Equal Vision Records, Dine Alone Records and The Flatliners are excited to announce the Friday, May 8th, 2026, release of “Cold World”, the longstanding, Juno-nominated Canadian punk quartet’s brand new studio album.
While 2022’s “New Ruin” was preoccupied with the inherited damages of the last generation, “Cold World” sees that legacy for what it is — a ghost, a fading memory. If “New Ruin” was about the rage of realization, now we’re damned with the aftermath of clarity. Welcome to the future.
Leading the collection is the single “Good, You?”, a snotty, tongue-in-cheek offering that successfully skewers the topic of toxic masculinity and the irrational fear we all seem to share of talking about our feelings. Watch the music video for “Good, You?”, directed by Jeff Powers, below.
The band had the following to share about the video:
“We wanted to pay homage to the greatest era of music videos we have ever known — the one we grew up in. Our aim was to make a ‘90s-style video, portraying the album artwork in all its glory; to bring things back to a time where you could suspend disbelief and just let your eyes and ears devour those next three minutes. With the help of our amazing cast and crew, we achieved just that. A piece of nostalgia that feels like it has a strong foot in the past, and another firmly planted in the present”.
Maybe the greatest resistance that any artist can offer today is the radical act of stability — the same four people, friends since they were kids, playing music together because they have been compelled to for nearly their entire lives, 24 years and counting.
“Cold World”, the brand new studio album from Canadian punk veterans The Flatliners, is the sound of a band free to make what they want with the people they want to make it with, to try to carve out some space to demonstrate a different way of doing things — a space where bands share credit equally, where friends grow and work together over decades, a space where stability is the reward for sticking to your vision.
That vision has evolved into a consistent confidence that gives The Flatliners the freedom to experiment with the edges of their sound while grounded by each other, locking out the decay of the world outside. The band fought through the fire of their last record only to find a landscape of debasement and erasure, and an increasingly cold world for all of us to live in.
The textures of “Cold World” itself are anything but comfortable and familiar. The band’s airtight foundation of bassist Jon Darbey and drummer Paul Ramirez continues to drive with a learned, casual urgency on rippers like “Inner Peace” and “Burn”, while Chris Cresswell and Scott Brigham deploy the controlled chaos of their shredding two-guitar attack, enveloping the listener on songs like “Pulpit” and “Whyte Light”. As the album ends, we may be drifting out into darkness. But if we’re lucky, we can choose who we drift with.
Pre-order & pre-save “Cold World” here.
Tracklist:
1. Stolen Valour
2. Good, You?
3. Inner Peace
4. And They’re Off
5. Only Darkness
6. Whyte Light
7. Into Annihilation
8. Pulpit
9. Turning Signal Rhythm
10. Gush
11. Burn
12. United in Spite
The Flatliners will be making the following appearances in 2026.
Dates as follow with more to be announced soon.
North American Tour Dates 2026:
20th February @ Broom Factory (Kingston, ON, CA)
21st February @ Bond Street Event Centre (Oshawa, ON, CA)
26th February @ Paddy’s Underground (Tillsonburg, ON, CA)
27th February @ Sonic Hall (Guelph, ON, CA)
28th February @ Warehouse Concert Hall (St. Catharines, ON, CA)
20th March @ Park Theatre (Winnipeg, MB, CA)
2nd May @ Sing Us Home Festival (Philadelphia, PA, US) #
5th May @ The Pearl (Washington, DC, US) *
6th May @ The Bunker (Virginia Beach, VA, US) *
8th May @ Meadows (Brooklyn, NY, US) *
9th May @ The Middle East (Cambridge, MA, US) *
28th May @ Goldfield (Sacramento, CA, US) ^
29th May @ Rickshaw Stop (San Francisco, CA, US) ^
30th May @ The Ritz (San Jose, CA, US) ^
31st May @ Teragram Ballroom (Los Angeles, CA, US) ^
19th June @ Bahnhof Pauli (Hamburg, DE)
20th June @ Hole 44 (Berlin, DE)
21st June @ Farewell Youth Fest (Dresden, DE) #
23rd June @ Arena (Vienna, AT)
24th June @ Strom (Munich, DE)
25th June @ Gebäude 9 (Cologne, DE)
26th June @ Jera On Air (Ysselsteyn, NL) #
27th June @ Vainstream (Münster, DE) #
28th June @ Mighty Sounds Festival (Tábor, CZ) #
2nd July @ FestiVoix (Trois-Rivières, QC, CA)
* (w/ A Wilhelm Scream, Signals Midwest)
^ (w/ Samiam)
# (Festival appearance)
Weblinks:
www.theflatliners.com
www.facebook.com/theflatliners
