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Fredrik Keith Croona, Mathias Back and Anders Ström are the electronic triumvirate that make up Swedish aggrotech group, Against I. This is a relatively new project, where they have married Croona’s tortured vocals with some scintillating synth work, which culminated with the debut album, Carnival Of Excess, plus a new single, “I Am The Way,” that is not so subtly a sledge hammer preview of the next album, threatening us on the horizon. So, it seems no better time than now to speak to lead singer Fredrik Keith Croona about…well…all of this!

Welcome Fredrik Keith Croona to the tea rooms of the Onyx, where cake and coffee are compulsory.

Fredrik, you hail from Sweden, so we are wondering what the industrial scene is like there and how you found your way into it?

Thank you for the warm welcome! The industrial scene is well, different here, I feel like the most clubs either focus on old school ebm and or synthpop here in Sweden, and or goth/darkwave. But in all honesty you are asking the wrong guy here, since I am mostly a metal head myself and rarely go out hahaha. But to answer your question, I think the alternative scene in Sweden is doing ok, there seems to be a lot of stuff going on.

How supportive of local artists is it there?

Now that is a hard question to answer, it all comes down to what genre you play I guess. I don’t believe Against I has a big fan base and support in Sweden, but of course there are a few. Then again I know of other Swedish local artists that have a huge fan base here. So I guess it depends on the band.

What acts or musicians influenced you in the beginning?

The first ever artist that inspired me to become a vocalist was Pantera and Philip Anselmo, I just loved the music and diversity in Phil’s voice. When I found the industrial music scene it was God Module, Grendel and Suicide Commando. I think similar to a lot of dark electro/aggrotech acts tbh.

Who floats your boat now?

Haha it all depends on my mood! Everything from “Scooter” to say “In Flames” or “Night Rage”. But my latest find was “Orbit Culture” a amazing metal band from Sweden which I had the pleasure of seeing live a few months ago.

Fredrik, you are one of the founding members of Brutal Resonance, the industrial reviewing powerhouse. Do you think that experience made you more critical or aware of the sort of music you were making?

Well, I had a small part of its start up , yes. But Patrik Lindström was the mastermind behind the zine. I don’t think so to be honest. Always been trying to do what I like and experiment from time to time, but I always feel like I end up doing the same thing kinda hahaha. I’m a one trick pony it seems.

Even you, yourself, have mentioned that you are in a lot of different projects. For those unfamiliar, how many are you involved with and which are your main ones?

If we are talking active projects as of this moment , then they are the following “Feeding Upon,” “Against I” or “Curse of Eibon” . There are quite a few more but none that are making any music at this moment . Main one is Against I which I am constantly writing for together with Mathias and Anders.

Most people are familiar with Menschdefekt and your other project, Cynical Existence. This brings us to your current project, Against I, with fellow Cynic, Anders Ström. Mathias Back is yet another member, so how did the band come together?

To answer that we have to rewind back into 2020 when I started up “Curse of Eibon” and that’s when I found Martin who plays guitar and writes most of the music for that band, and through the same forum I found Mathias who can play bass and guitar. And together with Anders the four of us founded that band. From there we found out that all of us work very well together and we have a creative drive. And the diversity was just perfect for Against I.

First was the EP, O.M.G, that stands for Obscene Morbid Gore which was on the label Insane Records and featured the single “Scum.” How important was getting this EP out there?

If I could I would release something every month, but I think ppl would be fed up with me also I doubt Adovxya would want to release my stuff every month haha. So , naturally it was important to release the EP to get something released. IR was good to us , but sadly we had to split ways after the release.

The EP was followed up by the juggernaut debut full length album “Carnival Of Excess” out on Advoxya Records. Can you tell a bit more about the premise behind album?

“Carnival of Excess” was a bit of a roller coaster, because all songs stem from my mind and experience and its kinda dark. Its all a big experiment you could say, a bit of a rider on a theme park with different styles, moods etc. For me the first album is always a experiment to see which direction to go after that, you know?

Again there are a couple of remixes by Miss Suicide and Teknovore. How important for you is it to have guest remixes and am I correct in sensing George of Teknovore and yourself kind of see each other as brothers?

It’s not super important, but more fun to see what others will do with your songs. What kind of spin they would put on it. Well, since we are both straight and married loves was already taken, so next best things would be brothers. I’m kidding of course! But in all seriousness, I’ve known George since about 2009 and I hold him in such high regards because he’s one of the nicest and most talented people I know. And every time we work together everything just work, you know?

Do you have a particular track off the album that is a favourite or really stands out for you as the core sound of Against I?

“Fleshride” is probably my favorite of the album, it has a good drive in it. And I would say it has that core sound that we have on that album.

You just dropped the latest single “I Am The Way”, so can you tell us what it all about?

“I Am The Way” is the perfect way to showcase what the new album from Against I will sound like and the direction we are moving. It’s more aggressive and in your face .

I want to touch on a compilation you were heavily involved in and very close to your heart. You lost your father to cancer (fuck cancer), and you brought together 23 musicians, each donating a track, where the money collected goes towards cancer research, with the combined help of Advoxya Records and Twisted Flesh Recordings. Can you please tell us how you orchestrated this mammoth task?

“A cure for darkness” is something I hold very close to exact the reason you wrote above. And when my father passed, I wanted to do something to help others who are battling and or know someone who is battling cancer. And an idea was to try and bring together some amazing bands and people to help out and create something amazing. All all praise should go to the artists and supporters and not me.

How much do you appreciate the musicians and labels championing your cause which touches everyone?

As cliché as it sounds, words can’t be written to say that. All people who are have helped are amazing and only earns the highest of praise from me.

Do you think you might make it a regular thing to release these compilations against cancer as well as to remember the victims and those affected by this blight?

Nah, don’t think so. If ppl wanted more then for sure, but I just want to focus on my music. It’s all I care about at the moment.

As you are constantly creating music, what is next for Fredrik Croona?

To create more music and evolve and move forward. I don’t want to release the same album every time. Then there is no point in making music. I have a job that earns me money, music is what I write for fun. The moment I get tired of making music, I will just call it quits. Simple as that.

Bats or no bats in the belfry, we wish you all the luck in everything you do.

Thank you so much, and I hope my answers has been satisfying.

And indeed they were!

Carnival Of Excess | Against, I | Advoxya Records (bandcamp.com)

I Am The Way | Against I | Twisted Flesh Recordings (bandcamp.com)

O.M.G | Against I | Insane Records (bandcamp.com)

VA – A Cure For Darkness | Twisted Flesh Recordings (bandcamp.com)

Facebook (Against I)

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2007 saw the birth of Swedish EBM group Spark!, with original members Stefan Brorsson (vocals) and Mattias Ziessow (synths, programming), dishing out the beats. However, in 2013, Brorsson left the band, citing personal reasons, leaving Ziessow to continue on. Fans can rejoice, as the lads are back together in 2023 with the single “66 Ton Krom,” which will be on the new album out in 2024, on the Progress Productions label.

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The direct translation is ‘66 tonnes of chrome‘, and with the frenetic pace of the rhythm, they can only be referring to a large vehicle, such as a big shiny truck. And behold there is a big shiny buff truck on the cover! Brorsson’s vocals dance between the programmed electronics that come on in rapid succession, while the synths rip down the road burning rubber with those beats.

There is something quintessentially Swedish about the EBM that comes out of that country, and it not just singing in the native tongue. A lot of joy can be felt from “66 Ton Krom,” as if the break the guys have had from each other, galvanised their sound. Industrial electro-pop from Spark! that is going to get your motor running.

66 ton krom | Spark! (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/sparksomfan

https://progress-productions.com/

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As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, Sebastian Sunkler will probably release a few more things before the year is out. So, November was the release for the new double sided single for STAHLSCHLAG, called Abhinivesha. “Om Mani Padme Hum” and “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo” will both be on the new album Amrita, which is slated to come out in 2024.

“Om Mani Padme Hum” starts with the charming chimes of temple bells, before the clever combination of harsher electronics and beats are injected into the track, becoming ever more demanding to be heard in the transcendental mirage of the universe.

The second track, “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo,” has a much darker edge to it, forbidding and sharp. It echoes with the waiting ghosts of past, cavernous sounding, pounding and primitive, only promising enlightenment to those whom dare to cross those boundaries.

As always, STAHLSCHLAG have pulled something unique out of the basket yet again, combining rhythmic noise with accents of that which is ancient and otherworldly, creating a fantasy soundscape to lose yourself in.

Abhinivesha | STAHLSCHLAG (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/STAHLSCHLAG/

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In the mid 80s, Tears For Fears were one of the huge names in popular music, topping the charts. One of their tracks is the still well loved “Mad World,” and Madil Hardis has released a cover of this iconic number.

Echoing, delicate singing of Hardis is the absolute focal point, with the electronics simply haunting the background. The Tears for Fears version was for the disaffected, while this new cover is ethereal and not bound to this world.

Pretty sure that I have said this in the past, but honestly the vocals are simply angelic in nature, touching that place within you that causes involuntary shivers down your spine. Otherworldly and poignant, with the ability to drag out emotions of even the most coldest of hearts, this is “Mad World” by Madil Hardis.

Music | Madil Hardis (bandcamp.com)

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http://madilhardis.com/

https://www.instagram.com/madilhardis/

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Choose Euphoria is the latest album from UK project The Resonance Association, released in 2023. The brain child of Daniel Vincent and Dominic Hemy, has been around since 2006, and according to their Bandcamp page…. ‘They seek to produce hallucinatory music to transport the listener to uncharted realms of space and time.’

The first track off the rank, “Force Majeure,” leaps out at you, its enthusiastic rock guitar with walls of sound bursting forth joyously, adventuring like a cosmic snake. The electronics continue this journey of sound with “Invocation,” more subdued than “Force Majeure,” but equally full of intonations throughout, as if the solar winds are gracing your ears in the background. “The State of Things” is semi angelic, though some of the effects are near paranoid inducting, especially with the slowly played guitar and it has been combined with a rather psychedelic froopy video. Cool liquid bass lines are the backbone for “No Fear of Falling,” with wailing synths crystalline and smooth, even when faced by the solo guitar reaching out the listener.

There is something very early 80s about “Some Kind” that I just cannot quite put my finger on, but it is hypnotic and all together far too enjoyable, even with the computer created sirens. I somehow doubt the track “Trip Hazard” is about unfortunately falling over one’s own feet, but rather, flights of fancy, and as we all know, some journeys are fraught with real dangers, such as minding the gap, which perfectly leads into “Elsewhere.” Again, we are within the winds that whip around the meandering guitar, courting you to go along for the laid back ride. We finish with prog odyssey “Space Time Politics” which kind of reminded me of a scaled back version of Pink Floyd’s “Journey to the Heart of the Sun,” full of lulls that build up into Hendrix like explosions of guitar.

Choose Euphoria is an eight track album, and indeed The Resonance Association have done exactly as they said they would, using music to transcend our space and the current limitations, opening up movement and achieving wonder, as well as creating textures via experimentation and instrumentation alone. Choose life and Choose Euphoria.

Choose Euphoria | The Resonance Association (bandcamp.com)

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Natural Darkness is the new album offering from German born, London based Madil Hardis, with twelve original tracks and six remixes, meaning not only is there quality, but you are getting quantity too!. Hardis is known for her gloriously angelic vocals, married with very emotive musical scores that she has created.

The first cab off the rank is “Absence,” settings the tone for the album. Crystal like shards of life experience and poignant, filled with longing that is heart felt. “Crucifixus” has those deeply religious tones of devout exultation given by angels to the heavens in the form of vocals. The track “To The Heart” floats with an internal rhythm and the ever-present piano, caressed by the synths, as if trying to bring comfort, all the while Hardis‘ vocals soar above. Just one of the songs that showcase her talents.

One of the shortest numbers is also, for me, one of the most sublime. This is “Disintegration,” and it is one of those songs that can just cast you adrift on a forlorn sea. The title track, “Natural Darkness,” has a rather preternatural echoing air, haunting and ethereal, as if yesterdays spectres are waiting at the vale.

The remixes are done by the likes of Ashbury Heights, Vortex Four, Wandering Stars, Bérèche You, and Electro Spectra. There is a version of “Natural Darkness” that isn’t really a remix but rather features the cello talents of Michael Hyman, which just creates a feeling of welling beauty and haunting desperation. The others range from modern, through to experimental electronica, giving you new and intriguing ways of perceiving each track.

That is just a taste of Natural Darkness, from a lady with an abundance of natural talent. Madil Hardis carefully entwines classical tendrils with electronic ones, weaving music that is otherworldly and, at the same time, grabs your heart strings.

Natural Darkness | Madil Hardis (bandcamp.com)

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Mobile phones have become a staple of modern living. We constantly check them and break into a cold sweat when we cannot find them. New Zealand’s Frau Knotz, explores our dependence on social media, though the single “Cellular,” as more and more people live their lives online rather than in the real world, and where popularity is the acknowledgement of others on these platforms.

There is a delicacy about “Cellular,” and maybe it is something to do with the lack of a rhythm section, relying on the piano to carry the music, but it is also in the vocals, a blatant honesty. You can hear the British early 80s, post-punk influence in the track, where there is a purity of simplicity and passion, giving the song a core of undeniable strength.

Mizaan Turner is a fourteen year old dancer from Taranaki, and it was they who choreographed the video for the single, making the video for Frau Knotz, aka Lauren Nottingham, an alluring affair. Mobile phones are a marvel that have definitely changed a lot of things for the better, and yet, as “Cellular” soulfully points out, it has also caused isolation, anxiety and changed the way we see ourselves in relation to the world..

Cellular | Frau Knotz (bandcamp.com)

https://www.facebook.com/Frau-Knotz

https://www.frauknotz.com/

https://www.instagram.com/frau_knotz/

http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/5473

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ESA (Electronic Substance Abuse) met Moaan Exis while playing a show in Prague in the beginning of 2020, just before Covid-19 shut down the world. Out on Negative Gain Productions, “Spit/Spite” is the end result of the UK’s Jamie Blacker (ESA) and France’s Mathieu Caudron (Moaan Exis), going head to head in a battle of the industrial power noise versus industrial punk. The plague has come and kind of gone, but now we have been hit with a much better outbreak in the form of this split single.

“Spit” does not let up with the energy, pushing you higher and further with an intoxicating mixture of scintillating synths, techno styled rhythms that max out the bass and duelling vocals. Even in all of this, I hear hints of a Middle Eastern flavour to the music creeping through.

Yeah, from the beginning of “Spite,” you are already left a veritable shell of a human, drooling over the abrasive rhythms that pound into your chest. The two vocalists taking turns in eviscerating your ears to the pounding beats and off kilter electronics, setting your teeth on edge. Magic.

Who was the winner in this battle royale? The answer is easy…us the listeners. Both tracks are fucking awesome. Crunchy textures, beats to rupture organs, and enough angst to wet the panties of any self-respecting industrial noise purveyor. ESA Vs Moaan Exis have me just me wanting more.

https://linktr.ee/moaanexis?fbclid=IwAR2kVRZui-H0xrfnMEtpv3TOvfkv-f3DR0LMhdXF1BPc6xQsWuRLG2cDjbg

Spit & Spite | ESA vs Moaan Exis | ESA (bandcamp.com)

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Music | MOAAN EXIS (bandcamp.com)

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We live in a world full of amazing things. Germany’s Neon Insect is pretty amazing and Nils Sinatsch has released the latest single “LOVE SEX + ROBOTS,” which features the vocal and lyrical talents of KVMILLA.

Slow and metered is the rhythm, a heavy mechanical sexuality, brought to life, and offset by KVMILLA. Her vocals expressing base human desires for connection, even if hurts. There is a guitar that is gently plucked away, as the music tantalizes your senses.

The track feeds into the New Moscow storyline, that Sinatsch has been carefully crafting, about a reality much more different to ours, due the fact that the USSR won the Cold War, invading the US. The populace have found the only way to survive is through cybernetics, and with procreation controlled by the powers that be, they now go underground for their sexual desires to be fulfilled by mechanical means. This is much more subdued than what we are used to from Neon Insect, and it shows a changing style with the changing storyline. “LOVE SEX + ROBOTS” is delicate with a undercurrent of a sexually harder edge. This begs the question….what comes next? Watch this space…..

LOVE SEX + ROBOTS | Neon Insect (bandcamp.com)

https://www.neon-insect.de/

https://www.instagram.com/neoninsect/

https://www.instagram.com/kvmilla/

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One might wonder what Fundustrial is, and the only answer can be, STAHLSCHLAG! I have been rather slack covering the new releases from Sebastian Sünkler, but every time I think he’s going to take a hiatus due to work commitments…. BOOM, there is another album/EP. The man is almost as much machine as the computers and synths that he uses, with the exception that he is one of the nicest guys in the industrial scene, though he does have the Terminator haircut. I’m just saying.

So, I have compiled the three Fundustrial EPs, Alpha!, Beta! and Gamma! into a bouncy castle, filled with clowns and glow sticks to give you an idea of what you need in your life. The Alpha! EP is just full of aggrotech dance with noise and it really smokes, like with the track “This Is Fundustrial,” being the prefect example of flesh pounding rhythms to make even the most tired cybergoth, want to stomp their New Rocks. “Whatever You Say” will make your blood pressure rise as a swirling dance floor filler, or the more rhythmic noise influenced “Dance Of Doom.” Honestly, who doesn’t like a bit of doom dancing?!

The second EP, Beta! does rather seem to be where Sünkler may have contemplated he needed a break, then thought ‘nah, it is all good,’ and so we have gotten something very much more off the wall. Glitching fast paced beats follow you through the EP, poking you with the feather of no mercy, so you can be cyber romanced by “My Generation,” or enjoy the wonderment of how potatoes and tomatoes are very entertaining with a huge techno helping of “Something Different.” Kill or be killed in the style of Tron, in the track “Get Ready,” or get lost in “I Have A Dream.”

‘Fundustrial is back, it’s fast, it’s hard and will make you crack,’ proclaims the female voice, about Gamma!, in the first track, “Make you Crack,” or how about being lost in the trance inducing “Anthem,” that might have been instigated the secretive lizard people. The track “Milk” could be the first industrial track I have ever heard with mooing cows and some animated voice threatening to make you drink the creamy white stuff. How can you go wrong with a titles like “Let’s Get Goth,” or a revamping of “Popular Slut Club,” which, by the way, has has the treatment Singery[Cdio], creating a echoing mind fuck, pushing you over the edge with its wonderous layers of noise.

Are these EPs fun? Yes. Are they industrial. Absolutely. So there is no doubt in my mind that this is indeed Fundustrial at its very best. It is nice to see a kooky side to STAHLSCHLAG, and it is really interesting to see the progression of this series. Party hearty with Fundustrial and for the people with clown phobias…. sorry but you’ll get over it.

Alpha! | Fundustrial | STAHLSCHLAG (bandcamp.com)

Beta! | Fundustrial | STAHLSCHLAG (bandcamp.com)

Gamma! | Fundustrial | STAHLSCHLAG (bandcamp.com)

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