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Do you like a bit of trip hop and acid wave with you dark synth? Then Brisbane’s Mercy of Dawn might be what you have been waiting for. December was the release for ROTM 2.5: Dark Pentecost /// Lux Infernum. Trust me when I say you cannot type that fast without checking. Mercy of Dawn is also the human behind experimental noise project Disfigured Mistress. I could tell you who this is but then I would have to zodiac mind wipe you all.

The album consists of eight tracks and we are going to focus on two that have trippy visualisers. “Neon Babalon /// Lux Mendax” encapsulates trip hop, mixing it with modern pop, along with ambient industrial noise. There is a female vocalist who would not sound strange in a top 10 popular radio single, though the track itself undulates between electronic tranquillity and peeling rhythms that go in and out of syncopation.

The title “The 6th Sun /// Lux In Absentia” is an interesting juxtaposition, where the 6th sun could refer to the Aztec calendar which is about awakening, however the Latin lux means light and absentia means absence. At times, there is almost a taste of the Middle East, exotic and intangible, within the hypnotic beats and repetitive flow that drift and beguile, though there is always something unsettling beneath all of it… something off kilter that gnaws at the back of your mind.

Ambient trip hop? Industrial modern pop? Why be confined to one genre when you can indulge?! I think in the end, only Mercy Of Dawn truly knows the deeper meaning within ROTM 2.5: Dark Pentecost /// Lux Infernum, and it does have a spiritual oddness, but that might just be the thing to scratch that itch.

ROTM 2.5: Dark Pentecost /// Lux Infernum | Mercy Of Dawn

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Hamartia means a fatal flaw in relation to a hero, and flawed heroes are very prominent in Greek mythology. Hamartia – Part One is also the new EP from Teknovore, aka George Klontzas, who also often steeps his techno industrial music in the Greco mythos he grew up with. The EP consists of five tracks and is out on the Infacted Recordings label.

The title track, “Hamartia” kicks this all off, with tribal rhythms that could rattle your teeth and shake a dancefloor, and there are glimmers of acid house synths in the mix, reminiscent of The Shamen and Prodigy. It is a whirlwind of electronics, with occasional female vocals.

The ancient Greeks believed in “Ekyprosis” or the intermittent destruction of the universe by fire, also known as conflagration, and then follows renewal. It hits like a burst of energy and plays a news reel about the dangers of Raves on the teenage mind. Maybe this is the destruction of the world as the parents knew it, when their children found a new reason to be, burning through the rave culture.

French duo Moaan Exis, feature on “Disclose,” giving the track a far more heavier and harsher industrial sound, as it throbs and bounces between revelation and gritty repulsion. The vocals want to reel you in with emotional attachment and then in the next moment revile you.

There is deception at hand with “Coercion” as it leads you down the dance path, towards…. what? The music is techno brilliance, that builds and swells, with an intermittent female vocalist, who stays perfectly in rhythm, hinting at the murky company being kept.

Last track is the entrancing “Autonomy,” featuring Marie L. Dragontown, better known for her project name Grabyourface, Dragontown lends her smouldering spoken words to the heavily techno orientated music, with a serious and very current underlaying message about targeting people for their nationality, faith and sexual preferences. When the personal becomes completely impersonal.

There is nothing flawed about this EP, and especially not the hero of our story, Klontzas. Hamartia is rich in electronic sounds that vary from techno and rave, through to cyber industrial and EBM. The beauty is that this is Part 1, so technically there is more Teknovore waiting in the wings to take us on another epic odyssey.

Hamartia (Part One) | TeknoVore

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How can you turn down listening to a track called ‘An Industrial Disco Revenge Hymn‘? That line of words is like catnip and connected to the new single “Dead To You” by Brisbane project ÚMBRIEL. James Halloran is ÚMBRIEL and “Dead To You” is the second single off soon to be released debut album The Signs.

