NOTHING release new album ‘A Short History of Decay’

Out now via Run For Cover Records

NOTHING are back with their fifth studio album, ‘A Short History of Decay,’ out now via Run For Cover Records—and it might be the most unguarded, widescreen, and emotionally heavy thing they’ve ever done.

This record feels like a reckoning. With time. With the body. With memory. ‘A Short History of Decay’ expands NOTHING’s already colossal sound into something more exposed and painfully human, capturing frontman Domenic “Nicky” Palermo at his most direct and unflinching. Aging, illness, regret, survival—it’s all here, staring straight back at you through walls of distortion and moments of near-silence.

A Reinforced Lineup, A Sharpened Vision

The album arrives with a newly solidified lineup that sounds fully locked in: guitarist Doyle Martin (Cloakroom), bassist Bobb Bruno (Best Coast), drummer Zachary Jones (MSC, Manslaughter 777), and guitarist Cam Smith (Ladder To God, Cloakroom). Together, they give Palermo the most expansive sonic palette NOTHING has ever had—one that allows the band to move seamlessly between pulverizing volume and stark vulnerability.

Singles That Set the Tone

Leading up to the release, NOTHING dropped four singles that hinted at just how far this album would stretch. Never Come Never Morning and Toothless Coal lean into a grinding, industrial edge that nods toward genre giants like My Bloody Valentine, while Cannibal World flirts with a baggier, Madchester-tinged groove. Then there’s Purple Strings—a stripped-back, acoustic-led moment where the usual vocal haze disappears entirely, leaving Palermo completely exposed. Together, these tracks laid the groundwork for an album that refuses to sit still or play it safe.

Touring the Decay

After warming things up with two Tokyo shows alongside Whirr, NOTHING return to North America for a massive headline tour, followed by a UK and EU run in April 2026. Support across North American dates comes from Full Body 2, Cryogeyser, and Violent Magic Orchestra. Grab tickets here.

The tour also feeds directly into NOTHING’s own Slide Away Festival, hitting New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles this May. The band will celebrate the 10th anniversary of ‘Tired of Tomorrow’ with stacked lineups featuring Hum, Chapterhouse, Swirlies, and more—an undeniable victory lap for a band that helped fuel the modern shoegaze resurgence.

A Record About Truth

On a deeper level, ‘A Short History of Decay’ is about honesty—brutal, sometimes uncomfortable honesty. Palermo confronts his own physical decline head-on, including his diagnosis of Essential Tremors, a neurological disorder that has subtly altered his voice. Instead of burying those changes under layers of reverb, he leaves them exposed, turning bodily fragility into part of the record’s emotional core.

The album opens with Never Come Never Morning, a raw reflection on childhood trauma and survival, and closes with Essential Tremors, a quiet, devastating meditation on time, regret, and the creeping sense of finality. Where past NOTHING records often placed Palermo’s vocals somewhere heavenly and distant, here he sounds like he’s sitting right in front of you—steady gaze, shaking hands, no filter.

Palermo has called ‘A Short History of Decay’ “a final chapter.” Not the end of NOTHING, but the closing of a long arc that began with ‘Guilty of Everything’ and winds through ‘Tired of Tomorrow,’ ‘Dance on the Blacktop,’ and ‘The Great Dismal’. It’s an album that looks backward and forward at once—documenting what’s been lost while carving out space for whatever comes next.

Heavy as ever. More intimate than ever. NOTHING don’t just confront decay here—they sit with it, learn from it, and turn it into something devastatingly beautiful.

Listen to ‘A Short History of Decay’ now and catch NOTHING on tour this spring.