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Let’s go back to January of this year and visit an EP from Copenhagen’s Sanity Overdrive called god.clear (). The man behind this project is Paweł Mielcarek (Anthropoid Idol, ex-Haemorrhagic Diarrhea), and he meshes dark synthwave with nihilistic industrial.

We kick off with the short lived intro “Invocatio,” which leads into “L’autoportrait binaire,” filled with the drone of an electric guitar, the focal piece, while the synths is the softer foil, making the grinding guitar even more aggressive as it gathers speed.

The electronic knocking rhythm is soon joined by the guitar in “Nur-noch-leben,” building up the growing suspense. The air is becoming thick with the ever pervading pressure of the pounding beats and driving guitar.

The final track is the galvanic “Black Screen,” as the guitar buzzes angrily with the pounding beat. It is a cohesive explosive attack from a well oiled machine, asserting its dominance, thundering in fury, with the ominous synths raising the foreboding portent of something this way coming.

There is a bleakness to the music that the industrial aspect feeds into and the synthwave is often used as the emotive over tones, seeking to coat each track in variants of darkness. Sanity Overdrive’s gods.clear() EP is an abrasive sonic journey.

gods.clear() | Sanity Overdrive

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If you are old enough or spend a lot of time in second hand record stores, you will know about the 12″ remixes called maxi singles. I love the fact that those guys, ie Tim Vester and Colten Williams, from Oregon band, Warm Gadget have named their latest single “Debutante” as a maxi and have a bunch of guests on remix duties, plus a guest vocalist/guitarist in Page Hamilton from HELMET, all brought to you by Re:Mission Entertainment.

It is unmistakably Warm Gadget, with the pernicious rhythms and physical heaviness, in their form of industrial metal. The guitars grind the very air molecules and vocals bounce between the screaming madman Vester and Hamilton’s smoother tones, which is the trade off of sour and sweet or sand paper and silk.

Lament Cityscape, Divider, Ex-Hyena, Frontal Boundary, and Fact Pattern are all label mates on Re:Mission Entertainment, and their remixes vary from heavy electronics, techno stylings and even glitch noise, but all highly diverse and engaging. “Debutante” is no shrinking flower, meaty and powerful, and picking Hamilton to feature is a stroke of genius. Go on…..touch the Warm Gadget.

Debutante | Warm Gadget | Re:Mission Entertainment

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There are songs that are timeless, that will captivate generations and translate to current world issues. “Shout” by Tears For Fears, definitely is in that category as an amazing track and Switzerland’s Sybreed have dropped their version on Listenable Records.

The beginning of this track hints at the early 2000s future pop electronic sound, until Sybreed launch into the famous chorus, where they hit you with their sonorous industrial metal signature style. Full of conviction, the music video further delves into the how still relevant “Shout” is.

If this was not enough, have no fear. There is a remix by band member Drop and it is this sublime synth heavy mix that will make any industrial dance person deliriously happy. Full of techno styled rhythms, but it is the soaring synths that will make your jaw drop.

Originally written about as way to deal with mental health, it translates now to a world in turmoil, where human rights are being ignored and we wonder when the people will learn to live in peace with each other. For myself, it is interesting that a track I heard when it first came out, still being reinterpreted and this is a good cover by Sybreed and an excellent remix.

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Some things are not for the faint of heart, so if you are weak of stomach or spleen, turn away now. For those who have guts of iron and a taste for the harsher music, then I have a tasty treat for you. UK based Skat Injector is experimental electronics, wearing the decimated innards of metal proudly, as they seek to drag your ears through your arse. We are going back to their 2018 release of the album, Unknown Violator, out on Slime City Records.

There are sixteen tracks in total and “A Garden Only Watered In Blood” is the greeting that tells you to strap in and enjoy the journey into madness. Are we being taunted by the ghosts of the bled? The demonic vocals bubble over the echoing cold space. However, the meaty “Slaughter is the Best Medicine” is a overwhelming onslaught of sped up black metal styled beats and tortured electronics, fritzing out and pummelling your psyche into dust, while the vocals growl.

“Urbane Misanthrope” builds and builds with sounds before letting loose with the almost danceable rhythms, however this could be trap! You don’t fit in the expected square and the gunfire of the beats is the warfare of the city streets in your head. A head pounding ode to the dispossessed that perfectly feeds into the oh so short and sweet desecration that is “Hollow Mantra.”

There is a cover of “Goodbye Horses,” originally by Q Lazzarus, right at the end, and admittedly it seems quite a reasonable version….. until you hear the vocals. Distortedly slow sounding, stretched and unfathomable in its ability to be disturbing, yet still enjoyable in that serial killer sort of way.

The cover artwork confirms the title is a mash-up of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures and Depeche Mode’s Violator, both iconic albums and carried through into the titles of the tracks for the most part. This is clever and in a way, I can see a certain similarity. Joy Division is one of the first post-punk bands, forging a sound that at the time was ground breaking and very much about being the outsider in a bleak world. Violator was the album that was not highly completed before Depeche Mode came together in the studio and it brought forth simpler tracks with lyrics which sound like they are full of provocation, and yet point to a guilt behind those words. Skat Injector have taken inspiration from both and created an album of modern day mental ills and truths that permeate our lives…. it is just in the form of noisecore to get your heart thundering.

