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The London-based trio of DJs Jono Grant, Tony McGuinness and Paavo Siljamäki have been producing a diverse assortment of electronic music for over 25 years, and are the founders of EDM labels Anjunabeats, Anjunadeep and Anjunachill. As Above & Beyond, they earned nominations for the Grammy Best Dance Recording category in 2016 with ‘We’re All We Need’ featuring Zoë Johnston, and in 2018 for ‘Northern Soul’ featuring Richard Bedford. Following on from the success of their fourth album ‘Common Ground’ debuting at third on the US’s Billboard Hot 200 chart, their fifth album ‘Bigger Than All Of Us’ took them on a massive US amphitheatre tour, bringing their Anjunabeats sound to over 130,000 fans.

The last issue of the series, ‘Anjunabeats Volume 16’ released on the Anjunabeats label in 2022, with ‘Volume 17’ set to contain more of the progressive trance and house that Above & Beyond are so well known for, plus features from a range of emerging talents that are actively shaping the club scene. A press release from Anjunabeats describes the story behind the latest mix, saying “following the release of Bigger Than All Of Us, it felt important for this next chapter to celebrate the artists that make Anjunabeats such an exciting label to be a part of. Volume 17 includes music from artists we’ve worked with for years as well as new faces representing the future of the label.”

The 35-track compendium was curated at Above & Beyond’s London studio, and is split into two discs with branching styles – from a statement: “Disc One explores a deeper, progressive palette – from tribal grooves to ‘90s trance nostalgia,” while “Disc Two captures the high-energy Anjunabeats sound built for festival moments around the world.” The lead single from the release, ‘When I Look In Your Eyes’, features vocals from long-time collaborator Justine Suissa, and carries that live festival-feel of Disc Two with its club-ready pulses and pounding beats. The trio played it to 15,000 fans at their Group Therapy 600 set in Mexico City, with it fast becoming one of their most popular tracks.

To celebrate the release of ‘Anjunabeats Volume 17’, Above & Beyond will be performing a special pop-up evening at 26 Leake Street in London this Thursday, the 28th of May. It’s set to be a deeply-intimate, sweaty affair, capturing the boiler-room style live energy that EDM is so well suited to. The whole evening will be recorded, starting with a set by J Ribbon from 7PM to 8PM, and followed-up by Above & Beyond playing the new music from ‘Volume 17’ from 8PM to 11PM. Tickets for the pop-up are only available to ticket-holders for Above & Beyond’s Silverworks Island show on Friday the 3rd of July.

‘When I Look In Your Eyes’ featuring Justine Suissa is out now, while ‘Anjunabeats Volume 17’ releases on Friday the 5th of June. Digital pre-orders are available exclusively on the Anjuna Music Store, and physical versions will be released as a CD, and for the first time a 2-disc vinyl sampler featuring 12 tracks hand-picked by Above & Beyond. Tickets for their Silverworks Island show in July are available here, and if you’re lucky you can grab a ticket for their pop-up this Thursday too.

Since forming in Southend-On-Sea in 2012, Nothing But Thieves have released 4 studio albums, all of which have landed in the top 10 of the Official UK Album Charts. The band’s last LP, 2023’s ‘Dead Club City’ was their first UK Number One, with energetic dance-pop lead single ‘Welcome to the DCC’ earning itself BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record of the Year. The band’s sound is a lively mix of indie rock with a heft of hard rock influence, often dipping into pop and electronic styles with ease.

After wiping their Instagram feed at the start of May, the band posted several teasingly ambiguous uploads and planted cryptic posters around UK cities before releasing ‘Evolution’ last Wednesday. The track is a bright, thumping indie rock anthem packed with themes of self-improvement and progression, sounding much in the same vein as the music of Sam Fender. Nothing But Thieves have said that Evolution is a “song that’s not too concerned about finality. I think imperfection and authenticity is becoming ever more valuable and it’s definitely something we’re drawn to. We’ve spent some time trying to work out what’s real and tangible about who we are and how we use our time. The people we travel the world with, the human moments on stage, the connection we make with those who come to our shows. That’s real… It’s a bit of a love letter to the people in our world in that way.”

