Proud goth, ex DJ and music reviewer

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Shadows Forming is new album from Helsinki based witchy rockers, Hauntees, which will be released on the 28th of February. out on Xonoring Records. Members, Aiju Salminen (bass, vocals), Heini Kauppinen (guitar, vocals, organ), Piia Jalkanen (guitar, backing vocals) and Teemu Kumpulainen (drums), have dropped the single “All Over Again” as a touch stone for Shadows Forming.

The drums are clean and punchy, with fellow rhythm section partner, the bass guitar, up and front, dusting the tune with heavy intent. There is a lilting sadness from the guitars and the vocals fluctuate from singular to the harmonies in the chorus.

“We want to reach toward other worlds with our music, beyond everyday reality, When we write songs, we describe them to each other through places, films, and moods.” – Hauntees

I really like the fact the single is not overly processed, as if I could expect them to sound like this live, which lends an air of feeling fresh and not bound to being absolutely perfect. In other words, a rawness as the Hauntees wrap their vision around your ears. We don’t mind listening to the Hauntees “All Over Again.”

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Initiation | Hauntees

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I do like me a bit of oi oi, two finger salute in the general vicinity of political and social fuckery. Punk music is the perfect conduit, and the Forsaken Profits, from the USA, have released the single “Decayed,” out on Anything But Radio Records, and featuring the talents of Tyler Capehart (vocals), Bryan Kyle (guitar), Jermain Payne (bass) and Joel Perdue (drums).

In true punk fashion, “Decayed” is just a tad over two minutes long, so there is little surprise that this track is a goer from the start. Insane drumming will keep the most critical of headbangers, happily slapping their brains inside their bony casings. The vocals are unapologetic and rough as fuck, like after a night on the turps and with nothing left to lose. The guitars punch you in the guts and, occasionally, delicately scream in your face with excellent riffs.

Now, this could be taken as a song about a zombie apocalypse….. or it could be about the fact that currently the world is more fucked up than ever and we need to do better. The zombies are the faithful willing to go along with genocide and ecological destruction, while having moral compasses looser than a bunch of evangelicals at a youth gathering. Forsaken Profits are loud and brash, and “Decayed” is just we way we like it.

Decayed | Forsaken Profits

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It is 2026, but it still feels like we are holding our collective breath, and you have to let truths be heard. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, also goes by the moniker of Veil of Shadows, his gothic music project. He has released the single “Familiars,” which was recorded, mixed and mastered at The Cat Mansion.

The band wears their influences on their sleeve. The guitar speaks of a love of the way Wayne Hussey plays, between early Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, and even the raw emotion of his vocals in that vein. The drums provide the perfect background as they thunder true, adding weight to the lyrics.

“Familiars” is about the current political machinations of the US government, who say one thing and do the exact opposite, creating uncertainty and dread for many Americans, and indeed for those overseas watching. Veil of Shadows has a track that speaks volumes, and it gives hope. When people openly recognise wrong doing, they drag a spotlight onto those that shrink from truth.

Familiars | Veil of Shadows

Familiars | Veil of Shadows

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Ahead of the debut album release for Trans Atlantic group Death By Love, they have dropped the new single “Sellenno.” The new album, from the Polish/USA project, will be hitting us on February the 20th, called 444, out on Distortion Records

Leaning into the cyber industrial sound, the track is buzzing with electronics, creating a heaviness, with the vocals as a guiding light. The topic is even heavier than the electronics, which dips into mental torment of being a survivor, and never coming to terms with what happened, therefore becoming disassociated.

Inga Habiba and Peter Guellard are Death By Love, and “Sellenno” packs a punch whilst being a bit of a bad arse dance number. Maybe this track is the catharsis they have been searching for.

444 | Death by Love

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Before Christmas, three remixes were released, reimagined by Norway’s Karl Morten Dahl, that guy behind the guitar based post-punk project Antipole. These three tracks are Haunt Me’s (USA) “Cemetery Rendezvous,” The Spoiled’s (Italy) “Love Is Pain” and “Depeche Mode” by Occults (USA).

