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This year, the band, Amaranth, in conjunction with Sounds And Shadows, released the epic goth/EBM/industrial compilation, Tiny Gods Who Walk Beside Us. All songs were donated by the bands for a rather wonderful cause.

Most dark alternative types will tell you they are very fond of animals and especially cats. When band member of Amaranth, Ken Magerman found out his young cat, Freya, had cancer in her leg, Ken was devastated and desperately wanted to save his feline companion’s life. This is an expensive procedure, so musician friends from around the world offered songs to help pay for this treatment, so began this complilation.

The classical undertones of Lorelei Dreaming bring us “Edge Of The World” (I.X.XI Remix), which is grand beginning with beautiful choral touches that give this great depth and a glittering beauty.

“For Freya” is a very raw piece from Amaranth, but then this is understandable knowing where this song is coming from. With bluesy overtones that expand to anguished gothic rock.

A quieter synth lead piece from US act, Covenant Of Thorns in “Dahlia” (The Joy Thieves remix). A sweet number that is both darkness and light at the same.

Got to say, Corlyx‘s “Deform” (ESA remix) is a really a great song and remix. A mixture of trap syncopation and lazy beats keeps this very entertaining.

Antipole and their sexy song, “1983” featuring the completely sexy Eirene (People Theater remix) show you their brilliance. Danceable, pop electro synth number which you can’t help but enjoy the airy joy it exudes.

Like silk, Ego Likeness “Darkness” (Dracos Deep Mix) will grace your ears. This is smooth, electro beats and oh so catchy to boot with this remix.

Machinery Of Desire drip with gothic honey in the form of “Forever Remain“. I would not be surprised in the least of they were influenced by Wayne Hussey’s The Mission. That similar winding flowery style.

The synth musing of Adoration Destroyed in “Both of Me” (Authentic Impulse Remix) as they try to reconcile the two sides of their personally. Those that like Third Realm will really enjoy this number.

Crying Vessel “Illusions” (remix Dead Agent) is a throw back to the early 80s electronic period. A simple, clean track with a light touch in the remix, making this a really danceable track.

The haunting number of “Code Blue” by I Ya Toyah (remix Arcontas Blank) rings out with that wonderful heavy organ based synth filling it out. A song close to singer Ania Tarnowska’s heart, about the loss that comes with suicide.

Really digging Twin Tribes the more I hear them and “Dark Crystal” is a great example of their post punk, goth electro sound. Really fabulous tune that chimes away and gets into your head.

Radiograph is in essence John Edwards from Palais Ideal and he has contributed “Catnipped“, an instrumental piece centred on an electro beat/ synths with guitar accompliment. Edwards is well known musician in the scene and a deft hand at penning a tune.

Silver Walks has remixed “Fuck That Fascist Beat” by Caustic. This already a good song which now is even more urgent in the remix. The song is probably more poignant than ever before and is old school style industrial done well.

Straight from the beginning, you hear that this is going to be a bit special. Seven Federations gives you “Syzygy” or a celestial alignment. It is reminiscent of Attrition’s classic “Into The Waves“, with its simple beauty.

Vlimmer “Schnittstelle” is ethereal and unearthly as they try to interface. Even though ethereal, it feels so organic at the same time, natural.

Dogtablet are kind of a mini super group. “Showtime” (Melodywhore Slave Remix) is a rhythmic groove piece with piano as the standout instrument amongst the electronica.

If you like pure instrumentals with some sublime synths and an interesting configuration, then Kiss Of The Whip has “This Pain Is Ours” for you.

Welcome to Steven Archer’s “The Showroom“. It’s s little dirty and has a bassy chorus which is never a bad thing. Archer who is also Stoneburner, is all class.

This isn’t even mixed and Cliff and Ivy have a tremendous earworm in “Will To The Power“. I have to say, Christian Death. It smacks of many the great things about Rozz Williams and company in the 80’s.

The off kilter start by Orcus Nullify, launches “March Of The Lost“. Very much in the vein of the Bauhaus vibe with a experimental edge. A dirge to the those forever destined to wander without end.

The sombre tones of Ritchual‘s “You Lied” lilt with a plaintiff anguish. This is clean, delightful synth wave with a European flavour even though they are based in Austin.

Sister Sarin is the project for Hemlock and she gives to you “Split“. This is a percussion heavy piece with all the keyboards rounding out the beat heavy sounds.

Get ready for the nightmarish spokenword performance of Swansect with “Clovermouth“. This is claustrophobic and sinister in the modern era electro.