The group played an intimate release set for ‘Evolution’ at The Dome in London last week, and then played it at Radio 1’s Big Weekend before a secret show at Newcastle’s Think Tank venue under the pseudonym ‘Stray Dogs’ last Saturday. The album ‘Stray Dogs’ was announced this morning alongside the tour, with the band reporting that they had returned to Angelic Studios in Oxfordshire where they recorded debut album ‘Nothing But Thieves’.

As for the tour, it kicks off in Paris next January, and following the European leg comes to the UK and Ireland in February. After arena shows in Dublin, Nottingham, London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, it’s off to Canada and the US over March and April. The band have also let fans in South America and Australia know that dates for them will be out soon. Find all the info on the poster below:

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‘Stray Dogs’ is out on the 25th of September via RCA/Sony Music, with pre-orders granting access to the gig pre-sale. Tickets for the tour go on pre-sale at 10am on Tuesday the 2nd of June, before general sale opens at 10 am on Friday the 5th. You can catch Nothing But Thieves at their only scheduled gig for 2026 supporting Biffy Clyro, live in London’s Finsbury Park on Friday the 3rd of July.

The British metalcore collective strive to keep their identities tightly under wraps with their masks and stage names, but we know this much – there are four of them. The lead vocalist, known as “The President”, has been long-rumoured to be former Busted and Fightstar singer Charlie Simpson. His distinctive costume of a semi-realistic human face mask and a suit have caught the eye of many during their viral rise on social media, attracting fans to the band in equal measure to their fiery, politician-themed pop-metal singles.

PRESIDENT first broke onto the scene with their unexplained appearance on the billing for 2025’s Download Festival, having no released music to their name. Before the festival, they released one single in May, ‘In the Name of the Father’. The track blew up online, becoming BBC Radio 1’s Tune of the Week immediately. Three singles later, they released their first EP ‘King of Terror’, continuing their meteoric ascent with several high profile festival bookings off the back of it.

With all this happening within a year, The President announced that the debut album was in the works last November. After signing a new label deal with Atlantic Records, the first single ‘Angel Wings’ released in February this year, which laid down more synthesisers and electronic elements over the metal guitars, before second single ‘Mercy’ came out in March, which was a far heavier listening experience.

‘Doom Loop’ released this afternoon, alongside the name and release date of the album ‘Blood Of Your Empire’. The track is a groovy, pulsating alt-rock banger with electronic vibes and strained, emotional vocal hooks. The band say “The song is really about the strange tragedy of time — how we spend our lives chasing it, wasting it, and fearing it — only to realise its value once a moment is gone. It’s a reminder for people to be present while they are actually living their lives, not just remembering them afterwards.”

The painted artwork for ‘Blood Of Your Empire’ is almost as interesting as the music itself, displaying Eugène Delacroix’s 1830 depiction of The Battle of Poitiers from The Hundred Years War. The President goes into detail on the LP, saying “Blood Of Your Empire was born out of my own struggle with existential crisis and trying to make sense of belief, mortality, and humanity’s relationship with faith. Religion has inspired incredible compassion, purpose, and beauty in the world — but it has also been responsible for unimaginable suffering and bloodshed throughout history. This album lives in the tension between those two truths. Writing it became a way for me to confront the fear, confusion, and questions I’ve carried for years, and turn them into something I’m truly proud of.”

‘Doom Loop’ is available to stream now, ahead of ‘Blood Of Your Empire’ releasing on Atlantic on the 4th of September. The band begins their European summer festival run with Slam Dunk this weekend, playing in Hatfield on Saturday the 23rd of May and Leeds on Saturday the 24th.