“Cemetery Rendezvous” is a gorgeous darkwave track, with the remix cloaking this Haunt Me single in swaths of shimmering guitar, elegantly enhancing the hushed tones of the low vocals.

The Spoiled already had a wonderful jangle guitar sound in “Love Is Pain,” but Dahl has worked his magic, creating guitar lines that are sonic eddies, while also bringing to the fore the lovely synths.

The original Occults track, “Depeche Mode,” is a perfect song that captures the sound of Dave Gahan & Company from the 80s, while the remix has a more ephemeral quality, with dreamy, Cure like guitar and echoing vocals.

Karl Morten Dahl has excellent taste in music and a great ear for the delicate remix, so you should do yourself a favour and have a listen. If you know the bands, then enjoy the remixes, however, if unfamiliar, you might find yourself a few new wonderful post-punk bands to immerse your ears in.

Watch You Bleed | Haunt Me

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Love Is Pain (Antipole Remix) | The Spoiled, Antipole | The Spoiled

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Depeche Mode (Antipole Remix) | Occults

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Music | Antipole

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Something is a stirring at the end of 2025. International gothic super group, Beauty In Chaos have an extended single release in the form of two covers. Oh Lordie, there is going to be a reconning. The first is a folk cover, recorded as far back as 1956 by Odetta called “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” and also under this title in 2009 by the original Man In Black, Johnny Cash, as well as Marilyn Manson (2017). It has also been reproduced as “Run On” by Elvis Presley (1967) and Moby (1999), as well as others.

Photo by Anabel DFlux

You just know before a single note has been struck, this is going to be a southern gothic affair, where the coyote blues is just waiting there to bite and preacher is sizing you up for the next wooden box he’ll be sermonising over. Sure enough, there is that heavy guitar twang that rings out, joined by the gospel styled hand claps, as well as the rat-a-tat of the military drum, all calling on the day of judgement.

Back in 2003, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros released the album Streetcore, which brought forth the single “Get Down Moses.” Oh yes, nothing like that reggae flavour, mixed with that unmistakeable Strummer guitar, and the brass section reminding us that ska is the voice of the streets. It is sassy, eexy and still runs true for the modern day.

After “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” I feel like going to listen to Concrete Blonde’s version of “God Is A Bullet,” for will there be redemption?? I don’t know, but there is a cinematic darkness that tastes like dust and smells of gunpowder. Meanwhile, “Get Down Moses” is like the medicine you never knew you needed to soothe and heal your soul. Easy to listen to and still make you realise that the more things change, the more they stay the same, A bit like “Ghost Town” by The Specials. On a side note, Michael Rozon and Michael Ciravolo are the lynch pins of Beauty In Chaos, and we all know, Michael is God’s avenging angel.

Have mercy on us everyone…..

“God’s Gonna Cut You Down” b/w “Get Down Moses” | BEAUTY IN CHAOS

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Beauty in Chaos

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F.I.V.E, also known as Fear Increases Violent Emotion, is the soon to be released fifth album for Italy’s darkwave group, Christine Plays Viola. Massimo Ciampani (vocals), Fabrizio Giampietro (guitar), Marco Di Ianni (bass guitar) and Gianluca Orsini (drums) have dropped the single “My Redemption” as your first taste for the new album.


The deep resonance of the vocals sets the shadowy mood, while the guitar sparkles and spars for equal billing. Easily danceable and even easier on the ears, “My Redemption” is pure darkwave goodness and definitely has that European sensibility. One might say a cool touch that burns the skin, so you might want to catch up with Christine Plays Viola, and check out the vintage gothic video for “My Redemption.”

Music | Christine Plays Viola

Christine Plays Viola – Official Website | The Dark Is Coming

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There is an ill wind and hark….is it an EP or an album??? We aren’t quite sure, but we know it is Sinister Fate when we see them. Also, that the album is called Profit of Doom, which was released back in August by the guys from Chicago, and it is a monster mash of singles, new tracks, covers and remixes.

