Today, October 12, Jürgen Engler turns 66. The number is easy to turn into statistics: more than four decades fronting Die Krupps, the German industrial band he co-founded in Düsseldorf in 1980, a path beginning in Düsseldorf punk with Male, records that helped change the relationship between electronics, metal and physical rhythm, years of production work, collaborations and touring. But Engler himself once gave me a much more useful way of understanding that continuity.

When I once asked him what it takes to keep the artistic impulse alive for so long, he did not talk about discipline, relevance or protecting a legacy.

“It’s when you become one with what you do. I can’t stop, because that would mean I would stop to be me. I became one with what I’m doing a long time ago. This is me. What I am doing is what I am.”

That answer becomes more interesting with time because it removes the romantic mythology usually attached to longevity. Engler does not describe creativity as a flame that must somehow be kept burning. In his version, music is closer to an ordinary biological function. He works because that is what his days are made of.

Elsewhere in the same conversation, he described making music every day and producing records from the studio in his house, often working deepest into the night. His formulation was even simpler: “Music is my life, that’s all I do. I live and breathe music.”

There is something particularly appropriate about that attitude in the history of Die Krupps. The band has always been fascinated by work, machinery, discipline and production, but Engler’s own relationship to work undermines the conventional meaning of the word. He speaks of long hours, deadlines and relentless activity, yet also of the freedom of having no nine-to-five structure and of being able to move between studio, home and ideas whenever necessary. Work ceases to be an externally imposed schedule and becomes an extension of identity.

That might also explain why Die Krupps have never remained comfortably inside the sound they helped establish. The early metallic percussion and electronic severity of “Stahlwerksinfonie” and “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” eventually collided with guitars, speed and the machine-like precision Engler heard in aggressive rock and metal. In our conversation, he traced part of that thinking back to Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”: not as something to imitate, but as an idea capable of triggering another idea. Influence, for him, is less quotation than ignition.

That distinction matters. Artists with very long careers are frequently praised for having an “unmistakable sound,” as though consistency meant freezing a successful formula. Engler’s version of continuity is almost the opposite. The identity remains stable enough that the materials around it can change.

Jürgen Engler and Die Krupps mark 45 years with new EP, Dependent deal

That is still visible now. Die Krupps marked 45 years with an extensive anniversary period, released the “Will Nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course” EP as a first glimpse toward new material, and signed a multi-album agreement with Dependent Records. Marcel Zürcher returned to the lineup in 2026, the band played major summer festival dates including Brutal Assault, M’era Luna and Nocturnal Culture Night, and another European run with Ministry is already planned for 2027.

None of this makes Engler interesting merely because he is still active at 66. Activity alone is not an artistic achievement. What remains more unusual is the absence of a clear division between the person who makes the work and the life surrounding that work.

He once told me that living in the United States had given him physical and mental space, allowing him to look at Europe and America from different positions rather than remaining enclosed inside one perspective. Whether one agrees with every conclusion he draws from that distance is secondary to the creative principle behind it: change the position from which you look, and different structures become visible.

That is perhaps a more useful way of thinking about Engler’s career than the vocabulary of “pioneer,” “legend” or “survivor.” All three may be factually defensible, but they describe somebody from the outside. Engler’s own description is much less ceremonial.

He makes music. He produces music. He thinks through music. He goes onstage and turns it physical. Then he goes back into the studio and continues.

And when asked why he still does it, his answer was almost disarmingly literal:

“I continue because I am alive.”

Happy birthday, Jürgen Engler. Full speed ahead.

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980, founded by Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka. Engler had previously played in the Düsseldorf punk band Male before turning to the metallic percussion and electronics that defined Die Krupps’ earliest recordings, “Stahlwerksynfonie” and “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn,” both released in 1981 and widely cited among the foundational records of the EBM and industrial genre. “Volle Kraft voraus!” followed in 1982, the year Dörper left to co-found Propaganda; he returned for 1985’s “Entering the Arena” before the band’s sound shifted toward new wave.

Die Krupps reactivated in 1989 with Engler and Dörper, moving into the industrial metal territory that defined “I” (1992), “II – The Final Option” (1993) and “III – Odyssey of the Mind” (1995), released alongside collaborations and remix work that connected the band to the thrash metal and hardcore scenes Engler had signed to his own label, Atom-H, in the 1980s. “Paradise Now” (1997) preceded another hiatus. The band reactivated again in 2005 with Engler and Dörper, joined by guitarist and keyboardist Marcel Zürcher, who remained until 2023; guitarists Nils Finkeisen (2015-2024) and Dylan Smith (2024-present) covered the role either side of Zürcher’s absence, and Paul Keller has played drums since 2018. Zürcher returned to the lineup in 2026. Die Krupps have released music through Zickzack, Synthetic Symphony, Hollywood Records, Atom-H, Metropolis Records and Cleopatra Records, and signed to Dependent Records in August 2025 for a new multi-album deal, with a new studio album due in 2026.

The band’s current chapter has run alongside its 45th-anniversary campaign: a tour-exclusive EP and the single “On Collision Course” in August 2025, a video for “Will Nicht – MUSS!” and a limited liquid-filled anniversary vinyl in October 2025, and the full “Will Nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course” EP in December 2025. Engler and Dörper discussed the band’s history and the 45 Years of Industrial Steel North America tour and why Die Krupps still won’t behave in separate interviews with Side-Line earlier in 2026. Jürgen Engler turns 66 today, October 12, with that anniversary period still unfolding and a European tour with Ministry already planned for 2027.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

I genuinely never expected to return to Nocturnal Culture Night. I had visited Deutzen once, in 2023, and already then the sheer scale of the festival impressed me: several stages operating simultaneously, a programme dense enough to render any attempt at complete coverage slightly absurd, and an audience whose warmth remained one of my clearest memories afterwards. Three years later I found myself there again, towards the end of another long summer spent moving between festivals. For me, NCN effectively closes the outdoor festival season, although “closing” seems an inadequate word for an event that still requires its visitors to make decisions at the speed of something in full acceleration.

What is peculiar about NCN is that its physical scale and its social scale seem almost unrelated. The Kulturpark contains several music stages, spaces of very different dimensions and enough simultaneous programming to construct several entirely different versions of the same weekend, yet the atmosphere remains remarkably relaxed. That contrast was already one of the things I remembered from 2023, and this year it became even more apparent.

I have written many times that every festival develops its own social language, but the differences become particularly visible when several are visited within the same summer. At Wave-Gotik-Treffen or Castle Party, clothing itself becomes part of the artistic vocabulary: people construct silhouettes, visual references and sometimes entire characters, so that the audience forms a parallel exhibition of creativity. NCN feels different. This is neither criticism nor a claim that one form of participation is more authentic than another, but attention in Deutzen seemed to travel outwards rather than towards the self. People were there to hear music, catch up with friends, eat and drink together, dance, talk, discover bands and conduct the sort of informal networking that has always existed in music scenes whether anyone calls it networking or not.

For me, as a photographer, that difference became unexpectedly important. An extraordinary outfit already supplies the architecture of an image: colour, line, texture and shape can make a photograph visually compelling before any meaningful contact with the person has occurred. At NCN I found myself looking much more closely at faces. Personality appeared in concentration during a song, amusement between friends, exhaustion, affection, curiosity or the sudden transformation of expression when somebody recognised the opening seconds of something they loved. The portraits demanded slightly more patience because there was less external spectacle to depend upon; I had to wait for something of the actual person to become visible. That made photographing the audience harder, but ultimately more rewarding. People seemed wonderfully unpretentious and considerably more interested in what was happening around them than in attracting attention towards themselves.

Friday

My festival began with HORSKH, and there was never much uncertainty about that choice. I had first seen the French trio after they had been recommended to me for Castle Party, so by NCN they had already become one of those fixed points around which I constructed the rest of a schedule. Their combination of industrial electronics, guitars, live percussion and vocals works because aggression is never treated as an end in itself. The music is extremely disciplined underneath its apparent violence: sequences are exact, rhythmic structures are engineered with considerable care, and then everything performed above them seems determined to interfere with that control.

Onstage, this becomes intensely physical. The guitars do not merely thicken the electronic foundation but push against it, while the vocals repeatedly introduce a kind of organised instability that makes the songs feel much less obedient than their underlying structures actually are. Their interpretation of The Prodigy’s “Breathe” remains a particularly clever choice because it exposes a lineage instead of functioning merely as a familiar cover. The Prodigy understood that electronic music could possess the confrontation and bodily violence of rock without ceasing to be electronic; HORSKH take that principle into a harsher contemporary vocabulary. After almost six hours on a bus to Leipzig, I could hardly have asked for a more efficient recalibration of the nervous system.

I then moved to the much smaller Kulturbühne for frequen-C & TC75, the collaboration between Christian Bergmann and Tino Claus. I have followed and supported this project for some time, and what continues to interest me is how much room exists inside electronics that can nevertheless hit very hard. Christian’s structures are disciplined and precise, while Tino’s vocal presence brings a completely different temperature into them; the result combines electronic control with a performer who is visibly communicating rather than merely executing a vocal part.

The visual component worked beautifully without competing with the music, and the small Kulturbühne gradually turned into a very efficient dance floor. Something that happened away from the stage later gave me another way of thinking about what I had just watched. Tino participates in what sometimes seems like an improbable number of musical projects, so I asked him how many he would actually count as his own if we excluded occasional guest appearances. We eventually arrived at roughly five. I then asked whether he was ever afraid that dividing himself between so many different contexts might dilute his artistic identity.

He came back to the question the following day and said no, because every project is different. It sounds simple, but the answer stayed with me because creative identity does not necessarily become more concentrated by being restricted to one context. It can become more exact through contrast, as long as each collaboration develops its own internal logic rather than becoming another receptacle for identical habits. frequen-C & TC75 have exactly that distinct emotional temperature, hard without being merely aggressive, controlled without becoming emotionally sealed, and sufficiently communicative that the question of dilution becomes rather irrelevant once they are actually playing.

The schedule then forced a split between Hinfort and Jesus On Extasy. Hinfort shifted the afternoon away from HORSKH’s physical aggression towards something considerably more inward. Florian Kerezovic’s relatively young Cologne project works with the familiar materials of post-punk and darkwave, cold bass, restrained electronics, melancholy and a low vocal register, but onstage the important element was not genre recognition so much as composure. There was no attempt to force an early festival audience into attention through exaggerated movement or artificial drama. Instead, the songs established their own pressure gradually, the bass carrying much of the forward movement while the vocals remained darker and more introspective above it.

What interested me was the contrast between that emotional reserve and the clarity of the performance. Hinfort did not sound tentative despite the project’s relatively short history; the musical language already felt remarkably defined, yet not so finished that it had lost the possibility of development. There was something attractive in watching a project still consolidating itself publicly, where the identity was already recognisable but did not yet feel hardened into a formula.

I saw only part of Jesus On Extasy, but even that fragment was difficult to mistake for anybody else. The performance was loud, restless and happily excessive, driven by the friction between hard guitars and electronics rather than by an attempt to make one disappear inside the other. There was a genuine sense of emotional disorder onstage, not because the music lacked discipline, but because the musicians seemed continually willing to push the songs beyond the neat boundaries suggested by their structures.

The result was extremely energetic and at moments almost chaotic in appearance, with movement, guitar force and vocal intensity creating a show that felt much less controlled than most of the electronic performances around it. That theatrical excess is part of the appeal: Jesus On Extasy do not seem particularly interested in the cool distance associated with much dark electronics. What I caught was hot-blooded, physical and deliberately larger than life.

With Melotron, the energy took a completely different form. I only stayed for part of the performance, but the audience reaction was immediate, and it was easy to understand why. There is an enormous difference between a band merely possessing a long catalogue and one knowing how those songs now function in relation to an audience that has lived with them for years. Melotron have that knowledge.

Andy Krüger’s presence was particularly effective because he never appeared to be fighting the scale of the Amphibühne. The performance did not need exaggerated movement to seem substantial; voice, melody and recognition were already doing the work. What I remember most is the collective response, people singing, moving and reacting to songs whose emotional vocabulary is deeply familiar by now. It was energetic without becoming frantic and confident without slipping into routine, the sort of festival performance where experience becomes visible not as professionalism for its own sake but as an unusually precise understanding of how to hold a large audience.

