Blansko-based outfit Macocha are set to return with their second full-length effort, Pale Heart. Named after Central Europe’s deepest abyss, the Czech group continue their attempt to dodge easy genre tags by jamming black metal, hardcore, sludge, and death metal into the same blender.

Tracked at Kohlekeller Studio in Germany by the band’s own Adam Rolny, with Kristian Kohlmannslehner and Daniel Claar handling mixing and mastering, the album relies heavily on standard HM2 distortion. The material moves between fast-paced blackened bursts, mid-tempo sludge, and predictable doom passages.

Lyrically, the record takes a heavy-handed look at modern existential dread, covering familiar themes of nihilism, apocalyptic anxiety, and personal despair. Opening track Idiocracy sets the template early, before shifting into the slow chord-work of the title track, the hardcore-leaning Till The Darkness Takes Me, and the apocalyptic march of closer Requiem For The World.

The release will be available on vinyl, cassette, and digital formats.

Pale Heart drops October 23rd.