In 2004, Pedro Engel—later joined by his wife Nadine—released his first album. Twenty years later, this milestone is celebrated with the album “XX20XX”, on which the German band—sometimes responsible for quite a bit of controversy—has completely reworked, re-sung, and re-recorded six of its tracks. As a bonus, we also get remixes by Nano Infect, Distoxia, Lucifer’s Aid, The Witch Said No, and Derma-Tek.

What I particularly appreciate is that they even revisited a track from their debut album. Everything remains recognizable, yet you can clearly hear the difference. “Zigeunerjunge” is a fine illustration of this. Whether these new versions are better or not is something everyone must decide for themselves, but Acylum’s style and tormented approach remain fully intact. This project undoubtedly belongs to the darkest, most obscure, and at times uncomfortable bands within this particular genre. It is more than Dark-Electro reinforced with Industrial sounds—it is a true, and extremely powerful, experience in its own right. Everything sounds raw, aggressive, and bleak, further intensified by the production of the vocals, sometimes supported by the sharper vocal delivery of Nadine Engel. As for the remixes, I find Nano Infect’s contribution particularly strong, but for me, Acylum’s own work remains unmatched.

Suicide Commando remains the absolute Master of Dark-Electro, but in my view, Acylum is one of its greatest challengers. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Rape”:

Read the news on ‘XX20XX’.

About Acylum

Acylum is a German dark electro and industrial project started by Pedro Engel in 2004. His wife Nadine Engel later joined on vocals.

The 20th-anniversary album “XX20XX” was released on December 12, 2025 through Alfa Matrix. It reworks six earlier Acylum tracks and adds remixes by Nano Infect, Distoxia, Lucifer’s Aid, The Witch Said No and Derma-Tek.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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German dark elektro / industrial duo Acylum – a Side-Line Favourite – have released the digital album “XX20XX” via Alfa Matrix. The release contains six newly recorded versions of earlier songs plus five remixes.

The original versions of “Crazy” and “Torture Tactics” both originate from the album “The Enemy” (2009). “Rape” first appeared on the 2007 album “Mental Disorder” (later also tied to the expanded “Mental disorder v.2” edition). “Dead Culture” comes from the album “Filthy Memories” (2017), while “Zigeunerjunge” was originally released on the “Zigeunerjunge” EP (2015) and also appears on the album “Pest” (2015). “Haus am See” traces back to the album “Karzinom” (2011).

About Acylum

Acylum is a German dark elektro / industrial project founded in 2004 in Chemnitz by DJ Pedro Engel. Nadine “Cooraz” Engel joined in 2008, and the act has since operated as a duo.

The project’s first full-length album “Your Pain” appeared in 2005 on X-Cem Records. The project followed up with the 2007 album “Mental Disorder” on Rupal Recordsbefore signing to Alfa Matrix to release “The Enemy” in 2009.

In 2011 the band released “Karzinom” followed by “Pest” (2015), “Filthy Memories” (2017), “Filthy Memories – Part 2” (2020), “Kampf dem Verderb” (2021), and “Zuchthaus” (2024). In 2020 Alfa Matrix also released “Filthy Memories – Part 2”, a a download-only rarities compilation.

The band also released various EPs: “Beton Kopf” (2009), “Alone” (2011), “Mental Destruction” (2011), “Zigeunerjunge” (2015), “Hate” (2015), “Venom” (2015), “Sieg oder Walhalla” (2020), and “Kalashnikov” (2023), alongside collaboration releases with Wynardtage and Totem Obscura.

In April 2024, the duo released the studio album “Zuchthaus” now followed by the 2025 digital album “XX20XX”. Read the review of ‘XX20XX’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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The Belgian electro label Alfa Matrix releases the twelfth volume in its “Matrix+ Downloaded” series to coincide with the label’s 24th anniversary. The digital-only set collects 69 tracks across the label’s current spectrum – EBM, dark elektro/industrial, synth pop – and newer Spleen+ additions spanning post-punk, goth rock and coldwave. The compilation is offered as a free/pay-what-you-want download via the label’s Bandcamp page and also includes a PDF booklet.

On the cover you will recognize Erica Dunham from Unter Null.

Artists included on this free download compilation include: Studio-X (feat. Kyoko Baertsoen), Rector Scanner, Aesthetische, Cut.Rate.Box, Kant Kino, Frontal Boundary, C-Lekktor, Acylum, Diffuzion, Implant, Neikka RPM, First Aid 4 Souls (feat. Aux Animaux), Noemi Aurora, Suicidal Romance, Llumen, Hanging Freud, Lederman/De Meyer, The Ultimate Dreamers, Aiboforcen, Digital Factor, Armageddon Dildos, Helalyn Flowers, Krystal System, The True Union, Freakangel, Totem Obscura, Lovelorn Dolls (feat. Dero Goi), The Breath of Life, The Names, ImJudas, Synapsyche, Miseria Ultima, Unter Null, Alien Vampires (feat. Dani Divine), Venal Flesh, Helle9, To Avoid, Pouppée Fabrikk, Stahlgeist, Nigra Nebula, Aengeldust, Circuito Cerrado, Matthew Creed, Cubic, Metroland, The Psychic Force, Komor Kommando, First Aid Tech, Die Robo Sapiens, ELM, Plastic Noise Experience, AD:Key, Elektroklänge, 808 Dot Pop, Avarice in Audio, Elektrostaub (feat. Echo Image), Cryogenic Echelon, Entrzelle, Neuroactive, Technoir, Mondträume, Star Industry, Stray, Psy’Aviah (feat. Sorrow Stories), Zombie Girl, Darkness on Demand, Circumpolar, Dunkelwerk, and Lights A.M.

A&R manager, Sebastien Dolimont says: “In 2025, Alfa Matrix proudly celebrates 24 years of existence. Nearly a quarter of a century fighting for dark alternative music, discovering new talents, and keeping the underground alive. This anniversary is not just about us and our artists – it’s about you, our fans. Because without your constant support, there would be no label, no releases, no future for the scene we all love.”

And he add: “In a world where indie labels are disappearing, streaming revenues collapse, and risks of signing new talents are higher than ever, we are proud to still stand strong — but we can only do it with you by our side. By downloading this compilation, you are not just enjoying music — you are actively supporting 69 artists and helping keep our scene alive, fresh, and forward-looking. From all of us at Alfa Matrix and Spleen+, and on behalf of all our artists: thank you for 24 years of loyalty, passion, and support. Together, we’ll keep writing the future of the dark underground.”

About Alfa Matrix

Alfa Matrix is a Brussels-based independent label founded in 2001. The catalogue focuses on electronic subgenres including industrial, EBM, dark elektro, and synth pop, later expanding into post-punk/coldwave via the Spleen+ division. The label’s team includes label & artists manager Seba Dolimont, promo manager Bernard Van Isacker, and head of design Benoît Blanchart.

From the early 2000s, Alfa Matrix used series-based releases to build international reach. Notable strands include “Sounds From The Matrix” (label samplers), “Re:Connected” (digital label overview), and the club-oriented “Endzeit Bunkertracks” multi-CD anthologies (first “Act” released 21 March 2005, featuring 60 tracks with 50 exclusives).

In 2023, Alfa Matrix inaugurated Spleen+, a division centred on post-punk and adjacent styles, and followed with multi-artist projects and catalogue building, including the “Resurgence” 7-CD box that assembled 133 contemporary bands from the post-punk family.

The label has since the very start focused on a direct contact with its fans and customers via their online webstore and Bandcamp.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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The American Dark-Electro project Protokoll 19 has already released several singles and EPs, and this summer they returned with their debut album, “Mental Decay”. The album features seven tracks plus three remixes. The sound immediately captures the essence of ‘Hell-Electro,’ with icy, dark atmospheres, hard-hitting rhythms, and menacing bass lines. The harsh, relentless vocals further amplify the tormented mood that permeates the album. Remixes have been exposed to C-Lekktor, Frontal Boundary and Midnight Nightmare. Protokoll 19’s style feels like a hybrid of Suicide Commando, Acylum, and Centhron. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Clairvoyance”.

Read the news on ‘Mental Decay’.

About Protokoll 19

Protokoll 19 is an electro-industrial project based in Tampa, Florida. Founded prior to 2024, the band centers its work around harsh electronics and lyrical themes of mental disintegration and psychological trauma.

In 2024, Protokoll 19 released their debut EP “Mental Decay” and a full-length digital album of the same name via Danse Macabre Records. The album version reviewed here expanded the EP into seven tracks plus three remixes.

The singles “Witch”, “Connect” and “Trivialized” later formed part of the staggered rollout for the 2025 EP “Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell”. The band remains independent, while working with Danse Macabre Records for select releases.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Acylum has been around for 20 years. The German duo hits back with the new album “Zuchthaus”, which sounds extremely dark and tormented. This is pure Dark-Electro music straight from hell. Provocative samplings, ice-cold melodies, Industrial rhythms and distorted vocals lead the listener into an apocalyptic experience. The bonus disc contains a solid portion of remixes adding more than just an extra to the album. “Zuchthaus” was released on Alfa Matrix. (Rate: 8)

Listen to “Gleichschaltung”:

Read the news on ‘Zuchthaus’.

About Acylum

Acylum is a German dark elektro / industrial project founded in 2004 in Chemnitz by DJ Pedro Engel. Nadine “Cooraz” Engel joined in 2008, and the act has since operated as a duo.

The project’s first full-length album “Your Pain” appeared in 2005 on X-Cem Records. The project followed up with the 2007 album “Mental Disorder” on Rupal Records before signing to Alfa Matrix to release “The Enemy” in 2009.

In 2011 the band released “Karzinom” followed by “Pest” (2015), “Filthy Memories” (2017), “Filthy Memories – Part 2” (2020), “Kampf dem Verderb” (2021), and now “Zuchthaus” (2024). The band also released various EPs, including “Beton Kopf” (2009), “Zigeunerjunge” (2015) and “Kalashnikov” (2023), alongside collaboration releases with Wynardtage and Totem Obscura.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

With “Zuchthaus”, the sulphurous German duo (and couple) Acylum aka Nadine and Pedro Engel return with a new chapter in Acylum’s career for another ear- and eye- provocative effort. They are experts in setting the scene and plunging us in unbearable poignant atmospheres through their sinister and bombastic  harsh elektro deprived of any compromise.  We had a quick chat with the master of darkness…

The album is out as a limited edition 2CD and as an extended bonus version via Bandcamp.

SL: “Zuchthaus” is described as your most sombre and despair-ridden album to date. What inspired you to delve into such profound depths of tragedy and darkness for this release?

P. It wasn’t necessarily planned, I don’t always go to work with a deep plan, but always act spontaneously according to my mood and desire… Also, this time I didn’t really pay attention to what the listener might like in the end, I just really paid attention to my feeling about the music and nothing else.  Very spontaneous…

SL: The album’s rallying cry, “Fight! Victory or Death,” is quite powerful.  Can you elaborate on the message you aim to convey with this phrase and how it ties into the themes of the album?

P. This saying can be interpreted in different ways by everyone. And this is our intention! For me personally I would say it means something like… “do your thing”, “go your way”, “don’t give a shit about what others say”.  Everyone in this society is in their own personal war and you must never lose sight of your goals and your path. Plus it just sounds really cool and is a great opener for the album…

SL: Your music often immerses listeners in historical and political themes, such as the Cold War and gulags for example. What draws you to these subjects, and how do you approach integrating them into your sound?

P. These themes and the typical ACYLUM sound simply harmonize perfectly with each other. Furthermore, these topics are always very attractive to me and of course (especially in Germany) provocative. I like to create a kind of soundtrack for topics of this kind.

SL: Tracks like “Gabriel” and “1000 Meilen” introduce slower, melancholic moments. How did the creative process for these tracks differ from the more aggressive songs on the album?

