Chernobyl &#8211; SIDE-LINE

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!

Soft Cell release all new single, ‘Bruises On My Illusions’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 11:02:54 +0000

Out now is the brand new Soft Cell single “Bruises On My Illusions” which also announces the band’s first album in over 20 years for the duo consisting of Marc Almond and Dave Ball. The new album, “Happiness Not Included”, will be released on February 25, 2022.

The single “Bruises On My Illusions” is available in digital format, plus the CD along with the 12 inch vinyl singles.

Marc Almond explains: “‘Bruises On My Illusions’ is a Soft Cell film noir about a character disillusioned with everything and who still has hope for a better future, despite poor forecasts. A darker version of ‘Bedsitter’. Dave’s challenging and incisive backing vocals inspired this song.”

Dave Ball adds: “It’s one of our darkest cinematic moments with classic Marc Almond lyrics.”

Bonus tracks in the physical format of the single will include remixes of “Bruises On My Illusions” by Dave Ball’s other project, The Grid, as well as by Manhattan Clique. You furthermore get a remix of “Nighthawks” courtesy of Throbbing Gristle legends Chris & Cosey and extended versions of the albumtracks “Happiness Not Included’ and “Heart Like Chernobyl” in addition to the bonus track “Vapourise”.

Here’s the 2-track single for you to check out.

Black Nail Cabaret present new video single ‘Maelstrom’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 14:51:27 +0000

Out now is the new Black Nail Cabaret video single “Maelstrom”. The track is taken from the Hungarian dark pop duo’s current album “Gods Verging on Sanity”.

“The original idea for this clip was born in 2019 and it’s an ironic coincidence that we have managed to shoot this in the middle of the pandemic”, writes the Hungarian duo.

“As on our previous videos for ‘No Gold’ and ‘Unrequited Love’, we once again collaborated with fabulous director Richard Besenczi. Our common aim was to create an allegory reflecting on human relationships: the meeting of extremes, feminine and masculine, peace and activity. The clip was shot at the Bauxite Geological Park in Gánt as well as in the ghost town of Szentkirályszabadja. The latter is also called the ‘Hungarian Chernobyl’ and although it is not much visible in this video, it was still a good excuse for us to visit and spend some time at this fascinating location after the video recording.”

You can watch the video below.

V/A Music for Abandoned Cold War Places (Album – ZeroK)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 19:30:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Cinematographic, Dark-Ambient, Experimental.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: ZeroK is a sub-division of the Italian label Unexplained Sounds Group. This compilation is a conceptual release inspired –as indicated in the title, by abandoned Cold War places. Twelve artists have been invited to re-create the particular ambiance hanging over these places.

Artists: Grey Frequency, Joel Gilardini, HLER, Phalioo, Kloob, Super8musik, SILENI, Psiconic Asylum, vÄäristymä, Jeton Hoxha, WILT and Chronodepth.

Content: The twelve tracks are very efficient in their genre, but especially in the creation of the sphere we might all imagine hanging over such places of despair. Most of the compositions create a Cinematographic impression. It’s a ghost-like experience, sounding rather apocalyptic and minimalistic. Cold electro signals and diversified field recordings are progressively awakening the imagination of the listener.

+ + + : The theme serving as concept has clearly inspired most of the artists. It has been reinforced by some of the track titles like “Pripyat”, “Checkpoint Charlie”, “Decommissioned Architecture” and “Doomsday Clock”. I instantly got the sensation watching a documentary about the desolation of Chernobyl after the nuclear accident. Life has been taken away and replaced by an eternal silence. But this silence is constantly disturbed by natural elements like wind, water. Icy electronic signals and dark sound waves create a ghost-like effect; the sensation of visiting a ghost town, which is perfectly illustrated by the front cover of the album. My favorite cuts are the ones by vÄäristymä, Joel Gilardini and WILT. This compilation also is an opportunity to discover less familiar artists.

– – – : Some passages are a little less too Experimental to my taste, but globally speaking this compilation creates a compact result.

Conclusion: This compilation sounds as a true sonic documentary; you get the music and have to imagine the story.

Best bands: vÄäristymä, Joel Gilardini, WILT, Phalioo, Psionic Asylum.

