ST///LL (Stiiill) we last heard from in 2023, and these three brothers in musical arms have released a double single in the form of “Empty Room” and “Shout Out.” With members spread out over the UK and Ireland, they are gearing up for their second album to drop in 2025 but in the meantime, this is a taste of what is to come.
A lone piano plays, to be joined by an electronic beat and then the track launches itself with a hail of guitar, and the vocals exude a forlornness in the vein of IanCurtis (JoyDivision). The bass thunders with the rhythm while the guitar flourishes and the piano wanders through like a ghost in “Empty Room.”
“ShoutOut” is full of atmospheric synths, with a grittier energy and purpose. The guitars and synths meld into a cacophony of melodic noise in the chorus with the vocals punctuating the urgency of it all.
I really enjoyed “Shout Out,” but for me, “Empty Room” kind of grabs you, full of melancholic emotions. I don’t think it is intentional, however ST///LL have created two track that could be on a Joy Division album and this is never a bad thing.
Since the release of their debut single “From The Grave,” psychobilly Brits Midnight Feature have quickly backed this up with a new track “HELL-A-VISION,” with a bonus video made by the band at the Eerie Ink Tattoo Studio, Walsall, UK.
The Evil Dead beginning of the video prepares for the blistering launch of the track. The chorus is belting out the title, that would definitely have moshers thrashing around in the pit screaming in delight. It is a frenzy of drums, cool guitar licks and riffs, and with vocals that are dark and egging you on to join him in the throws of a killer thriller.
If the Japanese have taught us anything, it is never open up and watch a dubious video tape. This might result in South African vampires and having a great band play at your place….okay, yeah play the tape! The music video is very kitsch fun and reminds me very much of TheDamned’s “Video Nasty” which of course was featured on The Young Ones, but it isn’t just the video that harks back to this track. The themes, energy and general joy of the genre come through in spades. You should get hooked on a “HELL-A-VISION” with the Midnight Feature.
In 1979, Gary Numan released The Pleasure Principle, which was his debut solo after two albums with the Tubeway Army. “Metal” is a standout track that is favoured by Numan and has been covered many times…. even by Nine Inch Nails. Rob Hyman (drums, synths, programming, production) and Jax Allos (vocals, bass) are Chicago based [melter], and they have put out their own version of “Metal.”
PHOTO – JASON KRAYNEK
Those flourished synth lines are the staple essence of this track, and they are very much present, but I am also glad that this is not a carbon copy. Having the altered vocals of Allos brings a new element, compared with the memory of Numan’s cleaner singing style. The percussion is just so strong and perfect in propelling “Metal” along.
This is definitely a gritty version that pays homage to a great track, and takes it on a more experimental tangent. A case of sweet and industrial tang that is satisfying to hear if you know the song, and a guarantee that if you haven’t, it is going to pique your interest in following up the original and the back catalogue of [melter]. “Metal” is such a great single and [melter] have polished it up and given it teeth.
Los Angeles post-punk band The Sea At Midnight are extremely prolific, with the latest single “Burning” dropping in November. This a cover originally written by V. Grant and Marco Cattani of Chemical Waves, who released the track on the album II (Emotional Violence) and also featured The Sea At Midnight.
The track evolves from a low rumble, into languid drum beat and drifting electronics. The vocals are beautifully clean and soulful, accompanied by the jangly guitar. There is a wealth emotion pouring forth and “Burning” elicits a visceral response in the form of tingles down your spine. The original form of this song was a far more electronic affair, and The Sea At Midnight has given it a darker ethereal feel that wells and bubbles with a longing that grabs you by the heart strings.
Phillip Olympia (vocals, synthesizers, drum machines) and JakeMiller (guitars, synthesizers) are VirginBirth, a band on Never Nervous Records and hailing from Kentucky. They released the single “Break Down the Air” on November 1st, which is the first single off the album Total Annihilation that is planned to drop in early 2025.
Out in the lawless cities, where society has broken down and survival post apocalypse is all consuming. This is what might happen if you had to live in a world ripped apart by nuclear war, and it is painted by the lyrics describing nuclear winter. A voice clip of a disaffected female hammers home the loss, all the while the more delicate rhythms are off-set by the heavy electronics’ droning.
Virgin Birth have said they based this track off the British movie Threads (1984) that is set in an alternative timeline where is nuclear war has ravaged the planet and the survivors scrape through in a brutal environment. Let us hope it never comes to this is the take home message, but you can still enjoy the brooding “Break Down the Air.”
David Brichard is the vocals and Frédéric Hyat the guitarist for Belgium electronic band Dresscode, who released the single “Get Rid of Fears” in October. In the video is FlorianGilot who plays live with Dresscode.
Do our fears freeze us into being unable to act or live? This is essentially what the track is about, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Those first notes strike in and as we go on, I am starting to think some of that might actually be the guitar being plucked. The singing is congenial until we hit the chorus, and then they erupt into a far more glorious and harmonious raising of the voices at end the track. “Get Rid of Fears” finishes for me far too soon as I was really getting into, and then it ended, even though it is approximately three minutes long. Ah well, I love the whole finishing with a bang, and Dresscode have made this track smooth and it subtly ends up sucking you in.
November has seen the release of the split single from SchkeuditzerKreuz (Aust) and DecideToday (USA), with the vinyl on Nambour label Bad Habit Records, in the wilds of the Sunshine Coast, North of Brisbane.
“Last year, mid-winter, I did a quick tour run up to Bellingen and Lismore (NSW, Australia). The Lismore gig was something we booked in a Hall out of town and was kind of a make-up gig for one that got scuttled by the plague a couple years earlier. On the bill was Sniffer Dog and Toecutter – someone I had met in Melbourne when he played with Dark Horse, and someone I was keen to make noise with again. At that gig he said to me “you have to meet my friend Robert – your music, your attitude, your touring all match each other so well” and he gave me the contact. So, I reached out and Robert jumped straight in.” – Kieren Hills/Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Decide Today
The one track from d-beat, synth-crust master, Schkeuditzer Kreuz, is the cloying “Choke,” and this slower track feels like the air is being dragged out of your lungs. It lurches zombie like at times, and then becomes full of rage and destructive conviction as Hills lets us into his head and what clinical depression can be like when it isn’t a good day.
Decide Today has two tracks, with the first being “Revolutionary Reason (WorldwideIntifada),” and you can smell the sweat in the swarming mosh pit as the beats come in thick and furious. The indignation is palpable with a whole bunch of cleverly cut sound clips strung together, culminating in the powerful hushed tones that the genocide of the Palestinian people is wrong. The second track “The Shit Punx Hate” hits you full throttle, making you start, and then you are serenaded by the list of things that punks dislike such as racism, authoritarians and Nazis, while the rhythms have nail bombed into your psyche and pierced your head.
“Toecutter must have met Kieren and insisted we start talking. Our common ground in music, and the culture surrounding it, was immediately evident. Earlier this year Kieren proposed the split 7” via Bad Habit, which of course I had to say yes to such circumstances, and I mentioned also wanting to get back to Australia at some point. The next day Kieren asked if I was for real, and started planning the tour. I am incredibly thankful to my new friend, Borg at Bad Habit, and Dave (Toecutter) for getting us connected.” – Robert Inhuman/Decide Today
Baron Von Borg is the bloke that runs Bad Habit Records, who is a punk, a punk musician and a connoisseur of music from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes and someone I have a lot of time for. It isn’t surprising that he is in the middle of this whirlwind.
This is a marriage of ferocious punk attitude, punching with a fist full of electronics.
Boston based dark electro project Pneumagnosis has collaborated with Dissonance on the single “Let The Flowers Fall.” Cat Hall (Dissonance) has contributed vocals and lyrics while the music was composed by ScottTheleman (Pneumagnosis).
The electronics bleat and dance while Hall sings about finding the courage to walk away from a relationship, without trying to fix it or ponder what you did wrong. Her vocals waver and bound back in a cacophonist choir around the techno rhythms, which punctuate the wisdom of the words. This is a nice little collaborating trance inducing dance track between Dissonance and Pneumagnosis, in “Let the Flowers Fall.”
SEVERIN NI-ARB of X-MARKS THE PEDWALK has joined forces with his son LMX, and the collaboration resulting in the electronic project DUOPHONIC NOISE CONSTRUCTION. The single “Trauma,” has been released on the MESHWORK MUSIC label.
From when the rhythm kicks in, this is going to be a dancefloor killer. Looping electronics with NI-ARB’s vocals low and visceral, are at complete odds with the more dulcet tones of LMX, that create a dawning break in the overall frenetic pace.
There is something a bit old school about “Trauma” and maybe it is that connection to X-MARKS THE PEDWALK, yet the influence of LMX is felt with the more modern vocal style. It is a kin to talking about rough and smooth or steel and silk, and it works so very well together.
US label Re:Mission Entertainment dropped the latest album from Warm Gadget called Sorrows. Tim Vester (vocals, lyrics, samples) and Colten Williams (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, production, vocals) are the main components of this machine and they are joined by Page Hamilton (guitar), Austin Williams (bass), Davey Hemm (bass) and Dani Scythe who added additional drum programming on “Digging.”
Sit down and buckled up as they smash you with “The Masses,” which is the bouncing metal influenced first single, with its angry guitars and even angrier Vester, screaming out his disappointment with the world. “Annoyed” is yet another single and I have to say that the Nine Inch Nails game is strong for this track, and the Dread Risks‘ remix just ramps it up even further. It is contentious and instantly likeable.
Going with the single theme, “Debutante” is yet another, featuring not only the corrosive vocals of Vester, but joining him, with far more buttery tones is Page Hamilton of Helmet fame, carving up the track with his screaming hot guitar. I especially liked “Like Bats,” with its brazen chorus, tempered with the idling intermediary pieces. It kind of harks back to Stone Temple Pilots with the tone and harmonisation.
With tracks like “Annoyed,” you are dragged back to the flourishing 90s industrial rock scene that was exploding out of the North America at the time with bands such Ministry, NIN and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. WarmGadget might be paying homage to those that influenced their sound with Sorrows, but this does not mean they are sticking to a formula, as they write music that suits their taste. So far, this has to be my favourite release of theirs to date. Music with a social conscious and it also slaps hard.
Onyx Music Reviews 