After more than a year’s silence, Liverpool’s natives STONE explode back onto the scene with ‘NEVER AGAIN’, released in early August 2025 via V2 Records. This is their first original single since parting ways with Polydor, and it delivers everything fans expect: intensity, emotion and a fierce reclaiming of creative freedom.
Tracked live in the studio, frontman Fin Power delivers lyrics with his usual grit, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ isn’t just a song, it’s a statement. Thematically, the track dives into themes of breaking cycles, self-destruction, anger, and recovery. Power has been open about his journey through sobriety and the band’s difficult fallout from a major label experience. These personal experiences fuel the emotional core of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and lend the track a raw, lived-in authenticity.
Power drew inspiration from the anti-corporate spirit of Cyberpunk 2077, in particular, the theme of The Afterlife bar, where legends are born resisting oppressive forces. Similarly, “NEVER AGAIN” is punk rock with its eyes on a dystopian, anti-corporate future.
Critical reception has been enthusiastic. Clunk Magazine applauds the track as a “heavy free-for-all” blending hardcore and punk, with chaotic vocals and thrashing drums. When The Horn Blows hails its “brutally honest” message of self-destruction and frustration, praising its “beautiful balance between frustration and vulnerability”.
For a band known equally for live energy and emotional truth, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ lands squarely in their wheelhouse, it’s a stage-ready song made to be sung back in a packed venue. The title chant alone readies fans for the chaos of their upcoming festival season. STONE are set to hit Pukkelpop (Belgium) on August 15 and headline This Feeling By The Sea (UK) on August 30.
According to fan setlists on setlist.fm, during their performance on Aug 3 at Kendal Calling, they included ‘NEVER AGAIN’ along with other singles such as ‘Waste’, ‘Queen’, ‘My Thoughts Go’, ‘I Let Go’, and ‘Leave It Out’.
In this new era of creative freedom, STONE stand unapologetic and undiluted. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is a bold reclamation of sound and self, signalling that the band is more purposeful than ever. As they shout ‘NEVER AGAIN’, they mean it.
