A New Posthumous Album From The Fall Has Been Announced

A posthumous album described as the "final" release from The Fall is set to arrive eight years after the death of frontman Mark E Smith.

The last studio album featuring Smith was 2017's "New Facts Emerge", the band's 31st full length record. The singer passed away in January 2018, and his family later confirmed that he had been battling terminal lung and kidney cancer for an extended period.

Now, eight years later, it has emerged that The Fall had been working on another record before Smith's death, and that project is finally ready for release.

According to Ed Blaney, who briefly managed the group and was also a member during the early 2000s, the album has now been completed and carries the title "Post Script".

Sharing the news on Facebook, Blaney wrote: "Have spent most the afternoon today listening to the final mixes of the official final studio album by The Fall, without any doubt I can say it’s an absolute brilliant album.

"A Fall fans dream and some … and for all the eager Fall fans awaiting the news, its release date and order details are imminent. The album is called ‘Post Script’ with mine absolute bangers."

Based on his update, further details regarding the album's release are expected to be announced soon.

The Fall were formed after Smith attended a Sex Pistols concert at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall. The group took its name from the novel by Albert Camus. Their debut EP, "Bingo-Master’s Break Out!", arrived in 1978, while their first album, "Live At The Witch Trials", followed a year later.

The band's most successful commercial run came during the 1980s, a period when Smith was married to American guitarist Brix Smith. Notable releases from that era included 1984's "The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall", 1985's "This Nation’s Saving Grace", 1986's "Bend Sinister" and 1988's "The Frenz Experiment".

"Quickly, Smith began to craft a complex literary voice for himself which became as unmistakable as his own abrasive vocals," NME wrote in an obituary published following his death.

"Musically, they would create hypnotic recurring patterns, best summed up by one of Smith’s lyrics: ‘The three Rs are repetition, repetition, repetition.’ An early and consistent fan and champion of the band was Radio 1’s John Peel, who claimed The Fall were his favourite band because: ‘They’re always different, but always the same’."

In 2010, Smith worked with Gorillaz on the album "Plastic Beach". His vocals also appeared on the group's more recent album "The Mountain". He featured on the track "Delirium" and was among several late artists included in the "Voices From Elsewhere" project, alongside Tony Allen, Proof, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Womack and De La Soul's Dave Jolicoeur.

In 2022, four years after Smith's passing, five former members from various eras of The Fall reunited to launch a new project called House Of All. The group described itself as "A Fall Family Continuum project".

The following year, Smith's family publicly distanced themselves from the project. As Smith had remained the only constant member of The Fall until the band's dissolution after his death in 2018, the family said they found the project "extremely offensive".

"Whilst we wish you well in your future career and projects, we would like to make it quite clear and simple that the Family and Estate of Mark E. Smith in no way endorse nor wish to be associated with ‘House of All’," they wrote at the time.

"Not only do we find this extremely offensive and very misleading to the wider audience and fans of Mark E. Smith & The Fall, but it also causes us much sorrow, distress and discomfort."

The band later responded by saying that their music "stands on its own" and stressing that they had "never sought “to deny or disguise its roots."

Since Smith's death, Brix Smith has also pursued solo work, releasing her debut solo album "Valley Of The Dolls" in 2023. Speaking to NME, she described it as "the best thing I’ve done since The Fall".

"I can die happy now," she added. "For so long I’ve been a part of a band or hiding within a band. And I just thought it’s time to fucking stand up and own it and own what I do.

"It’s time to fucking put my head above the parapet and stand up there and say I am Brix Smith."