ASHES AND DIAMONDS releases "One of the Best Albums of the Year" (SPIN)

Feat. Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets, Tones on Tail), Bruce Smith (Public Image Ltd., The Pop Group), and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade, Sweetback) via Cleopatra Records OCTOBER 31, 2025 [NEW YORK, NY] – It may have taken seven years from conception to release, but the debut album ASHES AND DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER by guitarist/vocalist Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets, Tones on Tail), drummer Bruce Smith (Public Image Limited, The Pop Group) and bassist Paul Spencer Denman (Sade, Sweetback) – collectively known as ASHES AND DIAMONDS - has proven to be well-worth the wait. Released today via Cleopatra Records and riding on a crest of overwhelmingly positive reviews, the album allows the trio to exhale after holding their breath for years. “We collectively have a lot of experience in making good, even great, recordings. And that’s all one can do; ensure the music is as good as it can be,” said Smith. Denman concurs, “We all managed to express ourselves in a really artistic and not complicated way. And it really was a lot of fun. It made me realize how important we were to each other. We are a real band with real people making real music. When you hear us, you hear three people being true to themselves.” “It’s just what we wanted… BOOM!” adds Ash. In celebration of the album’s release, Ashes And Diamonds have released their latest and fourth single “BOY OR GIRL,” which Sonic Abuse calls “a huge, goth-disco anthem with a Bowie undercurrent… Addictive to a point that it should come bearing a health warning. In a just world, ‘Boy Or Girl’ would be ravaging the charts. As it is, it’s a mini masterpiece that will burn up the stereos of those that know.” Its accompanying video, a sexy and sultry yet surreal and hypnagogic feast, ramps up the visuals like endorphins on steroids. Brimming with latex, outré images of eyeballs and clocks that recall the dadaism of René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, and the idiosyncratic and grotesque photography of Joel-Peter Witkin, the video was directed by artist/filmmaker/musician Vivienne Cure who adapted stills by artist Blumquist, perfectly complementing the song’s smoldering and provocative resonance. "Boy Or Girl" Link/Embed: https://youtu.be/5G0sh9Pgn10?si=W8DpnpmBRvE4UHH7 Ashes And Diamond’s previous video for “ON” also captures the seductive nature of their music. Brimming with hyper-steamy and enthralling scenes of various couples engaged in deep and passionate kissing amidst mixed scenarios like crowded clubs, battlefields, cityscapes, car chases, and bloody murder scenes (!!!), it’s a voyeuristic patchwork tableau of the undeniable chemistry that flows through the band’s music which Luminous Dash calls “absolutely stunning… A touch of 21st-century dark dance glamour, new wave-style! Swelteringly hot, mysteriously danceable.” "ON" Link/Embed: https://youtu.be/wV8ecSy-BXw?si=pL8xr0VQaiT6JIgp Critical evaluations for Ashes And Diamonds Are Forever have been overwhelmingly  exceptional. FLOOD praises, “Ashes and Diamonds pull from everything you’ve ever loved about [Ash’s]  past—spidery glam vibes, chugging propulsion, frenetic post-punk guitar scrawl, snotty vocals—and imbues it with a dark, deep, snaky groove and a menacing, electronically enhanced ambience.” Louder Than War calls the record “a slice of 21st century techno glam.” SPIN opines that the album is “undeniably cinematic, provocative, and powerful—sculpts an unexpected story and creates one of the best albums of the year.” While the album may be called Ashes And Diamonds Are Forever, their time is, in fact, NOW. Ashes And Diamonds is Daniel Ash (guitars/vocals/saxophone), Bruce Smith (drums, programming, background vocals) and Paul Spencer Denman (bass). Ashes And Diamonds Are Forever was produced by Ashes And Diamonds with some co-production by James Salter and Joe Dexter. It was mixed, engineered with additional production by Robert Adam Stevenson. It is available on CD/Vinyl HERE and digitally HERE. ASHES AND DIAMONDS L to R: Bruce Smith (credit: Chelsea Miller), Daniel Ash (credit: Regan Catam), Paul Spencer Denman (credit: Stuart Matthewman) ASHES AND DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER Tracklisting Hollywood Teenage Robots On A Rocka ON Boy Or Girl The A Listers Plastic Fantastic Ice Queen Setting Yourself Up For Love Alien Love Champagne Charlie 2020

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