Rob Early and Simeon Fritzpatrick are 11Grams and you are going to feel them in your “DNA“. This is a blend of old school industrial with a clever reinvention, which they are well known for. Slow and menacing, as it gets under your skin.

Ego Likeness is the last track on the album for the digital download with “Breedless” (Sombre Remix). The lyrics are truly interesting to listen to, with ‘maybe my mother was a hydra‘ as well fae folk and other such creatures making Ego Likeness the crooning sexy beasts they are.

This is a great showing of gothic, synthwave, EBM, darkwave and industrial being represented and definitely worthy of many listens. The best part of this story is that Freya may have lost a limb but she is still with Ken and a truly loved being.

My last cat passed away at 20 years of age and I mourned her death for many years until l adopted a rescue cat and to be honest, fell in love all over again.

Once cats were revered as celestial beings in Egypt and one can understand why. We love their arrogance, sass and let’s face it, they can be completely selfish pricks yet if you do love them, they will give you so much in return.

So show some love for Freya and her kind as well as all the wonderful bands that have been so generous.

https://theamaranth.bandcamp.com/album/tiny-gods-who-walk-beside-us

https://loreleidreaming.bandcamp.com/

https://acot.bandcamp.com/

https://corlyx.bandcamp.com/

https://antipole.bandcamp.com/

https://egolikeness.bandcamp.com/

https://machineryofdesire.bandcamp.com/

https://adorationdestroyed.bandcamp.com/

https://cryingvessel.bandcamp.com/

https://iyatoyah.bandcamp.com/

https://twintribes.bandcamp.com/

https://palaisideal.bandcamp.com/

https://causticngp.bandcamp.com/

https://sevenfederations.bandcamp.com/

https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://dogtablet.bandcamp.com/

https://kissofthewhip.bandcamp.com/

https://stoneburnerofficial.bandcamp.com/

https://cliffandivy.bandcamp.com/

https://orcusnullify.bandcamp.com/

https://ritchual.bandcamp.com/

https://shadowsandrust.bandcamp.com/track/tripwire

https://swansect.bandcamp.com/

https://11grams.bandcamp.com/

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Die Notwendigkeit der Notwendigkeit translated into English means the need for the need and is also the title for the first album release for the Munich based trio of PAAR.

This three piece comprises of vocalist Ly Nguyen, Rico Sperl plus Matthias Zimmerman and they can be found on the Berlin based label, GRZEGORZKI Records.

Can’t help but notice that German precision, perfect beats and timing. “Common Crimes” starts and is soon in the swirling heady territory of the wonderful Curve. Nguyen’s vocals curl and bedazzle, adding to a powerful wall of noise.

PAAR

“Beauty Needs Witness” is brooding and bass heavy, seems to hold a great sadness of lost innocence. The guitars almost cry out to you.

The intro to “Rework” is delightful and breezy. This is what Siouxsie and the Banshees would sound like if in a lighter brighter world. The guitar work again is an exquisite construct to hold the vocal jewel.

“Modern” at the beginning makes itself known with frenetic buzzing guitar work and an almost imperceptible oriental quality to the tune at times. Nguyen is joined by guest vocalist Grotto Terrazza also known as Thomas Schamann, who’s deep sonorous tones melt nicely in accompaniment.

Again a nice lightness that highlights the darkness is heard in “Pure” which wouldn’t amiss on a Cocteau Twins album.

“Eis” is a little faster and more jaunty and the guitar work is wonderfully jangly and this song has a lot of personality. It would almost be a crime for it not to be a single.

So what lays in the “Lakes“? Not sure because either it’s unknown or they aren’t listening. But seriously a tune with mystery at its heart.

Last track is “Metal” and this is sassy, in same way as Blondie both vocally and guitar wise. That punk infused joy of new wave music, with a shimmy inducing last song, which is a great one to end on.

Earlier I mentioned Cocteau Twins and a lot of this is very much in the vein of that 4AD ideal and ethos. This embodies that movement of when new wave was developing out of the punk scene in the late 70’s going into the 80’s, fused with that sweet European cold wave/dark wave sound and cool culture.

Art inspiring music and music inspiring art which might explain the title, the need for the need or Die Notwendigkeit der Notwendigkeit, for art and music do not exist without the other muse and here PAAR are the catalyst.

https://paarmusic.bandcamp.com/

https://m.facebook.com/Paarband/

https://www.instagram.com/paarmusic/

https://m.soundcloud.com/paarmusic

http://www.paarmusic.com/

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Norway…. land of Vikings, long dark days, extreme cold and musicians that wear hats, i.e. Tommy Olssen. However we have other hat wearing musicians to talk about in the order of a band called, Mayflower Madame.

