Watch the lead single “Isolation” unravel in slow-burn dread.

Some bands decorate the darkness; AITTALA lives in it. The U.S.-based, genre-blurring duo – Eric Aittala (guitar/vox) and Gary “Smith” Zeus (drums) – return with their second release of 2025, Ill-Gotten Gains, arriving November 21, 2025 on Exitus Stratagem Records. The opening salvo, “Isolation,” is out now with a stark, claustrophobic video that feels like a pulse taken in a locked room.

“Isolation” moves like a storm front – doomy atmosphere, heaving guitars, time-signature feints – while Eric’s vocal threads consequences through the noise. The track sets the table for an EP obsessed with aftermath: choices, the bill coming due, and the fragile hope of redemption.

Watch / Pre-Save

• Video premiere: “Isolation” (via Doom & Stoned)
• Single pre-save: https://hypeddit.com/aittala/isolation
• EP pre-save (Nov 21): https://hypeddit.com/aittala/illgottengains

The Sound of a Closed Door

Following this year’s earlier EP Machines, Ill-Gotten Gains sharpens AITTALA’s cross-current of traditional metal, doom weight, groove muscle, and progressive misdirection. The writing leans more vulnerable; the structures cut deeper. Think hook and heft, but with trap doors.

Themes: exploitation and its spoils, the psychic shrapnel of bad bargains, the long road back. It’s a cathartic, genre-fluid listen that never loses the riff.

Frank’s Back (and He Brought Receipts)

Long-time mascot Frank—the grinning cartoon pig head inside a pentagram first seen on 2014’s Effigy—returns on the cover in updated form. He’s the devil on your shoulder and the shady broker in the alley: “ill-gotten” is currency, and Frank always makes change.

Lineup

Eric Aittala — guitars, vocals
Gary “Zeus” Smith — drums (THE FIFTH, ex-MR BLACKWELL)

Track List (20:37)

1. Isolation — 4:22
2. Ill Gotten Gains — 4:20
3. Black Listed — 3:35
4. Ever After — 4:29
5. Ashes — 3:50

Roots & Reinvention

Born in the Netherlands in 1991, AITTALA carved space alongside The Gathering, Sadist, and others before going underground and ultimately reanimating in 2008. Six full-lengths and multiple EPs later, they’re stateside and meaner by subtraction—a duo that writes like a full band and hits like a closing gate.

For Fans Of

Prong’s tensile grind, Candlemass shadow, Alice in Chains minor-key ache, and the restless puzzle-making of modern prog-groove.

Release Info / Links

• Label: Exitus Stratagem Records
• Release date: November 21, 2025
• Artist: https://Aittala.com

Quick Take (Editor’s Note)

AITTALA doesn’t grandstand; they ratchet the pressure. Ill-Gotten Gains hums with contained menace, and “Isolation” is the door that opens it. Step through.