Barney Townsend
- Aug 16
- 4 min read

3 Records That Shaped The New Twin Atlantic Album + Signed Test Pressing Giveaway 🫠

Scotland's finest alt-rockers Twin Atlantic are back with new album Meltdown, out now on digital music platforms and coming on September 13 on physical formats. Released on the band's own label, Staple Diet, in partnership with Townsend Music D2C+ and Absolute Label Services, the album is garnering some of the best reviews of the band's career, with Kerrang! Magazine calling it "the perfect Twin Atlantic record."

To celebrate, bassist and co-producer Ross McNae gave us an insight into three of the records that influenced the writing and recording of this vital British rock record, and we are proud to have a test pressing of the album, signed by the band, to give away to one lucky winner.

Produced by lead singer Sam McTrusty and bassist Ross McNae and mixed by longtime collaborator Romesh Dodangoda, from top to bottom Meltdown is a return to form for Twin Atlantic. Eleven slices of infectious, masterful pop-rock, the record is equal parts guitar-heavy bangers and emotionally driven heartfelt anthems. With one foot firmly in nostalgia, while wholeheartedly looking to the future, the band are back to their very best. Clash Magazine observe: "Twin Atlantic have chosen their own path and there’s a sense of freedom, and joy, here", while Dork declare: "In the end, perhaps the true magic of Twin Atlantic lies not in their ability to weather storms but in their knack for finding a way to dance in them."

1) Death From Above 1979: The Physical World (2014)

Ross McNae: This record is ten years old! I’m not sure how. When this came out we were in America and listened to it a lot after shows, decompressing with the whole team on the bus. Some great memories, but the core feeling for me at least was how Death From Above 1979 took their raw energy and made songs that felt the same as their first record (You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine, which will always be one of my very favourite records), but with a decade’s worth of life and songwriting experience to draw on, the songs from this album twist into something more robust.

I think there’s a parallel in what we’ve done on Meltdown now I’m forced to look at it retrospectively. I’ve always loved making big riffs and I got to do a lot of that on the record - I definitely learned how to do that listening to this band on repeat when they first came out. As you grow up and learn there’s a danger in knowing too much; you can move away from the things that came out of you naturally. Much of Meltdown is a representation of what happened on any particular day - it’s not overthought, and (I hope) it sounds as free and fun as it was to make.

2) Oasis: (What's The Story) Morning Glory (1995)

RM: Musically, this is ground zero for me. Growing up in the 90s, this was it. It was Oasis and Blur, then all the American rock bands dominated the charts. We were spoon-fed angst and big songs during that whole formative period. There was no streaming. It was radio, CD and music channels. As a band we’ve never been able to fully get away from writing classically structured songs. You might ask why would we want to, but at times you just need a break, and we’ve tried and tried but it’s too hard for us when making Twin music. I don’t know if we feel we owe it to the band or if we genuinely can’t do anything else when we get together, but every single song on this Oasis record is a banger, and that’s what we try and do every time we make a record. We made our record Great Divide in the same studio complex that Oasis made this record. We got all the stories about their time there from the amazing people who run Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, and it just adds to the myth surrounding what that group of people made at that point in their careers.

Still to this day I can’t help myself but sing every word when a song off it comes on and that’s kind of the ethos of Meltdown as a concept: songs to sing with friends.

3) Queen: A Night At The Opera (1975)

Pulling together tongue-in-cheek fun with hardcore emotion is really what Twin Atlantic is to me. Musically, it's performance - there’s no trying to be cool. Queen, and particularly this record, sums that ethos up for me. We’ve never been bothered about what the people around us were doing. We had delusions of grandeur from the word go and pushed to make those dreams come true. Most of them did. Without a record like this, I don’t think our band could exist. Chord choices, high vocals, lots of melodies, singalongs, heartbreak, euphoria, it’s all in A Night At The Opera, and I think it’s in Meltdown too. We’ve played 'Bohemian Rhapsody' as the last song before each and every one of our gigs for at least the past ten years. I think it’s partly to remember why we started making music and playing shows in the first place; a gentle reminder and push onto the stage even when it might not feel like what you want to do at that moment. There’s a song on our new album with the lyric: “remember when you wanted what’s you’ve already got.” Having "Bo-Rap" as a pre-show motivator is the definition of that lyric, and listening to this record reminds me of the start of that musical journey.

Meltdown is available on Exclusive Signed Heavyweight Split Yellow + Blue Vinyl, Signed CD and Exclusive Cassette on the Official Twin Atlantic Store. All bundles include an exclusive Limited Edition CD Of Live Tracks.