On the 27th of March, they released their follow-up album, Prepared For A Nightmare, released on Only Lovers Records. Mayflower Madame are a three piece, made up of Trond Fagernes – vocals, guitars, bass, HÃ¥vard Haga– guitars and Ola J. Kyrkjeeide – drums.

A kicking this whole album off is the title track, “Prepared For A Nightmare“. What strikes me first off with laconic guitars that jangle away and I am transported to another time of bands such as Wall Of Voodoo and Concrete Blonde.

There are tinges of Fields of the Nephilim in “Vultures” which also happens to be the first single. The lead drawls like some dark, laid back, hellion cowboy, riding the wave of guitars chiming in over each other and a good beat which promises getting darklings on the floor.

A nice big bass line with psychedelic intonation brings you “Swallow“. No we ain’t talking about the birds here here either of you get what I’m putting down. Lovely vocals and this isn’t crass but rather artfully done.

“Ludwig Meidner” was a German artist, most memorable for his apocalyptic landscapes which were created before the devastation of the First World War, in which he served. Later he became a writer of unnatural stories and maybe this is the vibe of this number… that darkness that lurks within. Such a great chorus with lyrics like, ‘I wanna go, I wanna stay, I want desire, And I’ll be dancing on your grave…”.

A little dramatic and expressive with “Never Turning (In Time)” as the lads give us the last thoughts before the ultimate journey which you can never come back from.

Moody, almost Cramps inspired guitar work with drumming that beautifully fits in throughout the sixth track. . “Sacred Core” vocally also makes me think of Wayne Hussey and The Mission.

“The Night Before” is a tale of maybe not only having a partner die but the loss of an unborn child. This number is shorter but seems to meander with quieter harmonic vocals.

A slightly synth start to “Goldmine” although it doesn’t take much for the stringed instruments to come back with shoegaze swirls and that underlying guitar noise.

MAYFLOWER MADAME

Once, even fallen stars had “A Future Promise” but can’t always live up to those expectations. This is dreamy and I love how it harkens back to a sound that reminds me of old guitar based Clan Of Xymox.

The last track is “Endless Shimmer” and I can’t decide if this is a love song or a lament for what the vocalist can’t reach or have because of some inner flaw. A slow start that graduates with each word.

You can hear a multitude of influences though the biggest for me is that twangy insistent guitar led music of Fields Of The Nephilim. Fagernes does not growl like McCoy but similarly, sinfully singing doomed nothings.

There are so many layers to this music and every time you listen, you will hear something you didn’t hear before within the swirling psychedelic eddies. Mayflower Madame has based itself on shoulders of wonderful past bands and then taken it to the next level, making this uniquely theirs.

Prepared For A Nightmare is going to appeal greatly to those who love guitar based music that is an inspired piece of gothic rock. An illuminated piece of beautiful darkness.

https://mayflowermadame.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mayflowermadame/

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In 1999, Slovakia saw the birth of electro-industrial group, Last Influence Of Brain. This year has started off with the release of a new album, Insomnicons after a silence of almost ten years.

L.I.O.B. (Last Influence Of Brain) is made up of three members who are mysteriously only known as Blazena, Solo and…..Bob. Not much else is known about them other than they are in other projects. Their previous album was Two Faces before their hiatus and they are featured on the Slovakian record label Alien Productions.

Last Influence Of Brain

“Twone” might be something you need. This goes from grinding vocals to bright and light synths which are a almost a contrast of dark and light. The beat continues to build and swell. This is just the beginning and it’s started well. In the Urban Dictionary, Twone is described as ‘a phrase that silences participants‘.

The second track, “Invasion/Introverted” just smacks of all the things that are best about Leæther Strip, punched out lyrics and a beat you can bounce to.

Demo version of Idolatry

This is a great song with its intensity and wonderful synth cascade that crashes down on you with “Idolatry“. It rivals the sound of Frontline Assembly with the finesse of Leæther Strip.

“Binarea” is heavy and wanting to force the rhythm straight down your throat at the start. The beat at times almost resembles a machine gun going off. It’s like a lethal game show and where they are taking us no one knows.

Khonsu was the Egyptian god of the Moon, who was especially worshipped at the holy city of Thebes. “Khonsu Again On His Eternal Path” is about the journey this deity takes across the sky, bringing the tides, marking the seasons and future telling with foreboding signs. To reflect this the music does feel otherworldly, space like, consistently traveling.

