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'''''Inferno''''' is the fifth studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], released on May 29th, 2026, via [[Warp Records]]. It comes thirteen years after their previous album, ''[[Tomorrow's Harvest]]'', the band's longest gap between albums to date. Departing from the Cold, Desolate, and Apocalyptic nature of its predecessor, [[Inferno]] marks a return to the warmth of the duo’s earlier works and arguably the [[Old Tunes saga]], mixing  the Occult ridden cryptic darkness of [[Geogaddi]], the warmth and nostalgia of [[Music Has The Right To Children]], and the organic guitar instrumentation of [[The Campfire Headphase]], [[Inferno]] is without a doubt is [[Boards of Canada]]’s darkest album since [[Geogaddi]], themes of the album reference Death, Rebirth, Religion, Magic, Science, and many more.
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[[Inferno]] is the fifth studio album by [[Boards of Canada]], released on May 29th, 2026, via [[Warp Records]]. It comes thirteen years after their previous album, ''[[Tomorrow's Harvest]]'', the band's longest gap between albums to date. Departing from the cold, desolate, and apocalyptic nature of its predecessor, Inferno marks a return to the warmth of the duo's earlier works and arguably the ''[[Old Tunes saga]]'', mixing  the occult ridden cryptic darkness of ''[[Geogaddi]]'', the warmth and nostalgia of ''[[Music Has The Right To Children]]'', and the organic guitar instrumentation of ''[[The Campfire Headphase]]''. Inferno is without a doubt [[Boards of Canada]]'s darkest album since ''[[Geogaddi]]''. Its themes reference death, rebirth, religion, magic, science, and many more.
  
 
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Revision as of 11:03, 24 September 2026

Inferno
Inferno cover.jpg
Label(s) Warp Records
Catalogue No(s) WARP496
Release date(s) 29 May 2026
Format(s) Gatefold 2xLP
Deluxe 2xLP + Flexi Disc
CD
Cassette
Digital
Merch Bundles
Running time(s) 70:00
Inferno is the fifth studio album by Boards of Canada, released on May 29th, 2026, via Warp Records. It comes thirteen years after their previous album, Tomorrow's Harvest, the band's longest gap between albums to date. Departing from the cold, desolate, and apocalyptic nature of its predecessor, Inferno marks a return to the warmth of the duo's earlier works and arguably the Old Tunes saga, mixing the occult ridden cryptic darkness of Geogaddi, the warmth and nostalgia of Music Has The Right To Children, and the organic guitar instrumentation of The Campfire Headphase. Inferno is without a doubt Boards of Canada's darkest album since Geogaddi. Its themes reference death, rebirth, religion, magic, science, and many more.


Tracks

Inferno's liner notes credit all writing and production to Mike Sandison.[1] ASCAP's Repertory Search also credits some writing to Marcus Eoin.[2]

  1. "Introit" – 0:36
  2. "Prophecy At 1420 MHz"1 – 5:04
  3. "Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan" – 4:44
  4. "Age Of Capricorn" – 3:52
  5. "Father And Son" – 3:24
  6. "Somewhere Right Now In The Future" – 2:26
  7. "Naraka" – 5:01
  8. "Acts Of Magic" – 1:18
  9. "Memory Death" – 2:37
  10. "The Word Becomes Flesh" – 5:20
  11. "Into The Magic Land"1 – 4:35
  12. "Blood In The Labyrinth"1 – 4:55
  13. "Deep Time" – 3:18
  14. "All Reason Departs"1 – 6:14
  15. "Arena Americanada"1 – 5:22
  16. "The Process"1 – 3:01
  17. "You Retreat In Time And Space" – 5:25
  18. "I Saw Through Platonia" – 2:39

Bonus flexi disc (Red 2LP vinyl edition only):

  1. "Vol.4 - P. Primers - 177 Giraud's Mirror" – 3:24

1: written by Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin


Leadup

Main article: Road to Inferno

Speculation for the album's release preceded its official announcement by over a decade, with the band and its associates sparsely giving out new information. Activity notably increased in 2025, including the band's Instagram account liking comments related to a new album, a Tomorrow's Harvest-era website coming online once again, and new merchandise being put on sale. For a more detailed look on the band's activities during this period, see the article Road to Inferno.

