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 25th, 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 24th, 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.

PRE-SAVE/BUY THE NEW ALBUM HERE

LISTEN TO “EX-HUMANITY” HERE

& WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO BELOW:

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.

coldrain are:

Masato – Vocals

Y.K.C - Guitar

Sugi - Guitar

RxYxO - Bass Guitar

Katsuma - Drums