PHOTO BY MORGAN ROBERTSc

Halloran and a piano, is the introduction, like a cabaret performer, breathing life into a story in a darkened club, and it sounds like a tragedy with the crooned out lyrics ‘now she’s just a headline on the news..’ Rhythmic staccato style stutters that are instantly attention catching. Layers of harmonising vocals immerse your senses, while the music builds in sound between the electronic beats and inorganic stardust of the synths.

The vocals are perfection and I suspect Halloran has had training in stage singing, and if not, throw them a bouquet of roses anyway. This is a song crafted around the memory of a female friend, gone too soon, both emotional and yet, it feels like a celebration of this life that deserves to never to be forgotten. “Dead To You” is an ode to a being who lives in treasured memories, and do you truly fade away if never forgotten? ÚMBRIEL burns bright and fabulous in the genius “Dead To You.”

Dead To You | ÚMBRIEL

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Melbourne’s Velatine are going from strength to strength, solidifying their line-up of founding member Loki Lockwood and vocalist Holly Purnell, and at the end of March, releasing the single “Whisper Park,” out on Spooky Records. This is Velatine covering Velatine, as “Whisper Park” was originally released in 2022, though now it has become a different beast.

We are going Fields of the Nephilim style, with that southern gothic guitar twang, and the track builds and builds on itself in thick waves of powering guitars and welling drums. Purnell is sultry and makes “Whisper Park” her domain, inhabiting it with her drawled vocals, like she embodies the personality of Marlene Dietrich.

‘We’re aligned on where we want to go, how we want to be seen, even our basic thoughts on humanity connect. It’s spooky.‘ – Loki Lockwood

The original version, which you should check still check out as well, is very much more electronic, whilst this latest is far heavier, imbued with a streetwise griminess, as if “Whisper Park” is the place to meet all those weird goth kids, and, of course, Velatine. It is not a whisper, but rather a call to the disenfranchised.

Whisper Park | Velatine

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VELATINE (@velatineinc) • Instagram photos and videos

@velatine | VELATINE – For our fans 🖤🌹 [gothic / | Beacons

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Italy’s Christine Plays Viola dropped their latest album F.I.V.E, also known as Fear Increases Violent Emotion back in January, and now have released the single “Desolate Moments,” out on Cleopatra Records.

There is a definite slow maudlin air to the track, slow and deliberate. The guitars trace up and down the scale building tension and the synths are the light lifeline that sparkle in between. The vocals almost feel in sync with the drums, creating a heartbeat, sown with regret and a forlornness.

Classic goth. A dirge about contemplating promises unkept and love lost, and possibly my only complaint is that I wish during the chorus, the synths could have been bulked up to sound like a church organ…. yeah, I might be asking a bit much, but I could hear it in my head! Christine Plays Viola makes beautiful music, even in the “Desolate Moments.”

F.I.V.E. Fear Increases Violent Emotions | Christine Plays Viola

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Christine Plays Viola – Official Website | The Dark Is Coming

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We love a big event and a single is big news, especially when it is a bit of a humdinger on aviation fuel. USA punkers Forsaken Profits have thrown the new track “Knives” into the bulls’ eye, out on Anything But Radio Records.

It is an attack of the berserk guitars and thrashing drums from the start. The lead vocals growl the lyrics, asserting an anger and need for release from his growing torment. The harmonising singers in the background are the punk equivalent of doowop, as the track thunders along, and we ride to the end of the line with the pain train.

A sharp blade can excise a malignant growth, but slicing away at a brain sounds like trying to forget there is a issue. Remember kids, that playing with sharp objects can be dangerous, unless it is listening to the Forsaken Profits, as they stab you in the ears with “Knives.”

Knives | Forsaken Profits

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Steve Vil is Elektrikill, and March saw the release of the My Salvation mixes. Elektrikill is a dark electronic project hailing from New Jersey and “My Salvation” is off the not yet released album Küntzpiracy, though the EVOL Music Group.

