This is not a drill: Down are set to drop a new album sometime in 2026. While the sludge-style supergroup have yet to chart out the full details, they’ve confirmed that it will be arriving through their new label home: Nuclear Blast Records.
The signing was announced earlier today (April 29th), with the iconic metal outfit — comprising vocalist Philip H. Anselmo, guitarists Pepper Keenan and Kirk Windstein, drummer Jimmy Bower, and bassist Pat Bruders — noting that they are in the “final stages” of tracking their next full-length.
Anselmo, whose Scour project released their Gold album through the imprint earlier in 2025, said in a statement that Nuclear Blast is “a good label home” and that Down are “ready to make some awesome recordings.”
“Having already been a part of the Nuclear Blast family with Corrosion Of Conformity, it is an honor and a privilege to be here as well with my brothers in Down,” Keenan added. “The team at Nuclear Blast is a well-oiled machine and you can definitely tell they love what they do. We are in the right place.”
While details beyond that are slim, Down’s next album will be the band’s first full-length release since 2007’s Down III: Over the Under. That said, the group last left listeners with their two-instalment Down IV EP’s, which had been released in 2012 and 2014, respectively.
The label, whom noted in a statement that they are “proud to be in the trenches with NOLA legends Down,” also mentioned that they will be bringing “some of [Down’s] key past catalog releases back into the spotlight, especially on the vinyl side.” It’s as yet unclear how many of the band’s albums will be re-released through Nuclear Blast, though more info is expected soon.
In other news, Down are set to perform at this spring’s Milwaukee Metal Fest on May 16th. The band had also taken on a handful of West Coast dates supporting Danzig earlier this year.