Music

UK Metal Four-Piece Cage Fight Deliver Their Most Personal Record Yet on Second Album ‘Exuvia’

May 3, 2026

Cage Fight’s second album ‘Exuvia’ is out now on Spinefarm, and it’s a different record from anything the UK four-piece have made before. Not because the hardcore foundations have shifted, but because vocalist Rachel Aspe wrote every lyric herself for the first time, and the results are deeply, specifically personal.

The album covers anxiety, assault, grief, toxic manipulation, and the slow process of healing from all of it. “Élégie,” the expansive closing track, addresses the loss of Aspe’s grandfather and the weight of things left unsaid. The title track was written with her grandmother, who is currently battling cancer, and directly shaped its lyrics. The album cover, a radiation mask photographed by Manuel Acquualeni, ties both threads together visually. ‘Exuvia’ as a word means a cast-off skin or outer shell, and the album earns that definition across every track.

Lead single “Un Bon Souvenir” addresses a previous experience in a band controlled by what Aspe describes as “a toxic, manipulative person.” She’s clear about the intent: “Bringing people down won’t elevate you.” The accompanying video, depicting the unraveling of a false world built on manipulation, makes the same point without softening it.

“Pick Your Fighter,” featuring Julien Truchan of Benighted on guest vocals, takes a sharp left turn, inspired by a French pop song, though the result is thoroughly crushing. It’s the kind of move that signals a band comfortable enough in their own sound to play with it.

Recorded by Sam Bloor at Lower Lane Studios and mixed by Jim Pinder (Sleep Token, Malevolence), ‘Exuvia’ keeps the meaty grooves and pummelling rhythms that Cage Fight built their live reputation on, while pushing into broader melodic and atmospheric territory. Their Bloodstock 2025 main stage performance of “Pig” has accumulated 2.1 million Instagram views, a number that reflects exactly how much momentum this band has built through relentless live work alongside Sepultura, Cro-Mags, Napalm Death, and Employed To Serve.

The festival schedule runs from June through August across the Czech Republic, France, and the UK.

‘Exuvia’ is out now on Spinefarm.

‘Exuvia’ Track Listing: