Proud goth, ex DJ and music reviewer

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Recently we reviewed the full length album, Isolated And Alone by Schkeuditzer Kreuz, which is a journey in some ways, into the mind of the man behind SK, Kieren Hills. How did this power house record come into being and what makes Hills tick? Read on and find out……..

KIEREN HILLS – SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ

Welcome to the weird side Kieren Hills. You started off in the punk scene. What drew you to this music?

I first got into punk some point in the 80s when I was a teenager, starting with some of the more standard, commercial bands like the Clash/Sex Pistols etc and then delving deeper form there. All the time I was looking for music that sounded “more” – angrier, louder, more real, more intense. I didn’t want to hear anything nice but at the same time didn’t know what I wanted. I lived in town in New Zealand where the access to such things were kind of limited. I am not exactly sure what the first “industrial” song I heard was but it may well have been AFFCO by The Skeptics. A song that is musically intense but also had a pretty full-on video that was played about once on TV and then was banned. It resonated with me quite strongly and I loved the driving rhythm of it and the noise and the heart behind it. From there I started looking out for more industrial stuff as well as punk stuff. I didn’t see the two as separate really. They were different ways of expressing anger through sonic violence and aural assault and they both worked for me. Punk had always been (to me) more about energy than talent – not that you can’t have talent but if your music was more about showcasing your abilities than getting out your frustrations then it seemed to miss the point for me. And that feeling seemed to flow in the industrial stuff I was hearing – it was a raw release of energy, not the showing off of chops. So, most of the early industrial bands I saw – Cell, Invisible Dead, Children’s Television Workshop etc were slightly older (than me) punks who had just gone in a slightly different direction – away from guitars and more towards performance and making their own stuff.

Congratulations on not only the new SK album but also the new Dark Horse album as well. You always seem to be involved in a project, so how many are you currently a part of and will the gothic/post punk Death Church also be recording again?

Thanks! Right now I am mainly doing SK and Dark Horse. Darkhorse has been around for somewhere over a decade and I have been in it for 7 years or so. In normal times we play a lot, tour a lot, and release a record every couple of years. These times are not normal, so we are a bit stuck. Normally we would be overseas this year. SK is a full-time thing. I work on it almost every day. I will run through my songs at least once a day and when I am developing a set for tour that gets upped to twice a day. I also make the music videos, compose the art, write the songs, do all the booking and communication and all the other stuff that a band needs to do, and it takes a lot of time. I am not complaining here – it is just true that if you do a solo thing that wants to release and play a lot, it takes a heap of work. I have recently started jamming with a couple of friends with an intention towards Japanese metal/punk kind of stuff. It remains to be seen how much time I can put into that though. Once Dark Horse really kicks off again and SK is in full flight it might not leave a lot of down time.

As for Death Church – it is definitely dead. We never wanted to do anything with different members, or any kind of lineup change so with a guitarist in NZ, a singer in melbourne and a drummer doing her own thing, it is definitely over. It was a fun ride though.

Is Industrial music something you have always been interested in or has it been a music that you have found yourself being draw to?

As mentioned before – I saw industrial as an extension of punk. Most of the people I met who were doing it when I was young were punks who were a generation or two older than me who had gone that direction via the likes of Butthole Surfers, Big Black etc and the Neubauten, Laibach etc side of stuff kind of came to them and me later even if they were working on similar ideas. Obviously, there was no internet then to find music on and those European experimental records just didn’t turn up in NZ very often. But I always loved what I heard when people were getting percussive and experimental with their sound. My first attempt at actually starting an industrial band was with Glenn Maltby and a couple other friends in the 90s. It was never going to work though. Already the ideas of what industrial was had diverged sufficiently that we didn’t have as much common ground – from Insurge to ministry to NIN, Consolidated or whatever, industrial was entering into popular music and was getting more refined and more defined. And that has continued to where industrial can mean anything from a person beating a piece of sheet metal to club music with slightly harsher/more attacking drum tones than what you might hear at a mainstream nightclub.

Something I was pondering the other day – Punk is a noun. And it gets a bunch of adjectives attached to it: crust, hardcore, pop etc.

