I was warned that this was coming by Craig Saunders, one half of Sydney’s NOVAkILL. What you may ask? Why the EP Therapy I: Aversion. Saunders with Warren Bones have been doing their post-punk inspired, synth thing since around 2003 with their first album, Hard Tech For A Hard World. Don’t expect anything new on this four track EP but rather there are two re-recordings of older NOVAkILL songs and two covers.
Still back and get your socks knocked off with the reworked “Deliverance 2022“. Those synths are just magical and deliciously meaty. Bones’ vocals rip into you and you happily bounce away to the waves of beats and synths. If you are old enough to remember. Simple Minds had released quite a few albums before people discovered “Don’t You Forget About Me“. NOVAkILL cover the wonderful “I Travel“. They take this little gem and give it teeth. A dark and brooding maelstrom of post-punk synth which is still every bit relevant today.
The baleful air of the beginning of “SHOkNOVA” culminates into a buzz of noise, beats and glorious keyboards. Hell yes we need to be set free with the powering rhythms of “SHOkNOVA“. The last track is a cover of a track that is close to my heart. The luminous “Underpass” that was originally written and performed by John Foxx, has been taken to hand and the crux of the song is very much present in those sparkling synth lines but Bones has not tried to emulate Foxx but rather stayed true to his vocals, giving this a far more gritty sound along with more modern electronics. I like this version very much.
Okay, my suggestion is to go to Bandcamp and download this. It is name your price and it is well worth paying a little something for. It will make you want to dance and wonder at how brilliantly skilled these guys are at what they do. It will be nostalgic for some hearing the new versions of NOVAkILL songs or for others, the 80s classics. Saunders has this magic touch where everything becomes just so damn tasty. With TherapyI: Aversion under their belts, let us see what next gets the treatment.
Greek duo, Mechanimal, are celebrating 10 years together and releasing albums. So it is fitting to release a best of collection. This best of however is made up of songs that were picked by other artists and then they have remixed them. The compilation is called LivingWithAnimalGhosts and was released on InnerEarRecords on January the 14th, 2022.
If you are a fan of Mechanimal already, you will enjoy this look back and re-interpretation of past works. There is also pretty much a style to suit everyone. TheDansMonSalon remix of “InSomberAccount“, with it’s trap influenced industrial or the minimalist vision PsychedelicTripsToDeath have given “Un/Mobility“. There is the 80s sounding “ShadowsOnTheWall” by JaredKyle, while the LiaHide version of “TheDen” is a classical, stripped down affair. And that is only four songs into this 17/18 track album.
Special mention of the RodneyOrpheus (CassandraComplex) club mix of “RedMirror“. The song is molded into a far more post-punk direction, adding extra guitar and maybe even giving it an extra air of being subversive and dirty.
It is a melting pot of musical styles with Mechanimal as the flavouring ingredient and their friends have lovingly reworked songs to show their admiration for the talent that has gone into each. A wonderful way to celebrate a band, their work and hopefully another ten years!
From Darlington, in the north of England, IanHanratty and LeeTeasdale are AnalogueBlood and their latest EP dropped on January 14th. Equinox is the fourth EP to be released since 2019, as they continue crafting their industrial dance floor music.
So kicking off with “CelestialEquator“, you are going to smashed with the high energy from the start, between the pumping guitar and enslaught of beats. Ooh a female vocal can be heard within the frenetic mix, sometimes sweet, on occasion robotic and often other worldly for the title track “Equinox“.
The male vocals by Teasdale are a nice balance for “Invisable” as it builds in strength with the guitar fuzzing behind and the synths wandering with tendrils of feathery lightness.
“Let’s Keep On Dancing” is probably my pick of all the tracks. With its eastern inspired vocals married with a techno style and industrial sensibility. The female vocals somewhat remind me of the late 80s/early 90s Eurodance style.
Final track, “Hypnotise” allows the guitarist more free reign but it melds perfectly with the electronic side. The female vocalist is the siren catching your attention amidst the tempest.
AnalogueBlood seem to be getting better with each new release as they hone their style. It can be fast and furious, with a vocal eye of the storm that anchors you to a point from being blown away.
December 17th, 2021 was when the EP Pieces was released by New Jersey band, PanicLift on MetropolisRecords. PanicLift are currently releasing a series of EPs, five in total and Pieces is the second in this series. JamesFrancis is the frontman of PanicLift whom have been around since 2006 and his live band is made up of DanPlatt (keyboards), BenTourkantonis (drums), CristianCarver (drums) and KenziBurke (bass).
