V▲LH▲LL, “Skymningsdjur”

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V▲LH▲LL
Skymningsdjur
Artoffact Records

Swedish duo V▲LH▲LL originally emerged as part of a wave of post-witchhouse bands in the early 2010’s, taking the esoteric and atmospheric elements of that genre and crossing it with broader industrial and darkwave sounds. In the years since they’ve distinguished their aesthetic, leaning hard on the Nordic pagan motifs suggested by their name, becoming more graspable and earthy, rooting their ghostly textures into more solid and developed songs. Their latest LP Skymningsdjur finds them revisiting some of their earliest motifs and ideas, and integrating still more new sounds into the mix.

One of V▲LH▲LL’s great strengths has always been in finding the balance between their electronic palette and their occult and fantastical subject matter. A song like “Hunger” shows how canny they are in doing so; violins and paired folky vocals floating in and around chiming synth-bells, flowing pads and fluttering hi-hat programming, sounding both traditional and modern, proximal and ghostly. It’s a vibe they can port through different styles, as with the synthwave adjacent “En Tid Om Ett Tag”, where pulsing bass and a jagged lead cut through the fog of reverb and delays, or the pounding “Calling for Storms”, whose melody and arrangement could port over easily into dark electro.

Still, for the band’s expertise in executing their sound, Skymningsdjur doesn’t have many truly standout cuts. To their credit everything on the record is at a minimum good, and expertly produced and performed, but its hard not to compare these cuts to earlier V▲LH▲LL songs in a similar vein. “Yuki-Onna” revisits the creepy faerie tale feel of songs like “Down in the Woods”, tossing in some tasteful gated guitar-sounds and some modular synth warbles, nicely done but less novel in this iteration. Closer “Devoured” revisits their earliest incarnation, thick with analogue bass and voices both distant and eerily close, lacking only a fresh hook to really put it over the top.

Thus Skymningsdjur falls into the territory of those catalogue albums that bring some new things to the longtable, but nothing that makes it particularly standout against their preceding LPs. It’s a band with a very defined sense of identity doing what they do, and doing it well, and to that end it can be a fine and enjoyable listen. Those seeking more of V▲LH▲LL’s brand of pagan electronics should be well pleased by it.

Buy it.

Skymningsdjur by V▲LH▲LL

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Tracks: April 28th, 2025

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It’s very difficult to know what to say in this post, as we are still reeling from the awful events that transpired in Vancouver this weekend. It’s a tragedy, and comes in a year that has not been short of those, and we are greatly saddened for our friends and neighbours in the Filipino community. Aside from making direct contributions to organizations that are providing aid to the community and those directly affected, we would encourage everyone in the city reading this to donate blood, as there are many injured people still undergoing treatment for serious injuries.

Aurat

Aurat

Rhys Fulber, “The Abyss (feat. Qual)”
An absolute stormer from Rhys Fulber, who has been exercising his brutalist techno chops for a bunch of recent releases, but heads back towards more song-oriented composition on this collab with William Maybelline. It’s a solid match, as the latter’s solo work has always had a strong current of the kind of electro-industrial that Fulber helped pioneer, with Maybelline’s grave vocal delivery fitting in nicely with the thudding concrete kicks and the 16th note synthlines that wend their way through the song. A great taste of things to come in the hopefully near future.
The Abyss (feat. Qual) by Rhys Fulber

Aurat, “Kismet”
It’s been nearly four years since we had new music from California’s Aurat, but the cacaphonic and haunting post-punk/goth act’s stock has risen drastically in that interim with a slew of well received shows. If we’re to take this new track as a statement of things to come, they’re beginning to work a lot more industrial clatter into their already dense sound, while still keeping Azeka Kamal’s fantastic vocals at the centre.
KISMET by Aurat

House of Harm, “Fight the Feeling”
Bostonian post-punk act House of Harm have always had a knack for sad, dreamy melodies, and for positioning them within rock solid arrangements that display a lot of songwriting saavy. New cut “Fight the Feeling” shows the same maturity and compulsive listenability of their last full record Playground from 2023, and with still more smooth production, especially on the vocals of Michael Rocheford which have really become something special and distinctive. A really nice cut from a band who rarely deliver anything other than really nice cuts.
Can't Fight the Feeling by House of Harm

