Laden – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (2026); Wren – Black Rain Falls (2025)

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Hey there, friends. Hope you’re having a good Friday.

Nah, wait, Good Friday was last week. Hope you’re having a GREAT Friday!

I’d like to share something with you that’s just being released today — an album by single-member band Seattleite Laden which I recently discovered through the Metal Bandcamp Gift Club.

For those who may not be familiar, MBGC is essentially a mailing list — which has gone through various incarnations over the years but currently hosted on Substack — where you can share your birthday and your Bandcamp wish list, and every day (well, most days) a message goes out to let everyone know whose birthday it is that day, and a link to their wish list.

It’s a great way to give and receive the gift of music, to support independent artists, and also a great way to discover new suggested stuff to listen to: if you see someone’s list and you think, hey I like a bunch of these bands, chances are you may want to check out some of the other stuff on their list.

Speaking of which, I thought it would be fun to discuss this brand-new album alongside the most recent release from a band of Londoners who Laden have cited as one of their influences: Wren — an album which happened to sneak its way into my list of favorites from last year.

 

Laden – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (self-released, 10 April 2026)

 

Wren – Black Rain Falls (Church Road Records, 21 February 2025)

 

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Void of Light – Enshroud (2023), Asymmetries (2026)

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Well babes*, looks like the week’s about halfway over. I’m already kinda dragging my feet on getting any actual work done, looking ahead in the calendar to another weekend coming up soon.

Let’s talk about some music to pass the time, what do you say?

Today I’ve got two releases to share with you, from a band whose name means Darkness (although no word on whether they believe in a thing called love).

No, this Glaswegian post-metal ensemble really grabbed me by the ears when Trepanation released their sophomore EP three years ago, and they’ve finally followed with their first-ever full-length LP, which came out just a few days ago. Enjoy!

 

Void of Light – Enshroud (Trepanation Recordings, 24 March 2023)

 

Void of Light – Asymmetries (Ripcord Records, 03 April 2026)

 

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Pia Isa – Distorted Chants (2022); Ten East / SoftSun – Turned to Stone Chapter 10 (2026)

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Good afternoon, y’all. Is it just me, or do you also find that Monday morning return to work tends to be brutal and exhausting no matter how much time off you’ve had or how relaxed you might have been in the interim?

I had a three-day weekend since my company took Friday off thanks to the Zombie Jesus holiday; had a fairly nice time visiting with family part of the weekend, and lounging out in nature the rest of the time. So I should be feeling refreshed and ready to go, but that never seems to be the case.

Anyway, we can all feel hashtag-blessed with some hypnotically chill music to help us survive another tedious day of drudgery: a split record Ripple Music just released on that holiday Friday, as well as a solo album from a few years back by one of the members who was involved in both projects on that split.

 

Pia Isa – Distorted Chants (Argonauta Records, 25 March 2022)

 

Ten East / SoftSun – Turned to Stone: Chapter 10 (Ripple Music, 03 April 2026)

 

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Hemiptera – Demo MMXXIV (2024), Until Every Flag is Burned (2026)

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Hemiptera (from Ancient Greek hemipterus, “half-winged”), according to Wikipedia, is “an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs.”

Hemiptera are also an anarchistic crust-punk quartet from the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, in South East England. Their demo, initially released two years ago last month, really made me sit up and take notice when the good folks at Fiadh gave it a physical edition later that same summer. Or perhaps you remember their song “Notti Nere” (taken from that same demo album) which appeared on Fiadh‘s From Dreams to Living Things compilation last summer?

In any event, just a few weeks ago the band have followed up with their official debut full-length, and as expected, this one likewise has resulted in much up-sitting and notice-taking. Check it out below…

 

Hemiptera – Demo MMXXIV (self-released, 07 March 2024 / cassette Fiadh Productions, 16 August 2024)

 

Hemiptera – Until Every Flag is Burned (digital self-released, 06 March 2026 / vinyl DIY Koło, Shove Records, Exabrupto Records, Prejudice Me, 06 March 2026)

 

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Cell Press – Cages (2024), Tabula Rasa (2026)

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“The world isn’t any less frustrating or stupid than it was when we made our last recording, so you can assume a higher level or hatred, anger and frustration has been baked right the fuck into these tunes; it’s simple math.”

