Time for a quickie.. and honestly, who doesn’t like a bit of a quickie?! Recently, our hero, Sebastian Sünkler aka STAHLSCHLAG, has released the new, epic album, A Zone Of Silence. Soooo, what do you do from here? Where do you go?
Why, you throw open a remix project for musicians around the world to participate in, releasing it with 34 artists and calling it More Zones Of Silence. And what a collection it is, with a wide array of styles for one to choose from.
From more synthwave lead remixes, dark ambient, rhythmic noise, EBM, harsh noise, experimental and everything in between under the industrial banner are represented. MATT HART, Non-Bio, Blue Ant, MissSuicide, Mikrometrik, SublimenalStimuli and Dirty K are just some of the bands/projects whom have taken these tracks and twisted them to their will, creating their own monstrous machinations. Very worth of your listening time and then explore the other artists. Immerse yourself in More Zones Of Silence.
The 31st of October was a rather busy time for releases that I’m working my way through. In that vein, the Boston based label, Info Sec Records has put together a compilation of electronic artists called Music For Hacking.
INFO SEC RECORDS
TheNeon Droid brings a “Cloud OfAshes“, sailing across the net, floating in the electronic world, while “terminus” from Rap2h has its video games inspired tones.
There is the cool beats and ambience of Inter Gritty’s “The Chase” or you can go full cyber angst with Psi Drive with the tracks, “Master’s Revenge” and “Hail Overlords“…. plus there is the synthwave crossed with crunchiness of “REJUVENATE” by TWINKLE MARIA きらきら マリア.
Not all is instrumental, with Neon Tuesday covering “Rhythm Of The Night” which is a bit more calm that the original and later also providing another cover in the form of the Amiga game theme from “Lotus III” which is full on cheesy and amazing. ThyHarvest has this wonderful techno sound, with synths trickling down, making you think of the Matrix code in “Net Terminal“.
M73 is surfing the “Interlinked” data, like a stream of conciousness, with dark synth intent and, oh my, _NetNomad with “Build“, makes me think of the old games like Prince Of Persia, with its whimsical chip tune style.
This is another project where a label is showcasing independent musicians to help raise their profiles but also garner more interest in the electronic scene. There is an inclusiveness in this compilation with synthwave along side darkwave, chip tune, ambient and even industrial, all sharing a deep passion for experimental electronica. So plug in and become one with the interface with some Music ForHacking.
Halloween brought us the spooky release of the latest Simon Carter & Fabsi EP, Witch But Not Famous. With two new tracks, nine remixes and three guest mixers in the ghoulish countenance of Studio-X, C-Lekktor, Teknovore and Ruinizer, what is there not to love?!
“Omens” is just a smooth techno/ electronic filled track with Fabsi’s vocals meandering through the mix, predicting your doom. There are three remixes of this track but we will turn our attention to the Studio-X mix. You can picture the light show on the dance floor for this reimagining and Studio-X almost literally wind this up to maximum effect, before dropping the explosive techno.
The next new track is “Witch Hit” like an out of control steam train on its way to wild woods where you just know some crazy shit is going to happen. Again there are three remixes and we take the guest artist’s version, C-Lekktor doing the honours. They have taken the wonderful Fabsi’s cackle and used it to perfection in this heavier industrial customisation.
Next we have the track “We Are The Witches“, that was previously released on, The Bitches Potion. So we look to the last two remixes of the three by Teknovore and Ruinizer. Teknovore just has this beautiful symmetry between mesmerising soundscape and glorious danceability. He has stripped back the track and injected a magical night ride. Love the hint of something exotic within while launching into a rhythm infused piece of joy by Ruinizer.
Fabsi brings the Witch vibes with her vocals and lyrics while Carter pulls it all together with his enormous talent for amazing techno industrial music. With that talent also comes some wonderful friendships, and these musicians definitely help showcase that artistry as well as their own. More fun than a naked night dance in the moonlight because we are Witch But Not Famous.