Invalid User, “Cyber Baiting”
We’ve long been touting the releases of Bogotá’s Pildoras Tapes for the label’s presentation of grimy yet utterly modern body music with a South American focus, offering a valuable aesthetic counterpoint to the near stranglehold on modern dancefloor focused EBM Berlin seemed to be tightening for several years. This track, from their recent comp celebrating five years of work, allows label honcho Jose Marulanda to show off a thudding but pleasantly dense and nuanced club smasher under his longstanding Invalid User handle.
Anatomía del Control I by Invalid User

Empusae, “Invocation (The Fractured Self)”
Boy howdy but Nicolas Van Meirhaeghe of Empusae’s been on a tear. Factoring in the forthcoming The Alchemist’s Rift LP on Arcane Dirge, we’re counting at least six LPs, collabs, and EPs released by Empusae since the beginning of last year, and we’re likely missing a couple of oddities here and there. Thankfully that release schedule hasn’t led to a drop in quality, and the massive, bombastically cinematic take on neo-classical and dark ambient we’ve come to associate with his latter era work is on full display on this sweeping album opener.
The Alchemist's Rift by Empusae

Pain Magazine, “Violent God”
Pain Magazine is a new band from some familiar names; the project is made up of Louisahhh and frequent collaborator Maelstrom, and French hardcore act Birds in a Row. Apparently the principles decided to randomly try to do something together, and then ended up recording a whole-ass record of some pretty gnarly industrialized electro, with some real nice lush guitars, are used much differently than you might be expecting given the harsh nature of the synths and drum programing. “Violent God” also features one of Louisahhh’s most tortured vocal performances to date, a match for the tormented sound of the instrumental for sure. The forthcoming LP is now right at the top of our hotly anticipated releases for 2025.
Violent God by Pain Magazine

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We Have A Commentary: Pouppée Fabrikk, “Rage”

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Pouppée Fabrikk, "Rage"

A landmark for minimal, aggressive EBM for decades to come, the debut LP from Swedish legends Pouppée Fabrikk is the subject of this month’s commentary podcast. A deceptively varied listen, Rage infused EBM with a unique punk ethos, and as we discuss here, hinted at the voluminous discography frontman Henrik Nordvargr Björkk was to embark upon. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Valisia Odell, “Shadow Of A Dream”

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Valisia Odell, "Shadow Of A Dream"

Valisia Odell
Shadow Of A Dream
Detriti Records

Shadow Of A Dream is labelled as Greek singer Valisia Odell’s debut, but by the end of its breezy half hour run-time you could be forgiven for mistaking her for a stylist who’s been working in darkwave for decades. That’s actually half true, as Shadow Of A Dream is effectively a rebooting of the duo Strawberry Pills, who released a handful of singles and one LP in a minimal wave vein a few years back. The name change isn’t just marketing though, as the focus on Odell’s vocals gives the record a dramatic and engrossing throughline.

Odell’s vocal range and performance style has precious in common with, say, Lene Lovich or Rozz Williams, to grab a pair of grand dames of goth out of a hat, but like those veterans’ releases Shadow Of A Dream places Odell’s commanding vocals and personality right at the center, both in composition and production. That place in the limelight is something Odell makes a meal of, practically looming over the listener with swooping trills on “My Sin” and commanding Greek invective on “Makria” with authority.

Beyond the vocals, the core tunes on Shadow Of A Dream strike a nice balance between modern dancefloor cool and a more classic sense of darkwave harmonics. Handled by Aristomenis Theodoropoulos, who in addition to Strawberry Pills has served time in half a dozen post-punk, goth, and folks acts, tunes like “R.I.N.” and “An Arabian Tale” make the most of their stripped down synth instrumentation with less-is-more flourishes and harmonics. The stabby synth funk of “Breaths” recalls the too-briefly-with-us Animal Bodies more than more contemporaneous comparisons to Boy Harsher or Dark Chisme which I can anticipate others making. Late album highlight “The Light Shines Through” builds a fantastic dancefloor slowburn by juxtaposing shimmering bells against a simple kick and Odell’s untreated vocals against processed ones.

We’ve long held that atmosphere, however you’d care to define it, is darkwave’s defining feature. Of course, the means of producing that atmosphere doesn’t have to be limited to constant gauzy synth pads, and the way Odell’s vocals haunt this record are proof positive of that. Alternately vengeful, malevolent, and chiding, she draws deep from the wells of classic gothic drama and theatricality to thrilling effect here. Recommended.

Buy it.

Valisia Odell – Shadow of a Dream by Detriti Records

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We Have A Technical 555: Jeeves & Wooster Meet Who?

