Japanese band coldrain release new track 'Ex-Humanity' • GRIMM Gent

Alt-metal quintet coldrain (Nagoya, Japan) make their global return with their long awaited eighth full-length album “OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE”, set for release on September 25^th, 2026, via Century Media Records. The album announcement is paired with the release of their new single “EX-HUMANITY,” which marks the sixth track unveiled from the upcoming album and the band’s first new song since the release of the “OPTIMIZE” EP on October 24^th, 2025. The EP includes the band’s prior single releases “INCOMPLETE”, “CHASING SHADOWS”, and “FREE FALL”, all of which will also be featured on the forthcoming album.

Singer Masato shares about the upcoming album:

”EX-HUMANITY is a song built on contrast. Musically, it’s energetic, powerful and alive. Lyrically, it’s intentionally simple, static and full of despair. That contrast reflects the tension between what it means to be human and what we could become if we lose the things that make us who we are. Is this song a cry for hope or a requiem for humanity. My hope is it will not be the latter.”

The new album “OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE” will be available in the following formats:

CD+DVD packaging (Japan)* coming soon
CD+ Blu-ray packaging (Japan)* coming soon
Ltd. CD Digipak in O-Card (Japanese version)
Standard CD Jewelcase (Japanese version)
Ltd. CD Digipak in O-Card
Gatefold silver LP
Ltd. Gatefold pearlescent horizon LP *limited to 300 copies worldwide
Ltd. Gatefold Side A/B split (light green & black) LP *band exclusive, limited to 500 copies worldwide
Standard CD Jewelcase (US version)
Gatefold ultra clear LP (US version)

PRE-SAVE/BUY THE NEW ALBUM HERE

Tracklist:

OPTIMIZE
CHASING SHADOWS
DIGITOLL
INCOMPLETE
FREE FALL
EX-HUMANITY
REST OF ME
POISON (feat. Bert McCracken of The Used)
G.I.A.I.G
SING
PICTURE PERFECT HELL
SAVIOR (feat. Kenta Koie of Crossfaith, AFTERVOID)

coldrain announced their “OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE JAPAN TOUR” last month, which will be happening from October to December 2026. Additionally, the band has been confirmed as one of the support acts for Electric Callboy’s “TANZNEID WORLD TOUR” tour in Australia for September 2026, alongside Ice Nine Kills. The band will also play at various festivals across Japan this summer. All dates and further info here: https://coldrain.jp/blogs/live

“TANZNEID WORLD TOUR” w/ Electric Callboy & Ice Nine Killls
04.09.2026 – Australia, Perth: RAC Arena
06.09.2026 – Australia, Adelaide: Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena
08.09.2026 – Australia, Melbourne: Rod Laver Arena
10.09.2026 – Australia, Sydney: Qudos Bank Arena
12.09.2026 – Australia, Brisbane: Riverstage

OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE JAPAN TOUR 2026
06.10.2026 – Japan, Kawasaki: CLUB CITTA’
10.10.2026 – Japan, Hiroshima: BLUE LIVE HIROSHIMA
17.10.2026 – Japan, Fukuoka: UNITED LAB
21.10.2026 – Japan, Sapporo: PENNY LANE24
22.10.2026 – Japan, Sapporo: PENNY LANE24
01.11.2026 – Japan, Kanazawa: EIGHT HALL
03.11.2026 – Japan, Niigata: NIIGATA LOTS
29.11.2026 – Japan, Sendai: SENDAI GIGS
01.12.2026 – Japan, Osaka: NAMBA HATCH
02.12.2026 – Japan, Nagoya: COMTEC PORTBASE
09.12.2026 – Japan, Tokyo: TOYOSU PIT

The title OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE is itself a warning: a caution against a world in which the rise of AI has come to symbolize humanity’s growing confusion over what it means to be human. More than a framework of “against AI” or “against technology,” this album calls for the liberation of the soul in response to a world that is steadily being bleached of color, and to the brutality of people who, having stopped thinking for themselves, continue to hurt one another. That is the reason coldrain continues to fight. And OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE is the album where that essence appears more youthful, pure, and unfiltered than ever before – a human fuse burning toward ignition.

Coldrain, the quintet that is about to release their 8th album, first emerged in Japan in 2007, proudly identifying themselves as a “loud rock” band. Their songwriting, heavily influenced by the nu-metal and emo/screamo movements of the 2000s, resonated directly with the youth culture of America at the time. Yet in the Japanese rock scene of that era, “loud music” was still largely associated with melodic punk and pop-punk. As a result of that advance, coldrain absorbed musical elements far beyond nu-metal and screamo alone. While maintaining melodies that carried a distinctly Japanese sense of emotion, they transformed into a chimera capable of crossing through every subgenre of rock. Their ability to be both heavy and endlessly pop became their greatest weapon.

Now, especially since joining forces with Century Media Records, the very fact that their music cannot be defined by a single attribute – and the very “in-between” quality of their style – has become a musical identity unconstrained by borders or genres, radiating an originality that stands among the strongest in the world.

coldrain are a band whose lives were changed by music that could never have been born in Japan, and yet they themselves are a hybrid that could only have emerged from the Galápagos-like environment of Japan. That is coldrain. Rather than needing to acquire a new place, coldrain were able to turn simply “being themselves” into music in its most unfiltered form. As a result, OPTIMIZE = OPTDEMISE is pierced throughout by a youthful rawness that feels almost impossible for a band nearing twenty years since its formation.