Somewhere in Victoria, Canada, you can imagine there are bears and elk but if in the woods, you might be jumped by the Skull Cultist, also known as Steve Saunders, man of rocking industrial beats. His latest album is named HardcoreRituals.
The first track, “ChwibanMarwolaeth” sets the scene of something tribal and ancient, yet with the encroaching modern music bearing down. This is the lead up for you to drop into the title track “Hardcore Ritual,” and the magical mythos of a bygone era reverberate through the vocals and electronic tones. It builds and breaks down over and again. The cyberpunk influenced “Rivethammer” pounds and loops, revelling in the violence of the hammer. It is probably me, but I keep thinking I hear ‘timber‘ being yelled over and over again.
“Mover” features the crystalline vocals of Gaby Gustafson, who is also know as Eva X along side Saunders, as the music strikes up a rapid pace, while the electronics rattle and throb to keep up. She is the angelic in comparison to his demonic, crying ‘die, die, die.’ Nicole Turner of Orthokeras is the guest vocalist on the “Floor Sadist,” and does anyone have to ask when or where we assume the position?! This track is a mixture of rhythmic noise and dark sexual overtones, which is instantly captivating and bewitching. The last track of the album, “Duskfall,” also features Turner’s vocals, which feels expansive and sounds futuristic
Hardcore Rituals has a grand total of eleven tracks and Skull Cultist keeps you guessing what style he is going to use next, though I like to think the main style is rhythmic industrial. Having the two ladies guest on tracks is a really nice additional, taking things up a notch and I have to say that I really did like “Floor Sadist.” Maybe it is that skull crushing crunchiness but it is very satisfying. In the end, there is a primordial brooding throughout, married to something that lurks within the shadows.
Reza Uhdin first created gothic/industrial project Inertia, back in 1992, based in London. His new album, Estranged Icon, has been released in October on the label Distortion Productions and joining him are Andrew Lowlife (additional synths, programming), Andrew Cater (guitar), Time Stephens (guitar) and Blue Jigsaw (drums).
The opening track, “New Format” features the violin of Matt Howden of Sieben, and you know an artist is confident of their product when they kick off with a single, which bodes well for the rest of the album. It is a song that feels exotic, speaking of other worlds and foreign places, and the chorus creeps up on you, swelling and building. It also gives you the opportunity to hear Uhdin’s vocal range from near growling to melodic in the hypnotic “New Format.”
Speaking of singles, the second track, which features KMFDM and PIG’sSteveWhite on guitar, is the far more energetic “Scowl.” White’s guitar work buzzes, emphasizing the chorus and giving us a kick butt interlude, and there is also yet another guitarist on the single, Nick Bayford helping filling out the industrial sound. You might notice there is a soul filled female backing vocalist in the form of Alexys B, and you can appreciate her as she wails up a storm against White’s solo break..
MikaGoedrijk of This Morn’ Omina have collaborated on the track “Heartbeat,” and from this union has come a throbbing and pulsating electronic kick start, full of emotion filled singing combined with stirring synths. Both surreal and spinetingling, “Heartbeat” is a dance floor filler guaranteed to raise more than a few resting rhythms.
I have to admit that I’m always a little afraid of being disappointed with projects that have been around a while. I have no such fear here as Inertia really excels at what they do. The album is this wonderfully crafted electronic odyssey. “Estranged Icon” drags you to the highest peaks on the glorious wings of the music and then can bring you crashing down harder than Icarus with dark imagery. Be captured by the Inertia and bow down to their “Estranged Icon.”
SleekTeeth are a dark electronic duo from California, and they have released their third single “Operating” on the 20th of September. As far as I can tell, the band has been around since 2023, which is when they debuted the single “Gone.”
Instantly, you hear the old school influences like Front 242 in the electronics. The vocals are smooth and seeming sweet, though we know that not everything sweet is innocent, and there is something sinister below the surface. The clatter of rhythms and chiming of computerised bells/chimes, lulls you onto the dance floor.
This is a fine example of electropop, with its roots firmly in the industrial past, and SleekTeeth are operating in between these lines. If you enjoy “Operating” then you should check out the other singles for this relatively new project.
DirtFactory are a pretty industrial lot, literally, bringing out their fourth album in just as many years, on the ViralRecords label in Australia. Brothers MichaelGillman and DanielAllen have brought forth the plague in the form of DyingPlanet, that has been mastered at AbeliskAudio by the HOSTILEARCHITECT himself, MitchKenny.
