REVIEW: Boards of Canada - Inferno

A man's foes will be they of his own household

70:10 // May 29, 2026 // Warp Records

In retrospect, we all should have known that April 6th, 2026 would be no ordinary day. For starters, my father turned 61 years old, and anything involving prime numbers is bound to invite some witchcraft into our dimension. The tomfoolery continued with the Michigan Wolverines emerging victorious in March Madness by employing a mercenary squad of aged-out graduate students, before culminating with the day’s most ominous, yet exciting discovery. On the surface, it was nothing more than a simple package delivery. It contained nothing in it but a nondescript VHS tape, blank save for the seven hexagons emblazoned on it like mystical runes. Whether one wished to chalk it up to the phases of the moon, the restless motion of the underworld, or the concerning spike of cultlike groupthink throughout the globe, the meaning behind the message was immediately apparent; Boards of Canada were so fucking back.

To be able to listen to Inferno, the brotherly duo’s fifth full-length album, nearly a full thirteen years after the release of Tomorrow’s Harvest, feels both salvific and darkly prophetic. Looking beyond the thematic resonance of a title like Inferno, one only needs to reflect on the bleak and hopeless emotions conjured up by Tomorrow’s Harvest to get their finger on the pulse of the group’s worldview. Ice-cold synths and imagery of barren wastelands dominated tracks like “White Cyclosa” and “Sick Times”, while closing track “Semena Mertvykh” kindly blessed listeners with a final impression of pure nightmare fuel to hang onto for the next decade and change. As Boards of Canada have continued to double down on their silence, it has felt like the world around us has doubled down on its intent to destabilize and divide itself. For this reason, it’s not only worth asking what a Boards of Canada album sounds like in 2026, but what a Boards of Canada album sounds like in this 2026, the timeline that feels like one of the most catastrophic possible rolls of the dice.

Sonically, Inferno can be considered a faithful amalgamation of Geogaddi’s themes, The Campfire Headphase’s approach to instrumentation, and the mood of Tomorrow’s Harvest, while expanding each of these aspects into an identity all its own. Geogaddi, this writer’s personal favorite BoC release, has long been praised and dissected for its eeriness, although its strongest common thread with Inferno remains the theme of belief. The way that album was able to juxtapose the euphoric cultlike explorations of “1969” or “From One Source All Things Depend” with the subtle dread of “The Devil Is In The Details” has not necessarily been replicated on Inferno, although its thematic significance has been deepened in a way. Much praise has already been heaped on early fan favorite “Naraka”, an infectious groove with spacey synths that open up into a truly transcendent coda marked by processed chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. Compare and contrast this triumphant spiritual awakening with the needling terror of “Father and Son”, a nerve-frying exploration of the tails side of belief’s coin, an inescapable drug capable of destroying lives, relationships, even entire communities.

“Father and Son” also displays the group’s willingness to tweak their approach to songwriting 30+ years into their career, showcasing a more straightforward and narrative approach to vocal sampling that positions the album’s themes front and center. Previously released single “Prophecy at 1420 MHz” utilizes samples of a lecture on consciousness from Seyyed Hossein Nasr to similar effect, distorting them just enough to make them sound as if they originate from the source of consciousness itself. As the first full-length track on the album, “Prophecy” also resurrects Campfire’s penchant for live instrumentation, being defined by a booming drum kit and psychedelic guitar leads for its first three minutes. As the tracklist progresses, these live instruments descend further into the uncanny valley, whether it be the dizzying guitar/synth blend of “Somewhere Right Now in the Future”, the queasy labyrinth of “Into the Magic Land”, or the heart-stopping guitar lead that catapults “Deep Time” (formerly known as “Tape 05”!) into the stratosphere.

31 years out from the release of Twoism, Boards of Canada are still succeeding at evoking seemingly contradictory bursts of emotion on Inferno. In contrast to the method of accomplishing this on Tomorrow’s Harvest, Inferno opts to use warmth as a kind of rug pull before burying the listener back underneath the sound waves of the apocalypse. It’s no coincidence that the stunning “Age of Capricorn”, the album’s shining moment of angelic ambient brilliance, transitions seamlessly into the sonic sleep paralysis of “Father and Son”. Other drumless tone pieces like “Memory Death” and closer “I Saw Through Platonia” subsist off of startling and unexpected chord changes, the consistent and off-putting beep of a hospital monitor, and returns to the tonic that somehow soothe every anxious impulse created by the listener’s progression through the circles of hell. Even ethereal moments like “Naraka” utilize jarring musical intervals in their bass lines to brilliant effect, making it feel as though something is always a bit unstable beneath the surface, off just enough to prevent its musical landscape from becoming fully trustworthy.

As artists, however, Boards of Canada re-establish themselves as fully trustworthy with Inferno, a stunning release that only further serves to cement their legacy as titans of the electronic and IDM worlds. It’s a stunning, calming, terrifying, surprising, and familiar record at all turns, one that illustrates the duo’s ability to wear every sort of hat and maintain their musical identity underneath it all. If thirteen years of waiting is what it takes to receive an effort of this caliber, then this writer is all for it, even if he would really prefer a shorter period of downtime before the next foreboding package gets sent in the mail.

9/10.

Yo Yo, check out these highlight tracks:

-Prophecy at 1420 MHz

-Age of Capricorn

-Father and Son

-Naraka

-Into the Magic Land

-Deep Time

-You Retreat In Time and Space