Proud goth, ex DJ and music reviewer

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Dark alternative music doesn’t seem to have any borders as to where it originates in the world and even the language used. Good music transcends all it feels, when everything is conveyed through sheer talent. Label Musica Tenebris are based in Warsaw, and they have released the four way split album Warsaw After Midnight, that features Polish gothic/deathrock bands Marie Laveau, Natures Mortes, Eat My Teeth and Nameless Creations.

The set list is arranged in blocks for each act, and first off the benches is Natures Mortes with four tracks, “Liar’s Web” is the most recent release for this group, and indicative of their goth rocking style. You will be swept up from the beginning with the swift paced rhythm and ghoulish signature guitars, all the while being serenaded by the tortured sweet vocals that give no quarter and full of conviction.

Screaming fuzzed out guitar is utterly and instantly attention grabbing for the track “Salt In My Eyes,” by Eat My Teeth. The lead singer’s vibrato style is unforgettable, especially when he hits the high notes. as she almost seamlessly melds into the shrieking guitar. Discordant and rousing, all at the same time and a shout out to the drummer massacring the skins.

Natures Mortes (Facebook)
Eat My Teeth (photo Sophie Louise)
Nameless Creation (photo Lukasz Larakczyk)
Marie Laveau (Facebook)

I get a really interesting vibe from Nameless Creations, and their use of electronics gives the track “Pain-Powered Machine” an early 80s feel, almost Alien Sex Fiend like, and strengthened by vocals. The music is relentless, swamping your senses like a kaleidoscope with the pulsating psychedelic assault, and this is just one of three tracks.

From the crypt comes Marie Laveau with four treats, and they are going to cast a spell on you with “Are You Blind?“. These guys ooze European gothic cool and this latest single harkens back to stylings of France’s Corpus Delicti. The lead has a lovely dark quality to her voice and everything about this song is alluring from the classic goth rock guitars through to tight rhythm section.

Personally, I have always had a soft spot for sampler albums, and I have put that down to getting a taste of different styles and band, which opens up new musicians to further investigate. This is a great compilation from a scene that is obviously burgeoning with talent. Yes, I have picked one track from each band, but these are just the ones that first off caught my attention and in all honesty, the whole album is chock full of deathrock goodness. It is a delight to listen to these brilliant gothic aficionados from Poland and now, after falling deathly in love with Natures Mortes, Eat My Teeth, Nameless Creations and Marie Laveau, I want to visit Warsaw After Midnight.

Warsaw after midnight | Various artists | Musica Tenebris

Facebook – Musica Tenebris

Bruises | Natures Mortes | Bat-Cave Productions

Facebook – Natures Mortes

Music | EAT MY TEETH

Facebook – Eat My Teeth

Liar’s Web | Natures Mortes | Bat-Cave Productions

Facebook – Marie Laveau

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Inga Habiba and Peter Guellard are Death By Love. Signed to label Distortion Productions, these Polish veterans of the gothic-industrial scene, released their debut single on January the 31st, called “Strong Inside.” Habiba has been involved in music since she was sixteen, with her long term project being Lorien, while Guellard has been involved with bands such as The Electric Hellfire Club, Venus In Furs, Mace, and Dichro, as well as a producer and lead in his own band Blitzkrieg.

The Middle Eastern influence is undeniable, exotic and alluring, a nod to Habiba’s ethnic roots, their tendrils wrapping themselves around the electronics. They are not a constant companion, rather gently tantalising you and more so, it is Habiba’s vocals that will hold your attention. From breathy spoken word, to brash and throaty singing, she is the focal point with synths her supporting undercurrent.

The lyrics are extremely relatable, because it is about how leaving yourself open to others can lead to trauma, yet if you close yourself away, you will possibly miss out and suffer loneliness. So, in the end, finding the strength within, often means you are growing as a human. The music traverses cultures, and delves into inner working of the human psyche, mixing trip hop with industrial, tinged with darkwave. Death By Love are going to make waves with the highly danceable “Strong Inside,” and the added bonus is two extra remixes included.

Strong Inside | Death by Love

Facebook – Death By Love

Facebook – Distortion Productions

Distortion Productions

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Metropolis Records dropped the single “Sharing Skin,” by Night Ritualz on January 31st. Vincent Guerrero IV is Texas based Night Ritualz and in March, his self titled debut album will be released. Interestingly he has coined the term ‘fuck wave‘ to describe his cauldron of mixed styles such as goth, electronic and EBM.

‘Fuck Wave’ is anything horny, erotic and sensual that just makes people feel good,” he explains. “I feel like my music puts people in that mood and allows them to just be themselves without judgement of any kind. Another reason is because, at the end of the day, ‘Fuck’ what everyone thinks. We only have one life, so spend it doing stuff you like and that makes you happy. I see it as an empowering term.‘ – Vincent Guerrero IV

A simple guitar and echoing fuzzed vocals greet you, haunting with the slow drawl, telling of a longing of the heart for another. Like a call to arms, the rhythm kicks in, speeding up the world around this track, and you can hear the delicate synths in the background twinkling. ‘Sharing skin and secrets‘ is cherishing those intimate moments whether that is sex or telling secrets they would never share with anyone else. Night Ritualz understands that most people long for that attachment but also the fact that humans motivation comes from that which brings joy. I think the description fuck wave is very apt, for it is a dark and sexy serenade in the form of “Sharing Skin.”

