Posts Tagged ‘Single’

Watch: ‘Ruins’ by Meersein

Posted: 30 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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What remains when everything we have built begins to fall apart? With ‘Ruins,’ the first single from the upcoming album Perfection, the artist explores a dark vision of a world pushed beyond its limits. The song confronts the consequences of relentless ambition, environmental destruction, and the loss of humanity in the pursuit of progress.

The lyrics paint a picture of a civilization in decline: poisoned air, collapsing skyscrapers, burning forests, and a sun that has become a cold, distant observer. The absence of laughter and children playing makes the devastation feel even more profound. This is not just the destruction of buildings and landscapes, but the loss of hope and the promise of a future.

At the heart of the song lies the recurring line, “We pushed too hard, we went too far.” It serves as both an accusation and a warning. The catastrophe is not portrayed as an unavoidable fate, but as the result of human choices and the belief that everything can be controlled, improved, or conquered.

The image of holding the sun in our hands before burning it down captures the central contradiction of human ambition: we have the power to create extraordinary things, yet we can also destroy the very foundations on which they depend.

As the first single from the new album, ‘Ruins’ introduces one of the album’s central questions: is the pursuit of perfection worth its price? With its apocalyptic imagery and uncompromising lyrics, MEERSEIN delivers a powerful reflection on a world on the edge – and the choices that brought it there.

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MEERSEIN is a solo music project blending the nostalgic spirit of 1980s synth music with dark atmospheres, melancholic depth, and contemporary electronic production. With the upcoming album Perfection, the project explores the boundaries between human ambition, imperfection, and the world we create.

Stream/download the digital single: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/meersein/ruins

The upcoming album Perfection is available for pre-order here: https://www.meersein-official.com/shop.html

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Meersein photo by Patrick Nelke

Watch: ‘The Man Laid Low’ by Pharaoh Overlord

Posted: 29 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Defying convention and expectations once again, Pharaoh Overlord’s upcoming album 7 is to be released via Rocket Recordings on 20th November. They have just shared a video for ‘The Man Laid Low,’ a continuation of the story which began in ‘Arms of None’.

“We wanted to continue with the idea where somebody else is playing the fictional Pharaoh Overlord character. In the ‘Arms of None’ video it was a band called Modem, and in this video the character is played by Julius Jääskeläinen, anarchitect and the other half of the Jääskeläinen guitar twins of Circle,” says Tomi.

The video pays homage to the likes of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ by Massive Attack or ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ by The Verve. Speaking on the concept, Tomi adds, “Walking in an environment like a city centre brings in an element of chance that cannot be controlled. Lots of things are happening at the same time, yet nothing is scripted and everything falls perfectly in place. It’s also a little time capsule of what the environment and the people looked like in that exact day it was filmed.”

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Pharaoh Overlord album release shows:
20.11. Stockholm / BATA
21.11. Malmö / Brogatan
22.11. Copenhagen / RUST

Pharaoh Overlord’s 7 rides in auspicious, possessed of the gleaming high octane euphoria that transforms a dreary everyday into a triumph-over-adversity movie montage, swaggering in with high-saturation synth-rock, dressed in a custom satin bomber jacket for euphoric big-screen moments that never existed, salvation narrated by the death growl of Aaron Turner and guest falsetto from Richard Dawson. 

The number 7 is a cross-cultural signifier of good luck and divine completion, and if this promises much, 7 delivers, as Jussi Lehtisalo and Tomi Leppänen’s self-proclaimed "dream album". "This is, finally, the real Pharaoh Overlord," promises Jussi, “I can generate demos easily, but working with a producer, it’s reached a destination we really wanted.”

Now, over 20 albums deep, Lehtisalo proclaims Pharaoh Overlord ready to breakthrough, having brought in big guns on the buttons for the first time, with notable Finnish experimental black metal band Oranssi Pazuzu‘s Juho Vanhanen on production, and Niko Lehdontie mixing. Together they have polished the chrome of this synth-driven death-metal hyper-rock into a high-gloss mirror-shine, to "something like Justice’s debut album with the raw and disturbing atmospheres of Scott Walker’s Drift-era sound", says Vanhanen.

