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Inferno

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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) 69:51
70:00 (Continuous Mix)


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.


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Tracks

All tracks are written and produced by Mike Sandison.[1]

  1. "Introit" – 0:36
  2. "Prophecy At 1420 MHz" – 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" – 4:35
  12. "Blood In The Labyrinth" – 4:55
  13. "Deep Time" – 3:18
  14. "All Reason Departs" – 6:14
  15. "Arena Americanada" – 5:22
  16. "The Process" – 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

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).
  • The Continuous Mix version runs for exactly 70 minutes. This seems to be deliberate, as 70 has carried meaning to the band in the past. For example:
  • 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."[2]
  • 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.

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

See Also

External Links

Various

Forums

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 foreign lang writer link paywall notes
10 🟢 Written In Music 🌍 🇳🇱 Jeroen van der Vring review 🔓 ★★★★★
10 🟢 The Herald 🏠 🇬🇧 Barry Didcock review 🔐 ★★★★★
10 🟢 musicOMH 🏠 🇬🇧 Steven Johnson review 🔐 ★★★★★
10 🟢 Europe Says 🏠 🇬🇧 n/a review 🔓 ★★★★★
9 🟢 Uncut 🏠 🇬🇧 Michael Bonner review 🔐 album of the month
9 🟢 Clash 🏠 🇬🇧 Sam Walker-Smart review 🔓
9 🟢 Sound of Violence 🌍 🇫🇷 Franck Narquin review 🔓 ★★★★½
9 🟢 File Under Fire 🏠 🇬🇧 Matt Young review 🔓
9 🟢 Beats Per Minute 🏠 🇬🇧 Todd Deman review 🔓 90%
9 🟢 Under The Radar 🏠 🇬🇧 Tobias Furlong review 🔓
9 🟢 Northern Transmissions 🏠 🇬🇧 Erin Macleod review 🔓
9 🟢 Dansende Beren 🌍 🇳🇱 Tom Verhavert review 🔓 ★★★★½
9 🟢 Gos Is In The TV 🏠 🇬🇧 Ed Jupp review 🔓 ★★★★☆
8,6 🟢 Pitchfork 🏠 🇬🇧 Philip Sherburne review 🔐 best new music
8,5 🟢 Boolin Tunes 🏠 🇬🇧 Dobbin T review 🔓
8 🟢 RollingStone 🏠 🇬🇧 Michaelangelo Matos review 🔓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Paste Magazine 🏠 🇬🇧 Grant Sharples review 🔓 B
8 🟢 The Scotsman 🏠 🇬🇧 Fiona Shepherd review 🔐 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 The Skinny 🏠 🇬🇧 Lewis Wade review 🔓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Mojo 🏠 🇬🇧 Andrew Male review 🔓 ★★★★☆
8 🟢 Exclaim 🏠 🇬🇧 Daryl Keating review 🔓
7 🟢 Far Out Magazine 🏠 🇬🇧 Tom Phelan review 🔓 ★★★½☆
7 🟢 Our Culture 🏠 🇬🇧 Konstantinos Pappis review 🔓 ★★★½☆
n/a 🟢 The Triangle 🏠 🇬🇧 Tegan Doherty review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Les Inrocks 🌍 🇫🇷 François Moreau review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Is This Music? 🏠 🇬🇧 Ed Jupp [1] review] 🔓
n/a 🟢 OOR 🌍 🇳🇱 Koen Poolman deep dive 🔓
n/a 🟢 No More Workhorse 🏠 🇬🇧 Killian Laher review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Echoes And Dust 🏠 🇬🇧 Geoff Topley review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Igloo Magazine 🏠 🇬🇧 Kent Williams review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Treble 🏠 🇬🇧 Adam Blyweiss review 🔓 album of the week
n/a 🟢 Anxious Musick Magazine 🌍 🇵🇱 Karol Mazurek review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Chaos Reign 🌍 🇫🇷 Romain Le Vern review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Nieuwste Hits 🌍 🇳🇱 Jeroen Seegers review 🔓
n/a 🟢 The Quietus 🏠 🇬🇧 Sereptie review 🔓
n/a 🟢 DJ Mag 🏠 🇬🇧 Ben Cardew review 🔓
n/a 🟢 The Wall Street Journal 🏠 🇬🇧 Mark Richardson review 🔐
n/a 🟢 Resident Advisor 🏠 🇬🇧 Sasha Geffen review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Attack Magazine 🏠 🇬🇧 Adam Douglas review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Juno Daily 🏠 🇬🇧 Charlie Wright review 🔓
n/a 🟢 OOR 🌍 🇳🇱 Koen Poolman review 🔓
n/a 🟢 taz.on weekend 🌍 🇩🇪 Julian Weber review 🔓
n/a 🟢 The Pop Corporation 🏠 🇬🇧  ? review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Sustratro 🌍 🇪🇸 Miguel Pardo review 🔓
n/a 🟢 Dagens Nyheter 🌍 🇸🇪 Mattias Dahlström review 🔓
n/a 🟡 Loud And Quiet 🏠 🇬🇧 Sam Walton review 🔓
6,6 🟡 Magic 🌍 🇫🇷 Wilfried Paris review 🔓 ★★★★☆☆
6 🟡 Slant Magazine 🏠 🇬🇧 Jackson Diianni review 🔓 ★★★☆☆
6 🟡 The Needle Drop 🏠 🇬🇧 Anthony Fantano review 🔓
6 🟡 NRC 🌍 🇳🇱 Jonasz Dekkers review 🔓 ★★★☆☆
6 🟡 Mondo Sonoro 🌍 🇪🇸 Lluís S. Ceprián review 🔓
4 🔴 pilleater 🏠 🇬🇧 pilleater review 🔓 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 Financial Times 🏠 🇬🇧 Ludovic Hunter-Tilney review 🔐 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 The Guardian 🏠 🇬🇧 Ben Beaumont-Thomas review 🔓 ★★☆☆☆
4 🔴 The Arts Desk 🏠 🇬🇧 Ibi Keita review 🔓 ★★☆☆☆

Shops

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Boards Of Canada – Inferno" on Discogs
  2. ↑ "The White House uses new Boards of Canada track for promo video", Michael Lawson, Resident Advisor, 2026

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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