Callum Dodds from RAZRWHP is on guitar duty for the first track “Destroy It All,” bringing the grating metallic taste, as well as finesse, while the lads truly are upping the ante with an electronic onslaught. “Bones” is the single and the dance of the dead goes hard, laying bare the futility of flesh and belief for everything is going to become dust. We are now in the “Houses of Worship” and there is a palpable 80s feel to the music and Allen’s vocals only add to the disillusionment in commercial religion.
We are going to be visited by the siren called Brianna Smith, the lead singer of RAZRWHP and there is no disappointment here, with her delicate vocals in direct contrast to Daniel’s almost spoken word. She is the angel of death while he is the disease in the title track “Dying Planet.” It could be said that “IndustrialJesus” is a form of worship of KMFDM and NitzerEbb, irreverent and damning of broken religious systems and in that vein is the rather catchy “Antipope,” with it’s rapid fire electronic beats and a fantastic use of vocals.
Does “Mod Matrix” mean modified matrix? A throwback perhaps to the movie The Matrix and how you could download anything you wanted to learn straight into your brain…but then do you know what is real and what is not and the music does not spark any kind of hope for a good ending. “The Body is Dead” has this very cool rhythm that instantly grabs your attention, while the synths climb and fall in tale of cybernetics gone wrong. The calm before the “NuclearStrike,” as the track slowly builds towards midnight and ultimate fallout, taking out you out with extreme prejudice. Track ten is the last and it is the menacingly named and airless “Coathanger.” Why airless? The song has the atmosphere of smothering with its oppressiveness.
This, for me, is the best vocal outing for Daniel, as he seems to be settling more into the role and having guest musicians is a nice addition. I have to say I really enjoyed “TheBodyIs Dead” and my top choice would have to be the collaboration with Brianna on “DyingPlanet.” I already know the lads are already creating more music, and watch this space for a new project from Michael. All is doom and a Dying Planet from Dirt Factory.
The end of the world might be nigh the way the human race is going, between the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Seven Deadly Sins. Pennsylvanian based MaliceMachine recently released the album “Act of Self Destruction,” showcasing the pent up fury of members Syn and Julie-X about the state of current world events, exploding out in what can be best described as a torrent of electronic rage. We asked the hive mind that is Malice Machine about the album and all the stuff….what stuff? Read on.
Welcome to the crypt of our sorrows that is Onyx, Syn and Julie-X of Malice Machine.
How did Malice Machine come into being and more to the point why?
We’ve always been a drum and bass team and spent a lot of time in various goth and industrial bands in NY before we decided to put our own project together. We went through our share of musicians looking for he right fit until we discovered we were best as a duo. Syn took over on vocals and after some thought we decided the music would have a more aggressive vibe. We decided on calling our project Malice Machine because it was an appropriate name.
Apparently Syn spits the venom and Julie-X is the eye of chaos, but could you explain your roles in the band please?
Syn became the vocalist because we just couldn’t find anyone suitable. He also took over all song writing, lyrics, guitar and studio production. Julie-X plays and writes the drums and also does the art and tech work so we have a mutually beneficial and productive relationship.
You originally started the band in New York City, but since then moved to Pennsylvania. How has this impacted on your music do you think?
NY was once a thriving scene but we left because the scene was dying and the cost of living is pretty high. We rented a small apartment with rats and roaches as room mates but worst of all, with the paper thin walls we couldn’t rehearse and rehearsal studio rates were expensive. So we wisely packed up and bought a house in Pennsylvania and now we can make all the noise we want. Writing and rehearsing is a pleasure plus the location allows us to travel easily to several states for gigs.
What is the industrial scene like in Pennsylvania compared to the Big Apple?
Where we live in Pennsylvania the goth/industrial scene does not exist. But in the cities like Philly and Pittsburgh, there’s some suitable clubs for our music. Overall the east coast isn’t the best location. We do better towards the west coast.
Your latest album is delightfully called “Act of Self Destruction,” and it is chock full of aggro tech goodness. Why did you choose that title as the all encompassing, so to speak, description?
We designed our songs to represent how we feel about our society and world are becoming dysfunctional and spiralling out of control. We’re on a path of self destruction, hence the title.
You have described your music writing technique as organic whilst also being industrial, which is very electronic. How does all this happen and what was it like writing this album?
In an era of music where people write entire songs using loops or premade elements that were written by other people, we create all our own lines, sounds and beats. Aside from this we purposely remained minimal with the vocals, giving Syn a more organic sound by using only delay and some reverb. As far as what it was like to write this album, we had an entire album written before this one but we threw it away because it felt like a continuation of our previous release. The songs just weren’t connecting well with each other and we wanted a more consistent style.
