/October 2026, including their biggest headline show to date at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Find the full list of dates below:
BIG BIG TRAIN – THE WOODCUT & OTHER STORIES TOUR
Friday 25th September – The Stables, Milton Keynes, UK
Saturday 26th September – The Asylum, Birmingham, UK
Sunday 27th September – Komedia, Bath, UK
Monday 28th September – The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, UK
Wednesday 30th September – The Spirit Of 66, Verviers, Belgium
Thursday 1st October – Colos-Saal, Aschaffenburg, Germany
Friday 2nd October – Poppodium Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Saturday 3rd October – De Pul, Uden, Netherlands
Sunday 4th October – TBA, France
Tuesday 6th October – La Sala, Madrid, Spain
Wednesday 7th October – Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona, Spain
Friday 9th October – Teatro Astra, Schio, Italy
Saturday 10th October – Phenomenon, Fontaneto d’Agogna, Italy
Sunday 11th October – Z7, Pratteln, Switzerland
Tuesday 13th October – RNCM Theatre, Manchester, UK
Wednesday 14th October – Playhouse, Whitley Bay, UK
Thursday 15th October – Slay, Glasgow, UK
Saturday 17th October – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK
Puerto Rican trio Ender announces their upcoming EP, Ender II: In Silent Throne, scheduled for 20 February 2026 via Praetorian Records. As the first preview from the EP, the San Juan group is now streaming “The Obelisk,” a track that deviates from their progressive doom foundation by embracing a sharper, tech-death-leaning intensity. Exploring themes of sorrow, defiance, and personal struggle, the EP represents not only their growth as musicians but also their commitment to pushing the boundaries of progressive doom and giving back to the metal scene that continues to inspire them.
Of the track, Ender states: “‘The Obelisk’ is a song about the collapse of faith, confronting what happens when something once sacred becomes corrupted. It reflects the tension between devotion and disillusionment, a theme that runs through the core of our forthcoming EP, In Silent Throne. Musically, it captures who Ender is at this moment: heavy, emotional, and unafraid to explore darkness through sound. This track marks the first step into the atmosphere and intensity that define the new era of the band.”
The special 30th anniversary editions of Sigh’s groundbreaking and boldly experimental second album Infidel Art are out now on Peaceville. The new release is available on a selection of formats including a limited marble vinyl LP, standard black vinyl LP, 2CD, and cassette. Alongside the release, the band have also shared a new lyric video for the track ‘The Zombie Terror’, created by Matt Vickerstaff.
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Speaking on the new edition, bandleader and songwriter Mirai Kawashima shared -
“I am well aware that Sigh’s albums released via Cacophonous Records in the 90s have been hard to find for a long time. Actually so many labels tried to re-release those albums, but it never worked. However, finally the wait is over! Soon you can get them on both vinyl and CD via Peaceville Records. Of course the albums are way more primitive than what we are doing today, but they definitely are the albums that shaped who we are today. And what really surprised me was that those 4 albums were released within 5 years. How productive we were!”
INFIDEL ART VINYL EDITIONS: MARBLE VINYL LP AND BLACK VINYL LP
Infidel Art is also available as a Double CD Edition and a collectible Cassette Edition. The CD includes a rare first mix of the entire album, as well as additional tracks ‘The Zombie Terror’ from the ‘Far East Gate In Inferno’ compilation, plus songs originally included for a split release with Kawir, having also received a new transfer from the original DAT source.
All formats apart from the cassette also include a new interview with main-man Mirai Kawashima conducted by Dayal Patterson of Cult Never Dies, delving into the history and legacy of the album.
Constellation welcomes Montréal-based jazz ensemble Bellbird to the label.
Meanwhile Bellbird celebrates with new track ‘The Call’ and will kick off 2026 playing a half-dozen shows on a winter tour of Western Canada in January.
Bellbird features tenor saxophonist Claire Devlin, alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist Allison Burik, bassist Eli Davidovici, and drummer Mili Hong. The players hail from various countries and backgrounds: rooted in modern jazz, Bellbird’s music also channels influences from the players’ wide range of influences steeped in Montréal’s genre-mashing experimental undergrounds, including punk/rock, drone/minimalism, electroacoustics and more. (Constellation has previously worked with Hong via her terrific drumming on The Obsession With Her Voice by Erika Angell and for Angell’s smouldering live shows).
Bellbird’s first album Root In Tandem was self-released in 2023, garnering some well-deserved critical accolades, and acclaimed live appearances on the Avant/Jazz circuits in Canada ever since.
Hear ‘The Call’ here:
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BELLBIRD LIVE
January 2026 • Canada
January 15 – The Esplanade (Medicine Hat) January 16 – Yardbird Suite (Edmonton) January 17 – Buckingjam Palace (Calgary) January 18 – ArtsPlace (Canmore) January 23 – Alliances Français (Vancouver) January 24 – The Bassment (Saskatoon)
SLAUGHTERDAY unleash a video single of the crushing title track from their forthcoming new album Dread Emperor. The sixth full-length of the East Frisian death metal veterans has been scheduled for release on February, Friday the 13th, 2026.
SLAUGHTERDAY comment: “The title track, ‘Dread Emperor’, represents quintessential Slaughterday”, guitarist Jens Finger points out. “It takes you on an unrelenting journey through old school death metal, from slow, crushing doom to blistering aggression, which is crowned by soaring melodic solos.”
Bernd Reiners adds: “The song’s lyrics portray the ‘Dread Emperor’ as the ultimate embodiment of fear itself, a timeless force that rules through terror and despair”, the frontman writes. "With a world consumed by oppression, hopelessness, and submission, this track channels darkness and chaos to mirror the raw power of fear unleashed, making it both a sonic and thematic assault.”
Aural Aggravation 