Rate: (7½).

Label: www.facebook.com/ZeroK-103649114533137

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.

Finkseye – The Liquidators (Album – Finkseye)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 20:30:20 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-Ambient, Cinematographic.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: We all know Henrik Fink Nilsson aka Finkseye for his dark EBM. He released several albums so far, but this self-released opus is something special. The work was written in between 2002 and 2010 and meant to get released under The Liquidators moniker, but it never happened. It’s a conceptual work inspired by the Chernobyl disaster, which finally saw the daylight this year… maybe due to the great “Chernobyl”-TV series.

Content: Henrik Fink Nilsson got inspired by the sound of Kraftwerk and he felt this album as ‘Kraftwerkian’. I think I understand what he means, but the Kraftwerk-sound is not that evident to recognize. The tracks sound more inspired by the work of early Electronic pioneers, resulting in a space-like trip carried by slow rhythms. It has something dreamy although the last track “Radioactive Angst” has something darker and closer to the concept because of the easily recognizable noises of a Geiger counter.

+ + + : This work has less in common with the ‘familiar’ Finkseye album although there’s this Ambient taste on top. The songs are well-crafted featuring great space-like sound treatments. The slow tempo makes the work more accessible. I also have to say a word about the deep, vibrating bass lines running through a few tracks. “Beryllium blue” and especially the title song both are great exposure of this work. The last track is definitely darker and reminding us of the terrible drama of Chernobyl.

– – – : If there’s one single reproach I should make about this album, it’s for sure the music that doesn’t really fit with the nuclear accident of Chernobyl. The music sounds too relaxing to evoke this tragedy.

Conclusion: I think Finkseye had a real good idea to finally bring this album to life; it’s a cool testimony of this artist’s talent, which goes further than only EBM.

Best songs: “The Liquidators”, “Beryllium Blue”, “Shallow States”, “Radioactive Angst”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Finkseye

‘Click Interview’ with Finkseye: ‘I Have A Rough Outline For A Fake “Mad Max”-Movie Type Soundtrack’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 25 Jul 2020 17:00:30 +0000

Before Finkseye, Henrik Fink Nilsson was involved with Struma. The common element between both bands is EBM! The name of this Swedish solo-project is taken from Henrik’s middle name ‘Fink’ while the ‘eye’ part stands for his artistic side and is a wink to his acrylic paintings and ink drawings, but still to his passion for photography and digital art. Henrik fink Nilsson got interested in electronic music since he was seven years old. He discovered the “Radio-Activity”-album from Kraftwerk, which he first liked for the artwork and the cool band name, but next he felt in love when hearing the music. He next discovered other electronic artists like Depeche Mode, Gary Numan ao.. Finkseye has already released a few number of albums. The third official work “Ecocide” has been already released on Razgrom Music and sounds as a further exploration to mix EBM and soundtrack music together. It’s an interesting challenge and clearly different from the typical EBM clichés.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Finkseye is already active for numerous years, but how did you get the idea to set up the project? What have been the original ideas and purposes and how you perceive Finkseye today?

Henrik: My mom played an old Farfisa organ back in the day and I used to fiddle around on that one a lot, when I moved out of the house I missed that element of being able to make some noise so I bought a keyboard and continued. I came up with the name and logo for Finkseye in 1995 and in 1996 I started to make music under that name.

The general idea has always been trying to be free in the music to be able to let it go in any direction. The early music is mostly made up of noises and samples with an odd synth here and there, but as I progressed there is a red line and that is my love for electronic cinematic tracks. I have released a lot of the older tracks under the name Ventilounge on Soundcloud.

Finkseye today is almost like going back to the roots, there is more room for melodies and I let the EBM influences flow into any song to spice things up. I don’t follow rules or genres.

Q: Can you analyze your own evolution as musician/producer from the early works till the newest album “Ecocide”?

Henrik: In the beginning I was always in the hunt for noises and sounds and could sit forever to find the right stuff. Today I look for a way to convey a feeling or a vision of some sorts. It still involves around getting the right noise/sound, but I don’t spend that much time on it anymore. I have always liked to write stories so writing lyrics comes somewhat easy, the singing bit has been a steep uphill from the start, but I feel that I have found a place and key for my voice to feel natural in the songs now.