Industrial is really an adjective which gets attached to various nouns – dance, metal, hip hop, goth etc

This may seem like a pretty wanky thing to spend time pondering but the reality of it shows in the way that people react. People who like punk will often check out anything that comes under that heading. People who like one kind of industrial often have no time at all for other types of industrial. So, whereas punk community pages (for example) often have hundreds of comments and reactions to every post. Industrial pages usually have nothing at all. Because it is not a community, but just a description of different factions of other communities.

You lived in Germany for a time and that is where you got the name Schkeuditzer Kreuz. Can you tell us what is the Schkeuditzer Kreuz and why you decided on this as a project name?

If you are driving from Berlin, south, on Autobahn 9 and want to turn onto the 14 to go Leipzig, the intersection where you would do this is Schkeuditzer Kreuz – literally the kreuz (cross) near the town of Schkeuditz. I was making that trip once (in the opposite direction) and I drunkenly said to my friend who I was in the back of the car with that I would call a band that one day. So I did. It is also the oldest autobahn cross in Europe but that is pretty irrelevant. Before I called it that, I did make sure there wasn’t any particularly fucked history attached to it. I did not want to call my rather silly band after a place which had war atrocities associated with it or anything like that. But no. It doesn’t. It is just an intersection. Every now and then I will run into some random German who is somewhat perplexed as to why I would name my band after an intersection, and I never have a satisfactory answer for them. They usually buy a record from me anyway.

There was a lot of Laibach influence on the first EP with the more pronounced pomp but Isolated And Alone feels a little more raw. Does it feel that way for you and was part of the frustration being in lockdown for periods of time due to covid?

In between the Give Me Nothing EP and the LP I did the D-Beat Raw Synth Punk EP and I think some of the attitude I took into that one came across into the LP. There is more noise, more anger, more distortion and more layers of synth and samples. The Give Me Nothing EP is relatively sparse in comparison, I think. Even the songs that I used on both have changed in that way. I have no idea if my next recording will continue that way or not. I have two new songs in my set now that are not on any records and not only do they not really fit in with either sound, they are not even that similar to each other. I think when I find a bit more time to sit and write I will find a direction to head in next. Give Me Nothing was interesting for me – I was learning the machines I was using and working out how I wanted to express myself with them. I still have a lot to learn but I think I have developed a bit of a workflow. Each song on the GMN EP was written in a completely different way from the others as I tried new things. I hope not to get too settled though. There are a million things I don’t know about making noise and I want to try all of them.

Did you find writing and recording the album easy or was it a labour of love?

Musically, it is not so much easy as natural. I have always written songs in my head along to the sounds I hear around me – that could be the sound of musical instruments but could also be the pumping of the coffee machine, the sound of a train I am sitting on, the slight misalignment in the wheels of my car, the cracking of the machines in a factory I used to work at or the beep beep beep of a laser level. I would write riffs in my head to them. But now I also created the beats based on them. Some songs start with something that is actually musical – a synth line or whatever, but more often than not it is with a percussive pattern which I will put noise or voice samples to, to give it direction. Sometimes this is something traditionally musical – for example on Traitor I had a melody I had recorded on my phone of the painfully loud music played from the Tannoy in the street outside of a funeral in Siem Reap in Cambodia. It is piercing and confronting and played so that everyone in the neighborhood knows the funeral is happening. I had recorded this years ago and then looped it and based the whole speed and layout of the song on that loop. Other times it might be downloaded field recordings that other people have made – from factories, in the street, in conversation…. recently I found some recordings from the deck of a North Sea oil rig and wrote a song around them. From there I will follow up with synth lines – bass, melody (sort of melody anyway), drone etc. For each synth part I will create the sound from scratch. I use an analog synth, so I start with that single wave sound and develop it until I have what I want using both the inbuilt stuff on the synth and the array of distortion pedals I use. In the end – the hard bit is the vocals. I don’t think of myself as a singer. I struggle with my lyrical output. But I have worked out a way to at least write words I can live with and then I vocalise them. I think this is probably the weakest part of my sound but I am coming to terms with it.