Friday ended unusually early for me. I had been awake since 04:30, spent nearly six hours travelling by FlixBus and gone almost immediately into festival work, so eventually my carefully constructed running order collided with basic physiology. I badly wanted to see Sierra Veins later that night, but the body vetoed the plan. Later I learned that heavy rain had complicated proceedings and produced delays, which made going back to rest easier to justify retrospectively, although not less disappointing. Festival timetables encourage the fantasy that the body is simply another logistical factor; sooner or later it tends to remind us that it possesses final authority.

Saturday

Saturday began before noon, with Rina Pavar providing one of the most elegant openings I encountered during the weekend. Associated with the Cold Transmission orbit, her music works within coldwave and dark electronics, but reducing it to either category misses the quality that matters most in performance: the relationship between an orderly electronic framework and a voice that is allowed to remain unmistakably human within it.

There is fragility in her delivery, but fragility should not be confused with weakness. Pavar does not treat uncertainty or restraint as shortcomings to be compensated for through greater volume; she lets them remain audible while the electronics underneath give those qualities direction and form. On Parkbühne the effect was extraordinarily elegant. The songs retained something private even while being projected into an outdoor festival, which takes far more confidence than simply making everything larger. The beauty came from proportion: voice, synths and movement all seemed to understand exactly how much space they required.

I also managed a short look at TonFehler, and the contrast was considerable. Their electronic body music is deliberately direct, but what makes the project more interesting than another exercise in hard beats is the presence of irony and social observation. The structures move efficiently, while the German-language vocal delivery allows humour and criticism to coexist without turning either into cabaret commentary placed outside the music.

Their performance immediately introduced a certain mischievousness into the day. The beats remained forceful enough to carry the set, but the interaction between the performers prevented the music from becoming another exercise in stern electronic discipline. Rather than standing rigidly inside the machinery, TonFehler seemed willing to acknowledge its absurdities, which gave the short part I witnessed a personality disproportionate to the amount of time I actually spent there.

Ambassador21 increased the physical temperature dramatically. Natasha A Twentyone and Alexey Protasov have spent more than two decades combining industrial electronics, rhythmic noise and punk hostility into something designed less to seduce than to confront. What can initially sound chaotic is in fact highly organised: repetition, compressed rhythm and the vocal interaction create a structure whose aggression is far more deliberate than its surface suggests.

Even during a relatively short encounter, the punk element remained unmistakable, not because of costume or borrowed iconography but because of the project’s fundamental refusal of politeness. Natasha’s delivery in particular attacks the tracks as much as it inhabits them, while Alexey supplies another point of pressure. The vocals are not placed elegantly above the electronics; they strike into them. The performance felt angry, but not vaguely so. There was purpose behind the aggression and sufficient control underneath it to prevent intensity from becoming noise without direction.

Another direct clash followed between Ozibut and Strikkland. I saw Ozibut only briefly, but this was one of those encounters where a few minutes were sufficient to establish that something unusual was happening. Musically, darkdance, synthpunk, EBM and cold electronic structures collided with an almost cabaret-like instinct for exaggeration, while visually the project was immediately distinctive.

What caught my eye was that the appearance did not seem designed merely to make a memorable photograph. The eccentricity belonged to the performance itself: expression, movement and styling all appeared to share the same slightly grotesque, humorous and decadent logic as the music. In full daylight, where many dark electronic projects lose part of their visual vocabulary, Ozibut remained strangely convincing because the personality did not depend on darkness to exist. I left far too quickly to write about the set as a whole, but not too quickly to know that I want a proper encounter next time.

I left because Strikkland were one of my priorities, and the larger Waldbühne revealed something I had already enjoyed about them on a smaller stage but perhaps had not fully appreciated: humour is not an accessory to the Swedish duo but one of the methods through which they understand EBM itself. Their music is genuinely hard-hitting, full of muscular sequences, direct rhythmic structures and Henrik Johansson’s forceful vocal delivery, but they refuse the peculiar genre assumption that musical seriousness requires permanent solemnity.

Henrik changed clothes, appeared in extravagant red fur, exaggerated poses, altered lines, used provocative gestures and played with Swedish and German symbolism and declarations of friendship between the two countries. In less capable hands this could easily have reduced the concert to parody. Instead, it worked because the music underneath was far too good to need irony as an excuse. They were not laughing at EBM from a safe distance; they were playing with conventions they clearly understand and love.

Afterwards Henrik told me that when he and Henric Ceder started the band, already approaching their fifties, they had briefly imagined becoming the “gothiest” band possible before looking at one another and essentially asking whom they thought they were fooling. That decision to interfere with the convention rather than impersonate it seems fundamental to Strikkland. The joke works because there is affection underneath it. Full afternoon sun is rarely generous to music associated with smoke, darkness and club lighting, yet here it almost improved the performance by exposing the absurdity more clearly. Self-awareness is considerably harder to perform convincingly than genre seriousness, and Strikkland manage to combine both.

AD:Key then took over the Amphibühne, and Andrea and René Nowotny delivered exactly the kind of controlled explosion I had hoped for. Their music has always depended on more than alternating female and male vocals; what gives the project its personality is the constant redistribution of energy between two people who know one another intimately enough to respond without making that response look rehearsed.

On a stage as large as the Amphibühne, this became particularly effective. Large spaces can expose electronic acts whose stage vocabulary consists merely of enlarging familiar gestures, whereas Andrea and René filled the space through actual communication. Andrea’s performance became increasingly animated until she moved into the audience, while René remained above onstage, and the physical separation paradoxically strengthened their interplay. Suddenly the crowd itself occupied the space between them. The rhythms remained rigid enough to provide the EBM architecture, but the human exchange continually disrupted any possibility of mechanical impersonality. It was an enormous, joyful release of energy and one of my strongest concerts of the weekend.

I then divided my attention between The Awakening and SIIE. I only caught part of The Awakening, but what stayed with me were the guitars: living, breathing guitars in the most literal musical sense, with sustain and space allowed to become part of the emotional information rather than simply supplying rock weight. Ashton Nyte’s long-running project has moved through gothic rock and darkwave for decades, yet the fragment I saw felt less concerned with genre than with atmosphere produced organically through musicianship.

Nyte’s voice gave those guitars a poetic quality, and for a few minutes the whole festival seemed to breathe differently after so much sequenced electronic precision. The guitars possessed weight, certainly, but also air around them, allowing the songs to remain expansive rather than merely loud. I would not pretend to reconstruct the complete concert from the portion I witnessed, but those minutes were enough to make the contrast with the surrounding programme especially valuable.

SIIE offered almost the reverse kind of tension to The Awakening. Their electronic language brings darkwave, EBM and techno into contact with French-language vocals, but what made the short part I saw particularly memorable was the way the visual identity altered the emotional reading of the music. The mask immediately creates distance: instead of presenting the performer as a conventional frontperson whose face supplies the obvious emotional access point, SIIE partially remove that route and force attention back towards gesture, voice, movement and sound. The result is strangely intimate despite the concealment. The mask does not make the performance colder; paradoxically, it makes the listener search more carefully for expression elsewhere.

And the music itself was genuinely beautiful. Beneath the direct, physical pulse there is a remarkable melodic sensitivity, with electronics that can feel severe one moment and unexpectedly delicate the next. The French vocal delivery adds another layer of elegance and slight detachment, while the beat keeps everything anchored in the body. What I liked most was the contradiction between concealment and emotional accessibility: visually, SIIE create distance, yet musically they invite the listener much closer. Even during the short fragment I caught, the performance felt carefully conceived as a whole rather than as music with an aesthetic added around it, with mask, movement, voice and electronics all contributing to the same beautifully controlled atmosphere.

Schöngeist brought another kind of theatricality to the Amphibühne. Their dark-rock vocabulary allows broad guitars and emphatic rhythms to coexist with more melodic and almost cinematic elements, and the large stage suited a project that is not embarrassed by dramatic presentation. What prevented the material from becoming generic was the contrast within it: harder structures were repeatedly interrupted or complicated by more lyrical textures, while Timur Karakus’ vocal delivery carried enough character to avoid reducing German-language dark rock to its most familiar gestures.

The band looked comfortable with scale. Some groups visibly attempt to fill a large stage by increasing the quantity of movement; Schöngeist seemed more interested in using space compositionally, allowing the guitars, voice and more delicate textures to expand and contract around one another. The result was dramatic but not ridiculously inflated, and the performance benefited from the fact that they do not appear embarrassed by emotional or visual grandeur when the songs require it.

With Menticide, virtually all of that ornament disappeared again. Their set was based on something more elemental: repetition, pressure and the authority of rhythm. The old-school EBM vocabulary was obvious, but onstage it felt less nostalgic than brutally functional. Sequences were allowed to repeat until they acquired physical weight, while Johan Damm’s vocal delivery became almost another rhythmic device inside the construction.

What mattered was the economy. There was very little unnecessary information in the performance, and precisely because of that, small changes carried enormous effect. A shift in vocal intensity, an additional layer or a harder pulse could alter the entire atmosphere. On the Amphibühne, where elaborate productions can easily dominate attention, Menticide demonstrated the opposite principle: sometimes very little is required if every element has enough authority. There was also enough grime within the control to prevent the music from becoming a laboratory reconstruction of old-school body music.

I also caught Debdepan only briefly on Parkbühne, but they made an immediate impression. The Margate-based project is centred around Chelsea Tolhurst and Grace Bontoft, childhood friends who formed the band after writing together during lockdown, with Chelsea handling guitar and lead vocals and Grace bass and vocals; onstage they frequently expand the duo format with live drums. Their music has developed from the darker, more ethereal mood of the early Omen material towards something increasingly difficult to place neatly between dark alternative rock, post-punk, grunge, art-pop and dance-oriented electronics.

What I saw at NCN had exactly that appealing refusal to settle into a single category. There was considerable weight in the bass and guitars, but the music never became conventionally heavy; rhythm remained extremely important, giving the songs a restless, almost danceable momentum underneath the darker guitar textures. The vocals added another contrast, capable of sounding restrained and slightly detached before suddenly becoming much more immediate, while the musicians appeared completely comfortable allowing rougher edges to remain visible rather than polishing everything into immaculate dark-pop surfaces.

Their more recent material makes particular sense in that context. The 2025 Lovers & Others EP moves through grunge-inflected guitars, electronic pulses, heavy rhythm and a much more visceral form of alternative pop, with songs such as “The Girl” and “Habit” relying on sharp contrasts between apparent restraint and sudden bursts of physical force. On Parkbühne, even the few minutes I caught had that same quality: young, direct and slightly unruly, but with enough control underneath to make the collision of influences feel intentional rather than accidental.

I did not stay long enough to judge the complete set, but this was another of those NCN moments where a short photographic stop became a genuine discovery. Debdepan had personality immediately, both visually and musically, and there was something refreshing about a band entering a dark-scene festival without sounding as though they had constructed themselves specifically to satisfy the expectations of that scene.

Another overlap required movement between The Beauty Of Gemina and Lovataraxx. I saw only part of The Beauty Of Gemina, but the fragment was beautiful. The guitars were much more physical than the word “melancholic” might suggest, pounding and expansive without turning the material into conventional hard rock, while Michael Sele’s voice brought an entirely different emotional texture above them.

His delivery has something almost literary about it. The words seem considered not only for what they say but for how their sound changes the emotional meaning of the instrumentation around them. That created a beautiful opposition onstage: muscular guitars underneath, poetic vocals above, neither cancelling the other. The music could become forceful and still retain enormous inwardness. I would have liked considerably more time with the performance, because what I heard suggested one of those concerts in which the power arrives not through obvious aggression but through the coexistence of physical sound and reflective writing.

Lovataraxx approached physicality through reduction instead and were among the most elegant performances of the weekend for me. Their coldwave and minimal electronic language can initially appear restrained, but onstage that restraint becomes surprisingly energetic. There is excellent interplay between the performers, and rather than standing separately inside predefined roles, they seem continually to react to the same pulse.

