Ten Questions to ... Mark Sayle (of the band Mark E Moon)

 

Mark E Moon is a project which plays “Dystopian post-punk/wave” music and was formed on the Isle of Man in the Autumn of 2018, bringing together long-term musical collaborators Mark Sayle (vocals and guitars) and Phil Reynolds (everything else) to give an outlet to songs which didn’t fit the style of their other main project, the band Slow Decay.

Despite having a population of only 85,000, the Isle of Man is a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea which has its own parliament, language and culture, but it is more famous for its rugged coastline and beautiful mountain scenery than for its contribution to the alternative music scene. All this changed however with the release of Mark E Moon’s debut album Refer on Cold Transmission Records in November 2019 and the teaser single Into The Arms Of Entropy which preceded it. A baritone vocal, swirling synths and a strong beat achieved the rare achievement of drawing in scene followers from the various sub-genres (coldwave, darkwave, post-punk, synthpop etc), with other album tracks which nodded to some of the greats of the original 80’s scene also appealing to any passing elder goths.

After a remix album REFER:REMIX (as well as a couple of new songs released on Cold Transmission compilations) helped to spread the growing word-of-mouth success of the band in 2020, Mark E Moon return in 2021 with a sophomore album which promises to be “bigger, brasher, darker and angrier”, according to the band, with one track, Animals, advance released at the end of January to whet the collective appetite.

Having been a fan of the band since Refer came out, and particularly the track Abandon which was clearly inspired by the track Valentine on one of my personal all-time favourite releases, The Sisters of Mercy’s 1983  The Reptile House EP, I jumped at the chance of interviewing Mark E Moon’s lead singer Mark Sayle, to find out more about the band’s genesis, motivations and future plans. A huge thank you to Mark for giving up his time and patiently explaining the band’s evolution to me.

Mark E Moon’s music is available on Bandcamp.

As indeed is the recorded output of Slow Decay.

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1. Both you and Phil are also in another band named Slow Decay, which plays a “sweatier”, more up-tempo goth rock, a bit like a beefed-up Ghost Dance. Do you intend to continue with both bands or is Mark E Moon using up all of your time and creativity now?

Slow Decay has been on hiatus for about a year now. Our second guitarist and our drummer both left to pursue other interests  and effectively halted our ability to play as a gigging band. Mark E Moon has taken up a lot of my time while writing and recording  Old Blood but now we've sent the files off for pressing I have more time for other projects. I'm currently juggling a few commitments, not least among them being a father of four, but I'm happy that the projects I'm involved in presently all have enough time dedicated to them. I hope something happens again with Slow Decay, maybe later in the year, but  that obviously depends on the availability of Sabina and being able to find suitable replacements for the missing members.

2. You started Mark E Moon when you’d written some songs which you didn’t feel were right for Slow Decay. Were there any other Slow Decay songs – or tracks from any of your previous projects - which you were tempted to try in a more “wave” style? I would imagine that Pre-Dawn Light (Slow Decay) or Demons (Circus world) would work really well with a slowed-down beat and a croonier vocal, for example.

As it happens, the songs Delta Of Venus and Abandon were initially written for Slow Decay. I was originally the singer and Sabina was the rhythm guitarist. Then we decided that Sabina was a better fit as the singer in Slow Decay and the songs I had been singing fell by the wayside. I repurposed them when Mark E Moon became a real endeavour. As for Circus worlD, that's a largely collaborative writing partnership with my friend and multi-instrumentalist Mikie Daugherty. I don't honestly know how he'd feel about me pinching one of our songs for Mark E Moon. He's a cool guy though so maybe? At the minute my intention is to move forward rather than look back but I never say never.

3. Slow Decay are of course female-fronted and you just play guitar in that project. Did you always intend to be the singer for project which became Mark E Moon? Did you deliberately choose to sing in a deeper register than on previous projects (Circus WorlD for example) or did that come about through studio experimentation?

Yes, Mark E Moon was always envisaged as having me as the lead singer. I don't honestly think that I changed my vocal style all that much when doing MEM compared to some of my earlier work. I've used a low baritone while singing in previous local bands like Black River Falls and Draglamps. I also grew up singing along to the Reptile House ep so it's a natural continuation of that for me.
I guess with Circus worlD the music called for a raw rock style vocal so I just did that. I'm a lot happier singing in my natural baritone that screaming though. That said, there's a track called The Exodus Of The New Work by the band Gogo Yubari where you can hear me attempting to imitate a Blackie Lawless style vocal. Hahaha. I think it actually works for the song but it is ridiculous.

4. Having been involved in other bands in other genres, what made you move back to a more goth sound with first Slow Decay and now Mark E Moon?

I guess its because it's where I feel most comfortable, making other people feel happily miserable. Its going back to the very first songs I wrote and the first recordings I made with Phil twenty odd years ago. I'm not in any way religious, but dark music is my spiritual home. Even when writing for Circus worlD the material is more often than not very deep and intentionally disturbing.  So I don't necessarily see it as a move back as a natural continuation on a dark path.

5. Mark E Moon made a real impression with the debut LP Refer, and when I first heard it I was struck by the similarity of Out In the Dark to Bauhaus’ In The Flat Field and Abandon to The Sisters of Mercy’s Valentine. Were these deliberate homages?

Abandon was definitely a homage stylistically to the Reptile House ep as a whole i think. It's one of the references the title of the album alludes to. I wanted to make the darkest, most goth song I could and that record is the obvious source of inspiration. As for Out In The Dark, that was a happy accident. It was written and recorded and someone pointed out the similarity (probably Phil) and I had to laugh. Yes it's VERY much like In The Flat Field but in no way by design. It wasn't 'ripped-off' on purpose, although I could see how some might make that assertion. Once we noticed the similarity we decided it was just different enough to get away with it and it's become a reference to one of our most well loved songs.

6. You were clearly a fan of goth when growing up. As a fellow The Sisters of Mercy obsessive, I was wondering what first attracted you to the band, and why you think that The Sisters’ music still seems to be relevant today?

I had heard The Sisters when I was younger (probably on the John Peel or Janice Long radio shows) but never really paid that much attention. I was still heavily into synth pop and heavy metal (weird combination I know but hey, there are great songs in both genres) and old new wave bands. Then I caught the Sisters doing Dominion on either TOTP or The Roxy. My little mind was blown. The sound, the groove, the synths, the lyrics, the swagger, everything about it was dripping with hyper focused cool and an almost acerbic disdain for the audience at the same time. It was huge, pompously so, and just a bit silly. All things I've tried to emulate on certain songs on Old Blood. I'm painfully aware that was part of the 'joke' from Von's point of view and plenty of bands have attempted to copy that formula in all seriousness through the years. Mark E Moon have always had our tongue tucked firmly in our cheek though. We're well aware just how preposterous we sound sometimes. It makes us smile. That it makes other people smile just makes us smile more. I think that brash, bold, embrace of the theatre that is darker music is something you can lay right at the feet of the Sisters Of Mercy, for all that Von eschews the g-word.

7. Mark E Moon has just released a new single, Animals (Version), which like the two tracks you’ve released on compilations since Refer, Dancing (with the lights on) and The Return are lighter, with more synths and a more danceable vibe than most of the first album. Does this signal a change in direction for Mark E Moon and give an indication of what we can expect on new album Old Blood?

Absolutely not. You can expect synth pop, post punk, ridiculously pompous nonsense and sombre reflection in equal measure. We like making music you can dance to but we're not changing lanes into a purely pop band just yet.

8. For the new album you’ve become a trio. Can you tell us a bit about new member Kieran? Has he contributed to song-writing for the new album or were the tracks already written? Did I hear that you’ve also employed a fourth musician, a drummer, for some tracks on the new album?

Kieran Ball is a fantastic guitarist and a great song writer in his own right. He has contributed to some of the music on the album but we really need to utilise him more on our next (already in the works) album. He's a massive fan of The Cure and has a natural flare for picking up guitar lines with ease. We hope he'll be able to join us live on stage later this year.
And yes, you heard correctly,  we have a drummer that has been working with us on some of the tracks for the new album. His name is Steve Leach and he's a great multi-instrumentalist.  He was actually the drummer in my old punk band Poison Hearts many years ago. He is also a very welcome addition to the team.

9. From the start you’ve been signed to Cold Transmission records. Do you think that this helped to raise your profile? Which other artists on the label do you particularly admire?

Cold Transmission have helped us immensely. Without them we'd just be two idiots writing music in a box room. To be honest, we're still just two idiots writing music in a box room, but now lots of people get to hear that music. Not only hear it, but hold a physical, tangible product in their hands. Andreas and Suzy are wonderful human beings too. They welcome their acts into this family atmosphere where there is a freedom to evolve naturally and without the horror stories you hear about big label oversight and micro managing. They're like the mum and dad of the CT family .
I admire all the artists on the label but I really like some of the newest releases. Bands like Mary, The Secret French Postcards, Bedless Bones and Dead Astronauts are so diverse yet all absolutely brilliant.

10. You put out an album of remixes of some tracks from Refer last year. How did that come about, and would you intend to do the same for Old Blood?

Refer:Remix came about because we though "wouldn't it be fun to ask some mates to do remixes of songs and see what we get back." That, I think, was pretty much the entire rationale behind it. We didn't know what to expect. I think it worked out pretty well but I would've liked more tracks. I don't know if we will do a remix album for this one but if we end up doing something similar for Old Blood, I think we'll outsource the remixing to our new brothers and sisters in the CT family and see what they come up with. 

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 50 of 2020 - final part of the countdown, the top 5

 

The identity of this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 5 of 2020 will come as little surprise to regular readers, as all five projects have consistently hit the heights with each release and gradually grown their fanbases as a result. All five have released outstanding tracks this year which will surely stand the test of time, and lead the genre ever forward as both new, younger fans and elder goths returning to the scene continue to be attracted to the worldwide gothic renaissance. 2020 has been a uniquely challenging year, but the music of these five artists in particular has seen many of us through the darker days, with hopefully a return to some kind of normality now on the horizon.

 

 

5 Stranger and Lovers – Spiritual f. Succubus.

Mexico City (CDMX) band Stranger and Lovers have continued to plot their careful route to the top by releasing their 2019 debut on more platforms and signing a distribution deal with Young and Cold to release their forthcoming 2021 album to a wider public. This year saw the band release just three tracks, but all showed the band’s unique appeal: creating a new darkwave strand played on vintage instruments but embracing all that digital studio technology has to offer, with the vocals (apparently in English) used as an extra instrument in the way that the first-generation bands like The Sisters of Mercy and Fields of The Nephilim did. Fans of The Sisters and The Nephs will particularly appreciate the chugging rock of most recent teaser track Necro Love, whilst Spiritual f. Succubus had a more nightmarish fairground swirl that added an extra claustrophobic layer to their already thrilling sound, with first single The Snoop having a softer, more dancefloor friendly focus which will appeal more to fans of Xymox or She Past Away.

4 Black Angel – Kiss of Death

Matt Vowles’ Black Angel project goes from strength to strength: having released debut album The Widow at the end of 2019, Vowles returned with follow-up Kiss of Death barely six months later, an equally strong set of musical earworms that effortlessly recreate the most popular elements of 80’s goth. Haunting guitar lines, classic chord progressions, multi-layered vocals and fantastic state-of-the-art production combine to create an album which,  like its title track, brings to mind Steinman-era Sisters tinged with the gothbilly sounds of Shadow of Love-era Damned. Vowles always baulks at any comparison to Billy Idol, but the strong focus on melody and the superb production makes this a worthy compliment rather than a detraction for what is arguably the most potentially commercially viable of all the projects featured in this Top 50, and a great gateway act for new fans of the scene. A barely-discernible change of vocalist – Robert Steffen’s more operatic approach replaced with the more authentically alternative tones of Corey Landis – has left the band stronger as a unit and although the pandemic put paid to plans for more live work, Black Angel will deservedly be a name on most promoters’ wishlists for 2021 after two stunning albums of perfect modern gothic rock.

3 Sonsombre – Highgate

Brandon Pybus must be one of the hardest working guys on the goth scene, whether maintaining a strong social media presence to boost the Sonsombre fanbase, writing and recording new material, or collaborating with other artists from around the world. Sonsombre’s latest album One Thousand Graves was their best yet, moving ever away from their sources (Fields of The Nephilim, The Wake, Nosferatu etc) to showcase their own distinctive sound. Now clearly more a band than a one-man project, Sonsombre’s lockdown live stream sets were always high quality and featured tracks from their three album career but focusing on the darker, heavier and more innovative material which subtly drew more on Pybus’ own death metal past. Highgate was an excellent case in point, starting with a spooky church organ and music box intro, with jagged, discordant guitar riffs taking over before exploding into minor key malevolence with more classic gothic rock overtones. Song dynamics and structure remain a key strength, with anthemic choruses and dramatic atmosphere essential elements of any Sonsombre song. With a new album Revival ready for release in 2021, Sonsombre look set to make the Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog top 10 for a fourth successive year!

2 The Kentucky Vampires – Moon Rays

2020 album Crimson Curse moved The Kentucky Vampires from the ranks of deathrock prospects to major league gothic contenders, showcasing an expanded sonic range and depth which resulted in an album to return to again and again. A couple of the tracks featured on their EP released at the end of 2019 (and made our Top 10 last year), but the new tracks were a judicious mix of the up-tempo melodic graveyard deathrock of the first album (eg Saint Vincent) and a slower, more resonant and lyrical sound with a fuller gothic sound. The addition of Motuvius Rex’s bass had fleshed out what was a slightly trebly mix, and its rich sonorous tone, reminiscent of vintage The Cure, enhances the lullabylike Moon Rays, with Zac Campbell’s shimmering guitar lines and Abbas Marler’s wonderfully lilting vocal creating a perfect gothic fusion which was typical of the album’s best tracks.

1 Then Comes Silence – Devil

Swedish captains of post-punk Then Comes Silence blew away all other contenders with a stunning 2020, releasing a superbly accomplished and polished album in Machine, releasing a couple of online quarantine covers and putting on a string of beautifully shot live performances. Machine ran the gamut of post-punk musical styles but always with Alex’s honeyed baritone, Jonas’ syncopated drumming and the twin guitar duelling of the highly experienced newcomers Hugo and Mattias to the fore, as on this featured track, Devil. Pretty much every track on the album could be released as a single, always the sign of a classic album, from singalong darkwave songs like Apocalypse Flare to the epic soundscapes of Kill It. Then Comes Silence certainly killed it in 2020, and are the Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog band of the year.

 

 

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 50 of 2020 - part 9, 10 - 6

 

Into the Goth/Post-Punk Revival blog Top 10 with five very solid albums which do not disappoint. All start strongly and as with all classic albums, get even better, saving the best until last and ending with a fantastic finale that always marks out a classic album. As befits this blog, the top ten artists are all primarily guitar-based and feature driving basslines, strong vocals, insistent beats and guitar FX aplenty.

 

 

10 The Wake - Figurine

Second-wave superstars The Wake almost single-handedly resuscitated the genre at a point where it seemed to be dying a natural death in the early 90’s with their stunning Unmasked album, splitting in the mid-90’s before reforming around a decade ago and releasing a couple of low-key singles and making a much higher profile splash with their 2020 comeback album Perfumes and Fripperies. Whilst early tracks on the album like Marry Me delighted those simply looking for God’s Own Medicine part 3, the reworkings of those intermediate singles Rusted and Emily Closer, plus the album’s outstanding final pairing of the Pumpkins-influenced Big Empty and the bombastically slow and stately Figurine hint at an exciting new direction for the band responsible for classics like Nazarene, Watchtower and Harlot nearly three decades ago.

9 Delphine Coma - Tension

2018’s debut album Leaving The Scene established US act Delphine Coma as major new players in the darkwave world, with lead single Is This Forever making many end of year lists. Sophomore set Tortuosa, released this year on Swiss Dark Nights took things to a new level, with singer Ashe Ruppe’s vocals, heard to great effect on Kill Shelter’s In Decay (number one on this countdown two years ago), enhancing a wide range of strong darkwave pieces from upbeat tracks like Secondary Eyes to more introspective songs like the album-closing Tension, a wonderfully-atmospheric Bowiesque slab of drone-led gothgaze/darkwave.

8 Guillotine Dream - Vermillion

80’s goth fans Guillotine Dream were as well-known for their sense of humour as their Nephilimistic musical charm until this year’s wonderful Damaged and Damned album which showed them increasingly evolving their own sound. Recorded in just two days, the album had a wonderfully raw live-in-the-studio feel best exemplified by album-closer Vermillion, released as a teaser single with a great Blair Witch-style video. Wonderfully overdriven guitar, growled vocals, dirty bass and Dawnrazor drums combine spectacularly in a perfectly spooky piece of magically pure gothic rock.

7 Mayflower Madame - Vultures

Some albums have an intensity and a flow which forces you to stop what you’re doing and focus solely on the emotionally-draining aural assault on the brain. Siouxsie and The Banshees’ first two albums had that effect on me in the late 1970’s, Echo and the Bunnymen’s Ocean Rain was another example from the mid-1980’s and Norwegian band Mayflower Madame’s 2020 Prepared for a Nightmare on Icy Cold records is a future classic in a very similarly dramatic and overbearing vein to the latter, with its latent psychedelia and shoegaze tendencies. The album’s claustrophobic intensity is heightened by the sequencing of the songs which take the listener on a distorted journey through a restless night full of nightmares, half-woken visions and the intense relief of reawakening to the relief that the night is over. Wilfully singular in their approach, Mayflower Madame are a deeply rewarding obsession.

6 Raskolnikov – Faut pas chier Albert Roche.

One of the YouTube comments on the full album upload of Raskolnikov’s Lazy People Will Destroy You album states that the author has been listening to music for over thirty years but had never before found an album where they loved every track. Such hyperbole does not sound misplaced when streaming this outstanding album which showcases a variety of musical styles, leading one to presume that the band has a varied record collection spanning the entire forty years of the post-punk genre, from The Cure and The Chameleons through Spiritualised and Ride to Muse, Interpol and Editors, with even more commercial influences like Coldplay and Snow Patrol thrown in. Whilst this might sound like a nightmarish pick’n’mix hybrid, the reality is a wonderfully melodic and well-paced set of original songs which defy the usual pigeonholing and deserve a wider audience.

 

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 50 of 2020 - part 8, 15 - 11

With no new studio work from the likes of scene giants She Past Away, Whispering Sons, Antipole and Der Himmel Uber Berlin, 2020 could have been a musical disappointment, but such was the breadth and depth of talent on display that those making the Goth/Post-Punk Revival top 15 brought out their best music to date, and these next five selections, from traditional goth rock to electro punk, again hint at the range of sounds to be enjoyed by fans of the genre.

 

15 Raven Said – She Comes To Me

Russian duo Raven Said are quite possibly the world’s most goth act ever, and their 2020 album Beyond The Darkest Hour brimmed with a confident, multi-layered gothic rock that soon made waves thousands of miles away from their native Ekaterinburg. Steeped in gothic musical and cultural history, Andy and Maria live the gothic lifestyle 24/7 and pour everything into their music, patiently explaining their vision to less scholarly interviewers. Maria’s synths and Andy’s guitar lines and often semi-whispered vocals create a potent mix, as here on the single She Comes To Me, hinting at greater things to come from one of Eastern Europe’s finest ensembles.

14 Glasszone –  The Lighthouse

Glasszone continue the great tradition of French wave music which dates back to the days of Jad Wio, Asylum Party and Mary Goes Round in the late 1980’s. Following up their 2019 album Garden of Glass, the Restless Nights EP featured an up-tempo title track, but atmospheric slowburners like The Lighthouse and The Last Time showed the true depth of the Glasszone sound.

13 Horror Vacui - Frustration

Italian anarcho deathrock outfit Horror Vacui returned in 2020 with their fourth and best album to date, Living For Nothing, full of galloping bass and jagged shards of guitar to create a series of excellent songs which never stray too far from the classic gothic template, like Frustration. Although only half an hour long in total, Living For Nothing delivered more punch than many albums twice the length.

12 Into Grey - Bloom

US post-punk/coldwave solo project Into Grey enjoyed a prolific 2020, releasing two excellent EPs of well-rounded “miserygoth”, Into Grey and Picture Perfect, as well as a series of individual tracks all released via Bandcamp. Bloom rattled along at high speed and had a Sonic Youth detuned vibe with dark twang atmospherics and a haunting and vulnerable vocal. Introspection at its finest, Into Grey is the highest placed debut act in this year’s countdown.

11 The Guilt - Stick To Your Guns

Swedish electro-punk act The Guilt were one of those artists whose place in this countdown was in doubt given that they operate at the very extremes of the genre (rather like Bob Vylan, who were ultimately just the wrong side of the line, being more punk than post-punk), but the post-punk guitar vibe and coldwave synth base swung the decision in their direction. The 2020 album Hot Knives is arguably one of the strongest selection of songs I’ve heard all year, with in-your-face vocals from the sassy Emma over Tobias’ whipsmart beats and licks. If you’ve not heard this album you’re in for a treat – think The Ting Tings meets Kas Product with a vocal power and energy that makes Beth Ditto sound like she’s singing nursery rhymes in comparison.

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 50 of 2020 - pt 7, 20 - 16

 

We’ve finally reached this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival Top 20 of 2020, and all the remaining projects are to be congratulated on putting together music of such high quality that selecting just the one track for this countdown was a real dilemma, and in many cases the identity of the chosen song changed several times between draft and publication. Just the first two tracks alone show the diversity of sounds available within this broad third wave of the goth/post-punk scene, but all selections share a commitment to musical perfection which was evident in so much new music this year.

20 Slow Danse With The Dead – One Tear Drop

New Mexico-based solo project Slow Danse With The Dead released an almost bewildering range of releases in 2020, from work-in-progress to quality compilations like the self-titled (and quickly sold out) cassette release. Firmly in the “miserygoth” genre, SDWTD’s lugubrious baritone vocal and maudlin lyrics take the listener on a journey deep into the soul. Songs like the funereal He Speaks Too Much recall Suffering For Kisses at their best, whilst One Tear Drop has the simplicity and raw edges of mid-period Joy Division.

19 The Black Capes – Welcome To The Necroclub

Greek goth rockers The Black Capes promise unapologetically metallic goth rock with a capital “G--- R---”. Lead singer Alex S Wamp has a voice deep and powerful enough to dominate proceedings, and the excellent production on the album helps to elevate its sound above the genre norm. For the single release of Welcome To The Necroclub, The Black Capes recruited additional vocal support from Brandon (Sonsombre), Abbas (The Kentucky Vampires), Nikolaou (Cold Remembrance) and Veronica (Death Loves Veronica), further raising their profile on the goth scene.

18 The Secret French Postcards – Kiss Away

More exquisite perfection from Swedish band The Secret French Postcards, whose album Colours whilst not spectacularly different from their previous releases, served as the best statement yet of their musical vision. Drenched in sumptuous guitars and with the velvet tonsils of Olli Ohlander weaving dreampop tales of love and loss, each song, like Kiss Away featured here, is perfectly executed and brilliantly produced by Pedro Code. Fans of melodic post-punk bands like The Chameleons will love the reassuring warm embrace of the goth lite aesthetic of one of 2020’s most consistent albums.

17 Shadow Assembly - Plaything

After his 2019 collaboration Ghostcrawl with Brandon Pybus (Sonsombre), Michael Louis worked with a wider variety of vocalists this year for his second album under the Shadow Assembly banner. This enabled him to paint with a broader musical palette, in particular on standout track Plaything featuring the ethereal vocals of Marselle Hodges on one of the strongest melodies of the year (warning: you’ll be humming this chorus for months). One YouTube commenter said that it sounds like Kate Bush fronting Rosetta Stone….now there’s an idea for a collaboration! 

16 Byronic Sex & Exile- Eternity

If Andrew Eldritch was the undisputed Leeds Godfather of Goth in the 1980’s, that title has surely passed to the ubiquitous Joel Heyes, whose excellent one man goth act Byronic Sex & Exile released the stunning Cu Foc album in 2020. Whilst not entertaining his many social media followers with tales of workplace woes or medical mishaps, the organiser of the Goth City festival is a keen student of Transylvanian history and culture, which was the inspiration for this BS&E album. Final track Eternity was a heady mix of Black Sabbath and Bauhaus at their most bucolic/acoustic, with that goth torch song vibe that Nick Cave has tried and failed to accomplish over his lengthy solo career. Heyes’ candle-lit one-man bedsit performances were one of the lockdown musical highlights, and live shows in 2021 will be unmissable.

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog - Top 50 of 2020, pt 6 25 - 21

 Into the second half of the countdown for 2020 we go, with five more musical offerings more than worthy of your consideration which showcase the broad spectrum of music covered by the contemporary goth/post-punk label. Whilst the spartan bedit misanthropy of "miserygoth" and the punishing beats of synth-driven hard handbag darkwave EBM may seem to have little in common, they share a sense of the "other", a fascination with the darker aspects of the soul and an obsession with a time in the late seventies early eighties where the nihilism of punk clashed with the narcissism of glam and the modernity of the futurists to create a new musical and cultural aesthetic which has stood the test of time.

25 Rosetta Stone - Shock

Last year’s Seems Like Forever re-established Rosetta Stone as one of the top players on the goth scene, with Porl King’s “greatest hits” from his Miserylab project reworked and beefed up under the RS banner for Cleopatra Records. Cryptology, Rosetta Stone’s new album of 2020, came as a real surprise to all but the band’s closest followers when it was rush-released in the middle of the year. Although inevitably lacking some of the strength in depth of its predecessor, whose tracks had been written over the best part of a decade, Cryptology was more homogeneous in its approach and had several standout tracks, of which the heavily Red Lorry Yellow Lorry influenced Shock is one, with the more minimalist (and therefore more Miserylab) Smoke and Mirrors also outstanding.

24 Deathtrippers - Reach

The sky’s the limit for this Leeds project who play uber-cool dancefloor-friendly gothgaze darkwave not unlike (the sadly-defunct) Holygram but with their own unique twist. Deathtrippers issued only two new tracks in 2020, Alive and Reach on separate compilations, but both bristled with a rare drive and energy and hint at great things for a project whose profile is still somewhat lower than their talent merits. Definitely one to watch. Reach, on the Goth City Wasteland compilation, appropriately has a bit of a The Sisters of Mercy vibe with the buzzing bassline and reverb guitar riff (think Train), and purchasing the Wasteland compilation also has the advantage of contributing to a refugee and asylum-seeker charity.

23 Suffering For Kisses - Ashes

Seattle artist Tony D’Oporto’s Suffering For Kisses have been one of the main proponents of the “miserygoth” strand of the genre over the past couple of years, with the singer’s trademark deadpan delivery of lyrics of lost love over an often hyper-minimalist backing creating a real sense of desolation and despair, yet somehow having an uplifting effect on the listener. Gloom doesn’t get much more lugubrious than this, and the funereal Ashes was probably SFK’s "lowlight" of the year.

22 Dark - Nightmare

From Germany comes Dark, a new Hamburg-based project championed by Yami Spechie which exploded onto the scene only in the summer but immediately made waves with the hugest, hardest and darkest dancefloor beats since the heyday of EBM in the mid-1980’s, so powerful they make Front 242 sound like Erasure in comparison. Nightmare was *the* track for bedroom DJ’s to spin on their never-ending Twitch livestreams, with its spookily strict beat and baritone vocal creating a real earworm of an alternative club anthem.The ensuing mini-album showed that Nightmare was no one-off, making Dark one of the coolest new discoveries of 2020.

21 Altar de Fey – Mercy’s Kiss

Veterans of the deathrock scene Altar de Fey continue to raise the bar for those new to the genre. Their 2020 EP release And May Love Conquer All release bristled with Kent Cates’ graveyard guitar, chilling chord changes, Jake Hout’s typically histrionic vocals and a punky energy whilst maintaining a high quality of musical and lyrical craftsmanship on one of the most pleasing releases of the year, expertly produced by bassist Skot Brown. Lead track Mercy’s Kiss had an intro that more than nodded in the direction of genre kings Der Himmel Uber Berlin (who sadly didn’t release anything in 2020) before bursting into a chorus with both a lyric and a melody that Wayne Hussey would have been proud of.

The Goth/Post-Punk Revival Blog Top 50 of 2020 - Part 5, 30 - 26

Into this year’s Top 30, the first five selections feature a couple of goth/post-punk supergroups and a fair few individuals who have been around the scene since the very start, but are still capable of producing work of a standard that bears comparison to the best that impetuous and carefree youth can muster. Encouraged by their success, perhaps more of the elder statesmen and women of the movement will venture into the studio in 2021. Here's hoping ...

30 Capitals - Satellite

I’m cheating a little including this specific track as it appeared on an album originally recorded two years ago, but was only available on Bandcamp (and therefore came to my attention) for the first time in 2020, but Capitals, from the Mexican city of Guadalajara also released a new single later in the year which would also have made the Top 50. Minimalist post-punk of a style that would appeal to fans of Joy Division, Capitals’ music is uplifted by some unexpectedly jolly guitar lines, as here on Satellite.

29 Black Chapel – House of Ghosts

Hastily-renamed “goth supergroup” Black Chapel, from the movement’s home turf of Yorkshire (UK), boast former (and in some cases, current) members of BFG, Expelaires and principally The Danse Society, and unleashed a peach of an album this year (originally under the name, The Society) with Hell Is Waiting. The album’s title hints at the contents, a spiritual follow-up to TDS’s classic 1984 album Heaven Is Waiting. Swirling keyboards, angular, haunting guitar lines and Paul Gilmartin’s powerful drumming are very much to the fore on th aetmospheric House of Ghosts, as on other tracks, with Leeds legend Paul “Grape” Gregory’s distinctive vocal adding a further unsettling yet familiar layer. Black Chapel build on the musical foundations of classic 1980’s The Danse Society and keep the band’s original spirit alive by creating a new and distinctive strand of the goth/post-punk revival.

28 Mary – Die Before Death

Canadian project Mary built on the promise of a couple of encouraging darkwave EPs last decade with a now fully-formed sound and an excellent 2020 debut album, making podcast playlists the world over and becoming the name on everyone’s lips in the middle of the year. Title track Die Before Death has a fantastic gothgaze intro reminiscent of great 90’s bands like The God Machine and Catherine Wheel, and the whole song shows a classic sense of melody and musical dynamics that reminds me strangely in atmosphere of The Stone Roses’ I Wanna Be Adored in parts, which can only ever be a good thing. Other tracks had more of a B-Movie/New Order/Cure vibe, showing the band’s range over a beautifully-crafted album for fans of the lighter side of darkwave.

27 This Eternal Decay – Future Anthem

Another post-punk “supergroup”, this time from Italy, This Eternal Decay typified the spirit of many bands in 2020, refusing to be brow-beaten and adapting the launch of their debut album to the “new normal” of a world under lockdown. Animated by the typically excellent pulsing bass of Pasquale Vico of the band Date At Midnight, TED’s album was a real darkwave delight, with driving beats and soaring melodies, and even a guest appearance by Alex from Then Comes Silence on the appropriately-named track Silence. Future Anthem builds on the classic three-note Bela Lugosi’s Dead bassline with something a lot more unhinged, channeling the energy of The Three Johns in a track that lives up to its name.

26 The Psychedelic Furs – Come All Ye Faithful

The first new Furs album in roughly thirty years was awaited with a mixture of dread and anticipation, but even those in the latter category had their expectations hugely exceeded by the sheer energy, invention and drive of a release recently announced as Vive Le Rock’s album of the year. Drawing on everything from funk to jazz, dreampop to post-punk, the album shimmered where others fade with Richard Butler on top lyrical and vocal form. Their place on end-of-year lists is anything but a sympathy vote or a tugging of the forelock to old masters - this album rocked. With its parping and wailing sax, funkily-syncopated backbeat, razor sharp lyrics and stereo channel changing, Come All Ye Faithful is perhaps the most avant-garde selection in this year’s Goth/Post-Punk Revival countdown, not bad for guys in their early sixties. Respect is due. Are you listening, Andrew Eldritch?