The most punk thing in the world is to be found to be subversive by a Communist country, however it must have been galling to have your original pressing of Isolated and Alone confiscated by the Chinese government.

Fuck but this was so weird. I had the records pressed through a broker in Melbourne who uses a pressing plant in China. So we went through the process – sent them my master and they cut it to their stamper plates and sent me the test presses. I was happy enough with them and asked them to continue (all standard up to this point) and then a couple weeks later I got a phone call – the factory had pressed my records and boxed them up to send but before they were sent, they were inspected by some official or another who decided that due to content they were not suitable for export. So they destroyed the lot. Everything. I have heard words like “subversive content” and similar but who really knows? They didn’t like it so I couldn’t have it. So we started again from scratch. New plates, new tests, new records. In the end I am just happy to have them in my hands.

Punk and industrial seem to have, for the most part become the social conscience of the music scene. How do you think this came about and does it resonate with you?

The politics of punk is what got me in there and kept me there. And industrial for me has the same feel. I don’t mean big P politics necessarily – just some kind of social conscience and attitude. Angry music without a conscience is just a temper tantrum and doesn’t hold my attention for long. This is not to say that every song must be a specific political doctrine. There are definitely SK songs that are quite personal but they are still aware of how the personal crosses over to the political.

The proceeds of the album sales are going to a charity that helps and support young Trans people. Tell us about this and what other causes you find yourself drawn to.

Yeah, all digital proceeds go to Transcend. Transcend is run by a wonderful woman named Beck in Melbourne who has been helping young trans people for many years now. I have met her personally a few times at various events but known of her for longer. She and her family are a large part of the reason for some of the trans positive law reform of the last few years. Trans people, and particularly trans youth, are often left out of any conversation on the rights of the population so I figured I would do my small amount to help. I have been involved in various causes over the years both through my music and through my actions – refugee assistance, trans support, anti-racism work, pro-choice advocacy. Mostly stuff where my big mouth and (where necessary) big body can help back up people whose voice is being ignored.

What music formed your formative years and by progression, who do you find now inspires you?

First band I really got into was The Clash. And I still love them now. Although some of my feeling for them has changed – when I first heard them, they seemed quite shouty and punk or whatever. What I really appreciate about them though, and how their influence has stuck with me over the years was their willingness to try different things and go in different musical directions and to create new sounds. From there I went through the normal run of punk bands that one does – Sex Pistols, Exploited, Siouxsie, SLF etc until one day in about 1987 when I was in hospital for an extended visit and one night nurse turned up with a tape he had made for me from a punk radio show – this opened my eyes to so much amazing music – Subhumans, Conflict, and Crass for a start but also bands like Puke from Sweden and then further down into European hardcore. I guess that was a pretty life changing moment for a 15 year old. Now days I feel I am getting inspired by something new every day. All the time I am coming across so much amazing music being made by people from around the world. From grindcore like Self Deconstruction (Japan) to evil doomy sludgy stuff like Religious Observance or Whitehorse (Melbourne) to dark curst bands like Ego (Germany) or black metal like Black Kirin and Zuriaake from China to weirdness out of the States like Hustler or whatever. Pretty much not a day goes past where someone doesn’t go “hey Kieren – check this!” and there is always something incredible attached. There is so much amazing music being created right now and most of it is available directly from the bands on their Bandcamp.

You have tour dates established for the East Coast of Australia, so what will be the plans for SK after the tour? Will there be another album and/or were there rumblings about touring overseas at some point?

So, yeah, after the tour… I am not sure. I really want to go and play in Europe. I have toured there with various hardcore bands I have been in, but I would very much like to take SK over there. Of course, that depends on what happens with the virus though. If it starts to settle, I will start looking at booking shows there. I am trying not to put too much mental energy into that yet though. Likewise, I was going to go to NZ but that is out for now. I want to add more to my Australian travels. I haven’t been to Tasmania or W.A with SK yet so will get that happening. My next recording I am not sure what I will do with that. Maybe a split with someone inappropriate. Maybe an ill advised single. I don’t really know. But I will keep going and keep creating stuff until it becomes too much like work and then I will stop. Can’t see that happening in a hurry though.

