Philadelphia’s Poison Ruïn are murky, spooky punks who are obsessed with medieval imagery, and they fucking rule. Last year, Poison Ruïn released their excellent sophomore LP Härvest and became a Stereogum Band To Watch. Today, they’ve announced plans to follow that LP with a new EP called Confrere. Meanwhile, some Poison Ruïn members also have a new band called Shadow Knell, and their debut album is coming out the same day.

First, let’s deal with Poison Ruïn. The new EP Confrere has seven tracks long, which is just shy of album territory. They’ve shared the title track, which absolutely slaps. “Confrere” has huge, hammering riffs, gruffly barked-out vocals, and a strange air of depression around it. It sounds like music that Motörhead might make if they were extremely sad about being trapped at the bottom of a well. Check out the song and the new EP’s tracklist below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Intro”
02 “Confrere”
03 “Attrition”
04 “Interlude”
05 “Execute”
06 “Laid Waste”
07 “Sanctuary”

Poison Ruïn are already plenty mysterious, but the new side project Shadow Knell is much more so. Shadow Knell apparently features some members of Poison Ruïn, though nobody’s saying which ones. Their sound is dark, foggy ambient instrumental synth stuff. It doesn’t sound anything like Poison Ruïn, but listening to both bands feels like having ghosts take over your soul. Below, you’ll find their song “Night River” and the tracklist for their self-titled debut.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Intone”
02 “Procession”
03 “Out From Hiding”
04 “Diminished Reflection”
05 “The Briar Harp”
06 “Bell Umbra”
07 “Arcane Discovery”
08 “Night River”

The Confrere EP and the self-titled Shadow Knell album are both out 8/2 on Relapse.