Kayzo & Water Spirit Go Full Impact on “XXX”
There is no easing into 2026 for Kayzo. The Los Angeles-based producer opens the year at full throttle with “XXX,” a rawstyle-heavy collaboration with Water Spirit, landing February 20 via Welcome Records.
The track does not flirt with subtlety. It lunges.
Built on punishing kicks, serrated rave stabs and break-driven momentum, “XXX” moves at high velocity, folding metal textures into a hard dance chassis that feels engineered for physical release. There is playfulness in the warped vocal flips, but the core is industrial; sharp, dense, and unapologetically aggressive.
Kayzo traces the record back to 2023, during his Unleashed bus tour. What began as an experiment, blending rock-metal elements with hard dance and techno, initially leaned into a harder psy direction; a version he tested live for over a year. But the idea kept evolving.
“I started this song way back in 2023 on my Unleashed bus tour,” Kayzo explains. “I remember sitting on the bus before a show and wanting to experiment with rock metal elements with hard dance and techno. The version I started back then was more of a hard psy version that for a while was THE version I played out. After about a year of that, I felt like the song needed new life.”
That reset led to Water Spirit.
“I remember talking to Water Spirit about collaborating,” he continues. “I mentioned I had this idea lying around that I had been playing out and getting a good response, but felt it needed new life. We ended up basically re-recording all the metal bits and taking the drops in a much harder, more detailed Industrial meets Schranz and Gabber direction. This felt more in line with where our sound was and where it was going.”
The result feels calibrated to that intersection; early rawstyle energy colliding with industrial techno pressure and gabber brutality, without losing the chaos that defines both artists.
For Water Spirit, the intention was direct.
“This track was inspired by early rawstyle and slam music like Peeling Flesh. I think me and Kayzo both just wanted to make the most fun song we could think of and this is the result of that process. It’s got hard kicks, a fun premise and metal all wrapped into one package.”
Beyond the release itself, “XXX” sets the tone for Kayzo’s upcoming Los Angeles cage shows, produced with 6AM Group and WORK LA. The events, which have already added a second date due to demand, will operate under a strict no-phone policy, nodding toward European club culture and emphasizing immersion over spectacle.
It is a fitting framework. Kayzo has spent the last decade dissolving genre borders, fusing hard dance, dubstep, trap, and electronic rock into a live experience that prioritizes confrontation and catharsis. From Insomniac’s Discovery Project win in 2012 to festival main stages worldwide, he has consistently steered toward the heavier edge. “XXX” continues that trajectory; not as crossover bait, but as a statement piece for warehouses, cages, and main stages alike.
Water Spirit, meanwhile, continues carving out space in the U.S. hard dance and hard techno landscape with a fully realized creative identity; producing her own visuals and artwork while anchoring her project in radical self-expression. The collaboration does not dilute that stance. It amplifies it.
“XXX” is not designed for passive listening. It is engineered for sweat, strobe lights, and impact.
2026 has started loud.
Listen: [HERE]
Presave: [HERE]