Promotional Campaign

Main article: 2026 Promo Campaign

In early April 2026, multiple fans received unmarked VHS tapes through the mail, with sender addresses related to Warp and their online storefront Bleep. About a week after, posters with imagery reminiscent of the band started appearing in multiple places around the UK and US. For an in-depth look at the days preceding the album's announcement, see the article 2026 Promo Campaign.

Title and Themes

As a word, Inferno references hell and places reminiscent of it. It is the most explicit reference to religion and the occult since their 2002 album Geogaddi and 2000 EP In a Beautiful Place out in the Country. The album's titles also heavily refer to concepts in cosmology and physics.

  • An "Introit" is a song or psalm that is sung or recited at the beginning of a Christian mass.
  • "Father And Son" could reference the Holy Trinity, which consists of the two and The Holy Spirit.
  • "The Word Becomes Flesh" is a quotation from verse 1:14 of the Gospel of John.
  • "Naraka" references the realm of hell seen in Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
  • "The Process" could refer to the Process Church of the Final Judgement, a new religious movement which briefly existed in the 1960s and 70s. The Process was the title of their magazine.
  • "Prophecy At 1420 MHz" references the hydrogen line, a specific wavelength of radiation emitted by hydrogen as it undergoes a quantum transition. It has been used to investigate the properties of the universe, and search for extraterrestrial life.
  • "Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan" refers to the first three elements of the periodic table and the mythical sea creature.
  • "Age Of Capricorn" refers to the tenth sign of the astrological zodiac, and is the astrological age that follows the Age of Aquarius. The symbol of capricorn is the goat, which is symbolic in christian and pre-christian beliefs.
  • "I Saw Through Platonia" could refer to a concept by Julian Barbour of a realm called Platonia, which contains every possible configuration of the universe.

Trivia

  • Inferno has been assigned the catalog number WARP496. This seems to be a deliberate request from the band themselves, as preceding Warp releases such as Squarepusher's Kammerkonzert and Oneohtrix Point Never's Tranquilizer have catalog numbers of 417 and 411, respectively.
    • 496 is a perfect number and a hexagonal number.
    • 496 also holds significance in gematria (Jewish numerology). Representing Kingdom (Malkhut / מלכות). It should be further noted that 496 is the 31st Triangle number, which holds further significance as 31 is the gematria of the word God (El / אֵל).
  • Inferno's runtime is exactly 70 minutes. This seems to be deliberate, as 70 is a reoccurring number in the duo's work (e.g. Music70, "Sixtyten", "The Smallest Weird Number").
    • The album's final track, "I Saw Through Platonia", ends with 9 seconds of silence, bringing up the runtime to exactly 70 minutes. The duo has done this in the past with Geogaddi, where the fully silent "Magic Window" brings up the album's runtime to 66:06.[3]
  • On May 27th, 2026, the White House posted a promotional video for the Trump administration that featured an audio excerpt from Tape 05/Deep Time with a familiar degraded VHS tape aesthetic. They received heavy criticism from fans, with Warp and BoC condemning the "unauthorised use of their music for political messaging."[4]
  • The font used in the front cover of the album resembles the one used in the title frame of Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker both in color and design. The main plot of the film revolves around a pilgrimage of a kind walked by the trio of the Stalker, the Writer and the Professor. In the film, the Stalker (who guides tourists through the Zone, which he believes possesses the magical properties of wondermaking and wish fulfilment) plays a role of a mentor and/or a chaperon for the Writer (who has lost any motivation to live and work and who genuinely doesn't believe in the miraculous properties of the Zone yet wants to try making a wish there) and for the Scientist (who believes that the Zone is dangerous and wants to destroy it). The film itself is based on Brothers Strugatskys’ book The Roadside Picnic. Both the book and the film take place in a post-apocalyptic world, which might be a reference to the previous Boards of Canada album Tomorrow's Harvest. Furthermore, alike to an album, both the book and the film touch upon the topic of miracles and magic that cannot be fully explained by a conventional scientific knowledge.
  • In the liner notes for Inferno Mike Sandison is credited with "audio evocations", although it is currently unknown what it exactly means, the word evocation is often associated with a western tradition which involves magic and the summoning of spirits, demons, deities, or other supernatural agents.

