Three years after releasing their 2022 debut Infinite Death, an album that earned them a Spellemann nomination (Norway’s answer to the Grammys), Norwegian crossover outfit Cult Member are back from the frozen north with another hard-hitting ear-bleeder titled GORE.
A tongue-in-cheek strike at social unrest, draped in blood-soaked ’80s slasher imagery, GORE rips forward with the fastest, sharpest riffs in thrash, powered by the relentless fury of a true hardcore D-beat backbone.
Recorded by Ruben Willem, GORE is set for release on September 19 via Loyal Blood Records, and it’s blistering slab of thrash/hardcore sure to ignite fans of Cro-Mags, Power Trip, Slayer, and D.R.I.
‘Skull Smasher Psychic’ is the first single. Hear it here:
Industrial metal legends DIE KRUPPS have announced an exclusive tour EP. This hand-numbered collectors’ item, which is entitled Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course, will be sold by the multiple genre-defining band on their upcoming 45th anniversary tour, which will kick off at the DVG Club in the famous Belgian medieval battle-town of Kortrijk tonight, on August 27.
The Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course EP contains guest contributions and remixes from prominent musicians of renowned acts such as MINISTRY with whom DIE KRUPPS have just successfully toured in the US. As a first taste of the EP as well as of the upcoming new album, the Germans have released the advance single ‘On Collision Course’.
AA
DIE KRUPPS comment: “You may be forgiven to think that ‘On Collision Course’ and ‘Will nicht – Muss!’, which translates into ‘don’t want to – have to’, could have been the working titles for our upcoming European tour”, Ralf Dörper quips. “In truth, the 45 years of influential sounds from Düsseldorf has been our guiding theme. In celebration of this anniversary, we have created this exclusive EP as a treat for all the dedicated fans coming to our concerts. It will give you an impression about what sound is currently happening in our steelworks as the above mentioned singles of the double-title will also provide a first and second taste of our upcoming album. The EP also includes some sonic glimpses of the experiences and friendships made on our recent US-tour with Ministry. Watch out for those remixes!”
Following the demise of Needlework, who we absolutely loved here at Aural Aggravation, front man Reuben Pugh has been keeping busy and keeping creative, with the swift emergence of lo-fi slacker country act Troutflies.
Ahead of an imminent debut album, The Dancing Years, they’ve dropped the song ‘Cross on a Hill’, which has hints of Pavement and Silver Jews, blended with the drawl of Mark E. Smith, and is accompanied by a video that matches the loose, low-budget feel of the song. We dig.
Sporting a new-look line up, a long-awaited second studio album, its lead single, and a smattering of rare live shows too, the universe of Hello Cosmos is thriving right now.
With Come Out Tonight slated for release this Autumn, the band’s ambitious sophomore album is confirmed to feature over a long list of collaborators, and takes influence from all corners of the globe with its studio recording sessions taking place in New York City, Los Angeles, Kampala, Leeds, Stockport and Manchester. Produced by Jamie Lockhert at Greenmount Studios in Leeds, who has produced all of their studio records to date, it arrives as Hello Cosmos’ first studio album proper in over 5 years, following their acclaimed debut Dream Harder in 2020. Of the upcoming record, frontman Ben Robinson teases:
“A lot of the upcoming record is about finding the strength to switch off digital screens and go out and live. It’s becoming more and more normalised to stay in, comatosed by ultraprocessed food and algorithms firing shallow dopamine hits, keeping us all hooked on a short wavelength, gradually becoming dumber, hopeless and unhealthy… We all need to wake each other up, get off the cool aid of digital apps, social media and algorithmic scrolling.”
Come Out Tonight is preceded by the single ‘Grind Into The Shrine’, an insurgent statement of searing post-punk and sneering lyricism that rails against the banality of imposed social structures.
“The single is about adulting, parenting and looking for those slim moments of paradise that take a lot of the daily grind to find. It’s about not letting the world get on top of you and finding the time to live, to get out of the house and celebrate life… Life can be so visceral if you get off your arse and go enjoy it. It’s literally there waiting for you. As with most my lyrics I’m telling myself this as much as anyone else” explains Robinson.
