Gothic BC

Moon 17
TX_1320
self-released

It’s been almost two years since Kansas City duo Moon 17 released their first tracks: “Jellyfish”, which bridged mutant EBM and modern darkwave in a cascade of glitches and orch hits, and “Mirror Side”, a mean slice of lo-fi industrial with screamed and crooned vocals and churning programming. While active live, it wasn’t until the recent surprise release of the debut album TX_1320 that we got another taste of Zack Hames and Samantha Conrad’s self-described “sci-fi industrial”, a style that finds them dipping into classic and contemporary sounds in intriguing fashion.

The HAL 9000 samples set against spacey ambience that introduce the record on “Velcro Shoes” act as a mood-setter, but it’s on the first proper song “Ronnie Rocket” where Moon 17’s ambitions come into focus. The slow-rolling tempo of the song and screamed vocals are plenty appealing on their own, enhanced by some choppy programming, the placement of drum hits and synths playing off one another, and the wormy funk lead that recalls Nine Inch Nail’s funkier moments. There are plenty of those clever ‘nice touch’ moments for those paying attention; little production details and arrangement choices that take songs from solid to quite good. Hear how smoothly the guitar on “Bersicker” (courtesy of Cort from Spike Hellis) transitions from chugging rhythm to mirroring the vocal line to peeling off into a solo, or how the chaotic second half of “Helios” reflects the almost gentle build of it’s opening minutes.

For their obvious attention to detail in the recording, the band never get lost in the weeds when it comes to delivering on their hooks. That lack of preciousness means that for all the fun layers of FM bass, gated and looped samples and mountains of percussion that fill-out “Cherry”, it’s never at the expense of screamed and shouted lyrics and corroded synth-hook. Similarly, while the instrumental “Spark” dips into piercing chiptune and sountracky ambience, there’s an intentionality in how those sounds support its recurring and recognizable motifs.

The tightrope-walk of keeping TX_1320‘s intricate construction and appropriate roughness around the edges balanced with the focus on the songs themselves is no small feat, and one that certainly justifies the wait for Moon 17’s debut. As both a highly listenable (and re-listenable) collection of modern industrial cuts, and a statement of purpose for Moon 17, it’s a winner. Recommended.

Buy it.

TX_1320 by Moon 17

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In a wide-ranging open topic conversation, we discuss our thoughts about the purpose, value, and reception of negative music reviews in Our Thing. What’s the line between constructive criticism and a hatchet job? Why write them or, conversely, avoid writing them? All that and plenty of questions in between await on the latest episode of We Have A Technical. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Empusae
The Alchemist’s Rift
Arcane Dirge

Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe of Empusae’s always had a relatively brisk release schedule since his 2002 debut, but that pace has accelerated to a super-human level over the past few years with a near-constant slew of new music from the Swedish dark ambient vet, ranging from some expected collaborations (continuing his work with Shinkiro, teaming up with Peter Bjärgö of Arcana) to absolutely left field ones (the Præter project, which saw Van Meirhaeghe working with choreographers and fashion designers). Those have all done a solid job of showing Empusae’s flexibility as a project and Van Meihaeghe’s growth in both sound design and composition, but new proper stand-alone LP The Alchemist’s Rift offers the opportunity for a clear reappraisal of Empusae’s progression.

Despite a fairly short run time The Alchemist’s Rift serves as a solid reintroduction to the range of sounds and styles Empusae has at hand and moves through them at a fair clip; ranging from the cosmic grandeur of “The Echo Of Shadows” to the way the ritual minimalism of foreboding opener “Invocation (The Fractured Self)” blossoms into hi-def symphonic sweeps. That’s not to say that it’s underdeveloped or rushed; all six pieces are given more than enough time to establish themselves, and the loose theme of alchemical exploration of the beyond threads nicely through it.

More than anything, The Alchemist’s Rift showcases just how well Van Meirhaeghe’s technical sound design chops have grown alongside his compositional ambitions. Album centerpiece “Through The Rift” builds to an evocative and ever-shifting arpeggiated riff both mechanical and wholly abstract pads and percussion creating a constant sense of movement and drama. It’s a tour de force of composition which doesn’t just point to old cliches about “cinematic” sounds and “soundtracks to non-existent films”, but should call the likes of undisputed masters like Zimmer and Jóhannsson to the minds of film score aficionados.

For those who often find releases marked with the dark ambient tag to be too static or droning, The Alchemist’s Rift offers kinetic action and fully sculpted individual pieces, as well as a properly executed LP structure. Mature without being too ponderous or self-reflective, it’s the sort of record that Van Meirhaeghe might not have been able to pull off with such aplomb a few years back, but now is able to fully realize.

Buy it.

The Alchemist's Rift by Empusae

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We’re rejiggering our week’s posting given the slightly odd experience of our national stat holiday falling on a Tuesday, so it’s Tracks today and reviews coming on Wednesday and Friday. And hey, if you’re at all curious about how we as Canadians feel about celebrations like Canada Day or patriotism in general during this strange new era of trade war, well, that’s something we specifically touched upon in our Patreon-only bonus Bombers podcast this past weekend, but we certainly don’t need to dig into that now while offering you six fresh cuts.

