The German duo Acylum, Nadine and Pedro Engel, are back with an all new album, “Zuchthaus”, which is the follow-up release to 2021’s “Kampf Dem Verderb” and the 2023 EP “Kalashnikov“.

The initial release of the album emerges as a limited 2CD digipak edition, featuring remixes by formidable bands including :Wumpscut:, Supreme Court, Diffuzion, Darkness On Demand, Studio-X, Neikka RPM, Rroyce, Project Erratic, Winterhart, Say Just Words, Human Vault, Alien:Nation, Dyskolia and Deadly Injection.

You can order this limited 2CD edition right now via the Alfa Matrix webstore and as download on Bandcamp. Below are two videos from album tracks.

The German electro industrial project was founded in 2004 in Chemnitz by DJ Pedro Engel and he was joined in 2008 by Nadine “Cooraz” Engel. Read the review of ‘Zuchthaus’.

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: EBM, Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: Three years after the debut-album “The Worst Dream” (2018) Rebirth strikes back with a double album featuring twelve new songs and eleven remixes. Rebirth is Bruno Ruch (Sleepwalk) and singer Olivier Moser.

Content: The main disc reveals solid EBM bass lines, powerful rhythms, carrying choruses and harsh-spooky   vocals. “System:Error” reflects a cold production, which is mainly created by icy sequences and -atmospheres. The vocals are in German and English. There’s one instrumental song somewhere in the midst of the work, which appears to be a break.

The second disc reveals remixes by Atropine, Rotersand, Oldschool Union, Covenant, Struck9, Frozen Plasma, Pyrroline, AD:Key, KIFOTH, Deadly Injection and Onenine.

+ + + : I was not a huge fan of Rebirth’s debut album, but this new work sounds definitely more convincing. Bruno Ruch improved most aspects of the production, but the song writing is just better. The album features several great songs, but I especially recommend listening to “Ultimate Sin”, “Teufel In Mir” and “Streets Of The Damned”. The sound treatments reveal a professional approach. I especially like the fusion between power and haunting atmospheres on top.

The bonus disc reveals great names, but also great remixes. I especially want to mention Rotersand, Oldschool Union, Struck9, Pyrroline and KIFOTH as the most inspired cuts. Onenine is a noticeable feature as this is a solo-project of Axel Kleintjes (formerly involved with Page 12, Cyber Axis, Cycloon, Mindware).

 Last, but not least I also want to say a word about the great and artistic digipak format of this work.

– – – : This work is just missing an absolute hit to speak about a real masterpiece, but we get a real great number of songs instead. I expected a bit more from the Covenant remix.

Conclusion: “System:Error” is a work I fully recommend to all lovers of sophisticated dark EBM.

Best songs: “Ultimate Sin”, “Teufel In Mir”, “Streets Of The Damned”, “Letzte Schlacht”, “R.I.P.” + “Streets Of The Damned – Rotersand Rework”, “Teufel In Mir – Struck9 Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: http://rebirth-music.ch / www.facebook.com/Dr.Tinitus

Label: www.ekproduct.com / www.facebook.com/EKProduct

About Rebirth

Rebirth is a Swiss EBM and dark electro duo formed by Bruno Ruch, also active as Sleepwalk, and singer Olivier Moser. The project released its debut album, “The Worst Dream”, in 2018 on EK Product. Three years later, Rebirth followed up with the double album “System:Error”, pairing twelve new songs with eleven remixes from acts including Rotersand, Covenant, Oldschool Union, Struck9, Pyrroline, KIFOTH, AD:Key, Atropine, Frozen Plasma, Deadly Injection and Onenine, issued on digital and 2CD formats through EK Product.

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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Genre/Influences: EBM.

Background/Info: “Taste Me!” is the debut album of the German EBM-duo Deadly Injection. They were previously featured on a few compilations and now joined hands with EK Product to unleash this opus featuring 13 tracks.

Content: “Taste Me!” is an album without any form of pretention. It’s pure old-school EBM music with a clear hardcore flavor on top of several songs. The songs clearly remind me of the 90s and especially of Leather Strip for some of the bass lines and early Cat Rapes Dog for the fast tempo and harsh production. The vocals are a little bit distorted, which is perfectly matching with the rough sound production.

+ + + : If you’re a die-hard fan and you’re still convinced the best EBM was composed during the 80s and 90s you definitely have to discover Deadly Injection. The hardcore touch injects a real punching touch to the work. I especially like the songs, which are a little bit more elaborated with good-old string parts.

– – – : Good EBM and especially the ‘hardcore’ class is often simple and efficient, but I think a little bit more elaboration –especially for some of the choruses, would be a real bonus.

Conclusion: This debut album sounds like a ‘start’. Deadly Injection has found their style and influences, which are cool, but they now have to improve some elements of the production.

Best songs: “Gulag”, “Blind Eyes”, “Castrate The Rapist”, “Bastard”, “Blind Eyes”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/deadlyinjection.official

Label: www.ekproduct.com / www.facebook.com/EKProduct

About Deadly Injection

Deadly Injection is a German EBM duo founded in 2013 by Louis Cyphre, joined by Feelidae. After several compilation appearances, the duo released its first albums in 2018: “Black Gold” and “Taste Me!”, the latter reviewed here on EK Product. The duo followed with the album “Zombified” in 2021 and the single “Religion” in 2025.

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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Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM, gothic, new-wave, punk-rock.

Bands: PreEmptive Strike 0.1, Roppongi Inc Project, Freaky Mind, Siva Six, Wynardtage, W.O.M.P., Oniric, Acylum, Von Thronstahl, The Pussibats ao.

Background/Info: The German label based in Duisburg was rather active during the 90s and early millennium years releasing albums of bands like Forthcoming Fire, Von Thronstahl and their label compilation series “VAWS”.

It’s a while ago now since I’ve heard something new from VAWS, but they here strike back with a beautiful and deeply artistic book & double disc featuring a total of 24 songs. The title and concept of the artwork will appeal for all Nachtmahr fans.

Content: The book is absolutely artistic and focuses on –like the title indicates, ‘girls in uniform’. We get beautiful and sexy pictures of young girls in uniform. Some of the pictures clearly remind me of the image of Nachtmahr. It definitely appears to be a concept that will please the audience.

Sound-wise the 1^st disc is totally devoted to dark-electronics and some dark EBM formats. There’s an interesting selection of established- and less familiar names. Globally speaking it’s a pumping and pretty cool disc with a great song by Freaky Mind and other noticeable cuts by R.I.P. and Mordacious.

The 2^nd disc is more diversified covering multiple genres and influences. It’s not exactly what I would call a gothic album but more like bands that are dealing with orchestral arrangements, cinematographic inspiration, minimal electro-wave music, ethereal electronics, body-pop, a kind of chanson and even a punk-rock apotheosis.

+ + + : The 1^st disc will definitely please the dark-electro heads and features a nice selection of cool songs. The 2^nd disc is quite different, revealing an exciting eclecticism of influences. But the main strength of this compilation for sure appears to be the great artwork and book-concept.

– – – : There’s a serious chasm in music genre between both discs.

Conclusion: If you’re a freak of artistic music design featuring cool music and a unique artwork, you definitely will like “Mädchen In Uniform”.

Best bands: Freaky Mind, Mordacious, Infernosounds, Lucifer Christ, Von Thronstahl, Deadly Injection.

Rate: (8).

Label: www.vaws.de / www.facebook.com/vaws–musicfactory-254972201199351

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