The latest single from M73, has just been released, off the album Motor Romantik., on the record label, LÆBEL. “Vampire” has been given a lush video, care of Anna Tartaglia, exploring the visual concept that not all vampires live off blood but many are regular humans who feed off the power of controlling another person. As always the synth lines are stunning and John R Mirland completes the track with his vocals.
When it became October the 15th, Orrphoiz dropped his debut album, Kill The Gods. German based, Orrphoiz, is a mixture of dark synthwave and EBM with a much harsher edge.
It’s an angry and emotional album, raging against the injustice of the world we live in and the systems we live under. – Orrphoiz
When they tell me they have an album and it turns out to have a lot of extra stuff on it….this is Kill The Gods, chock full of original tracks, some featuring guest artists and guest remixes, with a rich variety of styles. There are eleven original tracks, with feature artist, grabyourface, plus a further six remixes, done by ES23, SynthAttack, STAHLSCHLAG, Miss Suicide, BolPaVoX and RNZR.
Let us kick off with “Impostor” with a message of doom and Orrphoiz’s rate of verbalization really impresses me, like a machine going off and without missing a beat. Vocally, “The Lost Ones“, is creepy, dissolving into far more soulful tone. All the while, the synths hypnotise your senses. “Electric Crash” might be the song to sum up the album with its pumping beats and circular rhythms, about being under the influence of electronic music, unable to get enough. The intricate and sparkling instrumental track, “Gathering The Tribe“, wends it’s way like an Arabian tale. The grabyourface collab, “Eat The Rich” makes you wonder how one can say so much without seemingly taking a breath. There is a venom within the overwhelming sound and the vocals. The dance grooves let fly in “Kill The Gods“, pounding, pounding, pounding to remind you that those smiling plastic faces, want to lull you into a false sense of security.
The premise that all human bleed the same and have all the same fears and needs, so why do we feel the right to wage war and take another’s life is “Industrial Hate Machine“. It is abrasive and feels like splinters of metal under your skin. “Synth City” is yet another instrumental tracks with a beautiful array of whirling electronic synthwave, pulsating and seductively warm. The synthesized Hatsune Miku features on “Plastic Popstar“….wow, so smooth and the vocals are to die for. How do you express the perfection of a track? We are somewhat back to harsher vocals, intermingled with the smooth in “Femboy Incubus“, and I have to say I have flashbacks to early Eisbrecher. Last of the original tracks is “Dancefloor Annihilator” and a instrumental to finish off with. Musical sirens and techno inspired beats consume you.
The RZNR mix of “Kill The Gods“, throbs with demonic intent, while the keyboard work on “Electric Crack“, has SynthAttack’s fingerprints all over it. ES23 also gives us another version of “Electric Crack”, heavier and dirtier, then we get the crunchy beats of STAHLSCHLAG, as the light and darkness of “The Lost Ones“, are given an epic soundscape platform. MissSuicide imbues “Femboy Incubus“, with a glittering synth dance makeover and “The Impostor” mix by BolPaVoX, has a rather enticing rhythmic noise attitude.
First of all. I was not expecting that voice. When Orrphoiz drops the growling and sings, that voice is as smooth as silk and as deep as a placid, dark lake. Utterly stunning. The album itself is a tapestry of styles, carefully woven together and it works. The feature artists and mixers have really gone to town with the tracks allotted to them and it is a treat to get to hear their work and interpretations. Well worth the money as you get a lot and there is so much to explore inKill The Gods by Orrphoiz.
It seems the guys from Biomechanimal have slapped us with the single, “From The Mouths Of Beasts“, the latest unnatural, animalistic track from the London based band.
The sound from the outset is huge. There is their signature hardstyle mixed with industrial but also there is the introduction of something akin to symphonic metal, swirling in morass, while the vocals snarl and growl, for there is no taking back that which comes from the mouths of beasts.
