Loathe brings ‘stranger’ sounds from Liverpoolian metalcore scene

photo from Loathe’s Instagram

Well over six years since the release of their last lyrical album, the breakthrough hit I Let It In and It Took Everything, genre-hopping Liverpool metalcore outfit Loathe have returned with the album, A Stranger To You. Released July 17, the album features 14 tracks and a culmination of the trust built between the members. With features that introduce new sounds to the familiar, it comes together like a molt, a transformative journey of slowly shedding old feathers to discover what lies underneath. Though the sound may seem foreign to fans, at some points the risk pays off. This is Loathe at their most confident, even when it’s least familiar.

Long before the album took shape, the formerly five-piece band was reduced to four when guitarist Connor Sweeney, who’d been in the lineup since the group’s earliest days as “Our Imbalance,”  played his final sessions with Loathe on the 2021 instrumental album, The Things They Believe, before splitting from the group, embarking on other musical ventures. This left frontman Kadeem France, guitarist Erik Bickerstaffe, bassist Feisal El-Khazragi, and drummer Sean Radcliffe to rediscover themselves and their sound. Following changes in their dynamic, the group had to delay the album time and time again as life got in the way. With Radcliffe now married, and El-Khazragi raising kids of his own.

A Stranger To You pulls in an unusually wide supporting cast for a Loathe record. Static Dress’s Olli Appleyard, longtime friend and collaborator bucki Sugar, vocalist Jordan Rakei, guitarist Mansur Brown, and the NOWHERE2RUN duo of Jami Morgan and Eric Balderose all appear. The band stoked fans’ anticipation for new material with the staggered release of three widely spaced singles leading up to the July release, allowing fans a peek into the sound of the album. Lead single “Gifted Every Strength” surfaced in May 2025 as track 13, “Revenant” surfaced in April 2026 as track eight, with “Fangs” following soon after in June as track 11. Bickerstaffe’s own image for the sound was a transformation from an ostrich, head buried under the sand, to a peacock with its feathers on full display. The album and its production became an intrinsic look into what the band is and who they really are.

When fans finally got a taste of A Stranger To You in its entirety, the delay proved to be inconsequential. Though met with uncertainty by a number of fans who expected material more in line with the band’s old works and critics who list concerns of muddy production, the majority of listeners had nothing but praise. 

Acting as anchors for the sound of the album opening track titled “Entrance” and track seven,“اثينا” (Athena) each feature lyricism from bucki sugar accompanied by ambient and melodic beats. The first of the pair, “Entrance,” is a rather mild track with hopeful lyricism focused on an outward look into community and brotherhood that eases listeners into the many “flavors” of the album. Track seven, “Athena,” is rougher and opens with unsettling airy synths, acting as a foil to the opening track, instead centering on intrinsic thought and self-motivation.

The final four tracks of the album stand to be some of their strongest works. “Fangs” and “The Ladder” act like a flow of thoughts from contemplation and regret to a moment of vulnerability in heartbreak. “Gifted Every Strength" is one of the standout tracks of the album. A close to eight minute journey,  it stands to be Loathe’s current longest song, about three minutes longer than the self-titled “I Let It In And It Took Everything” from their 2020 album. Closing with “No Stranger To You…” a song which feels almost like an ode to the self-reflective nu-metal and partial shoegaze fusion sound of I Let It In And It Took Everything, it listens almost like a spiritual successor to the 2020 album’s “Is It Really You?” It embodies a feeling of nostalgia and longing that longtime fans and listeners alike can appreciate, a fitting end to the album. 

Along with the release of A Stranger To You, Loathe announced three tours with the North America tour featuring supporting acts from shoegaze band Fleshwater and industrial rock outfit Prostitute, with tour dates from Sept. 19 to Oct. 13. It was preceded by an Australia tour in May with Static Dress and a European tour in June and July with Mastodon. 

Grade: A-

A meld of old and new, Loathe’s A Stranger To You, induces feelings of nostalgia and hope for the future, as it encapsulates the ebb and flow of time in a melting pot of heavy and melodic tones, a welcome addition to Loathe’s repertoire.

by Sushruth Gowda

Published October 5, 2026

Oshkosh West Index Volume 123 Issue 1