As we discuss the Moon, we have the track “Sedimental (In The Mare Nubium)“. The Mare is within the Nubium crater which is on the visible side of the Moon. The staccato, grained vocals punctuate through the electronic noise. The Moon will reek it’s toll on the mental faculties.

Dark and forbidding is “Hypnosphere” made all the more so with a small child crying for mummy and then sounding like a demon from the darkest recesses of hell. This is reminiscent of Skinny Puppy both vocally and musically.

There is a slightly experiemental to “Duality“. Purposeful and almost ambient as it winds itself into your brain. It is angst and beautiful all at the same time. This is emotional and poignant with so much depth.

Not sure what a moonster is but this is a “Broken Moonster” and the dynamics between those heavy vocals and light synths make this very listenable. Possibly it’s due to the weaving harmonies you perceive, as delicate as spider webs.

Almost a busy hip hop feel to the beginning of “Necrotopia“. This loops back with an almost delicate rhythm that harkens back to Skinny Puppy’s “Protest” . For a song about a nirvana for death, this is very much alive.

With that understated slower pace that L.I.O.B seem to be masters of, they are taking you away to the “E-Sylum“. They growl about pressure and progress as the music backs this up with it’s own version of expanding noise. Yet it is almost cool and distant.

“Twone” gets a remix by award winning industrial composer and producer Ken ‘Hiwatt’ Marshall which at the start is a tad creepy before finding a techno style beat. This is a great remix to tie up the album.

L.I.O.B are an anomaly. They sound traditional harsh industrial and yet they, in many ways are not. They obviously like to create atmosphere and this comes off as being almost dark ambient in its style.

This is a great come back album and if you are a fan of 90’s Skinny Puppy and other older acts such as Leæther Strip and especially Frontline Assembly then I can highly recommend Last Influence Of Brain and their newest creation, Insomnicons.

https://aliensproduction.bandcamp.com/album/insomnicons

https://www.facebook.com/lastinfluenceof/

https://www.facebook.com/aliensproductionlabel/

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Konqistador released at the end of last year, the album Nafada. The band started back in 2005 and is a collaboration of Detroit musicians, Reginald Tiessen and Elizabeth Graham as well as Sydney artist INfest8.

This latest album has a theme, in which Konqistador invited female hip hop artists to perform on their tracks, although they are more known for their industrial, gothic and electronic music. These women are as diverse in nationalities as they are in sound.

Kicking off is Medusa Tn also known as Boutheina El Alouadi, from Tunisia with the single “Eden,Woman’s War“, a powerful start. Not only does Medusa Tn rap but her singing voice is beautiful and provocative, woven with the middle eastern traditional music and an industrial beat.

“Adrestia” by Moroccan artist, Soultana starts as a staccato monologue with backing synths that you feel building up and then the beats kick in and it becomes a whirlwind of sound. This is a great mixture of electro and vocals. A Greek warrior goddess, Adrestia punishes those who cause injustice.

Solemn beats bring in “Hamazam” and if I didn’t know any better, I would say Meryem Saci has a cheeky little smile on her face. Meryem is from Algeria singing in French and English. She is bold and sexy and makes the intricacy of this song work for her. It is about strong women that use their power, not for war but rather strengthening bonds of love and peace.

Fourth track is “Karitha” by Iranian, Salome MC and featuring from Detroit, DJ Los, a heavy weight in the hip hop/rap/beatboxing world, who does all the scratching on this song. Salome’s voice soars to the heights and yet will hold your attention even when at a whisper. This is why Salome MC has been recognized not only as the first Iranian female rapper but perhaps one of the best in the world. For a song about the evil residing even in the best of intentions, it is such a gorgeous blend of industrial background with female sass.

Traditions can be safe and easy to follow but sometimes they are also meant to be broken and this is “Safiyya” by Moroccan songstress Soultana aka Youssra Oukaf, who has been rapping since she was thirteen and a strong voice in advocating women’s rights. The music with her voice at the beginning reminds me of vast deserts and then unleashes the storm.

“Nafada” is the title track and the call rise up and rebel. Nafada means in Arabic tremor. Meryem Saci returns and is accompanied by Sultana who hails from Turkey and is yet another progressive female that championed hip hop in her country. It begins low and dark and the ladies voices are like a light, drawing you up. It feels ancient and yet it most definitely isn’t. Saci and Sultana compliment each other so well, whether they are rapping or singing.

