Propagandhi, Suzanne Vega, & Front Line Assembly
Catch up on the week in new music & Dig Me Out podcasts
Latest Podcasts
Front Line Assembly - Hard Wired | 90s Rock Revisited
Imagine the hum of a CRT monitor, the whir of a modem dialing out into the unknown, and the neon-glow optimism of technology not yet turned cynical. Now imagine all of that compressed into an hour of relentless, electrified grooves and digitized aggression. That's the world Front Line Assembly conjured with
Latest Polls
90s Rock Album Tournament | Vote
Four albums. Four stories waiting to be told. All listener picks, each one pulled from the Hopper and packed with history, heart, and a few hard left turns. Now it’s in your hands: which of these deserves the full Dig Me Out deep-dive treatment?
🚨 Runoff Time: You Decide Our Next 80s Metal Deep Dive 🚨
After tallying up all your votes across Patreon and Substack polls, we landed on a dead heat between two albums that couldn’t be more different—and that’s what makes this so damn exciting.
New Releases
Propagandhi – At Peace
Propagandhi has spent decades merging breakneck punk with fierce political thought, but this time, they sound like they’re searching for something more internal. At Peace is raw and conflicted. Chris Hannah’s lyrics weigh spiritual surrender against radical action, name-dropping Eckhart Tolle and even Ted Kaczynski. The band still delivers tight, aggressive riffs, but there’s space here too, space to think. It's punk that questions not just the world, but the self.
Suzanne Vega – Flying with Angels
Suzanne Vega returns with a voice shaped by time and tension. Flying with Angels mixes her folk-pop instincts with unexpected edges. Punk rhythms, R&B textures, and characters who live on the margins. Songs like "Last Train from Mariupol" and "Speakers’ Corner" look outward, while “Rats” turns inward, churning with urban frustration. Vega still writes with precision, but now there's grit behind the grace.
Andy Bell – Ten Crowns
Andy Bell steps away from Erasure's neon legacy to find something more expansive. Ten Crowns is playful, emotional, and built on freedom. Recorded in Nashville with Dave Aude, the album draws on dance music, gospel, and synth-pop but carries a different kind of confidence. Debbie Harry guests on one of the standout tracks, adding both sparkle and weight. Bell sounds renewed, not just vocally but creatively.
The Flower Kings – Love
The Flower Kings have always carried the torch for 70s symphonic prog, but Love refines that vision into something more focused. Roine Stolt and Hasse Fröberg lean into optimism as a theme. The songs are shorter, tighter, but still carry that expansive energy. Lyrically, the album circles around love as resistance, peace as power. It's rooted in technical skill but powered by emotion.
Hate – Bellum Regiis
Hate brings a new kind of fury on Bellum Regiis. While their blackened death metal roots are intact, the themes dig deeper into human behavior. Greed, faith, dominance. ATF Sinner’s lyrics are more reflective this time, shaped by the chaos around him. Produced by David Castillo, the album sounds dense and deliberate. There’s less mythology and more confrontation with reality.
Puddle of Mudd – Kiss The Machine
Wes Scantlin’s journey has been rough, but Kiss The Machine feels like a clearing in the storm. The songs are heavy and direct, but there’s an undercurrent of hope. Scantlin has spoken about long nights in the studio trying to make something that feels real. The result isn’t polished, but it hits with sincerity. It’s music made to get through something, for people who need that kind of sound.
Klutæ – Godsent
Claus Larsen doesn’t hold back with Klutæ, and Godsent might be his most aggressive release yet. The beats hit hard, the vocals are saturated in distortion, and the lyrics target power, control, and religious hypocrisy. There’s a sneer in every track title, but there’s also precision in how it’s built. This isn’t about chaos for its own sake. It’s shaped noise, and it hits with purpose.
Nightfall – Children of Eve
Children of Eve feels like a personal reckoning. Nightfall’s blend of black metal and gothic doom remains intact, but the lyrics cut closer to the bone. Efthimis Karadimas writes about depression, rage, and the struggle against institutions that fracture the spirit. The production is sharp, the songwriting tighter than before. There are even flashes of choral beauty. It’s not just dark. It’s mournful, angry, and fully alive.
Chris Tapley – Cocteau Twins’ Blue Bell Knoll (33⅓)
Chris Tapley’s study of Blue Bell Knoll explores a band that never wanted to explain themselves. Through new interviews and deep research, he unpacks how Cocteau Twins built a sound that resists interpretation. The book focuses on ambiguity as a creative tool, showing how even the visuals and interviews were part of the mystery. It's about trusting the emotional resonance of music, even when the words refuse to settle.
Jason Pettigrew – Ministry’s The Land of Rape and Honey (33⅓)
Jason Pettigrew dives into the making of Ministry’s industrial landmark with an eye for both chaos and innovation. The Land of Rape and Honey came out of frustration, rebellion, and raw experimentation. Pettigrew captures how Al Jourgensen and his crew pushed against every boundary, musically and politically. The book includes voices from the scene who felt its impact firsthand. It’s a portrait of a band on the edge, reshaping the sound of underground music.