June started as ever with a bang, with the full return of Wave-Gotik-Treffen, the annual scene festival in Leipzig (Germany), and despite occasional gig cancellations as the current wave of covid infections struck randomly at individual band and crew members, the music world continued its slow return from a lengthy hibernation, with more and more tracks recorded since the end of the major lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 now being released. As ever, this month’s run-down of the some of the best new tracks covers a broad church of releases loosely befitting the goth and post-punk tags.
1. They Die – Single Frame
Italian darkwave duo They Die tap into the zeitgeist with two great teaser tracks this month for their July album Emptiness Revails on Swiss Dark Nights. First track One Last Kiss channels the dark power of Ground Nero, whilst the second track, Single Frame, our song of the month for June, conjures up a Strangers and Lovers/Kill Shelter vibe, with a descending reverb guitar riff over a muscular sequenced electro backbeat.
2. Vazum – Angel
Everyone’s favourite deathgaze duo had a new single out towards the end of the month which many consider to be their best work yet. With guitarist Zach Pliska taking the lead vocal on Angel, with bass player Emily Sturm providing backing vocals on this occasion, the overall sound is not unlike a steroid-enhanced Pixies trying their hand at deathrock, with Pliska’s angular guitar fuzz and unusual chord intervals maintaining the underlying air of horror school menace which permeates their trademark sound.
3. October Burns Black – Divide and Conquer
If you’ve been searching for the perfect trad goth album for the 2020's, search no more. October Burns Black’s Two Worlds Collide has everything that the fan of 80’s goth rock are looking for. Opening track Divide and Conquer, with its strong baritone vocal, chugging guitars, insistent bass and anthemic chorus gives a good indication of the band’s up-tempo, driving goth rock sonic template.
4. Animal Rojo – Cvt My Skin
Charismatic Carolus Cat Noir delivers a confident baritone vocal on Cvt My Skin, the new single from Guadalajara (MX) outfit Animal Rojo, a solid hunk of trad goth rock with the usual upbeat and simple, driving rhythm despite the changes in the band’s line-up since last year’s No Second Part single, which have seen the welcome return of founding member Miguel Corvus.
5. Blood Dance – Wicked King
Blood Dance is another Mexican project gaining a growing
reputation for its classy singles, and the earworm riff of Wicked King
which continues on a loop throughout the majority of the song will enhance
their appeal further, with its dark dancefloor potential, despite another
enthusiastically pitchy and dramatic vocal performance.
Renzo Tellez (under his Red Moon Macabre moniker) completed his run of metal-tinged occult trad goth rock singles this month with the typically heavy Night Music For The Night People, compiling all this spring’s tracks on a new digital album called Antiquity. Pounding bass, power chords, Missionesque riffing and gruff vocals combine in another track full of cliché and light on subtlety, but which will delight fans of the sub-genre.
7. Sunrise Patriot Motion – Sunrise Labyrinthian
Black Fellflower Stream, the promising debut album from US act Sunrise Patriot Motion (with those band and album names, they should approach What Three Words for sponsorship) is a powerful call to arms. The excellent guitar work is reminiscent of Killing Joke at times, with the cataclysmic arpeggios, whilst the angry, apocalyptic vocals create a vibe not dissimilar to classic Neurosis (circa Souls at Zero).
8. Caput Medusae - Deus Ex Machina
There’s a distinct Giving Ground feel to this plodding gothwave earworm from the German duo, originally released last November but finally available on vinyl this month by popular demand. The b-side, the innovative dark trap-wave (a new sub-genre for me) Screamdance is also worth a listen, fusing repetitive synth noodlings with a slow drum machine rhythm.
9. Adrenochrome – In Memoriam
Releasing a new ten track cassette which also featured previous single The Knife, Oakland goth supergroup Adrenochrome continued down their melodic punky deathrock trail with In Memoriam, the title track, in which the subject of the eulogy is assured that they “will never be forgotten”. If they continue in this vein, the same will soon be said of Adrenochrome.
10. Protense - Year of the Deads
There’s a lively post-punk scene in Indonesia, with Protense the latest to capture the imagination with their competent new-wave garage punk. Their four-track EP shows a strong early Damned influence on other tracks, but Year of the Deads is the standout song on this set.
11. Totenwald - Closed Circuits
The Berlin-based dark punk (a sub-genre enjoying a real renaissance at present) project released their Part-Time Punks session on CD this month on Batcave Productions, featuring a fantastic live in the studio of new song Closed Circuits, featuring typically (for them) subtle sax.
12. The Ire – Crisis
Crisis is the featured track from the well-named Philadelphia band The Ire’s debut album, featuring an angry dark punk vibe, with simple rustic cheese grater Xmal guitar chords and a confident female vocal, along with the occasional deathrock flourish. Promising.
13. Tears for the Dying – kms
Produced by Tom Ashton of The March Violets fame, which is always a recommendation in itself, kms is a multi-faceted curio of a song which showcases the dramatic range of singer Adria Stembridge. Beginning as a slow-burning trad goth epic dominated by Stembridge’s ethereal croon, the song bursts into life with a scratchy low-fi deathrock interlude with a strangely punkish feel.
14. Denner - Sometimes
On new album Shades and Parasols, French act Denner reveal a strong Joy Division influence with a constant lively bass, insistent drum rhythm and stark and occasionally shrill guitar, with a typical French coldwave light, almost semi-spoken vocal. Other tracks, such as the title track of the album, for example, add layers of synth for a fuller sound.
15. FTR – White Light
French sonic terrorists FTR made our top 30 of 2019 with their last release, and teaser track White Light from their upcoming album (slated for a September release) has the same fuzz-laden dark psych post-punk beat which made their earlier tracks so entrancing.
16. The Soft Moon (feat fish narc) – Him
The very welcome (if understated) return of the musical genius Luis Vasquez with an instantly recognisable dark electro post-punk classic, with the usual Prodigyesque air of claustrophobia amongst the metronomic beats and melodic interludes.
17. Vlimmer – Kronzeuge
The new Vlimmer single has a stripped back and low-key feel, but despite the coldwave feel, the quintessential Vlimmer touches are all present and correct: unpredictable melodic twists and turns, subtle instrumentation and changes of pace and mood, and a strong chorus.
18. Amaranth – Gothtimist
Amaranth mainman and US scene guru Ken Magerman has gathered an impressive cast of guest musicians on his project’s new single, his own vulnerable vocal buried deep in the mix. Sonically, the song veers from Cure melancholia to prog rock mellowness, with its mantra of “lacing up [his] black boots tight” and ending with a "gothtimistic" outlook, “dreaming of tomorrow”.
19. The Ancients - Eastern Sky
There’s a fabulous proto-gothic spacerock tone to the guitar intro to Eastern Sky, the lead track from the new album from The Ancients, led by Fred Schreck who is better known for his work with ex-Psychedelic Fur John Ashton (producer of TSOM’s Alice)'s Satellite Paradiso project. This pleasant slow-burner is probably at the very fringes of the genres covered by this blog.
20. Parasomnia – Cuerpos Digitales
One of three tracks pre-released from their forthcoming
album on Swiss Dark Nights, Chile’s post-punk act Parasomnia has re-recorded
early demo cassette song Cuerpos Digitales, retaining all the original’s raw power and
complex structure whilst adding a professional sheen.
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