That interaction gives the music a warmth that is not always immediately apparent within its colder surfaces. The structures are reduced enough that every movement and every change in vocal or electronic emphasis becomes visible, while the beat remains sufficiently insistent to keep the audience physically involved. I found the whole thing extremely graceful but never passive; the beauty came from precision and communication rather than decoration.

The Amphibühne later moved into the much denser artistic world of Samsas Traum. My own attention was primarily on Samsas Traum because I had particularly wanted to see Alexander Kaschte’s project again. My previous encounter had been years ago at Amphi Festival, and I had also interviewed him for Side-Line more recently, so this was one of those concerts in which past impressions, recent conversation and present performance inevitably entered the same frame.

Samsas Traum have never seemed entirely contained by the idea of a band playing songs. The project operates more like an extended artistic system in which music, literature, poetry, imagery and a dense network of references continually interfere with one another. The musical vocabulary has shifted radically across the years, through metal, electronics, gothic forms, orchestral elements and theatrical songwriting, but the continuity lies in Kaschte’s tendency to construct worlds rather than isolated tracks.

The beautiful Amphibühne lighting mattered enormously because Samsas Traum benefit from visual depth, yet it was not decoration. Light, language, gesture and sound appeared to participate in the same construction. Kaschte’s theatricality has always been pronounced, but what saves it from empty theatrical effect is the density behind it: phrases carry literary and philosophical associations, melodic beauty can coexist with violence, and apparent grandeur can suddenly expose something intimate, grotesque or painfully human underneath.

Calling this merely “poetic” is almost insufficient because poetry here is not synonymous with prettiness. It is compression, allowing several emotional registers and possible meanings to occupy a single image without obliging the listener to resolve them. Seeing the project again after so many years was therefore less like revisiting an old band than returning to an artistic language that had continued changing while I was away from it.

What I found especially moving was that the project still seemed capable of revision. I was not watching a beautifully preserved version of something I remembered from Amphi. Kaschte had changed, the language had changed and naturally I had changed as well. Yet the fundamental proposition remained recognisable: Samsas Traum as a place where music and language are not parallel components but parts of the same act of storytelling. In the Amphibühne light, the result felt less like a concert built around isolated songs than a temporary piece of theatre assembled

ACTORS presented a rather different logistical problem. Our Love Will Live Forever had been released only the previous day, on 4 September, so this was not simply another festival appearance by an established band but one of the first opportunities to hear material that had quite literally just entered the world. Having recently spoken with ACTORS about the record, I was especially interested in what would happen when songs I knew through headphones and conversation were suddenly placed in front of an audience.

The Parkbühne, however, was almost comically inadequate for the level of interest. ACTORS have long since grown beyond the dimensions of a stage that intimate, and with a new album arriving at precisely the same moment the problem became very physical: people packed tightly around the stage and sightlines disappeared almost immediately. At points it was practically impossible to watch what was happening unless you happened to occupy the right few square metres. There were technical problems as well, which complicated matters further, although neither the crowd nor the band appeared particularly willing to surrender the concert to them. If anything, the circumstances demonstrated rather efficiently that ACTORS now occupy a very different position from the one such a stage assignment might suggest.

What I could properly observe was interesting precisely because the new material did not arrive carrying an enormous sign announcing a new era. Jason Corbett and the band did not turn vulnerability into spectacle or insist upon a dramatic rupture with what came before. The songs entered the existing ACTORS vocabulary naturally: the visual precision and instinct for melodic shape remained intact, but beneath those carefully constructed surfaces there was a greater acceptance of instability, as though polish was no longer being asked to conceal quite so much.

Corbett’s delivery remained controlled rather than demonstrative, Shannon Hemmett supplied both electronic detail and an essential visual counterweight, while Kendall Wooding and Adam Fink gave the material considerably more bodily weight than its studio elegance might initially suggest. That contrast became particularly useful in these less-than-ideal circumstances. The performance could not depend entirely on perfect presentation – the stage was overcrowded from the audience perspective and the technical conditions were not flawless – yet the songs still survived contact with that disorder.

Leaving Parkbühne afterwards proved almost as complicated as watching the concert in the first place. The crowd had become so dense around ACTORS that simply working my way out and across the festival grounds took considerably longer than expected, which meant I reached SKYND very late and managed only two songs. I would therefore not pretend to review the set as a whole; this was genuinely a glimpse rather than a concert I properly experienced.

Even within those two songs, however, SKYND’s visual and musical identity was impossible to mistake. Since forming in 2017, the project has built its work around real criminal cases, combining industrial electronics, metal weight and heavily processed vocals with a visual language that places the singer somewhere between narrator, witness and deliberately constructed character. What struck me immediately was the precision of that construction. The make-up, movement, voice and sound do not feel like separate elements assembled around the songs; they appear to belong to the same unsettling system.

The vocals can move from something almost childlike or eerily detached into much harsher distorted registers, while the electronics underneath retain a heavy, deliberate pulse. What little I saw was intensely controlled visually, yet the subject matter continually destabilises that control because it refers back to actual human violence rather than fictional horror. Around the time of NCN, SKYND had also moved into material dealing with abuse protected by power and public status, with “Jimmy Savile” followed by “Johnny Kitagawa”, which suggested another shift in emphasis within the project.

Two songs are nowhere near enough to judge how successfully the complete set developed that material, and I will not pretend otherwise. What I saw was visually striking, sonically heavy and immediately recognisable; mostly, though, the experience became another illustration of NCN’s logistical cruelty. Sometimes the running order does not simply force a choice between bands. First it gives you ACTORS on a stage far too small for the audience they attract, and then makes escaping that audience part of the journey to the next concert.

Sunday

Sunday opened with Zalvox, and after two very dense days this was exactly the kind of performance I needed. Ribi’s electronics have an unusually tactile quality despite being carefully controlled, while Dorain’s voice gives the project its emotional centre. What continually surprises me about them is how naturally those two components converse.

Nothing seems overperformed. Ribi reacts to Dorain’s presence, Dorain inhabits rather than simply sings over the electronics, and small exchanges between them become part of the atmosphere. Her voice was especially beautiful at NCN. There is fragility there, but also confidence and considerable control, and the contrast with the electronic structures creates warmth without diminishing their precision.

The result was atmospheric without becoming sleepy, intimate without being withdrawn, and sufficiently detailed to pull an already festival-tired attention span back into focus. Their communication is one of the loveliest aspects of the project because it never feels as though one person supplies “the music” while the other supplies “the voice”; both participate in directing the emotional movement of the same material.

Grundeis then occupied the Amphibühne, and the contrast could hardly have been stronger. The Hamburg band move through post-punk, shoegaze, noise and gothic guitar textures, but what interests me is not the number of genres available for description; it is the way those textures continually change the emotional pressure of the songs.

On the largest stage, their handling of guitar density became especially impressive. Shoegaze can become indistinct outdoors because so much of its intimacy depends on saturation, while skeletal post-punk can seem disproportionately small once expanded into open space. Grundeis managed to preserve both density and definition. Layers of guitar accumulated, withdrew and blurred without becoming an anonymous wall, the rhythm section maintained genuine forward momentum, and Laura Müller’s vocals cut through without needing to overpower everything around them.

The stage suited them surprisingly well. Their music expanded into the space rather than merely occupying it, and there was enough movement inside the guitar structures to keep the performance engaging without resorting to excessive theatricality. It was post-punk in one of its more convincing contemporary forms: informed by history, certainly, but far too alive to resemble historical reconstruction.

The schedule then created an impossible choice between Lovelorn Dolls and Mayflower Madame, so I only saw short sections of each. Neither deserves the false certainty of a complete concert review based on a few photographed songs, but both left very clear impressions.

The Brussels project Lovelorn Dolls has always placed electronic gothic rock, heavier guitars and Kristell Lowagie’s expressive voice inside a visual universe where childhood imagery, dolls and apparent innocence can coexist with considerably darker emotional material. The short portion I witnessed still carried that tension strongly. There was theatrical colour, but also a much heavier musical foundation than the visual language might initially suggest.

Lowagie’s voice was the element binding those contradictions together. She can appear fragile one moment and considerably more forceful the next without either register feeling theatrical for its own sake. There was emotional intensity in the performance that made leaving particularly frustrating, and knowing the difficult history behind the project’s current chapter inevitably added another layer without needing to dominate the experience.

Mayflower Madame, from Oslo, created an entirely different kind of atmosphere. Their guitars seem to expand horizontally, creating a large sonic field rather than simply increasing volume, while the rhythm section continuously pulls that field forward.

The short portion I heard had an almost narcotic quality. Vocals were partially embedded inside the guitar texture, giving the impression that the songs were emerging from within the atmosphere rather than being placed over it. Yet the music never became static. There was always enough rhythmic tension beneath the psychedelic and shoegazing elements to prevent the set from dissolving into beautiful haze. It was dark, hypnotic and immediately distinctive, exactly the sort of performance where leaving after only a few songs feels particularly unfair.

The same problem returned with Mildreda and The Foreign Resort. Mildreda had been particularly high on my list because Realities had appeared only days before NCN, and I had already spent an unusual amount of time with the material, first while reviewing the album and then while discussing it with Jan Dewulf. That inevitably changes the experience of a concert. Instead of encountering the songs as unfamiliar objects, I arrived knowing many of their structures and emotional tensions in considerable detail, which made it fascinating to watch what happened when music I had previously examined almost microscopically was released into a festival environment.

What happened was not simply that the new material became louder. Onstage, Mildreda changed its proportions. Rhythms that can function almost architecturally on record became intensely physical, harsher electronic textures acquired actual impact, and Dewulf’s voice moved much closer to the centre of the experience. The new songs contain considerable vulnerability, but the performance never treated that vulnerability as fragility; if anything, the emotional openness made the aggression feel more purposeful. There was real force in the set, yet the quieter and more delicate passages retained their significance precisely because they were surrounded by so much pressure.

The circumstances made this even more interesting. Mildreda had to perform in uncompromising daylight, which is almost an act of sabotage against the usual visual grammar of dark electro. There was no darkness to extend the atmosphere, no possibility of disappearing into smoke, projections or carefully sculpted light, and therefore very little external assistance available to the music. Instead of weakening the performance, the exposure made its internal construction easier to perceive. Changes in density, rhythm and vocal intensity had to carry the dramatic weight themselves, and they did so remarkably well.

What I appreciated most was the sense that this was not a carefully preserved studio object being reproduced for an audience. Dewulf seemed fully inside the material, allowing it to become rougher, more immediate and more physically animated than its recorded version while still preserving the contradictions that make Mildreda interesting in the first place: severity beside vulnerability, precision beside abrasion and a very private emotional language projected through something much larger and more forceful. The daylight may have denied the band an obvious visual atmosphere, but it also proved that they did not need one.

My glimpse of The Foreign Resort was similarly brief, but the band’s physical understanding of post-punk was obvious immediately. Their guitars produce enormous atmosphere without sacrificing attack, while the rhythm underneath is far more urgent than the melancholy surface might initially suggest.

Even during those few songs, there was a strong sensation of movement. The sound expanded outward, but the pulse continually dragged it forward, creating the tension that makes The Foreign Resort more interesting than a purely atmospheric guitar band. I would have liked to stay because the performance seemed to be building rather than simply presenting its character immediately, but NCN’s simultaneous programme made that impossible.

One performance I deliberately refused to leave was Supersimmetria at Kulturbühne. Armando Alibrandi’s project occupies the borderlands between industrial techno, atmospheric electronics and detailed experimental construction, but its real fascination comes from gradual transformation.

The music does not depend on theatrical drops or obvious moments announcing that something important is about to happen. Rhythmic cells appear and begin changing function, frequencies thicken, microscopic details become suddenly structural, and only retrospectively does one realise how far a seemingly stable pattern has travelled. There is substantial intellectual precision involved, yet none of it feels academic because the body is implicated from the beginning.

