Released on Friday, ‘Believe’ is the second single from a forthcoming new album by Assemblage 23, the brainchild of US electro-industrial/synth-pop artist Tom Shear. “This song is about believing that there is hope for better things, even with the state of the world as it is today,” says Shear. “We are responsible for making the kind of world we live in. In the face of bad times, sometimes the most subversive thing you can do is to have hope.”
‘Believe’ is included on Null, the tenth album by Shear as Assemblage 23 and the long-awaited follow-up to Mourn in 2020. Also home to the recent single ‘Tolerate’ , the album will be pre-promoted with a UK tour that commences on 15th October, immediately followed a one-off show in Germany. Dates are as follows:
15th October BRISTOL Exchange 16th October MANCHESTER Rebellion 17th October GLASGOW Ivory Blacks 18th October SHEFFIELD Corporation 19th October LONDON The Dome
There are two kinds of heavy bands: the ones that make a lot of noise and the ones that drag you somewhere you didn’t know you needed to go. Cwfen (pronounced ‘Coven’) are the latter, and Sorrows is a record that doesn’t just crush – it haunts long after the final note.
The allure of Cwfen’s sound lies in contrasts: the glacial ferocity of Amenra, with the velvet-and-razor vocals of King Woman, and the rotting grandeur of Type O Negative. It’s as hypnotic as it is harrowing, but somehow even better than the sum of those parts.
Since emerging from Glasgow’s underground just 18 months ago, Cwfen have built a solid reputation, selling out shows and pulling growing audiences into their doom-laden fever dream. Released in October, the band’s debut single ‘Reliks’ was a hit with fans and critics, landing a spot on Kerrang!‘s release of the week playlist. And rightly so. Their sound devours and delights in equal measure. And people are craving more.
Today sees the band share new single ‘Bodies’ with vocalist and rhythm guitarist Agnes Alder stating,
“Bodies was one of the first songs I’d written for Cwfen. I’d gone through a period of significant change in my life and had burned out to the point of caring a lot less about things that had previously been important to me when I was younger. As I was writing, I’d imagined this sort of vast, feminine cosmic horror. Sort of the opposite of what women are supposed to be. And I had this thought: what if, instead of being told to stay small and keep producing, a woman took up the biggest space possible and just… consumed? Almost a black-hole-sized matriarch hoovering up everything until there was nothing left. It was fun to think about this sort of monstrous feminine presence that can’t be stopped. So the song was sort of an exploration of those feelings, a catharsis of sorts. And permission to be terrifying.”
Listen to ‘Bodies’ now:
Upcoming shows including UK tour dates with Faetooth:
Helmed by Black and Cherokee composer and multi-instrumentalist Takiaya Reed, Divide and Dissolve release their new album Insatiable this Friday, April 18 via Bella Union.
Takiaya lent vocals to the first ever D//D song on recent single ‘Grief’ which showed her softer, contemplative side. Today’s new single ‘Withholding’ puts the project’s rib-rattling doom metal depths on full display.
“’Withholding’ is about a place where change can be perceived. Where it is felt materially spiritually emotionally physically. It is about navigating the dynamics and tensions of push and pull” – Takiaya Reed
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The album title Insatiable, came to Takiaya in a dream. She had a vision of a better world, one that gelled seamlessly with the optimism of her take on heavy music: “I saw and have felt the impact of people committing great acts of harm, causing pain in a never ending cycle. I have also seen and felt the strength and power of people committing great acts of love,” she says. For Takiaya, this is what it means to be “insatiable”; it’s the way we choose either a path of destruction or one of compassion, and experience it to its fullest. “It’s an album about love, and it feels important to experience this, now more than ever.”
Divide and Dissolve’s music is an acknowledgement of the dispossession that occurs due to colonial violence, it honours ancestors, opposes white supremacy and calls for indigenous sovereignty. Already legends on the international doom metal scene, the new album is an evolution of sound and intricacy. Strapped with thunderstorms of crashing cymbals, crunchy feedback, stomach-churning riffs and neo-classical inflections, the new collection delves into the idea of freedom through impermanence and destruction vs compassion, an urgent call to imagine a better world before it’s too late. Listen to it, digest it, and become insatiable.
Divide and Dissolve live dates (so far):
17-05-2025 – The Great Escape, Brighton, United Kingdom 18-05-2025 – Desertfest, London, United Kingdom 30-08-2025 – Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, United Kingdom 05-11-2025 – Pitchfork festival, London, United Kingdom w/ Unwound
Bill Leeb is the Canadian musician and mastermind behind electro-industrial scene mainstays Front Line Assembly and ambient-pop duo Delerium, as well as a key member of recording projects that include Noise Unit, Intermix and Cyberaktif.
‘Neuromotive (Stacks Mix by Rhys Fulber)’ is taken from a six track remix EP entitled Machine Vision out in July that contains reinterpretations of material from Leeb’s recent debut solo album Model Kollapse, plus a brand new song.
