{"id":27872,"date":"2026-01-30T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27872"},"modified":"2026-01-28T12:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:56:17","slug":"ist-ist-dagger-kind-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27872","title":{"rendered":"IST\u00a0IST\u00a0\u2013 \u2018Dagger\u2019 (Kind Violence)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Arriving hot on the heels of last year\u2019s acclaimed Top 30 effort \u2018Light A Bigger Fire\u2019,\u00a0\u2018DAGGER\u2019 is\u00a0IST IST\u2019s fifth full-length studio album from Manchester’s finest dark post punk pop groovers.\u00a02026 could well be the year that\u00a0IST IST\u00a0finally move up on the festival bill ladder and reach into many more ears with their brand of post punk with the Depeche Mode synths and Joy Division darkness mixed in with the norther\u00a0working class grit that\u00a0eminates\u00a0from the songs they sing (a reral identity is coursing through these songs and it would come as no suprise they’re Manchesters finest)\u00a0IST\u00a0IST\u00a0have come of age and found their sound and made it\u00a0accessable\u00a0for everyone whilst keeping true to the spirit of where they\u2019ve come from.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0album’s opening is helped by the epic production and the instruments’ spatial awareness, whilst everyone working on the songs is not trying to be niche or cool, just writing great songs.\u00a0\u2018I Am\u00a0The\u00a0Fear\u2019 begins with a twitching\u00a0adjit\u00a0synth that breaks out into a sprightly thumping bass groove before the guitars\u00a0and Bass collide to create a huge sound.\u00a0The\u00a0oscillating\u00a0synth throughout is like the best club anthem\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0never\u00a0heard, capturing a real moment as it builds towards the chorus that is a majestic earworm\u00a0you\u00a0won’t\u00a0shake for the rest of the day \u2018I Am\u00a0The\u00a0Fear\u2019 indeed. Great stuff. To follow that with a louder, more anthemic song might be asking\u00a0too\u00a0much, but the\u00a0danceable\u00a0\u2018Makes No Difference\u2019 has touches of\u00a0New Order\u00a0but with The Cure playing the instruments, but again the chorus elevates the whole song. A\u00a0really good\u00a0tempo as the vocals whisper into your ear before\u00a0the volume rises on the chorus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Warning Signs\u2019 is classic Goth with a solid tempo, the band sound like they\u2019re in a groove and\u00a0sync\u00a0up together and the chiming guitars sound cathedral-sized but always playing\u00a0for the benefit\u00a0of the song rather than trying to be cool because the end result is they hit all kinds of cool anyway. As the album lurches in tempo from solid toe tapper to a more measured groove like the excellent \u2018Burning\u2019, the band\u00a0shifts\u00a0through\u00a0the gears\u00a0effortlessly.\u00a0The use of synths and live instruments is huge with regards to the bands identity, that throbbing Bassline is the core that anchors their sound whist the vocal style of\u00a0Adam Houghton is a dark softly spoken vocal at the best of times when he needs to raise his voice it adds gravitas to proceedings and makes you want to listen intently as to what he\u2019s saying.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve\u00a0been lucky enough to have this in my ears for several months, and\u00a0it’s\u00a0become my go-to album so far in 2026. If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0looking for highlights, look no further than the opener and the epic \u2018Encouragement\u2019 that builds into some cinematic beast with all the elements of the bands go to styles vying for the limelight,\u00a0and it takes two minutes before a word is uttered. Awesome stuff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all the modern technology on display, the stripped-back \u2018I Remember Everything\u2019 is also a standout,\u00a0maybe due to\u00a0its slow burn and subtle melody\u00a0that wins you over. As the album descends to its finale, \u2018Obligations\u2019 showcases that thumping Bass again,\u00a0sounding like darkness has stolen the torch from early Duran\u00a0Duran\u00a0through post punk leanings, and it really works. Leaving the penultimate offering \u2018Song For Someone\u2019 to bring the darkness and bleak Gothic romanticism before the album signs off with \u2018Ambition,\u2019 something the band clearly has, and it’s paying off big time here as \u2018Dagger\u2019 is brought to an end, kicking and screaming and the most complete and elevated album from the band thus far. They deserve success and a platform to reach more\u00a0an\u00a0dmore\u00a0peole\u00a0becuase this record has the receipts and the X factor to bring them everything they\u00a0desire.\u00a0Buy this\u00a0album\u00a0its\u00a0a beautiful thing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Dom Daley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arriving hot on the heels of last year\u2019s acclaimed Top 30 effort \u2018Light A Bigger Fire\u2019,\u00a0\u2018DAGGER\u2019 is\u00a0IST IST\u2019s fifth full-length studio album from Manchester’s finest dark post punk pop groovers.\u00a02026 could well be the year that\u00a0IST IST\u00a0finally move up on the festival bill ladder and reach into many more ears with their brand of post […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[8870,1787,1818,1710,1681],"class_list":["post-27872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-ist-ist","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27874,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27872\/revisions\/27874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}