There is something definitely grandiose about the first track, “DiseaseOfKings“. An amalgamation of synths, guitar and soaring vocals that feels a little raw, when the world is breaking around them and life has lost its colour and taste.
“FailurePrinciple”is a track that just instantly catches your attention. The synths just fly at you, exploding into shards of glass, that while pretty, are sharp and reinforces the message that stress without hope becomes a cycle of pain.
The last three tracks are mixes. GenCAB are back with a new album of their own, ThoughtsBeyondWords and have remixed “DiseaseOfKings” giving it a far more electronic flavour that swirls through your head. It is a given that any song mixed by Assemblage23 is going to be fairly stellar. TomShearer gives “FailurePrinciple” the treatment and I can see this doing so well on dance floors. Last mix is done by KALCYFR which is a thunderous dubstep and bass beast.
So it is a tight little EP with a great choice in guest mixers. Both songs are little gems and so now we wait to hear the next EP from PanicLift.
John R Mirland has become one of the staple masters of driving, power noise, rhythmic noise mixed with serious techno savvy. We are grateful he took time out to talk to us about the latest Mirland album and all his creative outlets.
Welcome to the weird of Onyx, John R Mirland.
Thank you so very much for showing an interest in my music
Congratulations on Compromise Is Defeat (CID). It is truly a very attention grabbing album. How naturally does it come to you to mix such genres as techno, power noise and harsh noise?
It does come pretty natural the moment I start working on the beat I can immediately hear if this is going in the Mirland-direction or if it’s the groundwork for another project or artist.
I try to be in the studio as much as I can and just work. I’m very focused so I sit down with the keyboard or guitar and just start composing and usually I almost immediately know what the track is suited for:
The hybrid of rhythmic noise and techno/dark trance is a reflection of my own tastes and I wanted to compose evolving yet pounding music. So I’m very conscious about the variations and small details in the mix. The process is very much my own and I’m not particularly dogmatic with regards to what goes where to satisfy genre specific demands.
John, you wrote the album over a period of time and even some of the tracks have been played live. Why did it take nearly four years for CID to come into fruition?
I started working on the album just after the release of the “Antagonist” ep where I felt I’d really hit a spot with my sound. But you know plans sometimes don’t work out.
The gigs I played both around that time and later gave me an opportunity for testing very early demos of some of the new tracks. But at the same time I was composing and producing for Am Tierpark, Emergency Sequence, M73, Negant, Eisenwolf, Bitter Distrust, Mirland/Larsen and later also Gusten and Udpint while producing and remixing other artists too.
I do like to keep busy and have composed around 200 tracks the last 10-15 years of which I believe around 150 or so have been released.
But time went on and I kept working on the side with the sound design for what was to be “Compromise Is Defeat”. I guess at some point I had 30 or 40 demo tracks.
I prefer getting stuff done so I really needed to get this album done. I felt the demo recordings had something but I’d been deep in the process for far too long. So in the late summer of 2021 I finally sat down and dug into the selection and production of what would be “Compromise Is Defeat”. I recorded and mixed the final album over two months and then my dear friend Claus Larsen (Leæther Strip) did the mastering as he’s done for a lot of my releases.
For many, creating music comes from their current situation/politics/beliefs. When you compose music, especially for Mirland, what inspires you to create?
I don’t consciously search for inspiration. My mind is always racing and thinking about new ideas so I keep a lot of notes and record a lot of ideas. When I watch a movie I often make a note of certain interesting quotes or phrases. I believe some of my titles might suggest what lies behind the track but Iike to keep things open for interpretation. I think that’s one of the great things about instrumental music. It’s very much like abstract painting in that regard.
But a small key to the different projects might be: Mirland is often related to space, transhumanism and futurism. In Am Tierpark, Mirland/Larsen and Gusten Claus Larsen writes the lyrics so he defines the content and we never interfere with each other’s ideas. But very often Am Tierpark is about love/the loss of love. In Udpint I write almost entirely about war and in M73 it’s a lot about cold futures and dark erotica. My own lyrics are often written with the intent to create images.
One of your other projects is Eisenwolf… a mix of blackmetal and industrial. Do you think your love of black metal feeds into this use of harsh noise?
