From the heart of Edinburgh’s underground, Kakihara return with Love Songs Part II, a raw, chaotic, and utterly unfiltered dose of metallic hardcore, and in advance they’ve unveiled the video for the EP’s lead single ‘Calamari.’
The band had this to say about the new track: “Because two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven, ‘Calamari’ is our metallic-hardcore energy and mathcore chaos smashed into a single strike. It’s got jagged riffs, stop-start rhythms, and a punishing beatdoon that lands like a hen party on the Cowgate. The vocals cut through the melee with equal parts desperation and defiance, matching lyrics that flick between hopelessness and resolve. ‘Calamari’ shows exactly what we’re about, raw, unpolished, and built for the pit.”
Recorded live in a single living room and fueled by raw energy, Love Songs Part II captures the chaos and urgency of the band’s relentless live shows. Drawing inspiration from Converge, Coalesce, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Heaven In Her Arms, Envy, and Botch, Kakihara fuse mathcore dissonance, screamo textures, and punishing hardcore grit into something entirely their own.
Love Songs Part II will be released on December 5 via Ripcord Records.
UNHAPPILY EVER NOW returns with one of its most moving releases to date — ‘To The Light’; a deeply personal alt/art-rock single.
Written as a tribute to his cat by songwriter, Stephen Watson, the song captures the bittersweet beauty of unconditional love and the ache of time passing too quickly. Its textured guitars, spacious production, and vulnerable vocal performance create a cinematic soundscape that invites listeners to feel rather than simply hear.
“He’s been with me through everything,” Stephen shares. “His presence gave me strength when I didn’t have any. This song isn’t a goodbye — it’s a promise that his love will always live in me.”
Blending influences from Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, ‘To The Light’ balances raw emotion with atmospheric artistry. It’s a song for anyone who’s ever loved — and been saved by — a soul that made life worth living.
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UNHAPPILY EVER NOW consists of Stephen Watson – lead performer and songwriter of Cleopatra Records’ recording artist, Green Jelly, and vocalist, Maria V. The band is the sonic embodiment of a world lost in time. The band merges emotional storytelling with cinematic intensity along with the haunting vocals and lyrical depth. Drawing from influences like TOOL, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, and Stabbing Westward, UNHAPPILY EVER NOW constructs songs like time-worn ruins—beautiful, broken, and impossible to ignore.
Inspired by the dark, time-bending world of the science-fiction show, 12 Monkeys, their songs speak to the ache of disconnection: the lives we’ve left behind, and the struggle of trying to exist in a present that no longer feels like it belongs to us. It’s grief without closure. Time without direction.
UNHAPPILY EVER NOW doesn’t offer answers. It holds up a mirror to what we’ve become—and asks if we can bear to look. Maybe that’s what we need most.
Legendary psych outfit Gong are back today with their new single ‘Stars In Heaven’ alongside a brand new music video created by Drain Hope. The band have also teased the release of their new album which fans will see in 2026 and shared the album’s name – Bright Spirit.
“It’s such an eclectic record,” says singer and guitarist Kavus Torabi. “This is the most colourful and kaleidoscopic album so far from this incarnation of the band. There are Eastern-infused epics, long instrumental jazz-inspired sections, meditative and cosmic detours and blistering, incendiary psychedelic rock. When picking the first song to be released, it has felt as if there’s an extra weight on the choice, as if the song somehow has to represent the whole album.”
Lyrically it expands on the idea that the world is as you are. “If you are a cynical, defensive or suspicious person, then that’s the world you’ll inhabit,” continues Kavus. “You’ll see mean-spirited behaviour and selfishness all around you but it’s always a choice. I think perhaps some people forget that. That’s not the world I live in, nor would I want to. It’s a sad old world for sure but it’s also a beautiful one bursting with hope, possibility, wonder and magic in every single moment.”
‘Stars In Heaven’ is the first single to be released from the new album Bright Spirit which will be released in 2026 on Kscope. Bright Spirit continues the legendary Gong catalogue – an extensive and acclaimed collection of releases that has seen Gong produce over 30 studio albums during a career spanning more than 50 years, since the band was founded in 1970 by the late Daevid Allen.
Gong continue to carry the torch ignited by Daevid Allen with their UK tour alongside fellow psych legends HENGE currently underway -
UK electronic outfit Scissorgun announce their album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, out November 21 via Dimple Discs. Mixing urban electronica with fuzz and wah guitar, these trailblazers present a solid collection of songs, dances and abstract soundscapes. A must-have for Factory Records collectors, the vinyl includes seven tracks, while the digital and CD versions include three bonus tracks. Ahead of its release, they present the tracks ‘Gone Rogue’ and ‘Bad As Bingo’.
Formed in Manchester in August 2016, Scissorgun is an electronic trio comprised of Dave Clarkson (synths, rhythms, tapes, percussion), Alan Hempsall (vocals, treated guitar, samples, loops) and Adrian Ball (light show and projections). Carriers of Factory Records’ legacy.
“We always operate on instinct and improvisation is the key starting point. Some ideas become structured songs, but others remain as first recorded, with the music finding us and not vice versa. The title is a soft attempt at social comment, intended to be inferred rather than overt,” says Dave Clarkson.
