Frontiers [Release date 24.04.26] Eighth full length album from respected Swedish Hard Rock band, Degreed…Robin Eriksson, Mats Eriksson, Mikael Blanc and Daniel Johansson. Their sound is impossible to categorise. Is it toughened up AOR, melodic hard rock, metallised hard rock … Continue reading →
Rachel Aspe appears on screen between interviews, composed and focused, the kind of presence that makes immediate sense once she begins talking about Exuvia, the new album from Cage Fight and the most personal work of her career.
The record arrives on 1 May 2026 as a moment of rebirth for the band, a sign of how much they have grown together and how deeply they now understand one another. Their Hardcore foundation is still intact, but Exuvia pushes further, shaped by experiences Rachel has never shared publicly before.
Her Chihuahua rests in the background as she settles into the conversation. “One day I hope I can take him on tour,” she says. “But for now, the van is too small. It would be stressful.” There is a softness in the way she says it, a small window into the person behind the voice.
Cage Fight ready to release new album Exuvia. Photo: Andy Ford
Exuvia is built on trauma, grief and the slow process of rebuilding, but it also reflects a band that has matured, tightened and found a new level of connection. That contrast between ferocity and tenderness sits at the heart of who Rachel is. On stage, she can level a field with a single growl. Off stage, she talks about her family with a quiet warmth that never feels far away.
For someone who has spent two decades in music, Exuvia marks the first time she has allowed herself to be fully seen. “I really needed to expose myself this time,” she says. “I have been doing music for 20 years, and this is the only time I have talked about personal subjects.”
Writing lyrics had always felt impossible. The idea of strangers reading her thoughts felt unbearable. But then life happened. Traumatic experiences cracked something open, and she began writing words down without thinking about where they might lead.
Months later, she realised something had shifted. “I told the guys, I want to write now, but only about my own stories. I cannot invent stories. It has to come from me.”
Cage Fight – Exuvia – Out 1 May 2026 via Spinefarm
That decision shaped the entire album. The emotional core of Exuvia is heavy. Anxiety, assault, grief, resilience. But the hardest moment came from a place of love. Rachel wrote the title track with her grandmother, a collaboration as beautiful as it is heartbreaking.
“It was hard not to be too harsh, but I had to be true,” she says. “It is quite sad. When we read it again, we were like, oh… horrible, but it needed to be said.” Her grandmother had never written lyrics before. She simply told her story, and Rachel wrote it down. “She was very excited to hear it,” she smiles.
There is also a song for her grandfather, steeped in loss. Did turning grief into music help? “Not really,” she says quietly. “I am still as sad as before. It does not change anything. But it was good to make music.” It is the kind of honesty other artists might avoid, but Rachel does not flinch.
Musically, Exuvia shows a band that has grown into itself. There is more melody than on Cage Fight’s debut, and Rachel lights up when she talks about it. She had always wanted a song that felt like a journey. When guitarist James sent her the instrumental, something clicked instantly.
“I heard everything in my head already. I am impatient. I hate doing things twice. So I put the song on my laptop and recorded the melody as it played. I kept it. It just came from nowhere.” It is a moment that speaks to the trust within the band. They know each other better now. They write with a shared instinct.
Not everything on the album is heavy. Pick Your Fighter is pure fun, a burst of energy inspired, unexpectedly, by a French Pop song. Julien Truchan of Benighted was the obvious choice for a guest spot.
“He has been my friend for maybe 15 years,” Rachel says. “I have always been impressed by his vocals. I always wanted to sing with him.” The video runs like a ’90s arcade fighter, each band member turned into a different game character battling through levels, closing with a knockout punch and the band walking off together, that lands with the same playful spirit as the track itself. “It is good to have fun,” she says. “Even live, you can feel this song is more fun.”
But fun is only one side of the record. Pig is a furious call out of creepy behaviour and unsolicited messages, a track born from years of accumulated experiences rather than one defining moment. Some men reacted badly.
“We had comments from men defending themselves, feeling offended,” she says. “Some people just do not get it.” Others messaged her saying they had not realised how bad things were. That is why Cage Fight released a reel full of real screenshots, a stark reminder.
“You have to remind people constantly,” she says. “Even with our song Respect Ends, people still DM me cute, cute, cute. They do not listen.”
