OPENSIGHT Talk New Album, Single And More

Apr 18, 2026 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Feature Image Photo Credit: Alvaro Gekko

Diverse powerhouse hard-hitters, OPENSIGHT, announce their breathtaking new album, The Outfit, set for release on Friday 15th May 2026 via Inertial Music. We chatted to the band:

Who is in Opensight, how did you meet and what do you play?

We are Opensight, a London-based heavy rock and metal band with a strong cinematic pulse. If you imagine a band that could soundtrack a hardboiled ’70s crime film, a shadowy Italian thriller, or an old horror picture, you are close to the territory. We grew up loving heavy music, but also cult cinema, grainy VHS imagery, old scores, and vintage videogame soundtracks, so all of that naturally bleeds into the same world.

The current lineup came together gradually through the London metal scene. It was less a dramatic “band formed overnight” moment and more a slow convergence of the right people. Once we were in a room together, it felt strangely natural, like something that had been taking shape in the background for a while.

What is your earliest musical memory?

Probably the music parents play around the house (a lot of ’60s rock) alongside the themes and incidental music from films and TV while growing up. That kind of music gets lodged in your head very early. Before you know it, certain melodies or moods are just living there permanently.

When did you begin songwriting?

Very early, long before there was any real idea of what songwriting even was. It was just part of the natural urge to make things, the same impulse that makes you pick up a pencil and draw, mess around with clay, or bash away at a keyboard or guitar just to see what comes out. In that sense, it has not changed all that much.

You have your new album ‘The Outfit’, set for release on Friday 15th May via Inertial Music. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

We wanted The Outfit to feel like a real step forward rather than just a continuation. The best sign for us is always whether the material feels exciting while we are writing it, shaping it, and then finally playing it together in a room. If it carries that sense of danger and discovery, we know we are heading somewhere worthwhile.

With this album we pushed further into the darker and more cinematic side of the band. More ’70s crime-film tension, more Spaghetti Western drama, more vintage-horror atmosphere. The arrangements became bolder, the melodies more immediate, and the emotional shifts more extreme. It still sounds like Opensight, but like a version of the band that has gone deeper into the building and opened a few more locked doors.

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

We tracked in different places depending on what each part needed. Guitars were done at The IvesCave, bass and vocals at Room 9D, and drums at 3Sixty Studios and UWL in London. Will Maya engineered and mastered the album at Los Rosales Studios in Madrid. He has been working with us for a long time, so he understands how to capture the textures and atmosphere we’re after. We produced the album ourselves, because we had a very clear idea of its temperament and the world it needed to inhabit.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

There is definitely an endless blooper reel from the vocal takes. Neil also became slightly obsessed with getting the twangiest possible guitar sound for “Defying Eye,” to the point of picking almost on top of the bridge. Another good one was the opening instrumental. We knew it had that Morricone / Mexican standoff feeling, but the working title “Death March” was too obvious, so the conversation drifted into “how would this sound in Spanish?” and suddenly Procesión de la Muerte appeared and felt much more right.

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

A lot of it came from the gear we naturally use live, but aimed more precisely at the moods of each song. Redd used a Yamaha kit with a Natal snare, plus his Soultone Cymbals, which are great for going from subtle texture to full-impact drama. On guitars we used a mix of Kramer, Gibson SG and PRS for rhythms, a Tokai Les Paul for some solos, and a Fender Telecaster for some of the twangier, more surf/noir moments. For bass the secret is NYXL strings, and being shit hot with Reaper 😉

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

The Outfit moves through a wide range of moods, but most of them live somewhere in a dramatic, shadowy space, enigmatic, clandestine, and slightly sinister. Across the record there are traces of grindhouse grit, ’70s crime-film tension, Spaghetti Western drama, and vintage-horror atmosphere.

“In Plain Sight” carries a slow-building tension beneath the melodies, with the sense that something is lurking just under the surface. “Defying Eye” feels more defiant and energised, with a real sense of movement and uplift despite its darker turns. “Mantra” leans further into a Spaghetti Western kind of unease, with tribal, atmospheric drums driving a dark, hypnotic pulse, almost like being lost in the heat and dust of it. “Delusion” is probably the most introspective piece on the album, very heartfelt, but with a heavy, melancholic force behind it.

Was it a difficult album to write?