Eisenwolf was a side project of the now defunct Negant which also spawned the electro punk band Bitter Distrust with Michael Hillerup of Birmingham 6. I left all three bands a year ago actually.
But yes, I believe my interest in extreme metal in general blends into a lot of my darker stuff. I actually recorded a black metal mini album last year as Udpint and Claus and I released a punk rock album as Gusten.
But my use of noise and experimental sounds also stems from a very early band I was part of called VHS which was a pretty noisy and weird construction. And I’m a sucker for brutal energy whether it’s industrial or metal. But even Eisenwolf had melodic themes as opposed to just a wall of noise.
Mirland is very much a solo thing for you but you do collaborate with many other artists, especially other Danes in the scene for other projects? How do you approach your solo work compared to your collabrotative with say Negant or Eisenwolf?
I try to uncover the potential in any proposed collaboration and then present a few demo recordings for the others involved with the project. When I can’t see any more potential I put the collaboration on hiatus or leave. I don’t like to waste my own or others’ time.
When I work on my own it’s somewhat the same and I’m a firm believer that nothing is supposed to last forever and some projects only last an ep or album. And that’s absolutely fine. I have no problem with leaving a dysfunctional project.
You released on Claus Larsen’s label, Læbel and you have worked with him as Mirland/Larsen as well as producing and mixing each others music. Leæther Strip/Larsen is spoken in near reverance by many in the industrial scene, though those that know him say he is the biggest sweetheart. Did you find it nerve wracking to work with Claus in the beginning and have you found that friendship has grown exponentially, forging something a bit special?
Claus is a very close and dear friend and I consider him family.
When we work together it’s like we have a direct brain-to-brain connection and we’ve never argued even if we may not agree on everything. I’ve learned a ton from Claus. And we’re equally productive and creatively restless.
Which aspect of music making do you think you enjoy the most? As the performer, the producer or the mix master? Or is it a bit of everything that keeps the flame alive?
I love composing and producing and I’m not particularly interested in being a face or a character. I enjoy the stage not for the sake of being the center of attention but for presenting and interpreting my music in a different, loud setting and watching people’s response.
Who were the early musical inspirations that set your pulse running and made you think ‘I want to do that!’?
A: Hmm, that’s a tough one. I’d like to say something cool and leftfield but actually I grew up with a very broad range of music from Pink Floyd to southern blues to classical, constantly playing at my parents apartment. So I’ve always been surrounded by music and I can’t remember a time not wanting to work with music but for many years my main focus was on painting and illustration.
What acts do you listen to now or find their innovation sucks you into their music?
Currently I’m working my way through a big stack of obscure metal releases on vinyl. But I’m also listening to a lot of newer electronic releases. I like the distanced coldness of Julia Bondar and Rue Oberkampf and the energetic techno of Anastacia Kristensen. I enjoy listening to my friend Kri Samadhi who’s a great psytrance producer. Italo Connection’s “Metropolis” album is an extremely well executed album and possibly one of the best synth pop albums in years. And the funky neo disco of Alexander Robotnick always put a smile on my face.
And then I keep coming back to an old release by a short lived doom/black outfit called Woods of Belial. It has this dark, gritty lo-fi sound that I’d never be able to do myself.
What is in store for John Mirland and all his many, many projects?
A: First of I’ll be playing in Copenhagen on March 5th as a double bill with Leæther Strip. It’s been so long! And then I’m currently working on the follow up to “Compromise Is Defeat” which I hope will be out this year. Working title is “Bastard”. There’s a new album from Am Tierpark out this spring which I believe to be the best we’ve done so far and an Italo disco single I wrote for a Danish singer. I’m also working on a new and so far secret space disco project. And maybe something from Gusten too.
Thank you ever so much for taking the time to talk to us!
The 17th of January sees the release of the single “Decimate” from Matt Hart. This is from his Below The Terra PT.1 album, which is due this year. If you have been following Hart, you will know that he has been building up a story with his music. It is the tale of the Earth that has been visited by alien machines, who are hell bent on changing the surface of the planet to something much colder that suits them while also eradicating the humans. Though the humans have held on in small numbers burrowing down into the soil, looking for sanctuary.
MATT HART
A menacing start, that suddenly knocks the breath out of you and the voices of the mechanical overlords can be heard reporting control. The humans find the world so cold and no opportunity of reclaiming what has been destroyed. There is a wonderful layering of textures, between the driving guitar, the stellar synths and the pounding rhythm.