Grimmer than thou, it’s Lebanon Hanover

Sleek Teeth, “Same”
The hybrid style of LA duo Sleek Teeth have made them one of the most talked about bands of the last 12 months, and a new tune like this only pushes them further up the list of bands we’re most pumped to see at Terminus at the end of the month. Expertly blending synthpop, EBM, classic rave tracks, and a plain old sense of pop songwriting pays off for them well with “Same”, and keeps their run of Kite-like quality control going with this being just their sixth track to go public.
Same by Sleek Teeth

Comaduster, “Way With Me”
If you checked out the podcast last week, you heard us talking about how much we’re anticipating the new album from Comaduster, a full five years since the project’s last missive Darker Matter. Our first taste of that soon the be announced record is the single “Way With Me”, a classic example of Real Cardinal’s insanely detailed production and sound design, as filtered through his particular style of emotional songwriting. If you’ve never heard Comaduster before, this tells you what you need to know about the band’s ordered chaos, if you’re already a fan like us, you’ll appreciate the mixture of the familiar and the alien here. Welcome back, you’ve been missed.
WAY WITH ME + THE LESS YOU KNOW by Comaduster

Zanias, “Dawn”
We were talking on last week’s podcast about artists with records in the pipeline we’re looking forward to, and since then Zanias has dropped another tune from her forthcoming Cataclysm LP. Lyrically it offers a clear historically materialist read on the current panoply of disasters and atrocities we’re all weathering, and continues to sprinkle in just a little hint of contemporary hyperpop into the emotive mix of ambient and electro we heard on Cataclysm‘s preceding title track.
Dawn by Zanias

Street Sex, “Turn Blue”
It’s been a few years since we’ve had some new machine-operated death trips from Texas nightmare merchants Street Sects, but it looks like August will bring not just a new Street Sects album in Dry Drunk, but also Full Color Eclipse, an LP released under the slightly nudged name Street Sex. If the sound of this track is representative, it looks like we’re in store for a slightly more electro and funk influenced spin on Street Sect’s sound, but don’t worry – with lyrics like “fuck until your eyes pop out, then maybe you’ll never suffer again” they’re not exactly getting coy on us all of a sudden.
FULL COLOR ECLIPSE by STREET SEX

Synthetische Lebensform, “Distance (feat. Eudgen Provkov)”
We’re fans of Russian electro-industrialists Synthetische Lebensform, and thus were very keen to check out the first single from them since the release of their February LP Current Profile. While initially suprised by the vocal style and emphasis on guitars on the song, we were quickly taken with the song’s dramatic chorus and scope, which brings :SITD: of all bands to mind. Not what we expected, and all the more interesting for it. An album of this wouldn’t be unwelcome.
Distance feat. Eudgen Provkov by Synthetische Lebensform

Lebanon Hanover, “Torture Rack”
We kinda neglected to mention Lebanon Hanover in our rundown of forthcoming 2025 albums, probably because we didn’t know that Fabrika was releasing Asylum Lullabies on July 10th. “Torture Rack” features the influential darkwave duo at their most gloomy and funereal, with Larissa Iceglass solemnly intoning each lyric with the duo’s signature gravitas. Not exactly a Summer fun time single, unless your summer plans include glumly staring into the middle distance, which lets face it, many of the folks reading this probably do have on the agenda. Fuck us up Lebanon Hanover.

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For this month’s Patreon-supported bonus podcast, we’re talking about the second LP from Wes Eisold’s post-punk/synthpop act Cold Cave. A record that has taken on more emotional resonance as it (and we!) have aged, so there’s gonna be a lot of talk about feelings, not to mention Cold Cave’s unique place in the transition from the landfill post-punk boom into the contemporary darkwave era. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

The post We Have a Commentary: Cold Cave, “Cherish the Light Years” appeared first on I Die: You Die.

A Shrine To Failure
Undone
self-released
Despite the heavy trad-goth connotations of German duo A Shrine To Failure’s name, promo photos, and hell, even choice of fonts, there’s precious little influence from gothic rock or deathrock to be found on their debut Undone…at least on the surface. The beats and synths which make up most of Undone aren’t that dissimilar from the instrumentation that makes up so much run-of-the-mill darkwave in 2025, but A Shrine To Failure press them into plaintive, heart on sleeve tunes which hearken back to a broader pool of inspirations. Tunes like “Reverie” and “This Is Surrender” borrow from all manner of classic goth acts both in terms of lyrical drama and musical flair, or at least more adept contemporaries like Wingtips and Rosegarden Funeral Party who have a clear read on how much goth history was built on pop and rock fundamentals. Despite its minimal and modern construction, “Bleakware” brings a decent amount of melody and harmonics without relying too heavily on its pure darkwave rhythm. Similarly, the straightforward staccato punch of “Starving”‘s synth program builds alongside increasingly anxious vocals, almost recalling early Ashbury Heights. A very strong debut from a band with clear songwriting chops beyond their tenure. Recommended.
undone by A Shrine to Failure