“Sahar” literally means awakening in Arabic. This piece is based on an Iranian folk tune, Morq-e sahar and performed by Miss Undastood of New York aka Tavasha Shannon. ‘My talent a gift and a curse’, when the eyes are opened to all possibility there is the realization of the double knife edge of going two ways… rising above or falling down. You can hear the influence of being brought up in America in Shannon’s style of rapping but this just brings a new facet to this story of traditional verses modern.

“Kahina” by Medusa Tn is just epic. Such a big voice. Passionate hip hop bringing to life Kahlina, a queen and warrior of the Berber people. She is remembered with great fondness and kept alive in spirit as the invocation of the power women hold and that females should never be kept down or silenced because of their gender.

This could be a song Skinny Puppy created when you hear the start. Han Han brings her native Filipino languages to “Visaya“. This is fresh and dynamic with synths chiming in. The Visaya are a people in a region of the Philippines but more so the song is about how we are far more similar than we are different.

I have to use the word powerful again because that is what this album is. I’m not in any way into hip hop and yet these women are inspirational in every way. They bring a beauty to the art of rapping and yet they are so much more than that.

They are mostly the voices of a female minority of the countries they represent and this makes them pioneers and bravely throwing light on the music they love. They are most worthy of being looked up to with much respect. Not just because they are originators of an art form in their homelands but rather for their conviction to never give up or give in.

INfest8, Reginald Tiessen and Elizabeth Graham are the trio of writers that carefully crafted all the songs presented and you can hear the devotion to this project through the beautiful lyrics, as well as the fact each hip hop artist was able to inject their own influence into their track/s.

It’s an amazing cross cultural exploration and recorded mostly on two different continents, utilizing many different musical genre, mixed by INfest8 in Australia and mastered in the United States.

This is exotic and the Arabic/ middle eastern/ Filipino influences just push this into a different realm of wow. Social order, peace, solidarity and the support of women who can be the centre of change because music is the voice of change. This is Nafada by Konqistador….. hear the call.

https://konqistador.bandcamp.com/

https://www.konqistador.com

https://www.facebook.com/Konqistadormusic/

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January the third was the release date of the album, Le Désert Rouge, which is a combined effort from experimental, ambient, electronic musicans, Poetry Of Thorns of Mexico and I, Eternal of France.

There are four tracks on the album with the first three composed by Poetry Of Thorns using sounds given to them by I, Eternal and vice versa for the last number.

“La Porte de Sortie” translates the The Exit Gate. This short piece is metallic and almost oppressive as it reveberates with its own self made rhythm. It is eerie in the insistence as if the Gate leads to some eternal doom.

“Ces pensÄ—es pyromanes” literally is These Arsonist Pens and again there is that hollow presence of ghostly design. This is delicate and almost other worldy with a french girl speaking a little in the back ground. Maybe the title eludes to how words can inflame hearts and minds.

“Echos intersections et Aubes” or Echoes intersections and Dawns reminds me of a radio trying to find the channel but not quite catching the signal. Dawn with seagulls wheeling in the grey early morning skies as they mournfully cry to each other, dropping from one wind draft only to be lifted by another, in the meeting of stale dark and new light.

This blood-colored desert or “Ce dÄ—sert couleur de sang” is the fourth and final track. This is noise building on noise but slowly and purposely, as you hear from within the distant storm odd snippets and echos. Like a sand filled, unbearably hot desert, it is relentless and has a life of its own and a near audible heartbeat. This experimental piece goes for a whopping twenty five minutes and twenty six seconds and has an almost trance like quality.

Poetry Of Thorns‘ last album was produced by none other than goth – industrial legend, Martin Bowes of Attrition, which means they have quite a bit street credability. Both these acts really seem to enjoy the collaboration and have a great respect for the other, it shows or rather it can be heard in the care they have taken.

This is what experimental music is all about, pushing boundries and artists encouraging each other to go one better. If noise and experimental industrial music on an ambient plane is your thing or whets your curiosity, please check out Poetry Of Thorns/I, Eternal with Le Désert Rouge.

https://poetryofthorns.bandcamp.com/album/le-d-sert-rouge

https://ieternal1.bandcamp.com/album/le-d-sert-rouge

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January saw the bandcamp release of Dirt Factory’s debut EP, Random Songs For The End Of The World. This electro industrial band is comprised of two brothers, Michael Gillman (programming and synths) and Daniel Allen (vocals and programming). More surprisingly is the fact that one lives in Brisbane and the other in Melbourne.