This was one of those sets where I eventually put the camera away because continuing to photograph became a less adequate form of attention than dancing. The Kulturbühne’s relatively compact dimensions concentrated the sound beautifully, and the whole performance developed into that rare territory where analysis and bodily response stop competing. I stayed, I danced, and for music designed around the transformation of repetition, that may be more useful criticism than a catalogue of technical terminology.

Peter Heppner & Band changed the Amphibühne completely. There was already something celebratory in the atmosphere, particularly with Heppner’s birthday immediately approaching, but what made the concert emotional went considerably deeper than the occasion itself.

Some songs eventually stop belonging exclusively to the musicians who created them because listeners absorb them into their own biographies. “Dream Of You”, “Once In A Lifetime” and “Kein Zurück” have long since crossed that threshold. They become attached to relationships, departures, particular rooms, years, people who are no longer present and versions of ourselves we can remember without necessarily wanting to become again.

From my position with the camera, this accumulated history was visible across the Amphibühne. There were raised hands everywhere, people dancing, others almost motionless, and tears in more than one pair of eyes. Heppner’s voice still carries an extraordinary amount of emotional information without requiring theatrical demonstration, and the band gave the material enough scale to inhabit the amphitheatre without turning the songs into inflated festival versions of themselves.

Looking across that sea of heads and moving hands, I had the strange impression that thousands of people were listening to different songs despite the sound system playing exactly the same ones. Each listener had accumulated another version through the years spent with the music. That is one of the rare privileges of songs that survive long enough to acquire biographies beyond those of their authors.

Diary Of Dreams on the Waldbühne produced a related feeling for me, although in a far more private register. It was one of the few concerts at NCN that I experienced from beginning to end, and that completeness mattered because this was not a performance built around a sequence of isolated peaks. It developed gradually, with guitars, electronics, percussion, voice and light continually changing their relative weight, so that the emotional direction emerged through accumulation rather than through obvious theatrical cues.

At one point Adrian Hates raised both arms towards the musicians, and for a few seconds he looked almost like a conductor standing before his own small orchestra. The association with Diary Of Dreams’ work with the Philharmonie Leipzig was unavoidable, but what interested me was not any literal symphonic quality. It was the sense that Hates was directing movement, density and emotional pressure, allowing one element to rise while another withdrew and treating the band less as a collection of separate performers than as parts of a continuously changing structure.

That image also connected with something more personal for me. I have known Diary Of Dreams’ music for such a long time that I no longer hear many of these songs as fixed compositions. They have accompanied different versions of me, and what they meant when I was twenty is not necessarily what they mean now that I am over forty. When I was younger, a Diary Of Dreams concert could feel like being allowed into an intensely emotional private world, almost like opening a book whose atmosphere temporarily replaced everything outside it. Now the experience is more layered. Certain songs return with memories attached; others have gradually detached themselves from the circumstances in which I first heard them and acquired completely different meanings.

That, to me, is one of the more interesting measures of durable songwriting. A great song does not merely preserve the emotional conditions of the time in which it was written, nor does it require the listener to become their younger self again in order to respond to it. It changes because we change. Adrian Hates approaches the material differently after decades of performing it, the musicians around him alter its texture, the audience brings new biographies into the room, and the songs absorb all of that without losing their internal identity.

At NCN I was unusually aware of that movement between past and present. The music still carried the same recognisable emotional language, but my relationship with it had become more reflective, more nostalgic in places and, paradoxically, more open because I no longer needed it to mean exactly what it once meant.

That is why the concert felt so complete. Its emotional weight was not forced; it accumulated through pacing, detail, restraint and the extraordinary continuity of a musical world that has been changing for years without losing its centre. The image of Hates with his arms raised stayed with me because it seemed to capture precisely that process: not an artist preserving his past, but one still conducting it into new forms.

Finally, Die Krupps walked onto the Amphibühne. By then I had spent three days moving between stages, photographing, listening, talking and repeatedly forcing my concentration to reset for another performance. Familiarity should also have worked against them: I have seen Die Krupps enough times that I am not automatically impressed simply because “Nazis Auf Speed”, “Schmutzfabrik” or “Der Amboss” suddenly appear in a set. Yet from the opening sequence it became obvious that this was going to be one of those concerts where prior knowledge makes the reaction more meaningful rather than less.

The sound was phenomenal. Electronics remained hard, sharply defined and rhythmically exact, while the guitars had enormous abrasive weight without collapsing the mix into undifferentiated noise. With Marcel Zürcher back, that part of the sound had genuine physical presence again; his guitar did not simply reinforce the electronic structure but rubbed against it, destabilised it and introduced the friction that is essential to Die Krupps at their best. Their music may be founded on repetition, programming, steel and discipline, but its real power onstage comes from the moment when those controlled systems begin to sound as though they might exceed their own boundaries.

Jürgen Engler was outstanding, not because he resorted to exaggerated gestures but because he seemed constantly aware of the amphitheatre and of how the audience was responding. The chemistry across the band was equally strong, and that communication is one reason the performance could remain extremely tight while still feeling dangerous. The lighting was exceptional, the stage arrangement gave every musician visual and physical room, and the entire production seemed calibrated to increase impact without sacrificing clarity.

What surprised me was how quickly the analytical part of my brain disappeared. I know this material, I know how Die Krupps construct their concerts, and I have photographed them often enough to recognise many of the mechanisms involved, yet somewhere in the middle of the set I stopped evaluating them against previous performances and simply thought: they are astonishingly good tonight. That is a significant reaction precisely because novelty was not available to assist it. The band had to overcome familiarity through quality alone, and they did.

The concert had the physical force of a blow to the solar plexus, but it was not crude force. It was adrenaline organised with remarkable precision: excellent sound, magnificent light, aggressive electronics, guitars with real mass and a band operating with the confidence of musicians who understand their own history without behaving as though they are obliged to reproduce it ceremonially. Nothing about the set suggested a heritage act displaying evidence of its former importance. The songs were attacked rather than preserved.

As a finale to NCN, it was difficult to imagine anything better. The Amphibühne was packed, the audience was completely with them, and all the accumulated fatigue of three festival days was converted for a while into something much simpler and much more physical. I have seen Die Krupps many times; this was nevertheless one of the strongest performances I have ever seen from them, an absolute knockout and an almost perfect way to close the festival.

What remained

What remained with me afterwards was the same thing I had noticed while photographing the audience at the beginning of the weekend. For a festival with such a dense programme, so many stages and enough simultaneous attractions to keep everyone permanently negotiating with their own schedule, NCN feels remarkably unpretentious on the human level.

Every day can produce several completely different versions of the same festival depending on which direction someone turns, and yet the weekend rarely felt like a competition for maximum consumption. People stopped for conversations. Carefully prepared schedules were abandoned because someone had encountered an old friend. Audiences danced without appearing to calculate how visible they were while doing it. People ate together, exchanged recommendations, talked about what they had just seen and allowed the festival to become social rather than merely consumable.

That was also what changed my photography. I searched less for costumes and more for expressions, less for surfaces and more for those brief moments when somebody forgot there was a camera nearby. It required a different form of looking and occasionally a little more patience, but I think that difference explains something essential about NCN. The festival has an enormous programme and a range of music broad enough to move from fragile coldwave to industrial violence, from literary theatricality to post-punk guitars and large-scale synthpop within a matter of hours, yet the infrastructure never entirely becomes the subject.

Returning after 2023 therefore felt less like repeating an experience than correcting an assumption. I had remembered Nocturnal Culture Night primarily as an extraordinarily large and complicated festival that I was glad to have experienced once. Three years later I understood that its scale is only the visible part. Underneath it is a surprisingly human mechanism: musicians moving between very different artistic languages, audiences moving between stages and one another, and a festival whose constant motion somehow still leaves room for people simply to spend time together.

For me, after another long summer of festivals, that combination of musical abundance, physical intensity, curiosity and remarkably uncomplicated human contact was a very good place to finish.

Audience gallery

The full set of audience photographs Karo Kratochwil took at Nocturnal Culture Night 2026.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

Die Krupps, the German industrial and EBM band from Düsseldorf, released “V – Metal Machine Music” on 28 August 2015 through Oblivion and Steamhammer, with distribution by SPV. The album turns 11 this year. Metropolis Records handled the North American edition. It was the ninth Die Krupps studio album and the follow-up to “The Machinists of Joy” from 2013, and it appeared as a double CD in a six-panel digipak, as a digital download and as a limited box set.

Side-Line’s own pre-order item of 5 August 2015, Die Krupps announce ‘V: Metal Machine’ 2CD album for September – pre-orders accepted now!, put the release in September. Wikipedia, Discogs and MusicBrainz all give 28 August 2015 for the German edition, and that is the date used here.

The title reaches back into the band’s own catalogue. “Metal Machine Music” was a 1992 single from the album “I”, named in turn after Lou Reed’s 1975 record, which Jürgen Engler has credited as an influence on the band. Engler and Marcel Zürcher wrote the music except where noted, with lyrics split between Engler and Ralf Dörper. Engler and Chris Lietz produced the record, Alex Henke recorded additional guitar and Sascha Osterland made the artwork.

Disc one runs thirteen tracks: “Die Verdammten (Prelude)”, “Kaltes Herz”, “Battle Extreme”, “Fly Martyrs Fly”, “The Truth”, “Road Rage Warrior”, “The Vampire Strikes Back”, “Alive in a Glass Cage”, “Branded”, “Kaos Reigns”, “The Red Line”, “Bonded by Blood” and “Volle Kraft Voraus”. Several of those are older pieces revisited. The prelude reworks the intro tape the band used on its 2011 and 2014 tours and takes its music from Maurice Jarre. “The Vampire Strikes Back” first surfaced on a Wing Commander soundtrack in 1998, the last song the band recorded before its 1997 break. “Alive in a Glass Cage”, “Road Rage Warrior” and “Volle Kraft Voraus” are re-recordings, the last of them the title track of the 1982 album. “The Red Line” had already appeared in a different version as the B-side to the 2014 single “Robo Sapien”.

Side-Line reviewed the album on 10 October 2015 and placed it next to the band’s 1990s run of “I”, “II – The Final Option”, “III – Odyssey Of The Mind” and “Paradise Now”, with the guitars sitting further forward. The review stated: “Mastermind Jurgen Engler, currently living in Austin-Texas (USA), still can’t choose between pure electronic music and guitars and succeeds in combining both in a powerful way!” The full text is in Die Krupps – V – Metal Machine Music (DCD Album – SPV/Steamhammer/Oblivion Records).

Die Krupps’ ‘V – Metal Machine Music’ singles and bonus disc

“Battle Extreme” / “Fly Martyrs Fly” arrived two weeks ahead of the album, on 14 August 2015, with a lyric video for the A-side that Side-Line covered in New Die Krupps video hits the net: ‘Battle Extreme’. “Kaltes Herz” followed on 16 October 2015 with “Branded” as its B-side and a promo video directed by Faderhead. “Alive in a Glass Cage” came out on 28 July 2016, re-recorded with Caliban and issued before the band’s first Wacken Open Air appearance.

The second disc carries eight tracks: a Darkhaus rework of “Kaltes Herz”, a Faderhead remix of “Alive in a Glass Cage”, “Road Rage Warrior ’82” and demo versions of “Battle Extreme”, “Kaos Reigns”, “The Vampire Strikes Back”, “Kaltes Herz” and “Alive in a Glass Cage”. Dependent Records reissued both the standard and the deluxe running order digitally in 2025.

About Die Krupps

Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka formed Die Krupps in Düsseldorf in 1980. The name comes from the Krupp industrial dynasty, and the band has pointed to Luchino Visconti’s 1969 film “The Damned” as the starting point. The debut album “Stahlwerksynfonie” appeared in 1981 and set factory noise and metallic percussion against conventional instruments. The EP “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn” followed the same year. Dörper left in 1982 to form Propaganda.

“Volle Kraft voraus!” arrived in 1982 and moved toward synthesizers while keeping the metal percussion. “Entering the Arena” in 1985 dropped most of that percussion and carried the band’s first English-language material. Engler then ran the Atom-H label, signing thrash metal and hardcore punk acts, and that catalogue fed back into the band’s next decade.

