Live review: Nachtmahr, Cygnosic & Bagger 258 – Wrocław 2026
On 1 October 2026, Nachtmahr chose Poland to open the longest and largest tour in the project’s history: three consecutive...
Karo Kratochwil
Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.
Live review: Agonoize, System Noire & Antibody – Wrocław 2026
There was a useful logic to the running order of Friday night's show at Klub Łącznik. Antibody, Agonoize and System...
Then Comes Silence: ‘Conformity Will Always Be the Enemy of Creativity’
Then Comes Silence have reached a point where the more interesting question is no longer whether they have an identifiable...
Strikkland: ‘There are enough bitter middle-aged men in the world’
Strikkland are easy to misread if you mistake humour for distance. Henrik Johansson can deliver brutal lyrics while smiling, appear...
Rina Pavar interview: ‘Think less, be bolder’
When Side-Line spoke with Rina Pavar in 2023, live performance was still something she approached from outside: the studio was...
19th Elektrisch Festival: from industrial pioneers to the new underground in Zwickau
Zwickau's Elektrisch Festival returns on 24 October 2026 with a line-up that makes a convincing argument for electronic music as...
The Sound Veil Society: ‘We will always aim to be as honest and raw in our expression’
The Sound Veil Society's debut album "Things We Kept" is built around an unusual kind of intensity. The record rarely...
Agonoize interview: ‘I have nothing to prove to anyone except myself’
More than twenty years after Agonoize emerged from Berlin, there is very little ambiguity left about what the name represents....
Die In Eclipse interview: Jana Komaritsa on ‘SexWave’, desire and the body as instrument
Die In Eclipse, the EBM and darkwave project of Darkrad's Jana Komaritsa, spoke to Side-Line about its debut EP "SexWave",...
HORSKH team up with Carpenter Brut on ‘Connected’ ahead of ‘MTNT’
French industrial project HORSKH has released "Connected", a collaboration with Carpenter Brut, on September 10, 2026, ahead of HORSKH's forthcoming...
FOURSCHER Festival 2026: a line-up built on affinities, not hierarchy
FOURSCHER Festival returns to Club From Hell in Erfurt, Germany, on 7 and 8 November 2026, with nine acts spanning...
Nocturnal Culture Night 2026: Across Stages, Sounds and Shared Moments
I genuinely never expected to return to Nocturnal Culture Night. I had visited Deutzen once, in 2023, and already then...
The SPKtR interview: Noise, Machines and the Refusal to Stand Still
SPK have never made much sense as an argument for artistic consistency. If anything, their history suggests the opposite: that...
Dismantled return with ‘Zero’ as long-delayed ‘Endless’ album finally moves toward release
Dismantled are back with new material. Gary Zon's electro-industrial project will release the new single "Zero" on 18 September 2026...
SIERRA VEINS interview: ‘Safe enough to let go of some of that control’
There is a productive contradiction at the centre of SIERRA VEINS: what can appear almost uncontrolled onstage depends on an...
HANDS Label Night Berlin announces New Year 2027 line-up with SONAR, NULLVEKTOR, GREYHOUND and more
HANDS will return to Berlin's Urban Spree on Saturday, 2 January 2027 for another New Year edition of HANDS Label...
Agonised Too interview: ‘There are scratches somewhere inside’
Agonised Too's "EYE CRY" is structured around a refusal of extremes. Its artwork contains neither pure black nor pure white,...
Prague Gothic Treffen 2026: Where the Music Still Feels Like a Meeting Place
Prague Gothic Treffen has become one of the fixed points of my year, and I think the reason has less...
Rue Oberkampf interview: ‘If we become predictable, it’s time to stop’
Rue Oberkampf's "Wehmut" is not simply a darker or quieter variation on what the band has done before. The more...
ACTORS interview: ‘There is no permanence, there is no forever’
"Our Love Will Live Forever" had its title before the event that made those words much harder to take literally....
NER\OGRIS interview: ‘I use control to protect the accident rather than to correct it’
There is a useful contradiction at the centre of "Fame Fatale": NER\OGRIS have become more precise about their identity at...
Escape With Romeo interview: ‘People think that they are using a product, but instead they are the product’
Escape With Romeo's return stopped being interesting simply as a comeback with 2024's "Suspicious Bliss". That album established that Thomas...
Mildreda interview: ‘Sometimes vulnerability can be extremely violent’
With "Realities", Jan Dewulf does something more interesting than simply broaden Mildreda's sound. He removes one of the most recognisable...
NCN 19: Nik Kershaw, Die Krupps, SKYND, Diary of Dreams and more head to Deutzen
Nocturnal Culture Night returns to Kulturpark Deutzen from 4 to 6 September 2026, with its traditional Warm-Up taking place on...
XXV Wrocław Industrial Festival: SPKtR, The Legendary Pink Dots and unique collaborations mark the 25th edition
Twenty-five editions after a self-financed experiment in a bunker beneath Wrocław's Wzgórze Partyzantów, Wrocław Industrial Festival reaches XXV. From 5...
Portion Control interview: ‘It’s closer to handling someone else’s archive that happens to have your name on it’
Portion Control have always been slightly awkward candidates for canonisation. Formed in London in 1979, their early use of synthesisers,...
Nachtmahr interview: ‘The setlist is the script for the movie we present every night’
When Thomas Rainer and I spoke in 2024, "Verboten!" was presented as a decisive stage in Nachtmahr's development, a record...
EMMON teams with Agent Side Grinder for ‘Relics’ remix ahead of ‘ICONMIXED’
Swedish electro artist EMMON released "Relics (Agent Side Grinder Remix)" on 14 August 2026 through Icons Creating Evil Art. The...
Bon Harris at 61: ‘The thing that never changes is the desire to be creative’
When I spoke with Bon Harris in February, on EBM Day of all days, our conversation kept returning to something...
Amorphous interview: ‘Mono Substance’ and the body as reality check
Brazilian-born, Brighton-based producer Gil OS released "Mono Substance" as Amorphous on 7 August 2026 through Semantics Productions. In this Amorphous...
This Morn’ Omina interview: Vestiges is not a ‘best-off’, it is ‘part off’
Thirty years is more than enough time for an archive to become a mausoleum. This Morn' Omina have little interest...
Unter Null interview: ‘The anger is still feral, but it has learned how to aim’
Hearing Unter Null in 2026 means hearing two versions of Erica Dunham at once: the young woman who turned rage,...
Carpenter Brut and HEALTH bring ‘Conflict: Europe 2026’ to Europe
Carpenter Brut and HEALTH will reunite this autumn for "Conflict: Europe 2026", the European continuation of their co-headlining partnership following...
Zeromancer announce first German shows since 2019 – six-date ‘Testimonial Tour 2027’ with Lakeside X
After several false starts, Zeromancer are finally returning to Germany. The Norwegian industrial-rock band have announced six exclusive headline concerts...
Ministry announce final album ‘Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)’ and farewell tour wit Die Krupps
Ministry will release its final studio album, "Hate To Go (Take Out Or Delivery)," on 30 October 2026 via Cleopatra...
Castle Party 2026: four days inside Bolków
Castle Party 2026 ran from 16 to 19 July at Bolków Castle in Poland. Side-Line freelancer Karo Kratochwil attended all...
Klangstabil live review: ‘No Safe Distance’ at Markthalle Hamburg
German electronic duo Klangstabil played Markthalle Hamburg on July 11, 2026, in a show presented by Living Dead Production. Karo...
Samsas Traum interview: Alexander Kaschte on ‘Vota Tenebris I’, fan requests and artistic control
For nearly three decades, Alexander Kaschte has made Samsas Traum one of the German dark scene’s least containable projects: a...
SINE interview: Rona Rougeheart on ‘La Mordre’
SINE is the solo project of Rona Rougeheart, an Austin, Texas drummer, vocalist and producer who describes her industrial-edged electronic...
Miranda Cartel interview: ‘Amethyst’, crystals and a decade’s return
Miranda Cartel is the electronic project of Polish artist Emmanuella Robak, who released the 14-track album "Amethyst" on 21 March...
Karin Park interview: ‘EVO’, evolution and the cost of becoming
Swedish-Norwegian artist Karin Park released her EP "EVO" on 8 May 2026, the first part of a three-part cycle she...
Hands Label Night Berlin at Urban Spree: rhythm, ritual and the body under pressure
The summer edition of Hands Label Night Berlin felt like a very different organism from the January one. I do...
Diary of Dreams as an electronic duet: back to the roots, or the new reality?
Diary of Dreams have announced a new live format. Adrian Hates and Felix Wunderer will appear on selected international stages...
Ben Christo interview: The Sisters of Mercy, Diamond Black and the discipline of dark, gritty melody
Ben Christo is a guitarist who has learned that volume is rarely the most dangerous thing a guitar can do....
