Santa Barbara (USA)-based dark rock force Rival Cults return with Our Gods Need Blood, a towering new chapter that pushes their fusion of gothic romanticism, ritual intensity, and riff‑driven rock even deeper into the shadows. The album arrives on 22 May via Seeing Red Records, marking the band’s most ambitious and emotionally charged work to date.
Ahead of the release, Rival Cults present their new single “Victoria”, a track that strikes at the heart of the album’s themes — the corrosive pull of resentment, the seductive myth of revenge, and the cost of carrying that weight. Vocalist and lyricist Cole Barrington frames it bluntly:
“The moral of the story is that spite, resentment and malice lead only to a life lived alone in misery. Let go of the revenge story in your heart to forgive yourself and the world.”
Since forming in 2020, Rival Cults have carved out a distinct identity within modern gothic rock: commanding baritone vocals, dual‑guitar firepower, and a lyrical world steeped in transformation, devotion, and spiritual reckoning. Their 2023 debut Indoctrination laid the foundation — praised for injecting muscular rock energy into classic goth atmosphere while embracing the band’s mission of putting “more rock in our goth.”
With Our Gods Need Blood, the band widens its scope. Where earlier material chronicled personal rebirth, the new album confronts the rituals we build around love, faith, desire, and mortality. Tracks like “Lust” embody that darker human core. As Barrington puts it: “‘Lust’ is summed up by the line, ‘I don’t need anything from you, I just want it all that’s true’ — or, as Brennus the Gaul said in 390 BC: Vae Victis… ‘Woe to the vanquished.’”
Rival Cults are stepping into a grander, more volatile era — one where gothic drama, spiritual hunger, and raw rock power collide with sharpened purpose. Link
Italy’s Vice Business Only (V.B.O.) throw open the doors to their retro‑futuristic nightlife empire with “Fire Fire”, a high‑octane single that marks the beginning of a bold new chapter...
Doom metal band Godthrymm have offered up the second piece, "The Sun Never Fell", from their impending album Projections, landing on 29 May through Profound Lore Records. Following...
Italian dark post‑punk unit 30 Denari return with a new single, “Traitor”, a track that drags betrayal out of the shadows and into a cold, unforgiving light. Taken from the band’s...
Inspired by the dark and gory historical figure Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous Blood Countess, Swanwriter delivers a haunting and dynamic new track, "The Painted Valley", lifted from...
"Art isn't meant to always be pretty and make us feel comfortable and good about ourselves. I'm not afraid to broach difficult emotions and to express the beautiful ones too." - Martin Saint
"Goth people want to have fun sometimes too. I guess if your listening time is 99% dark, sad songs or evil black metal songs, sometimes you want 1% joy, and here I come." - Franck Hueso
"All of us want to bring back analogue methods—doing everything by hand. AI is completely outside our creative universe. It's a system designed to make things easier and faster." - Andy Julia
"I don't tend to judge people, but I do judge them if they're too lazy to engage in independent thought or if they're simply careless and don't consider the consequences..." - Sven Friedrich