Tracks like “Delete Me,” “Damaged,” and “Desolation” are prime examples of the themes of bleak loss of hope and unyielding anger. What inspired you to write the album in the first place?
It’s hard to find peace of mind and happiness sometimes. A lot of people express their demons in different ways, Syn expresses his through music and that’s not such a bad way to exercise demons.
You guys are really DIY, and do everything yourselves including producing and mastering. Is it a challenge arranging it yourself and can you tell people what is The Morgue?
To be honest, we’ve tried working with other people for production, mastering, even collaboration, we’ve even hired professional mastering houses and spent a good amount of money only to be disappointed in the end results. In the end we realize we work best alone so the only thing left to do was to learn how to do it all ourselves. We’re still learning and that’s a continuing process. Of course all this implies that we needed to buy a lot of equipment to achieve our desired results so we built our own studio. Syn spends most of his time entombed in there, like a crypt, but “the Morgue” sounded better. Incidentally, we both once worked and lived above a funeral home on Long Island NY.
Do you guys have any particular tracks off the album that you are more drawn to, or particularly proud of?
Syn is sometimes content with a couple of them but sometimes he hates them all. Julie-X favors Hyena and Damaged but to her, they’re all good.
I cannot go past asking you about the Trans X track “Living On Video,” which you have covered and really given it a great makeover. It is an absolutely classic, so why cover this track and what was it about this song that made you think ‘hell yes, we need to do this!’?
First of all, it’s hard to find a good song to remake. All the best stuff has already been covered a million times. We did consider this song once before but didn’t feel it was going to work for us as a remake. But then Syn started evolving the concept of the song towards social media. Let’s face it we’ve all had cringe moments when looking at memes. Who knows what the hell some people are thinking when they post. That pretty much was the inspiration to actually attempt the Trans X remake. It just felt like the right vehicle to call out toxic media.
On that note, who are the acts and bands that have musically influenced you over the years?
Early industrial i.e. Front 242, Front Line Assembly, NIN, classic punk bands, some Black Sabbath, a few Nu Metal bands. To be honest we’re musically open minded and like a vast range of music from far too many artists to name.
Malice Machine is very much a live group, so what drives you to put yourselves out there in front of an audience?
We used to think live shows was the most important way to build up a fan base but in today’s musical climate, it’s more important to approach our music as a multi-faceted business and concentrate on building an online presence. We still enjoy playing shows because of the energy that feeds and flows between us and an audience. It also keeps the music feeling fresh. We also have some people discover us that wouldn’t normally be exposed to our music and that’s exciting.
This is the obligatory weird question…. if you were allowed to be little vandals, release the inner demons, and destroy something, what would you destroy and how would you do it?
Syn would say if there was a shiny red history eraser button, he might just press it. Julie-X will plead the 5th.
What is up next for Malice Machine?
We intend to be more prevalent online, building our Spotify presence, releases new songs and remixes and definitely more videos. We have some live shows coming up as well and besides working on Malice Machine, we have a few other projects we plan on doing. Lastly, Syn has been working on a stop-motion animation film for two years three quarters complete so we’re busy little creatures.
We are going to talk about Swedish act AgainstI. The three piece has a new EP out, ironically called DestructionLullaby, though to be quite frank, at seven tracks, this really could be called a full length album. Released on the TwistedFlesh Recordings label, my only warning is to prepare your ears to be bombarded with heavy industrial metal.
And so begins the assault with bludgeoning drum blasts, as the call to the dispossessed and rejected to take back what is theirs rings out with Croona’s vocals pile driving into the screaming guitars in “Darkdivine.” The electronic angelic crowd stand testament to the apocalyptic destruction of “Worldinruin,” a combination of classical meets metal, that is raised into the stratosphere by the synths.
“Thesacrifice” is a walk into damnation, raw and bleeding from the shadow of a broken soul, claustrophobic and clinging like a oily film to the skin. Following this is the ode to a million ways to die, the track “Deathdefined,” with the slamming drums and hum of slashing guitar, all the while Croona goes full demonic.
The concept of reality can be just as cruel as your worst nightmare is explored in “A violentdream,” and this track points to a far more metal background, with soaring guitar and an inexplicable Nordic intent. There is a always a “Calm before the storm” and it is the same with this track, because when it hits, it is with righteous fury, which leaves us bared for the title track “Destruction lullaby,” with the winding synths and stomping beats while the vocals vie for dominance with the guitar.
