The darkwave/synthpop project MEERSEIN, brainchild of the Oldenburg-based artist and radio presenter Jan Schütz, has released a lyric video for ‘Faultless Deep,’ taken from the artist’s new EP Ocean available as digifile/digital from April 10th.
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‘Faultless Deep’ is one of the most emotionally intense and musically sophisticated songs by MEERSEIN. Blending haunting melodies with atmospheric depth, the track unfolds as a powerful ballad that balances accessibility with artistic complexity. Layered harmonies, subtle dynamic shifts, and an almost imperceptible tempo change in the bridge create a listening experience that grows more profound with every repetition.
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Inspired by the ecological vision of Frank Schätzing’s The Swarm, ‘Faultless Deep’ explores humanity’s fragile relationship with nature and the illusion of control over forces far greater than itself. Through poetic imagery, the song portrays the ocean as a conscious presence – both witness and response to human arrogance, environmental destruction, and collective denial. Images of fractured coral, collapsing structures, and awakening depths reveal a world confronting the consequences it has long ignored.
With MEERSEIN, a solo project rooted deeply in emotional honesty and atmospheric synth pop, the German artist has carved out a space where music becomes a personal refuge. Strongly inspired by the sea as both a physical place and a spiritual force, MEERSEIN’s work is shaped by moments of retreat, reflection, and reconnection with himself. Many of his songs are born near water, where the noise of everyday life fades and clarity returns.
Chicago-based alternative all-stars The Joy Thieves unveil the video for their new single ‘No Anchor’ feat. Chris Connelly (Fini Tribe, Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Pigface), created by Lumbra Productions. The second taste of their full-length album Apocalypse Pending, out June 5th via Armalyte Industries, fumes about a chilling world where corporate giants and billionaires operate with total impunity and where the absence of a moral "anchor" leads to societal and personal dissolution.
These music mavericks eye the edge of collapse, capturing the zeitgeist with such precision. Touching on the decay of the individual, ‘No Anchor’ explores the isolation in our modern world has pushed people towards amorality and an increased sense of hopeless nihilism. on vocals, this song articulates a world slipping free of moral gravity.
Revolving around musicians-producers Dan Milligan and James Scott (a.k.a. Joy Thieves Productions), The Joy Thieves is a musical supergroup that includes current, former, and touring members of Ministry, Stabbing Westward, The Rollins Band, Killing Joke, Pigface, RevCo, PIG, David Bowie, Blue October, Machines of Loving Grace, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Naked Raygun, Foetus, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Pegboy, Nitzer Ebb, Die Krupps and more.
“These days, it seems like people are capable of being pushed or tempted to exist in a state where they are alone. No moral compass. No ethics. No empathy. No forgiveness. No anchor. In a society where guilt seems to be gone, people can act however they want,” says Chris Connelly.
Dan Milligan adds, “When I was writing the music for ‘No Anchor,’ I purposefully used ever-changing, off-kilter guitar riffs that seem to stray farther and farther from the song’s key as it progresses. Because the music never truly repeats, or settles down, it creates the sickening sense that everything is unresolved, and it’s only going to get worse.”
Industrial rock band, HEAVENLY TRIP TO HELL has just unleashed their newest single & video for the song, ‘Yo No Quiero Ir Al Cielo,’ recorded by Addasi Addasi at Fuel Music Studios.
Lead Vocalist G Christ explains the heart behind the track: “The song was inspired by the fact that we do not want to go to heaven where certain people can’t get in, I want to go to a heaven where everyone gets in.” This release continues HEAVENLY TRIP TO HELL’s signature sounds – industrial metal fused with goth and heavy metal – born from the dirty streets of Long Beach, California.
Check it here:
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HEAVENLY TRIP TO HELL aka HTTH is made up of 6 members – G Christ on lead vocals, Sergio on Bass, Vicky Vicious on synth and keyboards, Jose on drums, Kurt on lead guitars, and Frank on rhythm guitar. Over the years the band has built a strong underground presence, including a growing footprint in Hollywood, consistently selling out iconic venues such as The Viper Room, Whisky a Go Go, and The Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Boulevard.
Now celebrating nearly 30 years on the streets. HTTH has shared the stage with some of the with some of the biggest names in rock n’ roll, including Dead Kennedys, Guns N’ Roses, Billy Idol, and more – cementing their place in the lineage of legendary live performers. From there, the band reflects on a legacy built deep in the underground scene. As guitarist Kurt puts it: “Give ‘em hell!” HTTH continues forward as a relentless force in heavy music, with a story still unfolding.