Sharing Skin | Night Ritualz

https://www.instagram.com/nightritualz/

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And so there was a convergence of two talents. Jemaur Tayle (Shelleyan Orphan) and Boris Williams (The Cure) are friends who were brought together by their love of music, which spawned the project Vamberator. Originally, Tayle had been working on a solo album, but had to endure the passing of long time Shelleyan Orphan bandmate Caroline Crawely, then found he had lost focus. Over the years, Tayle had toured with The Cure, and developed camaraderie with Williams. He helped fan the flame of the muse called music, and together brough to fruition, the debut album called “Age of Loneliness.”

The intro track is also a previous single, called “I used to be Lou Reed,” and like the namesake, it has a huge personality, with a complimentary brass section heralding in your immersive baptism for the slightly off the wall Vamberator. Tayle’s vocals are far more smooth than anything Reed ever laid done, but the elements of funk and experimentation are all there, with the idea that we have to find our own place in the universe and our own groove.

Title track, “Age of Loneliness,” is a wonderful mixture of soul sister groove and 60s Haight-Ashbury flower power, tinged with childish wonder. An amalgamation of classical and counter-culture rock, and it just works. At the other end of the scale is “I Need Contact,” and it is a slow piece, crisp and clear, that drags you to your knees with the sheer weight of the bleak sentiment. Another single is the delightful “Creature in my House,” that see-saws with that guitar riff, and lurches with the rolling drums from Williams. So one has to ask, is the creature a real creature, or is it staring out through the eyes of Tayle?

“Imps” is the latest single, and, oddly enough, the last track on the album. It reminds me of the 90s, when bands like Primal Scream and The Stone Roses were hitting their straps, but also paying homage to 60s/70s soul, and artists like The Rolling Stones and Kinks. Maybe this is the true meaning of the album. The loneliness we feel stems from a yearning for something more.. something tangible that is comfortable, which could be places, objects, sounds and people. We delve into our library of memories to find that comfort and Vamberator have set “Age of Loneliness” as a touchstone of influences and what drives them to embark forth, adding their own spin on what they love. It is an album that can be enjoyed by the musician’s musician, and, yet, it is full of soul, brilliant chorus’ and a quirkiness that can capture the average music lover’s imagination. A beautiful friendship between Tayle and Williams has borne a bounty in the form of “Age of Loneliness.”

Age of loneliness | Vamberator

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Dresscode’s David Brichard (vocals) and Fred Hyat (guitars), have started off the new year with the single “Follow Me.” The Belgium duo are wooing you with their take of dark electro-rock.

The melding of electronics with guitar roll seamlessly, the synths brightness reflect the techno style, meant to encourage you towards the dancefloor. Brichard’s emotionally exhausted vocals are crooner smooth and heart felt, while the guitar in Hyat’s hands, tell part of this story going from simple trickling, and then gushing in the chorus. The theme of the track might be about disappointment and an illusionary relationship, where only one person was invested. The music video features the guys on stage, as well as their live drummer Florian Gilot, which might just encourage you to try and get to see them play in real life. The play of sadness against the sparkling rhythms and synths works so very well for “Follow Me,” so check out Dresscode.

Accueil | Dresscode

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We are going back to February of 2024, when the album If Blood Comes First was released by Dallas based Happy Phantom. This five piece is made up of songwriter Jackie Legos (vocals, guitars), Zack Bigalow (drums), Colby Sias (percussion), Josh Prater (keyboards, synth), Phillip Sozansky (bass guitar) and Brendan Ladan (guitars).

It is important that the first track off an album grabs your attention, and “A Stranger Walking Shadows Through the Dark” has this in spades, from the sparkling intro, which continues through, and emotion filled jangling guitars, that harkens back to The Cure. Even Lego’s vocals remind one of Robert Smith, lending it to the feel of the legendary album Pornography, which will continue throughout. The title track is a swirling and echoing piece with the synths at the front in a winding classical soundscape domination, only broken by the vocals and occasional guitar. The lyrics in “If First Comes Blood” are beautifully poetic, and where does a relationship go to after we pass this mortal coil?

‘Waiting for the night and captured by the moon saving our goodbyes it’s over much too soon there’s nowhere left to hide when she comes to my bed with nothing but a lie dancing in my head…‘ – If First Comes Blood

“No Illusions” has great bass lines and the mood of the whole track is almost joyful, yet the lyrics tell of a loss where one cannot stay as the situation is eating them up, but they want to because of unreasonable hope. Let me guide you to track six, “I Dare To Love You,” with its booming drums rolling and subtle guitar. The conjoined voices could be a coven’s chant and the wonderful imagery of dancing on graves in a passionate tryst with a ghostly lover. The rangy guitar work is a throwback to early Cult in the track “Lust,” which is about the lack of emotion compared to love that requires as much give as take.

