.jpg)
Release Date: January 06th 2026. Record Label: Church Road Records. Formats: DD
The House Always Wins - Tracklisting
The House Always Wins
Members
Scott Stronach - Drums
James Kirk - Guitar/Vox
Mark Ainsworth - Bass
Review
The House Always Wins is the lead single from Atmospheric Doom/Post-Metallers Matador upcoming new album Above, Below And So due for release in February 2026. The sound is a blazing mix of Post-Metal, Doom Metal, Sludge, Stoner and Post-Rock with the band offering a multi-layered style of music with some outbursts of classic METALLIC energy. This is the first track from Matador to include vocals as the band have made the brave decision to move away from the instrumental scene they first made their names with.
The song is brilliantly authentic with plenty of Stadium Rock sized movements that sees Matador venture into Alternative Metal territory with intense Psychedelic passages appearing here and there. The vocals from James Kirk are a mixture of harsh screams and clean vocals which feels quite emotionally charged at the best of times. The music has a certain Progressive energy to them with a heavy “STOP/START” thuggish delivery being added within the later stages of the song.
There are brief Post-Rock surroundings however Matador keeps everything within the Post-Metal world with small flashes of Ambient Rock that gives this song a more grounded atmosphere. This is a great song to open the album with and I’m quite excited to hear the rest of the album when it’s actually released.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Church Road Records for the details.
Above, Below and So is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl from Church Road Records.
Links
LinkTree | Facebook | BandCamp | Instagram