Artwork Sources and Locations

  • The Artwork inside the liner notes for Inferno consists of images likely from the 1970s to 1980s (sometimes with second images overlaid onto them) made to look extremely deteriorated and in very poor condition with scratches, warping, discolouration, and reddish stains in a similar way to the cover art for Inferno, some of the sources for the images have been found, while the places inside the images have been located,
  • One of the images is a heavily distorted still from a 1971 Educational film called "Wondering About Things".
  • An image in the artwork featuring a modernist style church with a hexagon pattern overlaid behind it is a highly edited version of a 1970s post card of the St Timothy’s Memorial Chapel, located near the ghost town of Southern Cross in Montana.
  • An image in the artwork appears to show what appears to be a brutalist style wall inside a prairie, this wall turns out to be a side of the Canadian War Museum located in Ottawa, Ontario, although the museum isn’t actually in a prairie like in the image.
  • One of the images shows a Rocket-like brutalist structure looming over a landscape, the structure in the image is the 300 Aragvians memorial in Zhinvali, Georgia during the Soviet-era, it was built to honor the 300 Highlanders from the Aragvi Valley who died defending Tbilisi during The Battle of Krtsanisi, the structure seems to be edited into a prairie in a similar style to a few other images.
  • One of the images features a giant structure looming over a crowd of people wearing straw hats, the structure in the image is the Joseph Regenstein library on the main campus of the University of Chicago located in Illinois.

Release Notes

All personnel credits adapted from Inferno's liner notes.[1]

  • Mike Sandison – electronics, synths, tapes, programming, audio evocations, drums, percussion, guitars, bass, string instruments, processes, sound design
  • Marcus Eoin – electronics, synths, tapes, processes, sound design
  • Boards of Canada – recording, artwork, films, photo collage, design
  • Matt Colton  – mastering engineer

On streaming platforms, Boards of Canada is credited as the sole composer and producer.[5]

See Also

External Links

Press

publication article
Asatunews Boards of Canada Announces New Album Inferno for May Release
Billboard After a Prolonged Absence, Boards of Canada Fires-Up With ‘Inferno’ - Stream It Now
Billboard Boards of Canada set new album 'inferno'
Clash Magazine Boards Of Canada Announce New Album ‘Inferno’
Consequence Sound Boards of Canada Announce New Album Inferno
DJ Mag Boards Of Canada announce new album, ‘Inferno’
Igloo Magazine Boards of Canada announce Inferno (Warp) — May 29, 2026
MusicRadar “It’s like you are witnessing the fading of your own memories”: How Boards of Canada brewed a serene genre-blurring classic
NME Boards Of Canada announce ‘Inferno’ – their first album in 13 years
Opus Boards of Canada Announce New Album Titled Inferno
Pitchfork Boards of Canada Reveal New Album Inferno
Resident Advisor Boards of Canada confirm new album, Inferno
Rockshit Magazine Boards Of Canada Announce Long-Awaited New Album ‘Inferno’
Stereogum Boards Of Canada Announce New Album Inferno
The Line of Best Fit Boards of Canada reveal details of Inferno, first new album in 13 years
The Quietus Boards Of Canada Detail New Album, ‘Inferno’
We Rave You Boards of Canada announce new album ‘Inferno’ after 13-year break

