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One of the beautiful aspects of the dark alternative scene is the inclusiveness for the disenfranchised, acceptance of sexualities and ethnic backgrounds. Second Idol are a group from Sydney, on the Gloomshift Records label, who play post-punk music and exemplify that diversity can create wonderful music. Kate Farquharson (vocals, guitars), Theia Joyeaux (bass), Sunny Josan (guitars) and Afeef Iqbal (drums, percussion) are Second Idol and they dropped a new single in October, called “Spineless Wonders.”

Nice, heavy bass is an instant attention grabber, before the drums clatter in and we are met by the swirling guitar. The vocals are strong and there is resemblance to the singing style of Brian Molko (Placebo). The chorus has teeth, with a veritable cacophony of guitar noise and it is glorious.

There is also a remix by INAUGURAL, who are label mates, and it has a dreamy, echoing texture. Think Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Fireworks” as a reference, and that somewhat gives you an idea of how excellent it is.

“Spineless Wonders” is sonically perfect, and there is a very professional music video, directed, shot and edited by Jack Fontes, in black and white, full of sexual tension and innuendo. It is a song about those that present as something they are not, who lie and have no honour, which seems to be more pertinent than ever in the modern world of social media. Don’t be a “Spineless Wonder” and listen to Second Idol.

Spineless Wonders | Second Idol

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New single SPINELESS WONDERS out now | SECOND IDOL

SECOND IDOL (@second_idol) • Instagram photos and videos

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Let’s go back to January of this year and visit an EP from Copenhagen’s Sanity Overdrive called god.clear (). The man behind this project is Paweł Mielcarek (Anthropoid Idol, ex-Haemorrhagic Diarrhea), and he meshes dark synthwave with nihilistic industrial.

We kick off with the short lived intro “Invocatio,” which leads into “L’autoportrait binaire,” filled with the drone of an electric guitar, the focal piece, while the synths is the softer foil, making the grinding guitar even more aggressive as it gathers speed.

The electronic knocking rhythm is soon joined by the guitar in “Nur-noch-leben,” building up the growing suspense. The air is becoming thick with the ever pervading pressure of the pounding beats and driving guitar.

The final track is the galvanic “Black Screen,” as the guitar buzzes angrily with the pounding beat. It is a cohesive explosive attack from a well oiled machine, asserting its dominance, thundering in fury, with the ominous synths raising the foreboding portent of something this way coming.

There is a bleakness to the music that the industrial aspect feeds into and the synthwave is often used as the emotive over tones, seeking to coat each track in variants of darkness. Sanity Overdrive’s gods.clear() EP is an abrasive sonic journey.

gods.clear() | Sanity Overdrive

Sanity Overdrive (@sanityoverdrive.bsky.social) — Bluesky

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Melbourne’s Velatine are back with a new single, as well as a new singer. Loki Lockwood dropped the single “Oh See Me, The Siren,” with Holly Purnell debuting as the vocalist.

‘I love coats, leather coats, biker jackets, military coats, I’m obsessed. So I’m down the local thrift shop and trying on some women’s furs [love them too]. But I never seem to find the right one but I try. I put one on, the sleeves are too short, I push them up and I hear someone say ‘looks cool’. I turn around and I’m looking at this striking woman who says to me ‘you’re looking for a singer aren’t you’? ‘How do you know’? I replied.  ‘I’ve seen your ad and I’ve been thinking about it’. Why hasn’t she I think? She looks the part so I ask. I get the ‘not sure whether I’m good enough or my voice is right’. ‘Well if you don’t try you’ll forever wonder’ I say.’ – Loki Lockwood

In the video, our siren Holly is saturated in deep red tones, and somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a knocking. Something familiar and then it hits me. She reminds me of a young Shirley Manson and not just vocally. The attitude is sassy and she is not going to put up with anyone’s preconceptions. In that vein, the music is equal parts sneering nonchalance and peerless seduction, for this composition created by Lockwood.

Lockwood has used synths in the chorus in such a way that heightens the feeling of suffocation and in his chameleon way, he has the ability to fluidly change from gothic rock to a more electronic sound, and everything in between, without a second thought, which keeps everything fresh. It seems Velatine might have found their gothic goddess in Holly and this means there are exciting things in the works. Find yourself drawn to “Oh See Me, The Siren,” because no one can resist creatures of the night.

