Dark-Electro band Funker Vogt was born almost 30 years ago. Core member and operator Gerrit Thomas has already worked with several singers, but for some reason the group always continues with a new singer. The newest album “Final Construct” released by Repo Records saw Bastian Polak (Intent:Outtake) joining the German formation. The album sounds in the fullest Funker Vogt-tradition; somewhere between Dark-Electro and EBM with a slightly more melodic touch on top. In my opinion, a strong production that shows that this legendary group is far from exhausted. I talked about the latest work with Gerrit and Bastian. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The new album “Final Construct” seems to be another turning point in the long career of Funker Vogt. After three albums singer Chris L. was replaced by Bastian Polak so how did this change come about and how did Bastian’s presence change and/or influenced the overall approach and production of “Final Construct”?

Gerrit: We produced three great albums with Chris, but as he started again with Agonoize we reached to a point where working together was no longer possible. I don’t want to go into that in more detail. In any case, we knew that we weren’t finished yet, we just needed a new singer. I already knew Bastian from vocal recordings with Intent:Outtake and the two Fusspils-11-songs, so it made sense to get him on board with Funker Vogt. He’s just a perfect fit. Because I knew what he was capable of, I was able to compose a little more boldly, because you simply don’t have to make any compromises with him.

In this respect, he helped to make the album more extensive and melodic than usual. I also wanted the sound to be very original to Funker Vogt, because in my opinion a new singer brings enough innovations with him.

Q: I personally experienced “Final Construct” as one of the hardest albums in years; a bit like featuring the brutal energy of the early years with the experience and knowledge you gained over the years on top of it. What is your own perception of this work?

Gerrit: Hm, I personally don’t think it’s that hard. On the contrary -there’s still a lot that can be done in that way! As I said, the album should sound as close to Funker Vogt as possible so that our fans aren’t confused when everything is suddenly completely different. I think that you’ll hear a few experiments and unusual things on the next album. But for this album, a new voice is enough of a change.

Bastian: As the new singer of Funker Vogt, I have of course made it my mission to do everyone justice and I think we have found a good way, on the one hand sounding more modern, but also like the old albums. I think “Final Construct” has everything the listener could have hoped for. Hardness, melody, profundity, but also time to take a deep breath 😉

Q: That brings me to ask you how much of the ‘young’ Gerrit Thomas do you still recognize in the approach, writing and production of “Final Construct”? And what are the biggest differences/evolutions compared to this new work?

Gerrit: Well, I would say that I still like the same kind of atmosphere in my music as I did 25 years ago. Only today the technical possibilities are much bigger and I know what I’m doing now…;-)

Q: Lyrical wise I think “Final Construct” seems a bit like a reflection of our contemporary world and all its misery. Can you be a little more specific about the content and how do you face it as human being?

Bastian: The world currently provides us with enough fuel for our music and our socially critical lyrics. However, many people keep thinking that we’re in favor of war, but that’s not the case and we’ve made that clear again on this album. We hold up a mirror to humanity, appeal to their reason, but also sing about solidarity and confidence.

Q: I think you always must have favorite songs and others where you might feel like everything was left out. What about “Final Construct” and can you make a kind of final balance sheet about this production? And do you think the latest album is always the best one?

Gerrit: Yes, we also have our favorites on every album. For me this time it’s “Rain Of Ashes”, “Tiefer”, and the club mix of “The Signaller”. In my opinion, all the others turned out great too, so I can’t say there’s a single one that doesn’t fit or should have better be left.

For me personally, the latest album is always the best one immediately after its release. Of course, I know that this is not always the case. To be able to judge this neutrally, you need to have a few months’ distance from the latest production, sometimes even years!

Bastian: I have already written the lyrics of many albums in my music career and I have to say that “Final Construct” is one of the best. For me, each of the 19 songs has something special, but my personal favorites are “Death Seed”, “Zinnsoldat”, “Die Leinen Los” and definitely “Im Auge Des Orkans” because it stands out a bit from all the other songs.

Q: Funker Vogt is now active for nearly thirty years! What were the biggest challenges you faced during this impressive career?  And do you sometimes feel like you have gotten the most out of it or do you still face new challenges and dreams? And if so, which ones?

Gerrit: Well, there were some setbacks due to the changes of singers that we had to deal with -and obviously we did so! Even though there are always a few people who recommend that we should better stop or rename the band when a new singer comes along, we stay true to our line and keep going on! That’s the ideology behind Funker Vogt. We would be questioning everything we have practiced for 28 years if we gave up. Following the well-known 242 motif: ‘Never Stop’!

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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The synthpop/industrial band Distorted Reality is back with an all new single, “I Can’t Imagine”. “I Can’t Imagine” addresses the idea of being in a relationship with someone for a long time while realizing the relationship is essentially over. No one wants to make the scary move of ending it. It’s a difficult and heartbreaking split because you both still love each other. In this case, however, love is not enough.

“I Can’t Imagine” is available on all major digital platforms including Bandcamp.

Below you can see a video for the new single.

Distorted Reality was formed by Martha A. Hoffmann from Miami, USA and Christian Kobusch from Berlin, Germany, the creator of musical project Berlin Banter. Martha is the lead singer of Deep Red, the American Electro-Goth formation. Deep Red was touring in support of Project Pitchfork when a chance meeting between Marttha and Christian happened at a tour stop in Germany, Martha and Christian began to discuss their ideas.

Subsequently, Distorted Reality was formed after the two kept in touch over the course of a year during which, a collection of songs were created. Distorted Reality’s debut album “The Fine Line Between Love and Hate” was produced together with Bruno Kramm (Das Ich) and released on May 17, 2002 on Accession Records and re-released on the American record label Nilaihah Records. The North American version contained additional remixes by Assemblage 23, Forma Tadre, cut.rate.box and Null Device.

In 2004/2005 Martha and Christian worked on their second album “Daydreams and Nightmares” together with Andreas Meyer (Forma Tadre, Newt). Artists like Bruno Kramm, Daniel Myer (Haujobb), In Strict Confidence, Dust of Basement and Chris L. (Agonoize) contributed remixes to this album.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, the band decided to put out a new single (performed live), “I Knew it Was Wrong”, in January 2021. 2022 then saw another collaboration with Solitary Experiments where Martha was part of a special bonus CD, “La Voix de La Femme”, with her interpretation of their song “I am”. Most recently, Christian and Berlin Banter collaborated on a single with Tricky.

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: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: “666 Degrees Below” was a solid teaser to Agonoize’s seventh album to date. The Berlin-based combo released their second album on RepoRecords and again asked Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik) to mix and master the album. The album again included a second disc featuring six extra tracks.

Content: The influences and sound formula of the ‘Hellectro’ band hasn’t changed. Frontman Chris L. seems to be warding the sound formula to remain the same. The sonic universe of Agonoize is made of provocation, which you can notice in the titles, artwork and of course the songs versus lyrics. The sound remains driven by furious beats overloaded by dark strings and carried by heavy, melodic sequences. On top of it all you’ll hear Chris L.  singing in his familiar enraged way. The songs are sung in German, but some choruses feature English words while there also is one song in English. Some of the melodies are reminding me of Suicide Commando, but where Johan Van Roy also likes calmer, moody songs, Agonoize holds on a constant and merciless power. The album features 13 songs and among the tracklist you’ll recognize the already familiar “666 Degrees Below” plus the original edits of “Komakind”, “Angst Ist Macht”, “Faux Amis” and “Dein Gott”, which were featured in an alternative- and/or remixed version at the EP.

The bonus disc brings a bit more diversity revealing a few ‘softer’ songs, but the main trend remains harsh and merciless. The tracklist features and “Frozen”-edit of “666 Degrees Below” plus alternative edits of “Mststck” and “L.ove I.s L.ost” plus 3 real new songs. One of these songs (cf. “Every Day, I Die”) is a kind of hell-electro ballad while both other cuts are pure rage.

+ + + : I think it was not easy releasing a new album after the successful“Midget Vampire Porn”, released in 2019. But Agonoize seems to like challenges and did it again. The work doesn’t innovate, but the band simply becomes better and better. The songs are just what you might expect from Dark-Electro music; harsh, dark, powerful and provocative. Agonoize brings all these ingredients together in a perfect, balanced work. “666 Degrees Below” remains an absolute hit, but I also want to mention “Faux Amis”, the English sung “Love To Hate”, which is a song that will appeal to Suicide Commando fans and “The Age Of Depression”. On the bonus disc I recommend “Tease & Denial” and Krank”, the last cut featuring cool epic chants. “Mststck – Sucht” sounds also more convincing than the original version on the main disc. The nearly constant power of this album is great. I also highly recommend the CD-version for its –once again, great, artistic digipak and artwork.

– – – : You get a total amount of 19 songs and there’s only one single piece –the atypical ballad-like “Every Day, I Die”, which couldn’t convince me. So you’ll have to agree there’s no reason to complain.

Conclusion: Agonoize moves on there where the previous album stopped, and it’s again an undeniable masterpiece and for sure what will become one of the best Dark-Electro albums of 2021!

Best songs: “666 Degrees Below”, “Love To Hate”, “Faux Amis”, “The Age Of Depression”, “Mststck”, “A Hole” + “Krank”, “Tease & Denial”, “Mststck – Sucht”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.agonoize.berlin / www.facebook.com/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

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.

Background/Info: Two years after the outstanding “Midget Vampire Porn”, Berlin-based (Germany) Agonoize strikes back. This EP is an appetizer to the seventh full length album of the band.

Content: The title song also is the opener of the EP revealing Agonoize is in good shape. They remain driven by this dark and freaky (h)el(l)ectro style. All aspects are dark and I even dare to say tormented. The songs are hard and bouncing, mixed with melodic sequences and leads while frontman Chris L. is still singing as a possessed soul.

Next to the title song we get 4 more cuts from the upcoming album, but only as remixes. The “Short Cut” of “Angst Ist Macht” is probably pretty close with the album edit and remains pure Agonoize-like. Eisfabrik and Nachtmahr have remixed each one song. The track “Komakind” has been remixed by Nachtblut while there also is a pretty clubby-sounding “Klubkind Mix”.

+ + + : There’s no better way than introducing your new full length album with such a great EP-title song. “666 Degrees Below” simply confirms the status of Agonoize; there’s no other band able to push the boundaries of Dark-Electro to this degree of terror and hell… It’s an extremely powerful song filled with anger and rage, but still masterly controlled. Both remixes by Eisfabrik (cf. “Faux Amis”) and Nachtmahr (cf. “Dein Gott”) are brilliant. Notice by the way Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik) again did the mixing and mastering of the album. I also have to mention the dancefloor-driven “Komakind”-edit, which is another potential hit. When discovering this EP you can only, but be prepared to welcome the new Agonoize-album.

– – – : I was less inspired by the Nachtblut remix of “Komakind” revealing guitar riffs on top. It all sounds like taking a distance with the Agonoize-sound –however that’s precisely what remixes stand for.

Conclusion: Dark-Electro terror that opens the gate of hell!

Best songs: “666 Degrees Below”, “Komakind – Klubkind Mix”, “Dein Gott – Nachtmahr Remix”, “Faux amis – Eisfabrik Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.agonoize.berlin / www.facebook.com/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

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

Out on April 30th, is the brand new Agonoize album “Revelation Six Six Sick”. The trio will celebrate the release one day later, May 1st, with a full-fledged streaming concert from the MSC2 in Mannheim, Germany.

Access to the event is free, but donations can be made of course. During this live online concert, Agonoize will present, among other things, their new album “Revelation Six Six“. The concert is part of the event series “Super Schwarzes Mannheim”. It will start at 6 pm German time.

The new album is the follow-up to “Midget Vampire Porn”, their first new material in 5 years and their first for their new label RepoRecords. The new album was mixed and mastered again by Gerrit Thomas.

You can sign up for the event via this Facebook page where more info is available.

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: Dark-electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: “A Vampire Tale” is the second EP taken from the last year released album “Midget Vampire Porn”. The sixth full length by the German masters of (h)el(l)-electro is probably their best and most punching work to date. “A Vampire Tale” also was one of the best cuts from the opus so it’s a quite logical choice to release it as title song. Next to the revisited title song, the EP also features three exclusive cuts, three remixes and a very special cover version.

Content: “A Vampire Tale” perfectly symbolizes the album the song is taken from; a hard-hitting song in the purest dark-electro style of Agonoize. Power, melody and harsh vocals are the major aspects to understand this winning sound formula. Next comes a cover version of Prodigy’s mega-hit “Breath”. The song is meant as an ode to Keith Flint who passed away in 2019.

The two new songs are more heavy cuts in the truest tradition of the band. “I Just Want To Live” sounds pretty Suicide Commando-like while “Requiem” reveals the band at its best. The last song left is a calm piece, sort of break.

Remixes have been accomplished by Intent: Outtake, Vanguard and Diverje, which each took a song from the album.

+ + + : This is the kind of EP I totally support. Next to the title song and a few remixes by well-chosen artists you also get 3 exclusive songs and a little extra, which is a Prodigy cover. Agonoize no longer has to confirm they belong to the top of dark-electro standards! Their music is not only powerful, but worked-out and always danceable. Two from the three exclusive cuts could have found their place at the album as well. Among the remixes I especially like the pop touch on the remix of the title song by Vanguard while Diverje did a great job as well remixing “Weltenschmerz”.

– – – : The cover version of “Breath” is cool, but I think this song will get more reaction in front of a live audience. The new song “The Fall” is the only ‘filler’ from this EP although a way to bring some rest in this heavy production.

Conclusion: This EP is an absolute must have, a pretty cool addition to the album and a production the dark-electro lovers are going to like! Agonoize rules!

Best songs: “I Just Want To Live”, “Requiem”, “A Vampire Tale – Blutdurst”, “A Vampire Tale – Vanguard Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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

German dark-electro formation Agonoize last year unleashed their sixth full length album. “Midget Vampire Porn” released by RepoRecords, reveals thirteen new songs filled with rage and sonic terror. I consider their new work as one of their best albums to date; maybe the best one! The constant energy carried by pumping rhythms, elevating choruses and harsh vocals made from this opus one of the best dark-electro productions from 2019. I’d a chat with the band’s captain Chris L. (still involved with Darkness On Demand, Funker Vogt, The Sexorcist).

(Picture credits by Kevin Stevens / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Agonoize is back with a new album, but still with a somewhat different line-up and on a different label. How did these changes happened and what has been the impact of the ‘new’ line-up on the composition process?

Chris: The contract with Out Of Line was fulfilled so it was time to find a new home for Agonoize. RepoRecords are doing amazing work for Funker Vogt, so it was the best choice. 

Our ‘beast’ on the drums was planned as a live-drummer for already a  long time and Sam jumped in as live-keyboarder when Oli took a step back from the live shows because of health Issues. So not  that much changed in the end.

Q: Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik) also joined in for some additional programming and mastering. What has been his real input and maybe that little ‘extra’ he added to the work?

Chris: I am a musician and a performer and to be honest, I don’t have a clue about mixing and mastering and I don’t want to be able to do it at all. But Agonoize needs a fat mix and a brilliant mastering, which is important for the typical sound. Gerrit is a genius when it comes to that and he added some sounds, which made the whole sound more bombastic in the final mix. We work very close together on Funker Vogt and our old friendship became a lot deeper, so he was my first choice. In the beginning we both didn’t knew if he could give Agonoize the needed punch, without sounding like Funker Vogt. But he got into the sound very fast and I think the credits for the ‘killer sound’ goes to him. 

