Canadian Post-Punk band Pøltergeist will release their debut album Nachtmusik, on October 25th , 2024, via Bad Omen Records. Recorded in their native Calgary and mixed by Felix Fung (Spell, Spectres) at Little Red Sounds in Vancouver, the record is a “dust covered collection of gothic death rock laced with heavy metal grit.” It follows the band’s debut 7 inch, “Fall To Ruin”, a split with label mates Spell.

To preview the new album, the band have revealed the single and video, “Children of the Dark”. Kalen Baker calls the track “a call to arms for people who share a passion for underground music” while it’s also a critique of late-stage capitalism.

Having played in the traditional Metal band Whyte Diamond in Calgary in his teens, Kalen Baker moved 450 miles away for work in late 2019.

He shares:

It was harsh and isolating being away from the Calgary scene, and I didn’t end up meeting many musicians who were into the same stuff as me. I started recording demos alone in the room I was renting and put them on Bandcamp. I didn’t expect much from it, I just wanted a way to make music.

This isolation was exacerbated by the pandemic, and coincided with a period in which Baker’s tastes were broadening.

He adds about the sound he’s developed for Pøltergeist:

I consider us first and foremost a Post-Punk band, but heavy metal will always play an important role. When I got really into Goth Rock, one thing I noticed was that it was just as cold and bleak as black metal but in a different way.