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Cyanotic

We’re getting into the weeds of US industrial this week, discussing a record that captures a very specific early 90s moment, along with some formal experimentation in D.D.T.’s Discomedia, and one which consolidates the strength and range of cyberpunk stalwarts Cyanotic, The Trigger Effect. We’re also looking over the solid lineup and new location for this year’s Subtance Festival.  As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Nevada Hardware, “Split Scene”

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Nevada Hardware
Split Scene
Thinkbreak Records

Doug Jones’ Nevada Hardware has a small but mighty catalogue of work. The project’s debut LP No Future from 2018, and the occasional compilation track and remix (including the absolutely storming version of “Rhythm of the System” cooked up for Klack) have shown Jones’ excellent capacity for producing stomping, Big Beat influenced instrumental electronics, with a healthy dose of guitars and some touches of Mortal Kombat style techno. It’s been a long wait for new album, but nothing about Split Scene suggests that time was wasted: at seven tracks and 25 minutes, the record bangs harder and demands to be played louder than any other material Jones has released to date.
 
Nevada Hardware’s secret is in mashing together some proven dancefloor sounds with an ear towards heavy grooves that are both funky and headbang worthy. “The more things change, the more they stay the same” intones the sample that starts the record, and “World Code 666” bears that out with its breaks-driven rhythm, army of sampled and processed guitars and vocal snippets with a build to a big cinematic climax – these are all well-established sounds, but there are few acts are this adept at invoking peak-era Crystal Method, Freestylers and your choice of PS1 era racing game aesthetics into such a potent form. Jones can modulate that for variety as required, melding it with gnarly high-speed techno on “In the Dark” or balls-out synth-driven crossover thrash on “Letters of Sympathy” without ever repeating himself, a feat of smart execution in and of itself. 

For all that clamour, there’s also some pleasing subtle touches that tie individual songs together. “The Suburbs Dream of Violence” is rapid-fire vocal clips and rolling drums on its surface, but the menacing chord progression that sits behind its chorus, and the fuzzed out breakdown are what makes it into a proper song. Similarly, the mid-tempo bounce of “Overload” channels disco’s rhythm guitar and drum interplay, melting it down and moulding it into a cyberpunk dance jam that will play to rivetheads and synthwavers alike. The laidback soul that makes its way into “Fluoride Stare”, and the touches of EBM programming and choral voices that inform the title track are easy to miss in the sturm and drang of it all, but they’re crucial to making the record more than just a collection of bangers. 

Don’t get it wrong though, Split Scene has more than its share of absolute barn-burners, each one distinct enough from the rest to stand on its own. An informal survey of other DJs and reviewers who had the record as a promo before the street date revealed that everyone had selected a different song as their personal favourite, a testament to its overall quality and its depth. Certainly one of the most kinetic records of the first third of the year, and by virtue of its giant-size hooks and stompin’ beats, one of its most fun. Recommended. 

Buy it.

Split Scene by Nevada Hardware

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Tracks: April 22nd, 2025

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An Easter weekend which featured a papal death, a John Cena title win, and 4:20 is certainly one for the books. We’re hoping you’re navigating the day to day surreal nightmare that is 2025 as best as can be hoped, dear reader. We’re trying to stay grounded by looking forward not just to the festivals we’ve been discussing on the podcast, but a few high profile upcoming releases by the likes of Bootblacks, General Dynamics, and Lead Into Gold, all of which we’ll be discussing right here, alongside Tracks posts like this one.

Skren

Skren

Youth Code, “In Search of Tomorrow”
We’re thankful as fuck that Youth Code are back after a few years absence, and with the release of the second teaser for the forthcoming Yours With Malice, we’re equally thankful that the LA duo are doing something we’ve never heard them do before. There have been YC songs we found personally inspirational, invigorating, and even hopeful, but rarely has the band leaned in on that sound in a melodic fashion as on “In Search of Tomorrow”. And they pull it off without sacrificing the scathing anger and energy that has always been what set them apart from the rest. Hit play below, and see what we’re talking about.

