Stinking Lizaveta Premiere “Stinkface”; Call for Fan Stinkface Video Submissions
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on August 21st, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Don’t worry, they put extra stank on it to help the cause. “Stinkface” (premiering below) is the lead single from the 10th Stinking Lizaveta album, Cassandra, Prophet of Doom, which is set to release in less than a month, on Sept. 16 in continued collaboration with SRA Records. To celebrate the outing and maybe just inject some fun into a grim, cold universe, the band are asking fans send a clip of themselves making a stinkface to the label’s email address (SRArecords@gmail.com to be part of a forthcoming music video. More info below in the blue text below, under “Goals.”
The arrival of Cassandra, Prophet of Doom follows a successful summer tour in Europe that saw the Philadelphia trio — as ever, Cheshire Agusta on drums and brothers Yanni Papadopoulos on guitar and Alexi Papadopoulos on bass — playing festivals and winning hearts and minds to the righteousness of their instrumentalist cause. Last year, the band released Live 2023 (discussed here) and numerous reissues through SRA, including a demo recorded with Steve Albini before the turn of the century. With the eight songs/27 minutes of Cassandra, Prophet of Doom, they seem to tighten and brighten the impulses of their last studio outing, 2023’s Anthems and Phantoms (review here).
Songs are shorter on average on this LP, and some of the resulting punker feel harkens back to earlier days, before a phrase like “doom jazz” existed as a catchall for what they do. Like its predecessor, Cassandra, Prophet of Doom was tracked with Steve Roche, and though instrumental, it feels aware of the era of its creation, particularly in pieces like “Champion of My Mind” and “Sherman’s March,” where the physical urging in Agusta‘s drums, the vibrancy of the bass and the ever-reliable twists of guitar sound like a call to action, especially in the latter.
Of course, with “Stinkface,” the action they’re calling you toward is taking video of yourself scrunching up your chin at the dag-nastiness of the riff, and fair enough, but even in the way movement becomes so central in “Please Start Now” or that initial shove after the guitar counts in on “Champion of My Mind,” Stinking Lizaveta‘s focus seems to be on energy, on the live performance 
aspect of what they do, and while one can’t really call their chemistry a surprise 10 records and more than three decades into their tenure, the resonant joy that bleeds through these pieces is a salve for dark times. The “Lindsay Wagner Intro” — she was The Bionic Woman — feels like it’s in playful conversation with The Who, and the subsequent “Lindsay Wagner,” slower but still plenty active on all levels, is duly tinged toward the heroic in atmosphere.
It makes a fitting complement to the vague Americana in “Sherman’s March,” but the two are divided by the title-track, which is one of only two pieces on Cassandra, Prophet of Doom over five minutes long. It begins with a mellow exploration, winding but headed someplace, and follows the guitar into a harder push of distortion, cycling through a midtempo riff before crashing out as it moves into its second half and gradually realigning on a decline then surging forward again with the lead guitar, well, leading, and finishing with a return to the progression that set them out in the first place. Closer “Never to Be Believed,” which follows “Sherman’s March,” is the other ‘extended’ cut, and it maintains the more open, less taut than the shorter tracks, feel of its own intro, answering “Cassandra, Prophet of Doom” with a more melancholic scorch, rolling steady in the drums and bass while the guitar lets loose with a bit of blues.
I can’t pretend not to be a Stinking Lizaveta fan, and I won’t try. Take a look at the universe around you and count on one hand the number of instrumentalist heavy rock bands in the history of ever who’ve made it to 10 albums while still refining what they do, still pushing themselves as artists, and you’ll get a sense of how singular an entity they are. I don’t know that the evocations of Cassandra, Prophet of Doom are me reading into the titles or if they’re consciously woven into the material, but the trio stand astride generations of heavy rock with the confidence of masters, and in under a half-hour, they once again demonstrate that when they lock in, there are few in that same history of ever who can match them at what they do. In the moments of intensity and the more spacious reaches of Cassandra, Prophet of Doom, they revel in the creative process and the execution of the songs, and invite you as the listener to do the same. They are, and have for a long time been, the kind of band who can make you believe. Precious and rare.
So get yer stinkface ready, and please enjoy:
Stinking Lizaveta, “Stinkface” track premiere
Goals:
1. people to buy that shit at: #1 https://srarecords.com/shop/sra/stinking-lizaveta-cassandra-prophet-of-doom/, #2 the bandcamp link, https://srarecords.bandcamp.com/album/cassandra-prophet-of-doom.
2. people to send us “Stinkface” videos to SRArecords@gmail.com.
—
Furious rhythms, staccato attacks, and wiry guitar heroics bring Cassandra to sprawling life, ranging from the dark, doomed epic of the title track to the anthemic, punky roar and folk touches of “Sherman’s March”. Stinking Lizaveta are back and as iconoclastic as ever.
Tracklist:
1. Champion of My Mind (2:31)
2. Stinkface (3:08)
3. Please Start Now (3:36)
4. Lindsay Wagner Intro (1:07)
5. Lindsay Wagner (3:35)
6. Cassandra, Prophet of Doom (5:05)
7. Sherman’s March (3:44)
8. Never to Be Believed (5:09)
Stinking Lizaveta is Yanni Papadopoulos on guitar, Alexi Papadopoulos on upright electric bass, and Cheshire Agusta on drums.
