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There is an ill wind and hark….is it an EP or an album??? We aren’t quite sure, but we know it is Sinister Fate when we see them. Also, that the album is called Profit of Doom, which was released back in August by the guys from Chicago, and it is a monster mash of singles, new tracks, covers and remixes.

There are the two singles, with the first on show being “beLIEve,” a cross between the horror movies that are The Purge series and real life unrest on the home front. The rich verses poor and ideologies burning in the veins of the zealots. It is pure grimy rock with a punk ethos and a guitar solo that sings out. The other is the horror infused “Meet Mister Scratch,” who is the thinly disguised devil with an agenda to sell to those whose moral compass might be a little off target, for the simple low price of a soul.

I thought the title of the track “Hey Man, Nice Shot,” was very familiar, and it turns out that is indeed a cover of the Filter song, which has that heavy hanging bass at its core and although not a cover, “VVitch” feels like an ode to The Cure through the guitar work and drums sounding like they could of come off the Pornography album.

Sinister Fate carry on the proud tradition of goth horror rock, which is full of symbolism and often tongue in cheek observations about the true monsters of the world. I wonder if the band is somewhat inspired by the late, great Pete Steele, especially with the inference of the title of the album and the Type O Negative’s track “The Profit of Doom” off the 2007 album Dead Again. Profit Of Doom is a nice mixture old and new, with the remixes that just give another facet to the band. It is part goth, part rock and all horror babe..

Profit Of Doom | Sinister Fate | SINISTER FATE

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Author Edgar Allan Poe, is recognised as one of the progenitors of gothic story telling, writing tales that are both beautiful in prose, and full of lurking and foreboding grimness. Canadian Ian Revell has retold the Poe story, The Tell-Tale Heart, via his project Double Eyelid, which is an EP in four parts, set to its own gothic soundtrack.

Revell’s low and gravelled spoken vocals rumbles forth, in track one and behind him, wavers a lone violin, eerily scratching away, high pitched. The words are unhurried, with a sense of menace, and with the inclusion of a guitar, piano and drums, the singing begins. It is akin to listening to Rozz Williams (Christian Death), which sends me down the rabbit hole of wondering if Williams would have loved to do this. I think so. The guitar is the major driving force for the first rack, while track two, it is mostly a lone piano, that wanders and is yet to hint of the on coming terror.

The third track is where the murderer hides the body, and the proud fellow whistles along, assured of his cleverness. It is most interesting that the music has taken on, one could say, a more militaristic semblance, with the rat-a-tat of a snare drum, a popular instrument of British and American armies of the 18th and 19th centuries. Track four has a delicacy with the singular piano and when you perceive the stringed instruments, the atmosphere is quickly changing, with Revell perfectly putting across the spiralling mind of the murderer, lost in the culmination of alarm and dread.

The Tell-Tale Heart was first published in 1834, yet, like most of Poe’s compositions, it is ultimately about the human condition, the recognition that people are flawed and more to the point, we are able to see this is all still relevant. A narrator speaks of planning and murdering an old man, thence hiding the dismembered remains under the floorboards. They lie to the constabulary, but knowing the truth causes guilt and the narrator begins to mentally breakdown. It is the fear of being found out, and the overwhelming terror as they believe they can hear the heartbeat of the dead man, haunting them until they confess their wrongs. Already a powerful short story, Double Eyelid has brought The Tell-Tale Heart to life in all its true gothic glory, letting you listen to a man’s decent into psychological torment, and every moment is a pure delight.

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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

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NØIR and Silver Walks may not have been heard from recently, but that does not mean that they have not been busy. Athan Maroulis (NØIR, Spahn Ranch, Black Tape For A Blue Girl) and Daniel McCullough (Silver Walks) have collaborated again, recording a cover of “Nothing Stays” by Cyberaktif, and originally released on the Wax Trax! label.

