The 100% Pure Antifascist Scrub – May 2026 Edition
Welcome back to The 100% Pure Antifascist Scrub! As a reminder, my goal with this monthly feature is to introduce you to the best of antifascist music from the prior month. Antifascist themes are not required. Rather I look for the bands/projects to be publicly antifascist. Look for the article on the first Friday of each month. Every release included here has been vetted by me through conversation with the band, looking at their socials, talking to people in the scene who know, and/or through a long reputation of consistency in this regard.
This month is a HUGE MONTH! I have so many antifascist releases to share. I’m also going to break a couple of rules for the article, but hey, I make the rules, so I’ll allow it. First, I’m starting with two April releases. The bands did not see my message to them in time to respond for the April edition, but did get back to me shortly after publication. I’m choosing to include them here. Second, one of those releases is technically not new material. It’s a new release, but a discography compilation. With that said, I feel you need to know about this band, so in it goes. What else can I say, but welcome to the May Scrub! Help me wash away the fash.
New Angel/Greyfleshtethered – Split (4/17/2026, Fiadh Productions) [Ambient Black Metal]
As we head into summer in the northern hemisphere, this wintry split could be just what the doctor ordered. The New Angel side features raw vocals over aggressive blackness, but also hints of electronic ambience. Greyfleshtethered leans more heavily into the electronic ambience. The two sides compliment each other well.
NSIXHUNDRED – Discography ’24-’25 (4/17/2026, Zegema Beach Records) [Screamo]
Very screamy Screamo from this LA-based band, and I love it. Dual vocals over a savage grinding attack, with plenty of breakdowns for the moshers. (it’s me…I’m the moshers.) This release collects three EPs released in 2024 and 2025 in order to finally give them a physical form.
Detach the Islands – Concrete Jungle (5/1/2026, Tomb Tree Tapes) [Powerviolence]
…and Screamo, and Hardcore, and Grindcore…well, you get the idea. This project combines everything abrasive, but stills finds ways to add melody and more emotions than just raw anger. The EP is a mix of new tracks, remixes, and covers of Death Grips and Poison the Well. I’ve been listening to this a lot. Normally if I read that kind of description, I assume the release will be throwaway material, but that is definitely not the case here.
Devenial Verdict – Old Blood – Fresh Wounds (5/1/2026, Transcending Obscurity Records) [Death Metal]
I’ve been a fan of this band’s music for quite awhile, so I was really excited to get the response that they are publicly antifascist and pro-Palestine. I love when a band, who doesn’t really write about these topics lyrically, nonetheless sees the importance of taking that public stance. We are many! Musically, the band falls under the umbrella of dissodeath in some truly delicious ways.
FINGERSWOVENTOGETHER – As The Lie Became True (5/1/2026, Zegema Beach Records) [Screamo]
First, the music is often stunningly beautiful, leaning into shoegaze elements at times. Even the skronky parts maintain a rugged beauty in their abrasiveness. Second, the vocals are top-notch for this style. The way the different vocalists weave together is just perfection!
svrm – Мертвий край (5/1/2026, Vendetta Records) [Black Metal]
I was really glad to see svrm on Vendetta, as I took it as a good sign of where he stands on things. He quickly and clearly confirmed his antifascist stance when I reached out. This is another project I’ve been into for a while. The style is a rich, yet bleak, atmospheric black metal, full of melancholy and barely suppressed rage.
Throwness – Marrow Part II: A Fire Through The Ether (5/4/2026, Raging Planet Records) [Post-Metal]
Whoa! This is heavy. Ponderous riffs ride the waves of the rhythm section through an atmosphere so dark, you’ll need a torch at some points. The band is new for me, but this release is very good. It scratches a similar itch to Neurosis.
Μόρα – Μόρα (5/5/2026, Self-Release) [Grindcore]
Greek grindcore, in Greek? Hell, yeah! This is an absolute ripper of a release, full of dissonance and chaos, along with a razor sharp vocal attack. Absolute destruction!
