MatAre brings New Wave into the modern era with album, "Extinction Burst"
MatAre’s latest album Extinction Burst, just shared on September 2nd, 2025, arrives like a rush of neon light cutting through a foggy night with all its influences. Pulling from the shadows of post-punk and the glimmer of new wave, he leans into influences like The Cure and New Order, while simultaneously weaving in the brightness of so many modern and adjacent acts. The result is a record that manages to feel like a lost gem from the past and a bold statement of the present.
Across twelve tracks, MatAre demonstrates a deep understanding of contrasts such as light versus dark, reflection versus momentum, and melancholia versus euphoria. It’s a rare record that can make you want to dance one moment and sink into quiet introspection the next. That duality feels essential to Extinction Burst, as if the album itself is constantly searching for equilibrium, much like the inner journeys it explores.
The vocals for us were the immediate standout, becoming a presence that’s as commanding as it is vulnerable. There’s a smooth confidence in the delivery that recalls the best of post-punk’s haunted crooners, but MatAre infuses it with an accessibility that never loses its emotion. Pair that with the record’s killer bass lines and you’ve got the kind of rhythm section that instantly hooked us!
The mixing is sleek and deliberate, layering atmosphere without drowning the music’s immediacy. Synths shimmer and stretch, guitars alternate between jagged urgency and lush ambience, and its percussion keeps everything grounded with a sharpness too. It’s a sound that calls back to the heady heights of the ’90s alternative scene while feeling very much at home in today’s genre-bending landscape.
The pacing of the record has to be mentioned as well for how well it balances energy. Rather than frontloading the obvious “singles”, MatAre crafts a journey that allows moments of softness to breathe alongside vibrant bursts of energy. The more upbeat tracks feel like anthems for crowded clubs at midnight, while the quieter ones play like whispered confessions under dim streetlights. It’s legitimately difficult to say, but our personal standouts were “Never-Ending”, “That’s What People Do”, and “Do What You Can”.
It borrows moods from giants of the past, sure, but it uses them as scaffolding for something wholly personal. Each song is rooted in lived emotion, and that honesty elevates the record beyond nostalgia. It feels like a revival, but one that insists on growth and evolution rather than pure imitation. With that being said, it’s shocking more artists aren’t creating music like this nowadays for all the power it brings.
MatAre has delivered an album that balances mood and melody with remarkable precision. Extinction Burst is vibrant, euphoric, and brimming with emotional weight. We cannot wait for you to dive in! Go ahead and click those links below to listen in, follow along, and to stay tuned for the latest.
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