TWICE A MAN unveil a beautiful visualiser for ‘Desert Snow’, the first to be plucked as an advance single from the electronic environmentalists’ forthcoming album Reveries Before Silence. The Swedes’ new full-length has been chalked up for release on November 20, 2026.
Parallel to their new album, Twice A Man will also release a collection of rare tracks revolving around marine themes that have been gathered in a 48-page 2CD artbook under the title The Marine Trilogy on November 20, 2026
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Twice A Man comment: “The first single track, ‘Desert Snow’, is one of our musical footprints in a time marked by uncertainty, division, and change”, Karl Gasleben explains on behalf of the band collective. "This song reflects on the world we live in today while reminding us that hope and positive thinking can still be a path toward unity. As modern societies continue to challenge our sense of human connection, we need to find what brings us together rather than what drives us apart. If we can discover a common voice that leads us away from war, polarisation, and the climate crisis, there is still a future worth believing in. We want to be able to look our children in the eyes and speak about tomorrow with honesty, responsibility, and hope. ‘Desert Snow’ is our contribution to that conversation – a song that carries both reflection and faith in a better future.”
Static Abyss’s new album The Dying Hunt was released on 1st September via Peaceville Records. To mark the release, the band have unleashed an utterly skin-crawling new music video for ‘Sinew Leech’, plunging viewers further into the album’s nightmarish world of brutal death metal, doom-laden riffs and psychedelic darkness.
Watch ‘Sinew Leech’ below and experience the latest descent into the twisted sonic abyss of The Dying Hunt.
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Emerging in the early 2020’s, Static Abyss is a monstrous hybrid of twisted, doom-laden brutal death, comprising of longstanding members of the US metal scene. The band consists primarily of the duo of Deathgrave’s Greg Wilkinson (Guitars/bass) & Chris Reifert (vocals), both also members of legendary American masters of sickness, Autopsy, with Chris also notably starting his career with genre pioneers, Death. The band’s debut, Labyrinth of Veins was released in 2022, and their second album Aborted From Reality followed in quick succession, surfacing in 2023.
Returning now for Static Abyss’ third studio album, and with the addition of Chad Gailey of fellow death merchants Necrot behind the drumkit for this release, The Dying Hunt plummets the listener again into the festering, psychedelic swamps of lunacy, with the spiralling melodies texturing the relentless savage riffs for an effective nightmare-inducing trip through the sonic abyss. Continuously and relentlessly flitting between brutal passages and hypnotic otherworldly craziness, ‘The Dying Hunt’ reflects the ailing world & the unravelling of the psyche of its inhabitants in this darkly dystopian landscape, for a masterful descent into sick Death Metal combined with Crust and Doom elements.
The Dying Hunt was recorded at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, CA, with engineering, mixing and mastering overseen by Greg Wilkinson himself. Cover art comes courtesy of Jon Santos.
Burning Song is the new release from Kali Malone and the first new album of solo compositions since early 2024’s All Life Long. The album arrives via Ideologic Organ on October 30th and is previewed with today’s single and video for the song ‘Heavy with Fruit.’
Music that hovers in the moment just before understanding, where revelation lives. Moving through endings and beginnings, reflection and foresight, Burning Song represents a transformation in Malone’s compositional strategy towards a process that is more intuitive and direct. The album was recorded at the historic Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany, where J.S. Bach was cantor for the last 27 years of his life; his body rests beneath the sanctuary. Malone is the first musician to perform contemporary works on the church’s Bach Organ, an instrument completed in 2000 but with bespoke tuning and temperament systems based on historical norms of the baroque period.
She is joined by Lucy Railton on cello and Stephen O’Malley on bowed acoustic guitar, the same trio that honed a profound connection based on deep listening through the development of Malone’s work Does Spring Hide Its Joy. Recording took place over the course of two late nights in August 2025, with the engineer Francesco Donadello placing over 20 microphones throughout the room and closely upon the instruments, allowing the listener to locate themselves within the music as it fills the historic sanctum.
