(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange / Gothminister press release) The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) season is upon us again, and there’s no denial that most songs participating aren’t in the scope of Side-Line readers. But fortunately there are exceptions – one of them being Gothminister from Norway, competing in Melodi Grand Prix, the Norwegian semi-finals, this Saturday!

Gothminister is Bjørn Alexander Brem’s heart child and alter ego. During the day, the Oslo man works as a lawyer, but at night Gothminister rises from the dark. Bjørn Alexander brings out his creative side through impressive costumes and music. Gothminister recently played to over 30,000 people in Germany, and has toured in more than 40 countries over the years. Last year they released the album ‘Pandemonium’, which won the Dark Album of the Year award, ahead of Rammstein and Placebo among others. Gothminister has numerous chart positions in Germany, and won a total of 19 international film awards for two of the music videos last year.

The song ‘We Come Alive’ was a collaboration with producer Jesper Borgen (Alan Walker, Coldplay), and is about the value of play, about believing in yourself and standing together against all injustice. With him on stage in MGP, he has, among others, chorister Hege Rødfjell, who has extensive experience from bands, orchestras, TV and film.

Between rehearsals and preparations for tonight’s semifinal we managed to slip in some questions:

SL: What made you participate again, 11 years after last time?

Bjørn Alexander Brem: In 2013 I met a famous producer called Jesper Borgen (Alan Walker, Coldplay). He told me he always wanted to produce a Gothminister track. 10 years after I called him and he was still interested.

‘We Come Alive’ is the result of the discussions between metal man Gothminister and pop man Jesper Borgen. In the end I think we landed a perfect hybrid between pop and industrial gothmetal, and suddenly the song was picked as 1 of 18 among about 2.000 songs to compete in Melodi Grand Prix, which is the national selections in Norway for Eurovision.

SL: There’s been mixed reactions; fans and music commentators don’t agree – what’s your take on that?

BAB: Yes, the song got mixed reviews – in the MGP podcast it got 5/6, but in Nettavisen 1/6 and they wrote that «the song is best when it is over.» This shows the typical commercial attitude to the Dark scene, and towards something that is different. Gothminister has always and is still representing the different ones.

PS! A hilarious note on the Nettavisen reviews of the songs: they added a voting form for their subscribers at the end of the article, ending up with Gothminister as the overwhelming victor with over 50% of the votes for the six contestants, leaving the next best with 17%!

SL: If you go to the finals or to Malmö, what can we expect?

BAB: I can’t say, but you know Gothminister is always «over the top», so it will be crazy, that’s for sure!

SL: What are you looking most forward to during this contest?

BAB: To show the Dark side, to show that it’s possible to be different and still good. And all the people out there who has felt rejected, mocked, struggling in life etc, like myself – I am performing for them first and foremost.

‘We Come Alive’ is about being different and thus being a bit outside. Gothminister has always been a champion for this group and for justice to be done. I myself was bullied by my former best friend at school and felt what it was like.

But being different also gives you unimaginable superpowers. Among other things, it makes you better able to understand others around you, and to respect them. Never be afraid to be different. Believe in yourself and never let go of your dreams, one day they will come to life. You must respect others and always strive to make others comfortable in your company.
If everyone stands together we are more alive, instead of being dead inside!

Check out the various versions of ‘We Come Alive’ right below.

Do also check out the official video here!

And don’t forget to vote tonight if you’re Norwegian, you can register at https://delta.nrk.no/mgp/.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Portland, Oregon based electro act nolongerhuman is back with an all new album, “Marionette”, on May 5th via COP International.

Produced by Jan Loamfield / X-fusion “Marionette” is as an album whose concept first came to mind almost a decade ago so Clint Robertson says: “I set out to make a collection of songs that try to define the things that quietly control us in the background. Songs about our addictions, our compulsions, and the needs and struggles of the human condition. All of the factors that pull our strings behind the scenes. Over time as the world changed, the idea became more focused and the message more direct and urgent. We live in an era that too often moves too fast to reflect on our inner feelings, let alone allows us to stop and look in the mirror to see ourselves as we truly are. Not as statistics on some social feed, not as commodities, but as humans.”

nolongerhuman has produced three full-length albums to date. Recently the dark electro act renewed its contract with COP International and released “Dead Inside”, the first full-length single and video from “Marionette”.

The album can already pre-order it 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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Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, EBM

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Canadian Jonathan Kaplan is already active under the For All The Emptiness moniker for a while. After multiple self-releases he signed to Infacted Recordings. “Used And Violated” was released by the end of 2020. It was produced by  Sebastian Komor while  guest singers Claus Larsen (Leaether Strip), Computorgirl, Gabrielle Gustafson (Eva X) and Daniel Graves (Aesthetic Perfection) joined in.

Content: The EP rather looks like a mini-album featuring 5 different tracks. The songs are diversified, mixing breakbeats with Electro-Pop while there’s also a song with a menacing EBM bass line. It’s a powerful and catchy production with different singers.

+ + + : Jonathan Kaplan isn’t emulating Electro-Pop standards but simply brings different influences together. The way he mixed catchy Pop together with dynamic Breakbeats is a true original idea although still a challenge. I like challenges and especially when it resulted from a creative process -featuring inspired guests, resulting in alluring songs like the title track but also “Sell The Sins” featuring Claus Larsen and Daniel Graves. My personal favorite one however is the powerful and ultra-catchy “Dead Inside” featuring Computorgirl.

– – – : The last song is a poorly inspired cut which serves as the antithesis to the rest of the work.

Conclusion: “Used and Violated” is a creative Electro-Pop production which will get you into a frenetic dance.

Best songs: “Dead Inside”, “Sell The Sins”, “Used And Violated”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/foralltheemptiness

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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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Dead Inside, the postpunk – deathrock band born from the ashes of the legendary Italian act Thanatos is ready to release their debut on January 20th. Dead Inside formed in summer 2014 in Modena, Italy.

On their debut “Invisible Witness to the Holy Crime” the band offers what their label Swissdarknights calls “an oldstyle, guitar driven sound with incisive drumming, bringing back the good old deathrock sound to the scene!”

Dead Inside consists of Gianfranco Righetti on drums, Josef Serafini on vocals and guitar, Davide Grimaldi on guitar and Emanuele Bacchelli on bass.

You can check out the album teaser right below.

You can check the full album 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!

side-line.com

The dark electro act nolongerhuman has renewed their contract with COP International and is announcing brand new releases. “Dead Inside” is the first full-length single and video from nolongerhuman’s upcoming fourth album “Marionette”. You can view the video below.

nolongerhuman has produced three full-length albums and has been featured on numerous remixes and compilations since they formed.

Here’s what Clint Robertson says about his contract renewal: “I feel incredibly honored to be working with Christian and everyone at COP International. We have built both a business relationship and a great friendship over the years. It’s so exciting to work with a label that shares the same passion for the genre that I have, and that has values and a forward-thinking vision so closely aligned with my own. The best is truly yet to come.”

COP International head Christian Petke adds: “It is always a privilege to support an artist for a long stretch of their career and we truly appreciate that the band has chosen to continue working with COP. Beautiful is not a word usually associated with harsh electro but nolongerhuman injects soul and beauty into a genre that is usually just defined by volume and attack factor. The new music is outstanding and we look forward to nolongerhuman’s new releases.”

For now, do check already the video for the “Dead Inside” single.

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: Rock-gothic, gothic, death-rock.

Background/Info: Dead Inside is a new formation hailing from Italy unleashing their debut work on Danse Macabre.

Content: The influences running through this work are moving from rock, to gothic, to metal. There clearly is a solid 80s influence hanging over the songs and mainly emerging from the guitar playing. I sometimes get the impression of listening to a crossover between The Sisters Of Mercy and The Birthday Party with vocals reminding me of Peter Murphy. The guitar playing is a real essential aspect of the work.

+ + + : I especially like the 80s spirit of the album, which is mainly emerging from the guitar parts. And the guitar is not only the dominating instrument from the album, but one of the band’s main strengths. I here refer to the sorrow-like play at “Close” or “Blackness” reminding me of early The Birthday Party while “Lamp” has something Sisters Of Mercy-like. But don’t expect to get a cheap copy of famous 80s new-wave legends as Dead Inside also has something more personal and contemporary. The powerful vocals bring some passion to the work.

– – – : “Dead Inside” is a noticeable debut with multiple cool songs, but maybe missing high lights.

Conclusion: Dead Inside doesn’t bring anything new –and could even have taken another band name as this one is quite common, but it’s an honest debut album.

Best songs: “Razorlight”, “Distance”, “Lamp”, “Close” “Blackness”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/deadinsidepage

Label: www.dansemacabre–group.de / www.facebook.com/dansemacabrerec

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