Argonaut return after a long year with the video for Leaves, a melancholy five minute ode to autumn and entropy. Cure-esque guitars intertwine with melodic bass and sweeping synths to create an atmospheric backdrop to Lorna’s ethereal vocals. The lyrics and accompanying ‘found footage’ video touch on themes of dementia and retreating into past memories, a topic close to our hearts at the moment.
Lorna set the scene for the video; “I was thinking about the moon cycle and the new moon and wanted to incorporate that feeling into the music. The lyrics are about somebody who is getting older and their mind is starting to deteriorate. They can remember the past more than the present. I had the image of being lost in the woods and trapped inside their memories. It’s quite a personal song.”
No stranger to the wider landscape and supported by BBC 6 Music, NME, Radio X, Argonaut are back, with a new album Interrupted. Ten songs from the past year’s abyss, documenting breakdown, burnout, dementia, depression, memory, hope and healing.
For fans of Sonic Youth, Pavement, Velvet Underground, Dodgy, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Huggy Bear, Japan, La Tigre, Grunge Pop, Experimental, Garbage, Hole, Nirvana, White Magic, Witches, Wands and The Pixies.
Musically, Eighties synth influences creep in alongside syncopated bass, fuzzed up guitars and heartfelt harmonies, fronted by Lorna and Nathan Lyons. Get up again when you can. Life moves pretty fast, but there will be interruptions.
‘Leaves’ is the first song from the forthcoming album Argonaut, interrupted, which will be released by Criminal Records and available to pre-order now.
O.R.G.II is an immersive musical work that brings the traditional pipe organ into dialogue with electronic and drone compositions, unfolding within a liminal soundscape — a space of transition and encounter orchestrated by Puce Moment.
In February 2019, Nicolas Devos and Pénélope Michel first engaged with the organ through a 1942 mechanical instrument. From this encounter emerged the album O.R.G., which laid the foundation for their distinctive approach to the organ as both a sonic and conceptual medium.
Longtime collaborator and choreographer Christian Rizzo, aware of Puce Moment’s ongoing exploration of pipe organs, invited them to compose the music for his new piece à l’ombre d’un vaste détail, hors tempête, premiered at the Biennale de Lyon in September 2025.
Ahead of the release of O.R.G.II on 12th June, they’ve unveiled a video for ‘Simoon’. Watch it here:
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PUCE MOMENT is the artistic duo of Nicolas Devos and Pénélope Michel, combining visual and sound arts. With backgrounds in fine arts, contemporary arts, and classical music, they founded the experimental electronic group Cercueil in 2005, gaining recognition in the French contemporary music scene through extensive touring. Parallel to this, they launched Puce Moment, a platform for sound research and interdisciplinary experimentation.
Their creations, blending fictional ethnology with diverse musical and visual forms, are characterized by emotional intensity and ritualistic structures, ranging from harmonic clarity to raw distortion. Using electronic and electroacoustic arrangements, they craft immersive soundscapes that merge traditional instruments (like limonary organs or Japanese gagaku) with innovative interpretations. Their work invites active audience participation through spatialized and immersive sound experiences.
BIG|BRAVE, the Montréal/Berlin-based trio of guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie, guitarist Mat Ball, and bassist Liam Andrews, have unveiled the mountainous single ‘an uttering of antipathy,’ taken from their forthcoming album in grief or in hope, out June 12th. The single’s gargantuan, sublime chords feel gravitational as they unfold in plumes of darkened feedback. Wattie’s voice emphasises a sense of isolation inside the fray with stark clarity and at times auto-tuned undulations, culminating in a powerful conclusion: “god only blames me / you only blame me.”
Mathieu comments, "This track was actually one we performed during the past year of touring. These are the chords and instrumentation we used for the live rendition of “chanson pour mon ombre”. Given our fondness for this live track, we decided to incorporate the chord progression into a new song for this record. After several challenging days in the studio, when it was time to structure and record the track, Liam, Robin and I recorded the entire song in a single take in the live room. This was a highly encouraging moment. The vocals (with subtle autotune) effectively brought the song together, making it one of my favourites on the record." About the autotune Robin enthuses, "I’ve ALWAYS wanted to try it. i’m glad we did."