Check it here:
Rhys Fulber is well-known for his long tenure as Leeb’s creative partner in Front Line Assembly and other projects, as well as being a gifted artist and producer in his own right. The duo will make a long-awaited return to the UK in mid-April to play seven Front Line Assembly shows prior to headlining the Dark Malta festival. Dates are:
17.04.25 SHEFFIELD Corporation 18.04.25 BIRMINGHAM Asylum 19.04.25 LONDON O2 Academy Islington 20.04.25 SOUTHAMPTON The 1865 21.04.25 BRISTOL The Fleece 23.04.25 MANCHESTER Gorilla 24.04.25 GLASGOW SWG3
Pale Blue Eyes have announced details of their third studio album. New Place will be released on the band’s Broadcast Recordings label on 7th March. The latest single, ‘The Dreamer’ is out now.
Watch ‘The Dreamer’ video here:
Guests on the album include two musicians who have featured in the PBE live line-up – Tom Sharkett, music producer and guitarist with W.H. Lung, and music producer and musician Lewis Johnson-Kellett.
“The new album comes with a new landscape,” says Matt…“I hope the result is uplifting. The album reflects the end of an era and embracing new beginnings. But when we were unpacking in our new house in Sheffield we found an old slide projector that had belonged to my mum and Dad. We spent hours looking through the old 35mm slides and decided to use one for the album cover. The album arrives on the back of extensive and emotional transit, a record of time reflecting on a lifetime of memories – but now beside a world of new beginnings.”
The album will be released on classic black 180g vinyl, limited edition transparent blue 180g vinyl and CD. There will be an exclusive limited edition with Rough Trade that includes a clear 180g vinyl + bonus 7”. There will also be an exclusive signed print for anyone who pre-orders their copy through DRIFT record shop in Devon.
The band have announced a full UK tour for April 2025:
Thu 3rd – Thekla, Bristol
Fri 4th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Sat 5th – Room 2, Glasgow
Sun 6th – Bodega, Nottingham
Tue 8th – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham Gorilla, Manchester
Leatherette are back with brand new single ‘Itchy’ to mark the start of their recently announced EU/UK tour. The tour includes a show at London’s The Shacklewell Arms on 13th February.
After testing the song live during their second album Small Talk tour last year, they decided to record it themselves at home in a completely spontaneous manner, in messy rooms and using cheap instruments (including unlikely ones such as mandolin and bouzouki).”Being eternally dissatisfied, but also tireless explorers, we decided to return to our origins, seeking the expressive freedom that can be found in DIY”. The result was then entrusted for mixing to the usual collaborator Chris Fullard (Idles, Boris), and for mastering to Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher).
‘Itchy’ is a cathartic breakup song, blending the raw energy of post-punk with the angular charm of new wave. Written from the perspective of an inept and creepy protagonist, the track navigates the emotional chaos of a crumbling relationship, where frustration, anger, and reluctant self-realization collide. The song channels a blend of influences—from The Smiths’ melancholy to the frenzied urgency of The Pixies and the romantic nihilism of Tears for Fears. It’s a feverish exploration of love’s end, wrapped in an infectious, almost grotesque sonic landscape. Finally, it all resolves with a delicate, haunting arpeggio—like the quiet after the storm, offering a fleeting sense of clarity amid the wreckage.
Cool.
AA
EU/UK TOUR – FEBRUARY 2025
Thu 06 – Radio Rasa – Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Fri 07 – Le Rockerill – Charleroi, Beglium
Sat 08 – Zero Degree Est – Les Roches-L’Eveque, France
Hot on the heels of their acclaimed EP Hex Domestic, Dragged Up release their new single ‘Missing Person’ on Rare Vitamin Records on 2 February, as digital, super-limited CD and cassette.
The single is taken from the band’s forthcoming album, High On Ripple, which will be released in April by Cruel Nature and Rare Vitamin Records.
Check the video here:
Missing Person was recorded by Robbie Wilson (The Kundalini Genie) and Chris Geddes (Belle and Sebastian), mixed by Tommy Duffin (The Cosmic Dead) and mastered by Sam Smith at Glasgow’s legendary Green Door Studio. The flipside is the a dub-dirge remix of the title track, entitled ‘Machine Person’.
Dragged Up are an off-kilter psych-garage proto-grunge band with a spoken word element, founded in late 2018 by Eva Gnatiuk (Violent Butlins) with Simon Shaw (Trembling Bells) and writer Lisa Jones. Chas Lalli (Vom) and Stephen Mors (The Owsley Sunshine) joined in 2019 and 2022 respectively.
Upcoming live shows (more to be added):
Feb 3rd – The Ferret, Preston (daytime)
Feb 3rd – The Source Collective, Carlisle (evening)
March 8th – Summerhall, Edinburgh (with Amateur Cult)
April 11th – Stereo, Glasgow (supporting House of All)
May 2nd – The Ferret, Preston
May 3rd – Big Hands, Manchester
May 4th – The Underground, Bradford
May 5th – Museum Vaults, Sunderland
(Click image to listen / purchase both tracks on bandcamp)
London-based progressive metal collective Dawnwalker have just shared a new music video for the track ‘Pagan Plains’, which is taken from the band’s third studio album Human Ruins recently reissued by Room 312.
