The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog: April 2023

The cold, dark Northern Hemisphere nights of February and March were appropriately filled with the sounds of goths young and old, with old stagers like Siouxsie Sioux, The Sisters of Mercy and The Cure announcing new live dates and the current keepers of the flame keeping the internet crackling with impressive new releases.

Some of the best albums from the last couple of years were deservedly re-released after widespread critical acclaim to reach new aficionados, such as the current releases by death punk act Adrenochrome, Batcave deathrock band Shrouds, deathgaze innovators Vazum (whose album V- features stripped down versions of their best songs to date) and trad goth rockers Long Night (with their own new greatest hits compilation Miscellanies), whilst other leading lights of the current scene, such as former collaborators Antipole and Kill Shelter (enhanced by the sultry vocals of Veronica Stich on the new LP) released excellent new albums which nevertheless moved towards the starker beats-centred coldwave branch of the genre and therefore away from the more guitar-based sounds on which this blog focuses.

Real connoisseurs of the current goth scene will already be familiar with most of the songs featured in this month’s countdown, either from excellent YouTube channels such as the seminal Obscura Undead mixes and the excellent internet radio specialists, but all of them bear repetition and deserve a larger listening audience for their music.

1. The Hangman’s Daughter - Serafina, Who Knows?

From the energetic drum and bass intro (which took me instantly back to the dancefloor of Nottingham’s Rock City in 1985 and hearing Rebel Christening’s Tribal Eye for the first time) through to the classically catchy chorus, this is one fantastically accomplished debut single from Ian “Danger” Michael’s The Hangman’s Daughter project, with sumptuous additional guitar from Fatally Lucky’s Anthony Manfredo, who has sadly subsequently left the act. A deserved winner of the Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog's best new release accolade.

2. Killing Joke – Full Spectrum Dominance

Bone-crushing riffs? Check. Haunting post-apocalyptic synth riff? Check. Punishing tub-thumping drumbeat? Check. Unexpectedly inventive bridge? Check. String-bending full-on chorus in a mind-blowingly different key? Check. KJ may on the one hand be the Status Quo of goth, endlessly recycling their best moments (to the extent that I had to double-check that Full Spectrum Dominance was actually a new song, such was the familiarity of the key elements), but on the other it’s astonishing that over four decades in they can still put out new material that outpunches bands a whole generation their junior. For those still willing to give the old guard a listen, the subtle new single from Treponem Pal (often somewhat harshly but accurately referred to as “the poor man’s The Young Gods”), which is nevertheless still some accolade) is also worth a listen, whilst the likes of The Damned, Ghost Dance and Skeletal Family also have promising new material out this spring.

3. The Bellwether Syndicate – We All Rise

Anyone still doubting Killing Joke’s relevance to the current scene needs look no further than the latest releases from the most accomplished performers on the current live scene, The Bellwether Syndicate and Then Comes Silence. The Swedes’ last single Tickets for Funerals had a chugging riff Geordie would have been proud of, and the in-your-face anthemic chorus of The Bellwether Syndicate’s latest release We All Rise is also reminiscent of vintage angry Jaz. The chorus is somewhat out-of-kilter with a more sedate, jangly, reflective opening verse and a deathrock middle eight, showing the versatility of William Faith’s talent, which is also visible on our next selection..

4. Suburban Spell – The Lonely Man (William Faith remix)

This blog normally gives remixes a wide berth, but this reworking of Suburban Spell’s coldwave masterpiece The Lonely Man is a notable exception, drenched as it is in some stunning reverb guitar by William Faith, giving extra layers and energy to what was a one-dimensional original and pushing the song into very welcome darkwave goth territory.

5. Damian Hearse – Cat Man Vampire

There’s a slightly deranged vibe to this graveyard trope-laden 180+ BPM horrorwave dancefloor banger, with a Fad Gadget meets current dancefloor maestro Dark sound that simultaneously gives the song a 1980’s feel whilst being right on point for 2023. Coming soon to a dingy club near you.

6. Another Abyss – Broken

After the full-on choices so far, this understated modern classic is even more impressive, Broken’s cleverly layered sound which is reminiscent of the dark new romantic likes of B-Movie opening out into a chorus featuring a deep baritone vocal with a wonderfully warm yet vulnerable tone. Impressive work from the one-man project from Germany with a suitably lugubrious name, who featured in one of our round-ups last year and a song that would have been a Top Ten hit had it been released in 1984, and it’s hard to argue with the YouTube commenters astonished by this project’s comparative lack of success.

7. Dark Side Cowboys – The Undertaker

Swedish goth rock legends celebrate 30 years of prairie goth with new single The Undertaker, containing all the consummately-produced familiar elements of effortlessly cool slow-burning dusty straight-from-the-plains scandi goth’n’roll that one would expect from a band that has based its entire career on the cover photo of Fields of The Nephilim’s scene-defining Dawnrazor debut. Here’s to the next thirty years.

8. Naut – Nightfall

The Bristol (UK) band’s new release was always going to feature in this rundown after Louder published guitarist Jack Welsh’s list of “Top 10 goth songs that every metalhead needs to hear” featuring classics as diverse as Bauhaus’ Double Dare, The Sisters of Mercy’s Floorshow, The Sound’s Winning and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry’s Talk About the Weather, and that impeccable taste extends to the band’s debut album Hunt. With a dark, driving guitar-based sound reminiscent of the late lamented Terminal Gods, Nightfall canters along perfectly with a nagging grubby riff and full-on modern gothic sound.

9. Reflection Black – No Stars in the Sky

The top ten could literally be filled with albums released by the faultless arbiters of taste at the Swiss Dark Nights label, and deciding between Pulsations and Reflection Black was particularly difficult this month. The latter won out for their slightly fuller sound, but both acts specialise in the high quality atmospheric melodic darkwave that the likes of Holygram, the Secret French Police and Mirror of Haze have popularised in recent years, and seems ripe for wider success.

10. After The Sin – In My Mind

Poznan band’s After The Sin’s long-awaited debut album Echoes is finally out on their homeland’s Bat-Cave Productions label, collecting together their various singles over the past couple of years along with some new tracks. A homogenously excellent album for fans of 80’s-influenced melodic darkwave post-punk to wallow in, the understated vocals, spacey production and skilled songwriting combine to produce one of the strongest albums of the year so far.