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Across the album, chord follows chord, each in slow succession, emerging like stones of various shades and shapes on a winding path. The trio moves as one, stepwise, through passages that are alternately ambiguous and radiant, at times triumphant as the tones rise towards the organ’s upper register. By discarding canon form, which has dominated much of her organ work, there is a clear sense of freedom that allows these pieces to unfold more gradually and speak more declaratively than ever before. Even with the presence of one of the most canonized and dissected composers of all time just underfoot, Malone felt the pressure of tradition lifting, an ease of being dictating the flow of the music. She is careful to never extend the narratives of any individual piece beyond what feels conclusive, resulting in a relatively compact cycle of compositions.
The metaphor of burning holds two meanings. Fire moves in ways that appear intuitive, changing shape moment by moment, and relentlessly insistent. Here, Malone moves from harnessing the fractaline beauty of mathematics to reveling in the impact of feelings, of foresight, of something more undefined and from within. But burning is a process of change in which transformation spreads from a nexus point to rapidly consume whatever it encounters. The freedom found in the process of composing and realizing Burning Song is one that opens innumerable doors of possibility. In the fertility of ashes grows whatever comes next.
Live dates 2026/2027
Wed. Sept. 23 – Lisbon, PT @ Culgurest * Sat. Sept. 26 – Cologne, DE @ St. Gertrud [Brutalism] * Sun. Oct. 11 – Bern, CH @ Berner Münster [bee-flat] ^ Sun. Nov. 29 – Bratislava, SK @ Novy evanjelicky kostol [NEXT Festival] ^ Thu. Jan. 28 – London, UK @ St. Martin # Fri. Jan. 29 – London, UK @ St. Martin # Sun. Jan. 31 – Vernier, CH @ Madeleine Chapel – Espace de la Madeleine [Festival Antigel] #
* = Electronic set ^ = Solo organ set # = Burning Song set Plus more to follow
NYC art-rockers Ecce Shnak is bombastically stoked to present ‘Anna O’, the third single from their much-anticipated full-length record Dandy Variances, slated for release on October 23rd via Records, Man Records. With its ferocious blend of art-rock swagger, grunge grit, and theatrical ambition, ‘Anna O’ offers a raucous first taste of the sonic unruliness in store on the album.
Recorded and produced by Jeff Lucci, this single was mixed by Grammy award-winning producer Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Nine Inch Nails, Julian Lennon) and mastered by multi-platinum engineer Kris Crummett.
Formed in 2011 and forged in NYC’s experimental scene, Ecce Shnak (pronounced Eh-kay sh-knock) is made up of David Roush (composer, bassist and baritone vocalist), Bella Komodromos (vocals), Chris Krasnow (guitar), Gannon Ferrell (guitar), and Henry Buchanan-Vaughn (drums).
‘Anna O’ is a jump-off-the-couch, roaring-the-hook anthem with big grunge energy. For the first time, Ecce Shnak’s composer-baritone-bassist defers his lyric-writing duties to someone else. His mother, Robin Kneubuhl, wrote a poem months before he and his producer, Jeff Lucci, cooked up a noisy instrumental in March 2019. Roush and Lucci tried the poem out as a lyric, and it fit just right.
Kneubuhl has described her poem as “a lament about tragic contradictions in contemporary feminist thought and practice”. While Kneubuhl wholeheartedly believes in feminism’s ideals, she is concerned that it is misused toward nefarious ends, to the detriment of women and others alike.
“The song’s tragic hero embodies both a noteworthy psychoanalytic patient of Freud’s protégé Josef Breuer and the real-life gun-slinging heroine Annie Oakley. Though Anna is beleaguered by the contradictions Kneubuhl observes in the poem’s story, she ultimately emerges triumphant in the fight against patriarchy by the song’s end,” explains David Roush. “Though we are in the process of firming up the specifics, we can’t wait to play this for the Shnakiverse and music lovers generally on tour this fall!”
The music video is a third collaboration between Ecce Shnak and LA-based film producer DJay Brawner, who also directed the videos for the album’s first two singles, ‘Vincent’ and ‘Eddie, Legalistic Homeslice’. Ecce Shnak’s soprano, Bella Komodromos, plays the role of Anna, who is deeply distressed in captivity, as she seems wrongfully entrapped in an asylum. However, through an act of heroic resistance, she overthrows her abusive doctor and his servile aide. She sets herself free while the mighty rock band Ecce Shnak plays her homage as loudly and wildly as they can.