Q: Let’s talk about “Ecocide”, which has something pretty conceptual right? What did you try to express by this work and how did the composition happened?

Henrik: “Ecocide” was a concept album from the start; all my inspiration and lyrics were inspired by reading the news about warfare/politics or seeing some documentary about how we pollute our oceans. It’s a constant barrage of bad news and to top it off we got Covid-19 which in some way gave our earth a way to breathe again.

Whenever I wrote something it was charged with the bad news, this was however a very tough album to pull through so I stopped three songs short. I just could not continue on that road so I stopped the project and decided trying to release it as it was. The three last songs were given away as rough demos on Bandcamp. After the release I updated my whole studio with new synths and gear to exorcise the demon. The next album is in the works : )

Q: I noticed you recently also released an album based upon the Chernobyl disaster. The album was composed in between 2002 and 2010 so how comes it has been released only now and only as digital release? Tell us a bit more about this conceptual work?

Henrik: When I made those songs I felt like that they were too cold and Kraftwerk-ish so I wanted to release that album under a different name at first (The Liquidators). But the album just sat there and as time progressed I felt more at ease with the songs and now was the right time to release it. I thought about a limited CD-run, but ultimately felt that Bandcamp was the way to go.

The starting point for this album was when I came across a Russian news sample from the time when the disaster struck, I remembered when our news stations warned us for nuclear fallout and this together with my love for the band Kraftwerk kicked the project into action..

Q: “The Liquidators” sounds definitely soundtrack-like, which is an influence that often comes back in your work. What do you like in this cinematic style, which makes me think to cinematic-EBM? And are there concrete ideas/plans to release a real soundtrack?

Henrik: I remembered vividly when I was 13 years old watching “Bladerunner” for the first time, this would have been in 1987. The movie brought a perfect marriage of electronic music and film. The end titles inspired me (and still do today) and I started painting/drawing a lot of fantasy/horror themed stuff.

The cinematic link has been with me in my music since the very start and if I ever get the chance to write a soundtrack for a movie I will. I have a rough outline for a fake “Mad Max”-movie type soundtrack that lingers in my head. Maybe that will be my first soundtrack : )

Q: I noticed there also is a kind of common thread running throughout the artwork of your releases. What’s the importance of the artwork and what do you try to express that way? And you next to artwork also pay attention to image?

Henrik: The album cover should in some way convey what there is to be heard on the album, you should perhaps to be able to get a feeling from it or maybe just the concept of it. Starting with the covers I did for my band Struma 2012-2014 I have tried to have a red line running through the artwork. My logo evolves a small bit for each album I release, on “Ecocide” it’s just the logo upfront without the name Finkseye. On “Deadweight” I used a lot of my digital art and I have progressed to use more of my photos with each album cover and insert. On “Ecocide” I knew what I was after so on a foggy day I took photos around the ocean shore for the cover and the video I did for “Unreality” followed in the same footsteps. I want my releases to have my personality, I want people to be able to recognize it and perhaps say ‘hey there is a new Finkseye album on the shelf’ : )

Michal Turowski – Wormwood And Flame (CD Album – Mozdok / Positive Regression)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 23 Aug 2019 19:30:41 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, soundscape.

Background/Info: Polish artist Michal Turowski is involved with multiple projects. I mainly know him for his work with Mazut, but he’s also active under the Gazawat moniker and set up labels such as Positive regression. This album is a conceptual one dealing with the tragedy of Chernobyl and the impact on the citizens of Pripyat who had to evacuate their houses.

Content: “Wormwood And Flame” is clearly inspired by the dark realms of ambient music, but also sounds like a noisy soundscape constructed with industrial sounds. Repetitive loops will get the listener into an imaginary state of terror, which perfectly stands for the horror theme this work is dealing with. The tracks have been accomplished with multiple, crispy noises, but I also noticed a few sequences with icy, astral bleeps.

+ + + : The album perfectly brings the torment of this event back to life. The sound treatments are raw, unpolished creating a profound state of angst. I especially enjoy the track “The Woodpecker” for the resonating bleeps emerging at the surface. This track also injects diversity to the work.

– – – : Some passages are definitely too repetitive becoming a bit monotonous after a while.

Conclusion: This album is constantly switching from real great cuts towards less inspired passages. It however has something poignant and creating a visual sensation.

Best songs: “The Woodpecker”, “26^th April 1986”, “Pripyat”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: http ://bdta .pl

Label: www .facebook .com /positiveregression

‘Click Interview’ with Shrine: ‘At Some Point, The Music Starts To ‘Speak’ For Itself And Some ‘Images’ Start To Appear In My Mind’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 27 Nov 2016 19:30:17 +0000

Hristo Gospodinov is a Bulgarian artist who set up Shrine in 2003. The early productions were released on Corvus Records. Later on Shrine joined arms with Cyclic Law releasing new full length albums “Somnia” (2012) and “Nihil” (2014). All productions deal with a dark and tormented ambient music genre, which is also confirmed on the newest opus “Ordeal 26.04.86”. The new work is a conceptual one dealing about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster than now happened 30 years ago. I got in touch with Hristo to get more info about his music and his new work.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: When and how did you get interested in music and especially the dark-ambient genre?

Hristo: I’m fascinated with non-popular music since I was a kid. I have a background of other musicians in my family so my affinity towards music is natural, but the popular music never interested me. I was into really extreme music when I was younger but went deeper and deeper into the underground over the years. I turned to ambient back in 2001 after I listened to Raison d’Etre’s album “Enthraled By The Wind Of Lonelienes” which had a profound impact on my mind.

Actually I already told this story in details in another interview (for the forthcoming book “Endarkenment: The Esoteric in Dark Ambient Music and Culture”, you can read an excerpt of it on the “Endarkenment: …”s facebook page, or on Shrine’s facebook page).

Q: I read that Shrine has been set up from your interest for esoteric music so how did you transpose it into sound and do you have sources of inspiration and references in the dark-ambient genre?

Hristo: I don’t have any other sources of inspiration than sound synthesis & processing tools. I like a lot some other artists’ music but this is not influencing my process of composing in any way. I just need the proper sound tools and some free time to start creating. It’s all about experimenting with sound. Of course the genre influenced me as a whole, that’s for sure. It gave me a musical direction, so to speak.

Q: I’m fascinated by your idea ‘to express obscure understandings of life and everything else in a non-verbal way’, but how does it really work when you’re in your studio?

Hristo: Yes, my vision of things in general is quite obscure, but what you quoted is rather a metaphor. Technically there is no expression of anything else than my brain’s satisfaction with sounds. As I said, it’s all about experimenting with sound. When I start creating, there is nothing else than sound and the imagery and the concept of the music are totally absent. Then, at some point, the music starts to ‘speak’ for itself and some ‘images’ start to appear in my mind. All my works are created like this except for the last one.

“Ordeal 26.04.86” is the first SHRINE record where the idea of the album actually preceded the music. In this case the concept is affecting the sound a bit, but it’s not fundamental.

Q: How did you get the idea to treat about the Chernobyl disaster and tell us a bit more about the composition?

Hristo: It’s just an idea that came to me some 10 years ago in the early period of my project. I’m quite interested in science in general and respectively in man-made technological disasters, so it’s a subject that fascinates me. I started to work on it in 2015 when I was convalescing from surgery and had a lot of free time.

Q: You’re using field recordings and clearly have a preference/fascination for sounds and noises of nature. What kind of noises are you searching for and how do you proceed to finally obtain the sounds we can hear on the record?

Hristo: I used to search for all kind of sounds in the past, but eventually got tired to chase them. I mean it’s not very interesting to just hang around with a portable recorder and a mic, doing nothing but waiting. I don’t even have a recorder at the moment, I sold it a time ago and never got a new one. But I already collected a big sound library with all kind of sounds.

You can hear most of non-synthetic sounds on “Ordeal 26.04.86”, which are sampled by myself, but not all. The ‘spoken’ sounds for example are not mine. The “St.Michael” prayer I found somewhere on the internet and “The Opening Of The Sixth Seal” I took from the movie “Stalker” by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Q: Your new album definitely is my favorite one, but how would you analyze your evolution from the early work till “Ordeal 26.04.86”?

