I have it on good authority that the folks behind LunarPaths are preparing for live shows, but in between these machinations, they have released a new single “Seen.”
Background looped guitar riffs set the stage for Dubois‘ strong vocals and lyrics. The drums by Hunter, pick their way through the layers of programming, adding to the extraordinarily full sound. The lyrics speak of seeing the young out at night and wishing they knew how wonderful they look and have the courage to be themselves.
There is drama of the noirish romanticism kind in this style of music that still harks back to the early post-punk era, especially in the delivery of the singing. It is like listening to Anne-Marie Hurst (Skeletal Family/Ghost Dance) or SiouxsieSioux, with that vibrato and it instantly makes you clamour for more. Lunar Paths is spinning and weaving beautiful darkwave creations, just like “Seen.”
In 1979, Gary Numan released The Pleasure Principle, which was his debut solo after two albums with the Tubeway Army. “Metal” is a standout track that is favoured by Numan and has been covered many times…. even by Nine Inch Nails. Rob Hyman (drums, synths, programming, production) and Jax Allos (vocals, bass) are Chicago based [melter], and they have put out their own version of “Metal.”
PHOTO – JASON KRAYNEK
Those flourished synth lines are the staple essence of this track, and they are very much present, but I am also glad that this is not a carbon copy. Having the altered vocals of Allos brings a new element, compared with the memory of Numan’s cleaner singing style. The percussion is just so strong and perfect in propelling “Metal” along.
This is definitely a gritty version that pays homage to a great track, and takes it on a more experimental tangent. A case of sweet and industrial tang that is satisfying to hear if you know the song, and a guarantee that if you haven’t, it is going to pique your interest in following up the original and the back catalogue of [melter]. “Metal” is such a great single and [melter] have polished it up and given it teeth.
David Brichard is the vocals and Frédéric Hyat the guitarist for Belgium electronic band Dresscode, who released the single “Get Rid of Fears” in October. In the video is FlorianGilot who plays live with Dresscode.
Do our fears freeze us into being unable to act or live? This is essentially what the track is about, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Those first notes strike in and as we go on, I am starting to think some of that might actually be the guitar being plucked. The singing is congenial until we hit the chorus, and then they erupt into a far more glorious and harmonious raising of the voices at end the track. “Get Rid of Fears” finishes for me far too soon as I was really getting into, and then it ended, even though it is approximately three minutes long. Ah well, I love the whole finishing with a bang, and Dresscode have made this track smooth and it subtly ends up sucking you in.
November has seen the release of the split single from SchkeuditzerKreuz (Aust) and DecideToday (USA), with the vinyl on Nambour label Bad Habit Records, in the wilds of the Sunshine Coast, North of Brisbane.
“Last year, mid-winter, I did a quick tour run up to Bellingen and Lismore (NSW, Australia). The Lismore gig was something we booked in a Hall out of town and was kind of a make-up gig for one that got scuttled by the plague a couple years earlier. On the bill was Sniffer Dog and Toecutter – someone I had met in Melbourne when he played with Dark Horse, and someone I was keen to make noise with again. At that gig he said to me “you have to meet my friend Robert – your music, your attitude, your touring all match each other so well” and he gave me the contact. So, I reached out and Robert jumped straight in.” – Kieren Hills/Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Schkeuditzer Kreuz
Decide Today
The one track from d-beat, synth-crust master, Schkeuditzer Kreuz, is the cloying “Choke,” and this slower track feels like the air is being dragged out of your lungs. It lurches zombie like at times, and then becomes full of rage and destructive conviction as Hills lets us into his head and what clinical depression can be like when it isn’t a good day.
Decide Today has two tracks, with the first being “Revolutionary Reason (WorldwideIntifada),” and you can smell the sweat in the swarming mosh pit as the beats come in thick and furious. The indignation is palpable with a whole bunch of cleverly cut sound clips strung together, culminating in the powerful hushed tones that the genocide of the Palestinian people is wrong. The second track “The Shit Punx Hate” hits you full throttle, making you start, and then you are serenaded by the list of things that punks dislike such as racism, authoritarians and Nazis, while the rhythms have nail bombed into your psyche and pierced your head.
“Toecutter must have met Kieren and insisted we start talking. Our common ground in music, and the culture surrounding it, was immediately evident. Earlier this year Kieren proposed the split 7” via Bad Habit, which of course I had to say yes to such circumstances, and I mentioned also wanting to get back to Australia at some point. The next day Kieren asked if I was for real, and started planning the tour. I am incredibly thankful to my new friend, Borg at Bad Habit, and Dave (Toecutter) for getting us connected.” – Robert Inhuman/Decide Today
Baron Von Borg is the bloke that runs Bad Habit Records, who is a punk, a punk musician and a connoisseur of music from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes and someone I have a lot of time for. It isn’t surprising that he is in the middle of this whirlwind.
This is a marriage of ferocious punk attitude, punching with a fist full of electronics.
Boston based dark electro project Pneumagnosis has collaborated with Dissonance on the single “Let The Flowers Fall.” Cat Hall (Dissonance) has contributed vocals and lyrics while the music was composed by ScottTheleman (Pneumagnosis).
The electronics bleat and dance while Hall sings about finding the courage to walk away from a relationship, without trying to fix it or ponder what you did wrong. Her vocals waver and bound back in a cacophonist choir around the techno rhythms, which punctuate the wisdom of the words. This is a nice little collaborating trance inducing dance track between Dissonance and Pneumagnosis, in “Let the Flowers Fall.”
SEVERIN NI-ARB of X-MARKS THE PEDWALK has joined forces with his son LMX, and the collaboration resulting in the electronic project DUOPHONIC NOISE CONSTRUCTION. The single “Trauma,” has been released on the MESHWORK MUSIC label.
From when the rhythm kicks in, this is going to be a dancefloor killer. Looping electronics with NI-ARB’s vocals low and visceral, are at complete odds with the more dulcet tones of LMX, that create a dawning break in the overall frenetic pace.
There is something a bit old school about “Trauma” and maybe it is that connection to X-MARKS THE PEDWALK, yet the influence of LMX is felt with the more modern vocal style. It is a kin to talking about rough and smooth or steel and silk, and it works so very well together.
US label Re:Mission Entertainment dropped the latest album from Warm Gadget called Sorrows. Tim Vester (vocals, lyrics, samples) and Colten Williams (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, production, vocals) are the main components of this machine and they are joined by Page Hamilton (guitar), Austin Williams (bass), Davey Hemm (bass) and Dani Scythe who added additional drum programming on “Digging.”
Sit down and buckled up as they smash you with “The Masses,” which is the bouncing metal influenced first single, with its angry guitars and even angrier Vester, screaming out his disappointment with the world. “Annoyed” is yet another single and I have to say that the Nine Inch Nails game is strong for this track, and the Dread Risks‘ remix just ramps it up even further. It is contentious and instantly likeable.
Going with the single theme, “Debutante” is yet another, featuring not only the corrosive vocals of Vester, but joining him, with far more buttery tones is Page Hamilton of Helmet fame, carving up the track with his screaming hot guitar. I especially liked “Like Bats,” with its brazen chorus, tempered with the idling intermediary pieces. It kind of harks back to Stone Temple Pilots with the tone and harmonisation.
With tracks like “Annoyed,” you are dragged back to the flourishing 90s industrial rock scene that was exploding out of the North America at the time with bands such Ministry, NIN and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. WarmGadget might be paying homage to those that influenced their sound with Sorrows, but this does not mean they are sticking to a formula, as they write music that suits their taste. So far, this has to be my favourite release of theirs to date. Music with a social conscious and it also slaps hard.
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.
From Brooklyn, New York, the project Dilemma has released the new EP, BecomingAlive on Halloween. Producer AlexElias is the man behind Dilemma and this EP is his darkwave/industrial ode to the gothic scene in the form of a story in four parts.
PHOTO BY SHERVIN LAINEZ
Title track, “Becoming Alive,” most certainly has a dark cabaret noir tone and possibly about vampires, whom come alive at night after the sun has gone to rest. Next is the far more industrial sounding “You Can’t Make Me (Want To Dance),” with its swirling electronics, which are obviously created to get one onto a dance floor.
The oddly named “No Comment” I feel has a very Marylin Manson vibe about it at times. Maybe this is due the vocals in the chorus, though I am rather impressed by the creepy street groove attitude. I do like the guitar in “Peripheral” as it gives this track yet another feel and one feels that Elias is channelling Sopor Aeternus’ Anna Varney at times.
Each track is a song dedicated to a sub genre of the scene…. and if you want to know then you are going to have to have a listen yourself as I think that is half the fun. Full of synths and dark pop hooks, Dilemma are showing the way to Becoming Alive.
In 2021, Finland’s Suzi Sabotage released the anthemic single “Nazi Goths, Fuck Off.” Three years later, on the label Strict Tempo have dropped a version, remixed by the UK’s The Cassandra Complex, and one has to wonder if this song is needed now more than ever with the frightening rise of right wing politics around the world and the insidious tendrils tainting the dark alternative scene.
‘Far-right ideologies are not compatible with goth. Goth is rebellion against the mainstream and celebration of diversity – whereas Nazis and conservatives advocate for rigid conformity, which makes them at war against what goth is all about.
The goth movement has always taken pride in being a safe haven for people from all backgrounds, and if Nazis are made [to] feel welcome, it will become dangerous for people of colour, LGBTQ, women, and just anyone who doesn’t harbour fascist views.
So let’s show Nazi “goths” the door and keep our scene safe.’ – Suzi Sabotage
Rodney Orpheus of The Cassandra Complex has created a sense of urgency with the pulsating synths, which are like light against the stark vocals from Sabotage, plunging in a knife that exposes the reality.
For people that say that gothic/post-punk music is not meant for protesting and voicing dissent, we have to say what bin have you been living in?! “Nazi Goths, Fuck Off‘ is still relevant, now with extra polish and always enjoyable.
Onyx Music Reviews 