“Decimate” is possibly the point where the last of humanity looked at their planet and thought, we can’t stay anymore, it’s time to go. You cannot mistake the anger and loss the Hart expresses on the behalf of the survivors. As always, Hart gives us a dance floor track with instant appeal and one other appealing thing worth mentioning is that it was mastered by Krischan Wesenberg of Rotersand. So we watch and wait to see what happens is this apocalyptic cyber world of man verses machine.
Deathline International have been around in the industrial scene since 1991, when they formed in California before releasing their debut album, Reality Check in 1993 on the label COP International. 2022 will see them drop the newest album, Pax Americana, 11 years since their fourth album Cybrid, but before that happens, we have been getting tastes of what is to come from the group in the form of singles. The latest is called “Parasite” which hit us in December of 2021. The current lineup for Deathline International is Th3Count (Christian Petke), SLam (Simon Lam), James Perry [Ashes Fallen], and John Fryer who has a curriculum vitae that might take some people several lifetimes to rack up. His most iconic band was This Mortal Coil and is a part of the super group The Joy Thieves, while riding solo as Black Needle Noise. As a producer he has worked with luminaries such as Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, Nine Inch Nails, Die Krupps, Cocteau Twins and so many more.
DEATHLINE INTERNATIONAL
The original single version is done by Fryer, the master of mixing and he has made this a far more sinister piece. The synths are just perfection as they roll over the words ‘only in America is it controversial for me to start the programme declaring that global warming is really happening‘.. There is the list of the four horsemen of the apocalypse of which humanity brings closer each passing day to the brink of no return by not finding ways to protect our planet. Pestilence, War, Famine and Death. There is the perfect mix of guitar versus electronic, all beautifully balanced and brutally laid before you with the bones of the future generations.
Stabbing Westwards are stablemates at COP International and the remix by Chris Hall is actually the first version of “Parasite” off the rank and it is so smooth, that Petke’s vocals ooze all over it like the Exxon Valdez. I like the fact it has retained the heavy electronic component and layers those elements with ease so that it just grooves along. They were not lying about the Sonic Assault remix. Electronic blasting beats full of anger and passionately promising to bludgeon you to death like the wide eyed harpy seal you might be if you don’t take notice of Sick Jokes emphasizing the end is nigh. It feels as if is it spinning out of control and imploding towards the end. Again Sick Jokes are signed to COP International
Yep. The production is spot on. The song is catchy. Three versions to keep everyone happy. A plethora of talent. Well that was easy. Listen to Deathline International, reduce your carbon footprint, recycle, re-use and maybe there is a chance to make things just a bit better than just being a “Parasite“.
The artist, Dave McAnally, is better known for his Ministry/Rob Zombie inspired act, The Derision Cult but this Chicago based musician also has a far more synth based project called .SYS Machine. .SYS Machine is the darker, quieter sibling, with a far more reflective soul. December saw the release of Graceful Isolation, which features five tracks and eight remixes, all created in a collaborative manner. We spoke to Dave about these collaborations, inspirations and how life is changing.
Welcome down the hole of weirdness that is Onyx, Dave McAnally of .SYS Machine.
December 2021 saw the release of Graceful Isolation and this title came out of the fact none of your collaborators ever met up in the same room. How did you pull it all together? With everyone having to work remotely- whether its music or in other work life- it’s probably easier now than its ever been to work remotely. For me, it was just a matter of making a list of people I’d like to work with and then with Kim and Gabe from Microwaved (who does a remix on here) we added to that list and I started reaching out! I’d say 80% of the people who I reached out to where into it and wanted to get involved. The other 20% was either just schedules were too tough to work or they were tied up with other things. So it was actually a pretty easy process to line up.
You brought some heavy talent on the album in the form of Kimberly Kornmeier of Bow Ever Down doing the vocals on three of the tracks as well as getting the likes of Assemblage 23, Spankthenun, The Joy Thieves, Miss Suicide et al to do some rather wicked remixes. How did you lure them all onto the project? Kim came about because she’d done vocals on my buddy Gabe’s track Save Me earlier this year and I was really impressed and it just so happened I had some instrumental tracks I’d been tinkering on that I thought her style and approach would be really interesting for. She was immediately on board and she’s really great to work with (she collaborates with a ton of artists so she knows how to deliver and mold what she does to the tracks).