P. For me an album needs variety and diversity,  If it just banged and crashed all the time I would probably get bored… and you too! For me it’s just super important to incorporate quieter moments into an Long player… and the contrasts between the songs make an album really interesting for me!  This is also what ACYLUM is all about.

SL: You mention a mystical touch of Nordic mythology in the background of the album. Can you discuss how you incorporated these mythological elements into your music and the significance they hold in the album’s narrative?

P. I am a big fan of Nordic mythology and its music. Thematically they don’t really have any meaning on this album, but musically I wanted to bring a little something into it (e.g. the song 1000 Meilen). It’s always nice to mix a few rather foreign instruments with the typical electronic style.

SL: Your sound is known for its confrontational and oppressive industrial noise sequences. How do you balance creating music that is both challenging and addictive for your listeners?

I think we managed to create a rather strange and perhaps unique style over the years. Of course, we are often compared to other bands, but we make it our mission to always be a little different than others.

SL: “Zuchthaus” seems to reflect a cyclical nature of human folly and chaos. What do you hope listeners take away from this portrayal of unrelenting misery and historical repetition?

P. I just hope you enjoy playing it and listening to it, and that you can vent your aggressions or make love to it… whatever you want, but at least it triggers something in you!

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The 4th Synapsyche studio album, “Anti”, is out now as a 2CD set and as download on Bandcamp. The first disc holds 12 tracks of melodic dark elektro / industrial pop, while the second disc in this limited edition 2CD digipak, titled “Apocryphal Psalms”, features unique versions and remixes by artists such as Darkness On Demand, Lovelorn Dolls, Aiboforcen, Acylum, Miss Suicide, Fragile Child, Zeitgeist2511, Statik Sekt, Matt Hart and Dilatory Destruction.

“Anti” turns out to be a conceptual release which – and we quote the Italian duo – “delves into the rebellious odyssey of a 21st-century-born Messiah, diverging from the path of Jesus Christ.” As a result each song carries a double meaning, touching on provocative themes such as euthanasia, betrayal, adultery, feminism, love’s demise, and occultism à la Lavey/Crowley. All tracks were written and composed by Synapsyche (Marco Katatronik and Stefano Mannequinetik) except for “The Last Dying Flame” written and composed by Synapsyche and Chris Harms.

Below is the Bandcamp version, you can get the 2CD set from the Alfa Matrix webstore.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

The German duo Acylum, Nadine and Pedro Engel, are back with an all new album, “Zuchthaus”, which is the follow-up release to 2021’s “Kampf Dem Verderb” and the 2023 EP “Kalashnikov“.

The initial release of the album emerges as a limited 2CD digipak edition, featuring remixes by formidable bands including :Wumpscut:, Supreme Court, Diffuzion, Darkness On Demand, Studio-X, Neikka RPM, Rroyce, Project Erratic, Winterhart, Say Just Words, Human Vault, Alien:Nation, Dyskolia and Deadly Injection.

You can order this limited 2CD edition right now via the Alfa Matrix webstore and as download on Bandcamp. Below are two videos from album tracks.

The German electro industrial project was founded in 2004 in Chemnitz by DJ Pedro Engel and he was joined in 2008 by Nadine “Cooraz” Engel. Read the review of ‘Zuchthaus’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Alien Vampires out of print 2010 album “Harshlizer” is available again in a 2CD deluxe version this coming February 14th (pre-orders available now). The re-release comes in brand new uncensored artwork taken from the original photo sessions of the models featured on the album’s original cover.

This reissue holds the “Industrializer” bonus disc, featuring additional tracks and remixes created during the same period as the original release.

This 2CD version is available now from the Alfa Matrix webstore in pre-order, as download via Bandcamp and in a combi pack together with the all new albums from Acylum (2CD), Synapsyche (2CD), and Implant (CD).

To give you an idea what this album was about, check out the below videos.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

The Australian techno-industrial project Studio-X is currently working on a new full-length album, Australian. But before that new album will be released you can already enjoy the new single “Cause Of Pain”.

Lawrie B. explains: “While the lyrics reflect a story of living with addiction, the tale of a life on the verge of self-destruction.” The track comes accompanied by an alternative ‘hard cyber minimal’ version featuring a dark ‘less is more’ approach. The new single is available on all platforms including of course Bandcamp.

Studio-X is a hard dance project founded by Matthew M. and Lawrie B. in December 2008. The project is currently based in Adelaide, Australia and is now Lawrie B. Who often also invites other musicians to work with him on new material.

Musically this is one of the most innovative acts coming from the industrial scene, so you might want to check out this new single as well!

Also coming up is a Studio-X remix for Acylum via Alfa Matrix. “This one is going to be a banger 🔥” so Lawrie B. says on a Facebook post from early October. But for now enjoy the brand new single “Cause Of Pain” from Studio-X.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Alfa Matrix, the renowned Belgian label, commemorates its 22nd anniversary with yet another mastodont compilation on Bandcamp. The latest installment in the acclaimed “Matrix Downloaded” series, titled “Matrix+ Downloaded 011”, is now available as a free download on their Bandcamp page. Packed with 60 tracks, including new signings and a preview of the upcoming Spleen+ label releases, this compilation showcases Alfa Matrix’s diverse music repertoire.

“Matrix+ Downloaded 011” soared to the top of the industrial Bandcamp charts within hours of its release, claiming the coveted number 1 position.

The collection holds 60 tracks in total including several new signings. These are the bands present on this brand new free download compilation: Hanging Freud, The Ultimate Dreamers, The Breath Of Life, Psy’Aviah Feat. Sorrow Stories, ImJudas, Star Industry, Halo In Reverse, Lovelorn Dolls, The True Union, Freakangel, Avarice In Audio, Siva Six, Alien Vampires, Synapsyche, Helalyn Flowers, Neuroactive, Elektrostaub Feat. Stefan Netschio, Technoir, Entrzelle, Llumen, Noemi Aurora, Aiboforcen Feat. Jan D., Reichsfeind, Mondträume Feat. N-Frequency, The Psychic Force, Digital Factor, Implant, Darkness On Demand, Aesthetische, Komor Kommando Vs. The True Union, Matthew Creed, C-Lekktor, First Aid Tech, Pouppee Fabrikk, ELM, Die Robo Sapiens, Plastic Noise Experience, Armageddon Dildos, Stahlgeist, AD:keY, Kant Kino, Suicidal Romance, Miseria Ultima, First Aid 4 Souls, Neikka RPM, Circumpolar, Venal Flesh, Helle9, Diffuzion, Acylum, Circuito Cerrado, Aengeldust, Studio-X, 808 Dot Pop, Cubic, Metroland, Rector Scanner, Elektroklänge, Cosmic Armchair, Lights A.M.

You can download “Matrix+ Downloaded 011” for free via Bandcamp.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The American (Denver-Colorado) female fronted industrial metal act The True Union, aka Azul Far, released the “Love Me Now” mini-album/EP in December last year. The new EP, released on the Belgian label Alfa Matrix , sees front woman Azul Far joined by producer Sebastian Komor and German metal producer Siggi Bemm and Travis Bacon who produced “Love Me Now”.

On the EP we also find a guest appearance of Jamie Cronander’s (Combichrist live guitarist) who appears on the track “Karma”. The EP also features a unique collaboration between The True Union (as guest vocalist) and her producer Sebastian Komor under the Komor Kommando moniker for the track “One By One”, which equally appeared on the Komor Kommando EP “One By One”. The EP also furthermore holds reworks by Alfa Matrix label mates Alien Vampires, Aesthetische and Acylum.

Time to sit around the table with Azul Far…

SL: Your “Love me now (not)” is surprising in, many ways I find! First of all by that intense diversity of sound displayed across these 9 tracks?

AF: I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying the EP! I like to create the music organically. The songs on this EP have been created across the last few years while I was going through different life cycles and experiences. I think those life experiences reflected in the music and made the EP sound more dynamic. But although the songs might seem to be different genre or somewhat different from one another, they all have an order amongst the chaos. The music is just me. I let the music speak for itself. I don’t have categories. I just do what I do because I enjoy doing it and sharing it with the world.

SL: But also surprising for the multiple collaborations featured!? Tell us more about these?

AF: I have met a lot of great people in the last few years. It came down to networking and making new friendships during our shows and through the internet, especially from 2018-2020. People that heard the demos or saw us live really believed in the band. I am forever thankful for their support. For example, Attila (Mayhem) recommended me to producer/musician Travis Bacon. He polished the sound of the band, producing several tracks that ended at the ears of a few record labels. Shortly after, I got signed with Alfa Matrix. Once signed, I started talking with Sebastian Komor who’s also signed with the label. I have always enjoyed his work and really like the music he’s done (Komor Kommando, Zombie Girl, Icon of Coil +). He also produced a few tracks and we even did the “One By One” collab which has been one of the favorites for sure. I also had the opportunity to work with legendary Siggi Bemm. I had him on my radar ever since the release of “Animatronic” from The Kovenant. I recall being a very young teenager back then and thought to myself “one day I’m going to work with him!”. Years later…it happened. Crazy how life works! Siggi produced and recorded the drums for “Blinded”.These are the only live drums recorded in the EP. But I am happy to announce that i’ll have another special guest record the drums for an upcoming release. A very special guest and a friend for years. This guy’s name is Jan Axel Blomberg (AKA Hellhammer). Have you heard about this guy? 😉 hehe.

I also had the pleasure to have Jamie Cronander record the guitars for a few tracks. I met Jamie when we joined a regional tour with Psyclon Nine. Jamie’s band, Striplicker touring along as well. I had a blast watching his band perform live every night and we became really good friends. He was always very supportive and when the time came, he recorded some sick guitars for me. He’s a coveted motherf*cker who is now playing with Combichrist. I am very fortunate to have him as a special guest.

SL: You also shot a stunning video clip for “love me now”? I have the impression you are a multi-talented artist? How important is it for you to do all this on your own?

AF: Doing everything myself has been out of necessity and not by choice. I have adapted to my environment and have learned a lot of magic tricks along the way. Is it ideal? No, but sometimes it is. Working on everything by yourself gives you full control but it can also slow down the creative process. It can be very fulfilling but it can also be aggravating and you can end up feeling like you’ve “hit a wall”. The quote “If you want something done, do it yourself” comes to mind. But as time goes by I have tried to have more people involved in the music process and listen to their input. In particular for the video, I had my best friend invest a lot of her time and energy into this project. This took months of work, practice and lots of trial and error. If it wasn’t because of her, I would have not been able to make this happen. Doing things alone can be fun, but as you grow, I think it’s best to ask for as much input as possible from people that you trust.

SL: Can we expect The True Union on stage soon with these new songs?

AF: Live shows are on my radar but nothing set in stone yet. I think there will be a right time and place to do this. At the moment, I am focusing on new music and my personal life. Believe it or not playing live shows are mostly terrifying for me. They can also be fun sometimes and of course you get the exposure and ability to network.

But you have to consider there is a lot of planning and financial investment involved. I’m sure l’ll know if/when the time is right. For now it’s free time in the studio…

SL: What else can we still expect from you this year?

AF: A full album! I will get into details about the upcoming release with the label soon. We don’t have a set date yet but I’m sure we’ll let you know when this happens. We are also working on the last few details to release a couple of collaboration tracks I did for other artists. Be sure to check us out periodically because you never know ;).

Here’s the excellent video clip for “Love Me Now”.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The Acylum duo strikes back with the “Kalashnikov” EP on Bandcamp which – obviously – refers to the terrible weapon Michail Timofejewitsch Kalashnikov brought the world, namely the AK-47.

Pedro Engels from Acylum explains: “This weapon has been making hundreds of thousands of victims and with the renewed outbreak of war in Europe since 2022 more victims keep falling day after day… With this EP we question whether it’s time to celebrate the creator or blame human’s never-ending stupidity. When shall we ever learn from our mistakes?”

With this move Acylum continues to introduce political topics in their work. Acylum recently also remixed the single “Ukraina” by Iwan Lovynsky & KingSMarine which Side-Line magazine released past December. All proceeds from that single go to Ukrainian aid.

The 7-track EP “Kalashnikov” holds remixes from :Wumpscut:, Wajidan, 13Th Angel, Elektrostaub and Miseria Ultima. You can check it and download it below. A straight in your face EP.

Side-Line also covered Wumpscut’s ‘Schlossgheist’.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The post-punk scene has a new recordlabel with Alfa Matrix launching a sublabel created to accomodate this specific genre and its varieties including coldwave or even minimal synth. Called Spleen+ you can already find 2 bands signed to it, the Belgian post-punk act The Ultimate Dreamers, who launched their label debut with the EP “Polarized”, and the Italian new wave act ImJudas who presents 2 new EPs, “People Of The Blame” and “So Untrue”.

We sat together with Seba Dolimont who is the A&R behind Spleen+ (and Alfa Matrix).

SL: Congratulations Seba with the new endeavour. Why start a side label next to Alfa Matrix?

SD: Since 2001, Alfa Matrix has been showing a quite eclectic approach of our music repertoire and label artist roster. We release EBM music from FRONT 242, POUPPEE FABRIKK, ELM or DIE ROBO SAPIENS, but also harsh dark elektro with ALIEN VAMPIRES, ACYLUM or C-LEKKTOR, minimal vintage synth with METROLAND, future pop with REICHSFEIND, NEUROACTIVE, MONDTRÄUME, BRUDERSCHAFT… Modern avantgarde electro with RECOIL, IMPLANT, KOMOR KOMMANDO, PSY’AVIAH or yet CUBIC! But also without forgetting our darker acts merging industrial with goth darkwave guitars like STAR INDUSTRY, HELALYN FLOWERS or FREAKANGEL.

We have been toying with this idea for this Spleen+ division for many months. It’s not something that comes out on the spur of the moment, you need to prepare such additional activity within our whole Alfa Matrix Label Group concept. We have been following and enjoying this continuous resurgence of the cold wave / post punk / minimal synth scene for some time. We also noticed that new sub-scene walls started emerging from the ground where the fans do not look much over the walls. Dedicated events and festivals get organised. Dedicated blogs, playlists, etc. start gathering more and more dark souls… So the idea from our side is to simply contribute to this movement offering it some structured and more targeted approach cos there are so many talented artists out there in need of support in their DIY efforts. This focused approach should allow us better supporting artists playing this kind of sound and reaching out to a boiling sub-scene, enlarging our scope of activities and bringing complementary fanbases together because eclecticism remains a core value for our work… And this without bringing us too far away from our roots cos the label team is made of 3 friends born in the early 70’s who were fed on JOY DIVISION, THE CURE, SIOUXSIE, SISTERS OF MERCY and other GHOST DANCE, X-MAL DEUTSCHLAND and SKELETAL FAMILY and not only on 80’s synth pop and the Belgian Electronic Body Music movement!

SL: What (new) signings can we expect?

SD: The very active Belgian act THE ULTIMATE DREAMERS is our first new signing in the genre (see the number of concerts they already played this year only! They are amazing! Their new album comes out in March…) while some current Alfa Matrix artists are potential candidates for a next release on Spleen+ including IMJUDAS or yet STAR INDUSTRY for example. Together with Frédéric Cotton (known for decades of activities as concert & party promotor in Brussels behind the famous “Fantastique Nights” but also as lead singer of THE ULTIMATE DREAMERS) we will also release this year a mega compilation devoted to the cold wave/post punk genre showing how prolific this scene can be anno 2023! We are working on it as we speak…

Since the announcement of this new label division, I am also quite happy and positively surprised by the number of proactive connections we got from very great bands who showed interest in working with us. That’s really exciting. Of course some of them are cool Belgian bands, some being living legends, cos it’s always easier collaborating with a local label speaking your language, but we are also in contact with artists from the UK, Italy, South America, etc. Nothing I want to reveal yet, but we will do this on due time. Keep an eye on our pages at https://www.facebook.com/spleen.plus and https://spleenplus.bandcamp.com . A website will follow soon as well.

SL: Will this also mean extra vinyl releases?

SD: The vinyl format is part of the equation on today’s music market. A portion of music fans who are collecting physical products do prefer the vinyl format but not all of them. So already with Alfa Matrix we have been issuing vinyls for some time for selected bands with own fanclubs and/or who are touring a lot. The vinyl format is also very appropriate to the cold wave/post punk genre that is uniting past, present and future. So my answer is a big YES. Absolutely!

Below are the first releases from the brand new label:

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial, Metal, Electro.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Belgian label Alfa Matrix from time to time likes to think out of the box, signing heavier, Industrial- and Metal-driven artists to their roster. The True Union is an American project driven by female artist Azul Far. After having released works under The Union moniker this EP has been released under The True Union. Seb Komor (Komor Kommando) took care of the production.

Content: The True Union in a way stands for the mix between heavy guitar power and electronic treatments. One of the songs even features guitar playing by Combichrist live member Jamie Cronander. Multiple influences are running through the work. From Epic arrangements to D’n’B elements the songs are also featuring enraged, and possessed, vocals by Azul. It’s not a coincidence Seb Komor asked her to sing on the title song of his newest EP “One By One” -which by the way has been featured here as well. You’ll also discover remixes by Alien Vampires, Aesthetische and Acylum while there’s also an alternative edit of “Blinded” featured as well.

+ + + : The True Union definitely sounds as one of the most furious and ‘wild’ artists signed to Alfa Matrix. It’s a shock because of this artist’s uncompromised and totally enraged way of singing. The sound is not only powerful but also a bit anarchistic. The True Union is a bulldozer on speed provoking a sonic avalanche. I however have to say my favorite song is the Komor Kommando-track “One By One” while I also prefer the Dark-Electro accentuated remix of the title song by Acylum.

– – – : I don’t have anything against harsh and powerful music but The True Union is hard to label and hard to seize.

Conclusion: Merciless and without any possible compromises, The True Union exposes you to a true sonic outburst.

Best songs: “One By One”, “Love Me Now – Acylum Remix”, “Blinded”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.thetrueunion.com / www.facebook.com/thetrueunion

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Love Me Now’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

In order to raise extra funds for our Ukrainian charity cause at Side-Line, we have released the single “Ukraina” which acts as a bridge between the two “Electronic Resistance” compilations released by Side-Line. This 5-track single – available right now for free download via Bandcamp – features the original track “Ukraina” by Iwan Lovynsky & KingSMarine augmented with 4 remixes by Aesthetische, Acylum, Kant Kino and Cubic who each bring their own sound in the mix.

Our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker explains: “The track perfectly explains what the people in Ukraine are going through, their anxieties, their anger. This is Ukraine as people live it today. You could call it an anthem which the other 4 remixers have personalized to their own taste.”

The single comes right after the release of the free “Electronic Resistance – Reconstruction” charity compilation and a new line of EBM Day T-shirts (which also include a free download of this compilation”).

EBM Day T-shirts

Via a special EBM Day T-shirt line we also decided to both remember Ukraine’s resistance and EBM-day in one, all revenue from this T-shirt line will go to Ukrainian aid.

On top we have produced special handmade steel medaillons, limited to 180 copies, representing the electronic resistance logo. You can use it as an amulet, or as a keychain. It is sold in combination with the EBM-day T-shirt (including an Electronic Resistance patch).

Shipping takes places end of December so you are sure to get your merchandise before the 24th of February. We do advise to place your order as soon as possible as the post is not always so fast.

Side-Line also covered Aesthetische’s ‘Boiling Over’.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

The female fronted industrial metal act The True Union is back with an all new video, “Love Me Now”, and a mini-album, released as an EP: “Love Me Now (Not)”.

The new EP is out on Alfa Matrix , the Belgian label that already nurtured other female talents as Zombie Girl, Under Null, Helalyn Flowers or Ayria to name just a few.

For this new release front woman Azul Far was joined by producer Sebastian Komor and German metal producer Siggi Bemm and Travis Bacon who produced “Love Me Now”. On the EP we also find a guest appearance of Jamie Cronander’s (Combichrist live guitarist) who appears on the track “Karma”.

Note that the “Love Me Now (not)” EP also features the unique collaboration between The True Union (as guest vocalist) and her producer Sebastian Komor for the release of his new EP under the Komor Kommando moniker.

The EP also furthermore holds reworks by Alfa Matrix label mates Alien Vampires, Aesthetische and Acylum.

Here’s the excellent video clip for “Love Me Now”. Read the review of ‘Love Me Now’.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Out now via the Side-Line Bandcamp page is the 2nd volume in our Ukrainian charity compilation series. “Electronic Resistance – Reconstruction” is the follow-up to our previous 55-track strong compilation “Electronic Resistance” which was released earlier this year.

The new release holds 58 tracks, including 4 remixes of the Iwan Lovynsky & KingSMarine track “Ukraina” by Aesthetische, Cubic, Acylum and Kant Kino.

Bernard Van Isacker explains: “The war is still far from being over and what the Russians started on February 24th 2022 already has had a huge impact on all of our lives, but way more on those of the Ukrainian people. It’s clear that this topic is very touchy to many. Since the release hit Bandcamp yesterday evening, my mailbox is inundated by ‘proza’ from Russians who don’t agree with the concept of this compilation. But I also get a lot of feedback from Russian readers who appologize for what is happening, which is actually a good thing.”

The concept of this new volume is all about reconstruction, reconstruction of people’s lives, but also reconstruction of a nation which is still being brutalized by Russian aggression. The release holds again more than 50 darkwave / post-punk acts from the Ukrainian underground scene only including a lot of new names.

The compilation is now occupying the number 1 spot on Bandcamp’s industrial charts.

Bernard explains the difficulties to get this new volume on the road: “Just like with the first volume, we were again confronted with difficult conditions to get hold of the necessary files as some disks were in occupied territories, other files were lost and so we sometimes worked with very raw source material to reconstruct the tracks. Add to that that this time electronic contact was made extremely difficult due to the many electricity outages caused by Russian rocket attacks. Many track titles again refer to the current situation as you will notice. We again had the honor to have music from musicians active on the frontline, from soldiers to medics, and from people who continue to help out where possible. Heroes as far as I am concerned.”

All donations this time will go to United24, a global initiative to support Ukraine.

EBM Day Merchandise

But that’s not all. “We refuse to let Putin and his companions hijack what used to be a joyful EBM day, so we decided to both remember Ukraine’s resistance and EBM-day in one go by launching a special T-shirt line. Also the revenue from this T-shirt line will go to Ukrainian aid,” Van Isacker adds

A second T-shirt line comes accompanied with a special handmade steel medaillon, limited to 180 copies, representing the electronic resistance logo. You can use it as an amulet, or as a keychain. It is sold in combination with the EBM-day T-shirt (including an Electronic Resistance badge).

Both items hold the download of the “Electronic Resistance – Reconstruction” compilation.

Shipping takes places end of December so you are sure to get your merchandise before the 24th of February. We do advise to place your order as soon as possible as the post is not always so fast and shipping costs will go up after December so the post told us.

You can order the ‘EBM Day T-shirt’ right here and the ‘EBM Day T-shirt + medallion + badge’ right here.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Ethereal, Ritual.

Format: Digital, Box (5CD).

Background/Info: O Quam Tristis is a French project that was set up by the members of Opera Multi Steel and later on joined by Carine Grieg (Collection D’Arnell-Andrea). Four albums were released by Palace Of Worms in between 2000 and 2008. Wave Records has now put these albums together in a box plus a fifth album entitled “Rare Tracks, Covers & Remixes”. This bonus album is also available as single work on digital platforms and features seven songs. 

Content: This album is an interesting bonus to the box of “Complete Works”. The songs are taken from compilations or simply are ‘rare’ tracks and even a surprising cover version of Garry Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?”. The sound and influences remain driven by Ethereal music and Heavenly Voices. The Latin vocals injects a sacred touch to the graceful composition. Remixes have been accomplished by Schwarzblut and Totem Obscura vs. Acylum.

+ + + : O Quam Tristis is a formation I’m really missing. They added a graceful and melancholic touch to the Ethereal styler. Both debut tracks bring us back to the magic of this formation. Somewhere in between dream and rite, the songs are accentuated by this authentic touch of the instruments. The remix of “Hymnus An Den Zorn” is a great piece of music with a clubby touch on top while the vocals have been sung in German.

– – – : I can’t say that Gary Numan’s cover version is worse but not totally convincing. It rather sounds like a challenge but it’s clearly not standing for the band’s best work. 

Conclusion: O Quam Tristis hasn’t lost its initial magic. This massive box will be an opportunity for young music lovers to discover a great band while the bonus album is a nice present for the fans.

Best songs: “Sancta Genofeva”, “O Crux Ave Spes Unica”, “Hymnus An Den Zorn – Schwarzblut Remix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/OQTfanpage

Label: www.waverecordsmusic.com / www.facebook.com/waverecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Two weeks ago we announced that the Finnish dark electro duo had signed a record deal with the Belgian label Alfa Matrix. Out now is the band’s label debut, namely the 10-track EP “Witch Heart Apparition”. The EP is a teaser for the release of their forthcoming 3rd studio album “In Colors of Void”.

On the new EP Aleksi Martikainen (vocals) and Kimmo Huhtala (synths) offer 2 brand new songs presenting their trademark sound merging cold melancholic atmospheres and poignant sorrowful melodies with harsh aggressive distorted vocals and powerful dark elektro assaults. In addition to the release of a video clip of the title song, which you can view below, their track “Caressing The Pale” was reworked by 8 diverse electro/industrial bands each offering a totally different reinterpretation of the song. In the rework seats we find Acylum, Siva Six, Ad:Key, Neikka RPM, Venal Flesh, Avarice In Audio, Ocean Black and Teknovore.

Here is the full EP available for download on Bandcamp with other platforms to follow soon. We have been following this band for quite some time, good to see they are back with a very strong EP!

Here is the official video for the title track “Witch Heart Apparition”.

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

www.side-line.com

Freakangel is back with an all new video , “The Last White Dance”, and a download EP with the same name which is available now on Bandcamp. The EP includes bonus exclusive remixes by Dawn Of Ashes, Alien Vampires, Acylum, Avarice In Audio, Freaky Mind and a special bonus in the form of an original demo track from 2009.

“The Last White Dance” is taken from the X Anniversary version of their debut album “The Faults Of Humanity” and, in co-operation with an Estonian film director and adult photographer that goes under the name of Basket Buns, it was turned into a NSWF (Not Are For Work) video. The music video is based on the grindhouse/cyberpunk series “Reval City” directed by Basket Buns which you can watch at www.revaluniverse.com.

The video for “The Last White Dance” includes additional content that was cut from the final version of the movie, so expect kinky footage. It is age restricted and can be accessed here.

Here’s the full EP available exclusively on Bandcamp with other platforms to follow in the next weeks.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Carlos Ruiz got involved with the Spanish Dark-Electro duo Dioxyde. The band gained recognition in its genre, but Carlos left in 2004 to move on with his solo-project Asseptic Room. The sound became different although still driven by good-old Dark-Electro vibes. The albums “Morbid Visions” (2006) and “Visceralophobia” (2011) saw the daylight. It next took ten years to Asseptic Room to strike back. Carlos Ruiz got joined by Mario González to compose the new work “Extinction Or Reawaken”. The opus has been again released by Advoxya Records and became a double album revealing next to the Dark-Electro influences at the first disc a more Cinematic exploration at the second disc. I asked a few questions about the past, the present and the future to both protagonists.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I noticed you first started in the scene as DJ. What kind of music were you playing and how did you finally made the step to compose your own music and getting involved with Dioxyde?

Carlos: I started as a professional DJ in a famous club in Madrid somewhere at the end of 1987 – beginning of 1988. I started collecting vinyls since I was 14 years old and my ear was always attracted by genres that were not very commercial at that time. One day a couple of vinyls came into my hands in an import store, (“Party Hate” from Click Click and “Freiheit Fuer Die Sklaven” from Pankow), which made me listen to genres such as Industrial, EBM from the 80’s and especially Dark-Electro from the 90’s.

I started to compose my first tracks in 1991, when I was able to buy my first great computer ever and a Kawai keyboard. But it wouldn’t be until 1998 when I would meet Marcos Calvo and decided to take the leap to produce an album. During one of my sessions as a DJ in a famous Club in Madrid, I met Marcos Calvo who told me about the idea of ​​making music together. In a short lapse of time we had a lot of good songs; Marcos had already composed some good songs, and at that time I had many bases and consolidated themes, which we finally managed to adapt to create the first Dioxyde album “Torschlusspanik”.

I decided to send a cassette with a small sample to Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando). I never thought  he would answer that soon with the intention to know more about the project. It was the beginning of a beautiful story.

Q: How did you finally come to set up Asseptic Room and what makes the difference in sound and approach with Dioxyde?

Carlos: My experience with Dioxyde was incredible. It allowed me to grow as an artist and develop all my creativity and to create my own compositions. Time passing by I found the need to do something on my own and create that dark sound that had been spinning around in my head for so many years. So in 2006 I decided to take a leap into the void and started working for my most personal project.

With Asseptic Room I wanted to explore other types of genres, perhaps more retro, Experimental, more Ambient, but without neglecting the hardness of the percussion and the melodies that have been so successful in my previous work with Dioxyde and used to create songs. such as “Acto Primero”, “Angel (Espina Mortal)”, “Panzerfaust”, “Primary Structures” or “Torschlüsspanik”, a track that I had created for a long time and which has a lot of strength.

That same year (2006) I sent my first demo to Tommy T (DSBP Records) to release the first album “Morbid Visions”. The album responded satisfactorily to my expectations and proof of this is the long list of compilations that wanted to include songs from that first album.

Also, it gave me the opportunity to do some remixes for bands like: Alien Produkt, Vigilante, Aengeldust, Haushetaere, Tyske Ludder or Acylum (Pedro Engel’s project with whom I have had contact on several occasions to create some of my best remixes). Nor will I forget, the magnificent remixes that have been created for Asseptic Room, to highlight among others those of Totalverlust, Acylum, Hioctan, Reality, Suicide Solution, Proyecto Mirage, Larva and many others.

During these years I got in touch with my great friend, Mario González and we had the opportunity to work together in the studio, developing a track for this album. Next I personally went through dark and very difficult years. It was like this until 2011 and the release of the second album “Visceralofobia”. It was a difficult album, like a challenge going through a restless and desperate period. But in the end and with a lot of efforts I was able to release the album thanks to Advoxya Records. After this album I’d to go though the most difficult moments of my life resulting in abandoning the creation of music for many years.

Q: So does the new album you released last year feel like a new beginning? How did it feel all these years without releasing new material? What brought you back to compose new songs?

Carlos: Finally, after the loss of my partner and two years of mourning I came back to surface. One night some musical notes began to sound that I could not stop listening to over and over again. I had to get up and play it in the middle of the night. The first thing I thought was that it was different and it was born from deep within. Those were the first notes of “The Memory Of Silence”; I even imagine to play it in a great philharmonic. A nice dream;)

Around the same time I got back in touch with Mario after many years and everything started flowing quickly. The Covid 19 pandemic came into our lives and for us there were moments of great creativity that helped us to create many new songs.

Q: The new album “Extinction Or Reawaken” has been released as a double album and there clearly is a difference between both discs; than main disc is pure Dark (h)El(l)ectro music while the second disc sounds more into Soundtrack. Tell us a bit more about both discs and the global production process of the work?

Carlos: When we began to develop the songs for the new album, we realized that we had a lot of material and we did not want to leave any song off the album, for this reason we had to think that “Extinction Or Reawaken” should be a double one. It is true that in a few months we had a large and varied number of songs, some songs are pure Dark-Electro, but I incorporate new elements to the compositions that make them different from other personal works.

We had to stop for a moment to reflect if we wanted to create classic dark music or experiment to achieve what our heads wanted with these new compositions. We finally decided to open up and experiment with a multitude of genres.

We had classic songs, perfect to be played in an orchestra, with epic choirs and we had to learn to work with this type of instrument. We also had tremendously hard and dark tracks and other ambient and epic songs.

In the end, all those tracks were a mixture of feelings and emotions, which tell a story full of symbolism for us. It has been a very hard job that has lasted many months, and we are very satisfied with the final result.


Q: What have been the main sources of inspiration to compose this new work and what did you try to express by the title? What has been the input of Mario González and how did you get in touch?

Mario: The inspiration came mainly from the recent loss of our family members. They were very hard times for both of us, but thanks to this we have done our best work.
We explore many sounds with our equipment and for the first time we did not dare to put any limits on creativity and we were open to explore and experiment   even antagonistic genres.

We try to go beyond the Dark-Electro genre by simply trying to imprint the soul of Asseptic Room by using influences from classical music, epic passages, Tibetan sounds and even pure noise.

The album title was chosen on the edge of life’s bad circumstances and somehow represents the nature of human life that transcends good and evil to survive/self-extinct.

Carlos: Mario and I got in touch at the end of 2019 at a perfect time and with all the past experience we had making some tracks for the “Morbid Visions”-album. The process happened automatically and we rarely even talked about how to make music because of a very special connection. We really enjoy doing these things.

Q: How do you see Asseptic Room evolving and what are the further plans –especially in times of ongoing pandemic? 

Mario: Our next plans are to prepare the concert in Madrid with Hocico. We have finished taking up the album “Visceralofofia” with a new production. Eight tracks are included in this new work and our idea is to release it in a special vinyl edition. Now we have to assess the budget to launch it in the coming months.
We have also started working on new songs for Asseptic Room and doing a review of tracks created in my period with Dioxyde. A special way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the project.

Carlos: The pandemic has not stopped our illusion of continuing to do what we like and now our creativity is at a high level and we are excited about the amount of work we have in our hands. The pandemic has been very hard, as for everyone, but thanks to music we have been able to escape from this madness.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Ten years after the band’s last album, Asseptic Room strikes back with their third full length. Carlos Ruiz –previously involved with Dioxyde, has been joined now by Mario González.

Content: This double album clearly has two sides. The main album features 15 songs, which are clearly driven by good-old Electronic standards. Several songs will definitely appeal for fans of :Wumpscut:. There’s a similar tormented sphere mixed with powerful sequences and overwhelming strings. The enraged vocals –mainly sung in Spanish, only accentuate the aggressive approach of Asseptic Room. The last 3 songs are remixes by Acylum, Hiotcan and Nano Infect.

The second album is something totally different. The atmosphere remains pretty dark and you easily recognize the Dark-Electro influence in the song writing, but this album is clearly meant as an imaginary Soundtrack. Most of the songs are instrumental edits –although you’ll notice spoken samplings and a few vocal lines. The songs are sometimes achieved with epic arrangements and constantly driven by rhythms.

+ + + : This work stands for the comeback of Asseptic Room. The first new full length in ten years sounds a bit like a new start and I can assure you the Spanish duo didn’t miss a step. I especially like the darkest and most tormented cuts of the work, which are easily reminding me of the glorious days of :Wumpscut:, but also of Acylum. It’s not of a coincidence Acylum has been asked for a remix and it definitely is one of the best songs of the album. I like the icy sound treatments this album has been made by.

The second disc is different, but Asseptic Room also reveals to have great skills to compose a Dark-Electronic soundtrack. Especially “Syndrome Of Decay” is an impressive piece of music for its epic arrangements; kind of In Slaughter Natives in a more Electronic way.

– – – : The tracklist of both albums could have been a bit shorter; all songs can’t convince me in the same way.

Conclusion: Asseptic Room strikes back with its best album to date: freaky Dark-Electronics for the dancefloors, but still to freak out alone at home.

Best songs: “Extinction Or Reawaken – Redemption”, “Insomnia – Acylum Remix”, “The Rise Of Doom”, “Extinction Or Reawaken” + “Syndrome Of Decay”, “The Destroyer Of Worlds”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/assepticroom.official

Label: www.advoxya-records.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Advoxya-Records/265765706059

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This new work by the duo Robert Van Kooij (The Netherlands) – Jan Ricker (Germany) has been presented as an EP. It features five new songs plus three instrumental bonus cuts so in the end it rather looks like a mini-album. “Stahlbeton” is the second work released on Advoxya Records and the next release after the great album “Evil Calls Home” (2019).

Content: The five new songs are moving on with power and rage. It feels a bit like Wolfchild became harder and more evil in their global approach. Some passages again remind me of the EBM power of Tyske Lüdder, but the songs also feature Dark-Electro leads and other haunting atmospheres. Most of the songs are sung in German, but you’ll notice English vocals.

The bonus tracks are totally different. Here we get 3 instrumental edits, which are also a bit slower and empowered by guitar riffs. One of the songs reminds me of the tormented sphere of the last Acylum-album.

+ + + : Wolfchild simply confirms their potential illustrated on previous works. The 5 new songs are pure rage and driven by adrenaline. The songs are remarkably worked out, carried by icy leads and driven by stumping rhythms. The furious vocals of Jan Ricker only increase the state of violence emerging from these songs. “Paranoia” is an absolute masterpiece, but I also have to mention “Snow In April”, and “Vom Tod Begehrt”.

– – – : The instrumental songs reveal another side of the band, which is clearly more into a kind of EBM soundtrack. It’s not bad at all, but a little bit of an antithesis to the rest of the work. The title song isn’t my favorite.

Conclusion: “Stahlbeton” is a great and dark EBM production, which I can only, but highly recommend for the five main tracks.

Best songs: “Paranoia”, “Snow In April”, “Vom Tod Begehrt”, “Stahlbeton”. 

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/wolfchildelectro 

Label: www.advoxya-records.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Advoxya-Records/265765706059

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Since the release of the “Tulpa” EP in 2017, ImJudas has appeared on various compilations, including our very own “Face The Beat 5” with the track “Without Us You Are Nothing”. With the 6-track EP “Ritual”, Italian artist Maxx Maryan – male half of the electro rock duo Helalyn Flowers – launches the last EP before the launch of his debut solo album “Yrjudas” scheduled for an early 2022 release.

Besides the title track we also find an Aiboforcen remix of the B-side “So Untrue” featuring Noemi Aurora, and 4 remixes of “Ritual” by 808 Dot Pop, Cubic, Reichsfeind and Acylum.

You can download the EP right now from Bandcamp, check the previews below.

And this is the debut EP which was released in 2017, “Tulpa”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

“Jab # 3​,​1415926535​.​.​. [Ain’t gonna fuck with my brain]” is the title of an all new 8-track strong EP by the female fronted dark electro pop act Diffuzion.

Lead singer Xev explained the title as this: “‘Ain’t Gonna Fuck With My Brain!’ is a quite usual expression we use in Russian language when somebody annoys you with repetitive and unnecessary information. So why not make a song out of it.”

Combine that with the the highly frustrating Covid19 lockdown situation with a physical separation of over 7000 km across the Atlantic ocean between both members and you get the idea where this comes from. The whole resulted in an excellent cut!

Besides the title track we also get an excellent, but really an excellent, rework by Aesthetische of “The Blessed”. The title track was reworked by First Aid 4 Souls, Cubic, Aesthetische, Matthew Creed, Neikka RPM and Acylum vs. Aengeldust.

You can download this rather attractive release below, first on Bandcamp, later on on all other services.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Pedro Engel setup Acylum in 2004. A few years later he got joined by his wife Nadine ‘Cooraz’ Engel. From the very early productions the German project revealed an extremely dark and tormented Electro style. Acylum released some very successful albums, “Pest” released in 2015 being becoming an essential opus for Dark-Electro lovers. Six years later, “Kampf Dem Verderb” released on Alfa Matrix, appears to be even darker than ever before. A work filled with terror, provocation, controversy, but still with great and accomplished Dark-Electro. I talked about different topics with Pedro Engel.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: After the “Pest”-album released in 2015 you seem to have focalized on different side-projects. What do these side-projects mean? How do you make the difference between all projects? And when did you finally start writing new songs for Acylum?

Pedro: The “Pest”-album was the fifth Acylum-album and after that we just wanted something different.

With Aengeldust you don’t need to think much about content or lyrics. You just have to produce hard and raw Industrial, it’s just a lot of fun. All you need is a cool topic, some great samples and let’s go!!

Things look different with Totem Obscura. This is more about darker and more mystical topics. The music also sounds in the direction of Dark-Electro, but also with many other influences; here we also use Medieval sounds or even go more in the direction of Gothic-Electro.

The work on “Kampf Dem Verderb” began more than two years ago. Problems with the software and the fucking Corona virus cost a lot of time so it took more than 5 years until we finally had a new Acylum album! It will be faster until the next one .. I promise :-)))

Q: “Kampf Der Verderb” sounds to me as your darkest and most tormented work ever, but what kind of album did you want to accomplish; sound- and lyrical wise?

Pedro: This was actually not an intention; maybe it was because of the long time between the albums. A lot has changed; we changed and the world changed as well… Acylum should always reflect current events, and what are they like at the moment? Terror, the Covid-19 virus, corrupt politicians and sometimes freedom of speech is not advisable in these times. I think that’s the reason!

Q: What have been the different stages you had to go through to achieve the album? What have been the main difficulties and maybe challenges you encountered and what makes this work maybe different from previous Acylum productions?

Pedro: For me it is important that I don’t copy myself. I don’t want a new album to sound like another one I’ve already released. And of course it shouldn’t lose our typical style. In addition, finding the right choice of content is not always easy. Ten years ago it was somehow a lot easier… maybe that’s because you thought less about what you’re doing ;-))

Q: One of the most surprising songs is the reworked version of “The Enemy” (originally released in 2009 at the same-titled album) featuring Nano Infect, Viscera Drip, Wolfchild, Xentrifuge, Technogenetika and your own side-project Totem Obscura. How did you get the idea of this reworked versions with different artists and how did it happen? What has been the input of each artist?

Pedro: Ohhh yes I love this song!! The beat is probably one of the darkest I’ve ever made. That’s why I really wanted to record it again. I always try to do something that nobody (in our scene) has done before. Hence the idea to put many different artists on the track. There was only the requirement that it should be aggressive and provocative… otherwise the artists had a free hand with the lyrics. I just love to hear the different styles, voices and languages on a track. We will definitely repeat that!!

Q: How do you see the evolution in sound and composing process from the early Acylum songs till today? What do you consider as the major changes and evolutions?

Pedro: It’s not that easy to answer. The biggest change is of course myself. The quality and the production both have evolved, of course, but the attitude and the approach has always remained the same. I have never paid attention to what is currently in vogue… the critics have never interested me… So I would say we have been walking our way for 6 albums and it will stay that way for the next.

Q: I noticed there have been people on social media denouncing Acylum for being ‘politically incorrect’. Do you feel affected by these accusations and do you have something to say to the critics?

Pedro: Oh yes we have had this problem for a long time… I am aware that our music is very provocative and many topics are very sensitive and in today’s social media time it happens very quickly that people write bullshit about you and others believe it too. But that doesn’t bother me.

I can only say that I am neither a political person nor a racist. We work with so many international artists that it’s just ridiculous. But I don’t think the critics even want to hear that. It has just become trendy to denounce people who have their own opinion that does not correspond to the mainstream.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Alfa Matrix has been set up in 2001 by three friends. Séba Dolimont, Benoît Blanchart and Bernard Van Isacker were all involved with Side-Line magazine, but decided to start an Electronic label. The label became a home for artists dealing with EBM, Dark-Electro and Electro-Pop, but throughout the years the label welcomed other genres like Gothic, Ambient and Industrial. Front 242, Ayria, Pouppée Fabrikk, Plastic Noise Experience, Armageddon Dildos, Unter Null, Acylum, Implant, Metroland,  Zombie Girl, Helalyn Flowers, I:Scintilla, Mentallo And The Fixer, Leather Strip, Star Industry, Alien Vampires and many others joined the ‘matrix’. And I nearly forget to mention Aiboforcen which was set up by Benoît Blanchart and Séba Dolimont.

(Stéphane Froidcoeur / Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Was there a kind of ‘philosophy’ when you set up your label and did it evolve over the years? How would you define your label activities today?

Seba. Alfa Matrix was created in 2001 with 2 key values: running the label from an artist perspective in our collaboration approach, and focusing on a direct servicing of our customers. All this with the aim to support and market underground Electronic music with attitude with an eclectic approach. Twenty years later, and although the music market situation has drastically changed, we are still active on the same Indie music scene, we still dare signing newcomers and our repertoire confirms our quite open-minded sound range of interest. We do run the label in mutual respect and care with our roster of artists and developed a quite strong direct sales approach for both digital and physical releases.

So we quite sticked to our original mission and simply adapted our operational mode to the constantly evolving music consumption habits and we keep anticipating new trends in order to stay relevant and future proof.

Q: I can imagine you must have specific and explicit criteria to sign an artist/band. Can you give us more details about this aspect and how important is it for you to know the person(s) hiding behind the ‘artist(s)’?

Seba: Through the years, it has become harder and harder to open the gate of the ‘matrix’ simply because we want to stick to a certain maximum number of bands, but also because any new signing to the label should bring something new to the label family, add a new color to our sound/artistic palette. Also important for us is that any new addition to the label must get the green light form the 3 members of the label management team.

The art must touch us for sure, but personally, in my role of artists manager, I pay a lot of attention to the personalities of the artists, probably more today than 20 years ago! Simply because we believe in long term collaborations and to achieve such goal we better construct our relationship on solid foundations and values. So that personal click is also something I need to give my vote…

Bernard: Nowadays it takes time to launch a new unknown artist, and we work slowly, but steadily to get their music heard to the public. There is no magic formula to create instant success, it’s continuous work both by the label and the band. The first has to use the best channels to create the best value for the band while the bands have to work on social presence, and the interaction with fans on several platforms. It’s also why we have started releasing lots of singles, so bit by bit we reach a bigger audience this way via all platforms.

When we started the music market was already in decline so we had to start early on with a new model to get the word out. Know that there are many bands out there and if you actually look at it, too few labels to manage all those great talents.

Q: You are already active for numerous years now so you must have seen a lot of things changing and evolving; think about social media, streaming platforms, Youtube channels… but also economic crisis etc. What are the pros and cons of these changes/evolutions and in, which way did you had to adapt/change your strategy and activities?

Seba: As owners of a company several dozens of artists gave their trust to, the least we can do is running this company professionally through a strong overall financial management and anticipating business and market evolutions to remain future proof. This is why Alfa Matrix was one of the first labels from our scene to be on digital platforms, and I even remember some were laughing about us, especially when we decided to invest a lot in streaming that is still seen as a danger by some today. Like other labels we also went through some tough economic challenges when we faced several bankruptcies from big CD distributors in Germany or in America. But with our strategy of focusing on an international market rather than putting all eggs in one or two baskets, it was easier for us going through all this, and especially with the unmatchable force of having a strong fanbase buying in direct from our e-shops and giving us more financial independence.  So the decisions we make are more guided to the way we adapt our ‘go to market’ strategy: changing distribution channels, deciding how we spread our budgets and investments, etc…

Bernard: In respect to that, we have been continuously checking out new platforms to vet if they were adding value to our media mix or not. For instance Facebook was quickly used by us, but we also knew that this free ride would not continue and that at some point Facebook would close the open gates and restrict the organic reach from their pages. That happened, a bit later than we anticipated, but it did happen. The same for Instagram for example. The free rides are over and done and you can no longer count on getting free unpaid reach for every communication you do. During that process we continued to work on a direct relation with customers. So while some bands and labels have gone that far to only have Facebook as their window we never neglected the own properties we can manage for the full 100%: an own e-shop, a very active Bandcamp page which both have given that what we are looking for, namely a direct link with the fans. So, suppose that Facebook or any other social media platforms stops their activities, we won’t feel any impact as we have a direct link with customers. This under the hood approach has been working very well for us and is something we will continue to do. Social media for us are a nice extra, but nothing more than that, the real value lays elsewhere for us.

I also strongly believe in the streaming market for the future, it’s how most of the music will be digested by music fans alongside HQ audio which people will find on Bandcamp and via physical products. As far as YouTube is concerned, I share the same comment and idea which Dave Heckman made earlier this week to you. This Google moloch pays really peanuts, 10 times less than Spotify, it also offers poor audio, but surprise surprise… everybody wants to be on it. It’s maybe good for the image but not so good for your wallet in the end if you consider the production cost of a video versus the extremely low return you get from it. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to be present there, but I seriously doubt that a lot of money should be thrown at it, it’s not our preferred medium.

Q: The ongoing pandemic has affected all artistic life and activities so what’s the true impact on your label activities and do you think it will also affect your long term objectives?

Seba: First of all the pandemic affected every person behind our Alfa Matrix bands and the label staff itself, most probably first on a personal level, cos they themselves struggled against Covid-19 or lost loved ones around them. What obviously hurts the most is the recurrent cancellation of tours, festivals, shows… this is hard for all bands. The stage remains the ultimate place of communion between artist and fans. The duration of the pandemic crisis also makes it more and more complex for artists releasing new albums and not being able to perform the new songs live.

Economically, so far we have been working hard and increased our promotional efforts to support the bands. As a result we actually managed increasing our label turnover between 2019 and 2020 with over 15% although the lockdown hit us all heavily. It was a combination of efforts: we continued to deliver CD’s to shops in direct -when some of our distributors were obliged to keep doors closed for example, but also from our bands who released more digital music to also bring some nice entertaining moments to their fans in these difficult moments, but also from our fans who continued supporting us massively.

Now unfortunately we all know that the economic crisis that will follow will hurt at all levels, but we will only start experiencing the real impacts in the second half of this year. It’s then that more and more people will continue loosing their jobs, loosing a portion of budgets they usually put into art and leisure. I also hope that this sanitary crisis will lead more people to pay more attention to their health in general. So yes, the world will change for sure, and we will all need to adopt and adapt at some point.

Q: Do you think media (magazines, online platforms etc…) still have an impact and a role to play today? What’s your relationship with ‘journalists’ and how important is their work?

Seba: Media changed a lot in 20 years indeed! Print magazines have been going through tough times. The major challenge is remaining relevant as a print magazine coming out monthly while online news get published instantly and spread a few clicks further. Combining digital with print is not easy. Integrating social medias, streaming platforms, etc… in the overall journalistic equation is tricky.

It’s just like for music, the new generations tend to consider that art and information should be free of access. As a label, of course journalists still play an important role for a certain portion of music fans who still enjoy turning pages while reading and enjoying the pleasure of holding a magazine or a book in your hands. They then also reach out to the digital audience via their blogs and other websites. But the readers tend to identify themselves less than before to some specialized journalists, but will rather trust and follow the advise of some friends posting on social medias, other buyers leaving comments on webstores or other influencers. They also tend to trust themselves more and more and believe in algorithms recommending them the next music to play on their own music radar.

Bernard: Many online magazines do not publish news daily or even regularly which makes it difficult for them to stay relevant in these days of social media. In the past we were able to work with a lot of great web magazines, but these days we have to work with hundreds and most really have a very very small readership, while others have been smart enough to evolve, develop, stay relevant. Those online magazines from the past who did not evolve have seen their visitors go to Facebook and never have seen them back. Most also ceased all activity. It shows clearly that Facebook for instance is not the booster that most had hoped, on the contrary, and it also explains why many magazines are increasingly negative towards Facebook because they have now largely decided what you get to see, what you discuss about etc..  

As a label we must combine all these elements to reach out to our customers/fans and make choices based on gathered experience and acquired know-how, while exploring new grounds… 

Q: What do you consider as your biggest accomplishment(s)? Do you have specific goals/dreams you want to achieve and how do you prepare and see the future of the label(s)? And what are your biggest regret(s)?

Seba: I think our biggest accomplishment is to be talking with you today and celebrating 20 years of Alfa Matrix, each release from our music repertoire between 2001 and now each contributed to this success, from newcomer acts to living legends from our beloved music scene.

The only regrets I might have are first of all not to have 10 days in a week to do all I’d like to do, and maybe having put a couple of friendships in danger by starting a label collaboration with friends without having been enough aligned and synched together on strategic elements. As far as the future, I hope we will still be able supporting talents as long as possible and having the chance to release the great work from our artists, and working with experienced music supporters like you…

Bernard: I personally never expected that this story that started as an idea amongst friends would turn out to be that successful and long-lasting. Seba had the basic idea and then pitched it to Benoit and me. Since I knew Seba as a very trustworthy guy (you introduced him to me remember!) it didn’t take long for me to decide to get on board and invest in it.

As far as the future for the label, or any label, I guess that the love for what we and the bands do will be the biggest power behind it all. I still discover great music in this scene so we are not in desert modus. The biggest challenge will be to keep on making new people warm for this scene’s music. Not a simple task, but we’ll manage alright I think.

My biggest regret… we all know it’s very time consuming and it’s not always easy to find a good balance between family life and work. As far as my two colleagues is concerned, I know how to separate my private life from work, so even if we have some catfights about certain things (we have to agree all 3 on something or it doesn’t happen), we remain loyal friends above all. And as far as how we function together, you can say that the structured thinking of Seba combined with the fuzzy logic style of thinking of Benoit and myself is an ideal breeding platform for great adventures!

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD & 2CD.

Background/Info: The German band Acylum driven by Pedro ‘Acylum’ Engel and his partner in crime Nadine ‘Cooraz’ Engel strike back with the first Acylum album in nearly six years! “Kampf Dem Verderb” was introduced last year introduced by the EP “Sieg Oder Walhalla”. The work wants to be a reflection upon the ‘overall bloody atmosphere of hatred, violence, terror and war’. 

Content: The return of Acylum is characterized by an extremely dark and tormented sound perception, which totally matches with the ‘concept’ of the album. The songs are constantly driven by harsh, Industrial kicks while similar desolate tunes are supporting the work with darkness. The use of mainly German samplings accentuates the horror of the war vision, but still appears to be provocative. The harsh vocals by Pedro Engel only accentuate the nightmarish atmosphere emerging at the surface of this opus. The main difference with the brilliant and previous album (cf. “Pest”) is that this work sounds less powerful, but more into an atmospheric approach. A few tracks are even harder! One of the most surprising cuts is a new version of “The Enemy” (originally released in 2009 at the same-titled album) and now reworked with the contribution of Nano Infect, Totem Obscura, Viscera Drip, Wolfchild, Xentrifuge and Technogenetika. 

The bonus disc from the limited edition is featuring remixes by Suicide Commando, Armageddon Dildos, David Blackstar, Asseptic Room, Ice Ages, Larva, Advent Resilience, Schwarzstern, Project Eratic, Dirty K, Implant, Nano Infect, Aesthetische and Mental Exile.

+ + + : I was eagerly awaiting the sixth album of Acylum and especially after the brilliant “Pest”, which I consider as one of the best Dark-Electro productions from the past ten years. This new work sounds different, which in a way is a good thing, revealing a band which doesn’t want to repeat itself. But the good thing is you rapidly recognize the unique and extremely tormented horror vision emerging from the tracks. Acylum has its own sound DNA, which you’ll instantly recognize. The best cuts however are the hardest ones; “What Do You See?” is my favorite and for sure a song reminiscent of the glorious days of :Wumpscut:. I also have to mention “Violin Of Death” and the already known “Sieg Oder Walhalla”. The idea of reworking “The Enemy” by inviting multiple bands from the darkest Electro scene is a great idea.

Among the remixes I heard different inspired versions, but especially want to pick up Suicide Commando with the very ‘Klinik-al’ remix of “Masquerade”, some club-driven remixes by Armadeggon Dildos and Schwarzstern, the Industrial and instrumental transformation of “Venom” by Dirty K and the phenomenal EBM transposition of “Sieg Oder Walhalla” by Aesthetische. The last remix by Mental Exile is also worthy of examination as they remixed “Sieg Oder Walhalla” into an Electro/Disco-Pop edit.

– – – : I’m missing the power and rage of “Pest” while the melody sounds/tunes are pretty similar to each other. Acylum remains a particular experience, but this not my favorite album!

Conclusion: No doubt about it this harsh and provocative album will catch a wider attention, but I was less impressed. It however remains a particular experience in (h)el(l)ectro music!

Best songs: “What Do You See”, “Violin Of Death”, “Sieg Oder Walhalla”, “Venom – Album Version” + “Sieg Oder Walhalla – Aesthetische Remix”, “Hunter – Armageddon Dildos Remix”, “Schwarzer Adler – Schwarzstern Remix”, “Masquerade – Suicide Commando Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Acylum.Music

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Kampf Dem Verderb’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Back in the good old days, Side-Line online had a weekly newsletter that was sent to over 40.000 people. And when we say back in the good old days, we mean 1999. That’s 22 years ago. Time flies… When in 2004 our provider back then stopped, we were unable to continue the service as we found no new provider able to send that newsletter on a weekly basis at a reasonable price.

22 years later Audioglobe’s Sebastian Koch suddenly mentioned that good old newsletter during a quick chat back and forth. He missed that newsletter where he could find some relevant info on the scene. His comment triggered us to look for a good partner in order to relaunch that very service and at the same time also look for a better solution for our daily newsletter which currently services a rather large readership of thousands of people worldwide. We say a ‘better solution’ because let’s be honest, what Feedburner offers currently is extremely poor when it comes to usability, options, etc.. And that for a Google owned company, you would think they’d do a better job, but no.

On a side-note, we ditched Google’s Adsense a few years ago as well, because they started intervening in the content of our site. Although they claim never to intervene in what publishers publish, we were regularly asked to take down articles of Apoptygma Berserk, Front 242, VNV Nation, Rammstein, Acylum, … because they didn’t like the content or images. Censorship at its best, and when we were asked to censor an article on Kant Kino, we called it quits and removed Adsense from our pages, enough was enough.

Now, back to the newsletters solution.

New design and the relaunch of the weekly newsletter as well

With our new partner we are now able to offer you a very slick design, a Facebook follower even called it ‘chic’. We offer you a preview of the new newsletter below (here split up in 3 segments so you see how the whole newsletter looks like).

As you can see the new look is very much in line with our website: simple, clear, clean… and no ads.

The biggest change will however be the relaunch of our weekly newsletter. You can subscribe to either the daily or the weekly newsletter OR you can sign up for both if you want to.

You can sign up below.

You will also have noticed if you visited our website in the past few days that there is a ‘slide in’ sign up form which appears after you have passed 50% of a page, also this one. It features the German EBM band Rector Scanner who was so kind to allow us to use this specific promo picture.

Over time other bands will be invited to offer a picture as well. So look out for some nice cameos.

Good to know, for those who don’t want to subscribe, it won’t be popping up all the time, only every 2 weeks if you didn’t sign up. We might adjust this depending on the feedback we get.

What happens with my old subscription?

Good question. First of all, the older weekly newsletter subscribers will get an email to resubscribe. All 40.000+ emails from our very first weekly newsletter have been checked for their validity and so far a bit more than 24.000 are still valid. If you were part of that newsletter, and your email is still valid, you will receive an email to sign up again in the next week.

As for the daily newsletter, we are currently also testing if the Feedburner emails are still active, something Feedburner never managed properly. Actually, Google never bothered to check it and kept all emails active, even the ones that bounced. This is actually a pure disgrace, but since we are leaving the Google platform for good, let’s look to the bright future ahead instead.

If the test this Monday evening, that’s today, goes well, the daily newsletter subscribers from Feedburner will be transferred automatically to the new service. But if we encounter too many bounces in the testmail that goes out, we will send out an email to the current subscribers here as well to sign up for the new daily newsletter so that we don’t run the risk to get flagged for spam due to too many bounces.

Note that all new signups will again be double opt-in, this to avoid spam and to avoid bounces.

The future is bright, the future is away from Facebook

As said before, we have no reason to believe that Facebook will be getting friendlier for indie (music) publishers. So we continue to work on own channels to get the news out just like we have been doing over the past 22 years.

A few weeks ago we already officially launched the web push notification service which has been rapidly adopted by our readers, and now we launch our newest newsletters in a rebooted version and will continue to develop other platforms such as our Telegram channel to make sure that readers get the news they want.

Our priority will be given to work on the platforms where we really are sure that people get correctly informed without having a sh*t load of ads to wade through so to speak.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

After some releases with their side-projects Totem Obscura and Aengeldust, plus the publication of rare early demo material through the “Filthy Memories 2” release, the Acylum duo (Pedro and Nadine Engel) are back with the successor of “Pest”. “Kampf Dem Verderb” is out now via Alfa Matrix.

The first edition of this 12-track album is released as a deluxe double-CD digipak edition offering some 14 exclusive bonus remixes by Suicide Commando, Armageddon Dildos, Implant, Aesthetische, Mental Exile, Nano Infect, Asseptic Room, Ice Ages, Larva, Advent Resilience, Project Erratic, Dirty K, Schwarzstern and David Blackstar.

Note that no less than 6 bands collaborated on the remake of the band’s classic song “The Enemy”, namely Nano Infect, Xentrifuge, Totem Obscura, Техногенетика (Technogenetica), Wolfchild and Viscera Drip.

You can check out the release below via Bandcamp or as a 2CD set via the Alfa Matrix web store.

For those who missed out on the digital only “Filthy Memories 2” release, you can grab it below. Read the review of ‘Kampf Dem Verderb’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

It has been a hectic year, also for Alfa Matrix, but luckily their bands took the time to work in their studio to record new material. Out now via the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp page is the label’s 10th edition in the “Matrix Downloaded” compilation series, again offering you a – free – insight in what the Belgian label is all about. You can discover 64 tracks right here on Bandcamp.

The download holds tracks from Cubic, Psy’Aviah, Aesthetische, Digital Factor, Reichsfeind, Llumen, Zombie Girl, Diffuzion, Matthew Creed, Circuito Cerrado, Circumpolar, Venal Flesh, Mentallo & The Fixer, Freakangel, Alien Vampires, I:Scintilla, Schwarzblut, Totem Obscura, Reactor7X, First Aid 4 Souls, Lederman / De Meyer, Implant, AD:keY, Kant Kino, Die Robo Sapiens, ELM, Pouppee Fabrikk, Armageddon Dildos, Plastic Noise Experience, Synapsyche, Avarice In Audio, Elektrostaub, Junksista, First Aid 4 Souls, Benestrophe, Mental Exile, Star Industry, Halo In Reverse, Lovelorn Dolls, Helalyn Flowers, Essence Of Mind, Rector Scanner, Elektroklänge, Metroland, Lights A.M, Cosmic Armchair, Aiboforcen, H.O.W., 808 DOT POP, Suicidal Romance, Entrzelle, Technoir, Neuroactive, Mondträume, The Psychic Force, Studio-X, Studio-X Vs Simon Carter, Neikka RPM, Komor Kommando, Siva Six, Aengeldust, Acylum, Dunkelwerk and Növö.

Exclusive face masks

Next to that you can also get the download together with a face mask, out in a very limited series. You can either buy them separately or get all 3 in one. Check the set of 3 Face Masks (Blue Matrix + Endzeit + Red EBM Alert) or the separate masks.

Note that EVERY face mask order comes with a free compilation CD on top: “Sounds from the matrix 022” with 20 extra tracks.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

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Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Five years have passed since the last Acylum album “Pest”. The German duo Pedro- and Nadine Engel are back with a new EP announcing the upcoming full length “Kampf Dem Verderb” announced for early 2021.

Content: The title song is a rough piece of (h)el(l)ectro music featuring Industrial sound treatments. Harsh vocals are resonating, like a prelude to terror. The title track has been remixed by Second Attack vs. Adeonesis, Stahlnebel & Black Selket, Sin D.N.A. and Wolfchild.

We also get the song “Fire”; a kind of tormented B-side song and a remix of the upcoming album title-song by Benjamin’s Plague.

+ + + : “Sieg Oder Walhalla” is not the best song I’ve heard from Acylum, but it’s definitely a title song for an EP. It’s filled with power, rage and rough sound treatments creating an obscure, terror-like atmosphere. And everything reflects this atmosphere in the work of Acylum, even the B-side song “Fire”, which accentuates this uncomfortable feeling when listening to Acylum. Who better than this band deserves the label (h)el(l)ectro-music? Among the remixes I especially recommend the remix by Stahlnebel & Black Selket, which boosted the danceable vibes of the original version. WolfChild’s remix is another attention grabber and I especially enjoyed the extra lead they added in the end of the song.

– – – : I expected a bit more from the remixes generally speaking.

Conclusion: Up to the new album of Acylum and I’m really wondering if it will have a similar impact as “Pest”.

Best songs: “Sieg Oder Walhalla”, “Sieg Oder Walhalla – Touched by Stahlnebel & Black Selket”, “Sieg Oder Walhalla – WolfChild Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Acylum.Music

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Sieg Oder Walhalla’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

After over 5 years of isolation in their bunker, the Asylum duo, Pedro and Nadine Engel return with a brand new download EP which is available now via Bandcamp.

“Victory or Valhalla was the motto one thousand years ago”, says Pedro Engel. “Today it’s even more true than ever! We all get pushed into corners when we don’t want to stand, opinions get imposed on us even when we don’t share them.”

“So there is nothing left for us to do but switch to attack mode and follow the steps of our ancestors!”, adds Nadine Cooraz.

This new 7-track EP “Sieg oder Walhalla” announces Acylum’s forthcoming album “Kampf dem Verderb” that will be released in early 2021. It offers a first peak into the sound direction taken by the hellektro duo. Read the review of ‘Sieg Oder Walhalla’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Out now via Alfa Matrix is “Filthy Memories – Part 2“, a brand new download only album by the German dark electro act Acylum compiling old recordings, rare collaborations and other unreleased early demo tracks. The release acts as a little extra until the new studio album “Kampf Dem Verderb” comes out this Autumn 2020.

Next the label also released a new version of “The Enemy”, a ‘censored’ version, since the original version has been boycotted by all download services due to what the label considers an unjustified witch-hunt. Acylum compensated the few removed songs by adding several bonus tracks and remixes from the same recording period. You can of course also get the normal uncensored version via the label’s Bandcamp page.

The label has also released the complete back-catalog of the band’s repertoire via Bandcamp, including also the releases from the band’s side projects such as Totem Obscura, Aengeldust and Haushetaere.

ACYLUM

• The Enemy (v​.​2​.​0)
• Filthy Memories – Part 2
• Melanom
• Filthy Memories
• Matrix​:​Reb00ted – The Acylum Guerrilla – Zion (Dark Elektro) Warfare (02)
• Forgotten Time (Bonus Tracks Version)
• Karzinom (Bonus Tracks Version)
• The Enemy (Bonus Tracks Version)
• Hate EP
• Venom EP
• Pest (Bonus Tracks Version)
• Zigeunerjunge EP
• Mental disorder v​.​2 (Bonus Tracks Version)

TOTEM OBSCURA vs. ACYLUM

• Waldgeist
• Forgotten Time (Bonus Tracks Version)

TOTEM OBSCURA

• Helden EP (feat. Hubert Kah)
• Nordische Feste
• Blutiges Eisen EP
• Nachtwache EP

AENGELDUST

• Zucht EP
• Agent Orang
• Dancefloor Killer
• Meth Face EP
• Freakshow

HAUSHETAERE

• Syndicate (Deluxe Edition)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Alfa Matrix continues the ‘Matrix:Reb00ted’ series, this time with 2 remix albums by Belgian artist Psy’Aviah displaying his electro dance trip pop remixes cruising through the Alfa Matrix band catalogue. The releases are first released via Bandcamp and will follow on all other platforms in the next weeks.

Here’s what is available on both volumes plus also a preview of what to expect.

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Psy’Aviah Guerrilla – Zion [Electro Dance] Warfare [07]

This volume holds 15 songs from Alfa Matrix’s massive music repertoire remixed by Psy’Aviah. Offering the electro dance side of the Belgian band you can expect a harder selection of modern dancefloor assaults with these bands: Ayria, Suicidal Romance, Zombie Girl, Junksista, Leaether Strip, Essence Of Mind, Nebula-H, Diffuzion, Schwarzblut, Diskonnekted, Krystal System and Psy’Aviah. You can check all the songs below and download it from Bandcamp directly.

Matrix:Reb00ted – The Psy’Aviah Guerrilla – Zion [Trip Pop Electro] Warfare [06]

This volume also holds 15 songs from Alfa Matrix’s massive music repertoire remixed by Psy’Aviah. The “trip pop electro” edition reveals a selection of more moody and catchy synth electro songs thanks to bands like Mondträume, Metroland, Aiboforcen, Helalyn Flowers, Acylum, Junksista, Entrzelle, Llumen, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Halo In Reverse, Schwarzblut, Mildreda, Totem Obscura and Psy’Aviah, also including guest vocals by Kyoko Baertsoen, Mari Kattman and Fallon Nieves. You can check all the songs below and download it from Bandcamp directly.

Previous volumes

Here’s a list of the 5 previous volumes which Alfa Matrix released in the past with remixes executed by Kant Kino, Simon Carter, Acylum and Aesthetische !

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Available now for free (or pay-what-you-want) via Bandcamp is the 9th volume in the “Matrix Downloaded” compilation download series by the Belgian electro label Alfa Matrix. In the past these compilations have been downloaded by ten thousands of fans around the world and we don’t expect it will be different this year.

The label also announces that it will invest all donations in nurturing new bands and getting their careers launched.

Here’s what Seba Dolimont, A&R at Alfa Matrix, has to say about it: “The music market has shifted a lot over the years and in many ways losing its solid footing. CDs sales are collapsing entirely and the shift from downloads to streaming has not yet shown a revenue that is replacing what has been lost. (…) This evolution has created an environment where many labels have almost stopped playing their key-role of talent scouting, no longer daring to invest in new talents who deserve to be heard by you! Alfa Matrix is one of the very few record companies in this scene who try to keep the right balance between releasing renowned artists and supporting younger bands who still need to catch the attention and reach your ears.”

61 bands and tracks

The compilation holds the work by 61 label bands who joined hands to deliver you 61 songs representing the label’s most recent singles and albums while giving a preview of some promising forthcoming 2020 productions including announced new releases by POUPPEEE FABRIKK, NEUROACTIVE, ALIEN VAMPIRES, HELALYN FLOWERS, DIE ROBO SAPIENS, IMJUDAS, 808 DOT POP, ACYLUM, ARMAGEDDON DILDOS, PSY’AVIAH, AVARICE IN AUDIO, SIVA SIX, NEIKKA RPM, AESTHETISCHE, KANT KINO, KOMOR KOMMANDO, AD:KEY, H.O.W., CIRCUMPOLAR, SYNAPSYCHE, LLUMEN, ENTRZELLE, LIGHTS A.M, REACTOR7X, FIRST AID 4 SOULS, etc.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, dark-electro, EBM, gothic, industrial.

Background/Info: Alfa Matrix clearly has something with Depeche Mode while the electro-pop masters remain an endless source of inspiration for other artists. You don’t only have the numerous Depeche Mode clones, but all these bands covering songs from Depeche Mode as well. Even Johnny Cash has made a cover! The Belgian label has released its third tribute to the ‘Kings’ of synth-pop music featuring 32 songs.

Artists: Komor Kommando, Alien Vampires, Star Industry, Acylum, Metroland, Armageddon Dildos, Ad:Key, Helalyn Flowers, Regenerator, Schwarzblut, Neikka RPM ao.

Content: Depeche Mode is a band we all know, but cover versions from their most famous hits is always tricky business. This tribute only features Alfa Matrix bands, which have seriously revisited the original versions to create a very personal edit. The compilation sounds pretty ‘pop’-like, but mixed with elements of EBM, dark-electronics, gothic and industrial music.

Metroland is the only band which has covered two songs while Ad:Key next to their cover also made one together with Die Robo Sapiens.

+ + + : The diversity of influences is captivating. I enjoyed the transformation of Star Industry and Lovelorn Dolls into gothic music, the industrial bombast from Alien Vampires and Neikka RPM, the Kraftwerk-ian approach of Metroland, the EBM boost of Kant Kino and Ad:Key, the dark and tormented versions by Acylum and Circuito Cerrado         and the sensual style of Regenerator. Among the singers I especially like the voice of Noemi (Helalyn Flowers) singing on “Dream On”. Some of the biggest and most famous hits from Depeche Mode have been revisited.

– – – : Covering such a legendary formation and some of the most famous hits (“World In My Eyes”, “A Question Of Time”, “Little 15”, “Photographic”, “Black Celebration”, “Enjoy The Silence”, “Walking In My Shoes”, “Master And Servant”, “Shake The Disease”, “Personal Jesus”…) remains a pretty risky business and probably a blasphemy for some fans of the band.

Conclusion: This kind of tribute is an original way to re-discover Depeche Mode in a totally different style and approach, but also to discover the Alfa Matrix bands in a different format.

Best bands: Alien Vampires, Acylum, H.O.W., Regenerator, Neikka RPM, Metroland.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM, electro-industrial, techno-body, power-noise, IDM.

Background/Info: The first ‘act’ from this now legendary compilation was released in 2005. Fourteen years later Alfa Matrix released the eight edition of this series devoted to dark-electronics. The massive work features 72 songs on 4 discs and 40 extra songs available as download.

Artists: Suicide Commando, Blutengel, Zombie Girl, Funker Vogt, Komor Kommando, [SITD], Angelspit, Noisuf-X, Solitary Experiments, Ad:Key, Acylum, Phillip Münch ao.

Content: It’s impossible to go in detail when you’ve to review such a compilation featuring 112 songs! But “Endzeit Bunkertracks” remains faithful to a mix of music genres dealing with electronics and a fusion between great and established artists plus discoveries. No doubt about it, the some upcoming talents have been featured here. Next to a bunch of Alfa Matrix bands the compilation also features big names from other labels such as Out Of Line, Dark Dimensions, Infacted Recordings, Repo Records ao.

There’re a lot of exclusive cuts features and/or remixes while the best bands aren’t always featured on the discs.

+ + + : A great sampler and a hard copy means so much more than the digital version. The artwork by Japanse artist Tomoki Hayasaka is absolutely great and matching with the concept. Song-wise you’ll discover interesting young talents such as H.O.W., Complex Mind, Eexee, Suppressor, Playngrain, Pax Sono, Nitek, Fabrikmutter and C-Phalea. The diversity of the songs made this ‘sonic orgy’ more accessible then releasing such a box format with only dark-electronic bands.  

– – – : Even if this compilation remains a great and successful work, 112 songs is definitely too much so this is a compilation you’ve to listen spread over several days.

Conclusion: It has been my pleasure tipping some ‘unknown’ talents, which have been selected for the compilation while “Endzeit Bunkertracks” remains a sonic bible for all dark electronic souls!

Best bands: Komor Kommando, Implant, Noisuf-X, Electronic Frequency, Funker Vogt, [X]-Rx, Suppressor, Nitek, Ice Ages, Larva.

Rate: (8½).

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Techno-body, minimal-EBM.

Background/Info: Belgian artist Steve Deconinck has already been active for a couple of years now under the VV303 moniker. He did multiple remixes for bands such as IC434, Psy’Aviah, Acylum, Studio-X, Ethan Fawkes, Implant ao and released several EP(s. On “Cocaine Blues” he joined hands together with Belgian label Nu Body Records.

Content: The EP takes off with a minimal-EBM inspired title song featuring a few spoken words. We next get remixes by Ethan Fawkes, Son Of Chaos and Caffetine.

+ + + : “Cocaine Blues” is a cool EBM-driven cut with an extra minimal touch on top. I especially like the solid bass line running through this track. From the remixes I want to mention the work of Ethan Fawkes -especially for the great break in the song and the body-techno remix of Son Of Chaos.

– – – : I’m less convinced by the remix of Caffetine, which was one of the first projects signed on Nu Body Records.

Conclusion: Nu Body Records is a small label I especially recommend to lovers of EBM-minimalism. VV303 is a project that remains fascinating.

Best songs: “Cocaine Blues – Original Mix”, “Cocaine Blues – Son Of Chaos Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/VV303music

Label: www.facebook.com/NuBodyRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

With the 8th edition of their now classic free “Matrix Downloaded” label digital compilation, Belgium’s Alfa Matrix label presents a selection of 55 songs via Bandcamp.

The 55 songs represent the label’s most recent singles and albums while giving a preview of some promising forthcoming 2019 productions including announced new releases by Helalyn Flowers, Synapsyche, Avarice In Audio, H.O.W., Llumen, Mental Exile, SD-KRTR, Diffuzion, Reactor7X, Aesthetische, Armageddon Dildos, Die Robo Sapiens, Junksista, Imjudas, Alien Vampires, Mondträume, Aiboforcen, Dunkelwerk, Komor Kommando, Neikka RPM, Acylum, etc.

You can download it for free or as a what-you-want-to-pay from Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Fuck The Revolution Bring On The Apocalypse’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Revolution’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

The Belgian label Alfa Matrix has launched 2 brand download releases in the low-priced ‘Matrix:Rebooted’ series containing no less than 30 remixes by the Brazilian dance electro act Aesthetische. If you know Aesthetische, you know you can expect highly danceable clubfood which would do well in NJ Online Casinos as well.

The releases are now available via Bandcamp.

The two releases include remixes of tracks originally recorded by Diffuzion, Ayria, Junksista, SD:KRTR, Aiboforcen, Halo In Reverse, Aline Vampires, Virgins O.R Pigeons, Bruderschaft, Mondträume, Studio-X, Implant, Helalyn Flowers, Llumen, Schwarzblut, Pouppée Fabrikk, Star Industry, Kant Kino, Zombie Girl, Lovelorn Dolls and Aesthetische themselves.

The 2 previous editions included remixes by Kant Kino and Acylum. You can check them out below.

Side-Line also covered Aesthetische’s ‘Co3xist3ns3’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Read the reviews of ‘Fuck The Revolution Bring On The Apocalypse’ and ‘Evil Twins’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Read the review of ‘Revolution’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Industrial-medieval, dark-electro.

Background/Info: Pedro- and Nadine Engel got mainly recognized as the terrific Acylum-duo, but they’re also involved with a few more projects. Totem Obscura last year released its second album “Nordische Feste”. The duo now strikes back with this EP featuring Hubert Kah on the title song. Hubert Kah worked together with Michael Cretu and was also involved in the legendary Sandra hit “Maria Magdalena”.

Content: This is more than simply an ‘extended play’ as it features 16 (!) songs, which are mainly remixes from the title track plus 4 more songs that were originally released on “Nordische Feste”.

The debut song is an “Extended Version” of “Helden”, which brings us back to the medieval and dark-electro style of the album. It also has something cabaret-like. Remixes have been done by Acylum and HausHetaere (both featuring the Engel gang), but also by Nano Infect, Ilia Romashov, Restriction 9 and Ethan Fawkes.

“Blut Marschiert”, “Eisenmann”, “Bastard” and “Verräter” have been remixed as well while you also get a remix of the “Waldgeist”-song (originally released on the band’s debut work “Forgotten Time”). The most noticeable bands from the list are Mechanical Moth, XMH, Omnimar and Synapsyche.

+ + + : Totem Obscura tries to intermix medieval atmospheres with dark-electronics and I’ve to admit it’s a rather original idea. It sometimes reminds me a bit of Heimataerde, but in the end it simply sounds different and Totem Obscura-like. This EP doesn’t reveal that much new except for a real sonic orgy of remixes. I like the “Helden”-demo version vs. HausHetaere, which sounds original and featuring great chants passages. Other noticeable remixes are the “Eisenmann”-remix by Omnimar, which has been empowered by guitar riffs and the great “Endzeit Edit” of “Waldgeist”.  Restriction 9 also did a noticeable minimal-like remix of “Helden” while the most surprising remix is for sure the dark-techno version of the title song by Ethan Fawkes.

– – – : You have to be a die-hard fan of the band to fully endure this 16-tracks EP. Too many remixes here, but probably not for DJ’s.

Conclusion: I still believe there’s more potential inside Totem Obscura than what came out on “Nordische Feste” and this EP. I think they still have to find the right balance between the influences. I however have to admit there are a few really cool remixes featured.

Best songs: “Helden feat. Hubert Kah – Demo Version vs. HausHetaere”, “Waldgeist – Endzeit Edit”, “Eisenmann – Omnimar Remix”, “Helden feat. Hubert Kah – Ethan Fawkes Remix”, “Helden feat. Hubert Kah – Restriction 9 Remix”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/totemobscura

Label: www.alfa–matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Available now on Spotify, iTunes and related platforms is the “Helden” EP by the German endzeit act Totem Obscura. For the occasion Nadine ‘Aengeldust’ Engel and Pedro ‘Acylum’ Engel have joined up with 80’s living legend Hubert Kah (known for his hit-songs and backing vocals for the 80’s icon Sandra).

“Helden” was already available from Bandcamp and now also has hit other platforms too as you can see below.

The EP itself holds 16 tracks including exclusive remixes of other album songs like “Blut Marschiert”, “Eisenmann” and “Bastard”. You can expect aggressive dark elektro with Middle-Age tonalities. Strongly recommended to fans of :Wumpscut:, Acylum, Heimataerde, Yelworc and Das Ich.

Check the EP on Bandcamp:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Nadine ‘Aengeldust’ Engel and Pedro ‘Acylum’ Engel have joined up with 80’s living legend Hubert Kah (known for his hit-songs and backing vocals for the 80’s icon Sandra) to record the dowload Ep “Helden”. “Helden” is at the moment only available from Bandcamp, with other platforms to follow soon.

The EP itself holds 16 tracks including exclusive remixes of other album songs like “Blut Marschiert”, “Eisenmann” and “Bastard”. You can expect aggressive dark elektro with Middle-Age tonalities. Strongly recommended to fans of :Wumpscut:, Acylum, Heimataerde, Yelworc and Das Ich.

Check the EP on Bandcamp:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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!

side-line.com

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Anathema’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com