Reviews

score favorable publication independent foreign lang writer link paywall notes
10 🟢 Spill Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Andre Skinner article 🆓 ★★★★★
10 🟢 Written In Music 🌱 🌍 🇳🇱 Jeroen van der Vring article 🆓 ★★★★★
10 🟢 The Herald 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Barry Didcock article 🔐 ★★★★★
10 🟢 musicOMH 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Steven Johnson article 🔐 ★★★★★
10 🟢 Europe Says 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 n/a article 🆓 ★★★★★
9 🟢 Uncut 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Michael Bonner article 🔐 album of the month
9 🟢 Arctic Reviews 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Andy review 🆓
9 🟢 Clash 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Sam Walker-Smart article 🆓
9 🟢 Sound of Violence 🌱 🌍 🇫🇷 Franck Narquin article 🆓 ★★★★½
9 🟢 File Under Fire 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Matt Young article 🆓
9 🟢 Beats Per Minute 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Todd Deman article 🆓 90%
9 🟢 Under The Radar 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Tobias Furlong article 🆓
9 🟢 Northern Transmissions 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Erin Macleod article 🆓
9 🟢 Dansende Beren 🌱 🌍 🇳🇱 Tom Verhavert article 🆓 ★★★★½
9 🟢 Gos Is In The TV 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Ed Jupp article 🆓 ★★★★☆
8,6 🟢 Pitchfork 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Philip Sherburne article 🔐 best new music
8,5 🟢 Boolin Tunes 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Dobbin T article 🆓
8 🟢 Stereo Board 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Jack Butler-Terry article 🆓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 RollingStone 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Michaelangelo Matos article 🆓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Paste Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Grant Sharples article 🆓 B
8 🟢 The Scotsman 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Fiona Shepherd article 🔐 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 The Skinny 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Lewis Wade article 🆓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Mojo 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Andrew Male article 🆓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Exclaim 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Daryl Keating article 🆓
7 🟢 Reading Indie Life 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Gareth Reading Indie Life article 🆓 ★★★½☆
7 🟢 Far Out Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Tom Phelan article 🆓 ★★★½☆
7 🟢 Our Culture 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Konstantinos Pappis article 🆓 ★★★½☆
n/a 🟢 dod Magazine 🌱 🌍 🇪🇸 Fran González article 🆓
n/a 🟢 POPnews 🌱 🌍 🇫🇷 Mathieu Gandin article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Everything Is Noise 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Joseph Krebaum article 🆓
n/a 🟢 A Cabine 🌱 🌍 🇵🇹 Marco Rodrigues article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Inverted Audio 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Ryan Pivovar article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Big Takeover Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 James Broscheid article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Manc Union 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Noah Mckie article 🆓
n/a 🟢 The Triangle 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Tegan Doherty article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Les Inrocks 🏢 🌍 🇫🇷 François Moreau article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Is This Music? 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Ed Jupp article 🆓
n/a 🟢 OOR 🌱 🌍 🇳🇱 Koen Poolman article 🆓
n/a 🟢 No More Workhorse 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Killian Laher article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Echoes And Dust 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Geoff Topley article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Igloo Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Kent Williams article 🆓 album of the week
n/a 🟢 Treble 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Adam Blyweiss article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Anxious Musick Magazine 🌱 🌍 🇵🇱 Karol Mazurek article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Chaos Reign 🌱 🌍 🇫🇷 Romain Le Vern article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Nieuwste Hits 🌱 🌍 🇳🇱 Jeroen Seegers article 🆓
n/a 🟢 The Quietus 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Sereptie article 🆓
n/a 🟢 DJ Mag 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Ben Cardew article 🆓
n/a 🟢 The Wall Street Journal 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Mark Richardson article 🔐
n/a 🟢 Resident Advisor 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Sasha Geffen article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Attack Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Adam Douglas article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Juno Daily 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Charlie Wright article 🆓
n/a 🟢 OOR 🌱 🌍 🇳🇱 Koen Poolman article 🆓
n/a 🟢 taz.on weekend 🏢 🌍 🇩🇪 Julian Weber article 🆓
n/a 🟢 The Pop Corporation 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧  ? article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Sustratro 🌱 🌍 🇪🇸 Miguel Pardo article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Dagens Nyheter 🏢 🌍 🇸🇪 Mattias Dahlström article 🆓
n/a 🟢 Stereogum 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Ted Davis article 🔐
n/a 🟡 Loud And Quiet 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Sam Walton article 🆓 ★★★★☆☆
6,6 🟡 Magic 🌱 🌍 🇫🇷 Wilfried Paris article 🆓 ★★★☆☆
6 🟡 Slant Magazine 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Jackson Diianni article 🆓
6 🟡 The Needle Drop 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Anthony Fantano article 🆓 ★★★☆☆
6 🟡 NRC 🏢 🌍 🇳🇱 Jonasz Dekkers article 🆓
6 🟡 Mondo Sonoro 🌱 🌍 🇪🇸 Lluís S. Ceprián article 🆓 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 Financial Times 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Ludovic Hunter-Tilney article 🔐 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 The Guardian 🏢 🏠 🇬🇧 Ben Beaumont-Thomas article 🆓 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 The Arts Desk 🌱 🏠 🇬🇧 Ibi Keita article 🆓