From the get go “Saibanetikku” is a koto drum dream that leads to an electronic beat followed by deep ahhhs and a fabulous synth accompaniment. Daniel’s modulated voice joins this simple and yet spine tingling build up. The way Michael mixes and brings in sounds and beats is subtle while still holding your attention completely.

Still on the Japanese cyber/futuristic theme, we have “Kaiju” which basically means monster. A commentary on our world, as we play with science and create the monsters that will eventually destroy us. Godzilla (Gojira) is a kaiju, created by exploding nuclear bombs. This is a science fiction nightmare which cuts a little closely to a dark reality.

DIRT FACTORY

Track three is an “Unseen Tragedy“. This is punchy with syncopation weaving throughout. The layers of vocals with different voice mixers and electronic synth is an immersive experience.

Sleazy greasy and oozing, “Give Me The Drugs“. Slower but still a ravenous beat is your pusher, making you desire more of this ode to wanting to throw one’s self into the arms of your chosen drug. Daniel will cajole and threaten you to get what he wants…. no placebo accepted.

DIRT FACTORY live December 2019 Flamin Galah, Brisbane

Will machines with AI eventually obtain “Digital Consciousness“? Is it a scientist speaking in the background? The music is again powerful and evocative with heavy drums and a futuristic feel… that Terminator efficiency, so to speak.

Robitic vocals bring you “Error Delete” with undulating electronics with such a catchy rhythm and breakout synths. This definitely brings visions of Bladerunner or Ghost In the Machine.

“Slaughterhouse Shutdown” is horror movie homage with mentions of plastic for the blood splatters and no one is getting out of there alive. Haunting with gothic keyboard for ultimate creeping doom and everyone’s favourite …. fairground carnival music with screams overlayed with Psycho violin tendencies.

The final piece is “Corporate Greed” which brings to mind another song, “Corporate Slave” by another electronic Australian artist, Snog from the 90’s which was another excellent dance number. Could be the sounds of the financial world that become lost in the growing noise as the harsh beat takes over. The low vocals grace but do not take over. This loops and reverbs in a most delicious way with unbridled angst.

Remixes of “Error Delete” by Digital Anodyne (DJ Wolf Aud) and Vargil (Camilla Astrid Strand) have been added onto the end as extra bonus numbers for your listening pleasure which you are sure to enjoy.

Movies, especially in the genres of horror, science fiction and anime, have had a huge influence in the vision of these songs. Synth and noise maker extraordinaire, Michael’s roots in industrial music lay in the Wax Trax era and the burgeoning onslaught of the Belgium and German bands such as Frontline Assembly and co. However, more than this, he has not tried to ride their sound but rather forge his own, with brother Daniel firmly giving the band a voice.

The music is savvy, clever and down right satisfying. There is great depths to each song, crafted to sound bigger than just a two man effort, giving them an epic EP. As yet unsigned, Dirt Factory are far more than an uncut diamond, rough where needed and cutting edge when they could have been mediocre. These are the Random Songs For The End of The World.

https://dirtfactory.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/Dirt-Factory-1924745841101379/

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This year English duo, Unquiet Dead had the release of their second album, Anima Ignis. Located in Bedfordshire, Lora Maze is vocals and synths while Jason Kahl plays guitar and bass. Both are responsible for programming.

So the intro is “Flames”, which welcomes you into the style that is Unquiet Dead. Soaring harmony with a tribal sound, punctuated with the guitar, giving it a whole lotta oomph!!!

“Ash” was a single and has an almost White Zombie, Southern American feel to it until the vocals from Maze kick in, seductively slipping into your ears. A psychedelic trip in a limosine, in leather with a devil may attitude.

Yet another single off the album is “Legend”. Do I detect the use of didgeridoo? Kahl’s driving guitar work throttles this forward. And the remix by London based electro/industrial group, Machine Rox for the single is absolutely killer. Vocally this reminds me of Faith And The Muse.

Keeping up the unrelenting pace is “Puppet Strings“. You have to love the harmonization Unquiet Dead utilize. No one is pulling their strings with this danceable number.

Now for a change of pace. Of course “Cat People (Putting Out Fire With Gasolene)” was written and performed by David Bowie with Georgio Moroder back in 1981 and has been covered a multitude of times. The whole thing with covers is to make it your own. A purposely slow beginning which changes up with the power vocals.

