The first sound heard on The Demise of Planet X, the 2026 album from British post-punkers Sleaford Mods, is a delirious laugh. It’s haunted and broken, the sort of laugh someone makes when they’re disassociated from reality. It’s this alienation that Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn reckon with throughout the loose concept album, which centers on ways to face the world in the midst of unending crises. Sometimes it’s by laughing; other moments are dealt with by lobbing sardonic, sneering insults; at other times, the duo mourn for the way our world once was. They touch on the surreal social media infiltration of our day-to-day interactions on the Aldous Harding-featuring “Elitest G.O.A.T.,” during which Williamson riffs over a propulsive drum and bass interplay. He yelps, “Gotta be seen, I’m so showy/It’s about me, it ain’t about them.” On the Liam Bailey-assisted “Flood the Zone,” the duo take aim at the broken media landscape that fuels much of the division in our world. Williamson sums it up succinctly when he declares, “You’re just scared to death through hate.”