HELLO COSMOS – LIVE DATES
AUGUST
23 – Solfest (Main Stage), Cumbria
SEPTEMBER
13 – YES Pink Room, Manchester
OCTOBER
10 – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds
11 – Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (w/ special guests Seven Seals)
FÏX8:SËD8 unveil the nightmarish video clip ‘Oathbreaker’ as the next single taken from the forthcoming sixth album of the German dark electro act. Octagram has been slated for release on October 3, 2025.
FÏX8:SËD8 comment: “The track ‘Oathbreaker’ builds up menacingly over four minutes before it explodes in a thunderstorm of metallic distorted drums and a bass-line that rattles your bones”, mastermind Martin Sane writes. “This song is somewhat unusual in its heaviness for us and it represents the future development of the project – while it also keeps all the elements that have characterised our sound until now such as atmospheric pads and pleasing sequences.”
KHNVM drop the visually lush lyric video ‘Purgatorial Pyre’ as the final advance single taken from their forthcoming new full-length Cosmocrator. The fourth album of the German death metal act with Bangladeshi roots has been chalked up for release on August 29, 2025.
KHNVM comment: “A celestial masquerade collapses into ash as mortals kneel, deceived, their cries devoured by a silent, indifferent deity”, singer and guitarist Obliterator oracles. “The album’s opening track ‘Purgatorial Pyre’ does not sing of redemption, but of the cruel theater that mankind mistakes for grace – where each prayer drips with despair and the divine remains an elusive phantom.”
Stockholm’s heavy rock titans Lugnet have recently released a brand-new single titled ‘Fading Lights’, now available worldwide on all major digital platforms through Majestic Mountain Records.
Stretching across an awe-inspiring 11 minutes, ‘Fading Lights’ is far more than just a single, it’s a musical odyssey. With guest contributions from Dr. Carl Westholm (Candlemass) on keyboards and Hilda Norlin on vocals, the track weaves together towering riffs, soaring vocals, and sprawling instrumental passages. The result is a colossal opus that showcases Lugnet’s remarkable ability to channel the primal energy of the ’70s while forging something that feels undeniably vital today.
Louisiana-based ‘industrial bass’ pioneer, SINTHETIK MESSIAH has unveiled their latest EP, Beneath The Surface.
Beneath The Surface is a descent into the undercurrent — a raw, unfiltered excavation of the chaos, cruelty, and confusion that define the world we live in. Each track is a spade hitting the dirt, digging deeper into the systems, histories, traumas, and human instincts that keep everything so relentlessly messed up. It’s not about offering answers. It’s about refusing to look away.
Sonically, the EP blends the smoky unease of 90s trip-hop with the rusted edge of 90s industrial — a fusion of broken textures, distorted synths, and dragging, dirt-covered beats. It’s jagged, emotional, and sometimes angry — the way truth sounds when it’s unearthed.
‘Caught In The Grip Of The City’ is representative of the EP’s dark atmosphere. Hear it here:
At the risk of sounding like a stuck record – and we don’t care, Aural Aggravation exists to put word out about new music – the number of quality emerging acts to be discovered playing grassroots venues is mindboggling.
Historically – since the advent of contemporary / rock / alternative music as we know it – new acts have cut their teeth in these little venues. While the story of how Oasis were discovered playing at King Tut’s in Glasgow, so many people have an anecdote about how they saw Arctic Monkeys, or Editors, or Franz Ferdinand, or [insert band who went on to be huge here) in a 150-capacity venue, either to 30 people, or to 100 people who they whipped up in such a way it was clear that they’d not be playing 150-capacity venues on their next tour.
Glasgow’s Slime City might not be about to be touring the UK’s academies come the spring, but catching them in a cozy WMC in York recently, they showed significant potential, and ‘Do the Math(s)’ , the first single from forthcoming album National Record of Achievement, released in November only confirms that they’ve got that cut-above quality.
This October, the indefatigably enigmatic trio The Necks will release Disquiet, their 20th full-length release, a triple disc via Northern Spy. It’s an absolutely intoxicating listen, over three hours of incredible music.
The band has shared the mesmerizing 26-minute ‘Causeway,’ as a first listen. Hear it here:
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