David Galas unveils goth club track ‘Pillar of Sorrow’, from upcoming post-punk album ‘The Nihilist’
David Galas
American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist David Galas, long-time member of darkwave band Lycia, has released “Pillar of Sorrow“, the third single from his forthcoming solo album “The Nihilist“, due 12 December 2025 via Rome-based label These Hands Melt on CD and digital formats. The new track arrives with an official video, premiered today via Side-Line Magazine, and continues the rollout that already includes the singles “The Color of Gray” and “Syndrome”.
“Pillar of Sorrow” sits lyrically inside the bitter, fatalistic isolation that shapes “The Nihilist”, tracing a narrative of withdrawal and loneliness, yet musically stands out as one of Galas’ most direct and dance-floor orientated pieces to date. The song is probably his most goth club-focused work so far, contrasting its melodic drive with a theme of slowly fading from view. The album as a whole is presented as “a celebration of his post-punk roots, his most immediate yet fatalistic songbook to date, with lyrics drenched in apocalyptic pessimism and sounds that take over the legacy of bands like The Mission, Mephisto Waltz and Joy Division.”
“The Nihilist” features fifteen tracks: “Syndrome”, “You’re A Needle in My Arm”, “Halo”, “The Color Of Gray”, “Pillar Of Sorrow”, “Slow Burn”, “Atrophy”, “SECT XXV”, “The Nihilist”, “Peeling Skin”, “Midnight Movie”, “Retribution”, “One Last Moment”, “Cloud Of Despair” and “Psilocybin”. All songs were written, performed, recorded and produced by Galas between March 2024 and March 2025 at The Fallout Shelter in Norway, Michigan.
The album will be released as a limited digisleeve CD (300 copies) alongside a digital edition via These Hands Melt, a label founded in Rome in 2023 to release dark, emotional and post-metal-leaning music.
About David Galas
David Galas (born 30 September 1970 in Tempe, Arizona, United States) is an American musician, singer and multi-instrumentalist known both for his solo work and for his role in long-running darkwave band Lycia. He began recording post-punk and experimental material in the late 1980s, later joining Lycia in the early 1990s and contributing guitar, synths, drum programming and vocals to key releases such as “Cold”, “The Burning Circle and Then Dust” and, later, “A Line That Connects”.
Lycia itself formed in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona, and is widely cited as one of the early darkwave and ethereal wave bands, combining layered guitars, atmospheric keyboards and drum machine patterns.
David Galas launched his solo discography with “The Cataclysm” in 2006, initially released on Vendlus Records and reissued in 2024 as a remastered 2xCD on These Hands Melt. This was followed by “The Happiest Days of My Life” (2009, Twilight Records), “The Ghosts of California” (2011), “A Long Hard Road to Nowhere” (2018), “October Rising” (2022), and the twin 2023 releases “A Dark Place To Hide” and “Rituals Of The Dead”, with the latter albums issued in collaboration with These Hands Melt.
Recent singles “You’re A Needle In My Arm” and “Psilocybin”, both released in February 2024, marked a new cycle of activity for David Galas and led directly to the full-length “The Nihilist”. Throughout these releases Galas has kept full creative control, typically handling vocals, all instruments, recording and production himself.
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