In 1989 Dörper started a collaboration with Nitzer Ebb on “Machineries of Joy”, a new version of the early track “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn”, which he produced with Engler. Its chart placing led to the band restarting with Engler and Dörper at the front. Guitars entered the sound in 1992 with the album “I” and the Metallica covers EP “A Tribute to Metallica”. “II – The Final Option” followed in 1993, “III – Odyssey of the Mind” in 1995 and “Paradise Now” in 1997, after which the band stopped. Engler started DKay.com the same year and released “Decaydenz” in 2000 and “Deeper into the Heart of Dysfunction” in 2002.

Die Krupps returned to the stage for their 25th anniversary across 2005 and 2006, and the two “Too Much History” compilations appeared in autumn 2007. The remix album “Volle Kraft Null Acht” came in 2009 and the EP “Als wären wir für immer” in 2010, the first new material since 1997. A joint European tour with Nitzer Ebb followed in 2011. “The Machinists of Joy” arrived in 2013 as the first full album in sixteen years, and “V – Metal Machine Music” came two years later.

The band re-recorded its debut as “Stahlwerkrequiem” in 2016, reported in Die Krupps re-records 1981 debut album ‘Stahlwerksinfonie’ for vinyl (incl. CD) release, and the live set “Live im Schatten der Ringe”, taped in 2014, followed on DVD, Blu-ray and 2CD, covered in Watch trailer new Die Krupps live DVD & Blu-ray (incl. 2CD) ‘Live Im Schatten Der Ringe’ – out this Friday. Engler launched the EBM side project Die Robo Sapiens in February 2018, announced in Die Krupps frontman Jürgen Engler launches EBM-only project Die Robo Sapiens, and its debut album “Robo Sapien Race” arrived in October 2022. The same spring the band announced a single and a tour with Front Line Assembly.

“Vision 2020 Vision” was announced for November 2019 in Die Krupps return with a new album in November: ‘Vision 2020 Vision’, and Engler formed the industrial metal group Die Klute that year with Dino Cazares of Fear Factory and Claus Larsen of Leæther Strip. The covers album Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven came in March 2021, and the band’s first live recording, from 1981, was issued as The Big Industrial Bang on CD and DVD in April of the same year.

Marcel Zürcher, guitarist since 2005, left in 2023, and Nils Finkeisen covered guitar until 2024. The line-up is now Engler on vocals, guitars and keyboards, Dörper on keyboards, synthesizers and programming, Paul Keller on drums and Dylan Smith on guitars. In August 2025 the band signed a multi-album deal with Dependent Records, reported in Die Krupps sign multi-album deal with Dependent Records; new album due in 2026, and followed it with the tour-only EP Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course. Engler and Dörper looked back across the run in Ralf Dörper interview on why Die Krupps still won’t behave and Die Krupps interview on the 45 Years of Industrial Steel North America Tour. Eleven years on, “V – Metal Machine Music” sits between “The Machinists of Joy” and “Vision 2020 Vision” in that sequence.

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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Die Krupps, the German industrial metal and EBM band led by Jürgen Engler, released its sixth studio album “III – Odyssey of the Mind” on 31 July 1995. The record turns 31 this year. The 1995 release came out as a CD, a vinyl LP and a limited boxed set capped at 2,000 copies.

“III – Odyssey of the Mind” holds ten tracks, with all music written by Engler and guitarist Lee Altus and lyrics mostly by Engler, aside from three songs credited to Ralf Dörper. The band on the record comprised Engler on vocals, keyboards, metal percussion and guitar, Altus on guitars, Chris Lietz on drum programming, Dörper on samples and Rüdiger Esch on bass. Tony Platt mixed the album with Frank Duchêne, and John Cremer handled mastering. The album followed “II – The Final Option” from 1993 and preceded “Paradise Now” in 1997, the album that closed out the run of four numbered industrial metal records the band released between 1992 and 1997.

Two singles, “Isolation” and “Scent,” were released from the album in 1995. The track “Odyssey of the Mind” was later remixed by The Sisters of Mercy and appears as a bonus track on the CD edition.

About Die Krupps

Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka formed Die Krupps in Düsseldorf in 1980. Engler and Malaka had already played together in Male, one of Germany’s earliest punk bands, before Dörper, an electronic musician, joined them. The band’s debut album, “Stahlwerksynfonie,” followed in 1981, mixing factory noise with metallic percussion and real instruments. Dörper left in 1982 to found Propaganda, and Die Krupps moved toward a more synthesizer-based sound on “Volle Kraft voraus!” the same year. “Entering the Arena” followed in 1985, largely abandoning the metallic percussion for a new wave sound and marking the band’s first English-language material. Die Krupps then went on hiatus.

In 1989, Dörper and Engler produced a new version of the early Die Krupps track “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn” as “Machineries of Joy” with Nitzer Ebb, and its chart success led to the band’s reactivation. Die Krupps began incorporating heavy metal guitars and sounds from 1992 onward, starting with the album “I” and the covers EP “A Tribute to Metallica.” “II – The Final Option” followed in 1993, its cover influenced by Deep Purple’s “Machine Head.” “III – Odyssey of the Mind,” a more experimental and pensive record, arrived in 1995. The heavier, groove metal-influenced “Paradise Now” closed out the sequence in 1997, after which the band disbanded again.

Engler ran the project DKay.com through the late 1990s and early 2000s before Die Krupps reunited around their 25th anniversary in 2005 and 2006, marked by the compilations “Too Much History – The Electro Years Vol. 1” and “Too Much History – The Metal Years Vol. 2” in 2007. New material returned with the 2010 EP “Als wären wir für immer,” followed by the full albums “The Machinists of Joy” in 2013 and “V – Metal Machine Music” in 2015, the latter revisiting the metal-driven sound of the 1990s. The band released “Vision 2020 Vision” in 2019 and “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” in 2021, and has continued releasing singles since, most recently “Will nicht – MUSS!” in 2025 alongside a new deal with Dependent Records for an album due in 2026. Thirty-one years after its release, “III – Odyssey of the Mind” remains the record that marked the band’s turn toward a more introspective take on its industrial metal sound.

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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Die Krupps, the Düsseldorf EBM and industrial metal band, have announced that Marcel Zürcher is back in the band after a three-year absence. The news was shared in a Facebook post in which the band wrote: “Old friendships never die!!! We are pleased to announce that after a 3 year excursion Marcel Zuercher is back in DIE KRUPPS!!!”

The band will play the Brutal Assault festival (August 5 to 8) at Jaroměř-Josefov Fortress in the Czech Republic. Next is M’era Luna which takes place on August 8 and 9 in Hildesheim, Germany. The NCN Festival runs from September 4 to 6 at Kulturpark Deutzen in Germany. And they are also scheduled for September 6 on the Amphi stage.

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980 including Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Bernward Malaka as founding members.

The band’s early work moved through industrial percussion, EBM and electronic rock. “Stahlwerksynfonie” appeared in 1981, followed by “Volle Kraft voraus!” in 1982 and “Entering the Arena” in 1985. In the 1990s, Die Krupps added a stronger metal component on “I” in 1992, “II – The Final Option” in 1993, “III – Odyssey of the Mind” in 1995 and “Paradise Now” in 1997.

After the 1997 break, the band returned in the mid-2000s releasing “Too Much History” in 2007, “Volle Kraft Null Acht” in 2008 and “Als Wären Wir Für Immer” in 2010. Later releases included “The Machinists of Joy” in 2013, “V – Metal Machine Music” in 2015, “Vision 2020 Vision” in 2019 and “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” in 2021.

In August 2025, Die Krupps signed a multi-album deal with Dependent Records. A new studio album is planned for 2026.

Their 2025 EP “Will Nicht – Muss! / On Collision Course” was issued through Dependent previewing the upcoming 2026 album.

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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(Interview by Karo Kratochwil)  Forty-five years after they first welded steel, sequencers and social tension into one brutal language, Die Krupps are bringing their industrial machinery back to North America. In spring 2026, the German legends will cross the U.S. and Canada with a full 45th Anniversary Tour, joined by special guests Ghostbells, to celebrate nearly half a century of sonic construction work.

The run picks up where last year’s shows with Ministry left off, but this time the spotlight is entirely on Die Krupps – a band that turned “metal and machines” from an idea into a genre. Expect a career-spanning set that taps into their early industrial beginnings, their metal-driven phase and the newer material that has kept their sound evolving. With the back catalogue now finally available on all major digital platforms, this tour underlines that these tracks are not museum pieces but a living, heavy and still uncomfortably relevant body of work.

From Austin to Vancouver, from New York basements to West Coast clubs, the 45th Anniversary Tour promises nights of pounding percussion, serrated riffs and that unmistakable Die Krupps chant-energy that turns a room into a moving engine.

Die Krupps Interview

Karo: Hi Jürgen Thank you so much for taking the time today. I know you’re in the middle of preparing tour, so I really appreciate you squeezing this in.

Jürgen: Hello

Karo: I know you are probably extremely busy, so let’s get straight to it. You’re about to take the 45 Years of DIE KRUPPS celebration across North America again. The first run already felt like a statement. What convinced you that this chapter still had more to say on American stages and that you needed to come back?

Jürgen: We hadn’t toured here in probably two decades before the Ministry tour we did last year, and the response from the audience was amazing. The reason we wanted to go back out on tour is because we want to make our fans happy. Also, I live in the U.S., so for me it’s an important thing to do. I feel like we haven’t really taken advantage of the fact that I’m based here and that we can actually tour here because we definitely have a fan base. The U.S. has been neglected for a long time, but that was mainly due to costs. Most European bands that tour here downsize. I’ve seen many over the years – Project Pitchfork, Covenant, and so on – and they don’t come over with the same kind of lineup they have in Europe because the costs are immense. Touring in the U.S. is more expensive: you need flights, work visas, which are crazy expensive nowadays, and the nightliner buses are a lot more expensive. In general it might be cheaper to live here, but for European bands touring is definitely more expensive. Since I live here I obviously don’t need a work visa, so that’s not a big problem for me personally. But bringing our crew over, bringing the band over, and getting all the gear here – my steel phone is usually in Germany – that all costs a lot of money. It’s not easy. I also never wanted to downsize the band. Whenever we had offers to play here the promoters would say, “Why don’t you use some local crew, some local musicians?” I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to tell people: “Sorry, we have a U.S. tour, but you have to stay home.” That’s not right, and that’s why we basically didn’t play shows here for a long time. When we got the opportunity to do the Ministry tour, that was great. The pay, when you’re not a headliner, is not so great, but in the end it was a very important tour for us to put our foot down again and make a mark. We are a strong live band and we went over really well. The fans loved it every night, we had an amazing audience, and the pictures I posted online speak a clear language.

Karo: An anniversary tour can easily slide into a “greatest-hits jukebox”. How do you build a setlist that honours the different phases of DIE KRUPPS and still keeps the feeling of urgency and risk that defined the band in the first place?

Jürgen: The setlist will probably differ slightly from the one we played in Europe, but not too much. There are a lot of songs that we should be playing, and we are playing the obvious singles and strong tracks: “Machineries of Joy,” “Fatherland,” “Robo Sapien,” “Vision 2020 Vision,” and so on. It’s not that hard to choose from our catalogue because there are a lot of good tracks that the fans love. But some tracks are not so well known in this country. For example, “Industrie-Mädchen” – we played that on the European tour, but we wouldn’t play that over here. Instead, we may pick something from Odyssey Of The Mind, because that was a very popular album here, maybe even the most popular one in the U.S. So we might choose a song like “Isolation Again” or “Scent.” It’s not that easy to switch out songs and keep the same kind of flow, because I really liked the flow of the set on the last European tour. Changing songs is always a little tricky, but we’ll manage. It will differ slightly – maybe three or four songs we might replace – and I’ll go with my feeling for what keeps the flow similar.

Karo: You mentioned living in the U.S. while the rest of the band travels over. After so many line-up shifts and collaborations, what does “DIE KRUPPS as a band” mean to you today? Is it a stable core of people, a certain way of working, a sound, or more of a mindset that survives regardless of who is on stage with you?

Jürgen: It’s very important who is on stage with you. There’s nothing more important. You have to feel right with the people on stage. The current line-up was great. For me, the feeling on stage with Ralf, Paul and Dylan was perfect. We had a perfect vibe on stage, a great time, and a clear understanding of how to work the stage. That’s very important. Between Dylan and me it was totally in line – we had no problem working the stage just the two of us. In the past I sometimes had the feeling that I had to work the stage more to compensate for others not contributing as much. It’s very important that you have a good feeling on stage. There are many angles to this, but for me as a performer it’s most important that I feel comfortable there. It’s my territory, but I share it, and when I share my territory it has to be with the right people. It’s like working a job in an office: you want the right team. You don’t want anybody who is creating friction or issues while you’re working. What happens in your private life is different, but when you’re on stage or on the job, you want to make sure you have the right people on board.

Karo: Your DIE KRUPPS work has always reflected industry, power structures and social pressure. When you perform songs like “Machineries of Joy,” “Metal Machine Music,” “To the Hilt” or “Fatherland” in 2026, which lines feel most disturbingly relevant today? Have you ever been tempted to rewrite or update anything, or do you prefer to let the original lyrics speak for themselves?

Jürgen: I wouldn’t rewrite them because they’re all still relevant. It’s not like humanity has changed a lot. I think our lyrics are more or less timeless. I don’t feel that any of those lyrics have really lost their dynamics or weight. I also wouldn’t want to change lyrics anyway. Those songs were written at a certain time, which may have been different, but they’re still relevant. I don’t feel like something like “Fatherland,” “Robo Sapien” or “To the Hilt” has lost any of its important meaning. To me it’s still relevant and nothing needs to be changed. If I felt we had written a song that is totally irrelevant nowadays, I just wouldn’t want to play it. But rewriting lyrics is not that important to me. Why would you do that, unless you’ve written a bunch of crap – like a lot of other bands have done – and then they still play it. So why change anything?

Karo: I also wanted to ask about the DIE KRUPPS EP that accompanied the European anniversary shows, Collision Course. It presents a very current, hard-hitting side of DIE KRUPPS. When you were working on those tracks, did you consciously think about how they would sit next to the ’80s and ’90s classics in the live set, or did you treat them as a separate chapter?

Jürgen: When I write music it’s always connected to the past as well – it comes from the same person. Certain ingredients of the music have to be there. When I approach music and we compose tracks, what comes out is always going to be DIE KRUPPS, and it’s going to be connected with the history. We have a broad history. When I compose a track there are usually pumping sequencers, heavy riffing guitars – all that stuff. It’s always going to be there. I wouldn’t try to open a new chapter by reinventing the wheel or reinventing DIE KRUPPS. Why do that? We have found our niche. We are DIE KRUPPS. We sound like DIE KRUPPS and nobody else does. So why change anything? What comes out of me is what DIE KRUPPS have always been. It’s a very easy process for these songs to weave into the whole DIE KRUPPS sound and style, because everything is part of it. On Collision Course, for example, the title song was written in 2001, so it’s 25 years old. I played it to some people – Ralf really liked it, the record company thought it was a great song – so I decided to rework it. When I pick out stuff that was written a long time ago, I usually give it a more updated sound: I work on the production and change it up a bit. But in general the outcome is always clearly DIE KRUPPS. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel anymore. We did that with Stahlwerksymphonie back in the day and with the “Metal Machine Music” metal-and-electronics combination. Since then we clearly have our niche and a very unique style. That’s important.

Karo: Speaking of other songs – recently the DIE KRUPPS catalogue has been digitally re-released. What sparked the idea to revisit these DIE KRUPPS albums in this way?

Jürgen: There were many good reasons. The main one was that a large portion of the catalogue had never been released digitally. Our former record company missed out on that, and we decided we needed to finally get this material out. I’ve been getting lots of messages from people over the last ten years: “Why is Odyssey Of The Mind not online? Why is it not on Spotify? Why is Paradise Now not online?” And there were other releases, like the tribute to Metallica. I was asking myself: what the hell is going on, why have these important records never been released? So in the end I said: this has to finally be released. Since the back catalogue was available, we approached a new label and sold them the catalogue so they could finally put it out and give it to the fans. To be honest, that’s the most important part for me. I don’t want people to think we don’t care what we put out. It was always important to me to cater to the fans. It’s not like I do this for money. I do it for the fans, no matter how crazy that may sound. It’s very important that they get access to the music they like and love. It’s just as important as when we play shows: we want to make them happy and give them what they want so that everyone has a great experience. It’s the same with the records – I want people to be able to listen when they feel like it, not be wondering where they can get a record they loved and don’t have anymore. All those complaints I heard over the years – I’d had enough at some point. So that was definitely a big motivation.

Karo: It will definitely make a lot of people happy. Back to the DIE KRUPPS tour: on this upcoming run you’ll pass through Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Montreal, Vancouver and many more. Are there any North American cities that have become “characters” in the DIE KRUPPS story for you – places where the crowd, the venue or the local history add a special charge and make you think: this is exactly why we’re still doing this?

Jürgen: There are the usual hot spots where you know you’re going to have a big, great audience -Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and so on. But what’s really surprising this time are the Canadian shows. The pre-sales for those shows are very strong, which is interesting. I did not expect that when we were presented with the dates. I wasn’t sure if all those cities in Canada, between the east and west coasts – Edmonton, Calgary, etc. – would really carry the weight of the costs. But they do. They have equal or even higher pre-sales than places like New York, which is leading in the U.S. That’s really interesting. For me it’s not that I care more for certain cities than others. Whenever the show is great, it’s great. I don’t care whether I play in Austin, where I live, or in Denver or Calgary. I personally enjoy playing live to our audience no matter where it is. Of course it’s more fun the bigger or more enthusiastic the crowd is – smaller crowds can be very enthusiastic and make up for not being huge – but the city doesn’t really matter to me. We have connections with certain cities, of course – good fan bases in the obvious centres like Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles – but in general I love playing all the places. There aren’t many I wouldn’t like to play. As long as the audience gives us a good vibe and good energy, I’m happy anywhere. I don’t want to cherry-pick cities.

Karo: One last question: once the anniversary dust settles and the last DIE KRUPPS U.S. show is done, where do you feel the creative compass pointing? Further into the metal-driven territory, more electronic experiments, more collaborations – or something completely different that fans may not expect? What’s the next move?

Jürgen: The next move is that the album is almost completed. The new album will be finished soon and then out a few months later. As I said before, the music is what it is: it’s DIE KRUPPS. It’s not more metal or more electro. We have our niche, we have our sound. It’s not going to be a “metal album” or an “EBM album” – it’s the combination of all elements that make DIE KRUPPS what we are. It has a very tight production, that’s what I can say. Besides that, we also have upcoming festivals in Europe, and then we have a European tour in the making. And then we have a European tour in the making – I’m not exactly sure when it will start, but the booking agency is working on it. Beyond DIE KRUPPS I do a lot of production work for Cleopatra Records. That’s my main job: production work. I’m working with a lot of big-name artists right now for a Deep Purple project, a Flamin’ Groovies project, and there’s an upcoming William Shatner project where he’s doing metal tracks. There’s lots and lots of stuff in the making. This machinery never stands still.

Karo: Thank you very much for finding the time. All the best!

Jürgen: Best to you. Bye.

Die Krupps 45th Anniversary North America Tour 2026

The Die Krupps run kicks off in Austin, Texas – Jürgen Engler’s adopted hometown – before rolling through major cities across the continent.

• 03/23/26 – USA – Austin, TX / Come and Take It Live
• 03/25/26 – USA – Houston, TX / Warehouse Live Midtown
• 03/27/26 – USA – Atlanta, GA / Garden Club
• 03/28/26 – USA – Greensboro, NC / Hangar 1819
• 03/29/26 – USA – Philadelphia, PA / Underground Arts
• 03/30/26 – USA – New York, NY / Gramercy
• 04/01/26 – USA – Cambridge, MA / The Middle East
• 04/02/26 – CAN – Montreal, QC / Theatre Fairmount
• 04/03/26 – USA – Detroit, MI / El Club
• 04/05/26 – USA – Chicago, IL / Reggies Rock Club
• 04/06/26 – USA – Minneapolis, MN / Fine Line
• 04/08/26 – CAN – Edmonton, AB / Starlite Room
• 04/09/26 – CAN – Calgary, AB / Dickens
• 04/10/26 – CAN – Vancouver, BC / Rickshaw Theater
• 04/12/26 – USA – Seattle, WA / El Corazon
• 04/14/26 – USA – Denver, CO / Bluebird Theater
• 04/15/26 – USA – Salt Lake City, UT / Metro Music Hall
• 04/16/26 – USA – San Francisco, CA / Great American Music Hall
• 04/17/26 – USA – Los Angeles, CA / Whisky A Go Go
• 04/18/26 – USA – San Diego, CA / Brick By Brick
• 04/20/26 – USA – Mesa, AZ / The Rosetta Room

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

(Interview by Karo Kratochwil) Forty-five years is usually when bands turn themselves into exhibits: tidy eras, polished anecdotes, the safe glow of “legacy.” Ralf Dörper has never cared for museum lighting. Die Krupps’ recent European run proved it as a stamina test: five weeks on the road, crowds in the hundreds, and fans still traveling serious distances to catch a single date.

Dörper calls anniversary touring what it really is: editing. With “too much history,” cuts are inevitable – but not opportunistic. The set isn’t a streaming-stat mirror; it’s a deliberate choice, kept steady, even when a German deep cut like “Industriemädchen” lands abroad without translation or cushioning.

Where Die Krupps always lives, this conversation follows: discipline and abrasion, precision with teeth. Dörper’s core obsession remains “the quest for the perfect hook” – the kind that turns critique into something people can still shout back. And when Propaganda enters the frame, he’s just as unsentimental: anniversaries become product in the pop machine, memory becomes negotiable, and expectations are the real trap. Propaganda stays fluid by design; Die Krupps stays functional by necessity. A new Die Krupps album is confirmed for 2026, with the full back catalogue now digitally available for the first time. A true workshop.

Ralf Dörper (Die Krupps) interview

S+ Forty-five years is long enough to become a museum exhibit – unless you keep sabotaging your own comfort. On Die Krupps European anniversary run, what surprised you most: the audience, the band’s own stamina, or the way old material behaves in 2025?

Ralf: 45 is just a number – and it is the number of years which have passed since Jürgen Engler finished his punk band(s) – i.e. Male resp. Vorsprung – which was in 1980. So for me it was a 44-year anniversary since joining and recording “Stahlwerksinfonie” back in 1981.

With regard to the recent DIE KRUPPS tour the big surprise was its length and the endurance which we had developed. Approx. 5 weeks – a duration like that we had last in the 90s. But why not … as long as the audience numbers in hundreds and not dozens. So the other big surprise is that people still travel to see us when we play in their country…and this sometimes means big distances esp. in Scandinavia but also in France or UK where we played just the capital.

S+ When you tour an anniversary, you’re touring a narrative. Did you find yourself “editing history” on stage — emphasizing certain eras, muting others — or did you let the chronology stay messy and human?

Ralf: Due to covid we could not celebrate the 40 year anniversary for which we had plans to appear in special locations outside of the standard club circuit. And this time the anniversary of 45 years since foundation has been an additional factor as originally the plan was to coincide with the release of a new album. It was nearly finished but we weren´t quite happy yet – thus just two new songs in the set.

Due to “too much history” we always have to edit but we are not a cynical legacy act that mirrors its Spotify regional top twenty, i.e. before tour starts we decide on the set and keep it largely unchanged. So people outside of Germany had to come to terms with “Industriemädchen” which is our interpretation of a song by German punk band S.Y.P.H. from 1979 (of which I have been a member…; ).). All eras were covered with emphasis on the 90s – and the “Machinists” decade.

S+ Die Krupps have always had that tension between discipline and abrasion: precision with teeth. For the next album, are you chasing sharper minimalism, bigger impact, or a new kind of discomfort that the old templates can’t contain?

Ralf: The best Krupps songs feel like they’re engineered, not simply written. What is your current obsession in the workshop: rhythm architecture, vocal phrasing, sound design, or the lyrical “hook” that turns critique into something you can still shout along to?

It is always the quest for the perfect hook which from time to time is successful. So people keep shouting “Lohn / Arbeit “ “To the Hilt” or “Rammt sie”… and hopefully soon “Will nicht, muss!” or “Tu es” as well.

S+ Anniversary tours can turn fans into archivists. Did you notice any specific “misreadings” of Die Krupps’ legacy lately — things people project onto Die Krupps that were never actually your agenda?

Ralf: The only misreadings we might get from uninformed people are political. This peaked in Germany after reunification but is now a thing from the past. Our audience understands irony it seems.

 About the upcoming Die Krupps U.S. run: Europe and the U.S. often reward different kinds of intensity. Are you adapting the set and pacing for American rooms, or is it more interesting to bring the European “steel” as-is and let the friction happen?

As we recently supported MINISTRY on The Squirrel Years Tour all over USA/Canada we already noticed different kinds of receptions depending on state or city. But opportunistic set adjustments are not on the agenda. However we might replace some songs which are too much rooted in our European history. We might drop “Industriemädchen” and “Amboss” from the European “anniversary set”.

S+ The modern industrial landscape is crowded with polished aggression. Where do you still find something that feels dangerous in a productive way — and what do you think most newer acts misunderstand about that danger?

Ralf: I have absolutely no idea who those newer acts might be. The newest act which I discovered – in Germany – is GEWALT which is in no way industrial. I am not a follower of musical fashions.

Propaganda has a very different type of power: elegance, tension, intelligence that doesn’t need to shout. Without giving away plans you can’t share, what’s the most honest “state of the union” you can offer right now: quiet work, active writing, or simply keeping the door open?

Now as we talked about anniversaries there was a real one in 2025, i.e. 40 years since the release and the production of “A Secret Wish”. Being part of the Pop machinery means your work has acquired a certain worth for its owner who is not the band (different to Die Krupps where I own the master rights with Jurgen) but the licensee who changed over the years. It had been BMG for a while nowadays its Universal Records…and these labels use the anniversary dates to come up with a rerelease of a repackaged P-product. But what is very interesting is that due to the retro industry evolving over the years with own festivals and magazines we had a lot of promo activity, “we” means the Propaganda Abba-LineUp of the 80s doing separate interviews. And it is definitely very interesting to read how memories differ.

S+ You’ve spent decades moving between projects with radically different emotional temperatures. When you switch from Die Krupps to Propaganda mindset, what changes first: the rhythm, the language, or the way you allow vulnerability into the frame?

Ralf: Which is not true. But one might think so as due to the legacy of the PROPAGANDA recordings there might be constant reminders – by rereleases or compilations – that there is some activity (which is mostly passive). I started PROPAGANDA in 1982 after having vacated KRUPPS – and I left what was left of PROPAGANDA in 1990. Shortly after having done the “Machineries of Joy”.

The latest Propaganda release (2024) and its remix companion (2025) did not have a schedule. There might have been a beginning around 2015 and 2025 must not be the end.

Krupps is genre Propaganda is not. And Krupps is a band driven by commercial contracts which somehow defines the format and to a certain extent the content. I do not write steel workers love songs however there is the love for sweat muscles and bodies.

S+ If you could choose one sentence you’d like listeners to take into the next chapter — not as nostalgia, but as a forward-facing idea — what should it be, and why does it still matter now?

Ralf: Tempted to say: “Will nicht, muss!” But that is  not even a proper sentence…

S+ Looking ahead to 2026: if Die Krupps is the engine and Propaganda is the ghost in the circuitry – what can people realistically expect from each camp this year (new music, releases, specific live plans, collaborations), and what do you want the year to represent for both projects?

I would like to make it clear: PROPAGANDA is and was a project with ever changing agenda. For a while a project within a pop context and for a short while even adapting a band image. And the long hiatus was a necessity. Maybe PROPAGANDA is a duo nowadays but not a soft sell. And definitely not willing to jump on the retro bandwagon. So its better to have no expectations – but depending on next encounters things might happen.

On the other hand, yes KRUPPS is as a band part of the machine. There are cyclical changes in personell which is a reflection of the “business”. And as part of the business machinery a lot of schedules have to be fixed way ahead. So I can confirm that finally there will be an album release in 2026 while the complete back catalogue has been made digitally available now for the first time ever (!). There will be some live activity as well.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

Originally intended for exclusive sale during their recent anniversary tour—celebrating 45 years of Die Krupps—the EP was re-released following its success and is now also available on vinyl.

The EP features two main tracks on which Die Krupps sound harder and more relentless than ever. Crushing guitars collide with driving electronic backdrops, while one track even incorporates a catchy, whistled classical motif. At times, Die Krupps evoke comparisons to Rammstein more strongly than ever—but when the result is this effective, it hardly matters. The cover artwork, depicting the American president in profile, leaves little room for interpretation and underscores the band’s unmistakable way of expressing political and social discontent. The release is completed by four remixes, including contributions from John Bechdel and Cesar Soto, both known for their work with Ministry, among others.

Serving as a preview of the new album announced for 2026, this EP makes one thing abundantly clear: Die Krupps have lost none of their power or relevance, and what lies ahead promises to be nothing short of explosive. (Rating:8).

Side-Line first covered the record as a tour-only EP ahead of this vinyl edition.

Watch the clip for “Will Nicht – Muss!”:

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980 around Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka, soon joined by Ralf Dörper. Engler had come out of the Düsseldorf punk band Male, while Dörper later co-founded Propaganda. Early records appeared on the ZickZack label, including the debut “Stahlwerksynfonie” (1981), and the 12-inch “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” (1981) pushed metallic percussion into a club context.

“Volle Kraft voraus!” (1982) moved toward sequenced synths, and “Entering the Arena” (1985) introduced English-language material. Over the following decades the band shaped a hard blend of guitars and electronics associated with EBM and industrial metal. This EP marks 45 years of Die Krupps and previews a new album announced for 2026 on Dependent Records.

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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The Düsseldorf EBM/industrial metal act Die Krupps has released the EP “Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course” on Dependent Records. The EP is available as a 45th anniversary gatefold vinyl edition, with “petrol liquid vinyl” and a “petrol colored vinyl” variant.

The 6-track EP holds the tracks “Will nicht – MUSS!”, “On Collision Course” and 4 remixes. “Schattenzeit” was remixed by Mark Thwaite, “On Collision Course” by John Bechdel of Ministry, “Will nicht – MUSS!” by Jürgen Engler & Chris Lietz) and “I Am the Storm” by Cesar Soto of Ministry).

A video was also released for “Will nicht – MUSS!”.

What does the cover of the single mean?

This single is by far the most politically inspired one from Die Krupps. The single’s cover shows Donald Trump in profile. A small white Die Krupps logo sits on his upper arm. In the lower-left foreground, a girl in a red coat looks up, her face lit against the dark scene.

The title “Will nicht – MUSS!” translates as “Don’t want to — must!” It frames the image around pressure and forced compliance. In this context, it points to hardline executive action in the United States, with immigration enforcement as the clearest reference.

The rain, the stark silhouette, and the arm detail create the visual language of security and control. That matches the current U.S. debate around stepped-up border enforcement, including the militarized-zone approach and deployments tied to immigration policy.

The blurred figure in the background and the layered composition also suggest surveillance and public unrest. Read that as a reference to protest policing and the ongoing clash between public safety arguments and civil-liberties concerns.

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps are a Düsseldorf, Germany-based EBM and industrial metal band formed in 1980. Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka started the project with Ralf Dörper, and also Eva-Maria Gößling. The band’s name references the Krupp industrial dynasty, and the early sound combined electronics with metal percussion, including the “Stahlofon.”

The first release phase ran from 1980 to 1985. The debut “Stahlwerksynfonie” arrived in 1981 via Zickzack, recorded at Can’s Inner Space Studio on March 20, 1981 and mixed at Conny Plank Studio on March 28, 1981. Die Krupps followed with the EP/single “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn” (1981) and the album “Volle Kraft voraus!” (1982), alongside “Goldfinger” (1982). They then released “Entering the Arena” (1985) and the single “Risk” (1985).

The single “Machineries of Joy” (1989) preceded “Germaniac” (1990) and the anthology “Metall Maschinen Musik 91-81 Past Forward” (1991). In the 1990s, Die Krupps shifted toward guitar-driven industrial metal on the studio albums “I” (1992), “II – The Final Option” (1993), “III – Odyssey of the Mind” (1995), and “Paradise Now” (1997). Key related releases from that period include “Metal Machine Music” (1992), “The Power” (1992), “A Tribute to Metallica” (1992), “Fatherland” (1993), “To the Hilt” (1994), “Crossfire” (1994), “Bloodsuckers” (1994), “Isolation” (1995), “Scent” (1995), and the collaborative remix set “Remix Wars Strike 2: Die Krupps vs. Front Line Assembly” (1996). Other releases included the anthologies “The Final Remixes” (1994), “Rings of Steel” (1995), plus “Metalmorphosis of Die Krupps” (1997) and “Foundation” (1997).

The band reactivated in 2005 and included “Wahre Arbeit, wahrer Lohn / Der Amboss” (2005) and the anthology series “Too Much History. The Electro Years (Vol. 1)” (2007) and “Too Much History. The Metal Years (Vol. 2)” (2007), also issued as a limited double-CD set. The remix album “Volle Kraft Null Acht” (2009) was followed by the EP “Als wären wir für immer” (2010).

From 2013 onward, the studio album run continued with “The Machinists of Joy” (2013) and “V – Metal Machine Music” (2015). Later singles included “Risikofaktor” (2013), “Nazis on Speed” (2013), “Robo Sapien” (2014), “Battle Extreme” / “Fly Martyrs Fly” (2015), “Kaltes Herz” (2015), “Alive in a Glass Cage” (2016), “F*ck You” (2018), “Vision 2020 Vision” (2019), and “Welcome to the Blackout” (2019). These were followed by a series cover singles connected to the 2021 covers album.

In 2016, Die Krupps also issued “Stahlwerkrequiem” as a re-recorded album, plus the live release “Live im Schatten der Ringe” (2016). In 2021, a 1981 live recording surfaced as “6. 6. 1981 The Big Industrial Bang – The Yuzuru Agi Tapes,” documented as recorded at Haus Blumenthal in Krefeld on June 6, 1981 and released decades later.

The recent catalog includes the concept album “Vision 2020 Vision” (2019) and the covers album “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” (2021). In August 2025, the band announced a multi-album deal with Dependent Records and set a new studio album for 2026, while also announcing digital and physical reissues of a large part of the catalog.

The most recent release in this cycle is the EP “Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course.”

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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Industrial metal pioneers Die Krupps have unveiled their new video single “Will nicht – MUSS!”, taken from the exclusive tour EP “Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course”. The EP was initially available only as a hand-numbered CD edition during the band’s sold-out 45th anniversary European tour.

The band and Dependent Records have confirmed two limited vinyl editions – a 45th Anniversary gatefold LP filled with petrol-green liquid (limited to 45 copies) and a transparent green gatefold LP version. Both will be released on December 12, 2025.

The “Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course” EP includes guest appearances and remixes from members of Ministry, with whom Die Krupps recently completed a US tour. The title track is a return to the band’s signature fusion of industrial electronics and heavy guitar power.

About Die Krupps

Formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka, Die Krupps are recognized as one of the founding forces of industrial and electro-metal. Emerging from Germany’s post-punk and EBM scenes, the group’s early releases such as “Stahlwerksynfonie” (1981) and “Volle Kraft voraus!” (1982) helped shape the rhythmic, mechanical sound later associated with industrial music.

Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Die Krupps evolved into a more guitar-driven act, notably with albums like “I” (1992) and “II – The Final Option” (1993), pioneering the fusion of metal and electronics. Their work influenced numerous acts across industrial rock and EBM, from Front Line Assembly to Rammstein.

