Japanese alt-metal band coldrain are back with new music. The Nagoya five-piece has announced their eighth studio album, OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE, set for release on September 25, 2026, via Century Media Records.
The announcement comes alongside a new single, “EX-HUMANITY”, their first new song since the OPTIMIZE EP arrived in October last year.
The new track hits hard from the start, with the pace and intensity coldrain do so well. Yet despite its explosive sound, “EX-HUMANITY” tackles a much darker subject. It looks at how deeply technology has become part of our lives and asks a simple but uncomfortable question: as we continue to embrace it, are we slowly losing something of ourselves along the way?
For vocalist Masato, that contrast between the song’s sound and its message is central. “EX-HUMANITY is a song built on contrast. Musically, it’s energetic, powerful and alive. Lyrically, it’s intentionally simple, static and full of despair,” he explains.
“That contrast reflects the tension between what it means to be human and what we could become if we lose the things that make us who we are. Is this song a cry for hope or a requiem for humanity? My hope is it will not be the latter.”
It gives us a good idea of where coldrain are heading with OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE. The album looks at the growing presence of AI and technology, but this isn’t simply coldrain declaring war on artificial intelligence. The bigger concern is people: how easily we can stop thinking for ourselves, lose real connections with one another, or become so caught up in technological progress that we forget what actually makes us human. Even the title, OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE, comes with a warning attached to it. Progress can make our lives easier, but not everything needs to be optimised, automated or replaced.
The subject also comes at an interesting point in coldrain’s career; the band formed in Nagoya in 2007, when conversations around AI and music were very different from what they are today. Almost twenty years later, Masato, Y.K.C, Sugi, RxYxO and Katsuma are still creating music together and doing what has always mattered to them most: writing, performing and connecting with people through their songs.
“EX-HUMANITY” is the sixth track that has been revealed from the forthcoming record. Previous singles “INCOMPLETE,” “CHASING SHADOWS” and “FREE FALL,” which appeared on the OPTIMIZE EP, will also feature on the album.
OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE will contain 12 tracks in total:
- OPTIMIZE
- CHASING SHADOWS
- DIGITOLL
- INCOMPLETE
- FREE FALL
- EX-HUMANITY
- REST OF ME
- POISON (feat. Bert McCracken)
- G.I.A.I.G
- SING
- PICTURE PERFECT HELL
- SAVIOR (feat. Kenta Koie)
The album also brings in two familiar voices. The Used’s Bert McCracken features on “POISON”, while Crossfaith vocalist Kenta Koie joins coldrain on the album’s final track, “SAVIOR”. The latter should be interesting. coldrain and Crossfaith came out of the same wider Japanese heavy-music scene and both have spent years building audiences well beyond Japan, so hearing Masato and Koie together on the album closer is going to be…well…simply epic.
The new album will also give coldrain plenty of material to take back on stage. The band will head to Australia in September, joining Electric Callboy on their TANZNEID WORLD TOUR alongside Ice Nine Kills. After that, attention turns back to Japan. The OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE JAPAN TOUR will run from October through December 2026, following a summer that has already kept the band busy with festival appearances.
coldrain’s eighth studio album, OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE, will be released on September 25, 2026 via Century Media Records. “EX-HUMANITY” is out now.
Featured image © Maciej Kucia
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