Their musical scope is varied – pastoral dreams one minute and, the next, crashing swathes of noise chased down with a dub twist.
“The idea for ’Gone Rogue’ started with a busy electro bass line and, as soon as we found a good quote from a conspiracy theorist on social media, the whole thing seemed to turn into a polemic against turning your back on humanity in revulsion. We dwell on the impact of the fight for our attention on the individual and the damage done. All the while, the driving beat is pushing us on with heavy cowbells and pulsing bass. We’ll all feel better if we dance,” says Dave Clarkson.
Alan Hempsall adds, “As for ‘Bad as Bingo’, we were both overjoyed when this came out of the mincing machine. We’d been looking for something with a go-go beat to it, so this was perfect. The words flowed automatically as the best ones always do. Broad brush observations of a situation gone bad coupled with a mawkish sentimentality for what’s lost. The glitching and grinding bass line and barking dogs take on a life of their own. Suddenly it all makes sense and the initial spark revolts into structure and form.”
Alan and Dave first met in 2007 when Dave’s band, Triclops, were supporting Biting Tongues at Islington Mill in Salford. Alan was in the audience and was so taken with Triclops’s performance that he wandered over to show appreciation and a friendship was struck up, bonding over a mutual weakness for early industrial, rock and modern jazz. After nine years of gig-hopping and hanging out, the timing was suddenly right for them to organise some jam sessions to see what came out.
It so happens that both of their bands were on hiatus at the time. While Dave Clarkson was in Triclops from 2000 to 2015, he was in White Cube prior to that. He since boasts an extensive catalogue of solo works.
As for Alan Hempsall, he was the vocalist for Crispy Ambulance, who was on Factory Records from 1980 to 1982, before spending five years in the mid ‘80’s playing percussion in a Brazilian Samba band. Hempsall also famously appeared on stage with Joy Division in April 1980, standing in for Ian Curtis at a show in Bury that descended into a riot.
“As with any album, we operate on instinct. Improvisation is the key starting point. At this moment, anything can and generally does come out. The bizarre accidents and serendipity that occur during this process are the parts we keep. Those moments that feel like you’re merely the vessel that the music is transmitted through,” says Alan Hempsell.
Dave Clarkson adds, “Some ideas gradually emerge into structured songs whilst others have the fortitude to remain in their original form to some extent or another. Yet no conscious decision is made. We are not in control. It is the music that finds the musicians. As the body of work is growing and developing, it seems to take on its own identity, something else we appear to have little influence on. So, there is an element of Praxis at work here, we’ll do it because we want to and think up the reasons why later.”
The US electro-industrial act genCAB have returned with a single entitled ‘Open Grave’ on Metropolis Records. A dancefloor confession that digs into a narrative of self-sabotage and quiet collapse, it demands to be heard as much as it begs to be ignored.
“The song explores the decay of our own undoing. I’m a self destructive person, and ‘Open Grave’ is about lying in my own mess that I create for myself,” explains group founder David Dutton. “Most of the advice we get is to keep our inner pain hidden and so we isolate further. So, here it is for everyone else to hear, whenever they feel like hearing it. This track is more accessible than some of my past work, and I think it complements a message that is universal. At the end of the day, sometimes life is as simple as a dance track and an easy outlet to lose yourself. Who knows what’s left when you tear yourself apart, but at least it’s an honest practice.”
The first new music by genCAB in 2025, ‘Open Grave’ has been made available together with an ‘Unsolved Remix’ by labelmate Lost Signal and a cover version of ‘Last’, a 1992 song by Nine Inch Nails.
Filmmaker Pavel Vishnevsky returns to collaborate again with Paradox Obscur, bringing a dynamic new visual interpretation to ‘Like A Freak’, an electrifying track from IKONA, the recently released new album by the Greek synth duo.
In a vivid performance, Nicola Di Pierro defies cliché and convention, embodying the song’s spirit of freedom and self-expression – because everyone, regardless of age, has the right to dance. The result is a cinematic celebration of exuberance and individuality, amplifying the pulse of Paradox Obscur’s kinetic sound.
‘Like A Freak’ opens side 2 of IKONA with a wild jolt, pulsing with the edge of the Hexagon house music label’s rebellious spirit. Powered by the Behringer Crave synthesiser, it spits out raw analog grit – the bass growls, the synths snarl – creating a feral, ecstatic soundscape that is as visceral as it is infectious.
Lyrically, ‘Like A Freak’ explores the duality of ego; the composed persona we present to the world versus the wild, unfiltered self that thrives in secret. It is a song for those sweaty, sunrise hours when inhibition fades, judgement dissolves, and you move only for yourself as you ask: Does it make you click? / Now it’s time to go deep. / Way deep. Like a freak. / Taste my analog kick!
Relative newcomers Suspicious Liquid have crashed the York scene in a big way with some powerful live shows, and now, with an album in the offing, they’ve gifted us with a video for ‘Fish-Like Things’.