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Ticket touting and scalping are the acts of purchasing tickets for concerts or other events with the sole intent of reselling them for extortionate prices. Recent investigations by the BBC and others have found gangs and shady businesses operating at massive scale, using both computer farming systems and overseas employees to bulk-buy event tickets as soon as they go on sale, making enormous profits at the expense of legitimate buyers. Other findings have linked the biggest ticketing sites in the world, who are already under fire for inflated prices and an exploitative “surge pricing” model, to these schemes, suggesting a collusion between sellers and touts in order to make both parties richer. The issues have caused a crisis in the live music industry, with both fans and touring acts speaking out at the impacts and demanding strict regulations within the market.

The 2024 Manifesto that saw the current Labour government elected with Keir Starmer as Prime Minister pledged to “put fans back at the heart of events by introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales”. Since then, the government have consulted with consumers and industry insiders, as well as proposing firm limits for online ticket reselling prices – however, NME report that no action was taken by last November, leading to many high profile artists to call on the government to uphold their promises.

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Back in April, consumer research group Which? provided an estimate that without new measures, British music fans would lose a total of £24 million this summer as a result of scalping practices. An open letter to the government was penned, co-signed by industry giants like Live Nation and Ticketmaster, as well as the management for acts including Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran. The letter read “The predatory tactics used by touts, often operating overseas, are distorting the live events sector and causing significant harm to UK fans who are consistently excluded from attending shows due to exorbitant prices. Culture should be accessible to all.”

On the 8th of May, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made a full statement on the matter, exclusively revealed by NME. In the letter, Starmer spoke of his personal love for music, the importance of live music and the rights of fans to attend shows. He pledged that in co-operation with the music industry and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, they will “crackdown on ruthless ticket touts preying on music fans by selling tickets for exorbitant and unaffordable prices, stopping them from seeing their favourite artists” and “will protect fans so they can keep more of their hard-earned cash, by making it illegal for tickets to live events to be resold for more than their original cost.”

In move that has let down many, the government’s motion to clamp down on ticketing policy was announced in this week’s King’s Speech as the “Draft Ticket Tout Ban Bill”. As a draft bill, it will spend far longer under the microscope in both the House of Commons and House of Lords before ever seeing any potential introductions, as opposed to a primary government bill which would lead to quicker and more decisive actioning. Its scope is to make resale profiteering illegal, set a cap on service fee charges, and give market governing bodies stronger sanctions against ticket sellers failing to protect consumers.

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Tom Kiehl, Chief Executive of music industry organisation UK Music, responded directly to the PM, saying “The Government’s failure to take long promised action on the shady ticket touts and rogue businesses who continue to rip off consumers is a betrayal of millions of music fans. Until we get action on sky-high ticket resales, we will continue to see cash siphoned overseas from the wallets of UK fans and the UK music industry in order to swell the already huge profits of ticket resale businesses.” He stressed the importance of addressing the matter sooner rather than later, stating “I urge MPs to explore the legislative programme and identify alternative opportunities to ensure primary legislation is passed in this year’s Parliamentary session.”

Other remarks have come from groups like Which?, Ticketmaster and the Music Managers Forum, all urging the government for a more convincing show of intent, but so far the only response from the government’s side has been a statement from a spokesperson. Their comment reads “As the Prime Minister has made clear, we remain fully committed to stamping out ticket touting for good. For too long, fans have been ripped off and we’re determined to right that wrong. That’s why we are taking the time to get this right by bringing forward draft legislation to ensure that our measures are truly effective, enforceable and future-proof and fans get the protection and security they have always deserved.”

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After passing the milestone of 20 years since their unforgettable debut album ‘Silent Alarm’ in 2025, Bloc Party’s triumphant return to the top of the UK’s indie rock scene continues without pause. Since releasing their last album ‘Alpha Games’ in 2022, the London group received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection in 2025, and have returned to headlining major events like Brighton’s On The Beach series and this March’s BBC Radio 6 Music Festival. The announcement of the new album comes at a big time, before Bloc Party are due to tour with Muse in North America and Interpol in the UK later this year.