Q: “Midget Vampire Porn” sounds to me as the most accomplished and successful Agonoize-album ever. How do you perceive the album in the band’s discography and tell us a bit more about the ideas, sound treatments and lyrical content of the work?

Chris: I think the lyrics are pretty typical for Agonoize. Maybe the music sounds more evolved because this time I didn’t had any ‘leftover’ songs from Mike like on the “Apokalypse”-album. There I used 8 songs from Mike and just had to fill in with the missing songs.

I wanted Agonoize to became a bit more mature, but without changing it too much for now. So in the end we added some new sounds to the songs, but kept the basics. And after 5 years I had a lot of rage to get rid of. Also I wanted to experiment with slower, really dark, depressive songs from the deepest dark of my soul. We did that already with, for example, songs like “My Battlefield” or “Drowning In Isolation”, “Unchained” and so on, but “True Blood” and “The Fall”, which is from the upcoming EP, are different from what we did before. 

I think when I finished the “Apokalypse”-album I was at a turning point; not a 100% into what I’m doing, tired and disappointed. Now I’m back with full energy and I think everyone can hear that. And thanks for the compliment  😉

Q: The song “Blutgruppe Jesus (-)” clearly is an important song from the album and has been first released as EP-title track. You also (self)made a clip of that song so what’s the deeper meaning behind and what did you try to express by the clip?

Chris: As usual, mankind is looking for a savior, someone who takes the blame for our failure and sins. We think ‘Hey, let someone else suffer for our mistakes’ never willing to take the blame ourselves. But only you can change your life, your fate. We think we only have to pray 3 The Lord’s Prayer and everything is forgiven, or we just pay for our sins. But in the end that would mean, if Jesus existed, he would have died for nothing. The church is using our fears against us, but in my opinion religion and especially the catholic Church should be well known by now.

Church is oppression, religion the reason for war. Believe in yourself in the first place!

Q: When you’re listening to the new album (and EP) right now, what are the elements of the writing/production getting you proud and are there some aspects you would have done differently?

Chris: I would always do things a difficult way; I’m too self-critical.  But after 1,5 years delay with the album I’m happy that it’s finally on the market. When it came out I already had 6 new songs done, so the next release will not take another 5 years and on new EP “A Vampire Tale” you’ll find 3 exclusive songs as a bonus track meant as a gift for all the fans who were waiting.

Now that the album got an unexpected, overwhelming good response I start to be proud of it, but it always takes a while for me to realize it. 

Q: I often get the impression bands are putting more efforts in their image and artwork than in the music while with Agonoize, every aspect seems to be important! What does it really mean to you and what do you try to express with the imagery (live) and artwork?

Chris: Thanks, indeed it was always very important for me that the videos, the artwork and the stage presence all fit with the songs. I don’t like to give the job to an outsider who doesn’t has a clue or feeling about what I want to express. I was never too much into looking pretty on stage, but more into doing a good and freaky performance. I always created the stage shows myself.

 I am going back to my roots now also, directing, filming and cutting the videos myself. For the artwork I’m very happy to have Sam as part of the band. He is a genius with Photoshop and understands my ideas very fast and he has also very good ideas which fit with the project. It’s similar to Funker Vogt right now; we all work very well together as a team, ideas become a concept and especially live I love to entertain and gladly everyone plays along with my stupid ideas for shows 🙂

It’s slowly getting better and better and I look forward to present my newest ideas to a bigger crowd 🙂

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.

Format: Digital, CD & 2CD.

Background/Info: Intent:Outtake saw the daylight in 2011 and released three albums thus far on Sonic-X. The German duo now joined hands together with Dark Dimensions to unleash their fourth opus, which is a double CD.

Content: “Days Of Doom” moves on where “Schmerzmaschine” (2017) stopped. It’s a powerful production, which often reminds me of In Strict Confidence (mainly for the vocals). The songs are well-crafted and often excelling during the choruses. The lyrics are sung in German and English. The vocals have something enraged, which perfectly fits to the violence of the music. The melodic leads get the album pretty accessible and danceable. Two songs feature Chris L. (Darkness On Demand, Agonoize, Funker Vogt).

The second disc features 3 extra songs plus an extended version and 3 remixes by [:SITD:], Novastorm and Cephalgy.

+ + + : I still consider Intent:Outtake as one of the best hidden secrets from the German dark-electro scene. I hope this band will now get a deserved international recognition through Scanner, but also because this album is a fully accomplished and intelligent production. The album is not exactly innovating, but showing the most sophisticated format of dark-electro and EBM. The songs are powerful, but styled. The vocals are harsh, but controlled. Songs such as “Der Mann Im Spiegel” and “Singularity” both are brilliant exposures of this duo. I also noticed great remixes by [:SITD:[ and Novastorm. The second disc brings a real bonus to the album.

– – – : The sound formula remains pretty similar from start till finish so this album is maybe missing a little bit of diversity and certainly because there’s a bonus disc included.

Conclusion: Intent/Outtake simply moves on confirming they’re a great band and not just a dark-electro copyist.

Best songs: “Der Mann Im Spiegel”, “Singularity”, “Out Of Decay”, “Das Letzte Geleit” + “Viel Zu Spät”, “Auf Ewigkeit – Novastorm Remix”, “Es Ist Krieg – SITD Remix”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.intentouttake.de / www.facebook.com/INTENTOUTTAKE

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark–Dimensions–Label–Group/486014725206

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.

Background/Info: “Midget Vampire Porn” is the sixth full length album by Berliner (Germany) dark-electro act Agonoize. It also is their first opus in five years and the first one released on RepoRecords. Throughout the years some changes happened in the line-up, but front man Chris L.  is still the captain of the crew.The new work reveals a disc with thirteen new songs and a bonus EP-disc featuring five tracks. Chris L has been assisted by Falgalas Duus (both are also involved with Darkness On Demand) and while Funker Vogt’s captain Gerrit Thomas did the mastering and additional programming.

Content: Agonoize’s sound and influences remain the same-old. The band is still driven by furious dark-electronics carried by heavy –and somewhat industrial-like kicks, icy melody lines –sometimes reminding me of Suicide Commando, and possessed vocals. After a cool epic-like intro, the album brings a succession of hard-damaging cuts. Next to the familiar EP-title tracks this work has a lot to offer and to discover. But the keyword remains the constant power running through the album. The tracks are elevated by great, melodic choruses while there also is a permanent dark, terror-like mood hanging over the songs. The lyrics are sung in German and English.

The bonus disc features 5 extra songs, which are much more than simply ‘disc fillers’. Here again Agonoize shows heavy blasting dark-electro music. One of the songs (cf. “Kingdom Of Darkness”) sounds pretty Funker Vogt-like in the used arrangements.

+ + + : This album simply confirms why Agonoize belongs to the leading formations in their genre. The songs are not only powerful, but still accomplished with great sound treatments and a mature production process. Just pay attention to the perfect harmony between the devilish tempo, the melodic leads during the choruses, the coldness supporting the songs and the production of the vocals. These different, but essential elements just make the difference between a great- and an average band. But you also can hear this difference in little details and I here especially like to mention the female chants running throughout a few tracks. This album features numerous potential hits. I have to mention “Kiss Me Kill Me”, “A Vampire Tale”, “Bullet”, “Antihero” plus the EP’s title tracks “Schmerzpervers” and “Blutgruppe Jesus”. The bonus disc is also worthy of examination. I also have to say a word about the great horror-like artwork of this digipak.

– – – : I don’t really see minus points to mention. This album is probably ‘the’ dark-electro work from 2019!

Conclusion: It was worth the five year wait to welcome the new Agonoize-album, which is without a shadow of a doubt their best work in history!

Best songs: “Kiss Me Kill Me”, “A Vampire Tale”, “Bullet”, “Antihero”, “Schmerzpervers”, “Blutgruppe Jesus”, “Weltenschmerz”, “Apeirophobia” + “Kingdom Of Darkness”, “Gleichschritt”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.agonoize.berlin /  www.facebook.com/pg/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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.

Background/Info: Five years have passed since the release of the last Agonoize album “Apokalypse”. The Berliner (Germany) formation calling themselves the ‘founders of hellelectro’ are back on track with singer and frontman Chris L (still involved with Darkness On Demand and being the new singer of Funker Vogt) and Falgalas (an old servant involved with Darkness On Demand and before Dance Or Die) plus Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt) taking care of the mastering, and also doing some additional programming.

Content: Agonoize hasn’t lost its initial power and rage. Both title songs reveal a powerful dark-(h)el(l)ectro approach. Especially “Schmerzpervers 2.0” is a hard-hitting piece driven by a terrific cadence and icy melodies. The enraged vocals of Chris L. only accentuate the feeling of horror emerging from the songs. The lyrics have been sung in German, but you might find some English words here and there.

Both title songs will also appear on the new album while “Bleed For Me” is a kind of exclusive B-side track featuring heavenly female chants. Both last songs are remixes. First there’s a remix of another new track by Funker Vogt and next a remix of “Schmerzpervers 2.0” by Centhron.

+ + + : Agonoize is back, but it all sounds like they never have taken a break. There’s a similar power and a kind of imaginary high degree of terror. The songs are well-crafted and both title tracks have a serious potential to get you into dance. I like the kind of sacred chants and background organ sound running through “Blutgruppe Jesus) and the overwhelming power and rage from “Scherzpervers 2.0”. Funker Vogt and Centhron both are great contributors for the remix part of the EP, but I have a preference for the punchy remix of Centhron.

– – – : “Bleed For Me” is not exactly a high light, but there’s no reason to complain when you get two cool title songs. I also expected a bit more from the Funker Vogt remix.

Conclusion: This EP is the perfect teaser to announce the new album of Agonoize!

Best songs: “Schmerzpervers 2.0 (Verlängert)”, “Blutgruppe Jesus (Absolution)”, “Schmerzpervers 2.0 – Centhron Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.agonoize.berlin /  www.facebook.com/pg/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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

A few weeks ago we announced the comeback of Agonoize on RepoRecords with the EP “Blutgruppe Jesus (-) / Schmerzpervers 2.0”, today we can give you some extra info on their new album as well which arrives almost five years after their last one, “Apokalypse”. “Midget Vampire Porn” will be a 2CD album for which you can already see the teaser below and is out on October 25th, that’s tomorrow!

The 2CD set will hold 13 tracks on the first disc, plus 5 bonus-tracks on the second disc. Good to know, it was Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt) who was responsible for the mastering of the new material.

Here’s “Blutgruppe Jesus (-) / Schmerzpervers 2.0” to wet your appetite for tomorrow.

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: Dark-electro.

Background/Info: Set up in 2009 Polish duo ‘Ad-x’ (synths, composing, programming) and ‘Blackjack O’Hare’ (lyrics, vocals) signed to Alfa Matrix to unleash their new work. After having released two albums and a few EP’s there’s a new full length in the pipeline while “Are You My Bitch?” has been served as an appetizer.

Content: The EP reveals 3 new songs and 11 remixes. The new songs hold on the dark-electro inspiration reactor7x already showed at previous work. The songs are rough and unpolished while carried by typical dark-electro leads. This is the kind of stuff that will appeal for fans of Suicide Commando, C-Lekktor, Agonoize and related bands.

The “Circus Of False” has been remixed by Eexee, Syncfactory, Stahlnebel & Black Selket, Antibody and Restriction 9. “The Cycle Of Life” got exposed to the remixing skills of Neikka RPM, Third Realm,  00tz 00tz, Amorphous and At0shima 3rr0r. The song “Acid Symphony” has been remixed by Kilmarth and also is the opening track of the EP.

+ + + : Reactor7x has joined a leading label of the dark-electro scene and that’s for sure a real consecration for this promising band. They confirm their potential by 3 new songs, but especially “The Circus Of False” appears to be a potential hit. This is total electro-terror driven by enraged vocals and a rough production process. The remixes bring diversity, but also reveal a great canvas of established- and upcoming formations. Syncfactory gets my personal award for the best remix, transposing the ‘hit song’ into a brilliant exposure. Stahlnebel & Black Selket also did a great job on the same song. 

– – – : Even if there’s some diversity in the remixes, it mainly remain dark-electro driven formations. I regret that there are no more ‘atypical’ remixes like the opening piece by Kilmarth.

Conclusion: This EP is the perfect appetizer to welcome the new full length of this Polish dark-(h)el(l)ectro sensation and will serve as club food for many DJ’s.

Best songs: “The Circus Of False”, “The Circus Of False – Syncfactory Remix”, “The Circus Of False – Stahlnebel & Black Selket Remix”, “The Cycle Of Life”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: https://reactor7x.com / www.facebook.com/reactor7x

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

After almost five years the hellektro crew of Agonoize return with a brand new EP and official video-clip. The EP also contains one exclusive track (“Bleed For Me) only available on this release, and two remixes by Funker Vogt and Centhron. Mastered by Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt), the Ep counts 5 tracks:

• Blutgruppe Jesus (-) (Absolution)
• Schmerzpervers 2.0 (Verlängert)
• Bleed For Me
• A Vampire Tale (Funker Vogt Rework)
• Schmerzpervers 2.0 (Centhron Remix)

The video for “Blutgruppe Jesus (-)” can be seen below.

The EP announces the band’s upcoming album “Midget Vampire Porn” to be released on their new label, RepoRecords.

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: Dark-electro, aggrotech.

Background/Info: “Join Us” is SynthAttack’s fourth album since the opening full length “To The Floor” (2015). The band is still driven by the creative spirit of Martin Schindler. “Join Us” features ten songs plus seven remixes by other artists.

Content: SynthAttack can be the best compared to an imaginary dance-ogre. The songs are boosted by electro-adrenaline made by heavy, danceable kicks, cold electro sequences and trance-like leads. The vocals feature this cavernous expression while a few cuts reveal female backings. SynthAttack is the perfect fusion between dark-electro and dance/trance music.

Remixes have been accomplished by Aesthetic Perfection, Centhron, Agonoize, ES23, Grendel, CygnosiC and Nachtmahr.

+ + + : SynthAttack clearly composes music for the dancefloor. Each new opus sounds as a sonic bomb to get fans into frenetic dance. It’s not that different for “Join Us”, which is an invitation to move. The heavy, boosting kicks together with the trance-like leads can’t leave club visitors enjoying dark-electronics unmoved. The songs reflect constant power, which feels a bit like a transcendental trip. Songs like “Join Us”, “Enjoy The Pain”, and “Addicted To The Thrill” will definitely convince you from the band’s potential and dance skills. Next to the new songs you also get an impressive list of famous artists/remixers. I here have a little preference for the remix of “Final salvation” by ES23.

– – – : SynthAttack remains a kind of challenge. The fusion of dark-electronics with some commercial-like trance leads is sometimes pretty risky and maybe a bit cheap. I’m especially referring to “Final Salvation”, which reminds me of the lead of Culture Beat’s mega-hit “Mr. Vain”. Despite of the great artists invited to remix I don’t experience this section as a real bonus to the album. The original songs are definitely better!

Conclusion: SynthAttack makes no prisoners blowing everything down! Music is their religion, the dancefloor their temple to convince new adherents!

Best songs: “Join Us”, “Enjoy The Pain”, “Addicted To The Thrill”, “Until The Dawn”, “Final Salvation – ES23 Remix”, “Join Us – Aesthetic Perfection Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/synthattack

Label: www.darktunes.com / www.facebook.com/darkTunesMusic

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 almost 5 years of studio silence the hellektro act Agonoize returns with a brand new EP and on a new record label, RepoRecords. The new EP “Blutgruppe Jesus (-) / Schmerzpervers 2.0” brings two tracks in extended versions. Both tracks are taken from the upcoming album “Midget Vampire Porn”. Next to the extended versions the EP also contains one exclusive track (“Bleed for Me”), only available on this release, and two remixes by Funker Vogt and Centhron.

The release was mastered by Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt).

The first edition of “Midget Vampire Porn” comes as double-CD digipak and holds 5 bonus-tracks next to the 13 tracks from the normal album: “Inferno”, “Kingdom of Darkness”, “1,2,3”, “Gleichschritt” and “Alone in the Dark”.

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 Polish duo REACTOR7X who signed with the Belgian label Alfa Matrix strikes back with a new EP “Are You My Bitch?” counting no less than 14 tracks.

You will find aggressive dark elektro with icy melodies that will please fans from Suicide Commando, Agonoize and relatred acts. Note that the band went for more modern electronic arrangements with a psy-trance touch.

The EP “Are You My Bitch?” reveals 3 solid new tracks including “The Circus Of False” announcing their forthcoming next studio album. The EP is augmented with 11 bonus remixes offering a wide palette of sounds. You can check all reworks out below. The EP is currently first available via Bandcamp as a HQ audio download.

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: Dark electro-pop, wave-pop.

Background/Info: UK band Massive Ego centered on the charismatic ‘Marc Massive’ is already active for several years now, but the real breakthrough happened two years ago. The band joined hands together with Out Of Line and released the successful album “Beautiful Suicide” featuring their ‘old’ hit “I Idolize You”. Massive Ego is now back on track revealing 14 new songs. The album is also available as DCD featuring an extra disc with remixes and fan-stuff.

Content: The new work moves on there where “Beautiful Suicide” stopped. The influences are pretty similar, mixing elements from good old 80s wave-pop together with a darker and more contemporary touch. Some (sampled?) guitar riffs can be heard now and then like injecting an extra boost to the electronic composition. I also noticed a more EBM-driven song, which is a cover version of And One’s famous “Military Fashion Show”. Two more noticeable songs are “Kill The Conspirary” for featuring Chris L.  (Agonoize, Sexorcist, Darkness On Demand ao) and “Point Of No return” featuring Auger.

+ + + : Massive Ego is a band with a great and charismatic singer! Marc’s particular, captivating timbre of voice is a real lust for all electro-lovers. But Massive Ego also is a band with a proper sound, mixing 80s influences together with dark-pop and an EBM touch. The songs have been accomplished with great, carrying leads and perfect, danceable kicks. A good song needs a great chorus and here again Massive Ego has found the secret formula to entertain the masses. There are several noticeable songs featured, but I want to mention “Fallen From Grace”, which has been empowered by some guitar riffs. Another attention grabbers are “Digital Heroin” and “Killing For Gods”. Last, but not least, it also is a real tour de force to release an album featuring 14 (!) captivating cuts!

– – – : My only regret is that this new work doesn’t feature a new “I Idolize You”! This song had a huge impact on me and it will be not easy for Massive Ego to compose a ‘bigger’ hit!

Conclusion: “Church For The Malfunctioned” confirms the talent of Massive Ego; they have the look, but also a great sound!

Best songs: “Fallen From Grace”, “Digital Heroin”, “Killing For Gods”, “Point Of No Return”, “The Last Sunrays In June”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.massiveego.co.uk / www.facebook.com/massiveego

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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

On 10th and 11th August 2019 the annual M’era-Luna festival takes place in the area of Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, Germany. M’era Luna exists since 2000 and is one of the biggest Gothic festivals in the European scene. Gothic, new wave, electro, EBM, industrial and medieval bands are featured on 2 stages.

The last years the festival was every time sold out and had about 25.000 visitors. This year some of the confirmed artists are: Fields Of The Nephilim, VNV Nation, Lacrimosa, OOMPH!, Deathstars, DIE KRUPPS, Within Temptation, ASP, Subway To Sally, Combichrist, Diary Of Dreams, Corvus Corax, Suicide Commando, Agonoize, Funker Vogt, Mono Inc., DE/VISION, Empathy Test, Joachim Witt, Spetsnaz, [:SITD:], Zeromancer, Melotron, …

DJ’s at the afterparties are: Der Schulz (Unzucht), Bruno Kramm (Das Ich), Chris L. (Funker Vogt and Agonoize), Andy Krüger (Melotron), Ronan Harris (VNV Nation), Mike Kanetzky (Matrix Bochum).

Besides watching concerts you can also visit markets, artist signing events, gothic fashion shows, readings by Axel Hildebrand, Markus Heitz and Christian von Aster. The Gothic Garden, an oasis of calm right in front of the festival infield, offers demanding festival-goers comfort, space and conveniences to make your stay more exclusive, pleasant and more relaxing. At the M’era Luna Academy you can follow special workshops which will be announced soon on the official renewed website.

The interactive M’era Luna app can be downloaded here and tickets can be ordered here.

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro.

Background/Info: One year after the “Code Of Conduct”-album, which stand for the band’s resurrection featuring their new singer Chris L (Agonoize, The Sexorcist, Dance Or Die, Darkness On Demand), the German master of dark-electronics is back on track. “Feel The Pain” is a teaser announcing the new full length.

Content: This EP features 2 edits from the title song, a B-side cut and 2 reworked old ‘anthems’ of the band. “Feel The Pain” sounds in the purest Funker Vogt tradition with an extra melodic touch on top. “Der Letzte Kampf” is more than simply a B-side track and sounds hard and merciless, this time with German vocals.

“Funker Vogt 2^nd Unit” and “Gunman” both are Funker Vogt hits, which have been refreshed, reboosted and featuring their new singer on vocals.

+ + + : “Feel The Pain” is melodic and danceable title track, which will for sure get people dancing. I personally prefer the harder and merciless “Der Letzte Kampf”, which sounds like Gerrit Thomas on his best. Together with the reworked ‘old’ hits, this EP serves as a strong appetizer to welcome the “Wastelands”-album.

– – – : We already discovered Chris L on the previous album. Even if he’s a great singer for this kind of music I realize –and I’m only speaking for myself, it takes time to forget the natural charisma of Jens Kästel –and especially on both reworked songs.

Conclusion: “Feel The Pain” is exactly what you might expect from an EP; a cool title song, a solid B-side cuts and nice little extras. Up to “Wastelands”!

Best songs: “Der Letzte Kampf”, “Feel The Pain – Extended Version”, “Funker Vogt 2^nd Unit – Neumix”, “Gunman – Neumix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.funkervogt.de / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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.

Background/Info: Set up in 2010 by Jan Kluge (vocals) and Thomas DosUnit the Berlin duo self-released the album “Dein Schicksal” in 2012. They were joined in 2016 by Oliver Senger (Agonoize) and started writing new material. “Sünde Mensch” is the first official album from Any Second and features an extra disc with remixes.

Content: The sound and influences of Any Second are somewhat 90s like and clearly reminding me of bands such as Tyske Lüdder, Der Prager Handgriff and Calva Y Nada. They bring a powerful mix of dark-electronics and pure EBM sung by charismatic vocals. Most of the vocals are sung in German.

The bonus disc features 10 remixes by [:SITD:], Cephalgy, Centhron, Trensity, Mondträume, Electronic Frequency, Synthattack, Tranzresonanz, Pseudokrupp Project and Angriffspakt.