Thank you so very much for your time and looking forward to the latest tour!

Thanks for the interview. See you soon!

https://dorfpunk.bandcamp.com/album/isolated-and-alone

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A new single has dropped for Norwegian band, Painted Romans called “In The Hour Of Fear“. Thomas Sejnæs (bass), Jan Ottar Nystad (keyboards) and original member Mats Davidsen (vocals, guitar, drum programming) making up the dark, post-punk/pop styling that is Painted Romans, who have been active since 2007 with an array of albums but are finding their niche in the renewed interest in post-punk.

PAINTED ROMANS

Oh my, Davidsen is giving us the deep and gravelly gothic vocal treatment along with those 80s inspired guitars and hooks. The synths give a mysterious air in the background while the guitars chime out, unmissable and constant. Lyrically there almost seems to be a list of the types of people found in a horror movie, the types that get picked off one by one by some mysterious entity.

I love the guitar work in this because jangly guitar is very much a staple of the post-punk scene, though vocally I was reminded of the deep male vocals of many of the early 90s European goth bands. So, you might not be in need of a fright or even a bite but there is always time “In The Hour Of Fear“.

https://paintedromans.bandcamp.com/track/in-the-hour-of-fear-single

https://www.facebook.com/paintedromans/

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Sometimes you are privileged enough to meet extraordinary people who are talented, make a difference in the world around them and most importantly are very human. Kieren Hills is definitely one of those rare humans. From Lawson, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, he runs the label Dorfpunk, Dark Horse is his crust punk project, he has turned his hand to gothic fare with Death Church and has been involved in the music industry for a fair while. Schkeuditzer Kreuz is his one man industrial project and the first full length album, Isolated And Alone, was released on the 14th of December, which is a follow up to the EP, Give Me Nothing. I once described the music style as very Laibach and it still is but those harsh elements of industrial are very much present.

KIEREN HILLS -SCHKEUDITZER KREUZ

The song that kicks this off is the single “Broken“. From the start, you are going into Hills’ world with the warning that this is the representation of a brief psychotic episode. Massive reverb flies with the static, consuming your ears as the vocals savage your brain. It is the explanation of an episode where everything is over stimulating, you don’t want to die but the effort to actually live seems far too hard. The klaxons hail in “Warning” that has the drum machine pounding away as the music blares in.

All shall be reduced to the same particles of dust when the “Wraith” comes. The synths are almost ear bleeding in their pitch and give a sensation of dysphoria. All is lost as love and hope are wiped away to be replaced with fear and ultimately nothing. “State Violence State Control” has the blaring sirens of Australian emergencies services screaming in the background (so this is not the sort of song I will play in the car while driving because it always scares the crap out of me!!). If the title is familiar, that is because it is a cover of punk legends, Discharge, who are the godfathers of d-beat and this was also released on a split single but since then reworked and mastered for the album. It is every bit as angry as the original version, in electronic form, throwing two finger in the air to politicians, cronies and violent suppression of the masses.

Normally an interlude is a short piece to give the audience a break with some light music, that then soon gets back to the main entertainment or a bridge. “Interlude” is the interlude you are going to get and you better just hunker down and stick to the programme. It starts lightly enough with flowing synths before the rhythm picks up and Kieren informs you – It’s happened before It’s happened before And millions have died And millions have died And millions have died And millions of people have died. A warning that history is repeating itself because people either don’t want to see it or don’t educate themselves. The vocals bring forth visions of holocausts, military coups/enforcement, genocide and war.

Full of loathing and dark thoughts is “Disappointment” starting slowly and picks up speed as the those thoughts become a swirling overload. There is a beautiful synth line hidden within if one listens closely. It is like a veritable scream of fury into the aether, with the metallic beats. When someone refused to go to war because they were a conscientious objector, they were called cowards and “Traitors” to their country because they didn’t want to carry a gun and kill their own kind. Their is an urgency to this track like life itself depends on movement. Fittingly, the “Last Dance” is the final track and the track about finality. When the end comes will you have the last embracing waltz into the darkness? So I guess in a way though it sounds bleak there is a romantic side to it as well.

