Dark ambient pioneer Lustmord and Grammy Award-winning drummer Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Fantômas announce their new collaborative project, Lustmord Lombardo, with the debut album The Pulse of Atoms set for release on October 2nd, 2026, via Ipecac Recordings. Watch the “Paleomagnetic Resonance” visualizer now and pre-order below.
Lustmord and Dave Lombardo first met backstage at a Fantômas show, introduced by mutual friend Buzz Osborne around the time Lustmord and Melvins released their collaborative album. Nearly two decades later, the two convened as Lustmord Lombardo, crafting an album as cold and distant as it is frantic and engaging. The Pulse of Atoms showcases an unheard side of Lombardo while bringing Lustmord back to his industrial roots.
Rather than composing songs in a traditional sense, Lustmord built evolving walls and vortices of sound, leaving room for Lombardo to add percussion and various synthesizer layers. Lustmord then mixed and mastered the record — a balancing act between two large, loud musical presences.
Lustmord describes the scope of the project: “One thing about an album like this is that you can’t really point it out as being part of any specific genre or hopefully any specific period. Is it from last year? Is it from 10 years ago, is it from 20 years ago, is it from 5 years in the future? It’s trying to create something that has its own sound. This is the sound of planets dying or of stars being born. It’s about a bigger picture. It’s the sound of the birth of the universe and the death of the universe — it’s not rock and roll.”
Lombardo adds: “I’m very proud of this collaboration because it’s so different from anything else that I’ve done. And to create this body of work with Lustmord — this guy is legendary. He rattles the plaster off of venues.”
Lustmord is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of dark ambient and industrial music, active since the early Eighties, with a catalog spanning dozens of solo releases, collaborations, and work in film and game scoring. Lombardo is a founding member of Slayer whose playing helped define the sound of thrash and extreme metal, and whose career also spans Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, the Misfits, and his 2023 solo debut Rites of Percussion.
The Pulse of Atoms is available to pre-order now on limited-edition Clear and Smoke vinyl, CD, and digital. Photography and design by Stefan Alt. Visualizer by Displaced/Replaced.
TRACKLIST
- An Eternal Presence Part I: Unknown
- An Eternal Presence Part II: Relentless
- Paleomagnetic Resonance
- Beyond the Vast Cold Waste
- The Desolate Shore Part I: Submergence
- The Desolate Shore Part II: Emergence
- The Abyssal Deep
SOCIALS
www.instagram.com/lustmord
www.facebook.com/lustmord
www.instagram.com/davelombardo
www.facebook.com/davelombardo
www.ipecac.com