Genre/Influences: Gothic, cold-wave, rock-goth.

Background/Info: After having released three albums on Black Rain and one album on Holy Hour Records, German formation Atomic Neon now joined hands with Alice In… The band driven by singer Rio Black (still involved with No Trust In Dawn), ex-The House Of Usher guitarist Lars Kappeler plus 4 more members have already been active for more than 10 years.

Content: “Remember Me” is carried by good-old and pure nostalgia-like cold-wave music. It’s impossible to not have The Cure in mind when listening to Atomic Neon. Rio Black is once again reminding me of Robert Smith, but several songs feel like touched by the hand of The Cure. Other songs are closer to darker approach of The Sisters Of Mercy. The vocals are a bit different as well, becoming deeper and more depressed.

A few more songs, probably the most personal ones, reveal some dark-rock touch on top. And there also is one single track sung in German, which also is one of the attention grabbers. The work features 10 songs plus 2 bonus cuts, revealing a symphonic version and an extended version.

+ + + : This album is not that different from previous releases. You don’t listen to Atomic Neon for the originality, but for their great 80s spirit reminiscent to The Cure, The Sisters Of Mercy, The Cult, The Mission ao. They bring the dark 80s hours alive with passion and talent. I especially like the guitar playing, which has this dark magic from the cold-wave years while some passages are also a bit psychedelic-like. Singer Rio Black also remains a great and charismatic singer, which can now remind me of Robert Smith and then to Andrew Eldritch.

– – – : As I already said and often mentioned, Atomic Black is one of the numerous 80s copyists. There’s no explicit trace of originality, but we’ve to admit they bring the cold-wave style back to life with style and conviction. One thing they maybe have to reconsider is to improve the poorly inspired artwork from the album. The front cover is definitely too simplistic and that’s a pity in times CD sales are going downwards.

Conclusion: If you’re infected with the 80s cold-wave nostalgia, Atomic Neon will give you a very efficient remedy called “Remember Me”. This is a great album in its genre!

Best songs: “Blue Angel”, “Romy’s Dead”, “Decay”, “Keine Lügen”, “Not Real”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.atomicneon.de / www.facebook.com/theatomicneon

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

No Trust In dawn has been set up in 2016 by the German duo ‘Soykut Gür’ (Down To Reality) and ‘Rio Black’ (Atomic Neon). They one year later released their official debut album entitled “As We Fall” on Alice In…/Dark Dimensions. From the very first tones and vocals you get the impression awakening somewhere during the 80s while listening to The Cure. No Trust In Dawn doesn’t strive for innovation, but simply compose the music they like. The result is a fully enjoyable work. Singer ‘Rio Black’ give me a bit more details about this promising debut.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries / Picture by Oliver Stein)

Q: I got the feeling that No Trust In Dawn was set up by two friends who were listening to their favorite band, which must be The Cure! How did it really happened?

Rio Black: Not Really! We met for the first time during the last year! ….and yes, we are both big Cure-fans, but not only. There are many other bands we like from that time and, which have influenced us! But now we are friends and we make the kind of music we like! (laugh)

Q: You both have been previously involved with other bands so how much of these past experiences can be heard on “As We Fall” and tell us a bit more about this debut album?

Rio Black: I’m still the vocalist of the bands Atomic Neon and Rio Black & Band. I of course got some experience being involved with other bands, but No Trust In Dawn is different!

The advantage in this band is that we are only two members so we only have to do what we love and what we want. We don’t have to discuss different elements of the production with other musicians, which simplifies everything!

The album “As We Fall” manifests our innermost; the music comes directly from Soykut’s soul and my lyrics just fit perfectly. I sing about love, sadness, magic and failure and all kind of things we feel concerned in life. The entire album is a reflection of what we feel about living in the 21^st Century!

Q: And what is the title-song all about?

Rio Black: “As We Fall” is a song about failure; the feeling you get when you don’t want to fight anymore. It’s about giving up and being exhausted!

But there also is a positive impetus to more look around… ‘don’t let the people around you run in the open knife’… some people are just too weak to ‘save’ themselves! We must not fall!

Q: Your sound clearly sounds inspired by good-old 80s and new-wave music. What makes 80s that special and still very inspiring, even for ‘young’ musicians? 

Rio Black: We both loved the music our siblings were listening to and often sat in front of the turntables of sister and brother and enjoyed the songs of New Order, Talking Heads or even The Cure!