Viva Non
Natural
self-released
Winnipeg’s Viva Non has been a lot of things over the course of last decade, touching musically on darkwave, industrial, techno and ambient. With the James Hofer recently announcing a return to performing and releasing synthpop-styled material, the most recent EP Natural takes the role of summarizing the project’s instrumental technoid era, a role that it does in fine fashion. “Hollow” is encapsulates the shuffling, rhythmic sensibility of Hofer’s live PA sets, its judiciously placed kicks and snatches of programming immersed in waves of hissing static and low hypnotic drones. Alternately, “Break” dips into straighter kick-snare patterns, but subtly layers in more synth parts, some chirpy, some fluid and snake-like, all leading to a tense crescendo that recalls Mlada Fronta amongst others. “Encircle” in both its original form and its Filmmaker remix embodies Viva Non’s focus on mood via production; the former keeps its pads and non-percussive elements ephemeral, the latter has them follow in the wake of the beefed up drums, suggesting distance and scale through placement in the mix. If this is the last EP of this style for Hofer for the foreseeable future, its certainly a fine capstone for this incarnation of the project.
Natural by Viva Non

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The Galan Pixs

We have a classic two albums episode for you this week folks, including the last decidedly industrial-related work from German act The Galan Pixs, plus the experimentation of latter-era Portion Control with their SEEDEP3. We’re also looking ahead at some records set to be released in the back half of 2025. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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General Dynamics
Where Animals Play
X-IMG

The styles of the two respective members of General Dynamics (William Maybelline of Lebanon Hanover and Qual, and Emad Dabiri of SARIN and half a dozen other projects, not to mention boss of the X-IMG label) were well established by the time the side-project’s debut, Weaponize Your Dreams, arrived at the tail end of 2022. So much so, in fact, that the record was more of a test case of the pair’s chemistry rather than of what its component parts might sound like. Second LP Where Animals Play carries that forward with another clutch of nasty yet club-ready tunes which triangulates Dabiri and Maybelline’s broad reach of classic post-industrial and brings it to bear with their own flow and aesthetic.

The album’s titular first full track draws most of General Dynamics’ sonic and thematic interests together and distills them into a noxious cask-strength spirit where the Dionysian slaughter of gods sits side by side with samples from old phone sex line ads and taut, pinched, and wormy bass programming. It’s in that combination of Maybelline’s unmistakable voice and lyrics (this is, after all, a man who can effortlessly flip between quoting “American Psycho” and releasing songs with titles like “Rape Me In The Parthenon”) with Dabiri’s yen for VHS kitsch and sleekly produced modern TBM that General Dynamics finds its strengths. Anyone with an interest in classic dark electro or modern EBM should be able to hop aboard Where Animals Play easily, but spend enough time in the swampy stomp of “Something Unnatural” or with the scraping lope of “Creepin’ In” and you’ll see just how effective the duo are in putting their shared interest in the grimiest of 90s material to good use – one can easily imagine them talking shop about yelworC for hours.

In closing out with “Chasing The Scream”, which keeps the record’s noiser and more pained impulses in check for the sake of a speedy cyber-autobahn cruise of nimble, simple arpeggios and icy pads, the structure (and well-edited run-time) of Where Animals Play reads almost like a winking acknowledgement of the ease with which Maybelline and Dabiri’s instincts gel and fit into current club culture. General Dynamics is a project which couldn’t help but sound exactly as it does, and while it’s as idiosyncratic and specific as the extant work of the artists who made it, it’s also primed to inject some vintage toxic sludge into modern club sets.

Buy it.

Where Animals Play by General Dynamics

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Static Ghost
Breaching Flesh
Verboden Records

Olympia-based industrial act Static Ghost has become something of a regular live presence in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a stomping mixture of body music, rough-edged production and bracing energy to the stage. The ease with which audiences latch on to Static Ghost’s material is almost certainly thanks to its immediacy and lack of pretense, qualities that were matched by the one-man-project’s recorded output which has largely emphasized mid-tempo grooves and a healthy dose of the aggression for flavour. New release Breaching Flesh follows that same path, but with an added emphasis on atmosphere and arrangement, adding nuance to the sturm and drang that has defined the project up ’til this point.

Which is not to say that Static Ghost has mellowed out at all; songs like the album’s title track still hinge on tightly wound bass and discordant synthlines and samples, the uneasiness of the distorted vocals pairing well with the reconstituted screams and shouts embedded in the mix. Where things really start to take shape though is in the places where those same elements are tweaked to create different moods. “Virus” has a rhythm that feels very natural for the band, but makes a point of playing up the foreboding pads in the background and switching up the transitions between sections, with a resulting unease that suggests hostility more than it enacts it. Similarly, the stop-start progression and chirpy acid of “Burnt Evidence” and the minimalist hiss of “No Future” still have plenty of groove, but draw out their builds rather than barreling towards their conclusions, allowing more potent grooves to build.

Where the projects ambitions and Breaching Flesh‘s execution clash are in the production, which maintains its DIY-charm, but sometimes detract from the dynamics and textures being brought to the material. First proper song “Identity” could almost be mistaken for early period :Wumpscut: with its medium-tempo and the breathy synths behind its heavy drums, but certain details become lost in the mix, obscuring details in favour of impact. Elsewhere, the clacky bass sound of “Choked and Strained” and the eventual filter swept synthlead feel strangely anemic, as though their bodies have been hollowed out. It’s not an issue for every song on the record, and can probably be chalked up finding their way around the expanded toolset. When things all fit together as on closer “Seeing Self”, Static Ghost balances the forcefulness of their live show with plenty of mood and character.

Buy it.

BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

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And hey, second week back to regular schedule and The Senior Staff are just working through the backlog of albums, singles and EPs that came across our virtual desks during our Spring hiatus. Last week had us holding forth on some of our more anticipated 2025 releases from Youth Code, Pixel Grip and Bootblacks, and hopefully this week we’ll be getting to a few more of the records that have been getting us hype. Strong year so far at just about the halfway point, and plenty to come from the likes of ESA, Moon 17 and Sally Dige (to pick 3 names out of a hat) that we’re keen on. What have been your faves so far this year? Make sure to let us know in the comments! On to Tracks!

Ultra Sunn, “The Beast In You”
Ultra Sunn have come a long way since their earliest releases as part of the early 2020s electro-darkwave boom, finding their own strengths, namely in the vocals of Sam Huge and their own voice as songwriters. The first single and title track from the forthcoming The Beast In You shows still more growth, leaning into synthpop dramatics that recall And One’s more baroque moments amongst others. Check those organ and choral sounds, and how nicely they mesh with the band’s rubbery basslines, it’s a great match and is certainly one of the strongest songs from a band that has already been doing good things in that department.
The Beast In You by ULTRA SUNN

Static Ghost, “Identity”
We’ve been tracking Olympia’s Static Ghost for a number of years now, both through a slew of singles and EPs as well as a spate of sets up here in Vancouver which have cinched the producer as one of the most energetic and enjoyable EBM-related acts Cascadia can claim. Now with a first full LP out, tracks like this which blend modern TBM with classic dark electro iciness will hopefully begin to find Static Ghost a wider audience via Breached Flesh.
BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

Dark Chisme, “Breathe, Break It”
Speaking of acts reaching out beyond the Pacific Northwest, we’d certainly hope that you’re already clued into Dark Chisme after the heavy duty touring the Seattle duo embarked upon in support of their excellent self-titled debut over the past couple of years. The second new track to be released since that LP keeps the hot hand going, with plenty of drama being worked from Christine Gutierrez’s vocals weaving through a less-is-more arrangement and some big, futurepop-esque programming crashing through at exactly the right times. Dark Chisme have everything in place to keep on rising into the tier of North America’s strongest acts, full stop.
Breathe, Break it by Dark Chisme

The Devil & The Universe, “Beelzebub Unchained”
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard new material from Austrian oddballs The Devil & The Universe, but they’ve resurfaced on Swiss Dark Nights with a pair of new singles. While “Primordial Temples” gets the smokey subtlety of their style across, this number’s far more bombastic, pushing their blend of darkwave and neo-classical to the maximalist limit with some help from Stockholm’s Aux Animaux.
Beelzebub Unchained by The Devil & The Universe

Ortrotasce, “Mirror Stitched to Static”
Just over a year since the release of Ortotrasce’s last LP of excellent classic synthpop comes a new missive from the US-based act. The project’s prolific 2024 release schedule maintained an excellent quality to quantity ration, and we’re pleased that the first song we’ve heard from them this calendar year doesn’t buck that trend; funky analogue bass, chirpy percussion and those low-key vocals and pleasing melodies that put us in mind of early 2000s electro from the likes of Soviet and Solvent. Great stuff from a band you should be keeping an eye on.
Mirror Stitched to Static by Ortrotasce

Die Sexual, “Magic Never Dies”
Hey, a new one from Los Angeles sexlectro duo Die Sexual, who have put out more than a couple dancefloor heaters in recent years (check “Need to Sin” and “Darkest Hour” for a couple of our faves). “Magic Never Dies” plays up the band’s strengths, namely disaffected but still insistent vocals, solid rhythm programming and minimal but propulsive synth programming. Also really feeling that post-chorus vocal break and bridge, just a nicely produced and structured addition to the track that separates from other comparable electro-darkwave.
Magic Never Dies by Die Sexual

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Bootblacks
Paradise
Artoffact Records

Paradise is the record that New York’s post-punk trio Bootblacks have been threatening to make for a few years now, lit from the smooth melodics and studio sheen of its predecessor Thin Skies and stoked by extensive touring and the band’s own unique appeal. While those who have seen vocalist Panther Almqvist, synthesist Barrett Hiatt and recently added guitarist Kalle Fagerberg play live will attest to the band’s considerable charms, this is the first time that the band have fully captured that on record, via a considered mix of songwriting, excellent production provided by Xavier Paradis, and the band’s lively delivery.

From its very first moments, when a warbling staccato synth chirp is immediately encased within a sweeping, warm vista of pads and ambience on “Forbidden Flames”, it’s clear that Paradise is a record with a specific musical vision. As opposed to the sprawling, everything and the kitchen sink reach of Thin Skies which seemed to hot-swap genres mid-track at times, there’s no mistaking any of the numbers on Paradise as stemming from anywhere other than this iteration of Bootblacks. Some credit is no doubt due to producer Paradis whose own work as Automelodi presages the album’s glossy mixture of italo disco, darkwave, and art pop.

It’s a natural fit for the band, whose work has always strained against the accepted boundaries of the post-punk sound they were corralled into. The record’s warm and often euphoric disposition works in every configuration, allowing for the groovy mid-tempo bounce (partially contributed by Chris Vrenna) of “Only You” with its smooth sax solo to share space with the wormy disco pulse of “Can You Feel It? (Anymore)”, whose summery, spacey pads give the track’s verses a “From Here To Eternity”-styled sense of intrigue. Even darker or more lowkey moments, such as the Siouxsie-connoting, smoky downward guitar lines of “Wilderness” or the increasingly discordant directions closer “Melt” sprawls out towards, are swaddled in Paradise‘s larger package and aesthetic, maintaining that holistically bright mood.

