WASTELAND [LP Volcanic Smoke Vinyl]

TRAVO – WASTELAND [LP Volcanic Smoke Vinyl]

Braga, Portugal-based psych-rock four-piece TRAVO return with WASTELAND, their heaviest and most metallic album to date and first on their new label home Fuzz Club. Recorded in early 2026 at ARDA Recorders in Porto and produced, mixed, and mastered by Jaime Arellano (Ghost, Ulver, Behemoth), TRAVO’s third studio album marks a shift away from the fantasy themes of the bands previous record, 2023s Astromorph God, into something much more personal, palpable, and grounded in the anxieties of the present time.Due for release October 2nd 2026, WASTELAND arrives off the back of three years spent touring heavily around Europe, with their notoriously face-melting live show captured on a blazing KEXP session filmed whilst on the road. Looking to keep riding that high, the band took advantage of a rare break in their touring schedule and headed straight for the studio with a newfound intensity and urgency: The recording session was booked without any composed material, and the whole album ended up being written in a little over one intense month of rehearsals. The pressure of wanting to take a step forward with the next album started to creep in and caused some internal friction. This feeling of urgency naturally carried over into the songs and gave them a character they likely wouldnt have had in a more relaxed writing environment.Across its seven tracks, WASTELAND explores themes of techno-anxiety, disconnection, dystopia, love, death, rebirth, and the search for collective spirituality, note the band. Each song is loosely inspired by a different section of T.S. Eliots poem The Waste Land, whose themes and motifs feel especially relevant today. Musically, the album incorporates dark psychedelic and industrial influences, fusing them with the bands more familiar elements: loud and corrosive fast-paced songs intertwined with crushing, slow-burning epics. The vocals range from catchy falsetto melodies to full-on growls and screams. The guitars interplay with each other, producing either beautiful harmonies or uncanny dissonances. The rhythm section is tight, potent, and hypnotic. It is also the bands most synth-heavy album to date.Altogether, WASTELAND is an aggressive, genre-bending rock record knocking on metals door while still managing to breathe through the chaos. Its an intense headbanging journey between fast, bad-trip-inducing jams and contemplative ambient passages.