Caleb Shomo has called Pure Ecstasy "the most honest depiction of my soul I will most likely ever make," and he wasn't saying it to be modest. Beartooth's sixth album came out August 28, 2026, through their new label, Fearless Records. Periphery's Misha Mansoor and producer Jordan Fish both contributed, and the band described the title track as "the dumbest heaviest chugs we could chug." "Free" and "Eyes Closed" were the other early singles. It follows The Surface (2023) and Below (2021), and Kerrang! has summed them up as "Caleb Shomo's crew from Columbus."
Columbus is the point here. Shomo started Beartooth in the city in 2012 after his time in Attack Attack!, and the band spent years on Red Bull Records, which released Disease. They've been part of Sonic Temple's story before. New Noise counted their 2019 hometown set, staged with an elaborate setup that leaned into a creepy take on glam metal, among the most dynamic sets of that weekend.
Then in May 2025 a medical emergency for Alice In Chains drummer Sean Kinney pulled that band from its Sunday main-stage slot, the one right before Metallica, and Beartooth stepped in on less than two days' notice. Their previous Columbus show had been an arena date at the Schottenstein Center that January. This time the festival put "Hometown Show" on the billing ahead of time.