Photo by Luke Ivanovich

Enough time has passed where we can acknowledge that Nothing are now shoegaze scene legends who’ve bridged the past with its present and future. It’s been a few years since the Philly band has released their own album, however — though 2023’s collab with Full of Hell, When No Birds Sing, was certainly something — as they’ve spent the last five years solidifying their role as torchbearers honoring unsung heroes and a burgeoning next gen with their impressively-curated annual Slide Away Fest. Now, they’re getting back to business with their fifth studio album — and first since aligning with Run for Cover Records — a short history of decay, and there’s a lot to talk about with it.

Lead single “cannibal world” is a synthesis of the time that’s since passed as well as a step in new direction forward. Frontman Domenic Palermo attests in the album bio that reckless habits over the years are finally starting to catch up with his physical health at this stage in his life, though it’s really not stopping the five piece — which now features guitarist Doyle Martin of Cloakroom, bassist Bobb Bruno of Best Coast, drummer Zachary Jones of MSC and Manslaughter 777, and third guitarist Cam Smith of Ladder To God and Cloakroom — from reimagining the details of their sound in spite of those challenges.

That’s especially remarkable, considering the heavy-gaze flag which Nothing raised at full mast since their debut, Guilty of Everything, has become an undeniable sonic influence within the scene which its youngens are still idol worshipping ’til this day. “cannibal world” does what it says, too. The listen cannibalizes electronic breakbeats into their fold while careening guitars swash everything down Palermo’s gullet. Instead of submitting to vacuous voids, his concerns are only with finding clarity on the other side. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he sings. Perhaps infinite emptiness brings with it freedom, and as the listen trips out into psychedelic arpeggios and nourishing acid, Nothing are embracing that fully.

Nothing’s a short history of decay will be released February 27th on Run for Cover Records.