The secret of Paradise‘s balance of easy-going vibes and rapturous, sneakily-intense climaxes (see “Leipzig” where a steady pace begets some of the most insistent new wave thrills this side of prime-era Duran Duran) is in how it’s a perfect reflection of the strengths Bootblacks have always had. Almqvist has never lacked for vocal presence on stage, and hearing his laconic charm captured so perfectly here is one the LP’s great pleasures. Similarly, sharp programming and chorused-out guitars have always been part of the band’s identity, but their configuration in these these songs is fresh and impressive; listen to the shimmery delays on the lead of the title track, or the way the octave bass of “When You Want” lands around the percussion.

Even accounting for the shifting focus between atmosphere and hooks, the impressive unity of ambition and execution, and its compulsive listenability, this record’s greatest feat is in how it captures the band in the extended, joyous moment in which they’ve fully come into their own. Weird as it is to say for a band of their tenure, Paradise sounds like Bootblacks speaking their native language for the very first time. Highly recommended.

Buy it.

Paradise by Bootblacks

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Sixth June

We’re catching up with a whole slew of news and live show business off the top of this episode as your regularly scheduled ID:UD programming resumes, and we’re returning to the ever-popular Pick Five format. From powernoise to goth rock we’re each picking some especially long tracks and talking about how that length has shaped our impressions of them. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Pixel Grip
Percepticide: The Death of Reality
self-released

It’s been a little over four years since Pixel Grip’s breakthrough sophomore album Arena was released, a perfect record for that exact moment in time. The Chicago based-trio’s genre-bending mix of EBM, darkwave, and club music, all served with audacious confidence was the ideal soundtrack for a world just emerging from pandemic restrictions and returning to dancefloors en masse. The lengthy wait for a follow-up record and the band’s growing rep as a live act, mean that 2025’s Percepticide: The Death of Reality has some significant expectations attached to it on arrival.

Perhaps as an acknowledgement of, or in direct defiance of those expectations, the record opens with a track that couldn’t be more different from the buzzing, acerbic posture of Pixel Grip’s signature hits “ALPHAPUSSY” or “Demon Chaser”. Where those songs got over on the basis of attitude and whipsmart rhythm programming, “Crow’s Feast” is a soft, reflective cut that finds vocalist Rita Lukea at her most open, likening heartache and disappointment to being eaten alive, while a tasteful and minimal arrangement of synths plays out behind her. It’s hard not to see it as something of a power move and a statement of purpose in one; we already knew that Lukea and bandmates Tyler Ommen and Jonathon Freund can heat up dancefloors, but opening with an exploration of the emotions behind their sexually-empowered anthems changes up the context for the album significantly. Hence why the already familiar single “I Bet You Do” (originally released in 2023) feels different here, its fuckboy-kiss-off lyrics coloured by the vulnerability that preceded it, but without taking the cutting edge off of its chittering synthlines and snappy drums.

That dichotomy, although not as pronounced in its opening tracks, is at the heart of the record. For every sweaty, bass-forward dancefloor burner like “Stamina” (whose “Daddy come over/Fuck me over and over” hook is as memorable as any PG have ever recorded), there’s a slowburn joint like “Noise” where the band dial it back and rely more on atmospherics and melody as conveyed by ghostly synths and trappy cymbal programming. Most intriguing are the moments where Pixel Grip split the difference between grinding it out and confessional soul-baring; “A Moment With God” is as close to pure synthpunk as the band have ever gotten, its drums and bass guitar rolling along while Lukea flips between a wounded croon and dismissive shout.

Percepticide shows more of Pixel Grip than anticipated, and in ways that fit nicely with the bratty, sexually-liberated, nightlife image they’ve been cultivating up ’til this point. It’s got the bangers you’d expect certainly, supplemented with some emotional sincerity and some of their most developed songwriting to date; a record that explores club life, and the emotional fallout of what happens on and off the dancefloor.

Buy it.

Percepticide: The Death of Reality by Pixel Grip

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Youth Code
Yours, With Malice
Sumerian Records

Even leaving the general state of the world at large at the door, dark music has undergone a couple of sea changes since the last time we had a proper stand-alone release from LA industrial dynamos Youth Code. Since 2015’s Commitment To Complications Berlin-styled TBM and pop/dancefloor focused darkwave have taken up a massive amount of oxygen in clubs and online (this site included), pushing the sort of abrasive hybrid of EBM and electro-industrial which has always been Youth Code’s sound back to the margins. Perhaps their 2021 collaboration with post-hardcore noise merchant King Yosef makes even more sense in that light, as do their tours with the likes of Code Orange – crowds hardwired for punk and metal are more likely to be on Sara Taylor and Ryan George’s wavelength than those drawn in by Mareaux or Boy Harsher.

Regardless of the recent past, Youth Code’s new EP Yours, With Malice is exactly the sort of reintroduction the broader industrial world needs to Youth Code and the sort of distillation of their strengths long-term fans would hope for. The stuttering, stabbing bass which falls in and out of sync with the drums of opener “No Consequence” is classic Youth Code going right back to their demo days, and “Wishing Well” (not a Terrence Trent D’Arby cover, for what it’s worth) gets over via the sort of subtle swing and funk vintage electro-industrial camouflages within its bricolage.