I knew I wanted to do remixes, but one thing led to another talking with Kim and Gabe, and we thought of people who would bring some cool flavors to the tracks and then I just started hitting folks up. Sys Machine isn’t a big name or anything on the scene so I wasn’t really sure what would happen as far as interest. Nevertheless, Assemblage 23 and The Joy Thieves jumped on straight away which was awesome. Once that happened the ball just kept rolling. Not a whole lot of luring was involved! I suspect with people unable to play shows last year, bandwidth was freed up which helped.
DAVE MCANALLY – .SYS MACHINE
The Derision Cult is your original project that you have been releasing music under since 2014 and 2021 saw you drop the album Charlatans Inc. in September before Graceful Isolation. Was it your intention to stay busy or did it all evolve naturally? It was a total natural thing for me! For a long time, I’ve always had a few projects going at once, and these two are my big ones. I work a lot slower than it probably seems on the surface. I’m one of those people that’ll start an idea, leave it alone for a month or two, and come back to it and maybe it’ll get finished. The Derision Cult tracks were marinating over the course of a year and a half and while I was working on that I was also doing things that ultimately became Graceful Isolation. By last summer, I was really excited about both and didn’t want to just sit on them for the sake of spacing out releases so I just kept on moving along.
I think my output will slow down going forward as I really found myself enjoying working with people vs. being a lone wolf. I’m happy to slow my roll and make time for other people to get involved and put more work into each release. But there’s always various things I’ve got cooking. I’ve got about 30 blues and acoustic jams I’ve amassed over the past 6 months that I would typically release as Jefferson Dust that are in various stages of completion that I’m always working on. Someday maybe 10 of those will be worth sharing with the public! Same is true for other projects.
.SYS Machine is very different to the far more guitar driven The Derision Cult. What prompted you to pursue this more electronic sound? Sys Machine has sort of been where all my science experiments go. I started putting things out under that moniker that were essentially toying with new synths, drum loops or whatever. All instrumental and not really songs in as much as they were soundscapes. In a way, it’s really just me exploring getting better with programming and all things electronic. Once Kim got involved, for me at least, Sys Machine stopped being a bunch of science experiments and started to congeal into something that felt a little more meaningful. So that’s where it stands now.
Derision Cult was and is an entirely different thing. I’m a thrash guitar guy deep down. Those riffs are part of my DNA going back 30+ years. So when I started that project, I had a very deliberate idea of what I wanted it to be and sound like and I’ve been evolving on that theme ever since.
You have spoken about how you were a heavy drinker for 25 years, then decided to give the habit up. Has that been hard to do and how has this changed your perspective on life, the music you create and the music scene? ya know it really wasn’t! And that kind of surprised me at how easy it was to just walk away from the booze. I just took stock of my life and health and what path I was on and made a decision. I think the key is actually TELLING people you’re going to stop. Like once I told my wife and friends then it was real. I’m really happy I did it. I feel better, I find myself less stressed out and I have more energy and time for things I care about– including music. It was really just the right time for me to leave that behind. I saw an interview with Billy Connolly where he was saying you can be wild and crazy in your 20’s and 30’s and it’s a lot of fun. But once you get into your 40’s it starts to be a little pathetic carrying on like you’re in a frat house. I believe that to be true. the other thing was pandemic.
I run my own businesses and I work out of my house so it’s not like I have a job to go to or anything. Boredom sets in and you’ll be sitting there like “fuck it, I’m not hurtin’ anybody!” and next thing you know, you’ve gone through a fifth of whiskey just watching TV or whatever. Once that started happening, I could feel my health starting to slide. I have had friends over the years who’ve died from things like liver failure and heart attacks and all that so I knew where this path would lead. I read that Alan Karr book about quitting drinking and that was pretty much that. Quitting drinking has definitely helped me live more in the moment. I find myself with a lot more time since my weekend mornings are free, I’m motivated to go hard all day long cos that “it’s 5 o’clock somwhere!” mindset is gone.
As far as music and art, I think it’s a lot easier to be realistic and objective. When you’re drinking or stoned or whatever, you can think everything you’ve done is the greatest thing ever. Not so much when you’re stone sober. As far as the scene, the thing that really surprised me is how little drinking really is part of people’s lives. I never really noticed that before. It might just be more evidence of how hard living I was compared to everyone else ha. That isn’t to say they don’t drink, but especially with artists I collaborate with, it just doesn’t seem like it’s as big of a deal to them as it might have been for me. By the way, I don’t mean any of this to come off as a “Drinking and Drugs don’t work kids!” type of rant – cos they do! It’s fun getting hammered and wasted. I had a great time living that life and don’t regret that period for what it was. But I’m definitely happier and more productive with where I’m at.
