Skrillex Drops Surprise 13-Track Album ‘SOMA’

Skrillex is not slowing down, and SOMA makes that painfully clear. The new 13-track surprise album arrives like another sharp jolt in a year where he has already been moving faster than most artists can keep up with, dropping projects, loosies, and left turns with almost no warning.

What makes SOMA hit is that it feels both immediate and fully loaded. The record pulls in recent releases like “Duro,” “Smoke,” and “Thistle,” while also bringing in collaborators like Tracey, Chris Lake, Naisha, ANITA B QUEEN, and more, giving the whole thing a restless, high-pressure energy that feels true to where Skrillex is right now. It is not polished into something overly neat. It moves like an artist following instinct in real time.

The timing around it matters too. SOMA lands just after the debut of CONTRA, his new Berlin-based event platform launched with Berlin Atonal, and right as he heads back into the festival circuit with Primavera Sound. That makes the album feel less like a random surprise and more like part of a much bigger creative wave, one where the music, the events, and the live world are all feeding into each other.

At this point, surprise-dropping an album almost feels like second nature for him. But SOMA still lands with real force. It is another reminder that Skrillex works best when he is a little unpredictable, a little messy, and completely locked into his own pace.