The changes, such as they are, that Yours, With Malice shows are generally minor production and arrangement tweaks which bring all of the density you’d expect in Youth Code’s most cacophonic and dense tracks into clarity. The whiplash shifts between glitchy beats and more propulsive and straightforward kicks on “In Search Of Tomorrow” feels seamless, and the details in the distorted textures of “Wishing Well” (and really the entire EP) feel more clearly parsable than they might have in the past without sacrificing grit. That consideration’s carried over thematically, too, with “Make Sense” knowing when to have the shuddering drums to drop out and leave the icy disaffection of the programming to match Taylor’s exhausted desperation, or in how the slightly less aggressive, dark electro styled synths which emerge in the second half of closer “I’m Sorry” underscore Taylor seeming to aim her vitriol inward in the EP’s final minutes.

Youth Code’s arrival in 2013 crystalized a sense of dissatisfaction with stale North American legacy acts and the diminishing returns of a club and remix-focused European ecosystem and heralded a new wave of rough and uncompromising EBM and industrial. While the landscape of 2025 is quite different, Yours, With Malice feels like an equally welcome disruption. Times change, Youth Code don’t, and thank fuck for that. Recommended.

Buy it.

Yours, With Malice by Youth Code

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Tributes to and thoughts about Douglas McCarthy continue to pour out in the wake of the legendary Nitzer Ebb frontman’s passing. In particular, if you haven’t already done so we’d suggest taking a look at friend of the site Ned Ragget‘s thoughts as well as a very informative Quietus pieces looking at the role McCarthy’s upbringing in Essex played in Ebb’s early days. If you’re like us, you’ve been listening to a lot of Ebb and the other music Douglas had a hand in over the past few days; we hope it’s provided you the same comfort and energy it’s always given us.

Black Magnet rolling their way into the semis.

Seeming, “Grindshow”
We are unabashed fans of Alex Reed’s Seeming; since we first heard “The Burial” the post-everything (thematically and musically) project has been close to our hearts, and a salve in uncertain times. So a new Seeming single obviously comes with a lot of expectations for us, so when we say “Grindshow” is unexpected, please understand we mean that in the best possible way: that chopped sample, that funky guitar lick, Alex half-singing, half-speaking in bizarre rhythmic cadence, that wild brass-infused climax, we couldn’t have expected any of it, and we love it.
Grindshow by Seeming

Rotersand, “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)”
Hey, there’s a new Rotersand LP coming this Summer, and we’re very interested by what we’re hearing in debut taste “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)”. The German trio have always had a pleasing way of threading the needle between European electro, synthpop and EBM, and on this single they even bring in some big beat and techno sounds to the table, making it club-worthy and musically interesting. Definitely more focused on rhythm than melody (check that funky clip-clop percussion on the outro), it’ll be real interesting to hear what the rest of the record has to offer come August.
Don't Become The Thing You Hated by Rotersand

Hypnoskull, “Underqualified Enemies”
As was detailed on this site in an analysis of Hypnoskull’s 2019 Maschinenfest performance, there can be a surprising amount of conceptual depth beneath the surface of the veteran Belgian producer’s brand of powernoise. New EP Ich Nicht is no exception, digging not just into the current horrific state of things but the hurdles and inertia those trying to fight against it are often hampered by, as well as the general shoddiness of the supervillains currently fucking our collective shit up in the case of this track. Icy and simultaneously disciplined and utterly chaotic in its rhythms, it’s just what you’d hope for out of Hypnoskull.
Ich Nicht by Hypnoskull

INVA//ID, “Messiah”
Los Angeles’ INVA//ID has been making some good moves in 2025: the release of the dark-electro project led by Christopher Rivera’s LP The Agony Index has been supported by a steady stream of singles, remixes and b-sides, brings us to “Messiah”. Included on the digital single for “Sinner”, it’s a collab between Rivera and industrial metal flamekeepers Black Magnet’s James Hammontree that splits the difference between their sounds and delivers a roiling, crushing heater of a track that recalls Ministry’s “You Know What You Are?” and Pitchshifter circa Industrial. Do a whole album of this and we wouldn’t be mad at all.
Sinner by INVA//ID

Black Magnet, “Better Than Love”
Hey, speaking of Black Magnet the Oklahoma-based outfit has their third salvo of grinding industrial metal on deck. While the cover design of Megamantra and first teaser “Endless” underline the debt the band owes to Godflesh, this new track is something altogether different. Bringing some seriously cocky strut and swagger to industrial metal chugging, it gets the sort of personality Black Magnet have been able to conjure at will right out front in stark contrast to so many of the turgid industrial metal acts still roaming the wastes who can’t shred half as hard as this to boot.
Megamantra by Black Magnet

Zack Zack Zack, “Duvar”
The first new original material we’ve had in a couple of years from Viennese duo Zack Zack Zack has one foot in the steady rockin’ mix of EBM-touched darkwave they’ve been trading in since the beginning, but this number eschews the cool, sultry grooves we normally associate with ZZZ for a much more frenetic and claustrophobic palette which perhaps brings the little hint of Neue Deutsche Welle in their style to the fore with clattering abandon.
Duvar by Zack Zack Zack

The post Tracks: June 16th, 2025 appeared first on I Die: You Die.