PHOTO BY JAIME BENTON

Come hither ye seeming heretics of the faith, as your sins shall feed his salvation, as per the lyrics spouting perversion as an ideal, and really, what a way to go… The synths and rhythms hold a dark urgency, selling the narrative in a swirling push towards the edge of the dancefloor. Vil is the voice of devil sitting on your shoulder luring you into sin.

There is a very stylish video, mostly set in a beautiful curated gothic home and it is just the warm up for the extended remix of the single, which is just as infectious, and the added extra of the previously unreleased track “Unspeakable.” Music is “My Salvation” so get down and dirty with Elektrikill.

My Salvation Mixes | Elektrikill

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Dave McAnally’s Sys Machine is back with his third album dropping in April, called Parts Unknown. Sys Machine has found a home with Glitch Mode Recordings, which has the extra benefit of drawing on the expertise of fellow Glitchers Sean Payne and Brad Huston for programming, mixing & production, while the artwork over the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland is by Jim Marcus.

Kimberly Kornmeier (Bow Ever Down) is the guest vocalist for two tracks, with one of them being the single “Fading.” Her voice is very recognisable and plaintive in the track, which is a slow burn with a emotional depth in the synths, reflecting back the lyrics.

The latest single “Shallow” is anything but, with a southern flavour of the lone cowboy in an electronic modern world, and there is a powerful message to be had. Do you believe what you are told to believe or do you trust your own eyes? This is a sentiment Orwell pushed and it still rings so true today.

“Doubtless” struck me, though leaning into Depeche Mode stylings, it really made me think of Project Pitchfork both vocally, rhythmically and flirting with the interludes of guitar and piano. I think this is an epic track and sublime in how it seems to make your soul want to take flight.

I know McAnally’s previous albums shed light onto how he sees things in the bigger world, but this album seems far closer to home. The inner struggle so to speak. And the music is not quite the more wham bam style, influenced by 90s industrial rock of yore, as it feels more reflective and synth based. We often fear the unknown when we are younger, and as we age some will run from it, while others will embrace it and welcome the adventure. Unknown Parts is Sys Machine’s growth into something wonderful.

Parts Unknown | .SYS Machine

Facebook – Sys Machine

Music | Glitch Mode Recordings

Facebook – Glitch Mode Recordings

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A new single from Californian post-punk trio, Black Market Heart has crashed landed, and it is also the title of their soon to be released new album. Spencer Robinson (guitar, vocals), Tina Brugnoletti (bass, vocals) and Shawn Medina (drums) are going to tell you about “What Happens In The Dark.”

You know you are in for a good time when you start with guitar feedback and it just never lets up from there. The drums set a cracking pace, that the guitars are more than happy to keep up with. There are lyrics about how the darkness is the vampiric happy place and boo hiss at that abysmal burning fireball we call the sun, with the vocals taking equal delight in boisterously telling you all about it.

There is something genuinely joyous in this single and in top punk form, it doesn’t quite make the two minute mark, which just means you get to play it again for good measure. I imagine this is what the band sounds like live, and even this recording has that ambiance of all members being in the studio at the same time. There is definitely strong echoes of The Jesus and Mary Chain in the noisy reverb, the vocals and the nicely left in iconic amp buzzing. There is no fear in the shadows, for as Black Market Heart know, “What Happens In The Dark,” stays in the dark, and what a great track to kick off an album!.

What Happens in the Dark | Black Market Heart

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Gostrail is a project from Estonia, by Marcus Pertel and they create experimental, ambient drone music. The single “Obsidian Halls” was released in the beginning of March, and has been joined by the newest single “Winter Stasis” also dropping in March.

“Obsidian Halls” slowly grows in strength, vibrating and distorting, feeding upon itself as in takes form, filling the ancient halls with sonic vibrations, that can be felt in your chest. It is slow and consistent, the electronics working their way into every crevasse and fissure, while you can imagine the glassy surface of the obsidian pulsating and bending the reflected images. Is this going to be for everyone? Well, no is the simple answer, however for those that adore ambient drone, Gostrail will hit the sweet spot.

▶︎ Obsidian Halls | Gostrail

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