Spider Kitten - The Truth Is Caustic To Love

There are bands that set out to be heard. Spider Kitten never really cared if anyone was listening. 

For over two decades, they’ve been moving in the shadows — ugly, beautiful, loud, quiet, always real. Never chameleons, never sell-outs. Just a band doing their own strange, stubborn thing. On 27th June 2025, they return with The Truth Is Caustic To Love, released through APF Records. 

It’s a 14-track album that burns through in just 38 minutes. No bloat. No indulgence. Just an unrelenting stream of raw, emotional weight, shifting between sludge-soaked heaviness and fragile acoustic introspection. It doesn’t sprawl. It strikes. And it leaves a mark. 

Spider Kitten’s sound has always been hard to box up. The new album draws from the slow-burning menace of Killdozer, the desert swagger of Queens of the Stone Age, the narcotic haze of Alice in Chains, and the haunted gravel of Mark Lanegan. But it never mimics. It absorbs, twists, mutates - until what you’re left with is something uniquely Spider Kitten: heavy but not just for heaviness’ sake, melodic but never sweet, ugly in a way that’s sometimes... oddly moving. 

The guitars go where they please. One minute they're dragging you through thick, syrupy sludge, the next they’re stripped back to bare-boned acoustic fingerpicking, then erupting into feedback-drenched howling. Chi Lameo plays like he’s got unfinished business with every note, as if he’s trying to bend sound into confession. And when the volume’s dialled down, what’s left is stark and affecting - acoustic laments where his vocals turn delicate, emotionally resonant, and heartbreakingly human. 

Then there are the big tracks. The ones that hit like a concrete wall. But even here, Spider Kitten aren’t content to just bludgeon. Laced between the riffs are unexpected hooks - catchy, smart, and gone before you know it. Some come with full three-part harmonies that swell, crest, and vanish, leaving you aching for their return. Nothing is overplayed. Nothing lingers longer than it should. These are moments that flash like headlights on a lonely road — brief, bright, unforgettable. 

Chi’s voice remains the band’s emotional engine. Worn, bruised, cracked in places, it moves between broken croons and desperate howls with the kind of honesty that can’t be faked. 

There’s no hiding here. No layers of production to shield what’s really going on. Just a man telling you exactly how it feels to come apart slowly, one piece at a time. 

Chris West’s drumming provides the weight - not just in decibels, but in soul. He doesn’t just hit hard. He feels hard. There’s groove when it’s needed, space when it matters, and impact when it hurts the most. It’s all muscle and restraint. Nothing wasted. 

Rob Davies, once the band’s lead guitarist, now commands the low end with purpose. His basslines aren’t just structural — they’re emotional. Dirty, inventive, and unpredictable, they give the songs motion, mood, and menace. His return completes the circle in a way that makes the whole record feel fated. 

The Truth Is Caustic To Love isn’t a concept album, but there’s a thread running through it. If there’s a message, it might be this: things fall apart. People do too. And there’s something strangely beautiful in the wreckage. The album doesn’t offer redemption. It doesn’t try to rescue you. It just lays everything bare. 

It’s not for everyone. And Spider Kitten have never wanted it to be. 

But if you’ve ever felt the bottom drop out beneath you and found yourself laughing in the dark — then you’ll get it. You don’t just listen to this band. You let them in. And once they’re in, they don’t leave.

1. 13 On 6

2. The Dose

3. Sueno

4. The Spoiler

5. Fetishising Unhealthy Objects

6. Three Shots

7. Revelation #1

8. Woe Betide Me

9. Revelation #9

10. Febrile and Taciturn

11. Gold Into Shit

12. Crying Towel

13. Wretched Evergreen

14. Guilty

Chi Lameo - vocals, guitars, bass, piano
Chris West - drums, bass, vocals, guitars
Rob Davies - guitars, bass

Featured solos on 7 & 12 by Luke Oram
Additional atmosphere by ptew
Recorded, mixed and produced by Chi Lameo
Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege
Art by Dominic Mayer