While Ecce Shnak’s songs draw on a wide array of styles, fans of Nirvana, the Pixies, and the Jesus Lizard will likely latch onto ‘Anna O’ quite tenaciously. With a reputation for astounding performances, Ecce Shnak’s music a volatile yet meticulously crafted ecosystem, where technical precision meets inspired mayhem.
As bands dissolve, and / or their members’ interests expand new bands emerge. A collaborative post-rock band featuring members of Flies Are Spies From Hell, Din Of Celestial Birds and Monsters Build Mean Robots, who also include Human Worth alumni A. L. Lacey among their ranks, Winter at Sea are one of those bands. And while those bands are many, some offer more than others. And among those are Winter At Sea, whose field is ‘staggering, earthy, post-rock that moves from ghostly ambient stretches through to dense thundering cacophonies’.
Hearts is an EP which contains just the one track, which plays for just shy of twenty-one minutes. That said, it is presented as a suite in five pieces, individually marked as ‘Glimpse Of The Horizon’, ‘Heart In Mouth’ ‘Gathering Dark’, ‘A Sleeping Mist’, and ‘Descent Into The Undertow’. What’s more, there is a moment where it tapers to near-silence around the mid-point, and as such, does feel like a work of two halves.
It begins with soft, airy synth notes which wander here and there, in a fashion very much reminiscent of the likes of Tangerine Dream, before gradually unfurling to expand the instrumental palette, with delicate guitar work, before finally breaking into a grand wash of sound some three minutes or so in. it’s here that they attain peak post-rock, and I find myself transported to what now feels like a golden age, a spell where Explosions in the Sky, Her Name is Calla, and I Like Trains were offering different shades of kaleidoscopic crescendo, some of which would last for what would feel like a blissful eternity.
Returning from the low ebb, it’s a delicate, graceful combination of subdued piano and yawning woodwind which sets the scene for the next surge… which abruptly halts, leaving a hanging suspense amidst chiming picked guitar notes. This segment feels like it should have more emotional resonance than it does, and perhaps I need to spend more time in its company in order to feel it rather than simply admire its musicality, the attention to detail. Or perhaps I’ve simply been overexposed to pleasant, atmospheric post-rock passages, and now it’s just something that washes over me. It’s nice, but it doesn’t grip me… but then the swell begins as the final couple of minutes or so approach, and while they resist the urge to really let fly, there is a clear climax to this ambitious work. The fact that it’s the second in a trilogy is worthy of note, too: as a standalone, it showcases texture and range, but it could well be quite the experience to hear all three EPs as a single, continuous work.
When I was in my teens and early twenties, I got quite hung up on an existential anguish that no two people perceived things in exactly the same way. It wasn’t completely unfounded: there’s empirical evidence that shows that there is no such thing as a reliable witness. Particularly in moments of heightened stress or panic, the brain will scramble to process what it sees, while at the same time juggling the options of fight or flight. As such, it will assemble a narrative from fragmentary snippets, and attempt to fill in the gaps. But even more fundamentally, no two people will perceive something as fundamental colour in the same way. I have a mug which I consider to be grey; the rest of my family tell me it’s blue. And while I concede it’s perhaps a gunmetal shade, I still consider it to be grey. And so it is that two parties engaged in conversation will simultaneously experience completely different conversations.
This is the premise of the third single from London-based, New Zealand-formed five-piece Not My Wife, which explores ‘the duality of relationships, and how two people can be living within the same reality, while experiencing it quite differently. The verses detail one person sitting in the bliss of new love, while the choruses expose the narrator’s realisation that their partner may not have been feeling the same way. The song explores the theme of memory, interpretation and how we can put another person at the centre of our world without wanting to see them clearly’.
Driven by a crunchy bassline, ‘Best Friend’ nags away nicely, managing to be both breezy and somehow claustrophobic, and to meld postpunk with a wistful indie sensibility. The guitar is stop / start, choppy, and there’s a subtly melancholic hue in Olivia Mercer’s vocals. There’s something about this single that’s quite touching, in ways that aren’t readily articulable, much in the same way a vague memory will linger on the edge of your recollection, and while you experience it as a sensation, somewhere in the gut, you simply can’t place it, chronologically, locationally, or any other way. It offers a sense of dappled shade and wistfulness, and also of a certain self-disconnect, wrapped in a hazy melody which reflects the fact that in ten years, this will all seem as a dream, or another life.