I don’t think it’s my imagination, when I say, Biomechanimal are getting heavier. Sure there are the bass drops that you expect but a bigger, more epic metal aspect has been creeping in. How much heavier can they go? Watch this space.
MissSuicide is a one person project from Cologne of the dark electro/industrial persuasion. Demian’s (MissSuicide) latest EP is Herbivor, set free as of the 1st of October with guest artists. STAHLSCHLAG and GRENDEL.
A gypsy violin, ominous synths and a sound clip from Breaking Bad start the odyssey of “Persona Non Grata“. Dance beats enhanced by spinning synths. Like a tape in reverse, we are hit by the title track,”Herbivor“. There are dueling synths and the rhythmic signature feels like it is in constant flux, itching to fly free. “Präzisionsarbeit“, featuring STAHLSCHLAG, the maker of the rhythmic crunchy noises, just leaps out at you. Those static oscillations, tweaks and synths are great but the banging beats get the heart working.
“Ocelotte” is mentioned as a part of a video game sample and the track itself is dark and sharp. The GRENDEL remix “Herbivor” is most definitely geared towards the dance floor, with JD Tucker, tightening the synths and condensing to an almost science fiction flavour of sound. Sebastian Lohse (ex- Letzte Instanz, Die Feine Gesellschaft) does guest vocals on “De Profundis” which has been given the STAHLSCHLAG treatment. The remix has those tell tale sounds of Sünkler tweaking the track with his crunchy static, while Lohse’s singing is just the icing on the cake.
There are tracks on here that are going to to be club floor fillers but also, others that will truly tickle the taste buds of industrial connoisseurs. The mixture of styles between Demian and Sünkler, as well as Tucker, makes for very enjoyable listening. Be the Herbivor in the MissSuicide buffet.
This year saw Belgium project, Psy’Aviah, celebrate twenty years of music, with the label Alfa Matrix releasing a huge best of, called Bittersweet, that had been re-recorded with guest vocalists. On September the 22nd, Yves Schelpe, founder of Psy’Aviah, is asking “Is Everything Going OK?“, a maxi single/EP of the highly successful single “Ok“.
Huong Su takes on the vocal duties for “Ok” (rediscovered), so very sweet and sentimental, with classical instrumentation. After this version, the gloves come off, so to speak, as the HeiG trance mix takes hold, onwards and upwards, followed by the magical Miss Suicide mix, which is also guaranteed to hold a crowd on the dancefloor. There is the beautiful trance mix by LLM, Digital Factor with their slow burn electronic mix and the After Dark remix from Am Tierpark that builds a world of lightness encased in darkness plus some stellar synths. But wait there is more….. Pulse Mandala remixes into an ethereal glow, the trippy Nethermerebreakbeat remix before the ALUCVRDbreakbeat mix that glitches and lunges with a Middle Eastern soul and then there is the stripped back version with HuongSu and violinist Irina Markevich.
I am not even going to get into the 12 inch remixes, of which there three. Yes, you are going to get bang for your buck on this single/EP. “Ok” has been lovingly handled by each musician, shaped into tracks to ignite the soul from heartbreaking sensuality to dance floor fillers and it started with a song from Schelpe’sPsy’Aviah. Good music does not age and this is a corker of a release.
Danish electronic artist, John R. Mirland, is back with a new album, Motor Romantik, under the guise of his solo dark/synthwave moniker, M73. Mirland is also known for his other musical labours such as Mirland, AmTierpark, Mirland & Larsen and I could go on about his forays into rhythmic power noise, synthpop, Eurodance, techno and even black metal. September the 1st, saw the release come out on the Læbal music label.
