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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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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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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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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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Concha Records is a Belgium label that dropped the debut single “Sentimental” from post-punk/darkwave project FAILED, a trio based in Ghent. Production is by legendary drummer Mario Goossens, mixed by Greg Gordon, who has worked with artists such as Helmet, System Of A Down and Nick Cave/ Warren Ellis, while mastered by Fred Kevorkian, who has notably mastered for the White Stripes and Iggy Pop..

There is a sense of urgency in the electronics and growing dread from the whispered vocals, that bloom into full singing and finally are hailing our attention. The guitar works its way into the track, playing the same line over and over again, almost hypnotically. You feel pulled in multiple directions with the mixing of the vocal styles, drowning in the mire of sensory overload. “Sentimental” is a great debut track and the visual style of the band is quite intriguing as well, as they wear wigs and full face masks. Slowly sink into FAILED’s “Sentimental.”

Sentimental | FAILED

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Portland…… those crazy kids with the great darkwave music called Human Hollow are back with the latest single “Could You Feel It Again?“

Austin McKee (AKA Nomenclature) and Lucia Luna share the vocal duties, both of them pulling at your heartstrings, with Luna’s singing wisping like tendrils that are ghost like and haunting. The electronics are equally atmospheric, wavering between lightness and black sickness sitting at the base of your soul, while the guitar gives the track extra teeth.

The band has said this is a song about disintegration and I guess it is up to the listener and how they interpreter the lyrics as I think it will mean different things to different people, but the crux of “Could You Feel It Again?” is this song is about devastation of loss of someone that means everything. The vocals are beautiful, but filled with desperation and overwhelming sadness, however it is the music that keeps us grounded. Human Hollow could be dark pop angels.

Could You Feel It Again? | Human Hollow

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Siblings by blood as well as brothers in post-punk, James Rollings and Jools Rollings are Peak Flow from Doncaster, UK. Like any good gothic band, they have dropped the single “Repetition” for a freaky Friday the 13th.

This track blasts by you as soon as you press start, not waiting to build up, like it desperately has somewhere to go. This is supported by the thundering rhythms and screaming synths in the chorus. The vocals are ever smooth even when pronouncing the death nell on a relationship, whilst the guitar is the warmth grounding everything.

Some relationships are like bashing your head against a brick wall. Same issues, same grievances and same pointless outcomes. This is the pain of “Repetition,” a song about the circular dance of groundhog days, leaving you feeling drained and miserable. It is an interesting dichotomy hearing the lyrics, which is the focal essence and the at odds music that is upbeat and racing ever forwards. The lads have created a music video in fractured black and white, underscoring the ideals of no control over being gas lit and lied to. There is definitely a Peak Flow sound that James and Jools are cultivating, which is dancing on the knife’s edge of darkness with catchy hooks. This is new, so have it on “Repetition.”

Repetition | Peak Flow

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