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in grief or in hope marks a shift for BIG|BRAVE towards denser, guitar-oriented compositions. With longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (MY DISCO, Aicher) joining guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time, the pieces are keenly layered with a rich tapestry of harmonics and tonal intricacies. Each piece is its own biome of distortions starkly contrasted with delicate, even tender, moments. The trio’s instinctual progressions are made more vivid through live recording, harnessing the gargantuan and storied sound of their performances. Within texturally maximalist loops and affected vocals, the pieces utilise the aesthetics of drone, electronic, and heavy music within a foundation of pop song form. Wattie writes: “I wanted to explore catchy, melodic phrasing weaved throughout the intensity of the instrumentation and drony chord changes. All that I could reflect on was grief and hope; death and life; cause and effect; shared experiences of being a human person.”
Together the trio deliver emotional momentum that vividly describes the complex and deep feelings of struggle, pain, and transcendence. in grief or in hope transmits that sense of humanity with every gesture.
BIG|BRAVE will begin their European tour in support of the album this week in the Netherlands, and will be embarking on an extensive North American tour with The Body this summer.
Bristol based sludge metal band Urzah release their new album ‘A Tranquil Void’ in just a few weeks on 5th June via APF Records (Mastiff, Video Nasties, Swamp Coffin). Today sees them share one final single before the album is out in the form of ‘The Call Beneath’.
You can check out the track here:
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Formed in 2020, just before the pandemic hit, Urzah’s intensely collaborative and productive writing process was immediately evident, leading to the quick release of self-titled EPs ‘I’ (2020) and ‘II’ (2022). These laid the foundation for Urzah’s unique brand of ‘progressive sludge’. Inviting comparisons to Neurosis, DVNE, Mastodon and Elder, their forward-looking sound combines the abrasive elements of punk and post-hardcore with atmospheric post-metal passages and soaring melodies.
Urzah’s vision of ‘Earthen Heaviness’, combining oppressive darkness with moments of transcendence and cosmic awe, was realised on their critically acclaimed debut LP The Scorching Gaze (2024, APF Records). The band’s sonic world draws on both the intensely personal – rage, loss, grief and self-doubt – and a profound awe and vulnerability in the face of the celestial and natural worlds, framing visceral human struggle within vast cycles of death, decay and rebirth.
Since their debut, Urzah has refined their live shows across the UK, playing festivals and headline shows, and sharing stages with a diverse roster of heavy bands including Bongzilla, Tuskar, Mastiff, Greenleaf, OHHMS and Dopelord, as well as progressive atmospheric bands such as Hidden Mothers, Underdark and Nadja, demonstrating their strong cross-genre appeal.
The band recently announced that they are set to release new LP A Tranquil Void on 5th June 2026 via APF Records. The record marks a defining moment for the band, following up their critically acclaimed debut ‘A Scorching Gaze’ (2024, APF) with an even more assured, mature and ambitious full-length. Conceptually, ‘The Scorching Gaze’ and ‘A Tranquil Void’ function as a visual, musical and thematic diptych; where their debut burned brightly with the rage and destruction of an erupting volcano, their new LP captures the cathartic, contemplative still that follows.
Tom McElveen (vocals/guitar) comments on 3rd single ‘The Call Beneath’, “this track is about dealing with grief for the first time, and letting yourself be pulled into its depths so the earlier version of yourself can die and a new one can be reborn and ‘rise to the surface’. This process can only happen when you stop resisting it. We play with dynamics and moving time signatures to build and rebuild tension, taking us through to the final cathartic stage of rebirth at the pinnacle.”
The Howlers have delivered the first glimpse at their highly-anticipated sophomore album in the form of new single ‘Viper’. Carrying the band’s classic desert rock swagger, the track is accompanied by an epic video of a backlit frontman Adam Young, trusty fringe leather jacket in tow. “I’m not your usual type,” he shrugs, “but let’s pretend for the night.” Driving riffs and comparatively delicate vocals reintroduce the band, setting the scene for new album Heavy – an album exuding confidence and identity – which is set for release this autumn.
Speaking about the forthcoming new album, Young states:
“This album is those late night experiences, the after dark conversations, late night phone calls, the seductive nature of impulsiveness that seems so alluring and losing yourself in the addictive nature of recklessness, but it’s also the mirror in the morning, the wake up call, and the harsh reality of knowing those feelings won’t always last and it’s the moment you find yourself again.”
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The Howlers’ debut album What You’ve Got To Lose To Win It All earned the band a UK Official Charts Top 10 position and multiple chart positions across mainland Europe, where they also completed a headline tour last March. The record represented the emotional toll of personal loss, written and conceived by Young as a means to express and share his own experiences.
Outwardly the band was riding the high of success, but behind the scenes they were falling apart amidst the burden of independent releasing. But in the wake of the new year, Young set about working on the foundations of what would become the band’s second album. Galvanised by his newfound independence and reshaping the band into a two-piece, The Howlers recorded and released their rebirth singles ‘Night Crawling’ and ‘You Can Be So Cruel’.