Pharaoh Overlord are consistent in one field: nailing the joyful thrill of being utterly unpredictable. Reliably unreliable when it comes to sticking to a genre, they are magpie-like music heads without a care for the stultifying brand-building best practice of dullard music industry proscriptions, describing their process as "like playing the Oblique Strategies but without the cards". This tracks with the anti-strategies of their parent band Circle, who once loaned out their name to another band for a year, corrupting their own legacy. Beginning as a full group, they now have two permanent members, but in their time have rendered glossy synthwave, whitewater motorik, idiosyncratic overdriven art rock, bombed-out psychedelia and more, always dancing fleet-footed across genre, as parent band Circle do, too. "They simply go wherever the music needs to go," says Dawson, who is both collaborator and superfan. "If the surface-sound of the albums change from record to record the spirit remains the same."

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Pharoah Overlord

Photo credit: Mika Taanila

Watch: ‘call silence (Silent Tribe Remix by Psychotribe)’ by Lowsunday

Posted: 28 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Pittsburgh-based darkwave-shoegaze pioneers Lowsunday present‘Call Silence Remixed’, a 2-track released via Projekt Records, involving two artists with deep histories in the dark-music world, each of them finding their own unique way to re-envision the same song. Taking the original ‘Call Silence’ in radically different directions, together, they create a striking conversation between post-punk, EBM, industrial, darkwave, drone and ethereal music.

The ‘Silent Tribe Remix’ by Psychotribe (aka Peter Guellard from DEATĦ B¥ LØVE) pushes the song into EBM and electronic territory, transforming its post-punk tension into something darker, more mechanical and hypnotic. The ‘Call Silence’ Remix by Sam Rosenthal (founder of Projekt Records and the creative force behind Black Tape For A Blue Girl), uses stark drones, spacious electronic layers and distant vocals to uncover a more vulnerable, emotional and atmospheric side.

Watch the ‘Silent Tribe Remix here:

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Formed in 1994 as Low Sunday Ghost Machine, they emerged as a ‘retro-futurist’ pioneer, blending darkwave and shoegaze long before the genres saw their modern revival. Their legacy was cemented with extended re-releases of their 1996 debut album Low Sunday Ghost Machine and 1999 masterpiece Elesgiem (for their 30th and 25th anniversaries). Having played an integral role in Lowsunday’s history over the years, Rosenthal served as an important catalyst in their return to music in 2025 after a nearly 25-year hiatus, now a duo made up of original member Shane Sahene (vocals, guitar, synth, bass, drums) and Bobby Spell (bass, guitar, drums).

Their recently-released Low Sunday Ghost Machine – Black EP and preceding White EP (ranked second in Post-Punk.com’s Best EPs of 2025) presents the band’s first new material released since 1999. Both a reflection and a resurgence, these Lowsunday releases usher in a welcome return, marked by superb production and a renewed creative clarity, bridging three decades of distinct sonic legacy with balanced doses of escapism, dreamlike sounds, drones and feedback.

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Lowsunday yet again

Watch: ‘White Walls’ by I Ya Toyah

Posted: 25 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Polish-born Chicago-based alternative / darkwave artist I Ya Toyah returns with ‘White Walls’, a powerhouse offering about the hidden struggles behind the appearance of being okay, with video created by ALEX ZAREK. Released around World Mental Health Day, this haunting single supports her mental health advocacy, with initial proceeds donated to Backline Care, supporting the mental health of music industry professionals. Following ‘Feelings’, ‘Apology’ and her cover of Nine Inch Nails’ classic ‘Closer’ , this series of singles follows her 2024 album DRAMA, co-produced with and mixed by STABBING WESTWARD’s WALTER FLAKUS.

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‘White Walls’ is her fourth and final single in a series leading up to her Error Prospect: Human EP, which was developed in collaboration with Grammy-nominated producer Johnny K, (Disturbed, Staind, 3 Doors Down, Megadeath, Finger Eleven).  The first major release since her 2024 album DRAMA, co-produced with and mixed by STABBING WESTWARD’s WALTER FLAKUS, this new material expands I Ya Toyah’s sonic vision without losing the dark atmosphere, emotional intensity, and independent spirit she is known for.

