ALEYA Reflect on Grief and Change with ‘Old Friends’

North West England alt-metal band ALEYA have shared ‘Old Friends’, the latest single from their forthcoming EP, How It Ends.

Released independently on 2 October 2026, ‘Old Friends’ marks the band’s third single of the year and finds them moving into darker, more atmospheric territory. Heavy bursts of modern metal sit alongside more melodic and reflective moments, giving the song enough space for its emotional subject to come through.

At its heart, ‘Old Friends’ is about losing people and having to continue without them. Rather than focusing only on grief itself, the track considers how bereavement can change the person left behind.

Frontman and lyricist Tom Evans explains: “‘Old Friends’ is about remembering those who have passed away and how they will never know the person that you have become. The song touches upon how experiencing death can fundamentally change your perspective of life itself.”

There is something especially painful in the idea that those who have been lost will never see the life that followed. They cannot witness the lessons learnt, the milestones reached or the ways their absence shaped the people who knew them. ALEYA place that feeling at the centre of the song, approaching it with a mixture of sensitivity and intensity.

The single also offers another look at the band’s forthcoming six-track EP, How It Ends. Loss runs throughout the project, connecting its songs through personal and relatable stories. The record will follow ALEYA’s 2023 debut EP, Idle Minds, while showing how their sound and songwriting have developed in the years since.

How It Ends has now been completed with producer Dan Fox at Treehouse Studio in the UK. Full release details are expected to be announced soon, with the EP currently planned to arrive during winter 2026.

ALEYA will also take the project on the road this November with three headline shows across England. The short tour begins at Subside Bar in Birmingham on Thursday 12 November, followed by a hometown-region appearance at The Live Rooms in Chester on Friday 13 November. That show will also feature special guests 7eventh Sea and Noiseless. The run concludes at The Old Salutation in Nottingham on Saturday 14 November.

With ‘Old Friends’, ALEYA have created a moving reflection on absence, memory and the lasting effect people can have after they are gone. Its quieter emotional weight and heavier outbursts work together naturally, providing a strong introduction to the themes that will shape How It Ends.

‘Old Friends’ is available now across all major digital platforms.