Sleaford Mods announce new album ‘The Demise Of Planet X’

The Mods are back with a bang after the release of Megaton with an on form new album The Demise Of Planet X, stuffed full of new ideas and more c**ts than Farmer Jim from Brassic. The new video for The Good Life is a taster of what’s to come earlier next year…

Andrew Fearn and Jason Williamson’s most expansive and ambitious release to date, the album features a rare guest appearance from former Life Without Buildings frontwoman Sue Tompkins, plus collaborations with Aldous Harding, soul singer Liam Bailey and grime MC Snowy, the latter two both hailing from band’s hometown Nottingham.

In her first foray into music, actress Gwendoline Christie (Wednesday/Severance/Game Of Thrones) also joins Midlands band Big Special on Sleaford Mods new single The Good Life, which is
released today accompanied by a video directed by Ben Wheatley (The Kill List/A Field In England/Bulk).

Boasting the duo’s most varied and expressive musical approach so far, ‘The Demise Of Planet X’ charts, critiques and satirises our times, while offering a universal cry of anger and release of energy that pushes against the encroaching cultural darkness.

Contemplating the world coming to an end not with a big bang but in slowly rising tide of irritating mundanity, ‘The Demise Of Planet X’ strikes back with vivid sonics, acerbic words, enveloping atmospheres and a engaging wit across 13 tracks that will move hearts, minds and feet.

‘“The Demise Of Planet X’ represents a life lived under immense uncertainty, shaped by mass trauma,” declares frontman Jason Williamson. “When we wrote the last album, it was about stagnation, a country that felt like a lifeless corpse. Three years later, that corpse has been split open by war, genocide, and the lingering psychological fallout of Covid whilst social media has mutated into a grotesque, twisted form of digital engineering. It feels like we’re living among the ruins. A multi-layered abomination etched into our collective psyche.”

He adds: “I don’t want to pat myself on the back while the rest of the world falls to shit, but we’re really happy with ‘The Demise Of Planet X’. The music and ideas are really fresh and it’s in your face, but it pays to put your glasses on to look at the ingredients.”

First single, the aforementioned ‘The Good Life’, captures this mix of public and personal apocalypse, as Andrew Fearn’s urgent beats and enticing melodies combine with Williamson’s machine gun diction to chart the impact of some of the Sleaford Mods’ frontman’s more infamous comments on the current music scene. Big Special and Gwendoline Christie give voice to his conflicted and tormented inner voices mopping up the fallout his outburst cause.

“’The Good Life’ talks about slagging bands off and the joy and misery that causes me. I’m asking myself why am I slagging bands off. Why is it a continuing thing with me? My inner voices are brought to life by Gwendoline and Big Special, debating that internal tension between me enjoying a good life or submitting to the mayhem,” explains Williamson.

The track’s video, available to watch now via the band’s YouTube channel, brings these voices together in the flesh under Ben Wheatley’s charismatic direction.

“It’s brilliant to be working with Andrew and Jason again on a Mods promo, this time teaming up with the amazing Gwendoline Christie and Big Special,” declares British director who was previously responsible for Sleaford Mods’ Mork n Mindy video. “I’m a long-time fan so it’s always exciting to get the call to come out to play.”

Alongside ‘The Good Life’, the album features cliche-bursting 2025 single ‘Megaton’, ‘Elitest G.O.A.T.’ with its light-as-cloud guest vocals from Aldous Harding, the reflective, toxic masculinity pricking ‘Bad Santa’ and the Magic Roundabout-infused bouncy rap of the title track.

Nottingham singer-songwriter Liam Bailey adds a soulful lament to world-weary MAGA takedown ‘Flood The Zone’; grime rapper Snowy drops decisive bars on ‘Kill List’s’ horror hip hop (its central imagery inspired by Ben Wheatley’s film of the same), while for ‘No Touch’ Salford Mods managed to lure Sue Tompkins from the much-missed Life Without Buildings back into the studio. Duetting with Williamson, the pair’s distinctly human voices intertwine over a slinky bass and music box keyboard motif.

Several limited-edition versions of ‘The Demise Of Planet X’ will be available on release, which can be pre-ordered now.

For the next 48 hours only, an exclusive ‘black label’ starlight sparkle vinyl version of the album will be available via the band’s mailing list. A glow in the dark edition, boasting a luminous LP and glow in the dark gatefold sleeve design is available from the band and Rough Trade Records’ webstores, while independent record shops are selling an exclusive, neon green marbled edition. The album will also be available on black vinyl, CD and cassette, the latter coming in a fetching shade of toxic green.

Additionally, in a salute to their hometown, the ‘Nottz picture-disc’ edition will be exclusively on sale only from shops within Nottingham.

‘The Demise Of Planet X’ track list is as follows:

The Good Life feat. Gwendoline Christie + Big Special
Double Diamond
Elitest G.O.A.T. feat. Aldous Harding
Megaton
No Touch feat. Sue Tompkins
Bad Santa
The Demise Of Planet X
Don Draper
Gina Was
Shoving the Images
Flood the Zone feat. Liam Bailey
Kill List feat. Snowy
The Unwrap

‘The Demise Of Planet X’ follows Sleaford Mods’ 2023 state-of-the-nation album, ‘UK GRIM’, the duo’s most successful record to date which earned them their highest UK chart position, going straight in at Number 3 and as previously announced, Sleaford Mods will hit the road following its release. The band will play shows around the globe, including the following tour of UK and Ireland which takes place in February and March next year. Tickets are on sale now.

Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom (February 6)
Manchester Academy (7)
Leeds O2 Academy (12)
Liverpool O2 Academy, (13)
Cardiff Great Hall (14)
Dublin 3Olympia Theatre (19)
Belfast Limelight (20)
Cork Cyprus Avenue (21)
Oxford O2 Academy (26)
Nottingham Rock City (27)
Nottingham Rock City (28)
Bristol Beacon (March 5)
Brighton Dome (6)
London O2 Academy Brixton (7)

Forewords by Wayne Carey, Reviews Editor for Louder Than War. His author profile is here

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