And back to the head bobbing ferocious beats. Burn My “Head Down” is about getting out from underneath someone’s control… which might be a theme of this album. Hints of electric T-Rex litter this.

Track seven is “Bitter Pill“, where they have to be ‘careful what I say or they might put me away’ and any song mentioning pitchforks is worthy of monster movie staking.

“Build A World Worth Dying For” is pure swirling vocals entwined with guitar and backed up with synths. A plea to make this world a better place that we know it can be. A beautifully crafted song with and equally beautiful sentiment.

The synth sound mimicking a theremin in “Is This War?”, Is almost hypnotic. Not the fastest track but this will definitely keep the audience entertainered, especially waiting to hear Maze’s vocals to take them away.

“I Can Hardly Wait” is slower, more dirge style piece which drags the corpse along behind it still kicking. Languid guitar riffs bubble in the cauldron.

Last track is “If You Don’t Want Me” and true to form, if you aren’t wanted, there are no constraints on what you can do and be who you want to be. This fades to a mantra of almost southern Baptist proportions.

On Bandcamp, the band have quoted Toyah Wilcox as saying ‘Really rather remarkable’. I can tell you now that in the music scene, Toyah is a very hard woman to impress as she is a bit of a perfectionist.

Whatever style you want to try to place these two, it is undeniable that Unquiet Dead are really very talented. They take the psychedelic sounds of a bygone era and marry it to a modern electronic/ industrial genre with those amazing vocals to create something just a little special.

The bastard child of Bolan/Bowie/Eno and Inkubus Sukkubus with no apologies. Check Unquiet Dead out.

https://www.facebook.com/unquietdead/

https://open.spotify.com/album/0KO0hqCUtvxZaA0BrNIuZ7

https://unquietdead.bandcamp.com/releases

http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1321653244?ls=1&app=itunes

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077YC5SPC/ref=sr_1_1…

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Distorded Void is the Russian label bringing you the new album, “Trakl Trauma Tracks”, by Eumourner, an Italian musician.

Eumourner has 6 tracks to convey his historical story, set in World War 1, all in the form of music. Someone commented the album cover was creepy…. but then that is what happens when we exhume the dead.

“Track I. Der Schlaf” is like moving into darkness and the unknown. The sound scape builds and undulates with impending doom. Unseen and unnatural creatures chitter as a voiceover announces details of the Great War.

Cuckoo clocks and chimes bring on “Track II. Stunderlied”. It s0 the feeling of desolation and swirling loss in a terrible fairytale with wind swept whistles intermingling with musical box tunes, until the mood changes and becomes more insistent.

Like the muffled horns of Valhalla blasting into the void heralds “Track III. Neil Krupp und Krieg”. This could be the rumbling of giant mortar cannons on the Eastern front, the orders to move forward into a hell never seen before by mankind. A machine churning through men and forever changing them and sirens sound marking the hostilities.

“Track IV. Grodek” is the longest track at over 10 minutes long. It is not so much the sounds of violence but rather, the spirits of men leaving their tortured bodies, or at least this is what it feels like to me. The terrible aftermath left on a battlefield, which few forget amd even fewer wish to repeat. The lament of ghosts of the fallen, crying for what they have lost.

Birds chirp and maybe chimes or cow bells in the distance. We hear the words of Georg Trakl‘s poem “All Roads Lead To Black Decay” wavering over this piece, “Track V. Landschaft”. It sounds so calm and yet there is a sudden burst of a gatling gun to break the serenity.

“Track VI. Die Ungebornen Enkel” closes this album. It is the void filling with near distant rage and cacophany with pieces of violin flitting in and out before a plateau, decending into unearthly screams of that which sounds not human. Oppressive and swelling. The character, Trakl’s descent into madness, with his overbearing feeling of depression due to his inability to cope surrounded by the damaged and massacred, fueled by his overdose of cocaine, pulling him into the depths of hell. It finishes with the innocence of children singing and the music box.

For the uninitiated, Georg Trakl, born in Salzburg, Austria was a poet who suffered from depression for most of his adult life and found refuge in the army life as a trained pharmacist, until the beginning of the Great War where he found himself serving in the Austro-Hungarian army.

While in the Battle of Grodek, against the Imperial Russian Army, he was forced to look after approxiamately 90 wounded soldiers, which overwhelmed him and Lieutenant Trakl attemped to shoot himself, however was thwarted and resulted in his being hospitalized. Not long after this he was found dead of a cocaine overdose.

