For those, such as this writer, who marvel at the creative force that is Steve Austin (architect of long-running psychedelic-metal band Today Is The Day) a new record is always an exciting prospect. More than just the pleasure of digesting a fresh set of songs, the thrill of new material comes laced with an additional component, the question: where will we be taken this time?

For there are few so willfully committed to reinventing themselves from one album to the next as Steve Austin and on Never Give In (Supernova Records), Today Is The Day once again not only bring something that could only be Today Is The Day, it could only be Today Is The Day right now in this moment (with the album in-fact the first in a two-part concept—the sister album due next year—It will be fascinating to discover how these two records diverge and converge). 

Of course there are still tones and motifs and tendencies that the faithful will recognize. The Today Is The Day of 2025 are a dark, paranoid, snarling beast with a sense of approaching doom that on tracks like the stalking “Psychic Wound” harks back to the title track of previous album No Good To Anyone with its brooding, enveloping bass frequencies (the track featuring some standout drumming from guest Aaron Polk). 

“Intentional Psychological Warfare,” meanwhile, features the zigzagging, King-Crimson-in-hell arpeggios that Steve Austin has deployed throughout the band’s 30-plus years. 

Just as notable as the familiar reference points, however, are the novel and surprising features of Never Give In. On album opener “Divide and Conquer”, the track’s chugging, down-tuned riffs and pummelling percussion are augmented by prominent synth textures. 

Throughout the record Austin (and on occasion guest Dave Brenner of experimental project Gridfailure) deploys electronics and Moog Sub37 to great effect. Perhaps nowhere is this more artfully deployed than on the album’s second track “I Got Nothin.’” With a repetitive, stabbing note (intentionally just slightly out of time) accompanying Austin’s whispered delivery, the track escalates in intensity as layers of guitars and distorted, screamed vocals dip in and out. 

Trumpet and trombone on a Today Is The Day record? Why not! The album’s propulsive, marching “Secret Police” sees brass player Mac Gollehon (David Bowie, Blondie etc.) add another dimension to the record. 

Guests aside, as with every iteration of the band, Austin is accompanied by exemplary side-men (on this occasion Colin Frecknall on drums/percussion and Tom Jack on bass), the whole album maintaining its power and intensity throughout.

There’s even beauty to be found here, as on mournful closer “The Cleansing” or the title track. On the latter, Austin mostly sings in hushed, even soothing tones (well, there are screams in there too) his repeating “I can’t find it, I can’t find it, I’ve looked everywhere, except the place where I can’t find it” surreal and hypnotic. 

A Today Is The Day record is never an “easy” listen. Pain and frustration isn’t just the title of the album’s proggy/jazzy penultimate track, it’s a key aspect of the record and Austin’s muse throughout the life of the band. But in pain and darkness and rage and despair there is still beauty and hope and determination. Just as the band’s very name is a rallying cry to seize this moment, now, so too the album’s title.

There are no shortage of horrors in the world to battle: war, isolation, the manipulation of powerful forces, self-loathing. Never Give In wrestles with all of them, but in the end how will we respond? Never. Give. In. In Austin’s own words, “As long as I have love in my heart, I’m your worst enemy.”