What bands were the gateway drug into industrial music for you? Heh, well I’m kind of weird like that. Psalm 69 came out around the same time Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction, Metallica’s Black Album, White Zombie La Sexorcisto and Anthrax Sound of White Noise were coming out so it just fit right in with what I was into at the time. I didn’t really think of it as a new genre or door to open. Of all things, I happened to be a big David Bowie fan back then too and I thought Tin Machine- or more specifically their guitar player Reeves Gabrels was a badass.
I knew of Bowie’s other gunslingers. I’d read that Adrian Belew was doing things with Trent Reznor and NIN so that got me curious– like “hey maybe these synth people can rock too!”. That was sort of my moment of truth. This was maybe 93 or so right before Downward Spiral came out – then later on Bowie and NIN went on tour together and it was like the universe all made sense! I was living in Iowa at the time and Chicago isnt’ too far so I got wind of what was all going on with Wax Trax and I’ve been into it ever since. So I guess you could say Tin Machine-Era David Bowie was my gateway drug haha.
Whose music do you enjoy now or blows your mind into thinking ‘I wish I had written that!’? I listen to a ton of things across a lot of genres. When I’m just hanging around, especially this time of year, I’m more blues and Americana. I think the new James McMurtry album is amazing– his turn of phrase and how he crafts stories in his lyrics always blows my mind. I don’t necessarily endeavor to write like him, but those storyteller songwriters are a master class in how to take a listener on a journey. The Reverend Peyton’s new album Dance Songs For Hard Times is absolutely excellent. My daughter really likes the Rev so we’re playing that around the house a lot.
Closer to home genre-wise, this probably sounds cliche, but I really like the fusion of blues and industrial on the new Rob Zombie. The Joy Thieves Album American Parasite is great- lot of energy on there and I have that on quite a bit. I’m digging the new Ministry album too! Love Jello showing up on tracks and I’m not sure if this is a popular opinion, but I think Al’s take on Search and Destroy was awesome. There’s some “Boy I wish I thought of that” riffs on there.
What is in store for you in the future with .SYS Machine and The Derision Cult, plus will there be more collaborations? Yeah man! I’m actually working on the next Derision Cult now. Sean Payne from Cyanotic and Conformco is producing and already I feel like it’s a giant leap forward just working with him and handing the reigns over. I really love the sci-fi/robotic feel to what he does and I’d love to fuse that with what I do. Very early stages but I’ve got some guests in mind for tracks. I can’t say who yet, but there’s one that if it comes together, it’ll be a total full-circle thing cos it’s such a blast from the past and a huge influence on me personally. So that’ll be my focus for awhile bringing that to life.
On the Sys Machine front I literally have nothing in the tank at the moment. I’d definitely like to work with Kim again and she’s up for it. She’s got her own album and projects and maybe in the next year we’ll be able to share music. But I’m really happy with how Graceful Isolation came together so I’d definitely like to continue down that path!
Danish musician, composer and producer, John Mirland has released in December of 2021, his newest album Compromise Is Defeat after a hiatus from his solo project of nearly four years, his last album being Mechanic from 2017. That’s not to say that Mirland has been cooling his heels the last few years, finding himself releasing with his bands Negant and Eisenwolf plus collaborating with Claus Larsen of LeætherStrip as Mirland/Larsen. If that wasn’t enough producing and mixing music for a myriad of acts but he was still writing tracks for this album between 2018 and 2021.
JOHN MIRLAND
The slow immersion of static and beats lure you in, then “Another Form” begins to speed up and enveloping you. Before you know it, the fabulous pounding techno rhythm and synths, mixed with power noise, invade your senses. So far, this is boding to be in the realms of other worldly. “Beg For It” is just mega crunchy, ear grating goodness and has a beat like a heart on adrenaline, until the angelic heavens open over a synth-scape dream. It ripples with light, while the static growls below. Electronic bees is the best way to describe the beginning of “Fuel” before the cracking beat. The sublime synths glide effortlessly across the jarring sea of sharp tempo. The wub wub is intense from the single “Defiant“, like a rubber ball bouncing incessantly in your head, compelling you to move and dance. There might be a slight reprieve before giving you a serving of techno goodness.