It’s the perfect introduction to the band – melding elements of stoner / doom, prog, psychedelia and even a hint of jazz, and driving them home with some big riffage, ‘Fish-Like Things’ encapsulates the weird and wonderful sound of Suspicious Liquid. The accompanying video is suitably dark and twisted, and locals have the added bonus of being able to play ‘identify the location’.
Oakland alt-rock trio Sword Tongue presents ‘Murder White Noise’, a wry commentary on the state of the world and our attempts to soothe ourselves to get through it. The latest offering from their explosive Bonfire In The Tempest EP – their fourth to date.
In an increasingly stressful world, this song explores how people try to externalize their anxieties by consuming content that allows them to feel better about their own lives. We attempt to cope with the pressure of maintaining equilibrium by coming together to grieve, worry, and comfort each other, often finding that the only way to feel good about our lives is to reflect on others’ misfortunes.
Creating dark music for dark times, Sword Tongue is vocalist Jennifer Wilde and guitarist Gaetano Maleki, a husband and wife who launched this project in the pandemic year of 2020, now joined by renowned drummer-producer Dan Milligan.
“I started consuming true crime content as a way to turn off the thoughts that kept me awake at night and distracted me during the day. One day I told a friend I was a listening to a livestreamed trial where a lady put her husband on a burn pile. She said “WHOAH, what is that, murder white noise?” As I told people about the song, I found many others watch crime stories as a release from their stressful lives. It is important to bring that into the conversation about how we are coping today,” says Jennifer Wilde.
“Finding comfort in tragedy is new for me; during the pandemic and especially in the last year I find myself needing to look for reassurance that whatever I am facing is not as bad as it could be. ‘Murder White Noise’ was written as a way to come to grips that someone else’s pain is that content, and what that says about where we are as a society right now. Gaetano wrote the perfect guitar line that hooks you in to get to the truth of the song.”
On ‘Murder White Noise’, soothing vocals contrast with the song’s macabre lyrical content, while steadily thrumming instrumentation lulls you into a false sense of security. For a moment, the listener feels heard and encouraged, then questions their own motivations, left to wonder whether they are now the tragic victim in this story. ”From a songwriting perspective, this pulled a lot of anxiety out of me,” says Gaetano Maleki. “While writing the guitar and bass lines, I wanted to bring out tension to mirror the vocals, but with some kind of seductive undertones. I feel the instruments really complement the lyrics, like a hard boiled soundtrack.”
Alternative rock artist The Quality of Mercury presents his sophomore album The Voyager, an adventurous journey that explores different terrains and sensations: exhilaration, anxiety, longing and introspection, highlighted by focus track ‘Radiate’. Nine years since his debut Transmission album, he is finally back with new music that is both anthemic and accessible, cinematic and catchy – a perfect blend of muscle and melody.
The Quality of Mercury is Pennsylvania-based artist Jeremiah Rouse, who handles everything from writing and performing to engineering. Previewed by the singles ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and ‘Ganymede’, this groovesome, graceful and grand music with space-rock atmospherics speaks to our deep need for connection. His ongoing search for meaning is woven into songs that range from bursts of excitement to moments of quiet reflection.
“The Voyager album is born from a deep place of longing — for connection, for meaning, for something beyond the surface of everyday life. It’s about the desperation we often feel when distance, whether emotional, spiritual, or physical, gets in the way of our need to connect truly,” says Jeremiah Rouse.
“At this point in my life, I’ve realized that relationships, both human and spiritual, are at the center of everything. These songs reflect that realization. They’re part confession, part exploration, part quiet hope. They come from nights of questioning, moments of stillness, and the constant ache for something more meaningful. I made this album in hopes that someone, somewhere, would feel a little less alone in their search for purpose, presence, and peace. If The Voyager helps you feel a little less alone in your search, then it’s done what I hope it would.”
Combining vintage metal codes, electronic music, and modern musicianship, Holosoil is an atypical newcomer to the prog scene. Formed out of the ashes of a previous outfit, the Berlin/Helsinki-based quartet bring their unique sound and style to InsideOutMusic.
Technical but never scholar, raw and mature, fearless to explore and borrow the codes of numerous genres, HOLOSOIL follows the likes of artists like Björk, The Mars Volta, Muse and Tool.
You can get your first taste with their debut single ‘Look Up’, a raw 3-minute display of energy and technicality, marking the band’s first ever release.
Watch the video here:
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HOLOSOIL, formerly known as R3VO, is a band founded in 2019 by Victor Nissim (bass) and Jan Kurfürst (guitar), later joined by Altaïr Chagué (drums). The name change occurred after Emelie Sederholm joined the band as lead vocalist, following the departure of Eleonara Barbato. Although most of the band members are based in Berlin, Germany, Emelie lives in Helsinki, Finland while Victor and Altaïr are both French. The result is a gathering of eclectic musicians, manufacturers of a freaky, explosive and sophisticated sound.
Signed to InsideOutMusic in 2023, the formation was previously featured as R3VO in Metal Hammer magazine, performed at Euroblast Festival 2023 and was notably approached by Trinity Music to open for Scottish band Vukovi.
The release of 3 additional singles will lead up to HOLOSOIL´s debut EP, out in 2026.
Aural Aggravation 