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers – Towers of Silence (5/8/2026, Lay Bare Recordings) [Sludge Metal]
So, sludge metal with a side of free jazz is now apparently a thing. It may be that there are others who have combined these two styles, but this album is the first I’m hearing it. Oh my, is it ever nasty! (Complimentary.)
Alarm! – Failure By Design (5/8/2026, Self-Release) [D-Beat]
I stumbled on this one through a friend’s recommendation and was pretty excited to find a new to me d-beat band. Then I discovered that I have their 2024 release on my phone still from that year. Sigh…such is the life of a reviewer. There’s so much music, sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. Anyway, this band rips! This release rips!
Baratro – No Comply (5/8/2026, Supernatural Cat Records) [Noise Rock]
The promo calls this avant noise rock. Sure. I guess that means something the combines elements of melodic hardcore punk (along the lines of Svalbard), and then makes it sludgy, abrasive, and nasty. If that sounds good to you, then we might be besties.
Beyond the Styx – DIVID (5/8/2026, Innerstrength Records) [Metallic Hardcore]
I admit that I struggle to tell the difference between metallic hardcore and metalcore, if there even is a difference. I suppose it doesn’t matter, except to say that this band treads in those waters…or perhaps patrols them like a shark. There will be two stepping. There will be side to side. And there are riffs!
Bloom and Ruin – Two Liberations (5/8/2026, The Garotte) [Experimental Instrumental]
Bloom and Ruin is a new collaboration between Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and experimental guitarist Tashi Dorji. The release is two 20ish-minute tracks of atonal sound exploration, mostly instrumental, except for a spoken word poem at the start of the second track. It’s the kind of mind-bending work which brings you to a liminal space, if you’ll let it, and I’m utterly in love with it.
Gadget – Coerced (5/8/2026, De:Nihil Records) [Grindcore]
Even though Gadget have been around since 1997, they haven’t been on my radar until now, but straight to the list of stellar grindcore they go. In their first proper release in a decade, and now with a partially new lineup, they really bring some punch. Dual vocals, unrelenting blasts, and sick riffs really bring this to life.
Ivoire – Uragano (5/8/2026, Self-Release) [Post-Metal]
Deep, rich, haunting, melancholic. This Italian band has created something special with their debut release. They play music in the same wheelhouse as bands like Amenra. Uragano is a stunningly emotional listen.
War On Women – Time Under Tension (5/8/2026, Smartpunk Records) [Punk]
May 8th was new War On Women day. I love new War on Women day. I’ve been a fan of this band for awhile. They have a stellar discography that hits all the right spot for me for punk. Thought-provoking lyrics, catchy hooks, and good fun!
Orphan Donor – Ailments (5/11/2026, Zegema Beach Records) [Experimental Powerviolence]
New Orphan Donor is always a cause for celebration. This EP is bonkers. Nuts even. Building on what they’ve done before, the now-sextet go even darker and weirder. I might explain this as jazzy abrasive powerviolence with a trumpet, but really you just need to hear this beautiful madness yourself.
Desiccation – Legatum Mortuorum (5/15/2026, Carbonized Records) [Blackened Doom]
Tremolo riffs meet weighty, doomed atmosphere. At points, this approaches the blackened sludge nastiness (and heaviness) of bands like Abstracter, but stays just on this side of that line. As I once said about an Abstracter album, I dare you not to nod your head. This also has a meditative rhythmic quality that draws me into doing so subconsciously. Absolutely stellar!
Junon – The Golden Citadel Of The Astral Sphere (5/15/2026, I, Voidhanger Records) [Black Metal]
What if an alien species from across the galaxy came to earth, discovered second wave black metal, and tried to make it their own? Well, they might produce this album. It is a beautifully strange and dark affair, so of course it’s being released by I, Voidhanger. This one will take some repeat listens, and you may be risking a permanent evolution of some sort in doing so. I would suggest that it’s worth the risk.
Noosed – Misery (5/15/2026, Fiadh Productions) [Sludge Metal]
This album is wonderfully nasty sludge with more than a pinch of crust. The Irish band are righteously pissed off at the state of the world and are using Misery to vent about it. Raw brutality and aggression collide in a torrent of destructive fury.