Additional reviews: https://www.metacritic.com/music/inferno/boards-of-canada

Shops

Various

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Boards Of Canada – Inferno" on Discogs
  2. ↑ BOARDS OF CANADA, ACE Repertory, ascap.com
  3. ↑ "Stirred Up The Ashes", Heiko Hoffmann, Earplug, 2005
  4. ↑ "The White House uses new Boards of Canada track for promo video", Michael Lawson, Resident Advisor, 2026
  5. ↑ Inferno / Boards of Canada / Credits on Tidal

Artwork

The listing below is generated dynamically, based on: Category: Inferno artwork.

Discography Overview | view ⬢ edit
Albums Music Has the Right to Children ⬢ Geogaddi ⬢ The Campfire Headphase ⬢ Tomorrow's Harvest ⬢ Inferno
EPs Twoism ⬢ Hi Scores ⬢ Aquarius ⬢ Peel Session ⬢ In a Beautiful Place out in the Country ⬢ Trans Canada Highway
Singles Reach For The Dead ⬢ Introit / Prophecy At 1420 MHz
Rare / Early Releases Catalog 3 ⬢ Acid Memories ⬢ Closes Vol. 1 ⬢ Play by Numbers ⬢ Hooper Bay ⬢ Boc Maxima ⬢ Old Tunes Vol. 1 ⬢ Old Tunes Vol. 2 ⬢ Random 35 Tracks Tape ⬢ Boc Remii Vol. 1
Mixtapes Marcus Eoin's Campfire Mixtape ⬢ Societas x Tape
Live Sets Live @ Warp10 ⬢ Live @ Lighthouse ⬢ Live @ ATP ⬢ All Gigs
Promotional Releases Telephasic Workshop ⬢ MHTRTC (promo cassette) ⬢ Orange Romeda ⬢ Geogaddi (promo lp) ⬢ Geogaddi (test pressing) ⬢ Geogaddi (promo cassette) ⬢ ------ / ------ / ------ / XXXXXX / ------ / ------ ⬢ Reach For The Dead (promo cd) ⬢ Come To Dust (promo cd)
Compilation Exclusives Korona ⬢ Orange Romeda ⬢ Seven Forty Seven
Produced by BoC for Others Here Come The Rubber Cops ⬢ Orangutang
Bootleg Releases Unreleased Tracks
Other Kaleidoscope ⬢ Promotional Events ⬢ Promotional Items ⬢ Merchandise ⬢ Web media
Lead-up RSD 2013 ARG ⬢ Road to Inferno ⬢ 2026 Promo Campaign
To Be Determined BoCset
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