Saint Agnes take their name from a 4th-century Christian martyr. Agnes of Rome had refused the hand of every noble in the city with the explanation that she was already married to God. Enraged, her suitors reported her to the authorities and she was beheaded as a heretic. Since forming in 2014, the London trio that share her name have not literally been put to the sword, but the journey leading up to their latest record, Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin, was especially fraught.
“Our last record, Bloodsuckers, was so difficult to make because my mum passed away unexpectedly right before we started recording,” explains singer Kitty A. Austen. “It was so traumatising and exhausting that, by the end, we wondered if we even wanted to keep doing this as a band.”
In 2025, an emotionally drained Saint Agnes headed into the studio and threw out all their self-imposed rules, deciding they had nothing left to lose. Where before they had written anthemic, guitar-based music à la Wargasm and Dead Pony, which leaned towards Radio 1-friendly punk rock, third offering Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin fuses eerie synth melodies with sludgy guitars, biting political commentary and utterly infectious choruses. The 10-track offering is a seething, industrial-pop triumph.
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“We had no idea what we were doing – we just started experimenting,” says Kitty. “It was really fun to try something completely different. This record feels like who Saint Agnes truly are.”
From piano-led ballad Where Do I Begin? to bruising industrial anthems The Blood Beat (Angel In The Marble) and Get Them Out, Saint Agnes’s latest is an arrestingly atmospheric creation.
We knew we had to finish the album, even if it ended up being our last record.
Kitty A. Austen
Part Nine Inch Nails, part Portishead, the trio found themselves rediscovering their love for music with each new track they penned. Yet even as the best songs of their career flowed out of them, the process of actually recording them slowly became a nightmare.
“Because the previous record was so difficult, we started this process with an outside producer to try something different,” explains guitarist Jon James Tufnell.
Yet as their producer kept getting called away to different projects, they realised that something had gone awry.
“Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that [the producer’s] manager wasn’t enthusiastic about him taking the project at a lower rate, and kept interrupting our time to line up his next gigs,” Jon says. “In two weeks together, we only got a third of the tracking done… They insisted that we pay the full price of the entire recording budget for less than a third of the work. So, we had to go make the rest of the record ourselves.”
What was meant to be a carefree return to creativity ultimately became another gruelling challenge for the band, who are completed by drummer Andy Head.
“After the awful experience we had with Bloodsuckers, we really needed some wins, and, initially, we kept taking hits,” sighs Kitty. “Halfway through, we asked ourselves why we were doing this when it was so hard, but we loved the music so much that we knew we had to finish it, even if it ended up being our last record.”
This defiance bled into the final creation. Lyrically, Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin reflects Kitty’s internal struggles – from grief to anxiety – while holding up a lens to the increasingly bleak state of the outside world. While neither Kitty or Jon claim to be religious, biblical themes and imagery have been a constant source of inspiration throughout this record.
“Religion puts things into sharp relief with light and shade, and Christianity’s iconography is something I’m obsessed with,” explains Kitty.
“For me, the overarching pattern on this record is power – different types of power – and Kitty’s response to them,” adds Jon. “Every song is a story about coming to terms with power. Usually power that is sinister or hidden behind a veil of credibility, whether it’s a corporate figure, a religious character, a fake friend or a narcissistic partner.”
While 2023’s energetic Bloodsuckers gained them a cult following in the UK – and their track And They All Fall Down for videogame Dead Island 2 racked up almost two million streams – Your God Fearing Days… sees Saint Agnes discover a self-assured swagger, and a fearless sense of righteousness.
“We evoke religious themes positively or negatively depending on the context of the song,” says Kitty, “Gods Of War specifically addresses how the far-right uses Christianity as a cover for awful things. I saw a far-right march recently where people were carrying crosses like a crusade in the name of Christianity. Twisting the message of who Jesus was for nefarious means is really dark.”
Elsewhere, Good Boy is a sneering anti-capitalist anthem in line with their punk past.
“It’s all about choosing an alternative lifestyle away from the 9-to-5 grind,” reflects Jon. “About how scary it is to wake up at 55 years old and realise that you gave so much of yourself to masters you don’t even care about.”
With Your God Fearing Days… earning critical acclaim, and a US tour with The Rasmus on the horizon this autumn, Saint Agnes seem to be at the height of their creative power – and fully in control.
“We were so angry and defiant that it motivated us to make a brilliant record,” reflects Kitty. “I guess having your back against the wall is a massive motivator.”
Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin is out now via Spinefarm.