MESH demonstrate their remarkable proficiency far beyond producing massive electronica hits by delivering a wide-angled mid-tempo advance single that amalgamates melancholia with relentless urgency in the shape of the music video ‘This World’. This is the final advance track before the iconic alternative electronic duo’s new album will be released on March 27, 2026.
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MESH comment: “I lingered in front of a piano and my mind wandered into cinematic film score territory and continued into how these soundtracks or epic pieces of music set an emotional landscape for the film”, Richard explains. “This was my train of thought when I wrote what was to become ‘This World’. Then Mark added the underpinning modular lines which gave this uneasy dynamic.”
“This is a really beautiful song in my opinion”, Mark opines. “It came together by a huge group effort with Rich’s solid and emotional instrumentation, lyrics that just seemed to come together, and Olaf’s inspired production and arrangement changes. It turned out to be one of my favourites on this album.”
mclusky have returned with new music (and some not-so-new music) in the form of a mini album called i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley, which ipecac recordings will release on 20th march (digital) and 1st may (vinyl). it will be released in the following formats: digital, black vinyl, ipecac/band translucent red vinyl and the rough trade exclusive variant, crystal fuchsia. today, they share the track ‘as a dad’.
‘as a dad’ is a song about several things.
the first of these several things are men who begin sentences / clauses with ‘as a dad…’. which is fine as long as the sentence / clause bears no relevance to the actual experience of being a dad. occasionally though, the prefix is appropriate (about 1/7). society must bend to this.
the second of the several things is a modern child’s wonder at how much it must despise its male progenitor in the early stages of life. the mother is all. the father can fall down the stairs and die in a puddle of his own slippers, and that’s okay.
the third, and last i can be arsed to list, of the several things, is something to do with the pride of being replaced by your offspring. i look forward to gradually fading into the background (unless i die suddenly in an avalanche) and becoming a grey footnote set against a sofa. when i stop breathing i hope nobody notices for at least an hour – this means that whatever board game is being played at this family gathering i’ve just fantasised is at least competitive (and wasn’t an expensive waste of time and money).
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if you happened to catch the new peaky blinders movie this past weekend, you might have heard ‘people person’ on the big screen along side music from nick cave and fontaines d.c. the song is from the band’s 2025 release, the world is still here and so are we. the movie is in cinemas now and on netflix 20th march, and the soundtrack is out now.
Industrial glam kingpin Raymond Watts and his chief songwriting partner in swine Jim Davies (ex-Prodigy and Pitchshifter) are proud to announce that PIG has given birth to a healthy new album, ‘Hurt People Hurt’. Weighing in at 10 tracks, this latest addition to the PIG bloodline will be released into the wild on 22nd May 2026.
‘Tosca’s Kiss’ is out today as the album’s first single. Inspired by Watts’ well-known love of opera, it’s a song for the strong of stomach but not the faint of heart.
The album follows the dirt directly to the dustcart where misfits and reprobates can both lose and find themselves in this full fat emporium of ecstasy, naked words and momentous music. Plucked and sucked on the fruits of pain and bliss, this prime slice of PIG provides a light space for dark spirits. Enter bruised, leave changed.
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Raymond Watts has an impressive resumé. Aside from fourteen albums as PIG, he has worked with stalwarts of the global industrial scene such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Foetus and Psychic TV, in Japan with the bands Schwein and Schaft, and was a founder member of electronic rock band KMFDM with a key writing and vocal role on their best known songs of the ‘80s/’90s.
Watts has also written music for film, TV, advertising and fashion shows in Europe, Japan and America. His work in fashion includes ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’ (Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York) and ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ for the late fashion icon Alexander McQueen, which was reprised as ‘Savage Beauty’ (MMOA and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London).
Dark electro project, STABBED BY PRONGS has just unleashed their new full-length LP, Static Skin.
Drawing from EBM, electro, and 90s industrial influences, protagonist Craig Drabik has crafted six original soundscapes blending dance and destruction. Longtime collaborators Ry White, Andy Breton, Kimberly Kornmeier (Bow Ever Down), and Lail Brown return, along with newcomer Gabrielle Emerson.