Maybe it is time to give the monsieurs three, that being MathiasBack, AndersStröm and FredrikKeithCroona, a little recognition and a listen if you haven’t before. There is no calm before the storm. There is only the storm, that is full of metal shards bound in shocking electronic power, driving rhythms and vocals of a madman unbound in a world where everything has gone to hell. This is AgainstI and they will pummel you to sleep with their DestructionLullaby, a sonorous head beating.
The HOSTILEARCHITECT might be hostile but he is also very conscious of being fit. Brisbane electronic artist MitchKenny dropped the single “ANYTIMEFITNESS” back in March….yep I’m slack, but here it is, so let’s get physical.
Mighty rhythms for a mighty strong track. Kenny lays down some pretty dark synth lines and the powerful vocals are leap out at you with extreme vigour. The angst is palpable with the clattering beats.
‘Violent men make violent times‘ sounds like a steroid fuelled nightmare with an cyberpunk soundtrack, as the HOSTILEARCHITECT sweeps you away, fanning the explosive dance track that is “ANYTIME FITNESS (SUPPLEMENTAL MIX).”
Does society feel like it is screwing you over and that the human scum of the world get in your way, trying to drive you insane with their general stupidity? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone! PhobosReactor with guest TFG (TrollFinderGeneral) are assailing your ears with the single, “Hyi, ihmisiä” which simply means ew, people, out on the Pancimachine label.
“Illanvietto” is the first track on Bandcamp, and this means socialevening, though quite frankly, I do believe this requires human interaction. Anyhoo, I highly suggest watching the Youtube videos for a translated version of the Finnish lyrics. The music is a throwback to a more analogue sound, where our hero of the hour is inebriated just so he can deal with others of his species, in his own fashion and delicate ways, all to an electronic sound track that probably doesn’t care about his issues with this night.
Of course, you just kind of know that “Hyi, ihmisiä” is going to go kind of off the rails and leave the reservation, and so behold the introduction of the occasional angry guitar, space aliens and the vocals of a chap who thinks he’s a pretty neat fellow to pass time with, but we all know he needs to remove that stick from his rectum.
The single called “Grip Of Pain” does sound… well, painful. This is the latest drop from Teknovore, as GeorgeKlontzas takes us on an electronic nightmare into Greek mythos, with JanKluge of AnySecond on vocal duties, with this the second single off the soon to be released album, on InfactedRecords, called Caerdroia.
‘Listen to me, no way out‘ grabs you by the nuts and the brutal vocals punch you in the guts. The electronics are laced with urgency, like you are being chased by unseen forces in the darkness. The techno beats echoing around in your head, duelling along with Kluge’s rasped promise of no escape in “GripOfPain.” “Anamnesis” is just throw back to hard dance style techno rave music, full of electrifying energy that builds over and over again, taking you to the point where you have to move, for now your body is not your own.
If you love dance music, electronic music or just good industrial, then you really will have to have a listen to the latest Teknovore. It is really mind blowing how well Klontzas can weave together tracks that are instantaneously likeable, plus accessing talent like JanKluge (AnySecond) to set it all on fire, speak volumes about the man. Get thee the “GripOfPain,” because we seem to have lived this life before………….
Shall we travel into the “BLACKABYSS” where humanity eeks out their days? This is the latest single from Brit MATTHART, and there probably isn’t a better group of acts to remix this single than OpalDusk, Modulate, Teknovore and SPANKTHENUN,
The original track is an interesting mixture of light synths against the bleak vocals of HART and the plunging rhythms, probing the darkest depths that the humans have had to dig themselves into for mere survival. The OpalDusk remix is a highlight of the bright synths with MATTHART’s angst, while the Modulate version is like a slow burn, making you wait on the edge for it to climax, and just when you think it never will, the track picks you up in a swirling maelstrom. The prowess of Teknovore is going to hit you with a dance floor killer, that is constantly on the move and emphasising the desperation of the vocals, while the SPANKTHENUN BOOTLEG MIX has the vocals at the fore, echoing and malevolent, as if there has been that loss of humanity, perhaps devoid of their own souls.
The ongoing tale of flesh versus machine is MATTHART’s opus. A story against all odds and it isn’t over yet as alien machines terraform a planet into a cold wasteland, whilst attempting to exterminate the human pests who must burrow into the soil, towards the warmth and safety of the core. As always, it is so interesting to hear the different takes on “BLACKABYSS” and what each musician takes from the track. From the original version through to the remixes, they all have that wonderful synergy and all belong in the clubs.
Onyx Music Reviews 