Hristo: My project has evolved a lot since its early days, it’s been 13 years already. Of course the source of it all – my brain – is still the same so I can easily connect the music I currently make to the music I made back then. But my music production skills have evolved and the contemporary music production field has evolved a lot too. Ten years ago it wouldn’t have been possible to create a piece of music like “Ordeal” simply because the tools used in its making have not been invented yet. There is a tremendous shift in this field over the last few years. Software is getting closer and closer to the big modular synth stations and in some aspects is even surpassing them. It’s amazing. I hope the future will bring us even more exciting things.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Shrine – Ordeal 26.04.86 (CD Album – Cyclic Law)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 20:55:15 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient.

Background/Info: Behind Shrine is hiding Bulgarian artist Hristo Gospodinov. Shrine has already released several albums and has joined Cyclic Law in 2012 (cf. “Somnia” album). This is the fourth full length album, which is a conceptual release around the 30^th anniversary of the nuclear disaster that happened in Chernobyl on the 26^th of April, 1986. “Ordeal 26.04.86” is meant as an ode to the victims of this nearby apocalypse.

Content: The apocalyptic vision of the Chernobyl disaster is totally appropriated to the dark-ambient approach of this band. You’ll notice field recordings (or samplings) of birds at the beginning of the work. They feel like a symbol of life or afterlife… But they’re rapidly joined and finally transcended by dark sound waves with overwhelming, thunderous sounds. The work has been meticulously built up, comparable to a spider web from which you can’t ever escape. It’s a tormenting experience appealing for your imagination and comparable to the apocalyptic vision of desolation of this town 30 years later. Everything has been abandoned while life disappeared for years now.

Hristo Gospodinov transposed this vision into heavy noises and multiple sound treatments joined by whispering voices, like ghosts awakening from their cavalry. New field recordings of rain and thunder join in while the vision of this ghost town remains desolate and without any hope. The only thing we can do is to remember what happened… the nuclear danger remaining the biggest weapon on earth to destroy the planet.

+ + + : Shrine has meticulously transposed the concept of Chernobyl into an overwhelming and successful dark-ambient release. The theme of radioactivity is an old one, but it remains a real source of inspiration for musicians and has been adapted into an overwhelming dark-ambient production. The global sound production is absolutely phenomenal. The tracks are tormented and accomplished with this little touch of genius. “The Night That Hell Broke Loose” is absolutely amazing for its climax.

– – – : The last cut is the single one that can’t fully satisfy me, but you don’t hear me complain.

Conclusion: “Ordeal 26.04.86 “ is for sure the opus magnum from Shrine. This is what dark-ambient music stands for!

Best songs: “The Night That Hell Broke Loose”, “Under The Graphite Clouds”, “Atomgrad”, “Radiant Skyline (Unity 4).

Rate: (8½).

Band: www .facebook .com /shrine .project

Label: www .cycliclaw .com / www .facebook .com /cycliclaw

Watch first video from Shrine’s new ‘Ordeal 26.04.86’ album dedicated to 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster! Orders available now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 18:00:02 +0000

Out next month – and available in pre-order right here – is “Ordeal 26.04.86”, the brand new album by Shrine aka Hristo Gospodinov. The full length is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster that happened on April 26th, 1986.

A first video is available now for the track “Atomgrad”:

The material on this album was composed during a post-operative convalescence period in 2015. Here’s what Hristo Gospodinov says of the process: “To me the Chernobyl theme has always been very special not only because I witnessed the nuclear sunburn effects myself back in 1986 when I was a kid, but also because I find it to be the closest glimpse of a pending apocalypse we have seen so far. I find it terrifying not only because of the devastating effect of the ionizing radiation itself, but also because it was a man-made event. To me, the parallel with the biblical book of Revelation is inescapable.”

“Ordeal 26.04.86” serves as a tribute to those that suffered, and still suffer from the irreparable effects. The artwork for the album was provided by Dehn Sora and Hristo Gospodinov.

The 6-track release comes in a limited edition of 500 copies in a 4 panel CD digipack, and is available right here.

You can preview the complete album below: