PRE-RELEASE Review: Moodring - Death Fetish.
Moodring - “Death Fetish” album cover.
Moodring fans have yearned for new music from the nu-metal band since the last EP released in 2023, YOUR LIGHT FADES AWAY,and the mastermind behind it all, Hunter Young, shared on social media that, for the last couple of years, no one has held back with their renditions of the seagulls from Finding Nemo when asking, “When are we getting new Moodring?”
Death Fetish has been highly anticipated since Hunter, on 10th January 2026, answered the big question and announced that the 3rd, full-length Moodring album would release on 27th March 2026, 3 years after the last drop. Dedicated fans of the band religiously shared each single that dropped and sold out the vinyl variant, Splatter. There’s huge anticipation surrounding this album and there has been an influx of new fans familiarising themselves with older records whilst eagerly awaiting the new drop. It’s not hard to believe that this is a lot of people’s “Album of the Year 2026,” and it’s not even out yet.
I can tell you now, it is absolutely my AOTY and it will be impossible for it to be dethroned. Death Fetish is fucking phenomenal, and that’s an understatement. This isn’t just an album, this is a eulogy. This is a curation of letters, each one fuelled by pain and fury and hand delivered to the cause with purpose. It’s the darkest parts of the human mind that you try to shy away from. But you can’t turn away from this, it was created to be heard. It was created to be felt.
“With the exception of a couple tracks on the record, the entire point of it is to make the listener feel pain or try to inflict my suffering on them a little bit, or even have them understand. And I think if someone does start to understand what I’m dealing with, that should be painful in theory. But the reality is, a lot of people can’t accept the fact that you just sometimes get sick and don’t get better. That’s a thing that a lot of people don’t want to come to terms with.”
Now, I could speak highly of this record until the cows came home, because there isn’t a single moment that doesn’t deserve to be appreciated for what it is - and that’s master levels of breath-taking. But you would still be reading long after the album drops, and there’s no excuse to miss that, so I’ll highlight the parts that continue to ignite my infatuation for this album again and again.
The first single, and opening track, half-life, immediately sets the tone of what this album is about. It’s mournful and it’s furious, but it’s honest. Both verses begin stripped back, allowing for complete attention to Young’s sombre vocal tone and the iterated lyrics. But this is a nu-metal record so the minimalism doesn’t last long before the angst and dodgeball snares take over and lead into the chorus, which is one of the catchiest on the entire record. It’s easy to forget the lyrical unpacking that’s required when a chorus like this shows up and all you can think about is attempting to match the prominent vocals laid over a metalcore (complimentary) riff. half-life includes a breakdown so industrial, so chest caving, and so formidable that it stands out as one of the most exciting moments throughout the 41-minute listen. When it starts with “Remove the red,” spoken through gritted teeth, you better put any and all loose items away because the chances of them becoming a projectile is 100%. This is the first taste that you get of Hunters’ unmistakable vocal improvement, with the layering of deep gutturals under highs so crisp they rattle your skeleton. Pair that with what can only be described as “taking a metal bin (trash can for the non-British) into the recording studio and hitting it with maximum strength” and it nails the ominous edge needed to make this track a well-selected opener.
STFA presents as desperate, lyrically and vocally. It’s one that inflicts chaos in the hollow of your chest from the hole it created. Pinch harmonics alongside the jagged riff give it a modern touch that scratches that itch for when you’re after something menacing, but the song in its entirety switches between devastatingly pleading and visceral aggression. It’s a neck-snapper, not solely for the influence it has on you needing to bang your head along to the riff between verses, but because it forces you into a temporary realm of hopelessness, succumbing to the despair that echoes through Young’s emotional vocals in the chorus. To no surprise, STFA returns to furious territory towards the end, offering an opportunity for the unyielding harsh vocals to take a stand before the hard-hitting double kicks take over and lead the song to a pissed-off finish.