If you haven’t guessed, If Blood Comes First is about finding another dark soul that completes yours, bring the ultimate overwhelming gothic romance and the devastation of being bereft of that person, which leaves you a husk of your former self that yearns for what was lost. I think this album is heavily inspired by real life and also The Crow, which is about devotion, but on a deeper level, trying to be worthy enough to embrace love in death or knowing when you have to let go of those feelings that drag you under the waves of grief. Legos has professed that this is his favourite album so far, and we can hear why. If Blood Comes First is a brooding and heart wrenching ode to love, in the ideal sanctuary of a forever romance, set to a gothic serenade by Happy Phantom.

If Blood Comes First | Happy Phantom

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It is the start of 2025, and I think everyone could agree that we need a dose of ritual darkwave, so lucky for us that Portland based Ceremony Shadows have dropped the single “Reclaim.” Timo along with dual vocalists Anastasia and Jakub make up Ceremony Shadows.

Be lured into a space that is full of potential. It is bare down to the bone, starting with an electronic beat and Anastasia’s whispered vocals. The electronics are minimalistic, and yet they seem to fill all the spaces. Jakub deeper vocals lend a heavy intonation that punctures the air. ‘My body’s my own‘ is the basis of this hypnotic mantra.

Three last few days have brought this track into sharp context. The battle has truly begun for autonomy over one’s body and sexual orientation, as religious and political machinations target women’s reproduction and the LBGTQ+ communities.  “Reclaim” is an affirmation that you have human rights over your body from Ceremony Shadows, and they make no apologies for reminding us that everyone’s body is a sensual place that is for their pleasure.

Reclaim | Ceremony Shadows

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Ceremony Shadows

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While waiting for the release of the album, Knowing When To Bow Out Gracefully, UK industrial goth rock group Deadfilmstar dropped the single “Welcome Back” at the end of 2024.

Slow and stalky as we go, with vocals that creak like an unoiled door to that basement you don’t want to go into…ever. The singer is sick of ‘banging on the glass‘, and then it all takes off in a symphonic merger of synths and guitars.

I keep asking myself why are they banging on glass. Is it a glass sliding door because they are a zombie? Are they tired of peeping through windows at their victims? Or are they stylishly undead but stuck in a glass coffin? I might never know, but in the meantime ‘Welcome Back” is heavy with guitar, saturated in synths, kept in time with some excellent drumming and wrapped up in horror laden vocals, so this is Deadfilmstar.

Welcome Back | deadfilmstar

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deadfilmstar

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As I write, California is on fire, and Vince Grant, the man behind LA project The Sea At Midnight, sent me an email about his new single, “Our Beautiful Destruction,” and all proceeds from the song will be donated to victims.

Was this track written before the fires? The vocals wrench at my insides with the lyrics about the world being consumed in flames and Grant’s voice is truly gorgeous and swept up in the whirling guitar and synths in the chorus.

‘burning so brightly
against the night sky
the ashes are raining
sparks and ashes
are all that’s left
the smoke hides the pain
of all that remains
of our brilliant destruction
our brilliant destruction
smoke hides the pain‘

My heart aches listening to this track. I live in a country where every Summer is a terrifying wait to see if bush fires will take hold…. the last huge infernos being in 2019. Lost lives, lost property, watching both wildlife and domestic animals perishing. “Our Brilliant Destruction” sadly seems to encapsulate this situation perfectly. If it were released without the LA fires, it would be considered a evocative song, but currently it means everything. It is name your price on The Sea At Midnight’s Bandcamp, so I encouraged you to give a little to help in “Our Brilliant Destruction.”

Our Brilliant Destruction | The Sea At Midnight

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Antipole, aka Karl Morten Dahl, from the currently frozen land of Norway, and Paris Alexander of the not quite as cold UK, have just released a new single. This post-punk/coldwave track is called “Sad Lover (Desolated),” and I am not sure if this ties into anything, about seven years ago, they had another song called “Shadow Lover.”

My breath slows as I take in the drum machine beats with the bass guitar’s deep rumbling, which is old school post-punk in the style of Peter Hook (Joy Division), drawing you in. The lead guitar work is seriously sublime, and delicately echoes, supported by the equally lightly winding synths. Alexander’s vocals are smooth and subdued, reeking of cooling dusk, and yet still intensely moving.

The music video is shot between the snowy pine forests of Norway, and an old church in England, with an attached graveyard. This heightens the stark reality of loneliness and inevitable death, but it also pulls into focus that “Sad Lover (Desolated)” is also about realising that snow covered scenery is beautiful, or that there is an austere dark peace around the tombstones of those long gone. It is finding the elegance and grace in that which could be seen as desolate. Antipole & Paris Alexander have delivered another perfect track in “Sad Lover (Desolated).”

https://www.instagram.com/antipoleband/

Music | Antipole

https://www.instagram.com/parisalexandermusic/

Music | Paris Alexander