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Watch: ‘Mort’ by SICKY

Posted: 21 October 2026 in Singles and EPs, Recommended Streams and Videos
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British alternative artist SICKY gets into the spirit of the season with ‘Mort’, the first track on his forthcoming full-length Redland album – his fourth to date. Once again, he delivers an earful that is full of mischief, attitude and a darker sense of humour with a song inspired by the book MORT from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

In that novel, an awkward farm boy named Mort becomes the apprentice to Death — a tall, cat-loving skeleton personage, who decides to take a sabbatical to experience human pleasures — and must learn to navigate the immense cosmic responsibility of harvesting souls while attempting to outsmart his master and alter fate itself.

SICKY is the solo project of Mick Butler, whose brand of melodic Britpop-infused indie rock spells good news for fans of Beck, Supergrass and early Blur. Originally from the Black Country region of England, he is now based in Shropshire.  After a run of playing in bands — from the brass soaked pop of Papa Mantra to the dirty stomp of SUMO — he now derives pleasure from banging out tunes and crafting new material as a true independent creator.

“This song was inspired by the wonderful Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novel of the same name. In the video, Death (played by the ever-dark Lily) is featured doing everyday mundane stuff. In the novel, he hired Mort to take his place so that he could experience human life for himself,” says Mick Butler.

“This video and song were recorded in my hometown, Bridgnorth. The making of the video turned a few heads — a miniature Death carrying a scythe in a supermarket tends to do that. This was my first attempt at recording my newly bought piano. A certain amount of pointing a mic and hoping for the best went on, but hopefully it has worked out okay.”

‘Mort’ is also the second single from the Redland album, following‘Bubblegum Party’, each showcasing SICKY’s playful, infectious pop-rock sensibilities and off-kilter style.

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Redland is an album about friends lost along the way and it’s a good bit darker than past albums. While the new record presents some other shady moments, ‘Swim’ and‘Bubblegum Party’ are not among them, presenting SICKY’s buoyant cheekiness, the latter track telling of a gloriously messy breakup party, served with a crooked grin as sweetness meets spite, chaos and a wicked sense of fun.

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Blacklist Union – Heavy is the Crown

Posted: 20 October 2026 in Singles and EPs, Recommended Streams and Videos
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16th October 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

I’m likely one of the last people to champion anything retrograde, cliché, whatever. I don’t hate nostalgia, but I absolutely detest the nostalgia industry that’s grown over the years which specifically exploits the latest cohort of an ever-ageing population. Gen X used to scoff at Boomers listening to golden oldies radio shows and watching nostalgic cack like The Golden Oldies Picture Show. Now we’re all splashing out hods of cash on thirtieth anniversary expanded reissues and spending long weekends at festivals like Shiiine On and packing out arenas to see acts from the 80s going through the motions as they crank out all the hits. I like hearting my favourite songs as much as anyone, but to live in the past is tantamount to being dead. As such, I’ve not much truck with acts who continue to exist solely to play the nostalgia circuit. But bands who continue to face forward, and to create, even when they’re beyond any career peak? I have more timer for them. A fair bit more.

LA hard rock / punk act Blacklist Union are marking twenty years as they release ‘Heavy Is The Crown’, the third single from their forthcoming album, The Good, The Bad And The Notorious, due for release in spring 2027.

I shall momentarily defer to the press release for more context, before coming to the single: “‘Jackson’, the first collaboration between Blacklist Union frontman Tony West and Femme Fatale’s Lorraine Lewis, saw the pair reimagine the Johnny Cash and June Carter classic, blending outlaw country, punk attitude and rock ’n’ roll swagger. It was followed by ‘Madame Butterfly’, an open love letter from West to Lewis, and it seems the song did the trick. After completing Blacklist Union’s recent UK & European tour with Faster Pussycat and Femme Fatale, during which Lorraine joined the band on stage at the end of every Blacklist Union set to belt out ‘Jackson’, Tony and Lorraine headed to Paris, where Tony proposed at the top of the Eiffel Tower. She said yes.”