The super cool “Take It All” with electronic vocals, graces out ears. The synths are lovely as the techno leeches through the synthpop cracks. Mirland’s melancholic vocals are at odds with the bright and glittering keyboard lines in “Wrong” and this leads into the stellar “Obsessed“, with its piano intro that breaks into a Eurodance style hybrid, which is a lot of fun. The sliding electronics in “Vampire” entrance your senses, a story of a vampiric type that lives off the fear and sadness of others. “Inside You” gives a glimpse of Mirland’s deft talent with industrial noise, crafting it to fit into a darkwave form, with fuzzed tones and glitched rhythms. Also pretty creepy and maybe about a parasite with lyrics like I’m inside you Wearing the perfect disguise.
The title track “Motor Romantik” is just a fantastic techno influenced track, which means the beats are free flowing and the vocals are low, luring you into the futuristic world where everything has been engineered, including humans. I wonder if “Empty“, is about mental health, burning bridges and spurning those who love, unreasonably destroying everything. The vocals reflect the emotional hollowness of a life that has no purpose. “Empty” was originally released in 2021 as a single.
There is something spine chilling in the icy synths of “Crucify“, as they run up and down your spine and a very oppressive tone of electronics that almost sound like christian chant in the background. The cyber world is wonderfully encapsulated in the music of “Perfect“. A cyber stalker or antisocial miscreant, living their fantasy world through a screen. “No Light In Sight” is another track previously released as a single. A drug induced stupor, though deep inside, the electrical synapses crackle still, slowly dwindling away.
There is always the beautiful synth graduations that Mirland conjurs up, running through each track, like silken fingers that shimmer across your skin, while the lyrics are about degeneration, dark lusts, eroticism, lost dreams and a future designed by others. I love that he combines his different music styles subtly to create something that is evocative and utterly enjoyable, either on a dance floor or driving on a dark night, down atmospheric roads. Yes, Motor Romantik is a treat for the ears with M73.
You would have to say that those individuals that create harsh industrial power and rhythmic noise, are a pretty unique bunch, as they form strong and danceable music tracks. STAHLSHLAG is Sebastian Sünkler and he is also one of these amazingly talented humans. With the release of his latest album, A Zone Of Silence, we thought ‘hey, we have a few questions’ and we know the super lovely Sebastian was up for the challenge of answering those very questions. I have to say that Sebastian might have the coolest wife on the planet…..and if you want to find out why, then you better get reading!
Welcome dear Sebastian, to Onyx where all hopes and dreams can be built and perish.
STAHLSCHLAG has been around since the mid 2000s. What was Sebastian up to musically before your current project?
I started to produce music some years before STAHLSCHLAG. My first steps were kind of dark electro tunes in a project called Vicious Circle with German vocals. It was the time when I discovered so called trackers as software to make sample based music. A friend of my older brother showed Fast Tracker 2 for MS DOS to us and I was totally hooked and fascinated since using trackers is kind of nerdy programming music rather than produce in a more conventional way. I wrote two albums and also released them by myself but well it was more something I shared with friends. It was also a little different then because it wasn’t so easy to do self promotion on the web like we can do now. Also producing was more complicated in a way. I didn’t have money for good gear so I relied mostly on samples I ripped from tunes in tracker file format I downloaded on modarchive.org or I used free samples from download sites. Anyways this is how I started 22 years ago. I still work with trackers but they are modern now supporting everything I need. I just love the workflow to produce from top down in patterns putting the notes step by step and manipulate samples.
I always am curious about the scene in different countries. Where you are in Germany, what was the dark/industrial scene like when you first started out and what is it like now?
I loved my first years in the scene. I have been into it since I was 18. We had great Gothic and Industrial parties in Hamburg and awesome concerts and festivals, more than we have now. It was totally exciting. I also loved that we had many printed magazines to inform us about new music and I really loved to discover new stuff just by checking out CDs in a store. To me it was always mostly about the music and it is still like that. I think the scene here is still great. Many efforts to keep it alive even if it gets harder. COVID had a big influence on it. Small places and events closed their doors. But I believe the scene will always survive. We still have parties everywhere and the biggest European dark festivals in Germany. What I also love is the diversity in the scene in the past and now. Sure also the dark scene has its problems with weird people and idiots (like everywhere when people are involved), I still think in the end it is an open and peaceful group of people and we can be happy in Germany to have many ways to live it out.
