Melodic indie rock lifers Cloud Nothings have turned towards metallic fury for the first single from their next album, What Kind of Hell Did You Survive? Full of ripping rhythms, feral screams and a crust-like intensity, the single arrives under the paradoxical title of “Death Keeps Me Alive.” Over the years, bandleader Dylan Baldi has taken his group towards fuzzed-up sounds and harsh-screamed vocals, but a press release describes the Cleveland, Ohio-formed outfit’s forthcoming ninth full-length release as their “most flat out aggressive work to date,” and likewise as “a metal-influenced powder keg of blown-out riffs and mind-boggling drumming.” In practice, it finds the act tackling a doom-laden post-hardcore pound, a darkly-chugged chorus and even a sorrowfully-blasted blackgaze section you’d expect out of Deafheaven. A music video finds Cloud Nothings upsetting the soil of their local graveyard with said mania. Baldi explains in a statement that the record — which follows 2024’s Final Summer — reflects a bunch of new extreme sounds for the long-running project. They took inspiration from Queens of the Stone Age, Motörhead, Earth, and Electric Wizard. Thematically, the album has Baldi reflecting on a general sense of societal dread, as well as “cruel governments, the importance of community,” and more. “Lyrically ‘Death Keeps Me Alive’ is from the point of view of a lurking evil power that never gets fully defeated in the world and feeds off of death, war and hate, which is kind of a fun generically ‘metal’ thing to sing about,” he said in a statement. “I hope people hear this song and get excited for what the rest of the record could possibly sound like, and recognize that this is going to be a new version of Cloud Nothings that didn’t really have a precedent prior to this recording.” Produced by Seth Manchester (Battles, Lightning Bolt, The Body, METZ), What Kind of Hell Did You Survive? comes out January 29th through Pure Noise Records. You can pre-save and pre-order here. What Kind of Hell Did You Survive? tracklisting:World DestroyerYou and IThat’s LifeTerror MultipliesDeath Keeps Me AlivePart of Something MoreYou Do The Killing TooDie In PieceThis World Is Shit
Music Intelligence
2026-10-22