Saint Agnes

'Let death bloom with life' is a lyric chanted like a mantra on song 'The Beast,' the emotional and sonic core of Saint Agnes' new studio album, 'Your God Fearing Days Are About to Begin,' out October 31st via Spinefarm.

It's more than a line, it's a mission statement. With this record, Saint Agnes transform pain into power, grief into beauty and chaos into catharsis. Out of violence and sorrow, something radiant has bloomed, and with it, Saint Agnes have stepped into their boldest, most artistically vital era yet.

Fusing raw industrial power, dark elegance and hedonistic, body-moving intensity, the UK outfit have created a sound made for sweat-soaked goth club dancefloors — a visceral vision fuelled by a bold and fearless spirit.

Hailing from London, Saint Agnes seek to carve a rebellious path through the industrial wreckage of modern alternative metal with a signature sound inspired by the intensity of Nine Inch Nails, the genre-bending chaos of Poppy and the euphoric, cinematic story telling of Lorde; music for the club, the stage, the void inside, it is deliberate, elegant, seductive.

Saint Agnes is fronted by Kitty A. Austen, the band's creative axis, whose voice, vision and volatility shape every inch of their evolving world. Leading from the front, she channels beauty and brutality in equal measure, spearheading the band's reputation for intense and chaotic live shows, striking visuals, plus a sound that's heavy, hypnotic and unrepentantly dark. Never playing by the rules, here is a group that feels connected to the now, whilst striving to create art with the depth to be timeless.

Saint Agnes have built a loyal following off the back of two EPs, two critically acclaimed studio albums, and over 12 million Spotify streams. With strong support from BBC Radio 1 and explosive mainstage sets at Download, 2000trees and Hellfest, as well as appearances at Rock for People, IOW Festival, Great Escape and Reeperbahn Festival, the band have proved their power live, including sold-out, riotous headline shows around the UK.

Second album, 'Bloodsuckers' (2023), was created in the immediate aftermath of personal tragedy. Kitty's mother passed away suddenly just as the band were set to record. After the 'feverish nightmare' that was the making of that record, Kitty was determined to be wholly present for the follow-up — to challenge herself artistically, and to ensure that the entire experience was a joyful one.

She explains, "Trauma, grief, it changes you irrevocably, it rips the fabric of your world apart and you have to try and put it all back together. Instinctively, I felt I had to reach outwards and try to grow from the experience, because I could feel that it would be very easy to harden and turn inward. I was so up for trying new things, pushing myself lyrically, musically, figuring out new ways to express myself and embrace my boldest ideas. It was a euphoric experience."

If 'Bloodsuckers' was a desperate howl into the night, 'Your God Fearing Days… ' is the dawn breaking, ushering in a new era with a more expansive, hope-fuelled sound. Beauty and darkness intertwined.

Self-confessed "control freaks," Saint Agnes obsessively curate all aspects of their art, editing every visual and producing the music themselves; however, in the spirit of bringing fresh energy into the studio, they began work on the new record with a producer, hoping to share some of the heavy workload "but the depth we wanted to go to and the inaccessible shorthand Kitty and I have developed as a creative partnership meant that we quickly needed to take back control," Jon explains. "Every song deserves a different, deeply considered approach — a sound morphing from mono to stereo at a certain point, or a sudden burst of noise feels so obvious to Kitty and myself when creating the music, it's as much a part of our vision as a lyric or a melody, but it can take a long time to explain that to a third party. It keeps the flow more focussed if we just do it all ourselves."

On the musical direction of the record, he adds, "On 'Bloodsuckers,' we relied on musical violence, the lyrics required that, but on this album we blended the intensity with light and hope, organic and electronic textures, and blurred the lines between major and minor keys in the songwriting."

To mix the record, the band utilised the skills of Jim Pinder (Sleep Token, BMTH). Kitty explains, "So many of our ideas include sonic details that to us feel essential, so we were incredibly lucky to find Jim, who listened carefully to our thoughts, kept what we liked and made the right moves to enhance our sonic vision. Both of us at that point were working outside of our respective comfort zones, and it resulted in our best sounding record to date, and the truest to our vision."

Thematically, the album dives deep into the raw, tangled emotions of personal rebirth, touching on heartbreak, grief, alienation, rage and nostalgia…

"It's all of the things I'm thinking about at the moment, all of the things I'm talking about with my friends," explains Kitty.

Written and recorded as the spectre of the religious right rises across the world, these songs explore the fear this brings as well as smaller, personal experiences, all lived in a world re-shaped by this terrifying force.

The album opens with anthemic industrial banger 'Good Boy' — a scathing critique of obedient, subservient men who uphold the capitalist death cult, feed the machine and call it a virtue. It's a snarling takedown of the so-called "good boys" who suck corporate dick and wear their complicity like a badge.

'Gods of War' continues the assault: "There's a sick idea in this country that wearing a suit makes you respectable — but men in suits have spent my lifetime invading countries, selling arms, supporting genocide and practicing austerity," Kitty spits. Fragile egos wrapped in wool and power, playing god while destroying lives. It's fury in its purest form. Powerful, honest and long overdue.

On the other end of the spectrum lies 'The Father, The Son and The Holy Beast,' a genre-defying meditation on falling out of love — the bittersweet undoing of devotion. It's the song playing on a goth club dancefloor as you exorcise your heartbreak, leather-clad bodies moving in sync till dawn. Between each line, an omnipotent voice whispers, "don't be scared" until it reveals itself, terrifying and transcendent.

'The Ghost' is destined to be a defining song for the band — the soundtrack to a feverish night in a vampire nightclub, the blood rave just before dawn, where euphoria washes over sweat-slicked bodies and the dark, driving beats pulse like something alive.

The dark ecstasy continues with 'Song for Mia,' a deeply danceable tribute to Kitty's best friend and the innocence of adolescence.

"We spent our nights doing nothing, just laying on a trampoline, staring at the stars, dreaming about our futures. And now I realise that was the very best time of our lives."

A sweet, glowing memory set to a pulsing beat.

Also written for a friend is the spitty, industrial punk banger 'Get Them Out.' Kitty urges the subject to banish the negative voices in their head and see themselves the way that she does: with compassion and strength.

Alienation and defiance, classic Saint Agnes themes explored in depth on 'Bloodsuckers,' roar to life in 'Everything You Denied,' a live-ready juggernaut built around a massive chorus, angular guitars and the hunger to finally be heard.

'The Beast' is the beating heart of the record. A sophisticated, layered soundscape of soaring strings, pulsing bass synths, angular feedback, plus an increasingly unhinged vocal performance, it tells the story of Kitty wrestling with the monster that is grief.

The album closes on 'Where Do I Begin?,' a poignant thank you from Kitty to her bandmates…

"It's for standing so resolutely behind me these last few years, holding the fort so I had the space and the time to grieve. But also an acknowledgement that I'm ready now — to step forward, to figure out who I am after all of this."

It's a delicate close to a record that hits like a reckoning and sees Saint Agnes stepping fully into their power, cementing their desire to create vital and uncompromising music and to turn raw personal truth into something transcendent.

First single, 'The Father, The Son and The Holy Beast,' drops August 29th, supported by an intimate London show, with a full touring schedule to follow in the new year.

Saint Agnes are:
Kitty A. Austen (vocals, guitar)
Jon James Tufnell (vocals, guitar, synths, programming)
Andrew Head (drums)