I am privileged to call this man a friend though I had seen him live before I had met him. In short his show blew us away. He is warm and charming, loves his family, music and pottering around in his garden because it brings him closer to nature. These things are also his sanctuary from the world and especially the last two years have been mentally difficult for many people.

100% of proceeds from digital sales will go to Transcend to help create a world where Trans, Gender Diverse and Non-Binary children are embraced and given every opportunity to thrive and flourish – the man has a beautiful heart and a keen ear.

Get in quick if you want the vinyl or cassette as they always go fast. Just to prove how hard core Schkeuditzer Kreuz truly are, the original pressings of the vinyl were done in China, finished and then confiscated after some complete and utter bastard had a listen, ending up in the whole batch being deemed subversive. That is so punker that thou. It’s an emotional roller-coaster but its well worth every moment and maybe you will find it as cathartic as Kieren Hills does because in the end we are not so Isolated And Alone.

https://dorfpunk.bandcamp.com/album/isolated-and-alone

Schkeuditzer Kreuz | Facebook

Distributors –

Bad Habit Records | Facebook Bad Habit Records

https://alreadybrokenrecords.bandcamp.com/album/isolated-and-alone Already Broken Records | Facebook

Pyrrhic Defeat Records (limitedrun.com) Pyrrhic Defeat Records | Facebook

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We seem to ending the year with an explosion of great gothic fare and New York’s Crimson Brûlée released their debut EP onto the world on December the 7th. Gustavo Lapis Ahumada explained how the band came about…

It was early 2019, Billy Keith and I were sitting around in the studio listening to tracks from our new EP at the time, “Don’t Let Go”. As we listened, the idea of incorporating keyboards into our band “The Witch-Kings” came up. There was only one person that came to mind and that was Nicole Eres from my first band “Bitter Grace”.

Sadly, halfway into the night it had become obvious that the chemistry wasn’t there. Out of respect for our brothers in “The Witch-Kings” we decided just to assemble another project keeping the Kings intact along with its dark, heavy-handed guitar-only vibe.

Nicole, Billy, and I got together to play and it was magic. We then chose Crimson Brûlée as the official name. After the departure of our bassist, Johan, we picked up Jaime Filomio on bass and then Oscar Arias on guitars later on.

The synergy and the tunes were fantastic – more melodic and brighter, yet painfully melancholic. Then in early 2021, we got word that Johan had passed away. A real tough loss, as he was a brilliant musician and one of the coolest cats ever.

We spent the latter half of 2020 through 2021 recording our EP “Tragica” which was released in December. The EP is dedicated to Johan. It is important to us to play live shows in 2022.  

Crimson Brûlée

“I Came Back To You” is the first single to be lifted from the EP and it is has one of those really joyous choruses that belies the actual horrifying reality that someone forgave the person that they love of any misdemeanor. Talk about a suffering for love. But this really is a jewel of a song with the female backing vocals and wonderful guitars. The ominous electronics bring in the monstrous “Nothing Dies Forever“. This is goth and roll with all the trimmings of horror references and undying love.

There is the brooding darkness of what has been in “Restrained” while you will endeavour to find “Where Tarantulas Roam” which is yet another corker of song. The rhythm section is heavy and fluid while there is is a sublime mix of synths and vocals, an unholy religious experience. “Why I Wear Black” is probably the most electronic heavy of all the tracks as the synths duel with the guitars. It reminds me a lot of the movie The Lost Boys with the vampire references and the struggles of a vampire hunter.

The rest of the EP contains four radio friendly edited versions of the first four songs or in other words shortened versions. In a way it is a shame to cut these tracks back as they are good the way they stand. After all no one told Bauhaus “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” was too long and Andrew Eldritch decided “Temple of Love” should get a twelve minute remix and both always fill dance floors. I can hear why there is the comparison to The Awakening both vocally and musically. The combination of electronics with solid guitars and those strong vocals just ticks all the boxes. This is a really strong debut and gothic rock is undead and doing it with style.

https://crimsonbrle.bandcamp.com/album/tragica

Crimson Brulee | Facebook

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Industrial music actually covers a lot of scope, from heavy dance music to experimental, ambient noise and this is where we introduce British band, Decommissioned Forests. So far there have only been singles released by the three men behind the project, though the latest single, “Ants Part 1” will be on their debut album Industry.

