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Melbourne’s Velatine are back with a new single, as well as a new singer. Loki Lockwood dropped the single “Oh See Me, The Siren,” with Holly Purnell debuting as the vocalist.

‘I love coats, leather coats, biker jackets, military coats, I’m obsessed. So I’m down the local thrift shop and trying on some women’s furs [love them too]. But I never seem to find the right one but I try. I put one on, the sleeves are too short, I push them up and I hear someone say ‘looks cool’. I turn around and I’m looking at this striking woman who says to me ‘you’re looking for a singer aren’t you’? ‘How do you know’? I replied.  ‘I’ve seen your ad and I’ve been thinking about it’. Why hasn’t she I think? She looks the part so I ask. I get the ‘not sure whether I’m good enough or my voice is right’. ‘Well if you don’t try you’ll forever wonder’ I say.’ – Loki Lockwood

In the video, our siren Holly is saturated in deep red tones, and somewhere in the back of my mind, there is a knocking. Something familiar and then it hits me. She reminds me of a young Shirley Manson and not just vocally. The attitude is sassy and she is not going to put up with anyone’s preconceptions. In that vein, the music is equal parts sneering nonchalance and peerless seduction, for this composition created by Lockwood.

Lockwood has used synths in the chorus in such a way that heightens the feeling of suffocation and in his chameleon way, he has the ability to fluidly change from gothic rock to a more electronic sound, and everything in between, without a second thought, which keeps everything fresh. It seems Velatine might have found their gothic goddess in Holly and this means there are exciting things in the works. Find yourself drawn to “Oh See Me, The Siren,” because no one can resist creatures of the night.

Oh See Me – The Siren | Velatine

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– VELATINE – Gothic | Darkwave

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Diana Ringo is a Finnish film maker, who also makes avant-garde post-punk music. She released in August the single teaser “Happy Mealz” off the album Cyberwolf, which dropped in October. You might say, Onyx, you are a bit late….*pointed stare ensues*…. aaaaand you would be correct, but we aren’t talking about that. It is all about this cool single “Happy Mealz.”

Ringo’s vocals are unique, with the closest comparison I have being Diamanda Galas when she is hitting them low notes with her keening tones, matched with the spoken word veracity of Nico. It instantly spins you around after hearing the intro of sparkling synthwave and wailing guitar.

Is “Happy Mealz” about the children’s boxed meal that comes with a plastic toy from the place with the golden arches?? Where artificial food meets short lived joy, but it keeps the masses peachy keen and wanting more. It is the disconnect of a world that is swamped in mediocrity, because the common folk have been convinced, what the media and corporations sell you is your only choice. Choose life, choose freedom and choose to listen to something a bit different with Diana Ringo.

Happy Mealz | Diana Ringo

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Diana Ringo – Film Director, Pianist and Composer

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Huzzah! Halloween is in full swing, and as tradition has it, this is the time for gothic tunes to celebrate the spooky season. Behold the track “Witches‘ from Costa Ricans, Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos as a musical gift to all those that like to go bump in the night!

Eva Red’s voluptuous bass is the meat in this track, deep and the rhythmic backbone, with the drum machine in back up. The synths are the domain of Jan Black, which are willowy, echoing and haunting, only matched by the saxophone that is played by Ariel Maniki. Maniki’s vocals always have this really nice deep tone that are the icing on the gothic cake. so to speak.

‘Dancing with the devil

At the edge of dawn

They are always hungry

For a human soul‘

This not a track about those good and kind witches. Oh no, these are the “Witches” that sustain their lives through the centuries through the ruination of ordinary folk. A danceable gothic tribute to the not so lovely ladies of the night by Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos.

Witches | Ariel Maniki and the Black Halos

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When you are a band who is all about horror in real life and movies, the Halloween season is very important. Who Saw Her Die? (WSHD?) get very excited around this time, gracing us with their joy of all stories gruesome. Recently they released the Mothman EP, which you should check out, but they have dropped the fresh corpse of Dead or Alive’s track “Something In My House.”

This is not the disco version. It has been pared down to its bones and rebuilt like Frankenstein’s monster. It rumbles and groans, with the slow stalking beat and slightly lisped growled vocals of a broken and murderous heart. The synths add to the ghostly atmosphere.