This propelled the band across the continent, testing the waters on new material and rekindling a love for performing. The band have built a reputation as one of the country’s must-see bands, with plans to head back out on the road in the UK and EU surrounding their new album later this year.
Heavy, The Howlers’ sophomore album, is set for release via Frontiers Label Group on 9th October. Tour dates are soon to be announced.
Hunter As a Horse (HAAH) is the South African musician and vocalist Mia van Wyk. Based in the Western Cape, she has spent the last few years self-releasing a diverse series of singles and EPs that combine electronically-focused songs with intense, thoughtful lyrics that are given a darkly cinematic production.
HAAH signed to Metropolis Records in early 2026 and have released a fourth single on the label entitled ‘Obey’. “It comes from a place of integration rather than surrender and is a conversation between past and present selves, the fragments that once felt chaotic now finding form within something chosen and intentional,” says van Wyk of the downtempo, moody yet rhythmic electronic song. “What might sound like submission on the surface is, for me, an exploration of trust, control and the quiet strength in allowing oneself to be seen and shaped without fear. The song moves through tension and release, discipline and desire, capturing that paradox where restraint becomes freedom. It’s less about giving something away, and more about stepping fully into a self that no longer needs to resist its own nature.”
Many of Earthside’s most powerful songs come from an overwhelming feeling brought to life in music—with only the words of a thought-provoking title setting the scene.
Such is the case once more with the instrumental calamity called “A Dying Star.” The first taste of music in Earthside’s new era, the track is a bludgeoning journey through the inner cosmos—in all its destruction, disorder, and uncertain promises.
The band state, “’A Dying Star’ is yours. With chaotic intensity cranked to the max, ‘A Dying Star’ bludgeons the senses with the fury of a meteor shower and the heart-wrench of a broken dream.”
Watch the official visualiser video here:
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Earthside, a group that burned brightly—and burned themselves out under the weight of their ambitions, convictions, and disillusionment—forged ‘A Dying Star’ in a phase of strife and inner-turmoil within the group. For the first time, geographically, separate and growing apart, the members were tasked with creating an explosive high-energy live song—with only a drummer and piano player available at the initial writing.
The result being an unconventional and chaotic song; different from anything released thus far by the band, but unmistakably Earthside in every identifying sense.
As time passes, the identities, the dreams, the senses of self that defined us from our earliest memories lose their spark and grow dim. Some burn out brightly—others leave a devouring hole in their wake. For some, there is hope that the bright debris of the previous star can nurture creation once again in its aftermath—but for others, the void is all that remains. Such is the chaotic uncertainty and driving angst of ‘A Dying Star’.
A song of many firsts for the band, its process sent the group out of their typical surroundings and up to beautiful Val-David, in Québec, Canada to write and self-record ‘A Dying Star’ on-location at Luckchild Studio. Earthside used the stunning natural vista of the Canadian countryside as a mood-setter for their new output alongside a wealth of vintage pedals and percussion at Luckchild to add new stylistic flavors to the mix.
A Dying Star marks a return to the core of Earthside’s sound—the unmistakable soul of the music its four members create together as an instrumentally-driven unit—Showcasing the group’s spellbinding sense of sonic storytelling with soothing nocturnal atmospheres and crushing, climactic extremes.
Spearheaded by keyboardist Frank Sacramone and his furious piano runs, which collide with Ben Shanbrom’s force-of-nature drumming—the outcome is fresh and unexpected.
Earthside recently announced their debut foray into headlining some key European shows in May/June 2026 to round off the chapter for “Let The Truth Speak”.
Earthside’s blend of cinematic post-rock tendencies with worldly collaborators bring a type of live energy that is unique and compelling amidst their peers. Earthside weaves between an instrumental band and one who is enhanced by visual elements and collaborators, presenting a unique show for all to see.
The band will be supported by cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne across all dates plus local supports.
Earthside live shows:
Friday 22nd May – 229 The Venue – London, UK
Saturday 23rd May – Glazart – Paris, France
Sunday 24th May – Boerderij- Zoetermeer, Netherlands
Wednesday 27th May – MTC – Cologne, Germany
Friday 29th May – Betty – Hamburg, Germany
Saturday 30th May – Stengade – Copenhagen, Denmark
Monday 1st June – Kollektivet Livet – Stockholm, Sweden
Thursday 4th June – On The Rocks – Helsinki, Finland
Friday 5th June – Ankea Festival – Tampere, Finland
Aural Aggravation 