DECOMMISSIONED FORESTS

From the start you can hear the undeniable homage to Coil in their spoken word phase and Rael’s utterances are uncannily like the late John Balance. Ants Part 1 (Our Last Supper) is just over nine minutes long and is like a dissonant journey that seems pleasant, yet the lyrics are the disembodied oddities of strange and disturbing sequences. The one running thread is the ants running riot over the picnic as they transcend the existence of this plane it seems. The band agreed the track “Functional Programming For Humans” was their favourite to play in the studio.The low tones almost could the far off church organ while the quirky sounds could be firing synapses while the commentary is how not feel any emotion like an automaton unless it is turned on. Grand soundscape with cold barren wept vistas. The last song is “Base” and the first bars start like a droning sea shanty though this drone is sinister and full of loathing as the piano enforces it’s disappointment.

Decommissioned Forests (is) the result of friendships going back to the beginnings of this century and a shared love of the darker post-industrial world of Coil, Current 93, Cabaret Voltaire and Nurse With Wound. In this collaboration, Daniel Vincent (of cult space rockers The Resonance Association) handles the music, ably abetted by Howard Gardner (the multi-media artist behind Non-Bio, Pillars of Golden Misery and Down With Freedom), whilst the vocals are channeled by Max Rael (the lynch pin of post-industrial noiseniks History of Guns) – Decommissioned Forests bio says it better than I can. You can hear those influences so clearly in the music these guys create and there is definitely a passion for the genre. There is a timelessness in a way to Decommissioned Forests, not only the themes but expressions of love, loss, life and always the ants.

https://decommissionedforests.bandcamp.com/album/ants-part-1

Decommissioned Forests | Facebook

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Black Doldrums are from London and since their inception, self released their first EP, before signing to Club C30 and releasing two EPs on that label in 2018. 2021 saw the duo sign to Fuzz Club Records, become a trio and now fans are eagerly awaiting the debut album, Dead Awake, but in the meanwhile the first single has been dropped this month called “Sad Paradise“.

BLACK DOLDRUMS

I am just going to put it out there, these guys could have listened to a lot of Joy Division and lead singer, Kevin Gibbard’s vocals are a dead ringer for Ian Curtis. Like Curtis, his voice is deep and emotive which spoke to a legion of young people of the day and still does. A song about watching people float through life without really leaving anything remarkable to show for their existence. The music is glorious and pulls at your heart imperceptibly with the guitar chiming out and the driving rhythm section. Some of the progressions reminded me a lot of Echo And The Bunnymen or Jesus and Mary Chain which is never a bad thing with the psychedelic swirling guitar noise.

Jared Artaud of Vacant Lots, who are also on Fuzz Club, produced and mixed the new album, which is due for release in March 2022 and so far he has done a sterling job. So we wait to hear this debut album but if the single is indicative, it’s going to be a lush affair.

https://blackdoldrums.bandcamp.com/album/dead-awake

Black Doldrums | Facebook

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Right, this might be the only time I do one of these reviews, but we will get back to that later. Thanatos is a dark electric/acoustic project that started in the 80’s between Sam Rosenthal and Patrick Ogle. November 26th found us with a new album called….. Country Covered. Yep. I was kind of dared into doing this by one Michel Rowland before I realised it was country music. The pedigree is there. Gothy band, recorded in William Faith’s (Faith & The Muse, Christian Death) 13 Studio and mixed at Martin Bowes‘ (Attrition) Cage Studio. What have I gotten myself into? Poop!

PATRICK OGLE – THANATOS

The album is the brain child of Patrick Ogle, who obviously loves country music or the fact he finds the craftsmanship of the music exceptional. There are nine tracks in total and they are all played on acoustic guitar by Ogle as he sings. There seems to be everything from oldies by Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt to more modern tunes. As with all country songs they cover a gamut of subjects that most other genre don’t. The loneliness of the wilderness, riding the open plains, gun slinging and bar brawls to missing your loved ones while working the land or simply watching the sky turn shades of orange, pink and hues of blue, as the sun disappears while you sit in your encampment.