AD:keY live at the Front 242 ‘Black Out’ release party in Berlin
Urban Spree was the right place for this night. Not just because it is a good venue for dark electronic...
Martyrmachine interview: ‘Efficiency Justifies Everything’, Łódź and live drums
Martyrmachine are an EBM and electro-industrial duo from Łódź, Poland, whose new album "Efficiency Justifies Everything" arrived on 26 June...
Kant Kino interview: ‘Sometimes a joke gets closer to the truth than a manifesto’
Nine years after “Kopfkino”, Kant Kino have returned with “Echoes of The End”, a 24-track album that feels less like...
Berlin ist RAW: Cassiopeia, RAW-Gelände and Berlin’s talent for selling its own soul
RAW-Gelände (Photo by Karo Kratochwil) Does Berlin really want to become another Frankfurt? The news around Cassiopeia and RAW-Gelände does...
Editors announce eighth album ‘Surface, Echo & Sound’ with single ‘The Rush’
Editors have announced their eighth studio album, "Surface, Echo & Sound", set for release on 30 October 2026 through Play...
This Morn’ Omina join Dark Dimensions and announce ‘Vestiges’ 30-year compilation
Belgian ritual industrial act This Morn’ Omina have joined the Dark Dimensions Label Group. The announcement arrives as the project...
CUT.RATE.BOX Interview: ‘I Just Got Lucky And Picked The Horrible Version Of The Future’
CUT.RATE.BOX’s G. Wygonik on the redux editions, broken formats, bad futures and the strange discipline of leaving certain scars visible....
Klangstabil live in Hamburg – Markthalle, 11 July 2026
Some projects measure their longevity in years but not Klangstabil. They measure theirs in questions. How does a sound come...
Suicide Commando interview – Johan Van Roy opens the gates of his musical hell
Forty years is an absurd lifespan for a project that has never been built for comfort. Suicide Commando began in...
DeVision Redux interview: ‘A Sense Of Renewal Rather Than Nostalgia’
DeVision Redux (Photo by Karo Kratochwil) DeVision Redux's Steffen Keth and Daniel Myer on “Echoes We Keep”, the Redux sound...
NNHMN release ‘Touch Me’, new single from upcoming EP ‘Opera of Lust & the Art of Sorrow II’
Berlin-based dark electro and darkwave duo NNHMN have released the single "Touch Me". The track previews the eight-track EP "Opera...
Digital Factor Interview: ‘Reaching 1.0 Would Almost Be a Shame’
Mike Langer on “0.8”, the 1980s and why Digital Factor still refuses completion Digital Factor’s eighth album, “0.8”, out this...
Eastside Festival 2026 brings Nitzer Ebb, Covenant and Devision Redux to Halle/Saale
Eastside Festival will return to Karlsbad in Halle/Saale on 3 and 4 July 2026. Presented by Pluswelt Promotion, the Pop...
Hollywood Vampires announce UK and European tour with Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Tommy Henriksen
Hollywood Vampires will return to the UK and Europe in 2026, bringing Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Tommy...
Ryuichi Sakamoto retrospective to open at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin
Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin will present “Ryuichi Sakamoto. seeing sound, hearing time” from 11 September 2026...
EMMON and Zweite Jugend interview on ‘Salz’, collaboration and the future of EBM
Swedish electronic artist EMMON and Zweite Jugend join forces on “Salz”, a reworked and reimagined version of a Zweite Jugend...
NNHMN interview: “We are evolutionists”
Berlin-based NNHMN have built their recent work around movement, tension, and transformation. With “Opera of Lust and The Art of...
Out Of Line Weekender 2026 review: Berlin, voltage, vulnerability, and three days that never lost their pulse
First time at Out Of Line Weekender, and already one clear impression: this festival fits Berlin perfectly. Across three days...
Her Own World interview – Building scale without breaking the spell
Her Own World have reached that delicate moment when a band stops being discussed as a promising exception and starts...
Anton Corbijn at Fotografiska Berlin, where music history looks back
“I’m not interested in perfection; I want to show the cracks that let the soul out.” - Anton Corbijn I...
IAMX interview – The art of staying unfinished
Chris Corner of IAMX on UNMASK, IAMIXED, imperfection, and learning how to frame the future When Chris Corner speaks, the...
Bent interview: Niko on Renascence and the afterlife of unfinished songs
Bent is the project of Niko, based in Aschheim near Munich. Deeply connected to the scene throughout the 1990s and...