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‘Anatomy of A Brief Romance’ is shaping up to be an exciting album packed with heart, passion and storytelling. Lead singer and guitarist Kele Okereke has opened up about the real experiences behind the music in a statement, saying “every lyric you’re hearing on this record was something that actually happened to me. I had to tell the story, from start to finish”. According to NME, the concept of much of the material was developed following Okereke’s separation from his former partner and father of his children, when he suddenly found an unexpected new relationship. He adds “having this romance, this new thing emerge, it kept me sane, in a very dark time”.

Today’s brand new single ‘Coming On Strong’ carries these themes heavily through it. Its dark, tense vibe is filled with lyrics that tell of a new relationship that sounds ominously toxic. Okereke breaks it down as “that feeling of, I’ve had my eye on this person for a while, and then we’re finally in a situation where we can be something to each other. And that’s such a seductive feeling”, before further explaining the root of the tension – “you’re not seeing their problems, and they’re not seeing your problems. You’re just shaping up and getting ready for this ride… I like the fact that harmonically and musically, it feels dark, sinister, like something is creeping up.”

The album has been recorded with legendary producer Trevor Horn, whose previous credits include classic albums by Pet Shop Boys, Mike Oldfield and Grace Jones. ‘Coming On Strong’ is the second song on the album, with the full 14-item tracklist announced today looking like this:
1. 22.01.22
2. Coming On Strong
3. Love Bombs
4. Pigwig
5. Lagoon Blue
6. Muscleworks
7. Clark Kent
8. Worst Birthday Ever
9. Not Your Problem
10. Now We Can’t Be Friends
11. Rotherhithe
12. Stories
13. Moving On
14. Eulogy

Single ‘Coming On Strong’ is out now, and the release date for ‘Anatomy of A Brief Romance’ is the 11th of September out via label Contagious LTD. Bloc Party are supporting Muse on the July dates for their North America tour, before their co-headlining tour of the UK and Europe in November and December. Check the band’s website for dates and ticket info.

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How do you follow an album like ‘Brat’? The 2024 electropop LP was a commercial smash hit around the world, won three out of the nine Grammy Awards it was nominated for, and spawned its own cultural era with ‘Brat Summer’.

Well, Charli XCX decided to immortalise this period of her life in film, with the 2026 release of her movie ‘The Moment’, a mockumentary with her as lead star, telling a fictionalised tale of her life after the album and preparing for its massive world tour. ‘The Moment’ released in cinemas at the start of the year, around the same time as Emerald Fennell’s cinematic retelling of ‘Wuthering Heights’, which Charli XCX wrote the soundtrack for.

With her big screen break established, Charli has returned the focus to her career as a singer-songwriter. In an interview published by British Vogue in April, she made several allusions to a drastic change in style for her upcoming musical releases. Demoing a track backed by distorted guitars with a lyric “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music” led to rampant speculation that she would be reinventing herself as a full-blown rockstar. During the interview, Charli suggested whatever came next, it wouldn’t be like ‘Brat’, saying “If I’d made another album that felt more dance-leaning, it would have felt really hard, really sad. What’s interesting for me is to bend the possibilities of what my perspective on that could be.”

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For those who expected an immediate reinvention as a hard rock artist, you may be slightly disappointed – Charli took to social media last week with a behind-the-scenes studio clip and the playful caption “a video of me making a song called “rock music” that is not actually rock music which is funny because i never said i was making a rock album. love you xx”. The footage shows her at Rue Boyer Studios in Paris last October, working with frequent collaborators Finn Keane and A.G. Cook on the new track ‘Rock Music’.

While ‘Rock Music’, which released on the 8th of May, does feature the electric guitars and the chorus refrain “I think the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music”, rock music it is not. The track centres around her trademark autotuned vocals and pop energy, but with a stomping rock beat and lyrics about headbanging. The single comes with a black-and-white music video supervised by ‘The Moment’ director Aidan Zamiri, showing Charli engaging in heavy music clichés like moshing and crowd-surfing, as well chaotic band scenes with cameos from Keane, Cook, and Charli’s husband and The 1975 drummer George Daniel.

‘Rock Music’ might not be her ‘Stairway To Heaven’, but it’s a lot of fun, and Charli XCX is clearly enjoying making music right now. You can stream the song now, with new music from her as-yet untitled seventh studio album expected later in the year.