Unknown Violator | Skat Injector

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Now more than ever, we need to highlight those in the arts that not only lead the way, but also represent often harassed minorities. US gothic industrial project, Woundlicker is a trans female project, consisting of performances from Melora Cayce, Marya Alvarado and Primrose, with their latest album being “Haunted World of Mirrors.” Cayce told me she has too many fishnet, but really, no one can ever have too many lovely fishnets. Tre sexy!

The title track holds hints to the influences of Woundlicker, such as early Nine Inch Nails and the mighty Skinny Puppy, especially with the great drumming and the ferocious way the band attack the track.mHInts of trap and gothic impending gothic doom inhabit the echo chamber of “A Strange Crow.” Heavy bass and eerie church style organ, are heightened by repeated chorus lyrics, which de-evolves into a frantic snarling vocal exorcism attempt.

“Autumn Funeral Part 1” is an unbridled release of pent up anger and pain, directed towards a parent that cannot accept who they are. It is unapologetically raw in its violence, expressing mental torment as the metal guitar and industrial electronics trip over each other in their rush, yet Part 2 of the same track is a much more trippy event in finding or creating a family. There is Part 3 of “Autumn Funeral” which, for me, signifies the disparity between wanting the acceptance of blood ties, and knowing that those people will go to the grave without sharing in the highs and lows of an adult child’s life.

The album is ten songs long, full of honesty and introspection, questioning life and love while looking for ways to heal. It is dark and heavy going at times, mixing industrial noise, succulent gothic synths and liberal helpings of grinding metal, as we experience everything through the many reflections of Woundlicker. Woundlicker is watching through the “Haunted World Of Mirrors.”

Haunted World Of Mirrors | Woundlicker

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Spanish lords of industrial metal, HASSWUT, have just dropped the new album Sauerstoff, for the rest of the world, and being released in North America on the Negative Gain Production label as of the 25th of April.

Currently you can check out the two singles to give you an idea of what HASSWUT have for offer. Latest single is the monster masher “Koloss,” and it is high adrenaline about a giant creature chasing you, as koloss means colossus, but also are characters in Mistborn. Slamming electronics and beats with growled out vocals and guitar make it a fun headbanging track. First single “Sauerstoff” is so different, bassy and bouncing, reflecting a nu-metal feel.

You might be saying by now, hang on, they are singing in German. You would be correct and they do it well, and that is just half story. If you want to find out what Spanish industrial sounds like in German, then you need to seek out HASSWUT’s Sauerstoff.

Sauerstoff – North America Orders | HASSWUT

Sauerstoff | HASSWUT

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When the weather warms up, the clothes get skimpier, and the eyes wander, which all leads to gothic SEX… or something like that. Those Italians are hot blooded and Motel Transylvania have dropped the equally hot single “Burning Lust,” which is apparently the official track for the Burning Pants Festival 2025.

Slamming drums rock your world and from the start, Motel Transylvania are in your face with the theme. If you like Lord of the Lost, then this is going to hit you right in the sweet spot. Big guitar riffs and an even bigger rousing chorus’, pounce and pin you down.

It is all about sticky, sweaty naughty bits, and the music see-saws between seduction and high power thrusting. Oh those young sexy driven darklings. I can appreciate the sentiment and Motel Transylvania definitely rock this hard. Beware of “Burning Lust,” as it might just consume you.

Burning Lust | Motel Transylvania

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Label Negative Gain Productions, is dropping the new Hasswut album, Sauerstoff, on April 25th, but March sees the release of the title track as the first single and, indeed, first taste. “Sauerstoff” is German for oxygen, while Hasswut, who have been around since 2013, are from Alicante, Spain, with members Daniel NQ (vocals), JaviX (guitar) and Zufo (keyboard-synth/backing vocals).

Aggrotech vocals always sound extra gruff when sung in German and Hasswut pours it on heavy and thick, just like the unrelenting beats. The guitar is a chainsaw, throwing down the metal, which leaves the synths at odds, brightly highlighted and as light as oxygen.

In the vein of Rammstein or Hocico, Hasswut mix metal with industrial and a pinch of techno synth, getting both something you can dance to as well as bang your head. Do I know what the lyrics are about? Nope. Does It matter? Absolutely not. Inhale the “Sauerstoff.”

Sauerstoff (Single) | HASSWUT

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While waiting for the release of the album, Knowing When To Bow Out Gracefully, UK industrial goth rock group Deadfilmstar dropped the single “Welcome Back” at the end of 2024.

Slow and stalky as we go, with vocals that creak like an unoiled door to that basement you don’t want to go into…ever. The singer is sick of ‘banging on the glass‘, and then it all takes off in a symphonic merger of synths and guitars.

I keep asking myself why are they banging on glass. Is it a glass sliding door because they are a zombie? Are they tired of peeping through windows at their victims? Or are they stylishly undead but stuck in a glass coffin? I might never know, but in the meantime ‘Welcome Back” is heavy with guitar, saturated in synths, kept in time with some excellent drumming and wrapped up in horror laden vocals, so this is Deadfilmstar.

Welcome Back | deadfilmstar

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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. Warm Gadget 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.

Sorrows | Warm Gadget | Re:Mission Entertainment

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