There is a sacred reverence almost for this track. The reflective vocals bear a lament about how everything must change, an acknowledgement of time marching on. Maroulis’ unmistakeable vocals, with Veil’s delicious backing singing are in perfect sync with the electronics, that blink away, filling all the dark spaces, which leaves you nearly breathless in the utter beauty of “Nothing Stays.”

Maroulis laid down the vocals in New York, and the programming in Lancaster PA, by McCullough, also adding backing vocals from Valentina Veil (VV & the Void) recorded in Berlin, mixed in LA by Dan Evans (Die Warzau) and and mastered by Eric Oehler (KLACK) in Madison, WI.

The rest of the EP contains remixes from Luna of S Y Z Y G Y X, David Dutton of genCAB and Oehler of KLACK, with each surprising you with how different all three tracks truly are. NØIR vs Silver Walks’ cover version, eerily still has that Skinny Puppy sound that remind you that Cevin Key and Dwayne Goettel were in Cyberaktif, along with Bill Leeb of Frontline Assembly. This is so close to perfection.

Nothing Stays | NOIR

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Montreal’s SEXSOMNIA is made up Philip Faith (vocals, keyboards, bass, drum programming), Pat Gaudette (bass) and  Michael Rien (keyboards, percussion), a blend of darkwave and electronics with a generous hint of taboo. Following up the release of their single “Forbidden,” SEXSOMNIA dropped in August, the EP also called Forbidden. 

“Forbidden” and “Forbidden (Shadow Mix),” are the gateway to the EP, your pass into the world of potential pleasure via the sensuous tones of guest vocalist, Marita Volodina, with her sumptuous lip-service to extasy, and Faith’s more abrasive utterances.

Isabelle Young can be found lending her voice to “Vapor,” an utterly danceable track with rolling rhythms and post-punk bass guitar. Young’s vocals bring the exotic into excitingly charged song, which still is ethereal in quality. “Nigrum Viduam” features guest vocalist Jacinthe Benoit, and has been remixed by Martin Bowes, best known for his project ATTRITION. The Set You Free Mix takes this track that was released previously on the album Transcendent, making it feel grittier and more subversive, adding a harsher edge.

The ladies who have given their vocal talent on each song, definitely imbue their track with an essence of prohibited indulgence, be it heavy, airy or somewhere in between, but always sensual and done beautifully in conjunction with the music. SEXOMNIA are daring you to live on the edge a little, so you might find pleasure in the art of the Forbidden.

FORBIDDEN EP | SEXSOMNIA

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Saccharine Underground is the label based in Washington D.C. and run by Jeremy Moore, who, incidentally is the driving force behind avant garde post-punk project, Zabus. Moore (voice, guitars, 6 string bass, strings/synthesis), released the EP Genesis in June, with fellow musicians B.B. Kille (guitars +tracks 3 and 4), Johnny Wielding (drums, 4 string bass +tracks 1-4), Alex Zorn (guitars +tracks 1 and 2) and Akane Shimizu (strings/synth +tracks 1 and 2).

In Icelandic, “Grafhysi Fyrir Alla” means ‘tombstone for everyone‘ and it is also the single off the EP, lush with unsteady echoing, which is unyielding in pouring Moore’s vocals tumbling from the turgid darkness, where lurks the dissonance of synths and guitar. It envelopes you in the forever that is the grave. “Orphalese” is a fictional city, found in the poetry book, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. There is a dynamism in the music, yet intimately, is speaks of becoming complacent and giving in to whatever comes, instead of holding onto core beliefs. The drums are unrelenting, tapping out the fall into mediocrity, and all the while the the track exudes a taste of richness, especially in the vocals.

Behold the death nell brought forth in “Tearful Symmetries.” The psychedelic plays heavily in this track and this could be the equivalent to The Doors’ “The End,” as Moore is the morose and death inspired Jim Morrison, singing his ode to the inevitable demise of all. A cacophony of noise and sweeping gothic rock lays waste to you in “Golden-rot,” with roiling, powerful and deep vocals, The guitars are the wailing focal point, flooding your senses, overwhelming and full of portent that you are dying inside. The last track is also the title. “Shadow Genesis” is entirely the work of Moore, just him and a guitar, southern style gothic on the way out of town for the last time, unwilling to leave, but the reaper leaves no room for desire or wants.

“Psychopathologies like body dysmorphic disorder, at the extreme, can lead to a path of ruin, if most of your life is spent chasing a ghost—what you believe the world wants you to be. Death doesn’t discriminate. The end is always the same.” – Jeremy Moore

Yes, Shadow Genesis is about the ultimate end, but for myself, it is more pointedly about life. It is about how we could cowl and meet the end whimpering, or choose to make the most of everything and be the best person you can. Gibran wrote The Prophet, and although it speaks of humanities short comings, it more so brings into focus how beautiful life is when we treasure love, life and freedom. Zabus have given us a glimpse into the new album through the EP, which is thought provoking, full of gothic lyrics and eerily wonderful in that dark way.

Shadow Genesis (EP) | Zabus

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Karen Righeimer (low bass / vocals) and Ivan Russia (high bass / vocals / drum programming) are the Chicago based, post-punk band BELLHEAD, and April brought with it the release of the latest EP, Threats.

They say good girls go to heaven but bad girls go everywhere, and in “Threats,” the woman is most definitely a bad girl. She takes what she wants and creates trauma without a single thought of regret. The music is sassy and unyielding with Russia telling you about this she devil that is trying to break his heart. “Heart Shape Hole” is about revenge, invoking a vengeful old testament God. The vocals are grim and grimy, but then there is this line with lyrics, that just hits you and I am reminded of The Rolling Stone’s “Shine A Light.”

There is murder afoot and those bass guitars simply reinforce the intent of bringing to an end the misery and pain. Righeimer’s singing about the “Shutters + Slutters” giving the dual tone of raggedness. A modern day song about a cowboy that still is looking for his wild west, being hard riding, hard drinking and a dead shot with a death wish. The music grinds out the dust blown tale of the contemporary gunslinger for “No Dead Horses.” The track “Double Jeopardy” has this amazing stalking feel about it, like it knows it can swan around and not get caught because it is so cool. All the ways you can go and no one will ever know what happened, but it is a cool soundtrack, so what a way to go.

So, there are no love songs but what do you expect from a title like Threats, and it is about the archetypal types you might come across in Vegas…. okay, I have never been to Vegas but this peaked my imagination. The EP also has two remixes with one being the title track, mixed by the mighty Stabbing Westwards and Clubdrugs doing their thing with “Hole Shaped Heart.” BELLHEAD really do kill it with the double bass guitar, where it always gives their music an air of grunginess, being soiled or less than savoury, but then you hear those moments of the high bass that add a touch of lightness. Is it industrial, is it post-punk or gothic rock? That is up to you, but you will enjoy all of BELLHEAD’s Threats.

 Threats | BELLHEAD

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Minnesota based Zwaremachine, are preparing to bring in the thunder with the release of their third album, however, Mach Fox and crew are teasing you with the single “Waking The Night,” that has morphed into an EP with the special guest remixers.

Hold onto your speakers. “Waking The Night” is so heavy with bass, you might just wake the dead as your speakers rumble with distortion. Fox brings his creepiest snarling whisper, stalking your slumber, so you find no rest. The mood is oppressive and cloying.

There are four remixes to mull over, as you lose yourself to the after hours. There is the grandiose StaiK SeKt version with a chorus of fallen angels, while VV303 has gone for a lower and heavier mix that could be the soundtrack to a Hellraiser movie. Planktoon with the dreamy synths and glitching 80s influenced industrial mix, or you can go with the strangely pseudo western guitar crossed with the entrancing electronics of Darker.

It has not been easy for Zwaremachine, with power rhythm maker Dein Offizier missing due to succumbing to cancer in 2023 (fuck cancer), which was like a gut punch. They are back with Mach Fox (vocals/synth/programming) and Dbot (bass/vocals), now joined by Paul K (guitar) and Marshal B (drums), and like the phoenix from the ashes, Zwaremachine are back and snarling. It is good to see them back, ripping up the industrial norms.

Waking The Night (SINGLE/REMIX EP) | Zwaremachine

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Without Tomorrow | StaTiK SeKt

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VV303 Ultimate Sample Pack vol 1 | Composed And Produced by VV303 | VV303

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Daniel Edgar, David Battrick and Geoff Tripoli make up the US electronic band Monody, and February 21st saw the release of the EP, Abandoned Wisdom, out on Distortion Productions label. The EP is seven tracks long and is comprised of four original songs and three remixes by guest artists.

With AI creeping further into our lives, there is a healthy fear that they will take over human contact, but not be working in a human’s best interest. This is the theme of the darkly smooth “Artificial Ignorance,” which says the road was laid with good intentions that have been distorted. The clean vocals are easy on the ears, as are the synths. Second track “Drowning,” further drags you under the spell of Monody with the echoing singing and danceable rhythm, The “Drowning” is about choosing the best or easiest way for yourself, by feeding others to a system that doesn’t care about these individuals and groups. When this happens, we will all go down with the ship and message is probably more important than ever.

“Stand” has a lovely gravitas and has the feel of a self perpetuation rhythm device as the beats thrust the song forth. For me, this is about finding inner strength and the synths burn so brightly. The Hitchcock movie Gaslight is where the terminology began for making someone feel as if they are losing their mind, though it is all deflection and lies. There is a slightly oriental tone in the beginning of “Gaslight” and it is both intricate in sound and subject matter.

Geoff Pickney (Tenek/Cyclone Eye/The Nine) remixes “Drowning” and I have to admit he has really changed up the whole track where the electronics kind of have this Depeche Mode edge. You just know the “Stand” remix by Red Lokust is going to be kicking as the beats are doing overtime and the creepy growling vocals invade track. Crane 11 remixing “Artificial Ignorance” tricks you at first into thinking this is going to be an extremely laid-back affair, though it is still stripped back and heavy on the electronics.

Abandoned Wisdom is a carefully crafted EP, with a lot of thought going into vocals, synths and textures. Monody to my ear, almost sound like they could be from Europe, in the ilk of bands such as De/Vision and Beborn Beton. Perfect future synthpop.

Abandoned Wisdom | Monody

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Warsaw is a hotbed for darkwave music, and Grief.Christ are hitting you with their 2025 demo, called Make me wish I couldn’t beg.

They have mastered the ability to create a pall of claustrophobia in the creeping “Sinner Messiah,” that oozes the intent of a want-to-be saviour that cannot leave the entrenchment of death. An air of insanity taints “Safekeeping” with clattering electronic rhythms and fuzzed out vocals that wind over the retro science fiction sounding synths. “Child of hate” is going to grind you up and spit you out with the whirring drone, and yet it is not the fault of the child. It is a modern litany of pain and hopelessness, culminating in the ultimate end.

Blood and bone are good plant food and the track “Blue blood makes the roses grow so red” suggests that the more upper class the blood, the better the quality. A duel of female and male vocals are the present reminder of a relationship gone very wrong. Final track is “Push me back,” and it echoes the sentiment of “Blue blood makes the roses grow so red,” reiterating the ideas of blood and roses, and for me, pays homage to the Bjork single “Army of Me.” in the turbulent rhythm and humming electronics.

This is a name your price on Bandcamp and that is pretty good for a five track EP. Most tracks average out at about three minutes, with each entrenched in heavily morose imagery combined with an industrial edge. This is Grief.Christ and Make me wish i couldn’t beg (demo 2025).

Make me wish i couldn’t beg | Grief, Christ

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