‘Hallucinations’ is the first single and video from Fire Aim Ready, the sixth album from seminal Chicago punk band The Effigies. This is their first release featuring new lead vocalist Geoff Sabin, who took over following the tragic death of founding lead singer John Kezdy in 2023.The new album was recorded at Million Yen Studios in their hometown, and was produced, engineered and mixed by their guitarist Andy Gerber. The album is being released on 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming services by the venerable Chicago independent label Pravda Records October 23.
Following writing sessions between live dates in late 2025, the album came together featuring the riff heavy punk metal the band became known for in the 80s with sharp lyrics and aggressive vocals showcasing a clear-eyed worldview on the current state-of-affairs. Written and recorded quickly to capture the moment, the album also includes a cover song from the Stranglers as a nod to the band’s early influences. This is the band’s first release since Burned in 2024, the last album to feature Kezdy.
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Formed in 1980, The Effigies are recognized as one of Chicago’s pioneering punk bands, shaping the Midwest punk scene with their aggressive sound and captivating lyrics. The band’s DIY ethos and commitment to authentic themes about corruption and urban alienation positioned them as a seminal influence on the punk scene for generations. Led originally by vocalist John Kezdy, bassist Paul Zamost, drummer Steve Economou and guitarist Earl Letiecq, the band’s early work blended the raw energy of classic punk with a distinct Midwestern working class sensibility, setting them apart from the coastal scenes of New York and Los Angeles. Their early performances in small Chicago clubs energized a local community of fans and helped establish the city as a notable hub for punk and alternative music. Early releases such as 1981’s Haunted Town EP, 1982’s 7” single “Body Bag” b/w “Security”, and 1983’s “We’re Da Machine” cemented the band’s significance in the expanding scene.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, The Effigies shared stages with many prominent acts, including local favorites Naked Raygun and Big Black, as well as national acts The The, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, The Cramps and PIL. Their live shows became legendary for their intensity and were seen as a threat to the local rock establishment still mired in tribute and cover bands. Renowned record engineer Steve Albini writes that “The Effigies were absolutely essential to development of a healthy punk scene in Chicago. Between them and Naked Raygun in the early 80s they basically kept the scene going until it developed momentum beyond them. The Effigies were a moving force during a crucial and exhilarating time.”
While the band drew inspiration from post-punk, hardcore and metal, they have always maintained that, at heart, they are a punk band. Their music consistently embodies the core values of the punk movement: celebration of individuality, egalitarian ideals, and the power of a committed supportive community.
In 2023, the band emerged from a period of relative inactivity to record a new album. They teamed with Andy Gerber at Million Yen Studios, who also produced the 2007 release Reside, and would go on to take over lead guitar duties with the band. The tragic death of founding member John Kezdy in August of 2023 marked a deeply emotional turning point for the band – Kezdy’s vision and charisma had been central to the Effigies identity. In honor of his legacy and last works, Burned was released in October of 2024 on BFD Records followed by reissues of 1984’s For Ever Grounded and 1985’s Fly on a Wire. To support the album releases and continue moving the legacy forward, the band enlisted a new vocalist, Geoff Sabin, whose energy and passion have reinvigorated the group. Their return to the stage has featured festival sets at RiotFest, Rebellion, and PunkRockBowling, a regional tour with The Black Crowes, and coast to coast shows including prominent clubs like Metro, The Whiskey, Sainte Rock, and The Middle East. The live sets have been embraced by long-time fans and critics alike, signaling that The Effigies are poised for a new chapter while maintaining the spirit and integrity that Kezdy helped establish. As of 2026, The Effigies are touring extensively, with plans to continue reaching audiences worldwide.
Cor de Lux are getting closer to releasing their Ipecac Recordings debut album, YEAR OF THE HORSE, on 18th Sept, which captures their competing impulses: abrasion and melody. Across nine songs, the Kill Devil Hills quartet balances post-hardcore urgency, shoegaze bliss, and guitar-driven catharsis. Recorded and produced by J. Robbins (War on Women, Mary Timony), YEAR OF THE HORSE preserves the raw chemistry that defines the band while pushing their songwriting into sharper, more immediate territory.
