If you’ve been paying attention to the German underground over the last decade and a half, you’ll know Hamburg trio Shakhtyor don’t do things in a hurry. Formed back in 2009, they’ve spent the best part of sixteen years systematically ignoring the unwritten rules of instrumental doom, throwing black metal outbursts, spacey synth textures, and ten-minute-plus arrangements into a mix that usually flattens everything in its path.

Now, ahead of their third full-length album Simulacron, they’ve released a second single, Alone.

In a rare move for a band that normally lets the riffs do the talking, Alone breaks their strict instrumental policy by bringing in Martin from German black metal outfit UR on guest vocals. According to the band, the track is a melancholic nod to drowning in the digital void, a theme that fits their suffocating, slow-burn noise down to the ground.

Following on from their 2012 self-titled debut and 2013’s Tunguska, Simulacron was recorded back at Tonmeisterei. Rather than just turning everything up to eleven and hoping for the best, the new material leans hard into stoic grooves, hypnotic repetition, and cosmic soundscapes.

Simulacron drops November 6th via Moment of Collapse Records.