Red Light Acid Test Release New Album Frayed, Out Now

Red Light Acid Test have released their new album, Frayed. The London alternative rock band’s record is out now, released independently on October 29, 2026.

The album is available to order today, and it marks a significant step for a band that has spent the past few years building its following one single and one live show at a time.

Frayed was recorded with producer Ian Davenport, the Mercury Prize nominated producer whose credits include Gaz Coombes, Slowdive and Band of Skulls.

Red Light Acid Test came together in London in 2019 with a clear aim: to make hard, alternative rock music that is distinctively warped from the mainstream.

Their sound is built on choppy rhythms, staggered guitars and dark, melodic vocals, a combination that makes for an intense listen.

The band have drawn comparisons with a wide range of heavy and alternative acts, from Queens of the Stone Age, Killing Joke and Mark Lanegan to Idles, Helmet, Sonic Youth and Muse. Through it all, they have kept their own sound at the front.

The four-piece line-up features Laurence McCron on vocals and guitar, Oli Suchanek on guitar, Nick Emery on bass and Tom Eustace on drums. Eustace is also credited, with tongue in cheek, on berocca shaker.

Red Light Acid Test are:

Laurence McCron – Vocals & Guitar
Oli Suchanek – Guitar
Nick Emery – Bass
Tom Eustace – Drums & berocca shaker

Live, the band are known for energetic, pulling-no-punches shows. They have played bars and clubs across South East England, along with festival appearances at Hard Rock Hell, Hoxton Festival and Camden Rocks.

Frayed follows a steady run of singles. Red Light Acid Test have been releasing music since 2020, and those tracks have picked up radio play on stations across the UK and Ireland.

Supporters have included BBC Introducing, Kerrang, Total Rock, Scotland Rocks and MMH, among many others.

Their recent singles have also drawn attention from the music press, with reviewers singling out the band’s mix of grunge, punk and darker, gothic textures.

Writing about “Little Death”, Jammerzine said the track “arrives with its teeth already sharpened, throwing choppy rhythms, staggered guitars and dark melodic vocals into the blender and somehow coming out sounding considerably more coherent than your average band attempting to be weird for the sake of being weird.”

Soaplife Magazine described “Skin On Skin” as “dark, provocative and deliberately uncomfortable.”

Keep It Rock picked up on the band’s range with “Stooge”, noting that it “had a bit of everything and a lot of what we look for – grunginess, hard rock, gothic vibes and a sprinkling of punk in there.”

Get Some Magazine also praised “Stooge” for striking “an impressive balance between emotionally heavy subject matter and razor-sharp songwriting.”

The same review pointed to the song’s “jagged punk rock riffs, hypnotic rhythms, and a healthy dose of grunge,” and to frontman Laurence McCron, whose performance “carries the song’s biting lyrics with an intensity that’s forceful without ever feeling overdone.”

Those reactions give a good idea of what to expect from Frayed. The album brings together the elements the band have been refining since 2019: angular riffs, driving rhythms and McCron’s dark, melodic delivery, captured in the studio with Davenport.

It also shows the ground the band have covered in a short time. In the space of a few years, Red Light Acid Test have gone from forming in London to regular radio support across two countries, festival slots and a full-length album made with a producer whose past work spans indie, shoegaze and rock.

Working with Ian Davenport links the band to a producer with a strong track record in British guitar music. His credits with Gaz Coombes, Slowdive and Band of Skulls cover very different corners of rock, which suits a band whose own influences range from the desert rock of Queens of the Stone Age to the post-punk of Killing Joke and the noise of Sonic Youth.

For listeners who have followed the singles since 2020, Frayed gathers that sound into one body of work. For newcomers, it is the most complete way yet to hear what the four-piece are about.

Red Light Acid Test are active across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Spotify, where fans can follow the band for news on what comes next following the album’s release.

Artist: Red Light Acid Test
Album: Frayed
Label: Independent
Release date: October 29, 2026
Producer: Ian Davenport

Order Frayed: distrokid.com/hyperfollow/redlightacidtest/frayed