What prompted you to start STAHLSCHLAG?
Well, the short answer is, my wife did. She asked me in 2006 to try producing music like Xotox or KiEw because she was totally into rhythmic noise and industrial. I can just say I wasn’t so much. I was more into dark electro and future pop. But well I gave it a try and STAHLSCHLAG was born. She also had the idea for the name. We produced an EP and two albums together. Fortunately Jay from the band reADJUST found our music on MySpace and recommend to a small label in Florida. It was the first home for our music and even if it didn’t work out well, the record label helped us to get noticed. I can also say that MySpace was the best platform to promote our music. I miss it. 😉
What is it about harsh power/rhythmic noise that you love and drew you into creating it?
I think noise is such a great creative tool. You can do so much with it and to me personally it has something very meditative. I can relax so well listening to harsh noise. For the rhythmic noise, I think it is just so powerful and is the perfect companion to any beat. I love how it just flows and even in my calmer tracks, I always need noise at least as textures. Noise is just wonderful.
This year has seen you release your latest album, “A Zone Of Silence”, 2 years after the release of “ALIVE!”. So we are just wondering….why do all the albums start with A?
The first albums I produced with my wife started with A. I found it interesting just to continue like that, always looking for the right word with A to describe the feeling and topic of an album. It is a nice little challenge.
“ALIVE!” was a stunning example of rhythmic noise. How hard or easy was it to write “A Zone Of Silence”?
It is actually always the same. I never have a real idea or plan when I start to work on new music. Everything can inspire me. Something I read, watched or listened to. Sometimes I just play around with sounds or produce something as a meditation. Making music is my escape from the world. It helps me a lot, kind of like therapy too. What really helps me too is that I never think about what’s trendy or what I should do next as a release. Of course I think you can always notice my sound but I don’t work by rules or genres. I do what I feel like and what I love. It was actually easy to write A Zone Of Silence because first I just planned it as EP with less tunes, all slower and darker but then I thought fuck it, I will mix styles on a new album as usual. I know that I tend to be diverse on every album but this is what I love. No rules, just doing what I am in the mood for.
There were hints in “ALIVE!” that your style was slowly changing to incorporate other sounds. Can you tell about these changes and how it affected the newest album?
One important thing to me is trying something new all the time. I love to challenge myself and since it feels like everything is possible now also in a technical view (so many tools, so many instruments, so much computer power), I don’t limit myself. In ALIVE! I wanted to combine cheesy synth melodies with noise just because I thought why not. I had the idea it would work well together. I did it already in the past but focused more on it on the album. A Zone Of Silence was a new challenge. I noticed that I love cinematic and tribal sounds more and more, so I decided to try to mix some of it to my typical STAHLSCHLAG sounds. In the end I will always do something like that because I never want to sound the same. It would just bore me.
This album sees guest vocalists, combining their vocal talents and lyrical skill with your music. Can you tell us about each of these artists and how they came to be on the album?
One of my other ideas to challenge myself was to work with vocals in my music and because I suck at writing lyrics I was looking for guest vocalists. I got such a big feedback on a post on Facebook and I really would love to work with all people who want to collaborate but well I would have to write many more tunes then.
The artists on the album are all amazing people, I knew before already. I met them all on social media and we worked together with remixes. I sent all demos for the album to them and they could pick a track.
Aly-x from Sublimenal Stimuli is such a great vocalist and she writes such great lyrics. She actually did two vocal collaborations for the album and I will release the second one on the remix release later this year. On this album you can hear her in Lost Dreams. She also did vocals for another unreleased song. So you will hear more of her in STAHLSCHLAG tracks in the future. Working with her is a dream. I just send her instrumental tracks and she gets inspired, writing lyrics and sending vocals back in a few days.
