Three years after ‘All Scum’, Diemen Sniep have finally stirred again. ‘CRY_O’ is their first new song since 2023 and the first look at ‘Nobody Likes a Pity Party’, their second album, due November 13 through JauneOrange.

The Liège band, led by multi-instrumentalist Chad Levitt, have never fitted all that comfortably inside the noise-rock box. Their 2021 debut ‘Life Without Adrenaline’ certainly had the weight and repetition associated with that world, but there were quieter stretches too, along with electronics, piano and moments where the music was allowed to thin right out.

‘CRY_O’ picks up on that side of the band. Swans and The Birthday Party remain useful names to throw around, although the inclusion of Talk Talk among their reference points probably says more about where Diemen Sniep are heading now. Not because they have suddenly gone soft, but because space matters here as much as sheer volume.

It’s also a rather different way to return after three years away. Instead of charging back in with something designed to remind everybody how heavy they can be, ‘CRY_O’ is more inward and a little harder to pin down. The rough edges are still there, but they are not doing all the work.

‘Nobody Likes a Pity Party’ has apparently been coming together for several years, with work taking place across Belgium and the Netherlands. It follows ‘Life Without Adrenaline’, released in 2021, and the standalone ‘All Scum’ single two years later.

There are ten tracks on the new record, with titles including ‘Maritime Blues’, ‘LOGS’, ‘Waking’, ‘No Feeling’, ‘Valhalla’ and ‘Hard to Convey’. If ‘CRY_O’ is a fair indication, the gap since the last release has not been spent trying to tidy Diemen Sniep up.