Xasthur release “Open to Misinterpretation” on October 2, 2026 through Prophecy Productions. The nine-track album continues the acoustic, neofolk-leaning form Scott Conner adopted in 2015, and comes on CD digisleeve, black vinyl and digital.

The tracklist runs “Running From Silence”, “Put You Out Of Your Misery”, “Mantras Of Delusion”, “Impersonating The Impostors”, “Nothing In The Dark”, “Waste Of Eternity”, “Prisoner Of Your Past”, “Strategic Incompetence” and “Death Can Heal”.

The title is Conner’s answer to a long-running problem with how the project is read. Prophecy Productions describes the record as “a deeper and more developed version of what Conner already does”, made by an artist who has stopped trying to make the music easier to reach and has instead kept refining it. The label notes that the songs went through Xasthur’s touring on both sides of the Atlantic before they were recorded, and that the production is cleaner than on the previous albums while still aiming for a live, organic take.

Two tracks have gone out ahead of the album, both as visualizers on the label’s YouTube channel. “Put You Out Of Your Misery” came first in July 2026, followed by “Nothing in the Dark” in August.

About Xasthur

Xasthur is the solo project of Scott Conner, who also records under the name Malefic and started it in Alhambra, California in December 1995. For its first fifteen years it was a black metal project, and Conner built its catalogue through a long run of small labels and split releases before the albums “Subliminal Genocide” (2006), “Defective Epitaph” (2007) and “All Reflections Drained” (2009) appeared on Hydra Head Records. Southern Lord had reissued “Nocturnal Poisoning” as a remastered double LP in 2005, and Conner spent those years guesting with Sunn O))) and Twilight.

Conner retired the Xasthur name in 2010 and spent five years recording as Nocturnal Poisoning, releasing “Other Worlds of the Mind” in 2012, “A Misleading Reality” in 2013 and “Doomgrass” in 2014. On March 5, 2015 he announced that Xasthur would return, but as an acoustic project rather than a black metal one. The first album in that form, “Subject to Change”, followed on May 6, 2016 through Disharmonic Variations.

The Prophecy Productions run began with “Victims of the Times” in 2021 and continued with “Inevitably Dark” in 2023 and “Disharmonic Variations” in 2024, each also issued in a deluxe edition. Two archival split collections, “Vol. 1 Splits 2002-2004” and “Vol. 2 Splits & Bonus 2007-2009”, came out on Lupus Lounge in 2024, and the early album “A Gate Through Bloodstained Mirrors” was reissued on gatefold double vinyl in 2026.

“Open to Misinterpretation” is the fourth Xasthur album for Prophecy, and the label notes that its songs were road-tested before they were recorded.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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