The single off Country Covered is “Seminole Wind” was composed and originally sung by John Anderson in 1992 about Florida’s destruction and loss of the natural habitat that supports the ecosystem. The vocals and tone in this new version remind me a lot of legendary Man In Black aka Johnny Cash. The whole album is beautifully produced and it does almost feel like you are at a campsite around a roaring fire in the cool night air. Ogles’s performance never wavers nor does it ever sound like his heart is not there. For me, I grew up for the first six years of my life in small country towns where the music of choice was country and western as it was known back then. For some reason, even though I heard John Denver and the rhinestone cowboy, Glenn Campbell, all my life, I find it a really challenging genre to like and to this end, I am definitely no expert. If you found yourself in awe of what Johnny Cash did to Nine Inch Nails then you may very well find that this collection of country song soothes your soul. You will find this Thanatos album on the Projekt label and it name you price download.

Covered Country (name-your-price) | Thanatos | Projekt Records (bandcamp.com)

Thanatos – Projekt (facebook.com)

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Michael Gillman (Gillie) and Daniel Allen are the brothers that make up the band Dirt Factory. Gillie is in Brisbane and Allen lives in Melbourne which means since the outbreak of the plague (covid) they have been in lockdowns for well over a year and unable to meet up or play live gigs unless doing them solo. This hasn’t slowed them down one iota because December the 3rd saw the third album released in two years, called Systems Deleted on Brisbane based label Viral Records Australia. Interestingly Dirt Factory almost exclusively use analogue equipment.

MICHAEL GILLMAN & DANIEL ALLEN – DIRT FACTORY

Oh yes from the start you can already hear how good this really is. “Delete The System” growls Allen, ‘fuck your commands‘ over rampaging rhythms that give this it’s bang. Second single, “Microscopic“, has guest, Roger Menso (ex-Dogmachine) on guitar and good grief, this is a new level Dirt Factory. It is a grimy, sexy beast of a song that takes your breathe away and gives you shivers up your spine. Allen sounds like a very angry dalek that has fully gone industrial and it sounds brilliant. Dirt Factory want to “Factory Assimilate” you and quite frankly I can think of worse things to do as the music beast down in industrial precision convincing you that you will obey. There is something symphonic and other worldly about “Hammer“. It experiments with low tones that sound like abused piano wires and high synths in direct opposition, while Allen is the bloody butcher. The original single is “Crash Landing“, because you know they are out there and they have those stellar synth lines and beats. Yes the aliens are here and you can listen to a report of an eyewitness and Allen’s inhuman screams.

Swallow the pill and “Suck It Up” is a dirge ridden number and I honestly can hear far too much innuendo. “Dive” is just a superb piece with sweeping electronics that fritter out and arc around you like electrical tendrils. Soundscape mixed with such hostile vocals. Jethro Hilliard (RAZRWHIP) guests on this track providing drums and sound effects. This has to be one of my favourite tracks on the albums. But wait, they then slam us with “Digital Media” with guitar provided by another member of RAZRWHIP, Johnny Ryall, who nails the electronic fuzzy tones that help propel this forward in real rock style. The next track is all about the animated dead…spooky. “Flesh” is horror inspired zombie fare with glitching beats and vocals as they stalk you. In the “Exstream” they are observing you, surveillance of every aspect of your life and you can be brainwashed but are you too involved in the conspiracies? Final eleventh track is “Ghosts” and this just is just a great bouncing track and probably the most reminiscent of Skinny Puppy and it pumps.