There are the two singles, with the first on show being “beLIEve,” a cross between the horror movies that are The Purge series and real life unrest on the home front. The rich verses poor and ideologies burning in the veins of the zealots. It is pure grimy rock with a punk ethos and a guitar solo that sings out. The other is the horror infused “Meet Mister Scratch,” who is the thinly disguised devil with an agenda to sell to those whose moral compass might be a little off target, for the simple low price of a soul.

I thought the title of the track “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” was very familiar, and it turns out that is indeed a cover of the Filter song, which has that heavy hanging bass at its core and although not a cover, “VVitch” feels like an ode to The Cure through the guitar work and drums sounding like they could of come off the Pornography album.

Sinister Fate carry on the proud tradition of goth horror rock, which is full of symbolism and often tongue in cheek observations about the true monsters of the world. I wonder if the band is somewhat inspired by the late, great Pete Steele, especially with the inference of the title of the album and the Type O Negative’s track “The Profit of Doom” off the 2007 album Dead Again. Profit Of Doom is a nice mixture old and new, with the remixes that just give another facet to the band. It is part goth, part rock and all horror babe..

Profit Of Doom | Sinister Fate | SINISTER FATE

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Italy’s Vidi Aquam released the album Lights and Shadows, in September. Full of post-punk goodness by members Daniele Viola (electric guitars, bass, drum machine) and
Nikita (voice, lyrics, synth, programming), we are going to look at the single “The Last Man on Earth.”

Purposely dark, with the only true brightness being the guitar as it twinkles between the drum machine, the heavy bass and grave vocals of Nikita. Even the synths creep through the cracks in a bleak manner, as is befitting a tale about a man who is truly alone in a apocalyptic world, living each day with only the memories of what used to be. The music video is an absolute must to watch with a nuclear nightmare vision rendered in animation. There is such sorrow in being “The Last Man on Earth” and it is beautifully conveyed by Vidi Aquam.

The Last Man On Earth | Vidi Aquam

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I saw Aquam

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German label Dependent, dropped the new Fïx8:Sëd8 album Octogram, in the month of October, which seems oddly apt. The guys from Wiesbaden, have really put a lot of thought and heart into Octogram, with there being eight tracks, which all have a running time of approximately eight minutes each. Further more, each track has the last words of a imprisoned person, about to receive the ultimate penalty of death.

“The Unborn” is your introduction to the concept of last words integrated into music. There is a undeniable truth is the fact that ‘everybody dies,’ but not everybody gets to choose when, The synths are sublime at times, almost serene in acceptance of the awaited fate, though there is a darkness within and it accented with the high pitch electronic feedback, breaking into your conscious.

There are probably no more powerful words than ‘I don’t want to go,’ when you know they were the last utterances from a human, who was euthanised, and “New Eden” is electronically beautiful, compared to the voice of this woman. The synths simply sparkle like stars in the sky, that will never be seen again and there is an urgency, with the metallic vocals that morph at will into otherworldly singing.

“Darkness Visible” has a delicate tone, carried with the almost oriental lines that ring out making me think of Depeche Mode, broken by the guttural vocals. It sails on mercurial synths. There feels like a righteous reign of fire just waiting to break loose in “Oathbreaker,” as if the track is on the knife’s edge, waiting to break open, throbbing and building in tension. The beats become heavier and evolves into semi rhythmic noise.

There is a point in Octogram where you begin to wonder if humanity has the right to snuff out the life of another, as you run the gamut of emotions where the music and vocals sometimes builds on the psychological state and in other tracks, can almost be diametrically opposite. The music, as always, from Fïx8:Sëd8 is really breath-taking, putting forth creations that are not just danceable, but also take you from your safe place and make your heart beat just a bit faster.

Octagram | FIX8:SED8

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Dependent – SPKR.store