Today the band share a final preview of the album with the release of ‘Blind Smile’, a track about the beauty in the complete freedom to be who you are.
“The blind man smile, the deaf laugh for all to hear, to be so brave, you can’t hear anyone”
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About the track, Dawn Moraga says, “My cousin is deaf and his true laugh that isn’t altered from what he thinks he should laugh like is one of the most joyous sounds. I think this song is about for me personally trying to find that freedom to not care about what people think of me and to dig deep to find the real. It came together with John and I talking about the beauty from a true smile.. the blind smile.”
John Bliven adds, “The title for ‘Blind Smile’ came about because I wanted to illustrate an event that inspired and humbled me when I was a videographer during a Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) Fishing Tournament, an event that brings hundreds of VIPs to the Outer Banks every year. I got to witness the most joy filled smiles I’ve ever encountered as they felt the scales of the fish and commented about the texture and sliminess as they saw with other senses.”
COR DE LUX LIVE:
Aug. 29, 2026 Raleigh, NC Lump Gallery
September 10 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Festival @ Kings September 20 Durham, NC Stanczyks + October 7 Philadelphia, PA Ortlieb’s October 8 Brooklyn, NY The Broadway October 10 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace * October 11 Detroit, MI El Club * October 13 Chicago, IL Outset * October 14 St. Paul, MN Turf Club * October 15 Davenport, IA Raccoon Motel October 17 Louisville, KY Whirling Tiger October 18 Asheville, NC Static Age
For their latest EP release, prolific Irish electronic / synthwave outfit Tiny Magnetic Pets give us a remix of ‘Lost My Guiding Light’, which first appeared on their second album, way back in 2017. It’s a reasonable amount of time to leave before revisiting a song, and as Sean Quinn (synths, guitar & vocals) explains, “When we play live we like to do different versions from the records. Last year, we were asked to play a dance music festival in Dublin, so we re-arranged the opening track from our second album Deluxe/Debris for an EDM audience, and it has now become the opening tune to our live shows,” going on to add “We re-recorded this new version in 2026 and we feel it is significantly different from the original to warrant its own release and slight re-title: ‘Lost My Guiding Light (Again)’ – a wee nod to Bowie’s John I’m Only Dancing (Again).”
It’s hard to argue that it’s substantially different from the original, not to mention the fact it’s two and a half minutes longer. The rippling, drifting ambient intro is extended out on this new version, and the beats – beefier, more driving – paired with a more prominent cyclical synth motif that owes much to late 90s dance – change the overall feel more than anything, and while the extended mid-section twinkles and shimmers, it doesn’t haver the same ethereal shimmer as the original. This is the trade, and a matter of preference, really: understated textural detail, or a more expansive, sturdier-sounding rendition.
It’s backed with not one, but two remixes of ‘Low Places’ courtesy of Dakeyne. The original was released just last year, as the lead track on the Harmonious Grey EP. A collision of dark disco and electropop, it boasts a thick, rumbling bass sand bops along nicely. Not so much the first of the Dakenye remixes, which sees a hard, industrial-strength beat dominate an extremely busy arrangement crammed with niggling repetitions. It’s clearly more club-orientated, but do such clubs even exist nowadays? Still, I’d take this over the Dakenye Acid Dub mix, which – being a dub – strips out most of the vocals and everything else in favour of the monotonous kick drum, wibbling bass, and occasional incidentals. Maybe Acid Dubs require actual acid rather than a couple of cans of West Coast IPA. Ultimately, this feels like something of a stop-gap release.
Berlin headbangers SPACE CHASER get the party started with the lyric video of the punk-fuelled thrash anthem ‘8 Minutes’ that is taken from their forthcoming full-length Razorblade Bay. The thrash metal maniacs’ fourth studio album has been scheduled for release on September 11, 2026.
Space Chaser comment: “If we were ever to find out that we had only eight minutes left to live…”, drummer Matthias Scheuerer claims, “…well, we would just grab a couple of beers and play this thrash-punk hymn four times. Cheers!”
Aural Aggravation 