I love what they have done with Allen’s vocals and Gillie is just so talented with synths. This is a monster of an album, again beautifully mastered at NyteShayde by Menso. If this doesn’t get your heart rate up then you might be dead. The really scary part is that I already know that the lads have almost finished their fourth album which is both mind blowing and disturbing all at the same time. Gillman also revealed that the next album is already darker. So before they stab their way repeatedly with rhythmic timing through your chest, do listen to “Systems Deleted” because it kicks arse.

https://dirtfactory.bandcamp.com/album/systems-deleted

Dirt Factory | Facebook

https://nyteshaydemusic.bandcamp.com/

NyteShayde | Facebook

https://viralrecordsau.bandcamp.com/

Viral Records Australia | Facebook

https://viralrecords.com.au/

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New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town and it is also where you will find the goth/post-punk band Black Rose Burning. George Grant is Black Rose Burning and on the 17th of November, which was incidentally Grant’s birthday, he released his second album called The Wheel.

GEORGE GRANT – BLACK ROSE BURNING

We start with “An Anthem For The Strange“, which is shy of two minutes. The album’s intro is short and sweet with the the sentiment that those who are different from the norm have a place in this world. “Black Sun Saturday” is a lament of being taken for granted and dealing with the pain. The chorus is catchy and the harmonies just make you melt. There is something about the beginning of “No Love Lost” that reminds me of The Cure, thought that doesn’t last for long, especially when the fuzzy tones kick in. An ode to a relationship in which there was no give and only take/demands.

Ever been involved with a person where you hung in but the other just made you wonder how long this will all last? “A Little Too Little” is the track with Grant imploring how much more do you want me to take, which is a glorious mix of electronic and guitar. There is the forever love song, “Antonia” which is so upbeat and even has a guitar solo which is pulled off very nicely. There is a futuristic feel to “Gravity Drive” and though the synths sparkle brightly, they belie a sadness and pain in the lyrics.

I am not utterly sure about “Automatic Man” but I truly believe it is going to one of those songs that different people are going to hear different things that are pertinent to them as it is a very passionate piece. Track eight is a cover of a favourite song of mine by The Buzzcocks, “Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn’t Have Fallen In Love With?“. This is a really interesting interpretation and that to me is a good thing because if you are going to cover a song then you need to put yourself into that piece.

Next is “Lightspeed” and although Grant’s voice is nothing like David Bowie’s, I could honestly hear him singing this. It has a sonic, 70s glam element as we hurtle through space. The title track, “The Wheel” is the turning of time, as things change and the challenge of living free. “Every Single Time” hits like it is straight out of the 80s and musically it reminds me of Orchestral Moves In The Dark. A piece about when people dissolve a relationship but one is left with a broken heart wondering what could have been and thinking about the loss of what was. The final track is “Solar Angels” and you can’t help but imagine the wonderful trip with the references to celestial bodies as we leave into the night sky.

Black Rose Burning has the elements of post-punk such as the jangly guitars and the keyboards and yet there seems to so much more going on. Grant cites bands like Sisters Of Mercy and more so The Church as big influences on his music which I can hear in the composition of the music. Space might be the final frontier but Black Rose Burning are already stellar.

https://blackroseburning.bandcamp.com/album/the-wheel

Black Rose Burning | Facebook

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The ancient Greeks believed in mythical beings that sang to weary sailors, drawing them to their beautiful voices but in the end only offered death called sirens. ODDKO are an act from Los Angeles and have been around since 2011. 26th of November saw the release of the single “Siren Song“, with the man behind it all, Giovanni Bucci being joined by Francesco Paoli (Fleshgod Apocalypse) and Dave Tavanti (Kpanic) to record the EP, Digital Gods. Bucci is also known for being a filmmaker and specializing in special effects.

GIOVANNI BUCCI – ODDKO

“Siren Song” is very much about the commercialism of society, so much so the release date coincided with Black Friday.. An observation about people who feel that life will never complete if they don’t own the latest or the newest product. The producers get rich, those that consume poorer and the environment pays the biggest price in all this greed.

This video is a pretty show of virtual special effects which obviously this is due to Bucci’s prowess in this field but I have to say, he actually writes a mean tune as well. I am trying to put my finger on what I like about this track. Is it the catchy chorus? The orchestration? The huge guitar riffs that thunder through or is it Bucci’s passionate vocals? It is more than likely a combination of this and the theme they are pushing home.

https://oddko.bandcamp.com/album/siren-song

ODDKO | Facebook

http://oddko.com/about/