Boston’s Final Gasp return with New Day Symptoms, the band’s second full length and first for Relapse Records. The album lands February 27th, 2026, signaling a sharp but deliberate expansion of the world they first conjured on Mourning Moon.
The album’s lead single, The Apparition, sets the tone with dread that feels earned rather than dramatic. Anchored in human error and irreversible consequence, the track frames horror as the moment one realizes they were warned.
As Jake explains, “A story of reality being much more horrifying than fiction,” before continuing, “It’s about a captain and his crew on a small boat. A storm came and capsized it and he and his two crew members were forced to swim to some sort of safety. Ultimately only he survived, having to watch his two friends be taken away by something that could have been avoided. He knew a storm was coming but thought they could make it. It’s all about bad timing and facing the consequences.”
New Day Symptoms is the sound of a band re-evaluating itself. The process of forging a sound that combined but went beyond their musical background and musical obsessions was one that took a lot of introspection, and the answers weren’t immediate.
“I think we’re still figuring it out, to be honest,” says Jake. “It’s like most things when you start out you have a vision and stick to it, we just quickly realised we could do so much more with it. We blossomed into this group of people that all have similar influences, but see them from different perspectives. We could hear the band beginning a new chapter.”
A major shift this time around was how the record was written. Where Mourning Moon followed a more fixed path, New Day Symptoms opened itself up fully, becoming a shared space rather than a directive.
“It got me personally more excited,” Jake enthuses, “because everything was on the table and everyone’s ideas were blending together really well. Naturally we still rely on what we’re used to, but this time we let ourselves explore different tones. And we were all so open and receptive to each others’ ideas that writing and recording this record was more of a collaboration. Having Arthur (Rizk, producer) produce this record opened even more ideas to us. Everyone was together at all times for a week while recording this, whether it be at the AirBnb working on songs, or working on them in the studio. It was a total hands-on, involved process between all of us.”
“With this one, I didn’t want it to be as personal,” says Jake. “But then reading the lyrics back, I ended up feeling differently about them – they were personal on a different level. A lot of these songs are written from an outside perspective, what could’ve happened if things were different, but ultimately it didn’t end that way. You can’t change what’s already been done, so you just have to move on. It just means it’s a part of who you are now.”
With their new material, Final Gasp are allowing the full scope of who they are to surface, and the result already feels heavier and wider than ever before.
Photo By Caleb Gowett
ZR