Belgian hardcore punks LOTUS are back. The Antwerp four piece have announced their new album Forever Martial, dropping digitally on March 18, 2026 with the 12″ vinyl following on March 28 via Shield Recordings. If their first single is anything to go by, this record is going to hit like a freight train.
New track ‘JLD’ is leg-stomping punk with issues to bring to the table. Fast, heavy and demanding, it channels the visceral frustration that feels increasingly unavoidable in 2026.
“What we try to convey most with ‘JLD’ is a rejection of middle class compromise, or inertia even, in the face of the gullibility of liberal idealism and the never ending political lip service from our chosen representatives,” the band explain. “Our social fabric feels increasingly rife with empty talk and moral softness, which in turn growingly feels like being complicit in the ongoing harm and quiet violence happening on so many levels.”
It’s heavy stuff, but LOTUS have never been ones to shy away from difficult conversations. They cite Worcester punk band Mountain Man as a stylistic touchstone for the track, praising their “poetic approach to writing, set against a strain of punk music that remains raw and direct.”
Forever Martial marks LOTUS‘s first full-length since their pre-pandemic effort The Road To Calvary, and the intervening years have clearly given them plenty to rage about.
What makes this band compelling is their refusal to pad things out. There’s no filler, no unnecessary intros, no excess fat. They’ve built their reputation on stripping hardcore back to its essentials and delivering it with an intensity that’s impossible to fake.
The production pedigree speaks volumes. Recorded at Belgium’s Hightime Studio and mixed by Tim De Gieter, the album was mastered by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden in California. Shirley’s work with the likes of Deafheaven and Jeff Rosenstock suggests Forever Martial will sound massive while retaining that raw edge.
A second single, ‘Tyranny of Being’, lands on February 23 before the full album release. LOTUS are celebrating with a release show at JC Bouckenborgh on March 28, supported by Spare Kid, Mitraille and Burning Kross.
For fans of hardcore punk that actually has something to say, Forever Martial is shaping up to be one of 2026’s essential releases.