Human relationships are a primary lyrical theme that permeates the album. The opening track, ‘Corpus’ hints at imposter syndrome under its moody S&M vibe, while ‘Another Realm’ embodies the longing and isolation of a long-distance relationship. ‘Violent Delights’, the album’s first single, is a harrowing look into an intimate relationship with a malignant narcissist. ‘Fall Into Darkness’ wraps up the album, longing to escape into the kind of love that consumes your sense of self.
STABBED BY PRONGS founder, Craig Drabik states, “Static Skin seems to have two personalities split between the male and female vocalists. I think there’s a nice contrast between the thumpy, heavy aggression of tracks like ‘Corpus’ and ‘Big Fake World’ and the laid-back electro-trip-hop of ‘Pyromancer’ for example. It provides more surface area to attract different kinds of listeners.”
As a taster, they’ve released a video for the opening track, ‘Corpus’, which you can check here:
Now in their twentieth year of uncompromising and mind-bending music, Gnod return with Chronicles of Gnowt Vol. 1, the first of a planned trilogy, to be released via Rocket Recordings on 10th April. Vol.2 should arrive in October and Vol. 3 in early 2027.
Today, they share another track from Vol 1 with ‘All Tunnel No Light’.
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“I am only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation,” Susan Sontag once remarked. Sontag never had the chance to work out how she felt about Gnod, given she sadly left this earthly realm in 2004. Yet Gnod’s now twenty year journey through spiritual and audial exploration has been nothing if not that. Driven by relentless curiosity, magpie irreverence and a fierce countercultural imperative, their project has always refused to acknowledge all or any rules and boundaries, internal or external.
The latest adventure of this band may never have been intended to celebrate their two-decade anniversary, but as long-time Gnod member Paddy Shine notes, they don’t always have a lot of say in these matters –“I know that we didn’t plan it this way but perhaps it was always in the plan and we just didn’t know it,” he notes cryptically. “I guess what I’m saying is that the Gnod thing seems to have its own energy now and certain things tend to take care of themselves”.
“We haven’t reflected too heavily on the twenty year mark and maybe we shouldn’t, but I’m glad we are marking it in true Gnod fashion by releasing too many albums” he laughs –indeed, what began as a trip into a residential studio setup in Hellfire Studios with producer John ‘Spud’ Murphy (Lankum, Black MIDI, Caroline) for six days resulted in more potent material than anyone bargained for.
“Working with Spud was probably the best studio experience we’ve had,” Paddy notes. “He was open to all our ideas, facilitated them the best he could and always had great suggestions. The vibe was right and things just flowed”. The end result has been three studio albums to be released over the next year. “This trilogy revealed itself to us in the studio,” says Paddy. “We were hoping to get a good album out of the session and lo and behold we got three of the fuckers. It’s interesting that we did pretty much capture the full spectrum of the Gnod sound across all three”.
Oakland, California – based post-punk band, False Figure has just unveiled their new full-length album, Incarnate.
The themes across Incarnate remain familiar to the band’s legacy. Ranging from lamenting toxic interpersonal dynamics in ‘Favorite Game’, finding sobering respite within the chaos of an unsalvageable world in ‘Original Sin’, to a more immediate and explosive call to action in ‘Say Nothing’. There’s an undeniable flow to the songs on the record that don’t leave you lingering in the same feeling for too long.
Incarnate is an example of what modern post-punk could sound like while not being pinned to one particular repetitious theme. The tracks serve as a cathartic release for listeners, drawing from lived experiences that are universally shared. It is the intention of the band to speak to the inner world of its audience and connect in a meaningful way.
Check single cut ‘Flowers in Bloom’ here:
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Conceived in 2016 in the depths of San Francisco, False Figure exploded onto the bay area’s burgeoning modern deathrock scene as a loud and driving three-piece. Distinguishing themselves with tribalistic tom beats and screeching guitars ala Killing Joke, this became the hallmark to early releases as swirling feedback gave way to drippingly saccharine melody. Toying with a dichotomy of tension building verses only to be releases by lush melodic choruses. Andres Ruiz’s haunting vocals blend together a rich chemistry of melancholic, desperate crooning alongside guitars. 2022’s release, Castigations recorded in April 2-21 by Grammy winning engineer, Greg Wilkinson and mastered by Grammy winning engineer, Chris Dugan, saw the band take a step towards traditional gothic rock and further from traditional punk sounds while retaining their own alchemy.
