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New Zealand outfit LUNG have spent more than three decades treating noise rock as a household appliance, between a blender and a faulty electrical socket, and Isolated Gun finds the trio operating at full voltage. The opening track from their latest album Fog begins with James Woods’s bass grinding while Zak White locks into a heavy, circular beat. Dave White then throws sheets of guitar across the room with the cheerful abandon of a man who has discovered that the security deposit was never paid.

Sonic Youth, Swans, Fugazi, and Pixies provide coordinates, though LUNG retain the character of New Zealand noise rock: dry, stubborn, spacious, and capable of making repetition feel dangerous. Isolated Gun draws its lyrics from She’s Got a Gun, first released on the band’s 1991 debut Cactii, while borrowing the rhythmic foundation of Isolation from 2024’s Cancer. This act of self-cannibalism suits them. Bands have been recycling old riffs since somebody noticed that three chords were easier to remember than tax law.

“We always liked the lyrics to She’s Got a Gun,” says White. “Marrying them to the drumbeat from Isolation gave us Isolated Gun – a classic love/hate song with a little extra sonic edge that’s great fun to play live.”

The accompanying video makes good on that promise. Filmed, directed, and edited by Alan Beere of TrustFundKid111, it places LUNG in the hallway of Dave White’s Wellington home, surrounded by friends as though a house party has been interrupted by an especially committed rehearsal. The intimacy recalls Tiny Desk, provided somebody dragged the whole kit n’ caboodle into a narrow corridor and replaced polite applause with structural damage. Shot in under half an hour, with principal photography finished by 9 a.m. and edits delivered later that day, the clip catches the band without ornamental fuss.

“We like to work fast and furious and give it everything in one quick blast,” says White. “That’s how we recorded Fog, and Alan immediately understood that approach. What you see is us — a genuine snapshot of our live performance and a taste of what audiences and promoters can expect.”

Watch the video for Isolated Gun below:

Recorded over two days at The Surgery in Newtown with engineer Lee Prebble, Fog carries that speed into every bruise and bend. “Isolated Gun” opens the record with blunt momentum, elastic menace, and enough guitar abrasion to exfoliate a brick. LUNG remain gloriously committed to music that rattles the furniture while reminding the furniture who owns the house.

Described by founder and frontman Dave White as their “most raw, fucked up, brutal, honest work to date”, and “possibly the most punk we’ve become”, Fog is the sixth full-length studio LP from influential New Zealand band LUNG.

“These songs range from odes to hippies past, to flatmates’ cats, evil American arseholes, and simple not pop songs. Play it loud. Not joking. Lung have muscular schizophrenia of the highest grade and will make you dance, fall over, laugh and drink…”

Formed from a late line-up of The Clear (1988-91), LUNG over the course of the early-to-mid 1990s became known for a dark, angular, grinding blend of post-punk, no wave, noise-rock, post-hardcore and quasi-industrial influences: likened to New Zealand’s Skeptics, Gordons and Bailter Space, and on the global stage to Einstürzende Neubauten, The Fall, Big Black, and Butthole Surfers. 

Disbanding in late 1994 at the end of their second US tour, founding members Dave White (vocals, guitar, keys) and the late Phil Williscroft (bass) later reunited in 2019, with Dave’s son Zak White taking over from original drummer Brent Gemmill.  Dave and Zak White are now joined on bass by LUNG’s touring sound engineer since the 1990s, James Woods, now also of Beastwars. 

Released 24 January 2026 on Yellow Bike Records, Fog by LUNG is available on vinyl LP and digital download from Bandcamp, and streaming from all the usual digital music outlets.

Lung’s Fog is out now. Listen to Isolated Gun below, and order the album here.

Follow LUNG:

• Bandcamp 
• Facebook  
• Instagram  
• Spotify

The post New Zealand Outfit Lung Captures a Raw DIY Spirit in Video for “Isolated Gun” appeared first on Post-Punk.com.