Watch the video here:
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Originally released in 2018, the album has been partly re-recorded, expertly remixed by No Studio‘s Joe Clayton and remastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. The album is now available on vinyl for the first time in a deluxe 2xLP gate fold edition with expanded artwork, and represents a fully realized version of the original. ‘Human Ruins’ charts a journey across an ancient landscape over the course of a calendar year. It’s a journey through the seasons, guided by flora, fauna and the phases of the moon. Set in a time of myth and magic, it blends lush soundscapes, joyful post-metal and searing black metal ballads into an epic journey across a forgotten world. Orders are still available at location.
To celebrate the release, Dawnwalker will head out on their first UK tour in a co-headliner with Edinburgh’s HEALTHYLIVING fresh from their recent live debut at Roadburn festival, and featuring members of Maud the Moth, Ashenspire and Falloch. With additional support from bands cherry-picked from the U.K.’s rich heavy music underground, each show promises to be a unique mix of heady and emotive post-metal. Check out the confirmed dates below:
07.12 – Le Pub, Newport 08.12 – Retro Bar, Manchester 09.12 – The Flying Duck, Glasgow 10.12 – The Black Heart, London
ME LOST ME shares the video for ‘Festive Day’, from her upcoming album, RPG (due 7th July via Upset The Rhythm). A selection of dates in support of Richard Dawson throughout May have also been announced, more details below.
Songwriter Jayne Dent comments on the track;
“’Festive Day’ is a song about being overcome by intense sensory experiences, of nature, the elements and desire. It’s inspired by spending a midsummer festival in Denmark, when the huge bonfires lit along the coast stayed alight through torrential rain and dense sea fog, which left a massive sensory impression on me. It’s about the coming together of all these elemental forces, feeling connected to this seasonal ritual, and connecting it to the English folk traditions around the same time of year, explored in May carols and similar songs, which often celebrate desire, lust and love alongside celebrations of nature and the land. The music video is an overload of artefacts, it’s fast paced and intense in terms of the editing but I wanted to contrast the emotional intensity of the song by framing it almost as an archive or museum of the future, that is documenting folk traditions and trying to reconstruct them and understand them, but missing that vital emotional component. I worked with folk musician and dancer Mark Insley, who choreographed a dance in the Cotswold Morris tradition, to be featured as part of the music video, and made handkerchiefs in the Morris style featuring elemental symbols.”
Watch the video here:
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A prolific writer, ME LOST ME has released two crowdfunded albums: Arcana (2018) and The Good Noise (2020), which was included in Electronic Sound Magazine’s Album of the Year list. These in addition to her latest EP The Circle Dance (2021), which was described as “her most textural and sonically adventurous music to date” by NARC Magazine, and an extensive touring schedule around the UK DIY scene, has won her unique sound much support across the musical spectrum. Dent has notably performed live for BBC Radio 3’s After Dark Festival and as part of the 2022 BBC Proms alongside Spell Songs, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Voices of the Rivers Edge Choir. She recently received the prestigious Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers and was 2020-2021 Artist in Residence at Sage Gateshead.
ME LOST ME LIVE DATES: 03/05 – The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, UK w/ Richard Dawson – tickets
04/05 – St George’s Bristol, Bristol, UK w/ Richard Dawson – tickets
05/05 – Barbican, London, UK w/ Richard Dawson – tickets
06/05 – The Bradshaw Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, UK w/ Richard Dawson – tickets
07/06 – London – EartH Theatre w/ Xiu Xiu
30/06 – Hyper Inverter Festival, Ulverston, UK
15/07 – The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle, UK (ALBUM LAUNCH)
Berries totally grabbed us with their debut album, How We Function.
Taken from said debut album, ‘Spiral’ showcases everything we dig about them, and the new release comes ahead of a UK headline run in March 2023, plus a run of Winter shows with Skinny Lister this December.
Steeped in BERRIES’ trademark craggy, contagious rhythms and earworm choral hooks, it’s another fine example of the band’s melodic noise-driven rock in full flight. A track about concealing our innermost struggles and the escalating repercussions it can cause, vocalist Holly explains:
“’Spiral’ is about how easily we share insignificant details about ourselves but struggle to open up about serious matters through fear of seeming weak or vulnerable. And how what we do share with people is often for the satisfaction and approval of others and not for ourselves.”
Blending distinctive melodies with inner-battles we’ve all faced, ‘Spiral’ is a quintessential BERRIES cut plucked from the band’s new album How We Function (out now, via Xtra Mile Recordings); an album ostensibly about mental health struggles and how we can overcome them.
Aural Aggravation 