Who saw that coming, eh? But ‘Heavy is the Crown’ sees them resume business as usual: unreconstituted hard rock riffery collides with punk and there’s a dash of post-punk style and some big-bollocked swaggering attitude behind it all. As much as it’s old-school, it’s got a dash of contemporary industrial going on, which gives it that vital edge. It’s that edge that pushes ‘Heavy is the Crown’ into a place where it matters, and is worthy of the ear of new listeners.

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Blacklist Union - 2 - George Reed photography

Photo: George Reed photography

Listen: ‘If You Found This It’s Probably Too Late’ by Hellripper

Posted: 20 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Scotland’s ibex-obsessed blackened thrash bastards of Hades otherwise known as Hellripper continue to globally promote their fourth studio album Coronach which was released via Century Media Records earlier this year.

Next up, Hellripper are embarking on a first complete North American tour in October/November and in order to whet the appetite for the upcoming activities, Hellripper have already released a digital double-single with the cover versions of Seattle’s legendary speed-metal-punks Zeke of the tracks ‘Let’s Get Drugs’ and ‘Mainline’. Hellripper have now also unleashed a blackened metal reimagining of an Arctic Monkeys B-side track ‘If You Found This It’s Probably Too Late’.

Hellripper’s mastermind, guitarist/vocalist and songwriter James McBain comments on the Arctic Monkeys cover song as follows: “I wanted to record something that would perhaps be a little unexpected, and this Arctic Monkeys B-side was screaming for the Hellripper treatment. It may be kind of surprising to some, but they’re one of my all time favourite bands, and though it may not be immediately evident in my music, they have always greatly influenced how I approach songwriting and production. Enjoy!”

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Hellripper – Live:

MO 26.10.2026 Roseville, CA (USA) – Goldfield Trading Post ^

TU 27.10.2026 Berkeley, CA (USA) – Cornerstone Berkeley ^

WE 28.10.2026 Los Angeles, CA (USA) – The Regent Theater ^

TH 29.10.2026 Fresno, CA (USA) – Strummer’s ^

FR 30.10.2026 Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Backstage Bar Billiards ^

SA 31.10.2026 Mesa. AZ (USA) – Nile Theater ^

MO 02.11.2026 Dallas, TX (USA) – AM/FM ^

TU 03.11.2026 Austin, TX (USA) – Come and Take it Live ^

WE 04.11.2026 Houston, TX (USA) – Warehouse Live Midtown ^

FR 06.11.2026 Atlanta, GA (USA) – Masquerade (Hell) ^

SA 07.11.2026 Nashville, TN (USA) – Basement East ^

SU 08.11.2026 Asheville, NC (USA) – Eulogy ^

MO 09.11.2026 Richmond, VA (USA) – Canal Club ^

WE 11.11.2026 Baltimore, MD (USA) – Baltimore Soundstage ^

TH 12.11.2026 Harrisburg, PA (USA) – Capital City Music Hall ^

FR 13.11.2026 Boston, MA (USA) – Brighton Music Hall ^

SA 14.11.2026 New York, NY (USA) – Racket ^

SU 15.11.2026 Lakewood, OH (USA) – Mercury Music Lounge ^

TU 17.11.2026 Detroit, MI (USA) – Catacombs at the Sanctuary ^

WE 18.11.2026 Chicago, IL (USA) – Reggies ^

TH 19.11.2026 Kansas City, MO (USA) – Recordbar ^

FR 20.11.2026 Denver, CO (USA) – Gothic Theatre ^

——————

WE 25.11.2026 Montreal, QC (Canada) – Piranha Bar

TH 26.11.2026 Quebec, QC (Canada) – La Source De La Martinière

FR 27.11.2026 Ottawa, ON (Canada) – Dominion Tavern

SA 28.11.2026 Toronto, ON (Canada) – Supermarket Bar & Variety

——————

SA 09.01.2027 Mangualde (Portugal) – Mangualde Hardmetalfest

TH 14.01.2027 Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) – Experience Music