Chris from Morbid Echo did the lyrics and vocals for Crushed March. Morbid Echo is a great dark electro project from Hamburg, so he is kind of my neighbor. Working with him was so great too. He got the emotions and my idea from Crushed March immediately. He wrote the lyrics and sent me the recorded vocals in 2 days. Really so amazing and I am sure to work more with him in the future too.
Rick from Mikrometrik wrote the lyrics and did the vocals for Dawn of Man. Mikrometrik is a great dutch dark electro project. I have been a fan of it from the beginning. It was the same experience with Rick like I had with the other guest vocalists. Rick totally got the idea and mood of the track which I wanted to use as an opener anyways. I changed the track a little after Rick sent me the first version of his vocals. In the end we both made it just better. I think it is really the best tune I could imagine for the album.
The fourth collaboration is with Lena from Ultra. This collaboration is even more special. It is not just her perfect German vocals but also the music video which wouldn’t exist without her. Working with her was just awesome. Without her Doomed wouldn’t have this deepness. And I am very grateful for the video. She shot it and produced it. I was just there for three hours, doing what she told me. I am so proud and it was the right choice to release it as a single for the album.
What have these collaborations meant for you as far as your growth as a musician?
They mean a lot to me because they can give my music a final touch I couldn’t imagine before. Also the experience to work with other artists is always fruitful and some of the most important aspects to me in my life as an artist. I look forward to doing more of them. It also means that I have to think different about arranging my music which I already did on A Zone Of Silence. I wrote some of the tracks in a way to leave space for possible vocals.
There are themes throughout the album, Sebastian, which seem to be related to makind and their seemingly headlong plummet into trying to destroy themselves and everything around them, either through environmental destruction or war. What does it mean for you?
I am a pessimist or maybe a realist. We all know that our planet is in danger but we don’t care. We know that war is going on all the time but we don’t care. I can understand why it is like that. Not because we are all just evil or stupid but I still admit that it is frustrating to me. I think a lot about it, read a lot of philosophy to understand the world and people better but it is just surreal. What I believe is that we all could be more open and kind to each other to make the dawn of man a little better. I don’t believe it will get better in the future but maybe we can at least try not to be too selfish and destructive. The current situation is also one of the main reasons why I don’t have children.
Even with the industrial power noise, “A Zone Of Silence” holds elements that are ancient feeling, voices, chants and dark magical places of our ancestors. Am I correct in this theory and if so, why did you incorporate this into the music?
Yes, you’re right about that. I was always into mysticism and shamanism. I discovered it while I read a lot of philosophy books. I am agnostic and believe there is more out there. For the album I was discovering great instruments while looking for cinematic sounds. I found these ancestor sounds in some instruments and felt they would be the perfect addition to the sound I was looking for. To me they match great with the whole mood of the album. They give it some more darkness.
I love the vocal tracks but admit there are many of the instrumental ones that I am extremely fond of as well. I found “Signs” and “Spem liberationis” really sparked my interested. Do you have any favourite tracks off the album?
It is always not easy to answer this question. I can’t say I have favorites but Signs was actually the first track I wrote which had some of the mystical and tribal sounds. It was more of an experiment. So I think without it, the album wouldn’t be like it is. I really like all the tracks, I never put tracks on an album when I don’t enjoy them so much. I always have to feel them or I wouldn’t release them. I have over 300 unfinished tracks which I could finish and release but won’t feel.
You did a Twitch session for the release of the album. How much fun was this?
It was so much fun also because there were such great people there, celebrating with me. I am always so grateful, if other people enjoy my music too. I also had technical issues and maybe talked too much but I still got great feedback. It felt so good to do it.
What pieces of equipment do you rely on the most when recording?
I actually don’t record much, just notes from a midi keyboard for melodies. Most of my work is inside the box which means I do it all in my digital audio workstation (DAW), the tracker Renoise. I load samples into it like drum sounds or load virtual synthesizers and instruments and then do a lot of sound design like my distortions.