Oh See Me – The Siren | Velatine

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– VELATINE – Gothic | Darkwave

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“Cold Heart” is the debut single from Vox Umbra, a darkwave project started in 2025 by Tiffany in Seattle, USA and Florian from Amiens, France. A song for those who want to lose themselves in an ancient forest and live with the sprites, for the world of men can be cruel.

Tiffany’s vocals are the first to gift our ears, with a lilting quality that adds to the romantic ambient quality of the music. Like in a dream, Florian chimes in with the vocalised lament of the psychological damage done. Both singers are mesmerising in the way they compliment each other.

The accompanying video is beautifully made with pagan/wiccan overtones. The feminine is delicate and otherworldly, while the masculine is more forceful, yet questioning, but what ever is happening, you are focused utterly on the singers of Vox Umbra. The music itself is simply there floating in the background for atmosphere. The debut “Cold Heart” is a magical darkwave introduction to Vox Umbra.

Cold Heart (Single) | Vox Umbra

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𝐕𝐎𝐗 𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐑𝐀 (@voxumbramusic) • Instagram photos and videos

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Diana Ringo is a Finnish film maker, who also makes avant-garde post-punk music. She released in August the single teaser “Happy Mealz” off the album Cyberwolf, which dropped in October. You might say, Onyx, you are a bit late….*pointed stare ensues*…. aaaaand you would be correct, but we aren’t talking about that. It is all about this cool single “Happy Mealz.”

Ringo’s vocals are unique, with the closest comparison I have being Diamanda Galas when she is hitting them low notes with her keening tones, matched with the spoken word veracity of Nico. It instantly spins you around after hearing the intro of sparkling synthwave and wailing guitar.

Is “Happy Mealz” about the children’s boxed meal that comes with a plastic toy from the place with the golden arches?? Where artificial food meets short lived joy, but it keeps the masses peachy keen and wanting more. It is the disconnect of a world that is swamped in mediocrity, because the common folk have been convinced, what the media and corporations sell you is your only choice. Choose life, choose freedom and choose to listen to something a bit different with Diana Ringo.

Happy Mealz | Diana Ringo

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Diana Ringo – Film Director, Pianist and Composer

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Huzzah! Halloween is in full swing, and as tradition has it, this is the time for gothic tunes to celebrate the spooky season. Behold the track “Witches‘ from Costa Ricans, Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos as a musical gift to all those that like to go bump in the night!

Eva Red’s voluptuous bass is the meat in this track, deep and the rhythmic backbone, with the drum machine in back up. The synths are the domain of Jan Black, which are willowy, echoing and haunting, only matched by the saxophone that is played by Ariel Maniki. Maniki’s vocals always have this really nice deep tone that are the icing on the gothic cake. so to speak.

‘Dancing with the devil

At the edge of dawn

They are always hungry

For a human soul‘

This not a track about those good and kind witches. Oh no, these are the “Witches” that sustain their lives through the centuries through the ruination of ordinary folk. A danceable gothic tribute to the not so lovely ladies of the night by Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos.

Witches | Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos

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When you are a band who is all about horror in real life and movies, the Halloween season is very important. Who Saw Her Die? (WSHD?) get very excited around this time, gracing us with their joy of all stories gruesome. Recently they released the Mothman EP, which you should check out, but they have dropped the fresh corpse of Dead or Alive’s track “Something In My House.”

This is not the disco version. It has been pared down to its bones and rebuilt like Frankenstein’s monster. It rumbles and groans, with the slow stalking beat and slightly lisped growled vocals of a broken and murderous heart. The synths add to the ghostly atmosphere.

A curse on the houses of Stock, Aitken and Waterman for their perversion of Dead Or Alive, who originally started off as the far more gothic Nightmares In Wax, but I will concede that without them, we might never had “You Spin Me,” (which I hated for several decades after spinning it every Friday night for two years) and “Something in My House.” The WSHD? cover is so different and yet so much in the vein of tongue in cheek that it was always was meant to be taken for. Hello? Police? There is “Something in My House” and it is all the fault of Who Saw Her Die?!