2026 Fire in the Mountains – Saturday Thursday and Friday can be found here. Fierce winds on Friday night and early Saturday morning blew most of the smoke away. Yeah! Unfortunately, extreme winds later Saturday gusted the smoke right back in. Booo! This was the clearest view we ever had at Lower Two Medicine Lake. My nostrils, and … Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

People naturally take pride in their own history. As a Persian, I grew up hearing the name Cyrus the Great with admiration. He founded the first Persian Empire, is often credited with creating the first declaration of human rights, and remains one of the greatest figures in our history. I respect everything he accomplished. But as a woman, there is someone who fills me with just as much admiration. The woman who stood in front of him and refused to let him decide her future.

This is the story of the Massagetae queen, Tomyris, and how she faced the most powerful man of her time and won.

In the 6th century BC, the Massagetae were a confederation of nomadic tribes living across the steppes of Central Asia. They were skilled horse riders, fierce warriors, worshipped the sun, and lived by their own traditions. When Tomyris lost her husband, she became their queen.

She took the throne while Cyrus the Great was expanding the Achaemenid Persian Empire in every direction. Kingdom after kingdom fell under Persian rule, and it was only a matter of time before he turned his attention toward the Massagetae.

Before sending his army, Cyrus tried something else. He sent ambassadors to Tomyris and asked for her hand in marriage. It sounded peaceful, but it was really another way of taking her kingdom without a battle. Tomyris saw exactly what he was doing and rejected him without hesitation.

Her answer clearly wounded his pride. Cyrus marched his army to the Araxes River and began building bridges to cross into her land. Tomyris did not panic. She simply sent him a message asking him to stop, stay on his side of the river, rule his own people, and let her rule hers.

Cyrus ignored her. He knew fighting the Massagetae fairly would come at a heavy cost, so he chose deception instead. He left behind a camp with only a small guard but filled it with wine. The Massagetae had never drunk grape wine before, only fermented mare’s milk. When part of Tomyris’s army, led by her son Spargapises, captured the camp, they celebrated and drank until they could no longer defend themselves. Cyrus returned, slaughtered the exhausted warriors, and captured her son.

When Spargapises realized he would be used against his mother and his people, he chose to take his own life rather than become a weapon in Cyrus’s hands.

I cannot imagine the pain Tomyris must have felt in that moment. Losing a child is heartbreaking enough. Losing one because someone chose deception over honor is something else entirely. Whatever grief she carried, it soon became something much harder to stop.

Tomyris sent Cyrus one final message. She swore by the sun that if he refused to leave her land, she would give him his fill of blood.

Cyrus stayed exactly where he was. Tomyris answered with everything she had.

According to ancient historians, the battle that followed became one of the bloodiest ever fought by non Greeks. Tomyris did not simply defeat the Persian army. She destroyed it. Cyrus the Great died on the battlefield, and Tomyris made sure her promise was fulfilled. She ordered her soldiers to find his body, had his head cut off, and placed it into a wineskin filled with human blood. The man whose hunger for power could never be satisfied in life would finally have his fill in death.

History often remembers Tomyris for that final act, but I think her greatest victory came long before it. She protected her people from becoming another part of an empire that believed it could take whatever it wanted. She preserved the Massagetae, their freedom, and their way of life. After the war was over, she ruled peacefully for the rest of her life. To me, that says far more about the kind of ruler she was than the battle ever could.

In 530 BC, the Achaemenid Empire was the greatest power in the known world, much like the United States is often seen today. Cyrus was a ruler who believed his power, wealth, and military strength gave him the right to force others into submission. Tomyris proved that even the greatest empire in the world could be stopped by someone who refused to give up her own voice.

Most of us will never stand on a battlefield or face an emperor. But we all face moments when someone tries to pressure us, speak over us, or convince us that our boundaries do not matter. That is why Tomyris still inspires me today. Her story reminds me that standing your ground is sometimes the bravest thing you can do. No matter how powerful the person standing in front of you may seem, you never have to surrender who you are.

The post She’s In Charge | Tomyris: The Nomad Queen Who Broke an Empire first appeared on FemMetal – Goddesses of Metal.

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He screamed as much as sang, as his heavy-metal-inflected punk band, Sick of It All, spread the sound of the New York underground to the world.

The band will be touring with concealer. later this month.

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Blood Vulture’s Jordan “Gwarsenio Hall” Olds has no shortage of experience when it comes to covers.

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The track drew inspiration from 90s Meshuggah.

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