Some albums take a long time to make. This one took a long time to release. Galway's Slyrydes recorded their debut album in September 2020 at Darklands Studios in Dublin. Then it sat there. For five years.

The pandemic hit, the band split up, life happened. The album that should have come out in 2020 finally arrived in July 2025. It's a strange story, but it worked out. The record sounds fresh, not like something from five years ago.

The Long Road

Slyrydes formed back in 2013 as a side project. By 2018, they were getting serious. Their first single "Mental Health" caught the attention of Paul McLoone from Today FM (and The Undertones). McLoone started playing them on national radio, and that changed everything for the band.

"If Paul had not picked us up there is a very good chance we would have finished up ages ago," says frontman Marc Raftery (people call him Rafto). It's true - radio support like that opens doors. Venues take you seriously. Between 2019 and early 2020, they released five singles that all got airplay - "Mental Health," "Point of View," "Out Patience," "Dangerous Animals," and "I Claim To Be Intelligent."

They were building momentum, playing bigger shows, part of that Irish post-punk wave that was happening. Then lockdown. They managed to record their album between lockdowns in September 2020 with Daniel Doherty at Darklands (the same studio where Fontaines D.C. recorded). After that, the band fell apart.

The Album Resurfaces

Fast forward to 2025. Guitarist Eoin Reilly reached out to Rafto. They had this album. It deserved to be heard. Rafto hadn't listened to it in three or four years. When he finally did: "First of all, I was impressed by it. I thought it was good."

The album came out on Blowtorch Records in July 2025. Twelve tracks - six of those singles from 2019-2020, plus six songs that had never been released. It was recorded pre-covid, but somehow it doesn't sound dated. Maybe because post-punk never really goes out of style, or maybe because the themes - mental health, addiction, loss - don't have an expiration date.

The Music

Slyrydes play aggressive, energetic post-punk. Dan Hegarty from 2FM described one of their songs as "like a 15 shot espresso." That's accurate. This is not background music. Rafto's vocals are raw and direct, the guitars are sharp, and the rhythm section (Fuz Reilly on bass, Paul Clarke on drums, Mark Comer on guitar) hits hard.

The band is known for writing about mental health and Ireland's HSE psychiatric services. Rafto has dealt with the system himself. "If, like me, you have had to deal with the HSE psychiatric services, you will know how ridiculously inefficient and under-funded they are," he said in an interview. The music reflects that frustration - urgent, sometimes angry, always honest.

Songs like "Boy In The Debs Suit" deal with heavy topics - seeing a missing person poster of someone you just saw the week before. "Procrastination Is A Fear Of Failure" is self-explanatory from the title. These aren't easy subjects, but Slyrydes don't make easy music.

Blowtorch Records and the Irish Scene

Blowtorch Records, the Galway label run by Richard Burke, released this album on black vinyl. It's fitting - Blowtorch has been supporting Irish post-punk and guitar music since 2019, the same year Slyrydes started releasing their singles. The label focuses on bands that are doing something real, not chasing trends.

Slyrydes were part of what people were calling Ireland's post-punk revival around 2018-2019. They were getting bigger shows, national radio play, even toured briefly with English band LIFE. Then everything stopped. A lot of bands from that time didn't survive the pandemic. Slyrydes almost didn't either.

The fact that this album exists at all is something. The fact that it's good is better. Rafto admits there's some distance now between him and these songs. "The snapshot that it was made in is completely gone," he says. But that distance might actually help - it's easier to appreciate the work when you're not so close to it.

The Comeback

The band played two sold-out comeback shows in November 2025. Daniel Doherty, who produced the album, now plays with them live. They're working on new material. After five years away, they're back.

Is this album perfect? No. It's rough in places, maybe a bit uneven. But that's part of what makes it work. This isn't polished indie-rock trying to get on playlists. This is a band saying what they needed to say, the way they needed to say it.

Twelve tracks, about 40 minutes. Some of it will hit you hard, some of it might not connect. But it's honest throughout, and in a music scene that can sometimes feel overly calculated, that matters.

The vinyl is available now at our shop here in Cork and at other independent record shops around Ireland. For a debut album that took five years to see the light, it's worth the wait.