The embodiment of infliction reveals itself in bleed enough?, which kicks off a perfect, multi-faceted 4-track run. Hunters’ vocals are like nothing heard before from the vocalist, the determination and grit used to deliver the gruesome imagery forces listeners to hear and envision exactly what is being described. The composition flows so effortlessly, with instruments being dialled back to simplicity to allow lyrics to take center stage, and the guitar tones and riffs compliment the remaining parts making it a textbook example of an impeccable nu-metal track. bleed enough? has one of the many unrelenting moments on the album that you can’t ignore, despite how much discomfort it’ll put you in. The line, “I. Don’t. Want. To. Die” could freeze over hell with how spine-chilling it is. Sure, it’s a line so short and simple, and yet it’s so agonising that it’ll etch itself into your brain and resurface to torment you when you least expect it.
sickf_ck is my favourite on the album and hasn’t changed since the first listen - and I’ve probably racked up close to 100 full playthroughs of this album. If riffs could take steroids, become super jacked, be overwhelmed with anger directed at everything in its sight, and jump on a Moodring track, it would be these ones. This is start to finish, the most venomous song of them all, it’s sharp, it’s vindictive, and you feel the sting of it immediately. The lyrics and the deliverance on the vocals perfectly encapsulate verbal assault, showcasing a back and forth between Hunter and those that have questioned the authenticity of his illness. Each verse becomes increasingly more hate-filled, ramping up the ferocity with every line. Shouting, screaming, singing -whatever you want to do- along to this track will make you feel like you’ve just committed a crime with how heinous it is in its entirety. Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, Young crescendos into a demonic vocal before the riff comes back slower, which is the nastiest thing you could do to a track that’s already as disgustingly perfect as this one.
I present to you some lore, courtesy of Young himself; Die Slow has a chorus melody influenced by a well known 90s boyband - I’ll let you figure out who. This is the one that made my chest tighten and forced open the flood gates with no remorse. Make no mistake of being fooled by the pop-hooks and chorus, because Hunter projects a scream right before the breakdown that sounds like something you’d only hear in an abandoned research facility - it’s terrifying in the most heart-wrenching way. If the blow before the breakdown wasn’t enough to hurt your soul, to lead out with a guitar solo -something which is not widely found in Moodrings’ discography- where what’s being played is the musical translation of pouring your heart out in the absence of words, then I’m going to assume you’re unable to feel music. Being able to say so much without saying anything at all is a skill that not many musicians are able to encapsulate, but this track has one of the few existing examples that prove what a genius Hunter is when it comes to song-writing.
coldmetalkiss is a devastating album closer and truly shows how vulnerable, raw, and unapologetic Hunter has been for this record - which he has said is everything to him but he’s hated releasing it. I only understood what he meant by that once I’d finished listening to the entire album. This track was a heartbreaking first listen and I have some bad news - it doesn’t get any easier. It buries itself into your core with the intention of making sure that you feel the harrowing weight of its meaning and lingers in the silence after it has finished. There’s no climatic moment in coldmetalkiss, no ground-opening breakdown, no upbeat, catchy chorus, just melancholic instrumentals and the despondent vocals of Young. Don’t even think about trying to comprehend or analyse what you experienced once this track - and album - is finished, because it is inexorable and will not allow for critical thinking. Its purpose is to be felt in parts of you that you didn’t think possible. To be given a glimpse into what Hunter experiences on a daily basis throughout this album, and the repercussions it has had on his mental and physical health, shouldn’t be taken for granted or diminished, give the man his flowers, they’re fucking overdue.
It’s obvious that Hunter has pushed himself in terms of vocal range on this entire record, not solely with just how vicious sounding it can be, but also how stripped back and vulnerable it is at times. Showcasing his versatility is a huge addition to what makes Death Fetish so compelling and replayable. The production/mixing is so clear-cut that you’re able to fully appreciate every creative element that has been scattered in the background, especially with how layered each track is - burying almost undetectable backing vocals so deep you only notice them after the 2nd or 3rd listen. So much attention has been put into the smallest of details to craft this album to an exquisite level, and it’s truly commendable to be able to produce a record with this much dedication and soul poured into it, despite the challenges Hunter faced that hindered the progression of its creation.
If you’re not left in a haze of overwhelming emotion after listening to this album, staring at the wall trying to comprehend everything that just infiltrated your mind, then you’ve completely missed the point of its release. This album is purposefully unsettling - it’s going to make you shed tears and it will pull your heartstrings to within an inch of them snapping, but it will also fill you with indignation. Death Fetish is a monumental record that cements itself in place as an untouchable magnum opus within nu-metal and adjacent genres.
FFO: Songs that actually mean something, crying, and good fucking music.
SCORE: 10/10
Death Fetish by Moodring is out on all streaming platforms at midnight on 27th March 2026 via Sharptone Records.
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