Last year, the Toronto DIY noise-pop duo Black Dresses announced that they would “no longer exist.” The group cited ongoing harassment against band member Devi McCallion, as well as the unwanted attention that they got when one of their tracks blew up on TikTok. Since then, both McCallion and bandmate Ada Rook have released music on their own — Rook on the solo album 2,020 Knives, McCallion teaming up with Katie Dey on the collaborative LP Magic Fire Brain. In December, though, Black Dresses teamed up with frequent collaborator ESPer99 to release the single “WORLD PEACE,” which they recorded before their breakup. And last night, Black Dresses put a whole new album out into the world.

Yesterday, Black Dresses released a full 15-song album called Forever In Your Heart. On Twitter, Black Dresses claim that they are still broken up but that they’re releasing music anyway: “We’re no longer a band unfortunately. Regardless, we’ve decided to keep putting out music.” The Forever In Your Heart Bandcamp page says that the songs were “assembled during 2020,” so it’s not clear whether Black Dresses recorded these tracks before or after their breakup. Either way, it’s great to have more new music from them.

Musically, Forever In Your Heart leans toward the more abrasive, challenging industrial-metal side of Black Dresses’ sound. There’s a lot of screaming, a lot of distortion, and a lot of warped drum-machine sputtering. But there are also moments of huge melodic beauty, as on the album track “Heaven.” You can stream the album below.

Forever In Your Heart is out now at Bandcamp. The initial run of cassette copies is already sold out, but Black Dresses have promised second and third printings.