One of the peerless founding bands of British rock music, The Rolling Stones formed in London in 1962, enjoying a career spanning 7 decades, 24 studio albums, and thousands of sold-out shows. The Stones lineup since 2021 consists of frontman Mick Jagger plus guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood – the band had been active since 1993 as a four-piece with Charlie Watts on drums before his death, but released 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’ as a trio using some of Watts’ recordings. ‘Hackney Diamonds’ was their first full studio album since 2005, becoming their 14th UK number one album and winning them their fourth Grammy award.

Rumours of an album began earlier this year with the mystery emergence of ‘The Cockroaches’, a new group who released single ‘Rough and Twisted’ exclusively on a limited vinyl run this April. From snippets of the song posted during its social media campaign, the band was swiftly revealed to be The Rolling Stones acting under an alias, with the single being positively received as another strong release from the group. During the furore The Times reported that ‘Rough and Twisted’ was taken from their new album, which was due for a July release.

Their next promotional move was the plastering of cryptic messages on billboards in cities around the world, containing the phrase “foreign tongues” in various languages. As this unfolded in late April, fans quickly identified that it was the name of the new Stones album, before the band themselves confirmed everything on the 5th of May with the release of lead single ‘In The Stars’.

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‘Foreign Tongues’ will release on the 10th of July, boasting 14 tracks with appearances from Sir Paul McCartney, Robert Smith of The Cure, drummer Chad Smith of Red Hot Chilli Peppers fame, and Steve Winwood. As well as singles ‘In The Stars’ and the full release of ‘Rough and Twisted’, the LP will also feature one of the last tracks recorded by Watts, ‘Hit Me In The Head’, and country song ‘Ringing Hollow’. The whole album was completed at London’s Metropolis Studios in less than a month, and was developed with returning producer Andrew Watt, who previously worked with the band on ‘Hackney Diamonds’.

Following the announcement, the trio were guests on Conan O’Brien’s US talk show to discuss the album. Reported by The Guardian, Jagger discussed the diversity of music on the record, saying “The thing about this record is – the Stones are a rock band that also has the capacity to do ballads, country music or dance music. So we don’t get stuck in one kind of style.” They also talked about their desire to keep things interesting so deep into their careers, with Richards remarking “You don’t just want to sit on what you’ve done before. We put it together, we love to do it, and there is always something more in there.” Host O’Brien enthused that the album, which he claims to have received early and listened to “25 times”, bore similarity to 1972’s iconic ‘Exile on Main St.’ in its “vibrancy” and “urgency”.

‘Rough and Twisted’ and ‘In The Stars’ are out now, with a physical release for the latter coming on the 15th of May. ‘Foreign Tongues’ releases on Polydor and Geffen on the 10th of July, with pre-order links up now. The Rolling Stones have suggested that this won’t be their last album, and they have at least 10 songs written for a future release.

When Alissa White-Gluz first joined Swedish melodic death metal group Arch Enemy in 2014, she was stepping into some big shoes – her predecessor Angela Gossow had raised the bar incredibly high for female death metal vocals. White-Gluz in turn lifted the bar higher, bringing both guttural screams and powerful clean singing in one package, providing the band a new edge to their sound across 11 years and 4 studio albums. Upon leaving Arch Enemy in November last year, White-Gluz directed her attention to her solo efforts under the simple moniker ‘Alissa’, as well as founding all-female group Blue Medusa.

DragonForce meanwhile have continued to release technical power metal albums packed with their frantic guitar noodling since breaking into the mainstream with 2006 hit ‘Through The Fire And Flames’. The song gained cult status, especially following its inclusion as one of the most difficult tracks on 2007 video game ‘Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’, and the 2005 album ‘Inhuman Rampage’, of which it was the lead single, has been acclaimed as one of the most important power metal albums by both Metal Hammer and Loudwire. With ‘Inhuman Rampage’ marking its 20th anniversary last year, the group have been gearing up to celebrate the milestone in style.

