Manchester-area noise-punk collective Pound Land have unleashed the first pressed-vinyl edition of their album Mugged, released November 14th via Antigen Records. The LP marks a major moment for a band that has spent the past few years carving out one of the bleakest, strangest, and most abrasive sounds in the modern UK underground.
Formed in 2020 by vocalist Adam Stone and multi-instrumentalist Nick Harris, Pound Land began as a raw two-person experiment, issuing harsh, low-fidelity cassettes through Cruel Nature Records. As their vision expanded, so did their lineup. The project now includes Rich Lamell on bass, Steve Taylor on drums, Jo Stone on soprano sax, and Jase Kester on guitar and electronics. Together, the six-piece pushes a style that fuses noise-rock, sludge, punk dirge, and grim industrial tension into something intentionally abrasive.
Mugged is the group’s sixth studio album and the first to showcase the full band operating at full volume. Recorded live in a single day at Tremolo Studios in Stoke-on-Trent, the album captures the group’s most chaotic and unfiltered form, built around pounding rhythms, choking distortion, bleak repetition, and bursts of harsh saxophone. Earlier cassette editions highlighted the record’s punishing nature, and its 2024 lathe-cut pressing quickly became a collector’s item. The new vinyl version has been remastered for a clearer but still crushing presentation by Pete Maher, known for his work with major artists across rock and pop.
While other bands in the UK punk landscape have drifted toward cleaner production or dance-leaning rhythms, Pound Land have taken the opposite path—leaning deeper into grit, burnout, and the uneasy mood of present-day Britain. Their music mirrors a landscape marked by stagnation, frustration, and the dull ache of daily life, pushing uncomfortable themes through harsh tones and bleak humor.
With Mugged finally arriving on vinyl, Pound Land offer their most complete statement yet: a dense, punishing, and uncompromising portrait of a country cracking at the edges, delivered with the full force of a band built to overwhelm.
Check out the video for “Pistol Shrimp”:
