Clan of Xymox’s ‘Medusa’ turns 40 on 1 November
Clan of Xymox’s “Medusa” turns 40 on 1 November. The darkwave band released the album through 4AD on 1 November 1986, produced with John Fryer.
Clan of Xymox - "Medusa" (4AD, 1986)
Clan of Xymox’s “Medusa” turns 40 this year. The Dutch darkwave band released the album through 4AD on 1 November 1986, the follow-up to its self-titled 1985 debut for the label.
John Fryer produced “Medusa” together with Clan of Xymox. The original LP and cassette ran ten tracks and just over 42 minutes: “Theme I,” “Medusa,” “Michelle,” “Theme II,” “Louise,” “Lorretine,” “Agonised by Love,” “Masquerade,” “After the Call” and “Back Door.” A later CD reissue added three tracks, “Blind Hearts,” “A Million Things” and a “Scum” dance mix. That version runs thirteen tracks in total. Nigel Grierson handled the sleeve photography, with artwork by 23 Envelope, 4AD’s regular design studio at the time.
The album is available to stream on Spotify.
About Clan of Xymox
Clan of Xymox formed in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in 1983 around Ronny Moorings (guitar, vocals) and Anka Wolbert (bass, vocals), later joined by Pieter Nooten and Frank Weyzig after the group relocated to Amsterdam. Taking its name from “zymotic,” the band self-released the EP “Subsequent Pleasures” in 1983 in a run of 500 copies. An invitation from Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry to support the band on a UK tour led to a deal with 4AD, which released the group’s eponymous debut album in 1985 and “Medusa” the following year.
Shortened to Xymox, the band moved to Wing Records, a Polydor/PolyGram subsidiary, for “Twist of Shadows” (1989) and “Phoenix” (1991). “Twist of Shadows” became its commercial peak, selling more than 300,000 copies worldwide behind the singles “Blind Hearts,” “Obsession” and “Imagination,” the last of which reached number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100. Wolbert and Nooten left after “Phoenix,” and Moorings continued the project through “Metamorphosis” (1992) and “Headclouds” (1993), both released independently.
In 1997, Moorings reverted the name to Clan of Xymox and signed first with Tess Records, then with Metropolis Records the following year. “Hidden Faces” (1997), “Creatures” (1999) and “Notes from the Underground” (2001) followed, along with a 1998 US reissue of the first two 4AD albums. “FareWell” arrived in 2003 and “Breaking Point” in 2006, both on Metropolis, before the band signed with Trisol Music Group in 2009 for “In Love We Trust.” “Darkest Hour” (2011) and the covers album “Kindred Spirits” (2012) followed, then “Matters of Mind, Body and Soul” (2014) and “Days of Black” (2017).
More recent releases include “Spider on the Wall” (2020), the concept album “Limbo” (2021) and Exodus (2024), followed by the EP “Blood of Christ.” Clan of Xymox shared the single “Broken Heart” / “Fire” in September 2026. “Medusa,” the record that closed out the band’s first 4AD run before the Wing Records years, turns 40 on 1 November.
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