Napalm Records have delivered another loaded batch of new music, with three very different artists pushing into the next stage of their respective journeys.
As I Lay Dying are opening a new chapter with their first self-titled album and two contrasting singles. Ukrainian modern metal architects IGNEA dive into industrial concrete, Soviet nostalgia and collective memory alongside Combichrist’s Andy LaPlegua, while Greek psychedelic heavyweights Villagers Of Ioannina City continue building toward Venceremos with the reflective new single “Requiem”.
Metalcore, industrial modern metal and psychedelic heavy prog all in one hit. Let’s get into it.
As I Lay Dying Announce Self-Titled Album And Release Two New Singles
Grammy-nominated metalcore veterans As I Lay Dying will release their new self-titled album, As I Lay Dying, on February 5, 2027 via Napalm Records.
The band have introduced the record with two new singles, “Polarized” and “Retribution”, deliberately showing two very different sides of what the new album is set to bring.
Watch “Retribution”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKj4utps4Vg
Pre-order As I Lay Dying:
http://lnk.to/AILD-AsILayDying/napalmrecords
“Polarized” leans into melody and immediacy, pairing heavy riffs with a more direct and accessible structure. “Retribution” heads in the opposite direction, pushing faster, darker and more aggressive.
According to the band, much of the new record exists somewhere between those two poles.
As I Lay Dying explain:
“‘Polarized’ and ‘Retribution’ show two very different sides of what we’ve been creating. One leans more melodic, while the other is darker, faster, and heavier, with much of the record living somewhere between the two. Despite how different they are, both still feel rooted in what As I Lay Dying is. We’re excited for people to hear them and to bring this new chapter of the band on the road in February.”
That is probably the best way to introduce a self-titled album from a band with 25 years behind them.
Rather than reducing the record to one particular era or trying to recreate a past version of themselves, As I Lay Dying are presenting the album as both continuation and reset.
The band say:
“Making this the first self-titled As I Lay Dying album felt significant because the record feels like both a continuation and a reset. We weren’t trying to recreate one era of the band or force the songs into a narrow definition of what AILD should sound like. We wanted to bring together everything we naturally gravitate toward: melody, aggression, speed, heaviness, emotion, atmosphere, and big riffs, while making sure every song still felt unmistakably like As I Lay Dying.”
Instead of locking themselves into one particular version of their sound, As I Lay Dying pulls together melody, aggression, speed, heaviness, atmosphere, emotion and the massive riffing that has long sat at the centre of the band’s music.
There is something fitting about making this one self-titled. After eight studio albums and more than two decades helping shape modern metalcore, it sounds like the intention is to take stock of everything that has defined As I Lay Dying while still leaving room to move forward.
“Polarized” and “Retribution” are also being released together as a physical vinyl single, with the new material set to make its way into the band’s upcoming North American live shows.
IGNEA Turn Concrete, Memory And Lost Futures Into Industrial Metal On Prefab
Ukrainian modern metal architects IGNEA have unveiled “Prefab”, the third single from their upcoming album Monumental, due October 23 via Napalm Records.
This time they have brought in a seriously fitting collaborator, with Andy LaPlegua of Combichrist joining vocalist Helle Bohdanova on a track that dives headfirst into industrial metal, aggrotech and electro-industrial energy.
Pre-order Monumental:
http://lnk.to/Ignea-Monumental/napalmrecords
“Prefab” explores one of the darker sides of Monumental’s central theme of nostalgia, looking at architecture, collective memory and the strange emotional pull of something that may never have been as good as memory makes it feel.
For Bohdanova, the song is tied directly to the prefabricated apartment blocks that still dominate landscapes across large parts of Europe.
She explains that these buildings were originally presented as part of an ideal where everyone would have a roof over their head, but ultimately became symbols of uniformity, restriction and a system that stripped away individuality.
For people growing up in post-Soviet countries like Ukraine, those structures carry complicated emotional weight. There are personal memories attached to them, but those memories can coexist with poverty, authoritarianism and promises of a brighter future that never arrived.
That contradiction sits right at the heart of Monumental.
Bohdanova says:
“Back in the 17th century, nostalgia was considered a deadly disease—and in many ways, it still is. It’s a universal feeling experienced by every human being, pulling us toward a past that felt gentler than it truly was, especially during the bitter moments of the present.”
It is a fascinating way to approach an album.
Nostalgia is usually sold back to us as comfort. IGNEA are looking at the darker side, where memory can soften reality, romanticise broken systems and create longing for things that perhaps never deserved to be remembered so warmly in the first place.
The “Prefab” video leans into that feeling through a cramped, uniform room designed to represent a typical Soviet apartment, a space where the surroundings stay the same and only the people occupying them ever really change.
And then there is Andy LaPlegua.
IGNEA say they could practically hear his voice in the demo while they were writing the song, and once you look at the industrial backbone of “Prefab”, it is easy to understand why. His presence gives the track another layer of mechanical intensity without pulling it away from IGNEA’s own identity.
Monumental is also the band’s second full-length album written during the full-scale war in Ukraine. Much of the recording took place through the winter of 2025 and 2026 in Kyiv, amid freezing temperatures and lengthy power outages.
That real-world backdrop adds another layer to a record already dealing with memory, unrealised futures and structures built around promises that eventually began to crumble.
Villagers Of Ioannina City Face The Final Reckoning On Requiem
Greek psychedelic rock visionaries Villagers Of Ioannina City have unveiled the music video for “Requiem”, another new cut from their upcoming album Venceremos.
The album arrives September 18 via Napalm Records and has already been generating a strong response.
Pre-order Venceremos:
http://lnk.to/VillagersOfIoanninaCity-Venceremos
Where some of the material surrounding Venceremos has focused on resistance, freedom and breaking away from systems of control, “Requiem” turns inward.
The band describe the song as a reflection on endings and that final moment where all the noise, excuses and distractions disappear, leaving only the truth of how a life was lived.
Villagers Of Ioannina City explain:
“Requiem is a reflection on endings, where the journey fades, and only truth remains. It’s about facing yourself at the final moment, weighing a life lived. You lived your life or fell their fraud? Will you go with massive guilt or calm in serenity?”
That idea fits neatly into the wider world of Venceremos.
The record is set inside a dystopian future shaped by illusion, fear and control, following those who rise against a broken world and reject both gods and modern kings in search of something more genuine.
At the centre of all that struggle is one constant idea: freedom.
Musically, Villagers Of Ioannina City are leaning even further into heaviness this time around. Venceremos pushes harder into heavy rock and metal while still keeping the progressive, psychedelic and traditional elements that have made the band so distinctive.
Bagpipes and zourna are not being used as ornaments. They are part of the actual language of the band, woven into ritualistic rhythms, expansive arrangements, huge riffs and progressive structures.
That is what has always made Villagers Of Ioannina City such an interesting proposition. They do not sound like a heavy band that occasionally adds Greek folk instrumentation. Those sounds are fundamental to their identity.
Produced and recorded by Alex Karametis at Magnanimous X Studio in Greece, then mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen at Hansen Studios, Venceremos is shaping up as another major step in the evolution of a band that continues to operate completely on its own terms.
Final Word
This latest Napalm Records round up covers a ridiculous amount of ground.
As I Lay Dying are using their self-titled album to bring different eras and sides of their sound together while opening another chapter. IGNEA are turning concrete architecture, memory and the failed promises of the past into industrial modern metal with Andy LaPlegua. Villagers Of Ioannina City are pushing further into heaviness while continuing their own deeply distinctive blend of psychedelic rock, progressive music and Hellenic tradition.
Three very different releases, but there is a common thread running through all of them.
None of these bands sound interested in simply standing still.