Not in the sense of ideas refusing to appear. The writing itself was very instinctive, and some ideas came in dreams or in that strange half-awake state where melodies arrive fully formed. “Delusion” is the best example of that. The real work came in shaping the material properly, making sure each song had the right structure, the right sense of purpose, and the right emotional weight. So the ideas came naturally, but the arrangements still demanded patience.

Who designed the album artwork?

Our frontman Ivan designed the artwork. The band photos were done by Álvaro Gekko, who also works with us on videos. Like the music, the visuals arrived in a quite instinctive way. There was something almost hypnotic about the process, and the result ended up very much in line with the album’s grindhouse / noir / thriller atmosphere. We also used some iconic references for the singles, The Exorcist for “In Plain Sight,” Straw Dogs for “Defying Eye,” and Sunset Boulevard for “Killer Outfit.”

One of the tracks is the single ‘Plain Sight’. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

“In Plain Sight” was one of the first songs we worked on and it ended up setting the tone for the whole album. It captures a lot of what Opensight is about: a mysterious opening, then a sudden surge of energy, a sense of danger, and melodies that feel almost like themes from an unseen film. Lyrically it works almost like a statement of intent, about clarity of vision, authenticity, secrecy, and carrying an inner fire that cannot really be hidden, even when everything around it is trying to keep things in shadow.

The track is accompanied by an official music video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?

The video centres on the induction of Opensight into The Outfit, one of the highest spheres within The Director’s Cult. The band is summoned to what used to be an old cinema and effectively auditioned by The Director. So the whole thing plays as both a ritual and a celebration, but with something unsettling underneath it. Ivan wrote a treatment for the video with specific shots and ideas in mind. It was filmed by our friend Álvaro Gekko, who also does our photography, and Ivan edited it.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

London. Restless, layered, nocturnal, intense, inspiring.

How do you look after your voices?

Slightly more responsibly than the cliché answer would suggest. Hydration, rest where possible, warming up properly, not overdoing it when you do not need to, and learning how to pace yourself. There is still coffee involved, of course. Probably more coffee than there should be.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?

Yes. We’ve just come back from Germany, including Taunus Metal Fest, which was a great experience. Before that we played Z! Live in Spain with bands like Dream Theater, Meshuggah and Sepultura, so it has been an encouraging period on the live side. Back in the UK we have dates coming up including our joint album release show at Oslo Hackney on May 8 with Poly-Math, Six Six Cambridge on April 25 with Earthbound and Maziac, Wales in August and more will follow, so keep an eye on our pages.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

Live shows always feel entrancing, like the audience and the band are in sync. The sweat, volume, and those rare moments when time disappears again because the room is completely captured is what we long for in terms of the live show experience. The experience of music should be liberating, both individually and collectively.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

A lot of the live setup reflects what we used on the record. Our bassist is particularly loyal to his 1985 Westone Super Headless, which is almost a character in its own right at this point. The important thing for us is not flashy gear for its own sake, but equipment that helps deliver the right tension, contrast and atmosphere.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Something from Richard Stark’s Parker universe would probably fit. More familiar with that world through the films it inspired, like Point Blank or Payback than through the novels themselves, but that hardboiled, stripped-down crime tension is very much our kind of atmosphere. Our drummer Redd would probably pick something more sci-fi from Asimov or Stephen King.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

On the band side, we grew up on artists like Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Opeth, Devin Townsend, Metallica, and others who combine strong identity with great songwriting. Beyond that, film composers are a huge part of the picture too, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, Bernard Herrmann and people of that world who understood atmosphere, tension, and the power of a memorable theme.

Recommendations really depend on which side of Opensight you want to walk into. If you want the more dramatic and cinematic side, Goblin, Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Henry Mancini and even something like Pepe Deluxe’s Queen of the Wave all make sense in different ways. If you want the heavier side, records like Angel Dust by Faith No More, Still Life by Opeth, Somewhere in Time by Iron Maiden, Live and Dangerous by Thin Lizzy, Dirt by Alice In Chains, Burn My Eyes by Machine Head, and Sound Awake by Karnivool are all albums worth spending real time with. And that is only the beginning.

What makes Opensight happy and what makes you unhappy?

What makes us happy is growth, discovery, the feeling that a song is opening up properly, the sense of a room locking into the live show, and people genuinely connecting with what we do. Also, anything that feels like stepping further into the world of the band.

What makes us unhappy is the pressure to flatten things, to make them safer, simpler, more generic, or easier to categorise than they should be. We are much more interested in what happens when you let something develop its own shape.