At Bloodstock last year, Rachel’s growl was powerful enough to make the ground vibrate. Playing new songs there felt different, more alive. “I feel more energy doing the new songs because they are my lyrics,” she says. “We are more of a band when we play these songs. We wrote them together.”
The crowd felt it too. It is another sign of the band’s evolution, a group moving in the same direction with the same purpose.
Metal likes to call itself inclusive, but Rachel has lived the other side of it. Her early TV appearance brought a wave of cruelty, including the comments that inspired Pig. In a previous French band, she was compared to the former vocalist, judged on looks rather than talent.
Now she is constantly compared to other women in Metal. “They never compare men,” she says. “They just say Spiritbox, Jinjer, like we are items. I am Rachel.” She has learned to protect herself. “My band is my circle. I am careful now. I am tired of meeting people and realising they are bad.”
Cage Fight’s ‘Male Backed Metal’ shirt, designed by a friend, pokes fun at the absurdity of the term ‘female fronted.’ “There are so many genres of Metal,” she says. “Lacuna Coil and Cage Fight cannot both be female fronted. It makes no sense. We are just Metal.”
Cage Fight – Bloodstock Festival 2025. Photo: Matt Pratt/MetalTalk
Will from the band once joked that Rachel warms up by creeping behind bandmates and growling at them. She laughs, raises a cup to the camera and blows a stream of bubbles through the straw. “No. This is my prep, bubbles.”
Cage Fight album launch at Blondies on 1 May is already sold out. “We are going to play more new songs. We are really excited.”
And what does she hope people carry away from Exuvia? “We gave everything we could. I hope people enjoy it, and I hope it helps. I have had messages saying the lyrics helped them, and that makes me really happy.”
We end by talking about her tattooing, not just the abstract work she is known for, but the way the one-to-one conversations she has with someone in the chair feel a lot like this, two people sitting together, talking, sharing something personal.
So before she leaves, I ask whether she has ever tattooed the interviewer. She thinks for a second, eyebrows lifting as she processes it, then laughs. “Not yet… but let us do it, you can be the first!”
Talking to Rachel, you realise quickly that the ferocity onstage and the softness off it are not contradictions. They are the whole point. Exuvia is the sound of someone finally giving herself permission to speak, to feel, to confront, to heal. It is raw, it is honest, and it is hers.
And if the album is about transformation, then Rachel Aspe is already living it, one scream, one story, one shed skin at a time.
Cage Fight release Exuvia on 1 May 2026 via Spinefarm. Pre-orders are available from cagefight.lnk.to/exuvia.
Blondies, London205A Lower Clapton Rd, Lower Clapton, London E5 8EG
UK Heavy Metal band Cage Fight recently unleashed their new single Pick Your Fighter, featuring Julien Truchan of Benighted, ahead of their album launch show
Event Details
UK Heavy Metal band Cage Fight recently unleashed their new single Pick Your Fighter, featuring Julien Truchan of Benighted, ahead of their album launch show at Blondie’s on 1 May 2026. The band’s second album, Exuvia, is released via Spinefarm.
Exuvia promises to expand the band’s sonic scope while retaining their hardcore roots. Recorded by Sam Bloor and mixed by Jim Pinder, the album blends heavy grooves, layered atmospheres and raw emotional weight.
Cage Fight will celebrate the album’s release with a launch show at Blondies in London on 1 May, where fans can also sample a special Pick Your Fighter beer brewed for the occasion.
Maybe war never changes, but Warside has. Between releasing inaugural EP The Enemy Inside, and recording their debut, three of Warside’s five members left the band. Now a quartet, the Lyon, France collective tromps into the death metal arena, brandishing Cognitive Extinction, their first long play. Down a guitarist, Warside reports Cognitive Extinction as having ‘a rawer, more direct sound.’ Though The Enemy Inside can’t be classified as polished or subtle, Cognitive Extinction embraces an even leaner, meaner aggression through twenty-eight minutes. Additionally, Warside weaves a broad theme into the album—the erosion of intelligence and critical thinking due to the proliferation of screens and dependence on technology. It’s an increasingly relevant theme in these crazy times, but is Warside’s warning enough to keep listeners’ gray matter from atrophying into pudding?