Gallows’ Eve
For The Black Birds
M&A Musicart

By the time their first LP, a compilation of existing singles and new material, was released Swedish trio Gallows’ Eve had their particular read on goth on lock. Stormy, anthemic, and decidedly rock, 13 Thorns was as tight and strong a debut as a band could hope for. Follow up record For The Black Birds arrives a little over a year later and doesn’t deviate from the formula it’s predecessor set forth, apart from perhaps blending its different components into a more unified and regulated sound.

Gallows’ Eve’s sturm und drang style lifts from the long tradition of continental, metal-adjacent goth rock, but is much more flexible and, frankly, memorable and hooky than nearly all of the gloom merchants in that vein one might name dating back to the Nephilim. Tunes like “The Damage”, with its seething and measured verses building to a wind-whipped half-time chorus adorned with squalling leads and Andreas Lundberg’s wounded bellow exemplify how much movement and drama Gallows’ Eve can pack into tight four-minute structures. Even when they tilt a bit more towards the Leeds style of goth on opener “Ars Corax” or straight-up butt rock on “We Chase The Dark”, the well-blended instrumentation and slick production leaves no doubt about who’s playing.

Much of the above could certainly be taken as an accurate accounting of 13 Thorns, and really it’s the fact that most of the nine tracks here contain a little bit of each of those core elements, rather than casting out into more specifically thrashing or chamber-goth directions, which distinguishes For The Black Birds from it. The epic (read: slow) balladeering of closer “The Hunger” and “Let The Storm In”, with its lithe synth-string focus, are perhaps the tracks lying the farthest afield from that core sound. Hell, even the degree to which the album’s titular corvids are repeatedly mentioned in the lyrics makes for a consistent thread. Thankfully, a fairly tight run-time and the band’s already established talent for immediate hooks keeps that sense of unity from ever feeling homogenous.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t exactly the most compelling pitch for a record, but it’s a strategy that works for Gallows’ Eve. The audience drawn to them by their previous work was likely drawn in by their talent for a style which simply isn’t executed well very often these days, and are likely hoping they keep the hot hand going. Luckily for them, For The Black Birds sits ably beside its predecessor and helps to clarify both Gallows’ Eve’s style and their place as one of the strongest trad goth bands going today. Recommended.

Buy it.

For The Black Birds by Gallows' Eve

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The passing of legendary Nitzer Ebb frontman Douglas J. McCarthy is the only thing we could talk about on this week’s podcast. Forgive us if this episode is a bit more scattered than usual; news of McCarthy’s passing came out less than an hour before our recording, but we wanted to at least get some of our thoughts about his work and legacy out, as well as personal remembrances. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

The post We Have a Technical 562: To The Left appeared first on I Die: You Die.

Lead Into Gold
Knife The Ally
Artoffact Records

Knife the Ally is Lead Into Gold’s third album since Paul Barker reactivated the project, and seems to be a culmination of the celebrated producer and bassist’s approach to music in this millennium. Where 2018’s The Sun Behind The Sun referred back to the classic Wax Trax sound that Barker helped define with his work as a producer and member of Ministry during that band’s imperial period, and 2023’s The Eternal Present looked forward into an abstracted version of industrial rock, 2025’s Knife The Ally finds the mid-point between its predecessors; it’s a record that features both clamorous programmed percussion and deep bass rhythms, but departs from standard industrial rock song structures in intriguing fashion.

A track like “Lionize” nicely encapsulates the current ethos of Lead Into Gold; it’s got familiar rolling drums and strategically placed samples of ghostly melodies and noisy squeals, while its bassline and Barker’s weird, keening vocal establish a much chiller and more freeform groove between the spikes of the more aggressive sounds. Elsewhere, the title track opens with a short loop of mechanical noise that becomes the basis for an escalating charge forward, never resolving its movement between verse and chorus, but adding weight with each layer of synths and noise until it all comes to a crashing halt.

Sometimes low-to-the-ground and smooth (the economical industrial dub of “It’s All a Sign”), sometimes strident and forceful (the piston-pumping mid-tempo attack of “From Tomorrow”), Knife the Ally is rarely calm, but conversely rarely chaotic. As with his best classic and modern material, Barker understands the value of centering rhythm and movement in his compositions, never derailing or getting stuck running in circles. Listen to how he turns the lope of closer “Dripping from the Hilt” into a slow motion swirl of textures, half-waltz, half atonal avant-garde modular synth workout, all joined via a simple assembly of drums and bass. Alternately, the abrasive “We Can Be Paralyzed” is all rusted out cymbals and distorted synthlines but stays in a pocket with root-note bass and simple kick-snares. There’s always a lot going on sonically, but the economy of the track times helps it all stay on course; at less than a half-hour in length, no song on the record has time to exhaust itself, or the listener.

Knife the Ally is a record that splits the difference between Barker’s work as a technician and as an artist, and nicely highlights his proficiency in both. While not strictly improvisational and never loose structurally, it does have an almost jazz-like experimentalism in its heart: it’s an exploration of possibilities within established forms that only those who have already mastered their standard shape can undertake. Paul Barker is a musician of that calibre in the world of post-industrial, and this is him showing where he can take the sounds and ideas he helped pioneer.

Buy it.

Knife The Ally by PAUL ION BARKER

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Annnnnd we’re back. With Bruce’s return from his ancestral homeland, and Alex emerging from a sweat induced coma brought on by some unseasonably warm Vancouver weather, the mothership that is www.idieyoudie.com will resume our normal posting schedule after this slightly shortened week. We hope you didn’t miss us too much (we hope you missed us at least a little though), and while we did have plenty of podcasts during the break in written content featuring the likes of Psyched, Bootblacks, and Jason Pettigrew, there’s always something nice about doing the thing that brought us to the dance: writing about new music from the world of Our Thing. And speaking of which, we got a fresh batch of Tracks for your pleasure right below. Enjoy!

Pixel Grip at their most them

Pixel Grip, “Reason to Stay”
Chicago trio Pixel Grip have been on an absolute tear with their recent singles, between the high-key dramatic groove of “I Bet You Do” to the bump-and-ground-to-dust of “Stamina” and the almost sweet uplift of “Split”. Their most recent missive is “Reason to Stay”, a track that finds them exploring both their softer emotional side and their righteous anger in equal measure; the cut starts with a typically funky bassline and vocalist Rita Lukea showing some vulnerability before launching into a cutting attack on someone who pushed her too far. New album has been a long wait, but if the whole lives up to the songs we’ve heard so far, it’s gonna be a burner.
Reason to Stay by Pixel Grip

Rhys Fulber feat. Barkosina, “Only Love Will Save Us”
Rhys Fulber (you don’t need us to run down the man’s credits, you know who he is) has made a real career of doing industrial techno under his own name in recent years, applying much of the programming and sound design that has influenced generations of artists to a genre where he can explore his brutalist tendencies in full. The singles from his Artoffact debut Memory Impulse Autonomy has thus far dipped into some territory that Fulber hasn’t necessarily touched on in his solo productions thus far, finding a nice balance between melodics and vocals and his pounding drums and programming – check out “Only Love Will Save Us”, where the voice of Years of Denials’ Barkosina inhabits an instrumental that is both propulsive and emotive, steadfast and bold without giving up on sincerity and emotion.
Memory Impulse Autonomy by Rhys Fulber

Slighter feat. Craig Huxtable, “Stories to Tell”
The relationship between Slighter’s Colin Cameron and friend of the site Craig Huxtable of Landscape Body Machine and Ohmelectronic goes back for a few years, a case of two artists finding a commonality in philosophy and complimenting one another’s strengths. New single “Stories to Tell” has the detailed production and highly textured ambience that is synonymous with Slighter, while Huxtable’s vocals move further than ever before into emotive, melodic territory. It’s a combination that puts us in mind of Architect, an unexpected but not at all unwelcome territory for these two to explore together.
Stories To Tell (Single) by Slighter x Craig Joseph Huxtable

ESA, “Pound of Flesh”
Maybe it’s weird to use a descriptor for an act as acerbic and aggressive as ESA, but it’s hard to think of a band that has quite the same batting average when it comes to putting out records that consistently deliver, while pushing the project’s envelope. “Pound of Flesh” from the forthcoming Sounds for Your Happiness is pretty much everything we want from an ESA club track; pounding drum programming, Jamie Blacker’s powerful vocals and some deceptively clever arrangement choices that marry the project’s technoid and rhythmic noise roots to modern bass sounds. Play this loud, it’s worth it.
Sounds for your Happiness by ESA

HIDE, “DEEPER THAN DEATH (here on earth) I DESTROY”
Oh shit, HIDE is back, everyone look busy. Jokes aside, we’ve always been fans of the Chicago-based duo, from their earliest more beat oriented material to their current noisy experimentalism, not far off from power electronics but with the cheap shocks replaced with substantial politic and artistic vitriol. “DEEPER THAN DEATH (here on earth) I DESTROY” is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from HIDE, with screeching loops that are neither formless nor arranged in easy sequence, and the excoriating vocals of Heather Hannoura tearing their way through the din. Something to throw if you’re having a good day and want to ruin it a little, or a bad day and need something to scrape off the filth.
DEEPER THAN DEATH (here on earth) I DESTROY by HIDE

SOFT VEIN, “Here Comes the Rain Again”
When we wrote up the most recent album from California depressive post-punk/darkwave act SOFT VEIN, we noted that the project’s bleak outlook was balanced by mild glimmers of hope. The soon to be released EP From Another Room does a fine job building on those glimpses of a brighter light with some remixes from the likes of Twin Tribes and QUAL, and this quite lovely cover of the Eurhythmics “Here Comes the Rain Again”, a fine subject for the project to take on and that matches their melancholic outlook to a tee.
FROM ANOTHER ROOM (EP) by SOFT VEIN

The post Tracks: June 10th, 2025 appeared first on I Die: You Die.

On this week’s episode of We Have a Technical, Alex is joined by Chris Hewitt of Terminus Festival to discuss the history of our favourite annual gathering of bands and fans of Our Thing, as well as the logistics of putting on a big event, the finer points of arranging a line-up, and what acts we’re most excited for in this year’s fest! It’s a great convo with a long time friend of the site, and one that has us excited to pack our bags for Calgary seven weeks out! As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

The post We Have a Technical 561: A Place on Earth appeared first on I Die: You Die.