Prisonnier Du Temps – Prendre Le Pouvoir Par La Force (5/15/2026, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos) [Hardcore Punk/Oi!]
My French is far too rudimentary to keep up with the lyrics on this album, but the notes on the Bandcamp page leave no doubt where the band stands. I can roughly translate the title of the second track into something like “Liberty is won through blood.” Musically, this is incredibly catchy Oi! with the melodicism of hardcore punk bands like Strike Anywhere woven into the songs’ fabric.
Tyrannus – Mournhold (5/15/2026, True Cult Records) [Blackthrash]
Of course the new Tyrannus is on this list. First, they rip! Second, they are clearly and staunchly antifascist. Third, they rip! I’m honestly not a big blackthrash guy, but this band has been a clear exception for me since day one. I would suggest that they have more melodicism than many blackthrash bands, which suits me fine.
Neo Dimes – Alone (5/19/2026, Self-Release) [Post-Punk/Industrial]
The promo material I received for this release include the statement: “Support human music. NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR.” That perked me up right away. What a delight it was to then discover that the music is also really, really good. This lands somewhere between Depeche Mode and NIN, incorporating the best elements of both (and more).
Burial Clouds – Burn Holy (5/22/2026, Self-Release) [Post-Doom]
Post-doom is the label the band gives itself, which is apparently doom, with a mix of other things mixed in. Clean and harsh vocals both make regular appearances. Sludge, psych, and progressive tendencies all appear. There are slow ponderous riffs, as well as driving speed. All in all, the band makes the art they want to make, genre labels be damned.
Fable – Long Hath the Night Dwelt (5/22/2026, Dying Victims Productions) [Heavy Metal]
Though made up of veterans of other bands, this Spanish trio is brand new, with this being the first recorded output. While I love the traditional heavy metal sound (I grew up with it, after all), I am picky about it, mostly centered around the vocals. A trad heavy metal band just has to have someone who can sing! Thankfully Fable does. I’m really looking forward to more output from them.
Fournier – DEMO (5/22/2026, Caligari Records) [Death Metal]
Up next is another new band. Fournier are a death metal quartet from New Zealand and, oh boy, is this 4-song demo ever filthy! Thick and meaty, with rot and decay dripping off each riff, hollowed out vocals, and a deliciously pinging snare…this is a grade A putrid death metal carcass.
Hellevate – Killicon Valley (5/22/2026, Self-Release) [Thrash Metal]
Hello, the 1980s wants their thrash back! Hellevate, from Kansas City play an old school, circle pit kind of thrash, with elements of speed and traditional heavy metal woven in. Riffs, riffs, and more riffs pile onto the steady drumming, all building the foundation for the raspy vocals calling out the ills of society.
Deafkids – Cicatrizes Do Futuro (5/29/2026, Neurot Recordings) [Noise Rock]
I saw this Brazilian duo open for Neurosis several years ago, and they were quite brilliant. They blend international rhythms, noise, noise rock, electronic manipulation, and more into a strange and bleak, yet often danceable, soundscape. This latest release proves that they’ve still got it!
Diminishing – The Outcome (5/29/2026, Anti-Corp Music) [Drone/Noise]
Bleak aural explorations of anxiety, existential crises, and similar themes, the duo of Lane Oliver (ex-Yatsu, Feel Happiness) and David Brenner (Gridfailure) let slow-building apprehension and exploration create tension in the listener. This is the kind of listen that sets you distinctly on edge, but also rewards you for that.
Kid, Feral – 2019 (5/29/2026, Backpack Records) [Screamo]
Scattershot Screamo where the vocals, guitars, and drums sometimes seem to each be playing their own party. This leads to am off-kilter effect, as if the song is continuously switching into, then out of, focus, and back again. It’s really a delicious effort from this Swedish quartet.
The Freqs – No God On The Gold Coast – (5/29/2026, Self-Release) [Noise Rock]
This album has a driving energy and raw power. The Freqs hold their own in a genre filled with names such as The Melvins and The Jesus Lizard. Chaotic, with waves of feedback, they might just become your new favorite noise rock band.