In 2026 the band seeks to release the newest iteration departing headfirst into luscious early dream pop ecstasy while maintaining a deep beautiful melancholy radiating throughout the new album, Incarnate. With influences from the French cold wave scene, Spain’s La Movida and British shoegaze, this newest release includes an entirely new line-up with Keven DeFranco on second guitar and Kenan Hamilton on bass explore a deeper concept of what modern post-punk could sound like.
Prague goth rockers, CATHEDRAL IN FLAMES have unveiled their new single & sylish video for the track, ‘Push The Fire’.
‘Push The Fire’ is a metaphorical story about picking up women. On the surface, it’s vampire kitsch; underneath, it’s classic seduction wrapped in promises of eternal love, right up to and beyond the grave. The seduction doesn’t really work out, though, so both of our heroes get angrier and angrier, and they end up more and more blood-soaked.
The initial inspiration came during long spring walks around the South Bohemian fish ponds when, above the melting ice there was nothing to see but raw, damp fog and flocks of crows. Musically, ‘Push The Fire’ is a return to the roots: a straightforward, fast goth rock’n’roll song with a chorus that hits you straight in the face. The bridge is a conspiratorial wink toward the band, The Mission and their single, ‘Severina’.
‘Push The Fire’ is a fast, rhythmically-pulsing track driven by Gatsby’s bass and Barney’s tribal drumming and features a soaring chorus adorned with Ambra’s vocal acrobatics and Phil’s trademark growl. The sound was produced and mixed by Brett Carruthers of the Canadian band, The Birthday Massacre.
Këkht Aräkh will release Morning Star on March 27th, and the album finds him arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself. Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with textured, immersive soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. The lo-fi warmth of the tape Portastudio imbues the record with a tangible, analog immediacy, lending grit and character to every note while allowing drifting, melancholic melodies to linger.
Since its origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the Këkht Aräkh project, has consistently sought to carve a distinctive path within black metal. Tracing back to 2014, his early experiments exposed the gaps he felt in the genre, culminating with his debut under the Këkht Aräkh moniker, Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018), Night & Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), later reissued by Sacred Bones Records. Across these releases, Dmitry, now based in Berlin, established a signature contrast between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads: a dynamic that reaches new depth on Morning Star.
On the new single ‘Eternal martyr’, Këkht Aräkh partners with Bladee, who added vocals and co-wrote lyrics. The collaboration may seem unlikely at first, yet it reveals an intuitive chemistry. Both artists share a commitment to world-building, emotional directness and carving a singular path outside their respective genres. Despite their different genres, Dmitry has long admired Bladee’s introspective lyrical style and saw how it could translate into black metal without disrupting the genre. Bladee’s own interest in black metal created a natural space for collaboration, and the project grew organically from their shared fascination with bridging their musical worlds.
About the track, Dmitry says, “Despite its simplicity, this song feels like an interesting musical and cultural experiment, a fusion of two worlds, or a bridge between them. On this track, and the record as a whole, I’m hoping to offer a new perspective for black metal: renewed, reframed for the present moment, more integrated in the modern music scene, but strongly faithful to the genre’s roots.
“I’m very grateful to Bladee for exploring this idea with me, bringing his unique vibe and making this beautiful collab happen, that makes perfect sense in the end.”
For the second single from their forthcoming debut EP, Look, Stranger! (the new musical project of Ian J Cole and Louisa Rose) have taken the unusual step of releasing a remix of the as-yet-unreleased lead track, ‘Broken’. Longer than the single version – which in itself is six minutes in duration – it replaces the sung vocals with a spoken narrative and dialogue – source undisclosed, but it’s quintessentially northern, to the extend you half expect Sean Bean to make a cameo with a “bastards!”
Despite the underlying electro instrumentation, the end result is quite different from its predecessor, ‘The Last Thing’, and, indeed, the rest of the EP. It’s indicative of an act not tied to formula and willing to mix things up – which gets the Aural Aggravation vote!
Aural Aggravation 