Eumourner has taken a small piece of dark history and put it to dark ambient and experiemental music, to paint you a life cut short in a time of war due to mental breakdown, even using the poets own style of evoking spirits in the quiet recesses of what is not said. It is an evocative soundscape on a grand scale.

https://distortedvoid.bandcamp.com/album/trakl-trauma-tracks

https://www.facebook.com/DistortedVoid

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Third Realm are back with a brand spanking new album and I have been lucky enough to have been listening to it before the release date, thanks to the main driving force and frontman, Nathan Reiner.

Since 2000, Reiner has been creating music with this project and the latest album is out on the darkTunes Music label with bandmate, Luis Felipe Blanco, from their hometown of Buffalo, New York.

Let the insanity ensue with “Bipolar Pop” featuring CHIASM. Emileigh Rohn is the solo artist behind CHIASM, an electro/darkwave project but here backing up Reiner. Slower more deliberate beat with the atmosphere that you could be stalked by some sex crazed (well there is a little sensual moaning) porn pop princess or prince. This is still raw in its electonic style which is a nice way to start.

‘I tried to be myself and suffer…’ is the start of the chorus, “Be Myself” which I am guessing is the fear of putting your true self out there…. and then finding rejection or indifference. I hear hints of Chris Pohl‘s Blutengel influence, especially vocally which is no small feat as many wish to be Pohl but often fail.

The first single from the album is the amazing, “When The Sun Goes Down”. Third Realm couldn’t have picked a better single to introduce their latest work with. Totally danceable and more to the point, you will find yourself singing away in no time to the vampiric chorus. The beat is driving and the vocals just weave themselves into pleasure centre of your brain.

Fourth song off the rank is “Banshee” which gives a slight nod, it feels, to Sisters Of Mercy’s “Vision Thing” crossed with Blutengel‘s flare for the dramatic supernatural.

“Gazing At The Stars” is a ballad with a beat. It’s a sweet ode to dreams of love and wishing. It is poignant tribute and the synths sing out true over this catchy number.

A more techno start for “Garden of Lust” gets the body moving. There is a strange electronic moog like synth in the chorus which is a tad distracting while Reiner is singing but in all its an agreeable song, with spooky intonation.

“Background of My Mind” has a punky retro feel. It’s bouncy and very two fingers waved in the air in sentiment…. ie you cannot rule my life by playing me.

Love the synth beginning with a disco beat for “Who’s Really Listening?” and this lends to the claustrophobic nature of the album, fraught with paranoia.

With the release of the album is the second single, “Tides of the Sea” featuring again CHIASM. This is just a beautiful electronic number and vocally, Reiner and CHIASM interweave so well and compliment each other. Expressing love as being as constant as the tides, that pull and rush, the heartbeat and pulse of the seas.

I can hear the infuence of Marilyn Manson in “Deviant”, in the way the song is structured. The chorus is a persistant and tenacious stream of conciousness which pushes to be heard. One man’s deviance is another’s normalcy because we are who we are.

First impression of “Medusa” was it is going to be a power noise piece until the melody kicks in. Even though Medusa was a gorgon, this is another homage to vampiric beings and reminds me very much of the 90’s goth/electronic sound.

“Passion” has air light keyboards and that great constant danceable beat, with the slight VNV Nation smoothness that makes their older songs just soar. This is EBM at it’s best.

Some believe that soul mates are awaiting us, also known as “Twin Flames”. The ultimate partner that completes you and that joy can be heard in the jauntiness and pop sensibility given to this piece.

Slowly, the title track, “The Art of Despair” crawls darkly across the floor, a vision of murky oblivion. It is insistent and pokes at your reality.

The last three songs are remixes of “Bipolar Pop”, “Be Myself” and “When The Sun Goes Down”. Aesthetic Perfection‘s Daniel Graves, really injects himself into “Bipolar Pop” which brings extra raw power. “Be Myself” mixed by Subliminal Code, just leaps out as an electronic dance number and last “When The Sun Goes Down” is given the super slick treatment by Panic Lift.

Third Realm‘s sound is developing over time. Originally, a harsher industrial music style which has become a bit more electro and synth savvy but hasn’t lost any of its intensity.

It is not lost on me that you can almost taste the heavy German EBM, darkwave and gothic influences and especially, Blutengel and L’Ame Immortelle.

Nathan Reiner‘s Third Realm has unleashed for you a gothic horror album of inner demons, monsters in human guise and immortal love, all to a wonderous industrial beat.

https://thirdrealm.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-despair

https://www.facebook.com/ThirdRealm/

https://www.darktunes.com