You put the album on Bandcamp for name your price and all money made from sales is going to the charity, Equiwent. Please tell us about Equiwent and why you chose them?
Equiwent is a small international aid organization for animals and humans. They work primarily in Eastern Europe to care about working horses and emergency care for all horses. They also care about the street dogs in Romania and run a free veterinary clinic there. Their project Equiwent helps people is a program to support children, poor people and people with disabilities in Romania. Romania is a very poor country in Europe. They also care about refugees from the Ukraine.
I support them because it is a small transparent organization. I believe in what they do and can follow their hard work on social media.
You do a lot of remixes for other acts. This must be something you enjoy doing and is it a great way to network with other musicians?
I always love doing that. Destroying the great music by others is so much fun. Seriously, it is really always a great experience. I enjoy most remixing tracks of other genres. It is always a challenge. And yes, it is an awesome way to network. I found great people just because of it.
I have to ask about your other project, In Tenebris. Although electronic, this is so different to STAHLSCLAG, far more ambient. Can you tell us why you felt the need to create In Tenebris, will there be another album and if so, because “Abyss” was the debut, will the next album also start with A?
In Tenebris was born because someone asked me to do a soundtrack for a lost places video. Well, he didn’t enjoy what I did for the video but I loved what I created. Slow dark atmospheric music, so I decided to write more of it. The track Thanatophobia on the new STAHLSCHLAG album is actually a track I wrote for In Tenebris but I thought it fits great there too. Producing such music is even more meditative to me so yes I will produce more and for sure release a new album too. I am also sure I can’t resist looking for a way to start the album name with A.
Sebastian, you are now an independent artist without a label. Does this make things easier or harder for you?
It is totally fine to me to be an independent artist right now. I want to stay like that for a while but you never know. It doesn’t change so much since Crunch Pod gave me all artistic freedom too. I always did a lot of the promotion by myself and in terms of success. I can already say that A Zone Of Silence is my most successful album so far. I got great reviews, videos for it and also sold it at most. I am so grateful and happy that I can reach other people with my music and that I have fans for many years already.
I believe XoToX are a big influence musically and you can hear that in your music, so what bands and musicians got you into the electronic scene?
My first experiences with electronic music are great artists from the 80s. I always loved synth pop but my first experiences with darker electronic music were bands like Funker Vogt, Suicide Commando, Apoptygma Berzerk at the end of the 90s. I felt totally in love with that kind of music and it didn’t change.
Who influences you now?
I think now I get influenced by every artist I work with. I am lucky because I get to know so much music which isn’t so well known just because I collaborate and remix. This is my biggest influence now because I have to deal with the music in a different way when I have to remix it. So it is a long list because I have done at least 60 remixes so far.
If you could choose a favourite band or song to remix, who or what would it be?
I remixed Xotox which is so amazing already. I think if I could choose I would enjoy to remix something more calm and destroying it. Something by VNV Nation or Solar Fake would be nice. Or maybe something from a total different genre. Doing a STAHLSCHLAG remix of a black metal song could be awesome.
What is next for STAHLSCHLAG and Sebastian?
I have several plans for STAHLSCHLAG. First of all one or maybe more remix releases with remixes of tracks from A Zone Of Silence. I asked for remixers on Instagram and Facebook and got a lot of feedback. If all artists really do it, I will get over 30 remixes. I also plan to release a new EP or album on my birthday on January 31 next year. I know it is pretty early but I have some more tracks ready and vocal collaborations too.
Plans for Sebastian are more about his PhD work. I really need to do less for STAHLSCHLAG to get more time. So I plan to do a break of new releases and remixes after my birthday. But I will still perform at online events and on stage and new music by STAHLSCHLAG will always come.
Thank you for being one of the super wonderful people in the industrial scene and doing this interview!
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