+ + + : No doubt about it, this is a ‘typical’ Out Of Line production that will appeal for lovers of dark-electronics and EBM. Any second moves somewhere in between and clearly evoke good-old 90s influences. The songs are well-crafted and feature several great cuts. I especially want to tip “Seelenhügel”, which appears to be a real potential hit. The powerful and charismatic vocals are sometimes reminding me of Tyske Lüdder.

Among the remixes I want to say a word about the great job done by [:SITD:] (remixing “Seelenhügel”) and Tanzresonanz (a band I remember from an ‘old’ Out Of Line-compilation entitled “Electrostorm Vol.6”).

– – – : I noticed a few ‘softer’ cuts, which are not the most captivating ones from the work. Sound-wise Any Second avoids all innovation, but I have to admit they accomplished an efficient production.

Conclusion: This is the kind of band that will appeal for multiple electro-heads passionate by EBM and dark-electronics. Nothing new although a cool work!

Best songs: “Seelenhügel”, “Niedergand”, “Sünde” + “Zorn – Tranzresonanz Remix”, “Seelenhügel – [:SITD:] Remix”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.anysecond.eu / www.facebook.com/anysecond.berlin

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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, body-pop.

Background/Info: Known and adulated in a former life as Dance Or Die, the German trio resurrected as Darkness On Demand. After an interesting debut full length “Post Stone Age Technology” the band strikes back with a second EP taken from the album. The title song of course is a wink to an early Dance Or Die major song (cf. “Psychoburbia”).

Content: The title song wasn’t my favorite from the album although it’s filled with great nostalgia. It however is a dark, melodic and alluring EBM-driven song. Next to the “Album Version”, this EP reveals remixes by Eisfabrik, Agonoize and DoD (which stands for Dance Or Die and Darkness On Demand).

The EP also features 2 extra (new) songs and I here especially recommend “Quicksand”.

+ + + : You can’t expect much more from an EP; a cool title song, interesting remixes and especially the one made by Eisfabrik. But you’ll also discover two new cuts. “Quicksand” is a nice surprise. Darkness On Demand moves on there where Dance Or Die stopped so in the end it’s all a bit the same band. The fans will be ravished.

– – – : I still don’t consider “Back To Psychoburbia” as the best song from the album, but it for sure remains an important song (also because of the link with Dance Or Die). The new track “Never Too Late” is just a B-side track without real consistence.

Conclusion: Dance Or Die is still hiding behind this new band name so the fans will be not disappointed discovering that this legendary formation is still alive and kicking.

Best songs: “Back To Psychoburbia”, “Back To Psychoburbia – Eisfabrik Remix”, “Quicksand”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/darknessondemand

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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.

Background/Info: “Schmerzmaschine” is the third album accomplished by the Leipziger (Germany) duo Bastian Polak – Andreas Engleitner. The fans of the band previously discovered the EP “Eclipse” which featured two songs that have been mixed for this album.

Content: If you never heard of this band before you quickly will recognize a sound reminding you of some famous German bands such as Project Pitchfork (for the bombastic arrangements), In Strict Confidence (for the complexity and charisma of the vocals) and Rotersand (still for the complexity, but also for the more refined approach). “Schmerzmaschine” doesn’t sound at all like a copyists, but simply composed an intelligent although somewhat ‘classical’ work featuring several great cuts. Notice by the way there’s a song featuring guest vocals by Chris L (Agonoize, Funker Vogt, Sexorcist ao).

+ + + : This is a real mature production for the writing of the songs and the great sound production. The songs have been accomplished by great sound treatments and carried by a talented singer. The song featuring Chris L is not my favorite cut although a nice little extra. The sound and influences might be familiar ones, but I really believe Intent:Outtake has achieved a great work, which is without a shadow of a doubt their most successful album to date. I don’t want to compare them to In Strict Confidence, but there’s a similar approach in sound with earlier releases of this band. Last, but not least the album features a few potential hits or at least club killers.

– – – : Despite of some potential hits, the album doesn’t have ‘the’ hit that would be recognized by all music lovers.

Conclusion: I’ve been positively surprised by this album and the progression of Intent:Outtake. I’m not affirming that they could become the ‘big next thing’ in dark-electro land and the world of EBM, but they clearly have the potential to grow to the top!

Best songs: “Eclipse – Album Edit”, “Masks”, “Fossils Of Anger”, “Raum Und Zeit”, “Schmerzmaschine”.

Rate: (8½).

Band: www.intentouttake.de / www.facebook.com/INTENTOUTTAKE

Label: www.sonic–x.de / www.myspace.com/sonicxrecords / www.facebook.com/pages/Sonic–X/223123321069481

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.

Background/Info: 2017 has been an important year for electro-veterans of Funker Vogt. After a long period of commotion the band finally struck back with a new album featuring a new singer (cf. Chris L from Agonoize, Sexorcist). This EP moves back to the album “Code Of Conduct” featuring multiple remixes, and also reveals 3 brand-new songs.

Content: The EP takes off with a “Video Version” of “Wahre Helden”. This song was not exactly my favorite cut from their new album, which in a way symbolizes a new start for the band. It however features the sonic trademark of Funker Vogt characterized by a powerful kick, dark synth lines and bleeping sequences. Among the new cuts I noticed real cool songs, which remain in the typical vein of the band, but with more persuasive vocal parts.

You next get 2 remixes of “Gladiator” and 2 of “Für Immer” and 2 more of  “Tanzbefehl”. Funker Vogt remixed a few songs themselves, but it also is an opportunity to hear the work of Agonoize, Cephalgy and Novakill.

+ + + : This is an interesting EP as it delivers 3 new cuts. And I can assure you “Strike Force” and especially “Bloodbrother” both are great and powerful cuts in the traditional enraged format of the band. I like the rage emerging at the surface while “Bloodbrother” also reveals a great lead.

I’m not a huge fan of remixes, but here again I discovered a few brilliant remixes and I especially have to mention a great contribution from Agonoize and Kunstwerk.

– – – : I unfortunately also discovered a few remixes, which don’t bring any bonus to the EP. I can imagine making an ‘orchestral’ version might be fun, but it’s not exactly a successful result.

Conclusion: Funker Vogt is definitely back on track and the new line-up, still conducted by the genius of Gerrit Thomas, is getting better and better.

Best songs: “Bloodbrother”, “Strike Force”, “Tanzbefehl – Kunstwerk Remix”, “Für Immer – Agonoize Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.funkervogt.de / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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

Out now is a brand new video from Funker Vogt for the track “Wahre Helden” which is taken from the upcoming EP “Musik ist Krieg” to be released on November 3 (and already available on CD right here). You can enjoy the video below.

The EP itself comes five months after the release of the album “Code of Conduct“ and delivers a total of 10 tracks. In addition to seven new remixes of current album-tracks, Chris L., Gerrit Thomas and René Dornbusch present 3 new songs: “Schattenwelt”, “Bloodbrother” and “Strike Force”.

Funker Vogt-remixes of the tracks “Wahre Helden (Video Version)”, “Gladiator (Until Death Mix)” and “Für immer (Orchester Version)” are enriched with remixes by bands like Agonoize (“Für immer”), NOVAkILL (“Tanzbefehl”), Cephalgy (“Gladiator”) and Kunstwerk (“Tanzbefehl”).

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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Funker Vogt strike back, barely five months after the release of the album “Code of Conduct”. Their new EP “Musik ist Krieg” (German for ‘Music is War’) is an album length endeavour holding 10 tracks.

In addition to 7 exclusive, new remixes of current album-tracks, Chris L., Gerrit Thomas und René Dornbusch also present 3 new songs: “Schattenwelt”, “Bloodbrother” and “Strike Force”. You can order this new EP on CD from this mailorder.