A curse on the houses of Stock, Aitken and Waterman for their perversion of Dead Or Alive, who originally started off as the far more gothic Nightmares In Wax, but I will concede that without them, we might never had “You Spin Me,” (which I hated for several decades after spinning it every Friday night for two years) and “Something in My House.” The WSHD? cover is so different and yet so much in the vein of tongue in cheek that it was always was meant to be taken for. Hello? Police? There is “Something in My House” and it is all the fault of Who Saw Her Die?!

Harbinger (Mothman) | Who Saw Her Die?

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Ronny Flissundet and Kristian Liljan dropped their EP Dancing Drone back in June, through their project Rule of Two. Based in the capital of Norway, this duo blend electronics with whatever moody genre takes their fancy and due to being rather prolific, in October they released the single “Cloud Nine.”

There is something classically 80s about the synths that makes you think of groups like Depeche Mode and Erasure. Maybe it is the play of dark notes with the lighter ones, or maybe the graceful vocals that intertwine in delightful harmony

“Cloud Nine” is about taking your life into your own hands. Stop waiting for the right time and permission to live in the moment because in the end, all those moments are fleeting. It is an important message that most of us don’t understand until we reach a certain age. The music is really glorious in the way it soars, with a hint of regret, but more so a joyous refrain of freedom. Also, give Rule of Two’s music video’s a look, reminiscent in style of another Norwegian band, a-ha.

Cloud Nine | Rule Of Two

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In this modern era, have you ever experienced an “Emptiness“? This is the latest single from Amsterdam based group The Dark Wave, who mix gothic rock with a new wave sensibility, on the label Walboomers Music.

Guitar slides, verses that powerup, and launch you into the chorus and jangling guitar tussling for dominance against the vocal harmonisation. All the while there is that 80s post-punk bass guitar rumbling along as the song breaks into an infectious 90s Brit pop bounciness. Who could ask for anything more alive than this?!

It is rather interesting to see the artwork seems to depict the shape of a mobile phone, a powerful mini computer that can let you see and converse with people from around the world, and yet it also makes humans feel more alone that ever before. This is the concept behind “Emptiness” where one can touch multimedia to connect to things you love, while taking us further away from real interactions. “Emptiness” is full of energy, even if you are dancing by yourself.

Emptiness | The Dark Wave

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The Dark Wave | Band Amsterdam – Amsterdam-based new wave band

https://www.instagram.com/thedarkwave.band/

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The label Nerang Records can be found on the Gold Coast in Queensland, with the sub-label, Ronnie’s Records, all run by Christopher Mcivor, who recently debuted under the persona Moody Mcivor. This darkwave project began in 2021 for Mcivor and the end of August saw the release of his second single “Benaiah Fiu.“

The drum machine rattles out it’s constant rhythm, only broken by the wavering and light synths, twinkling just out of reach. Mcivor’s utterances are as controlled as the drum machine, with industrial precision, his vocals a cross between Ian Curtis (Warsaw/Joy Division) and Frank Tovey (Fad Gadget).

One should ask not what is “Benaiah Fiu,” but rather who? Benaiah Fiu was a friend of Mcivor’s and the soon to be released EP, Shadow Frequencies, is not only an ode to the departed, but also equal parts tribute and expression of loss. And there is a profound sense a grief below the surface, for as mechanical as Mcivor can sound, it is like this is all that is keeping everything together, should the surface tension be broken. There is a none too subtle nod to the early 80s post-punk sound and in all honesty, he pulls it off so well. Fly high “Benaiah Fiu.”

NRNGRR001- Moody Mcivor – Shadow Frequencies | Moody Mcivor | Nerang Recordings

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Facebook – Nerang Records

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Incirrina are a two piece band from Athens, Greece and signed to the label Cold Transmission Music. The latest single is called “ΚΡΥΦΟ (Hidden)” by the darkwave duo George Katsanos (synthesizers, drum machines, octapad, bass guitar) and Irini Tiniakou (synthesizers, vocals).

The synths ebb and flow with an incantation of gothic sorrow. “ΚΡΥΦΟ (Hidden)” is the embodiment of what should be and yet, still remains obfuscated and incomplete. The vocals of Tiniakou, sung in her native Greek, are so alive and are only matched by the insistent guitar. It builds, a vortex of singing and instruments.