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DragonForce announced White-Gluz’s arrival today, posting that they welcome her as “the band’s newest member and first frontwoman”. Both acts have worked together in the past, with Alissa providing guest vocals on a remixed version of DragonForce’s track ‘Burning Heart’ in 2025. She will slot in alongside their continuing lead singer Marc Hudson, her harsh growls and low singing voice complimenting his soaring melodic wails, with the post also revealing she will join them for live duties starting this week. White-Gluz’s tenure with the band begins with US shows at Welcome To Rocksville on Saturday the 9th of May, and Sonic Temple on the 17th.

In a statement, DragonForce guitarist Herman Li remarked “Alissa joining the band is an expansion of everything we’ve done up to this point. 20 years is a long time to do anything, let alone survive the music industry and still be so inspired to continue doing what we love. Together we will honour what made Inhuman Rampage matter, while showing people exactly where we’re going next. Having Alissa in the room changes everything. She doesn’t just sing, she makes all aspects of our music better. And she sounds incredible live! I can’t wait for the fans to see her and hear what we have been working on.” White-Gluz also added “I am beyond excited to be bringing such iconic music to life with these amazingly skilled musicians in such a fun and inspiring environment. It feels great to showcase all the colours of my voice and utilise all my singing styles in technically challenging, deeply energising, highly addictive songs.”

DragonForce have confirmed plans for more shows in support of ‘Inhuman Rampage’’s 20th birthday, as well as new music to be announced soon. For Alissa White-Gluz, the year is already phenomenally busy – Blue Medusa released debut single ‘Checkmate’ in March, and her first solo album is rumoured to release later this year after she dropped her debut Alissa track ‘The Room Where She Died’ last November.

The BPI recently published ‘All About The Music 2026’, a yearbook of figures, patterns and trends from the UK’s music industry based on 2025’s market. They use data from the UK Official Charts statistics to reveal the nation’s fluctuating tastes and what it means for both artists and listeners. This year’s edition found that in 2025, rock music accounted for 22.2% of overall single consumption, shy of pop’s 33.3% – a 0.8% increase over 2024 and the highest share rock has had since 2016.

The latest boon in the genre’s performance has been aided by six songs classified as rock entering the UK Top 10 this year, especially compared with only one achieving the feat in 2020. One such single from 2025 was English indie rock star Sam Fender’s BRIT Song of the Year winner ‘Rein Me In’, featuring Olivia Dean. The song broke a chart record by spending 35 weeks in the Top 40 Chart before finally clinching the number one spot this February, becoming Fender’s first UK number one single and his first entry on the US’s Billboard Hot 100.

New acts breaking through were responsible for more growth, such as British metal sensations Sleep Token, whose single ‘Caramel’ was their first in the Top 10, while American singer-songwriters Gigi Perez and sombr had chart success with tracks ‘Sailor Song’ and ‘Back To Friends’ respectively. Other big rock entries this year profited from online trends and nostalgia to climb back up, including Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things’, which endured from 2024 to become the biggest rock song and 7th biggest overall chart single of 2025’s year-end list. Goo Goo Dolls’ ‘Iris’, The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’ and Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ all also made the Top 40 final list.

Rock also cemented its place as the biggest genre for album consumption, increasing from a 35.3% share of stats in 2024 to 36.0% last year, handily beating out pop’s 28.9%. Of the four albums they class as rock to make the year’s Top 10 Album Chart, two were a by-product of Oasis’s reunion and their enormously-successful world tour. Their 1995 LP ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’ and 2010 greatest hits compilation ‘Time Flies… 1994-2009’ both re-entered the charts, alongside Fleetwood Mac’s 2018 compendium ‘50 Years – Don’t Stop’.

