July has seen arguably the biggest month for new releases
since the turn of the decade, with major albums from scene leaders Then Comes
Silence and Kill Shelter amongst others, along with a further incremental step
to the return of the pre-Covid gig scene, with more bands beginning to venture
further afield. The month also saw the return of a couple of big names from the
original UK 80’s scene amongst other revivals, as well as the usual smattering of
new artists from around the globe, and the Top 20 below excludes more worthy contenders than any other month so far this year.
1 Then Comes Silence – Tickets to Funerals
The Swedish act goes from strength to strength with their excellent sixth studio album Hunger, released on the first day of July, with opening salvo Tickets to Funerals summing up their winning mix of subtlety and power. Whereas many current projects are one-person studio-based affairs, TCS are very much a band in the traditional sense, with four excellent musicians each contributing significantly and synergically to the overall sound, even if Alex Svenson, the bassist/lyricist/singer/chief song-writer remains the undisputed focal point.
2 Kill Shelter – Time Will Come
Kill Shelter’s Asylum is a perfect statement of the prevailing third generation sound, a genial combination of the dancefloor-based synth-dominated dark beats and the more traditional reverb, chorus and delay pedal based angular guitar sound of the earlier gothic waves. Edinburgh producer and musician Pete Burns again successfully integrates the contributions of some of the scene’s leading figures over the past four decades on other tracks on the album, but the driving, pulsating beat and multi-layered soundscape of Time Will Come is entirely his own work.
3 They Die – Your Hell
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: an epic album needs a brooding, slow-burning bombastic final track to seal the deal, and Italian trio They Die deliver in spades with Your Hell, the album-closer on Emptiness Prevails. With the same alienated, bleak, defeated opening vibe leading to a more anthemic and counter-intuitively positive chorus as the songs with which Gary Numan has tended to close his more recent albums, Your Hell builds wonderfully to a pompously thundering finale to round off one of the most pleasantly surprising LPs of the year so far.
4 A Slice of Life – Seven Days
The very welcome return of the Belgian post-punk ensemble with the wonderful earworm Seven Days, which has hints of classic dark pop 80’s acts like Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure and Modern English, but with the energy and power which made their demo EP such a delight. Arguably their best work to date, with more to follow shortly.
5 The Waning Moon – The Burning Woods
A sadly topical scorched summer ditty from the Costa Rican/US “supergroup” duo playing 90’s influenced trad goth rock, with another powerful track from their debut EP released as a single with an accompanying video to further emphasise the project’s dark roots. Ariel Maniki’s confident vocal and Zac Campbell’s classic goth rock guitar tones was always going to be a winning combination, but the memorable arms-in-the-air chorus of The Burning Woods has both a modern and comfortably familiar ring, and with over 65K YouTube views within the first fortnight, the project looks likely to bring overdue success to both parties.
6 The Golden Apes – From The Sky
The Berlin-based band, led by the Lebrecht brothers, is back with a new single which showcases the project’s ever-evolving post-punk sound. From The Sky’s full sonic palette has light guitar touches, a strong, deep vocal, keyboard flourishes and a dark pop melody with an insistent beat.
7 The Secret French Postcards – Dreaming At Last
Few bands can seemingly effortlessly create the warm fuzzy glow that washes over the listener like The Secret French Postcards, the darkwave project of Swede Olli Ohlander. Sumptuously produced by Pedro Code, Ohlander’s dreamy honeyed baritone and shimmering shoegaze guitar tones fuse wonderfully in a very welcome teaser for the forthcoming album.
8 Anne Clark – Mriya, an ode to Ukraine
Post-punk poet Anne Clark’s deadpan delivery of bleak tales of broken relationships and lives adrift had a profound effect on the youth of certain European countries in the mid-1980’s at the height of the first gothic wave, with tracks like Our Darkness and True Love Tales, set over coldwave beats. Mriya, recorded with Ukranian musicians is an impassioned plea to support those affected by the current war.
9 WMTID – The Prince Is Dead!
Another 80’s post-punk poet back on the scene is Richard Rouska, well-known Leeds face of the 1980’s and founder of the free fanzine Rouska and the record label of the same name which released the early records by The Cassandra Complex. His relaunch (with typically subversive verve) of his WMTID project features melodic death disco on The Prince Is Dead!, which canters along like Talking Heads covering James Ray’s Gangwar.
10 James Ray and the Black Hearted Riders – Now Death
Is Over
Talking of whom, James Ray is back himself with the release on Bandcamp of a six track album of bar room alt-country balladry which conjures up images of a more cinematic Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Ray’s lugubrious vocal and some well-crafted playing make for a pleasant mix which retains the dark atmospheric ambiance of his early Merciful Releases.
11 Ductape – Gregor
Ductape’s new video, shot during their Mexican tour, features one of the better tracks from the Turkish duo’s patchy sophomore album Ruh, with their fleshed-out Kas Product coldwave punk sound enhanced by the exotic locations.
12 Another Abyss – Black Cars
There’s a strong Editors vibe on this excellent post-punk track, with its insistent 170 bpm backbeat driven by a dominant bass, with excellent guitar work and a strong yet understated vocal, take from the impressive six track debut EP from the German one-man project.
13 New Today – Flowers
Duo New Today’s album Cradle made waves last year, and the grungy psychgaze chorus of new Flowers seems likely to attract similar attention. There’s a deceptively simple charm to the song’s structure and low-fi hippyish verse which explodes into the more distorted garage noisefest of a chorus in a very 90’s way (think Catherine Wheel meets Dandy Warhols).
14 (Adriano) Bê - Soldados e Fuzis
The Belo Horizonte based frontman of Brazilian band Drowned Man released his solo album on Plainsong at the end of the month, a wonderful selection of mildly psych-influenced post-punk, with Soldados e Fuzis with its Spacemen 3-esque drone the pick of the bunch.
15 Social Union – Fall Into Me
This uber cool dark electro offering from the New Zealand duo is out on Berlin-based Blackjack Illuminist and mixes triphop heavy bass with a dreamwave vocal, deservedly drawing rave reviews for what is a varied but highly promising debut EP.
16 The Way of All Flesh – Killing Floor
There must be something in the air this month as there’s also a strong James Ray vibe to the driving old school biker goth of Sheffield’s The Way Of All Flesh who have returned after a very lengthy absence with a new EP (Shotguns and Razorwire) expertly mastered by Gordon Young, featuring Killing Floor as the lead track, and an accompanying UK tour with Byronic Sex & Exile.
17 Dwell In Doom – Nevermore
Possibly the most trad goth release this month, Nevermore is mid-paced melodic goth rock/metal from a one-man Swedish project with a low-key baritone vocal from Andreas Ericsson which goes mildly screamo for the chorus, and some welcome keyboard swathes in the middle eight.
18 Khlyst Sect – Dybbuk
Dybbuk from Seattle’s Khlyst Sect is a bewitching opening to an intriguing EP, a spooky dark deathwave instrumental. Of the other tracks, both with a female vocal, Broken Clock has a dark dreampop vibe, whilst the more experimental Let Go has an excellent Mittel Europa electro deathrock feel.
19 The Flatfield – Blood Red Room
The Finnish goth rock act release their new album Shadow Self
via Bat-Cave Productions next month, and teaser opening track Blood Red Room
promises a more subtle and dramatic direction for their sound. A plaintive
vocal, piano flourishes and syncopated drum patterns frame the innovative
deathrock guitar sound for which they are known.
20 Spirits of Leo – Asylum
Brooklyn act Spirits of Leo’s album Gossamer Blue has an unashamedly 80’s vibe, with shades of the shimmering 4AD wall of sound, the uplifting dark pop of The Cure and even the classic jangly melodies of The Stone Roses or The Chameleons. Asylum’s intricately-layered sound promises much for the album which will feature in many end-of-year “Best Of …” lists if the quality of the first three tracks released is anything to go by.