This track just struck me as possibly influenced by 80s Xmal Deutschland, especially with those wonderful yips recalling Anja Huwe’s vocal style. However, this is a far more modern fare with a smooth electronic bearing. Incirrina have brought forth and wonderful darkwave track in “ΚΡΥΦΟ (Hidden).”

ΚΡΥΦΟ (Hidden) | Incirrina

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Music | Incirrina

𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 (@incirrina_band) • Φωτογραφίες και βίντεο στο Instagram

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Chronotape are a relatively new project, that started in Murmansk in Russia in 2024, and since then have relocated to Batumi in neighbouring Georgia. The darkwave duo of Eve (vocals) and Dee (music) have released the new single “Pale Fire.”

There is a lush, black and white video to go with “Pale Fire” and you can hear the influence of The Cure, circa Disintegration era, with those rivulets of guitar and washing synths, from the beginning of the track by Dee. There is an initial shock when you first hear Eve, as you are expecting the lilting tones of a woodland sprite, yet instead there is a deep feminine spoken word, accentuated by her Russian accent, giving a lament of what is no more or now may never be.

Eve reminds me so much of Nico with her unhurried, mostly spoken lyrics, and you should also lend your ear to the cover of Mike Oldfield’s “Moonlight Shadow,” which is the ‘b-side’. It is really startling to listen to a gothed up version and the vocals actually make this even better, with the popping programmed rhythms. Not going to be for everyone, but if you have loved The Velvet Underground and Nico or Anne Clarke, then Chronotape is going to enthral you.

Pale Fire (single) | Chronotape

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(@chronotape) • Instagram photos and videos

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Saccharine Underground is the label based in Washington D.C. and run by Jeremy Moore, who, incidentally is the driving force behind avant garde post-punk project, Zabus. Moore (voice, guitars, 6 string bass, strings/synthesis), released the EP Genesis in June, with fellow musicians B.B. Kille (guitars +tracks 3 and 4), Johnny Wielding (drums, 4 string bass +tracks 1-4), Alex Zorn (guitars +tracks 1 and 2) and Akane Shimizu (strings/synth +tracks 1 and 2).

In Icelandic, “Grafhysi Fyrir Alla” means ‘tombstone for everyone‘ and it is also the single off the EP, lush with unsteady echoing, which is unyielding in pouring Moore’s vocals tumbling from the turgid darkness, where lurks the dissonance of synths and guitar. It envelopes you in the forever that is the grave. “Orphalese” is a fictional city, found in the poetry book, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. There is a dynamism in the music, yet intimately, is speaks of becoming complacent and giving in to whatever comes, instead of holding onto core beliefs. The drums are unrelenting, tapping out the fall into mediocrity, and all the while the the track exudes a taste of richness, especially in the vocals.

Behold the death nell brought forth in “Tearful Symmetries.” The psychedelic plays heavily in this track and this could be the equivalent to The Doors’ “The End,” as Moore is the morose and death inspired Jim Morrison, singing his ode to the inevitable demise of all. A cacophony of noise and sweeping gothic rock lays waste to you in “Golden-rot,” with roiling, powerful and deep vocals, The guitars are the wailing focal point, flooding your senses, overwhelming and full of portent that you are dying inside. The last track is also the title. “Shadow Genesis” is entirely the work of Moore, just him and a guitar, southern style gothic on the way out of town for the last time, unwilling to leave, but the reaper leaves no room for desire or wants.

“Psychopathologies like body dysmorphic disorder, at the extreme, can lead to a path of ruin, if most of your life is spent chasing a ghost—what you believe the world wants you to be. Death doesn’t discriminate. The end is always the same.” – Jeremy Moore

Yes, Shadow Genesis is about the ultimate end, but for myself, it is more pointedly about life. It is about how we could cowl and meet the end whimpering, or choose to make the most of everything and be the best person you can. Gibran wrote The Prophet, and although it speaks of humanities short comings, it more so brings into focus how beautiful life is when we treasure love, life and freedom. Zabus have given us a glimpse into the new album through the EP, which is thought provoking, full of gothic lyrics and eerily wonderful in that dark way.

Shadow Genesis (EP) | Zabus