Gilla Band – Pugnello (Red & Black Marble Vinyl)

Gilla Band's Pugnello arrives as the Dublin quartet's fourth album, following 2022's Most Normal, and it sounds like another deliberate swerve rather than a repeat. Recorded between 2022 and 2026 across Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio and Sonic Studios in Dublin, it was produced by the band and recorded and mixed by bassist Daniel Fox. That long gestation matters: the album pulls together four years of separate creative lives before locking back into the group's singular, abrasive chemistry.

For more than a decade, Gilla Band have pushed at the edges of what rock music can hold, and Pugnello builds on that reputation with a set that refuses easy categorisation. The members spent the years after Most Normal scattered across other work: Dara Kiely deepened his painting practice, Adam Faulkner toured as drummer for Lankum, Fox became an increasingly sought-after producer, and Alan Duggan Borges developed his Null Club project. Those outside paths feed into an album that feels especially restless and sharply detailed rather than simply louder.

Across tracks such as "The Angelus," "Alogia" and "The Megazord," the band lean into the collision of noise, rhythm and unease that has defined their best records. If earlier Gilla Band albums established the template, Pugnello sounds like a fresh attempt to scramble it: exploratory, hard to pin down, and very much shaped by the quartet's own internal logic.

Features

• Red & Black Marble Vinyl, Indie Exclusive Edition

Reviews

• On their exhilarating fourth album, Pugnello, Gilla Band sharpen their implements and go in for the kill. - Pitchfork
• Your favourite band’s favourite band unleash a thrilling and relentless 42 minutes of monstrous noise - The Guardian