The biggest rock album released last year was Sam Fender’s ‘People Watching’ which won the 2025 Mercury Prize, and had the highest first-week sales of any album for the year. Of the 17 rock albums to top the charts throughout 2025, 15 were by British artists, coming from Aerosmith and Yungblud’s collaborative release ‘One More Time’, Pulp’s comeback album ‘More’, and Sleep Token’s ‘Even In Arcadia’ among others. The news, which the BPI published on the 29th of April, comes in a week where Welsh metal group Skindred have just achieved their first Number One Album after 30 years with ‘You Got This’. Further statistics from the research show that rock accounted for a commanding 54.9% of vinyl sales in the UK, bolstered by modern pressings as well as genre-defining classics such as Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumors’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’.

The BPI’s Chief Executive, Dr Jo Twist OBE, says “For decades, rock has played a critical role in maintaining and enhancing the UK’s status as a global music superpower. This was truer than ever in 2025. Rock has long flourished thanks to its incredible foundations built on a deep, exceptional and still-cherished back catalogue. We can now add to that contemporary stars such as Sam Fender, Sleep Token, Wolf Alice, and Yungblud, who hail from across the UK and who are breathing new life into this much-loved genre both at home and around the world.”

You can explore these findings and more in ‘All About The Music 2026’, which is free for BPI members and available for purchase now on their website. The institute is also planning a live ‘insight session’ titled ‘The Long Play: UK Rock in the Age of Streaming’. The event will be a deep-dive into rock’s enduring popularity and where it goes from here, featuring panels of industry experts. The event is today, the 30th of April, held at Liverpool Sound City – click here for more info.

Loathe formed in Liverpool in 2014, and were put on the radar of many after debut album ‘The Cold Sun’ earned them best new band nominations at both the Metal Hammer Golden Gods and Heavy Music Awards in 2018. From there, they perfected their adventurous spin on metalcore, nu metal and djent on ‘I Let It In and It Took Everything’, an album which shot Loathe straight to the upper echelons of the UK’s alternative music scene. Inspired by bands like Deftones, Korn and Slipknot, whose unorthodox approach to heavy music led the nu metal culture in the 2000s, the album has already inspired droves of new bands in the 2020s.

Since the release of ‘I Let It In and It Took Everything’, the band followed it up with ambient companion LP ‘The Things They Believe’ in 2021, and concert recording ‘Audiotree from Nothing’ in 2023 which showcased the energy of their live performances. The last studio update came when they cancelled their 2022 tour dates to concentrate on writing their fourth album, leaving fans rabid for updates. In 2024, Loathe confirmed the album would be out in 2025, and when single ‘Gifted Every Strength’ dropped last May alongside live performances of a then-unknown song, speculation became rife that the album was just around the corner – however a solid announcement didn’t come until this Monday, the 27th of April 2026.

New single ‘Revenant’ was the first thing to be revealed, confirmed to be the mystery song the band was playing live last year. Featuring Eric Balderose and Jami Morgan of US alt-metallers Code Orange, performing here under their new side project NOWHERE2RUN, ‘Revenant’ is a harsh, noisy blast of overdriven bassy grooves, a blistering attack on the ears. While other Loathe tracks ease up the pace with atmospheric interludes and melodic clean vocals, this one revels in being as brutal and dissonant as it can be.

After the release of the single Loathe wasted little time in presenting ‘A Stranger To You’ to the fans. According to news site Lambgoat, the album has been produced and engineered by the band alongside Ed Al-Shakarchi, who has previously worked with acts like Action Bronson and Imogen Heap. The full track listing including ‘Revenant’, ‘Gifted Every Strength’ and another unreleased track they’ve played live named ‘اثينا’, looks like this:
 
1. Entrance
2. Block Of Flats
3. Fortress Down
4. Gemini
5. Nothing Like The Knife
6. Harder To Pretend
7. اثينا
8. Revenant
9. The Way It Breaks
10. Meet My Maker
11. Fangs
12. The Ladder
13. Gifted Every Strength
14. No Stranger To You…

‘A Stranger To You’ releases via Sharptone Records on the 17th of July, with streaming pre-save links here and official pre-orders here. Loathe are playing live across Australia through May, before returning to Europe for a festival tour in June including Manchester’s Outbreak Fest. Earlier today, they announced a run of US dates for this September and October, with tickets for that on sale on Friday the 1st of May.

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