Maria Iskariot, the Dutch-language punk band from Ghent, have shared details of their debut album of defiant, spit-flecked punk, Wereldwaan (World Delusion), set for self-release on 31 October. They also release new single ‘Witte Rook‘. Maria Iskariot have no answers to your questions, but they’re reaching out anyway – a wet hand, a wink, a scream, a mess of noise and emotion for anyone who’s danced the Waltz of the Hopeless more times than they’d like to admit. Their debut album Wereldwaan is punk that doesn’t preach, but refuses to look away. It’s both a joyful protest and a sharp, complicated love letter to life itself – written from inside the confusion, the guilt, the rage and the absurdity of our time.
Latest single ‘Witte Rook’ (‘White Smoke’) is, in their words: “a victory for losers, an attempt at forgiveness, swallowing, biting in your own lip and saliva that tastes like iron”.
Maria Iskariot have a clear sense of purpose and a deep love for distortion. Formed in 2022 by front-woman Helena Cazaerck and guitarist Loeke Vanhoutteghem, who first bonded over language and the DIY ethos at a literary festival, the band found its full shape with the addition of drummer Sybe Versluys and bassist Amanda Barbosa. What began as a personal outlet quickly grew into a collective voice: part panic attack, part poetic pamphlet, part riot – but with tenderness, too. The band doesn’t break things (there’s already enough broken); they build, scream, whisper, and hold space.
The name says a lot: Maria Iskariot fuses the sacred (Maria) and the damned (Judas Iskariot), pointing straight to the band’s fascination with moral tension, contradiction and collapse. That duality runs through everything – in their sound, their lyrics, and their presence. They make music about growing up, feeling lost, confronting complicity, and trying to find slivers of hope inside the overwhelm. It’s aggressive and intimate, messy and meticulous, playful and deeply serious.
Wereldwaan expands on the themes of their debut EP EN/EN (2024), which explored identity, moral ambiguity, and a longing for something different in a world that doesn’t reward doubt. On the album, the band sharpen their tools and open up their vision – tackling everything from social despair to interpersonal grief to the absurdity of performance itself. But it’s never didactic. Instead, they offer a kind of solidarity through shared confusion: as Helena puts it:
“We are four people that have found each other. Being a gang, having fun and creating something meaningful together, is our way of coping with the madness attacking us from inside and out. We try to make something beautiful out of frustration, unwanted complicity, greed, fingerpointing, ugliness. We choose life.
We choose not falling for the temptation of depression or aggression. We choose to be friends, not colleagues, we choose to be adventurers not competitors. We choose togetherness not efficiency. We choose expression not the measure stick.
We speak to you, our friends from different languages, in a way that is not about understanding.
We don’t have solutions for the problems that surround us. We don’t claim to know the answer. We only show the alternative.”
Maria Iskariot Live Dates
September
4 – Liège, BE @ Reflektor
5 – Breda, NL @ Breda Barst
6 – Goes, NL @ t’Beest Brult
6 – Stekene, BE @ Crammerock
7 – Landgraaf, NL @ Bunkerpop Oefenbunker
20 – Köln, DE @ Müllem mon Amour Festival
October
31 – Gent, BE @ St Jacobskerk (Album Release)
November
22 – Bochum, DE @ Kontaktfeld Festival
27 – Montreuil, FR @ Les Femmes s’en mêlent
28 – Angers, FR @ Jokers Pub
29 – Bordeaux, FR @ Amac (w/ Panic Shack)
December
6 – Plaisir, FR @ Les Femmes s’en mêlent, La Clé des Champs
13 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
January
20 – Madrid, ES @ El Sol
22 – Valencia, ES @ 16 Toneladas
23 – Barcelona, ES @ Upload
February
28 – Antwerpen, BE @ Trix
March
7 – Antwerpen, BE @ DeRoma (support)
For more information on Maria Iskariot please check their instagram and bandcamp.