To give you an idea of the remixes on this EP, it holds the Funker Vogt-remixes of the tracks “Wahre Helden (Video Version)”, “Gladiator (Until Death Mix)” and “Für immer (Orchester Version)” next to remixes by Agonoize (“Für immer”), NOVAkILL (“Tanzbefehl”), Cephalgy (“Gladiator”) and Kunstwerk (“Tanzbefehl”).

Below is a live version of “Wahre Helden”.

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

Funker Vogt was set up in 1995 and got instantly successful. Gerrit Thomas (composing) and Jens Kästel (vocals) progressively became one of the leading bands from the dark-electro & EBM scene. They released legendary work on Zoth Ommog, Bloodline, Synthetic Symphony while their previous full length got released on Out Of Line. When Jens Kästel left the band in 2013 the band had to search for a new vocalist. Sacha Korn (‘Sick Man’) joined in creating a real media storm. A new singer and a new label had to be found so Chris L. (Agonoize, The Sexorcits, Dance Or Die) joined in and Repo Records recently released the new album “Code Of Conduct”. I got in touch with Gerrit Thomas and Chris L. but started the interview with a question for label owners Kai Schmidt and Björn Böttcher (who both got involved with Funker Vogt as well) to know what they think about it all.

You can order the band’s newest album right here.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You (Repo Records) guys are quite familiar and pretty close to Funker Vogt so how did you perceive all what happened around the band during the past few years and what does it mean to you and Repo Records to have released this new album?

Repo Records: After our split in 2010, we have all kept a distance from each other. So we have certainly read about all this, but at that time it didn’t affect us that much. We all decided to go separate ways in 2010, without knowing if we ever will get together or not. And at that time, we managed this ‘divorce’ as harmonic as such a thing can happen.

As we have been personally involved in the old releases, we wanted to make them available again. So we approached Gerrit with this idea. After some negotiations we found an agreement.

Last year Gerrit told us that he wanted to restart Funker Vogt and if we were interested to release also new material. After so much time has passed, we thought that the time was right, to work together again. And it works very well so far.

For us this release really matters as Funker Vogt was a big part of our past. And from the label side it’s nice to have them on board for the very first time with a brand new release.

Q: Gerrit, after the departure of Jens Kästel, there was a lot of commotion around the new singer Sacha Korn who got rapidly replaced by Chris L. I can imagine it must have been a relief to release this new album “Code Of Conduct”?

Gerrit: We worked on some songs for about three years until they were sung by Chris and finally got released. It was a very hard time before Chris joined the band. So, the release of “Code Of Conduct” was a kind of start into a new era for us. And now, we’re so happy about all the good reactions.

Q: I can easily imagine all the commotion that happened must have been one of the darkest chapters in the band’s history. How did it feel for a musician to face all these events and what do you think about it right now?

Gerrit: Everything comes to an end -also hard times and dark chapters. Time heals all wounds! There had been lots of bad things against the band in itself, but also personally against René and me. Many things that were not justified. But I don’t want to rewind this by going into details here. We’re just happy to start again now.

Q: I should say “Code Of Conduct” sounds in the purest tradition of Funker Vogt, but with another singer instead of Jens Kästel. Tell us a bit more about the writing of the album and how did the integration of Chris L. happened?

Gerrit: The writing process remained exactly the same as before. I did the instrumental parts by always knowing where the vocal parts should later be. Then Chris got the instrumentals, wrote some fitting lyrics and sung them. Chris got that Funker Vogt-feeling from the very beginning, so we never had much to discuss or change a lot of his work. It simply fits!

Q: Chris, I can imagine it’s not an easy thing to become the new vocalist of such a famous band. What does it mean to you personally to have joined Funker Vogt and how did the collaboration happened with Gerrit?

Chris: We have been friends for a long time, I didn’t thought about it that much; we just did it, maybe because I never had in mind to replace Jens… I can live very well with the shitstorm…

Q: Funker Vogt has been always much more than simply hard electronic dance stuff, but still a band with a critical perception about society and our world. What about “Code Of Conduct” and tell us a bit more about the song “Brexshit”?

Chris: Every single day is an inspiration; turning on the news and see all the shit that is going on gives more inspiration then I actually need. Europe is falling apart as a community; it’s a good idea but it doesn’t seem to work as long as people are only taking care of their own needs…

Q: What have been the main changes and evolution in the global production process from the very first album “Thanks for Nothing” towards “Code Of Conduct”?

 Gerrit: Puh, the whole production has completely changed all over the years. 21 years ago I worked with real synths, drum computers and samplers and recorded all the stuff with DAT tapes. Now, it’s all made with hard drives on computers – from the first note through the vocal recording to the mastering. Therefore everything’s much easier and works faster than twenty years ago.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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.

Background/Info: Funker Vogt is back on track unleashing their newest full length after years of artistic silence, but with serious commotion about their new singer. The new singer finally became Chris L. (Agonoize, Dance Or Die, The Sexorcist) while Gerrit Thomas remained the main operator behind the machines. Since their previous singer and in a way ‘image’ of the band Jens Kaestel left Funker Vogt, the fans were awaiting this new work for quite a long time. It also is the first ‘new’ studio album released on Repo Records, which already released work from Gerrit Thomas’s side project (Ravenous, Fictional, Fusspils 11) plus ‘deluxe’ re-edits from successful Funker Vogt albums.

Content: Sound-wise nothing has really changed. You instantly recognize the stamp of Gerrit Thomas in the danceable kicks, EBM structures, raw technoid sequences, melodic leads and the global power emerging from the songs. The main change of course is the vocals by Chris L. The new singer is an experienced and talented artist, but with a different timbre of voice so that’s for sure an important change.

Most of the songs have been sung in German, but you also will hear English sung cuts as well. The debut tracks are a bit hesitant, but quite progressively Funker Vogt is gaining in power while elevating the dance vibes.

There are some bonus cuts featuring a song together with Gary Wagner (Dance Or Die, Winterhart, Ruhestätte Schwarz), remixes by Rise Of An Empire plus Intent:Outtake and an extra new cut.

+ + + : I always have liked the work of Funker Vogt because they have a very personal sound you immediately can recognize. The sound hasn’t changed that much throughout the years and even if “Code Of Conduct” is not the band’s best album in history, it however features a few potential dancefloor songs. Speaking for myself I preferred Jens Kaestel’s timbre of voice, but we simply have to get a bit more familiar to the new singer. I especially like the vocals in English, but the main strength is the catchy lyrics (especially in the choruses). The choruses are well-crafted and accentuated by great leads. Somewhere in between dark-electronics and EBM this album stands for the resurrection of a great band and a new chapter in their history.

– – – : I haven’t been convinced by both debut songs, which are a little bit hesitant, but quite progressively the album gets better and better. I again have to say it’s not an easy thing to replace a great singer from one of the leading formations in their genre.

Conclusion: The song “Tanzbefehl” clearly says what Funker Vogt is all about: ‘Musik ist Krieg’ (‘music is war’)! And this work features a few sonic bombs!

Best songs: “Für Immer”, “Gladiator”, “Der Letzte Tanz”, “Deutsch Bleibt Deutsch”, “Tanzbefehl”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.funker–vogt.com / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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.

Background/Info: Funker Vogt is back releasing their first new work since 2013. The legendary German formation still driven by Gerrit Thomas had some turbulent years after singer and frontman Jens Kaestel left the band. But he got replaced by Chris L. who you for sure know from his involvement with Agonoize, Dance Or Die and The Sexorcist. This EP is the first new stuff from this ‘reformed’ formation and is also a first teaser to the new album.

Content: Sound-wise nothing has changed! Funker Vogt remains inspired by powerful dark-EBM revealing the genius of Gerrit Thomas. Funker Vogt is a band with a very own sound DNA and that’s an aspect you directly recognize. The title song is powerful, danceable, featuring great arrangements and dark-technoid sequences.

The vocals of Chris L. of course are different than Jens Kaestel, but the least I can say is that it works! The EP features two different versions of the title song plus remixes by Patenbrigade Wolff and Winterhart. There also is a B-side song entitled “Blut Und Schmerz”.

+ + + : Funker Vogt is back on track and that’s for sure real good and great news for the fans and all lovers of dark-EBM. It will take some time to get used to the new singer, but in the end, he fully succeeded on this EP. I especially like the catchy lyrics of the title song. “Der Letzte Tanz” is a solid title track featuring all the familiar elements of Funker vogt. Power, dance and melody! I also have to mention the interesting diversity in the remixes and especially the epic-like remix of Winterhart.

– – – : As I said it will take some time to get used to Chris L; it’s not an easy thing to replace a charismatic singer of a band like Funker Vogt!

Conclusion: Funker Vogt is back on the EBM front and this first sonic raid is not their biggest success although a real nice comeback!

Best songs: “Der Letzte Tanz – Tanzmix”, “Der Letzte Tanz – Winterhart Remix”, “Der Letzte Tanz – Patenbrigade Wolff Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.funker–vogt.com / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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 EBM cult act Funker Vogt has just released a brand new teaser video (see above) with holds snippets from 7 new tracks, all taken from the brand new album “Code of Conduct”.

Out by the end of June is “Code of Conduct“, the newest Funked Vogt album. “Code of Conduct” comes 4 years after the release of the band’s last album “Companion in Crime”. Along with their new singer, Chris L.(Agonoize/The Sexorcist), Gerrit Thomas and Rene Dornbusch will present the new single “Der letzte Tanz” followed by the new album “Code of Conduct.”

The 16-track album includes the following bonus tracks: “Theater of War”, “Army of the Doomed”, “Der letzte Tanz (Rise of an Empire Mix)” and “Der letzte Tanz (Intent:Outtake)”.

This is a Repo Records worldwide release which especially US fans can order from this fine mail order.

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 by the end of June is “Code of Conduct”, the newest Funked Vogt album. “Code of Conduct” comes 4 years after the release of the band’s last album “Companion in Crime”. Along with their new singer, Chris L.(Agonoize/The Sexorcist), Gerrit Thomas and Rene Dornbusch will present the new single “Der letzte Tanz” followed by the new album “Code of Conduct.”

The 16-track album includes the following bonus tracks: “Theater of War”, “Army of the Doomed”, “Der letzte Tanz (Rise of an Empire Mix)” and “Der letzte Tanz (Intent:Outtake)”.

This is a Repo Records worldwide release which especially US fans can order from this fine mail order.

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: EBM, dark-electro.

Background/Info: There has been a lot of commotion since Jens Kästel left Funker Vogt. By the end of 2016 the band announced that Chris L. from Agonoize had joined in to become the new singer. While awaiting new work of this leading formation Repo Records released an impressive “Collector’s Item” of the “Navigator”-album. This opus was originally released in 2005 on Synthetic Symphony. Next to the original album this work also features bonus tracks, a bonus CD featuring the EP’s “Fallen Hero” and “Killing Ground”, rare and unreleased songs. Last, but not least there also is a DVD featuring Funker Vogt live in Montreal (Canada) at the famous “Kinetik”-festival of 2008 plus a few clips.

Content: This is an opportunity to rediscover Funker Vogt at its best. The powerful electronics mixing EBM and carrying, dark melody lines plus a constant dance tempo made the fame of Gerrit Thomas and his main formation. This is also an opportunity to rediscover some of the band’s most famous and legendary hits originally featured on “Navigator”. Jens Kästel’s unique enraged and commanding way of singing was another essential element of the German combo. “Navigator” mixes power, rage and melody lines. Both bonus songs were originally featured on the limited edition of “Navigator”.

The 2nd disc brings us back to the aforementioned EP’s and especially to one of the band’s greatest hits in history “Navigator”. You’ll also (re)discover remixes by The Birthday Massacre and Underwater Pilots. The rare and unreleased songs are mainly taken from mixes they made for the German magazines Sonic Seducer and Zillo.

Last, but not least the DVD reveals 13 songs from the “Kinetik Festival” of 2008, which of course was the same period of the “Navigator”-album. Except that the songs from this concert were filmed and recorded in Montreal, the fans will recognize the same show, which was featured on the DVD “Warzone K17 –
Live In Berlin”. You also will (re)discover the clip of “Fallen Hero” and the ‘making of’.

+ + + : This is the right collector’s item, but maybe also an opportunity to rediscover EP’s you didn’t know and Funker Vogt on stage. The extracts from the live show in Canada is the real bonus of this release. Soundwise, “Navigator” confirms that the sound of this band is timeless and especially featuring the very own sound DNA created by Gerrit Thomas. There’s a perfect harmony between the power of bass lines and the hard kicks at one side and the melodic leads at the other. Jens Kästel did the rest and was a great live performer.

– – – : You really have to like Funker Vogt to endure this collector’s item. I maybe expected a bit rarer and especially unreleased material.

Conclusion: This special edition of “Navigator” awakened my curiosity to hear new Funker Vogt stuff. “Navigator” remains a great piece of music!

Best songs: “Navigator”, “Fallen Hero”, “Killing Ground”, “The End” + “The End – Extended”, “Navigator – Zillo Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.funkervogt.de / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo–Records/119590774857404

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 8th instalment in the Electrostorm electro-sampler-series will be released in early May.

This new volume will hold 17 tracks by the following bands: Hocico, Combichrist, Agonoize, Dive, Too Dead To Die, Solitary Experiments, Blutengel, Massive Ego, Melotron, Rummelsnuff & Asbach, The Juggernauts, Cephalgy, CHROM, Ashbury Heights, Solar Fake, The Sexorcist and Any Second. The latter is the brand new Agonoize-side project.

You can already order the compilation right here.

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

Funker Vogt have a new frontman/vocalist. IN a Facebook post – which you can see below – the band presents Chris L. (Agonoize, The Sexorcist) together with a small snippet medley of the first 3 songs with Chris L..

For those who fear this means the end of Agonoize or The Sexorcist, rest assured, here’s was Chris had to say: “NO its not the end of Agonoize… I got more then enough time for every Single project and i love them all…. working on Funker Vogt and The Sexorcist at the moment as well as Agonoize and they all sound different..So keep calm and take a bloodshower.”

Here’s the post and video:

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: EBM.

Background/Info: We last year discovered the debut album “Klangkörper” of the new Berliner formation The Sexorcist. Driven by the spirit and creative mind of Chris L. (Agonoize, Dance Or Die) and Gunnar Kreuz, the duo is back on track unleashing an EP featuring 5 new songs.

Content: It’s called ‘erotic body music’ but it sounds pure EBM-like. The typical German sound of The Sexorcist makes me think of a fusion between Tyske Ludder and And One. This band doesn’t really innovate, but with Chris L. behind the machines you get a powerful and professional production. The work has been accomplished by dark bleeps, deep, carrying bass lines and passionate German vocals.

The song “Minimalkomplex” reveals an interesting and somewhat different exploration of minimal electro fields. This song might open new horizons for the further work of The Sexorcist. It’s an alluring fusion between EBM and pop elements.

+ + + : I especially enjoyed the minimalistic- and refined sound of “Minimalkomplex”, which is a very cool song. It’s quite unusual to get an EP with 5 different songs and without any single remix. That’s a spirit I can only, but support.

– – – : I can’t say to have heard an absolute club hit at this EP and that’s probably the single aspect this production is missing.

Conclusion: If you’re a die-hard fan of Chris L or you simply like German EBM, The Sexorcist will make you wild!

Best songs: “Minimalkomplex”, “Re(-e)volution”

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/thes3xor5ist

www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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