FR 15.01 2027 Curitiba (Brazil) – Basement Cultural

SA 16.01.2027 Sao Paulo (Brazil) – Burning House

SU 17.01.2027 Belo Horizonte (Brazil) – Caverna

TU 19.01.2027 Buenos Aires (Argentina) – Uniclub

WE 20.01.2027 Santiago (Chile) – Sala RBX

TH 21.01.2027 Lima (Peru) – Vichama Conciertos

SA 23.01.2027 Bogota (Colombia) – Ace of Spades

SU 24.01.2027 Quito (Ecuador) – Necronik

TU 26.01.2027 San Jose (Costa Rica) – Amon Solar

TH 28.01.2027 Monterrey (Mexico) – Cafe Iguana

FR 29.01.2027 Hermosillo (Mexico) – London Pub

SA 30.01.2027 Tijuana (Mexico) – Dragón Rojo

SU 31.01.2027 Mexico City (Mexico) – Circo Volador

——————

SA 13.03.2027 Eindhoven (The Netherlands) – Dynamo / Welcome To Hell Festival

TH-SU 25-28.03.2027 Oslo (Norway) – Inferno Festival

FR-SA 28-29.05.2027 Kirchdorf bei Haag (Germany) – Bavarian Battle Open Air

FR-SA 28-29.05.2027 Buchenbach (Germany) – Boarstream Open Air Festival

TH-SA 03-05.06.2027 Stykkisholmur (Iceland) – Satan Festival

FR-SU 11-13.06.2027 Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) – Into the Grave Festival

FR-SA 23-24.07.2027 Freißenbüttel (Germany) – Burning Q Festival

TH-SA 26-28.08.2027 Næstved (Denmark) – Næstved Metalfest

^ w/ Havok

And many more shows to be announced soon!

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Forensics – Dogtown

Posted: 20 October 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Gotta love the Leeds scene. It keeps on throwing up noisy bands who really capture the zeitgeist. Sure, the city’s been redeveloped and gentrified and is a world away from the dingy days of Thatcher’s Britain, which saw it become the heartland of the early 80s goth scene. But for all its plush shopping centres and slick office spaces, home to wealthy finance firms, and for the way university life is now less The Young Ones and more the domain of the well-heeled – most often from overseas – who can afford to take on forty grand’s debt with only limited hope of a better job – it’s still a place where there is considerable poverty.

My generation was lied to: we were promised ‘graduate jobs’ which paid salaries well above the national average. Call me a failure: after a three-year degree in English literature – followed by an MA, and then a PHD, I failed to land a job which paid a ‘graduate’ wage and eventually, twenty-five years after graduation, I had my three student loans written off. Yes, I’d advocate staying poor as a career choice, naturally.

I digress somewhat, but the Leeds scene has always been, and continues to be, different. More recent years has seen the city’s sound move away from goth to noisy shit. This fashion started in the mid 00s, with the likes of That Fucking Tank, Pulled Apart by Horses, and These Monsters, and there was oddball stuff like Forward Russia! And This Et Al, and while lumped in with the post-rock trend. iLiKETRAiNS (later I Like Trains) always stood apart. Leeds has long been… well, different.

Forensics are different, too, and quintessentially Leeds, too. As they pitch it, they’re ‘Influenced by a desire to establish a sound that was as gritty as it was unrelenting’ and ‘have set straight their objective from the start; to put the world to rights as an unforgivably noisy 5 piece unafraid to incorporate influences from noise to hardcore punk, from black metal to garage rock’.

‘Dogtown’ is raw and biting. It’s built around a dingy, grainy garage-rock bassline, and during the verses, a sinewey guitar line twists through skewed angles in a fashion that calls to mind The Jesus Lizard, and, by some kind of default, Blacklisters. Then the chorus drives straight ahead with a racing urgency, the rabid punk vocals reminiscent of a screamier Wayne Barrett of Slaughter and the Dogs. It’s fierce.

