ShadowMouth release debut album ‘Modern Alchemy’ on Death of the Party Records
ShadowMouth release the debut album “Modern Alchemy” on 14 October 2026 via Death of the Party Records, with vinyl and CD editions on 16 October.
Pittsburgh goth and industrial project ShadowMouth release their debut album, “Modern Alchemy”, on streaming platforms on 14 October 2026 through Death of the Party Records. Vinyl and CD editions follow on 16 October.
The eight-track album runs 31 minutes. Five of its songs came out as singles between May 2025 and August 2026, and three are new: “Trauma Bonds”, “Course Correction (End-to-End Encryption)” and “The Weight of the Algorithm is the Sum of Our Death”.
Who plays on ShadowMouth’s ‘Modern Alchemy’
Rick Polo sings and plays guitar, bass, Bass VI and keys, and handles the programming. Brooks Farris plays live and programmed drums, and he produced, engineered and mastered the album at Electric Fox Studios. Polo wrote the songs, with Farris as co-writer on “The Promise of Alchemy” and “Your Words, Not Mine”.
Two guest acts appear. Cleveland vocal trio The Elder Goths, made up of Cassandra Bishop, Gina Schultz and Lauren O’Janpa, sing on “The Promise of Alchemy” and “The Death of Chemistry”. Bishop wrote the lyrics for the first of those, and Schultz for the second. Sounds Pretty Grim sing on “Trauma Bonds”.
Rhiannon V. Williams-Bohac created the original cover art and its concept. Photography is by Amber Reskey.
The vinyl splits the tracklist into two sides of four songs:
- We Are Sentient
- DOOM SCROLLERS vs HOLY ROLLERS
- The Promise of Alchemy (with The Elder Goths)
- Trauma Bonds (feat. Sounds Pretty Grim)
- Course Correction (End-to-End Encryption)
- Your Words, Not Mine
- The Death of Chemistry (with The Elder Goths)
- The Weight of the Algorithm is the Sum of Our Death
“Modern Alchemy” is available on Spotify.
About ShadowMouth
Rick Polo started ShadowMouth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2023. The lineup is Polo and Brooks Farris, who plays drums and produces the project’s records at Electric Fox Studios.
The first release was the double single “Poison Nostalgia/Twenty Four Hours” on 4 October 2024, issued by Death of the Party Records. Dombrowski sang on both tracks, and “Twenty Four Hours” is a Joy Division cover. Both songs reappeared on the six-track debut EP “Purification By Fire” on 22 November 2024, with Josh Thompson and Kennedy Conti as further guest vocalists.
Four singles came out over the next year: “False (Prophets) Profits” on 20 January 2025, “Your Words, Not Mine” on 21 May 2025, “We Are Sentient” on 1 August 2025 and “DOOM SCROLLERS vs HOLY ROLLERS” on 29 October 2025. On 12 August 2026, ShadowMouth and The Elder Goths issued the double single “The Promise of Alchemy/The Death of Chemistry”, the last preview before the album.
“Modern Alchemy” arrives two years after that first double single.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