“Rust” is abrasive rhythmic noise that wants to take your breath away with it’s relentlessness. The oscillations push you on… towards what? The oblivion that comes with time maybe as time is forever pushing forward. With it’s raft of a-rhythmic beat signature, this is “Headless” that goes in and out of syncopation, backed up by the less crazed, “Generator“. For a more sedate paced piece, it is brooding and insidious. The electronic vocals are the heralds for an oncoming doom of ancient wrathful gods that then descends into minimal techno torment.The glass like smoothness of “So Cold” is just magic, both ephemeral and distant. The track “Torn” is a perfect example of that techno/industrial mix that I find the Europeans do well. The last track is “Wolf Among Sheep” and it is oppressive and dark as it, trance like, invades your very being.
Wonderfully mastered by Claus Larsen and released on the label, Læbel, this is really an album that should appeal to true connoisseurs of techno, power and rhythmic noise, especially those who adore Xotox. For me, you feel those rhythms deep within you, anchoring your feet to the earth but your soul wants to fly with the synth lines. It really is a remarkable talent. Those that know Mirland are already the converted,,,so get thy self some Compromise Is Defeat.
David Lawrie is The Royal Ritual, an Englishman living in the U.S., taught music from a young age, now involved in the goth/industrial scenes as a composer and producer. He kindly spoke to us about his project, the new album, film making and what inspires him.
Welcome David Lawrie to the darkside of the rabbit hole that is Onyx. The Royal Ritual is a new project for you. What inspired you to go on this solo journey? The last time I had performed in an industrial outfit was with my friend Chris Coreline in 2008-2009 – when we played a string of shows, starting with the inFest Festival of 2008. It was so much fun. Since that point I have been mainly writing for documentaries, doing audio post production for film, and producing EPs/albums for various independent artists under my birth name.
Fast forward to Coldwaves 2018, where I was in the audience with Dustin Schultz who, the night before, had performed with ohGr. It made me remember how much I wanted to get back into the fold. I mentioned this to Dustin, and we started working together in 2019. With the pandemic looming, it became more of a solo project in early 2020. Ultimately Dustin contributed significantly to two songs on the debut album, but without the initial collaboration with him, I don’t think I would have pushed forwards with the project.
As the lockdown clamped down harder on us all, I continued to work on the album. The name “The Royal Ritual” came to me on a cross country road-trip, in December 2020.
I would like to talk about the two singles you have so far released. “Pews In a Pandemic” is an observation of how commercial religion can be both controlling and coersive of their flocks, then married with the music that is harsher in sound. Can you say what roused you to write this and influenced the choice in sound? Firstly I don’t want to be insulting with anything I write. Whilst it is probably very obvious that I am fundamentally anti religion, I do not hold hostility towards the majority of religious people. It is no secret that I am atheist (and as close to “a-deist” as can be), but I also understand that a belief in a higher power brings comfort to a great many people, and I wouldn’t want to take the comfort of belief away from so many.
Where this breaks down, at least for me, is in the boldness of a select “holy” few who not only claim that they have a direct communication with a deity, but they can disseminate a deistic message to a congregation – a move that, to me, is a parallel with divine dictatorship.
In the decade I have spent in America, I have really seen how bizarre things can become when religion makes good business, and the social fallout from that is a topic of great inspiration in my writing. As for the overall sound, this was not the first song I wrote for the album, and as such, it was arranged to fit in with the already fairly solid palette of the other songs that had been written.
“Empires” is the second single and a comment that many English hark back to the ‘good old days’ when the British had a huge colonial empire which was at it’s peak during the Victorian era, with the British Raj in India, the jewel in the crown. Your song writing takes on a more classical quality and evocative of something exotic, maybe even forbidden, referring to the the line ‘when I was a little girl and you were a little boy’. How did this piece come about? I do hope that the irony and sarcasm in this song is obvious. I also hope that my exclusion of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in the proclamation of “England” and not “Britain” is not dismissed as ignorance on my part.
I wouldn’t want it to be said that I am not proud to be English, because I do love the country. Whilst its history is turbulent, it is a history from which there are many lessons to be learned. I genuinely hope that as we move forward, these lessons will inform positive change.
Me being the “little girl” in this scenario harks back to mockery in the playground, where physical weakness and displays of emotion were “girlish” traits, whereas physical strength and the “stiff upper lip” were “boyish” traits. I’m very glad we are gradually evolving past this nonsense.