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Watch: ‘T.R.L.T’ by Shooting Daggers

Posted: 19 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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London punk trio Shooting Daggers released their new mini-album The Real Life Thing in June via New Heavy Sounds, which featured special guests in the form of The Menstrual Cramps and Dennis Lyxzén from Refused.

This morning the band have shared a new video for the single, ‘T.R.L.T’ a track which they say, "is an invite to keep focusing on what’s real and tangible, genuine relationships with people, animals and the planet.”

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“’T.R.L.T’ is an invite to keep focusing on what’s real and tangible, genuine relationships with people, animals and the planet.”

‘T.R.L.T’ is the new single from Shooting Daggers, the band that never seems to stop. Sal, Bea and Raquel are one of the hardest working outfits out there, constantly playing shows and lending their support to myriad causes all around the U.K. and Europe.

Two years on from the release of their acclaimed debut album Love & Rage the band released new mini-album The Real Life Thing in June (New Heavy Sounds).

Recorded at Bear Bites Horse Studio with Wayne Adams (Big Lad, Green Lung), The Real Life Thing is the latest hardcore sonic missive from one of London’s must-see bands, and it absolutely does not disappoint. Shooting Daggers are the real deal; the best, and most exciting and adventurous hardcore-inspired band in the country. A ‘mini album‘. 7 songs and 20 minutes of driving rocket fuelled punk meets melody picking up from their debut to go further into their own space, featuring special guests in the form of ‘The Menstrual Cramps’ and Dennis Lyxzén from Refused.

Thinking of a concept for the video for new single ‘T.R.L.T’ was an easy choice for the band. They state, “We wanted a good old tour and recording BTS video.  We wanted to capture some of the good moments we had as a band so far, highlighting the wonderful people we met on our path, the beautiful cities we visited and the ecstatic energy that only playing on a stage can give you and lastly the love we have for each other as band members that goes behind simple friendship. You can find snippets of tours and moments as old as 3 years ago right up to last summer.  It’s such a privilege to be able to look back and realise how lucky we’ve been and how far in the world hard work can take you.”

Upcoming shows:

Oct 22nd – Rotterdam – Poortgebouw ^ (NL)

Oct 23rd – Charleroi – Carolo Culture ^ (BE)

Oct 24th – Paris – Le Chinois (FR) ^

Oct 29th – Strasbourg – Molodoi (FR) ×

Oct 30th – Karlsruhe – P8² (DE) ×

Oct 31st – Basel – Sommercasino (CH) ×

Nov 13th – Manchester – The Old  Pint Pot (UK)

Nov 14th – Glasgow – Core Fest (UK)

Nov20th – Bordeaux – Burdi Fest  (FR)

Nov 21st – Montaigu – Fury Dance Revenge (FR)

^ w/ The Menstrual Cramps

× Femme Rebellion Fest

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Watch: ‘The Dead End’ by Virgin Birth

Posted: 18 October 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Louisville, Kentucky – based industrial punk band, VIRGIN BIRTH has just returned with a new six-song EP, The Dead End.

The Dead End continues VIRGIN BIRTH’s fascination with the darker corners of electronic music, punk, and the increasingly strange world we all find ourselves living in. Where previous releases looked outward at collapse on a larger scale, these songs feel closer to the ground… more immediate, claustrophobic, and personal.

The Dead End is a collection of songs about exhaustion, isolation, dread, and the feeling that the path forward has narrowed considerably. It’s industrial punk for a world that seems to be running on fumes. There’s no solution waiting for you at the end of these songs… only a dead end.

Watch the video for the title track here:

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VIRGIN BIRTH is an industrial punk trio consisting of Phillip Olympia (vocals, synth, drum machines), Jake Miller (guitars, synth) and Matt Haas (bass) based in Louisville, Kentucky. All three bring deep roots in punk and indie rock, having played in various bands over the years. Their shared appreciations for the industrial scene of the ’80s and ’90s sparked numerous conversations, which eventually led them to aggressively experiment with drum machines, synthesizers and sampling.

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Virgin Birth

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