(Photo by RA Desilets) US dark electronic artist Slighter, who we have reviewed several times on Side-Line, presents an all new single “Have No Fear”, which is out now via Confusion Inc.. This is the first taste of his full-length album “This Futile Engine”, due out on July 21 via Brutal Resonance Records.

The single comes backed by the B-side ‘Dark Rave Mix’ of the title track. The accompanying video which you can view below was created by Psyklon Industries.

Colin C., the main force behind this project, explains the track as follows: “‘Have No Fear’ is a song that took a while to come together, but it was actually one of the first ideas I had for the new Slighter album. Coming off of my last album ‘V O I D’ (released in 2021), I wanted to break away from that creative vein I was tapping then, but still have some catharsis in the songwriting.” And he adds: “The ‘Have No Fear’ recording sessions were all hardware synth jams, very organic moments that shaped my direction for the whole new record. But it took awhile to find the voice for it, the lyrics are intentionally personal but there’s some universality to reminding oneself that fear is a choice to make.”

Slighter is the solo moniker of Colin C. (Colin Cameron Allrich) who was previously involved in collaborations for various Metropolis Records releases and Cleopatra Records compilations, in addition to Slighter releases via his own Confusion Inc. imprint.

The full-length album “This Futile Engine” was mixed and mastered at The Cell Studio and features 13 tracks and holds collaborations with Steven Seibold of Hate Dept, Yvette Winkler of Vaselyne, Craig Joseph Huxtable of Landscape Body Machine, Morgue VVitch, Deep Dark Water and more.

“This Futile Engine” will be released, both as a deluxe edition CD and digitally, on July 21.

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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Our colleagues from the industrial and dark electronic website and record label Brutal Resonance have launched their first official podcast.

Started by the site’s editor-in-chief, Steven Gullotta, the podcast will be a steady show focusing on the best in industrial, dark electro, synthwave, synthpop, darkwave, and a variety of other genres that Brutal Resonance has been known to cover.

Steven Gullotta explains more on the content: “Curated playlists, special episodes focusing on record label’s discographies, and genre-specific episodes focusing on niche genres such as dark ambient and experimental music are planned. Brutal Resonance will also be expanding the podcast later on to include interviews, special guests, and more.”

You can stream the first episode below.

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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Zwaremachine returns with “Conquest 3000”, a brand new album which will be out on July 17th. This is the band’s second full length and holds 10 new songs. The album will be released on CD and in other digital formats via Phage Tapes who released the first full length album by the band as well, the 2018 released “Be a light” bringing a mix of classic EBM and electro-industrial.

That 2018 album was re-released by Sliptrick Records in June of 2020 with additional track and remixes. There was also a collaboration between Mach Fox and D.Corri which resulted in the 5 song EP “Ripping at the fabric” which was released in May 2020 by Brutal Resonance Records. Several related singles and remixes were released by the band since then.

But let’s go back to their all new album “Conquest 3000” which features the full live trio of Mach Fox (vocals/synth), Dbot (bass guitar/vocals) and Dein Offizier (drums). The songs were written and produced in collaboration with Planktoon and D.Corri with additional mixing and mastering done by Jason Orris at The Terrarium in Minneapolis, Mn. (USA).

You can check out the album teaser below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The German industrial / EBM project Urban Matrix has completed its label debut album for Pennsylvania based Brutal Resonance Records. The release comes after a string of releases on multiple record labels, including EBSM from France, Soil, and FIXREC from the Netherlands.

The album is a true concept album as Urban Matrix explains: “It stands as the final book of the New Testament as well as the final book of the Christian Bible. Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text, ‘apokalypsis’, which means ‘unveiling’ or ‘revelation’. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon. The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing a letter to the ‘Seven Churches of Asia’. He then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon, the Serpent, and the Beast, which culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus. The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. This album is my musical interpretation.”

Urban Matrix’s “The Book of Revelation” will be released in both a digital and limited edition four-panel digipak CD format on July 29th, 2021. The launch of “The Book of Revelation” also announces the label’s partnership with Viral Records Australia, who will be shipping the orders to addresses in both Australia and New Zealand.

You can already check 2 tracks from this upcoming release.

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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Connecticut based industrial metal act Decent News will be releasing a special edition cassette release of their split with Seattle based act Chrome Corpse. The split release will be out on Brutal Resonance Records later this Spring. This re-release is packed with special dance remixes and even some reworks of the original tracks.

Also the band are currently working on their third studio album.

Decent News was featured with the track “I’m Slipping Away” on Side-Line’s recently released massive Bandcamp compilation “Face The Beat 6”. You can check out the track below. Highly recommended to Cat Rapes Dog fans amongst others.

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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Out now is the brand new EP from the Australian cyberpunk influenced EBM / electro-industrial project Hostile Architect. Released via Brutal Resonance Records, “::LOG.3:: SEMTEX” offers 3 tracks. Next to the lead single, you’ll also find a second song “Machineguncontrol”, and a remix from the industrial project Null Cell.

Out now as well is the video “Semtex”, created by Psyklon Industries.

You can check out all songs on Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Norwegian industrial metal act Carrion has unleashed their new single “Dogs Ov Hell”. This single comes off of the band’s most recent album “Testament Ov The Exiled [Revised Edition]” released through Brutal Resonance Records. The single is available on Bandcamp and can be streamed below.

Carrion: “Musically it’s probably one of the heavier songs we’ve done, more on the metal side than industrial but if anyone were to stop by my house you’re more likely to find me blasting Morbid Angel than some EBM stuff. I always thought of Carrion as a rock band regardless of the instruments or methods use. It has more to do with attitude than sound really though with this album I feel like it shines through on both and I hope the listener can appreciate the evolution and stick with us for the next one.”

Here’s “Dogs Ov Hell”.

Below is the full album to check out.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM.

Format: Digital, cassette.

Background/Info: Two years after the successful “Be A Light”-EP Zwaremachine strikes back with new songs. It also is the first work released by Brutal Resonance, which we all know as online magazine devoted to EBM, dark-electro, industrial and related styles. ‘Match FoX’ brings us five new tracks plus an extra remix on the digital edit.

Content: I was already convinced after the previous “Be A Light”-work, but Zwaremachine moves a step further at this new work. The songs are all driven by solid EBM bass lines while carried by pumping kicks and great sound arrangements. The vocals are rough, expressing anger and rage, which is totally fitting with this kind of production. Zwaremachine remains devoted to early EBM productions, but with this extra and empowering, contemporary touch on top. The songs sometimes make me think to a hybrid between early Frontline Assembly and the rage of early Combichrist. Notice by the way the digital edit is featuring an “Alternative Mix” of the title song;

+ + + : All songs are carried by impressive EBM-like bass lines. They inject a phenomenal power into the work, which is joined by heavy, pumping beats and detailed sound arrangements. Zwaremachine doesn’t only create enraged music, but the production is also sophisticated and totally accomplished. The title track is an absolute masterpiece, but “What We Are” is even better. I also have to mention “Resist” and “New Design” featuring the same ingredients and dense sound layers. Zwaremachine is much more than only power, it also is a project with a meticulous approach. 

– – – : I think the only single aspect of the work that could be improved – although it’s not exactly a point, is the vocals’ production. I think the way of singing is maybe a little less too linear.

Conclusion: “Ripping At The Fabric” is a brilliant sonic exposure from an artist the dark-electro community can better keep an eye on!

Best songs: “What We Are”, “Ripping At The Fabric”, “Resist”, “New Design”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.zwaremachine.band / www.facebook.com/zwaremachine

Label: https://brutalresonance.com / www.facebook.com/brutalresonance

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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