I think the great thing about 80s music is the mix of new electronic sounds, the beautiful melancholic wave, the colorful punk, the dark post-punk and the unbelievable musical freedom, that still affects the young people today!

Q: You got directly signed to one of the leading labels of the scene so how did it feel becoming part of Dark Dimensions/Alice In… and what are your expectations?

Rio Black: I know Francesco from Dark Dimensions for quite a long time now. We got in touch because he likes Atomic Neon as well. I send him the demos of No Trust In Dawn, just to get his opinion, but he liked it that much we got an offer to get signed. The day we signed the contract was a real cool moment and a great honor to release our debut work directly on Alice In…/Dark Dimensions!

We expect a great cooperation and the best support as possible. But we are sure that we will not be disappointed!

Q: What can you say about the video clip you realized and what’s the importance for bands going on releasing clips?

Rio Black: Videos are not so important as they used to be these days, but they are part of us!

We had some good ideas and a great film team from Rookie Entertainment to do the whole thing. We’re into videos and have already a few more in the pipeline. The next clip will be the song “Come Closer” and next we plan a clip of “Dystopia”.

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: New-wave, gothic.

Background/Info: No Trust In Dawn is a brand-new duo hailing from Kassel Germany. Driven by Soykut Gür (Down To Reality) and Rio Black (Atomic Neon), the band joined hands with the Dark Dimensions group to unleash this debut opus.

Content: The influences of this band will rapidly come through. The Cure definitely is the one and only source of inspiration, which comes back nearly the entire album long. No Trust In Dawn reminds me of the 80s period of Robert Smith and his gang. The songs reveal a melancholic touch, which makes me think to the sensitive and dark side of The Cure’s famous song “Charlotte Sometimes”.

+ + + : “As We Fall” is a well-crafted album with a perfect match between mewing and sensitive guitar playing and elevating electronics. Sadness and melancholia became beautiful and essential aspects of this work. If you’re a fan of The Cure you possibly gone like No Trust In Dawn. It’s not only about the sound, but even the timbre of voice reminds me of Robert Smith. This is a beautiful album.

– – – : There’s only one The Cure and that’s possibly what will hurt listeners discovering “As We Fall”. This album is not about artistic creativity, but simply copyists.

Conclusion: No Trust Is Dawn is possessed by The Cure and the only remedy is to start an exorcism and begging Robert Smith to come out of that body! But as I don’t believe in exorcism and don’t care about blasphemy, I simply prefer to enjoy this great album!

Best songs: “Come Closer”, “Trust Me”, “Trash”, “Matthew”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.facebook.com/NoTrustInDawn

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: Gothic, cold-wave, new-wave.

Background/Info: Atomic Neon is a German band, which gained some recognition for their pure new-wave/cold-wave albums released on Black Rain. Not much really happened at this great label and Atomic Rain found a new home in France joining Holy Hour Records (label of Factice Factory ao). This new work is their 4^th full length. One of the members, Lars Kappeler, has also been involved in The House Of Usher.

Content: Atomic Neon never has been a real source of creativity, but a great copyist of one of the most famous and legendary new-wave bands in history. They could have been a cover band of The Cure, but they simply used The Cure as main source of inspiration to compose real great and noticeable music.

This album feels like a new trip through history awakening somewhere in the early 80s. All the different elements of the composition smell like Cure. Even the dry snares remind me of early Cure. The vocals are quite close to Robert Smith so in the end I would say that the main differences consist of less efficient guitar parts and more electronic elements.

“The Bodanegra Session” sounds dark and like melancholic reverie. It all sounds desperate and yet beautiful.

+ + + : Despite of the lack of creativity, I prefer a talented emulation revealing multiple noticeable songs instead of boring, innovative music. This work features many great songs and I especially refer to “The Walking Dead”, which is a potential hit. This is for sure one of the most talented bands in their genre!

– – – : The lack of originality for sure remains the main hiatus of this band. There’s only one Cure and when a band is getting too close to their Master it will for sure sounds like a blasphemy for numerous die-hard fans.

Conclusion: If The Cure remains one of the most famous ‘teachers’ of new-wave music, Atomic Neon definitely is one of the most promising and talented ‘pupil’! I prefer this new work by Atomic Neon instead of numerous Cure-albums.

Best songs: “The Walking Dead”, “Soul Ruins”, “Burried Machine”, “The Burning Star”, “Dark City”, “The Fall”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.atomic–neon.de / www.facebook.com/theatomicneon

Label: www.holyhourrecords.com / www.facebook.com/HolyHourRecords

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