F.I.V.E, also known as Fear Increases Violent Emotion, is the soon to be released fifth album for Italy’s darkwave group, Christine Plays Viola. Massimo Ciampani (vocals), FabrizioGiampietro (guitar), MarcoDiIanni (bass guitar) and GianlucaOrsini (drums) have dropped the single “MyRedemption” as your first taste for the new album.
The deep resonance of the vocals sets the shadowy mood, while the guitar sparkles and spars for equal billing. Easily danceable and even easier on the ears, “My Redemption” is pure darkwave goodness and definitely has that European sensibility. One might say a cool touch that burns the skin, so you might want to catch up with Christine Plays Viola, and check out the vintage gothic video for “MyRedemption.”
Italy’s VidiAquam released the album Lights and Shadows, in September. Full of post-punk goodness by members DanieleViola (electric guitars, bass, drum machine) and Nikita (voice, lyrics, synth, programming), we are going to look at the single “The Last Man on Earth.”
Purposely dark, with the only true brightness being the guitar as it twinkles between the drum machine, the heavy bass and grave vocals of Nikita. Even the synths creep through the cracks in a bleak manner, as is befitting a tale about a man who is truly alone in a apocalyptic world, living each day with only the memories of what used to be. The music video is an absolute must to watch with a nuclear nightmare vision rendered in animation. There is such sorrow in being “The Last Man on Earth” and it is beautifully conveyed by VidiAquam.
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 RozzWilliams (ChristianDeath), 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, DoubleEyelid 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.
It is Onyx’s great pleasure to premiere the new single from Melbourne’s goth-tastic duo, Velatine. “We’re Not Suburban” is HollyPurnell’s second single with the band, after joining fellow musician and producer Loki Lockwood, on the darkwave journey to create fabulous songs, and it comes out on the label Spooky Records.
Let the night sweep you away into its dark embrace, as the synths sensuously ask for surrender, and the sirens of emergency services, reminds us the city after sunset it full of life. Purnell’s singing is unhurried and so easy on the ears, as she elucidates about how being suburban can be perceived as being suffocating and ‘normal’, something artistic types are constantly at war with. At times, the synths caress the vocals, before becoming spikey. You can hear Lockwood’s vocals, deep and in unison with Purnell, as the track goes on and the sirens become increasingly intrusive.
Lockwood told me the track is autobiographical, until the lines ‘Despite the odds, The un-dead, you’re not, So be a little reckless, And make the life you’ve got,’ which is more of an ethos that many of us should take note of for ourselves. Velatine have made a lush video, walking and driving through those same suburban streets, so you can see those two beautiful people haunting your screen. The song itself is slightly reminiscent of that Portishead style, and I think Holly’s vocals are perfect. I can’t wait to hear go from strength to strength as she proceeds. “We’re NotSuburban” is yet another showcase of Lockwood’s composition mastery and proving Velatine don’t care to be run of the mill, because boring is for other people.
Have you people in your life, where every time you interact with them, you feel flat, tired and just plain drained? You could be dealing with “Emotional Vampires,” a serious parasite and also the title to the latest single from Toronto’s Spectral Eyes. Rosie Cochrane, the gothic soul behind Spectral Eyes, has described the single as a cross between Kate Bush and Death Grips….. feeling the intrigue yet?!
Cochrane’s vocals waver between spoken word and sickly imploring, for she inhabits the psyche of an anima sucking being, drawing you down into her vortex of selfishness and self obsession. There are erratic rhythms, bleeping electronics and synths that all come together, and when that voice soars, looped into singing in harmony, the track takes on a whole new level of wow. The last line really hits home. with the vampire finally telling it’s victim, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t have it all‘.
“Emotional Vampires” is quite experimental in many ways, using tone and pitch of the vocals to great emphasis of the character, as well as glitchy beats giving a sense of instability. It is a bit groovy, a bit dark and a lot of spectacular. So, remember when out in the big, bad world, use your Spectral Eyes, and do not let the “Emotional Vampires” bite.
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 ShirleyManson 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.
“ColdHeart” is the debut single from VoxUmbra, 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 VoxUmbra. The music itself is simply there floating in the background for atmosphere. The debut “ColdHeart” is a magical darkwave introduction to VoxUmbra.
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!
EvaRed’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 JanBlack, which are willowy, echoing and haunting, only matched by the saxophone that is played by ArielManiki. 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 theBlack Halos.
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 OrAlive, 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?!
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 JanaCushman (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 “FuturePastCollapse” 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 CeremonyShadows.
Onyx Music Reviews 