So says Québécois crew Cell Press regarding their latest offering — just released earlier this month.

Sounds like a perfect reason to check it out, and why not take a quick peek at that “last recording” they referenced, while we’re at it?

 

LFG!

 

Cell Press – Cages (No List Records / The Ghost is Clear / Ancient Temple Recordings, 08 March 2026)

 

Cell Press – Tabula Rasa (No Why Records, 06 March 2026)

 

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Tide Harvester – Palemoon Spelltone (2023), Triumph of the Dragon-God (2026)

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Well, friends — so concludes another week. And one of the busiest and more stressful in recent memory; or at least it was for me. How are you all doing? Before I sign out of here and go pass out for the entire weekend, I’d like to share some new music with you. Well, some brand-new and some slightly less-new.

Did you hear Syrup Moose Records is back? They’ve started grinding out the albums again for 2026, and today marks the release of the second full-length by a Kansas Citian one-piece band whose debut LP was one of SMR‘s earliest output, almost exactly three years ago.

 

Tide Harvester – Palemoon Spelltone (Syrup Moose Records, 07 April 2023)

 

Tide Harvester – Triumph of the Dragon-God (Syrup Moose Records, 27 March 2026)

 

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Educated Owls – The Fires of Dead Stars (2026); Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (2024)

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Good day, friends!

I guess.

I mean, after all, it is Monday. And as we all know, the Iron Sheik (R.I.P.) would probably have had some choice words to say about that on Twitter (R.I.P.).

In typical Monday fashion, it’s time to play catch-up from last week. Specifically, there was a brand new album released last Friday that I was planning to share with you all, but then — well — you know.

That new release comes to us from Washington (D.C.)’s Educated Owls, a name that may seem familiar to you from a handful of compilations that have been featured on this site over the past couple of years.

And as an added bonus, we’ll also check out the latest (albeit coming up upon two years since it was first released) from Austin (TX)’s Glassing, who also may be familiar to you from a couple previous releases we had discussed.

 

Educated Owls – The Fires of Dead Stars (self-released, 20 March 2026)

 

Glassing – From the Other Side of the Mirror (Pelagic Records, 26 April 2024)

 

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Neurosis – An Undying Love for a Burning World (2026)

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Y’all. This is not a drill. New NEUROSIS album just dropped.

Neurosis – An Undying Love for a Burning World (Neurot Recordings, 20 March 2026)

 

 

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SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (2024), Eternal Sunrise (2025)

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Hello, Dear Readers! Hope you are all having a splendid Thursday.

Yesterday I told you about this weekend’s Mojave Experience festival taking place Friday and Saturday in the California desert.

Well today, I’d like to call your attention to another group who will be making an appearance in the Yucca Valley this Friday night (20 March): SoftSun, a collaboration between Norwegian bassist/vocalist Pia Isaksen (also known for her solo act Pia Isa as well as being a member of Superlynx (reviewed here) and Californian guitarist Gary Arce (whose other band Yawning Man will ALSO be at the Mojave Experience on Saturday) with the trio rounded out by a different drummer on each of their first two albums.

 

SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (Ripple Music, 08 November 2024)

 

SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych Sounds, 07 November 2025)

 

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Borracho – Ouroboros (2025) || Mojave Experience (Yucca Valley / Joshua Tree, March 2026)

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Following up this post from last week, we here at Valley of Steel HQ are pleased to present to you ANOTHER article about ANOTHER new (well, it was new last year) album from a band we’ve written about a bunch of times, who ALSO will be playing at a festival at the end of the week (in addition to a few stops through southern California leading up to it). It’s like déjà vu all over again.

 

Borracho – Ouroboros (Ripple Music, 08 August 2025)

 

 

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