Harbinger (Mothman) | Who Saw Her Die?

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Portland’s Ceremony Shadows released the single “Future Past Collapse.” in September. This diverse trio, made up of musician/composer Timo Kissel, with vocalists/lyricists Anastasia Darkwater and Jakub Jerzy, and for the single, they are joined by Jana Cushman (Darkswoon) and Annalisa Rose (Glori) vocally.

Jerzy’s vocals are the anchor in the human world, deep and unfazed by the electronics, while the backing singing is so precise and together, it almost seems unreal, as if they could be the computer code, enticing you in with their glossy cadence, All is enhanced by the dreamy synths, which could belong to a much more ‘innocent’ era.

The band has said that “Future Past Collapse” was written about how AI could soon rewrite what it means to be a human, where talent and artistic ability no longer will be required for mass production, leaving us longing for the days of old. Indeed, this track feels like a link between when we were the masters of our tech and the onset of AI controlling what we hear and see, however, for now you can revel in the non artificial intelligence of Ceremony Shadows.

Future Past Collapse | Ceremony Shadows

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Ceremony Shadows

Ceremony Shadows (@ceremonyshadows) • Instagram photos and videos

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Ronny Flissundet and Kristian Liljan dropped their EP Dancing Drone back in June, through their project Rule of Two. Based in the capital of Norway, this duo blend electronics with whatever moody genre takes their fancy and due to being rather prolific, in October they released the single “Cloud Nine.”

There is something classically 80s about the synths that makes you think of groups like Depeche Mode and Erasure. Maybe it is the play of dark notes with the lighter ones, or maybe the graceful vocals that intertwine in delightful harmony

“Cloud Nine” is about taking your life into your own hands. Stop waiting for the right time and permission to live in the moment because in the end, all those moments are fleeting. It is an important message that most of us don’t understand until we reach a certain age. The music is really glorious in the way it soars, with a hint of regret, but more so a joyous refrain of freedom. Also, give Rule of Two’s music video’s a look, reminiscent in style of another Norwegian band, a-ha.

Cloud Nine | Rule Of Two

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US goth rock band, Sunshine Blind stopped releasing music about twenty years ago, with members going their own ways,  including Caroline Blind  (vox, lyrics), developing her successful solo career, and CWHK (guitars, bass, drum programming, production and mixing). The band has surprised us in unveiling two new tracks on the single release Scarred but Fearless, which was mastered by Ariel Maniki at MediaLuna Studio, San Jose, Costa Rica.

How do you move on when you were left behind? Just because someone is driven, does not mean they are coping with loss, but rather, sometimes, they are just holding on and this is the ‘Ghost of You.” A powerfully worded track that makes you feel the strain of sorrow and dogged weight of hope, set to a soundtrack that dares to be bold with rattling rhythms and thrumming bass.

“Ghost of You is basically another great driving song, the music evokes the movement and speed. Driving is often where I do all my best thinking and working out of whatever I need to think through, so you hear me relating all my processes into driving terms, making the connections, ‘driving as a metaphor’.” – Caroline Blind

The second track is the equally energetic “Unsinkable,” with its very vigorous guitar work by CWHK, that flies hard and fast, never allowing you to wallow in the aspect of what could have been. An anthem for courage in the face of adversity.

“Unsinkable is basically a song of triumph over adversity, a little peptalk to myself: my ‘I Will Survive’, if you will. It’s a rallying cry to those going through a lot of injustice (women in particular), so it feels very timely to me. It’s a pushing back against all the projection and gaslighting that people try to saddle us with, with the chorus of “We’re sick of carrying that which is not our shame”.” – Caroline Blind

Caroline Blind’s voice has matured, not dulled by age, but rather becoming bigger and bolder than when she originally started with Sunshine Blind, adding a sonorous tone that reflects a life lived, which I don’t feel was there in the 90s, and has seeped into her later works. The band have always been fearless proponents of gothic rock and it is nice to hear them playing together again, a familiar partnership. One wonders if this is a one off new recording, or if it will lead to a possibility of more new material. For now though, that future has not been revealed, so for live today and enjoy Scarred but Fearless.

Scarred but Fearless | Sunshine Blind

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