Though simply billed as ‘death metal,’ Warside skews towards the technical end of the spectrum. Dying Fetus, Misery Index, and Vomitory are cited as influences in the promo materials, and while elements of those bands exist on Cognitive Extinction,1 I also hear the frantic immediacy of Benightedand Abortedenmeshed with the tech-heavy grooves of more recent Cryptopsyand Suffocation. Technical without falling into technical death metal territory and bruising without earning a brutal death metal tag, Warside toes the line between extreme metal subgenres without fully committing to any specific one. Rather than wavering or wandering, though, Cognitive Extinction sounds confident, direct, and ready to peel your skull back to get a look at your cognition firsthand.
Despite adding some new members and shuffling guitar duties, Warside launches a savage assault that never relents. Returning from The Enemy Within, guitarist Vincent Morelle resumes six-string duties on Cognitive Extinction while former guitarist Jérôme dons the mantle of bassist. Joining them are duo Mathieu (vocals) and Thô (drums) from deathgrind project Festering Process, and together this foursome unleashes barrage after barrage of merciless death metal thunder. Tracks “Neurocide” and “Invasive Thoughts” meld Morbid Angel’s wicked melodies with Nile’s violent velocity, frequently coaxing involuntary stank-face. “Visceral” punches with Suffocation’s might, windmilling between stutter-stop leads and kick drum cannonades, while “Thirst for Rot” dive bombs into an early solo before hitting a swarthy Cryptopsy-meets-Decapitated groove. Throughout, Mathieu discharges fierce gutturals that remind me of Benighted’s Julien Truchan,2 primal and bloodthirsty without ever going full BREEE. All told, kinetic hooks, furious blast beats, and husky bass grooves carry the momentum of each track, with feverish solos offering brief detours from Warside’s otherwise unyielding onslaught.
Warside evokes death metal titans throughout Cognitive Extinction, yet clinging too tightly to these touchstones prevents them from fully realizing an identity of their own. In fairness, Cognitive Extinction works cohesively, with a consistent aural context that’s as bludgeoning as it is swift. And even though Warside sidesteps critical flaws, hooking an overcrowded niche with deathly wares can be a significant challenge. Genre greats can provide a strong template for writing compelling music, but emulation without innovation risks giving listeners an experience that drives them back to inspirations. Said simply, bands with unique sounds become reference points, while others get buried beneath the sands of time. In this regard, Cognitive Extinction feels like a half measure, where a blend of influences comes together to form a coherent album, yet lacks a wholly original voice.
Standout performances and sharp, economical songwriting distinguish Warside as an act I’ll follow closely, and help achieve a portion of the identity they need. Cognitive Extinction teems with talent and promise, and despite the abysmal dynamic range,3 the mix is well-balanced and allows listeners to appreciate what Warside does within its runtime. I’ve greatly enjoyed my time with Cognitive Extinction, and a couple of its gems have helped add some weight to my Heavy Moves Heavy ’26 playlist, but with so many killer death metal albums out this year, I’m unsure what lasting impact it’ll have. Time will tell, and in the meantime, I hope that Warside continues honing their blades to keep minds and interest sharp.
Rating: Good! DR: 3 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3 Label: Gruesome Records Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook Releases Worldwide: April 17th, 2026
We’re still a few months out from descending on Catton Park, but the Bloodstock HQ team have just dropped a massive update to help you prep for the 25th-anniversary bash. There isn’t a single band announcement in this lot, but if you’re wondering what to pack or how to spend your late-night hours, listen up. … Continue reading Fancy dress, black ice cream, and bike rides: The latest Bloodstock 2026 update
Frontiers [Release date 24.04.26] Eighth full length album from respected Swedish Hard Rock band, Degreed…Robin Eriksson, Mats Eriksson, Mikael Blanc and Daniel Johansson. Their sound is impossible to categorise. Is it toughened up AOR, melodic hard rock, metallised hard rock … Continue reading 
Maybe war never changes, but Warside has. Between releasing inaugural EP The Enemy Inside, and recording their debut, three of Warside’s five members left the band. Now a quartet, the Lyon, France collective tromps into the death metal arena, brandishing Cognitive Extinction, their first long play. Down a guitarist, Warside reports Cognitive Extinction as having ‘a rawer, more direct sound.’ Though The Enemy Inside can’t be classified as polished or subtle, Cognitive Extinction embraces an even leaner, meaner aggression through twenty-eight minutes. Additionally, Warside weaves a broad theme into the album—the erosion of intelligence and critical thinking due to the proliferation of screens and dependence on technology. It’s an increasingly relevant theme in these crazy times, but is Warside’s warning enough to keep listeners’ gray matter from atrophying into pudding?