In this week’s New Records Round Up, we bring you teasers for seven recently announced albums and EPs!
IST IST – Dagger
IST IST will release album number five, Dagger, on February 6, 2026, through Kind Violence Records.
Guitarist Mat Peters said: “We started working on the album as soon as we got back from the European tour in late 2024. The momentum you carry from a tour into the studio is powerful and you’re still in that live headspace, so the music you write in those moments tends to be more visceral. You go with the flow a little bit more rather than it being methodical. What you end up with is a collection of songs already primed for the stage.”
Bassist Andy King said: “We wanted to make some braver and more brash choices during the recording process. We wanted to make this record for ourselves first and foremost. There was no agenda beyond capturing the post-tour energy and playing the sort of things we wanted to listen to. The result of that is our most direct album since our debut ‘Architecture’.
Hällas – Panorama
Hällas will release new album Panorama on January 30 through Äventyr Records.
The band said: “In one way, Panorama sounds familiar: an imaginative hybrid of progressive 70s rock and heavy metal with echoes of both folk and psychedelia, along with conceptual content. In another sense, you have not quite heard a record like this from Hällas before. The self-confidence has never been as evident. Influences from different directions collide, and sometimes clash, contributing to the feeling that the expected instead culminates in wonder at what it is you’re hearing.”
The Hirsch Effekt – Der Brauch
Credit: Freakshot
The Hirsch Effekt will release new album Der Brauch on January 30, 2026, through Long Branch Records.
Tracklist:
Der Brauch
Der Faden
Das Seil
Brauch Reprise
Der Doppelgänger
Die Lüge
Die Brücke
Das Nachsehen
Die Heimkehr
—
Vinyl Exclusive – Bonus Tracks
Agitation (acoustic)
Die Brücke (acoustic)
Stegodon (acoustic)
MØL – DREAMCRUSH
Credit: Rolf Meldgaard
MØL will release new album DREAMCRUSH on January 30, 2026, through Nuclear Blast Records.
Drummer Ken Lund Klejs comments on the new single, “’Garland’ emerges as the first single from DREAMCRUSH. The song represents the broader scope of the album, yet only hints at the full journey, its shape and texture revealing fragments of the evolving sound and lyrical depth that define the record.
“With each release, MØL are seeking to weave powerful imagery into both sound and vision, forging a sense of coherence across the singles while expanding the themes of DREAMCRUSH. To bring this vision into focus, MØL once again worked with filmmaker John Bradburn, whose eye and creative spirit we fully trust to illuminate the album’s core ideas.”
Guitarist Nicolai Busse adds: “DREAMCRUSH is an album about our hopes and aspirations being both a source of comfort and dismay. It’s about finding home within yourself and coming to terms with reality when the pillars of our lives are shook. The album is deeply personal to us and inspired by events from our lives that we are certain also resonates with other people.”
Tracklist:
DREAM
Små Forlis
Young
Hud
Favour
A Former Blueprint
∞
Dissonance
Mimic
CRUSH
Story Of The Year – A.R.S.O.N
Credit: Ryan Smith
Story Of The Year will release new album A.R.S.O.N. on February 13, 2026, through SharpTone Records.
“In a lot of ways, A.R.S.O.N. picks up where Tear Me to Pieces left off,” said the band. “We used the same team – Colin Brittain producing again, with the main objective of simply writing great songs. Nothing was forced, no trends were chased, it was simply about getting to the essence of what makes SOTY sound like SOTY: Big guitars, snappy drums, and Dan’s ability to seamlessly oscillate between screaming & singing songs about desperation, loss, and the complexity of relationships.”
Tracklist:
Gasoline (All Rage Still Only Numb)
Disconnected
See Through
Fall Away
3 am
Into The Dark
My Religion
Halos
Good for Me / Feel so Bad
Better Than High
I Don’t Wanna Feel Like This Anymore
A Thousand Horses – White Flag Down
A Thousand Horses will release new album White Flag Down on February 27, 2026.
Guitarist Bill Satcher said: “Rock’n’roll has always been at the core of our sound and with this next album we are diving all the way in.
“We approached this album intent on refocusing our creative energies and inspirations. Something inside was calling us to dig deeper and tell our stories in the most raw and truthful way possible.
Bassist Graham DeLoach adds: “With the new album We promised our fans this would be our heaviest album yet and we meant it.”
The Veer Union – REINVENTION
The Veer Union will release new album REINVENTION on February 20, 2026, through Arising Empire!