Skren, “Fragment”Do you, dear reader, ever feel nostalgic for X-Fusion, Xotox, [X]-Rx, and a whole mess of other German acts beginning with X from a couple of decades back? Düsseldorf’s Skren certainly do from the sound of their new EP Fragment, and whether you call it aggro, cyber, or Pro Noize you know it when you hear it, and boy howdy do you ever hear it on the title cut. Timed and executed just right, a joint like this is almost strong enough to make one forget how much of a stranglehold stuff of this ilk used to have on clubs.
FRAGMENT by SKREN

Spire Circle, “Burning Alive”
The late 90s moment when a whole wave of goth rock bands began to drift from their pure trad roots and began embracing a range of electronics from the broader worlds of darkwave and industrial is a very, very specific time, but it’s one Manchester’s Spire Circle have honed in on quite nicely with their new single. Balancing a thudding goth nod with just enough shiny synth flash, there’s a great machine-rocking drive here…which might even have a whiff of the likes of Gravity Kills around the corners?
Burning Alive by Spire Circle

Ships in the Night, “Blood Harmony”
We admit to not having checked out recent Metropolis records signee Ships in the Night ’til now, and feel bad for not having done so. The low-key, but still engaging energy of the recent singles from Alethea Leventhal’s solo project hit a really nice sweet spot between classic and modern darkwave, with enough pop sensibility to appeal to witchy goths and casual dark synth fans alike. “Blood Harmony” is especially quite nice, on a 90’s soundtrack kinda tip.
Blood Harmony by Ships In The Night

INVA//ID, “Slug (Wetworks Mix)”
INVA//ID started the new year off with an everything and the kitchen sink industrial rock release, The Agony Index. As we noted upon its release, it was the sort of record which felt crammed to the gills with ideas and sketches, some of which simply didn’t have time to stretch out, so a couple of mixes (plus instrumentals) which stretch “Slug” out from its minute and a half LP incarnation makes a lot of sense. The pensive EBM crawl of this one is a reminder of the menace INVA//ID can hold even when not piling on the guitars.
.Slug. by INVA//ID

MMK, “Ilsandra in Ruin”
A tip of the IDUD ballcap to modebionics, who tipped us off to the video for “Ilsandra in Ruins”, from MMK’s EP of the same name that came out in the fall of last year. We generally don’t go this far back for a Tracks post, but we think you’re likely to enjoy this one; it sits right in the early dark electro pocket, where bands were taking influence from the Vancouver sound, but melding it with continental EBM amongst others. Just a great slowburn of a track, with an excellent video to boot! 

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We Have A Technical 554: A Wizard Did It

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DHI - Death Horror Inc

Death And Horror Inc. live in Toronto circa 1995.

How does community lead to the discovery of new music? How do changes in the circles we run in or means through which we communicate lead to changes in our musical diets? How do modern algorithms interrupt or aid those musical flows? These are questions probably best left to serious sociological researchers, but instead you’ve got us two chuckleheads talking about the subject on this week’s podcast. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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The Birthday Massacre, “Pathways”

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The Birthday Massacre
Pathways
Metropolis Records

Since their debut in 2002 Canadian rock act The Birthday Massacre have stuck to the promise of their earliest recordings, maintaining their dreamy, popsmart sound across a catalogue that is now some ten albums deep. While the band, still centered around founding trio of Chibi Taylor, Michael Falcore and Michael Rainbow has modulated their sound in various ways over time, they’ve never abandoned their defining aesthetics of dark fantasy.

The question at the heart of The Birthday Massacre’s new LP Pathways is whether a band that has existed for more than a quarter of a century can still conjure the same sense of youthful wonderment and reverie. One the one hand, they sound as slick and neon-glossy as ever, pulling off radio-ready pop-rock cuts like “Wish” characteristic poise. Vintage TBM, its big chorus built up from the hook introduced in the opening moments, and is adorned with tasteful synths and Chibi’s always charismatic vocal presence. That number along with a few other cuts (the charging title track, and the melancholic closer “Cruel Love”) are the kind of easy, fun, and above all catchy songs that band has never lost a knack for.

On the other hand, there’s a sense that the band are casting around for something different to do with themselves, with some puzzling results. “Sleep Tonight” brings back the downtuned riffing of the mid-period records, but it mostly ends up weighing the song’s melody down, its hook lost in a sea of guitar. Elsewhere on “Whisper” Chibi uses a growling delivery in contrast with her normal clarion vocal style, a choice that isn’t out of step with the plodding alt rock of the song, but doesn’t really gel with TBM’s characteristic sparkle and shine. The band have always had one foot in heavier sounds, but most of the record’s harder tracks feel like they would have worked better without the chug.

Pathways is roughly on par with The Birthday Massacre’s contemporary records, and has a few gems that speak to the songwriting and presentation that have always been their strengths. For a band of their vintage to still be able to do that effectively is certainly nothing to scoff at, and longtime fans will no doubt find some new favorites for their playlists and live singalongs.

Buy it.

Pathways by The Birthday Massacre

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