Birmingham-based five-piece Flesh Creep describe themselves as “friendly people that make unfriendly music”; an accurate elevator pitch for a band that takes the ferocity of hardcore, underpinned by the emotion and experiences of working class upbringings within the Midlands. Integrating pop sonics, wry humour and a deliberate subversion of heavy music’s machismo finds Flesh Creep treating hardcore less as a home, and more as a foundation to build their own, constantly-evolving edifice. After making their name through Birmingham’s underground queercore scene since their beginnings in the pandemic, the band have signed to Music For Nations (Tool/Hanabie/Hot Milk) and will re-release their acclaimed debut LP We Need You To Bleed via the label on February 20th 2026. To celebrate the announcement, today the band unveil a visualiser for one of the album’s standout tracks, ‘King Of The Hill’. A biting, snarling cut of powerviolence infused hardcore that doubles as a damning indictment on power imbalances within modern society, ‘King Of The Hill’ crawls menacingly towards an out and out evisceration of the ruling class, delivered at breakneck speed. This is music played like it demands for its message to be heard; every freewheeling guitar riff is all-enveloping, each bassline bracing the senses, and a percussive line that pulses and crashes with urgency. Yes, ‘King Of The Hill’ is hardcore at a time of huge popularity for the genre, but instead of blending into the overarching preconceptions of the sound, ‘King Of The Hill’ and Flesh Creep take hardcore’s most attention-stealing sonic elements to exhibit a very pertinent and very real message; society suffers from huge imbalance, and the people who suffer most are fighting back. On the track and album release, vocalist Tom Bienkowski says:
“We’re excited to re-introduce Flesh Creep with a new presentation of our debut ahead of releasing brand new material we’ve been working on that pushes us into brand new territory. ‘King of the Hill’ speaks to the hidden costs of our coddled, first world existence. The luxuries we’ve come to view as necessities are paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of the global south. A great man once said “these countries are not underdeveloped, they are over exploited.” ‘King Of The Hill’ is the perfect lead track from Flesh Creep’s debut LP We Need You To Bleed; a project that not only identifies societies many ills from the perspectives of working class people in regional Britain, but confronts that oppression and the oppressors themselves head on. Taking the throat-shredding war cries of a band like Gulch and the philosophical wit of Nation Of Ulysses and pairing it with references to body horror classics like The Fly and allusions to professional wrestling, We Need You To Bleed is a devastating but no less inventive opening statement underpinned by growing up at the sharper end of class inequality. Written at a time when many felt like they had nothing left to lose due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people living in the toughest conditions, We Need You To Bleed is a true manifestation of that mindset. Five humans with first hand perspective on the desperation facing those around them, Flesh Creep’s debut album is a stark reminder of the power of using your voice to fight back. The band’s coming together with Music For Nations will help to amplify that message even further, with more new music and an ambitious evolution of their mission statement planned in the very near future. Flesh Creep are a band for desperate times, amplifying unheard voices for a more balanced world. We Need You To Bleed is just the start. Flesh Creep
We Need You To Bleed
(Music For Nations)
Released 20th February 2026 
1. GOLD
2. HEADS WILL ROLL
3. LIKE DOGS
4. LEECH
5. BLEED
6. FALSE FLAG
7. INSECT POLITICS (feat shortstraw. & Evie Thresher)
8. TURF WAR
9. KING OF THE HILL
10. VIDEO NASTY
11. WET WORK Flesh Creep: Instagram | TikTok | 