The video for “Empires” is simple and yet beautifully directed by HARUKO. How was the experience making this video? I try to separate out my different creative outlets, and HARUKO is my visual artwork pseudonym. I have been fascinated by filmmaking for many years, and in 2013, purely out of necessity, I made my first videos with just me, a camera, and some lights for the music released under my birth name. I learned a great deal very quickly, and since then I have continued to add to my equipment and skillset. That enabled me to do the first two videos for The Royal Ritual completely isolated from other people (I had some help carrying lights deep into the forest for my cover of Phildel’s “Glide Dog”).
For “Empires” I wanted to work with actors to tell a story, and I knew that I needed to put the cinematography in the hands of my good friend, and long-standing filmmaker colleague, David Diley of Scarlet View Media. He and I have worked on films for many years, with me taking care of audio post production in many of his projects. His expertise, along with his knowledge of my general vision, meant that I could focus on the direction and project management of the “Empires” video – trusting that it was being captured to a very high standard. I have directed videos for other artists in the past, but this was the first time using actors. A full production, if you will. I am very proud of the outcome!
As an Englishman in the U.S., do you think being away from the U.K. gives you more perspective and also a different view while in the States? Kind of a stranger in two worlds so to speak. I have always felt like an outsider, so I am used to that feeling of being a “stranger” – I think most people who work in the arts probably feel it too!
What I have found about splitting my time between the two countries is that it has opened my eyes to layers of odd logic on both sides of the pond, and it has also left me much more humble and less opinionated about subjects on which I am not well versed, as well as being more interested in learning.
Whilst I know that my transatlantic travel leaves a large carbon footprint (which I try to offset with the food I eat, minimising the waste I create etc.), I do feel that travel is key to us all understanding each other. Until you see the “other side” for yourself, you never really know how it compares to your own situation – and I think that being able to compare makes you not only more grateful for what you do have, but also more compassionate towards other people in worse positions. Experience, not hearsay, is key to progress.
You are a sound engineer and you do musical scores for documentaries etc. Could you tell us about these and how it has influenced how you have approached creating music with Royal Ritual? Working in audio post production/sound design for film came about almost accidentally, even though in hindsight it makes perfect sense. Using found sounds as percussive (and even melodic) elements of my music has been something I have done since studying my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. Field recording is one of my favourite pastimes.
When David Diley asked me to work on the audio for his film “Of Shark And Man” in 2012 (the film was released a few years later), it was a really exciting challenge. He told me that the main character of the film was not the sharks, nor the interviewees, but rather the water itself. Creating an almost musical sound for the water was a very rewarding exploration – almost the reverse of what I had been doing to create elements of my own music.
David Diley also asked me to compose the opening theme for the film, which helped me to develop my own way of mapping out a piece of music to visual cues. With regards to The Royal Ritual, every single song was written with a very strong visual in mind, using techniques I have developed in both my musical and audio post production worlds.
What can we expect from the full length album MARTYRS? “Pews In A Pandemic” and “Empires” paint the musical extremes for the album. There is a lot of darkness, but also (I hope) a lot of light in there. As much as I focused on creating sound design elements for the musical side of things, I also spent a long time working on the lyrics – something I hope translates and resonates well with people. Words have always been important to me, so I made sure to take my time with the words on the album.
As I mentioned before, the album has something of a sonic “palette,” so whilst the songs have a lot of variety in their songwriting, I think their arrangements are tied together by a general “sound” (for want of a better term).
I am so glad that the singles seem to have been well received so far, but I feel like they make more sense in context with the rest of the album. I pieced it together with two sides of a record in mind, and I am very much looking forward to holding and spinning the vinyl myself!
What music first set your soul on fire when you were young and who do you enjoy or still fans that fire? That question is always going to open Pandora’s Box, as far as I’m concerned, so I will try to keep it short.
The influences that jump to mind right now are Erik Satie, Pink Floyd, Arvo Pärt, Tool, Henryk Gorecki, Aphex Twin, Philip Glass, Björk, David Sylvian, Nine Inch Nails, Tears For Fears, Nitin Sawhney (and I could go on and on…)
The most perfect piece of music to me, however, is “High Hopes” by Pink Floyd. There is a long story behind that choice, but I am certain that it was that song which served as the catalyst for me truly wondering about how modern music was put together.
Thank you for your time and we can’t wait for the album MARTYRS. It has been a pleasure – thank you!