After a hiatus, the band re-emerged in the 2000s with Engler leading a revitalized lineup, continuing to tour internationally and release albums through Dependent Records and Metropolis Records. Their most recent studio album, “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” (2021), featured collaborations with artists from The Sisters of Mercy, Die Toten Hosen, and Front Line Assembly.

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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Industrial metal/EBM group Die Krupps will sell a hand-numbered, tour-exclusive EP titled “Will nicht – MUSS! / On Collision Course” on their 45th-anniversary European dates, which begin August 27, 2025 at DVG Club, Kortrijk (Belgium). As a first preview of the EP and the next full-length, the band has released the digital single “On Collision Course” via Dependent Records.

Watch the official visualizer below.

Die Krupps recently signed a multi-album deal with Dependent; a new studio album is also confirmed for 2026 alongside catalogue reissues.

Die Krupps live tour dates

All dates feature Johnny Tupolev; special guests vary by city as indicated below.

• 27 Aug 2025 — Kortrijk (BE), DVG Club
• 28 Aug 2025 — Düsseldorf (DE), Zakk*
• 29 Aug 2025 — Frankfurt (DE), Zoom*
• 30 Aug 2025 — Hamburg (DE), Uebel & Gefährlich*
• 31 Aug 2025 — Herford (DE), Kulturwerk#
• 02 Sep 2025 — Warszawa (PL), Hybrydy***
• 03 Sep 2025 — Krakow (PL), Hype Park***
• 05 Sep 2025 — München (DE), Backstage Halle*
• 06 Sep 2025 — Lindau (DE), Club Vaudeville*
• 07 Sep 2025 — Ljubljana (SI), Orto Hall***
• 09 Sep 2025 — Budapest (HU), Dürer Kert***
• 10 Sep 2025 — Wien (AT), Szene**
• 11 Sep 2025 — Praha (CZ), Rock Cafe***
• 12 Sep 2025 — Leipzig (DE), Hellraiser*
• 13 Sep 2025 — Nürnberg (DE), Hirsch*
• 14 Sep 2025 — Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater*
• 16 Sep 2025 — Stockholm (SE), Nalen***
• 17 Sep 2025 — København (DK), Pumpehuset***
• 18 Sep 2025 — Hannover (DE), Musikzentrum*
• 19 Sep 2025 — Oberhausen (DE), Kulttempel*
• 20 Sep 2025 — Uden (NL), De Pul***
• 21 Sep 2025 — London (UK), The Dome***
• 23 Sep 2025 — Aachen (DE), Musikbunker#
• 24 Sep 2025 — Paris (FR), Petit Bain***
• 25 Sep 2025 — Trier (DE), Forum*
• 26 Sep 2025 — Pratteln (CH), Z7*
• 27 Sep 2025 — Stuttgart (DE), Im Wizemann#
• 28 Sep 2025 — Dresden (DE), Beatpol*

* Schattenmann / # Erdling / ** Dymytry / *** Jesus On Extasy

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980. The original lineup centered on Jürgen Engler (founder, composer) and Bernward Malaka, soon joined by Ralf Dörper. Engler had just come out of the Düsseldorf punk unit Male, while Dörper would later co-found Propaganda. The band name nods to the Krupp steel dynasty and the sonic world of metal, factories, and hard rhythm that defined the early aesthetic.

Early recordings landed on Alfred Hilsberg’s ZickZack label, including the debut “Stahlwerksynfonie” (1981), tracked at Can’s Inner Space Studio (with Holger Czukay in attendance). The 12″ “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” (1981) pushed metallic percussion and machine pulse into club context. “Volle Kraft voraus!” (1982) moved further toward sequenced synths; it appeared via WEA, not ZickZack.

“Entering the Arena” (1985) introduced English-language material and a polished, Fairlight-heavy approach, with Simple Minds drummer Mel Gaynor guesting on sessions that yielded the single “Risk.” After this phase, Engler focused on his Atom-H label, paving the way for the band’s 1990s reboot.

In 1989, Die Krupps reworked “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” with Nitzer Ebb as “The Machineries of Joy”, a bridge between early EBM minimalism and the band’s coming hybrid era. From 1992 onward, they fused EBM programming with metal guitars on “I” (1992) and “II – The Final Option” (1993); the latter featured Heathen/Exodus guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Darren Minter. The same period produced the “A Tribute to Metallica” EP, covering “Enter Sandman”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “Blackened”, “Battery” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, all mixed with John Fryer. “III – Odyssey of the Mind” (1995) and “Paradise Now” (1997) completed the first metal-leaning cycle.

After disbanding in 1997, Engler launched DKay.com, releasing “Decaydenz” (2000) and “Deeper into the Heart of Dysfunction” (2002), before Die Krupps re-activated in the mid-2000s.

The 2010s saw the band returning to the studio, resulting in such releases as “The Machinists of Joy” (2013) and “Vision 2020 Vision” (2019). The band also issued the covers set “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” in 2021 and released the archival 1981 live document “The Big Industrial Bang” on CD/DVD.

Guitarist Dylan Smith (ex–The Sisters of Mercy live) joined in 2024, and the band toured North America with Ministry in May 2025, their first U.S. run since 2018. In August 2025 they inked a new multi-album deal with Dependent Records, with a new album slated for 2026.

The current lineup includes Jürgen Engler (vocals, keyboards, guitars, steelophone), Ralf Dörper (keyboards), Paul Keller (drums), and Dylan Smith (guitars).

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

Industrial metal pioneers Die Krupps have signed a multi-album agreement with Dependent Records. The label confirms a new studio album for 2026 and says that a significant part of the band’s catalogue will be reissued in both digital and physical formats.

“We’re coming full circle and that is a good thing!” comments Jürgen Engler, citing a relationship with Dependent director Stefan Herwig that dates back three decades and collaborations in the mid-1990s. “Now in 2025, the time has come for Die Krupps and Dependent to join forces in order to write the next chapter in our long history.” Ralf Dörper adds that joining Dependent “in the 45th year of our band history” is a logical step for a group that has largely worked with independent labels.

Die Krupps European tour dates (2025)

All dates feature Johnny Tupolev; special guests vary by city as indicated below.

• 27 Aug 2025 — Kortrijk (BE), DVG Club
• 28 Aug 2025 — Düsseldorf (DE), Zakk*
• 29 Aug 2025 — Frankfurt (DE), Zoom*
• 30 Aug 2025 — Hamburg (DE), Uebel & Gefährlich*
• 31 Aug 2025 — Herford (DE), Kulturwerk#
• 02 Sep 2025 — Warszawa (PL), Hybrydy***
• 03 Sep 2025 — Krakow (PL), Hype Park***
• 05 Sep 2025 — München (DE), Backstage Halle*
• 06 Sep 2025 — Lindau (DE), Club Vaudeville*
• 07 Sep 2025 — Ljubljana (SI), Orto Hall***
• 09 Sep 2025 — Budapest (HU), Dürer Kert***
• 10 Sep 2025 — Wien (AT), Szene**
• 11 Sep 2025 — Praha (CZ), Rock Cafe***
• 12 Sep 2025 — Leipzig (DE), Hellraiser*
• 13 Sep 2025 — Nürnberg (DE), Hirsch*
• 14 Sep 2025 — Berlin (DE), Columbia Theater*
• 16 Sep 2025 — Stockholm (SE), Nalen***
• 17 Sep 2025 — København (DK), Pumpehuset***
• 18 Sep 2025 — Hannover (DE), Musikzentrum*
• 19 Sep 2025 — Oberhausen (DE), Kulttempel*
• 20 Sep 2025 — Uden (NL), De Pul***
• 21 Sep 2025 — London (UK), The Dome***
• 23 Sep 2025 — Aachen (DE), Musikbunker#
• 24 Sep 2025 — Paris (FR), Petit Bain***
• 25 Sep 2025 — Trier (DE), Forum*
• 26 Sep 2025 — Pratteln (CH), Z7*
• 27 Sep 2025 — Stuttgart (DE), Im Wizemann#
• 28 Sep 2025 — Dresden (DE), Beatpol*

* Schattenmann / # Erdling / ** Dymytry / *** Jesus On Extasy

About Die Krupps

Die Krupps formed in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1980. The original lineup centered on Jürgen Engler (founder, composer) and Bernward Malaka, soon joined by Ralf Dörper. Engler had just come out of the Düsseldorf punk unit Male, while Dörper would later co-found Propaganda. The band name nods to the Krupp steel dynasty and the sonic world of metal, factories, and hard rhythm that defined the early aesthetic.

Early recordings landed on Alfred Hilsberg’s ZickZack label, including the debut “Stahlwerksynfonie” (1981), tracked at Can’s Inner Space Studio (with Holger Czukay in attendance). The 12″ “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” (1981) pushed metallic percussion and machine pulse into club context. “Volle Kraft voraus!” (1982) moved further toward sequenced synths; it appeared via WEA, not ZickZack.

“Entering the Arena” (1985) introduced English-language material and a polished, Fairlight-heavy approach, with Simple Minds drummer Mel Gaynor guesting on sessions that yielded the single “Risk.” After this phase, Engler focused on his Atom-H label, paving the way for the band’s 1990s reboot.

In 1989, Die Krupps reworked “Wahre Arbeit – Wahrer Lohn” with Nitzer Ebb as “The Machineries of Joy”, a bridge between early EBM minimalism and the band’s coming hybrid era. From 1992 onward, they fused EBM programming with metal guitars on “I” (1992) and “II – The Final Option” (1993); the latter featured Heathen/Exodus guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Darren Minter. The same period produced the “A Tribute to Metallica” EP, covering “Enter Sandman”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “Blackened”, “Battery” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, all mixed with John Fryer. “III – Odyssey of the Mind” (1995) and “Paradise Now” (1997) completed the first metal-leaning cycle.

After disbanding in 1997, Engler launched DKay.com, releasing “Decaydenz” (2000) and “Deeper into the Heart of Dysfunction” (2002), before Die Krupps re-activated in the mid-2000s.

The 2010s saw the band returning to the studio, resulting in such releases as “The Machinists of Joy” (2013) and “Vision 2020 Vision” (2019). The band also issued the covers set “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven” in 2021 and released the archival 1981 live document “The Big Industrial Bang” on CD/DVD.

Guitarist Dylan Smith (ex–The Sisters of Mercy live) joined in 2024, and the band toured North America with Ministry in May 2025, their first U.S. run since 2018. In August 2025 they inked a new multi-album deal with Dependent Records, with a new album slated for 2026.

The current lineup includes Jürgen Engler (vocals, keyboards, guitars, steelophone), Ralf Dörper (keyboards), Paul Keller (drums), and Dylan Smith (guitars).

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

Following her last single, a cover of “Tainted Love” (Grace Jones, Soft Cell), Arizona-based singer-songwriter Jeordie today releases “Sunset Strip”. Jurgen Engler (Die Krupps) stepped in to remix the track. You can check the song and its video below.

The video was shot on Sunset Strip itself and was produced by Holly West who adds: “This song embodies a strong California essence, with its lyrics and the varied vocal and instrumental effects creating a whimsical journey that evokes a vibrant and youthful atmosphere. I typically do not feature live actors in my lyric videos, [but] the clarity of my vision upon hearing the song was undeniable. I reached out to a friend whom I knew would resonate with this feeling, and coincidentally, I was with another friend who was perfectly attired for the concept. I explained the vibe I envisioned, and they danced along the strip while I followed them with the camera. The entire shoot was brief, lasting around ten minutes. The true magic occurred during the editing process; by slowing down the footage to evoke a sense of nostalgia, I believe we perfectly captured the intended vibe. I’m very happy how this video turned out!”

Jeordie is the daughter of the late Woodstock icon Melanie Safkais. She is currently working towards a new album for release by Cleopatra during 2025. She will also be heard on the upcoming children’s album “Lullabies From Heaven”, recorded with her mother and siblings.

Below is the previous video for her cover of “Tainted Love”.

About Jeordie

Jeordie Schekeryk, born March 27, 1975, in Red Bank, New Jersey, is an American folk singer and the daughter of renowned 1960s artist Melanie Safka. She began performing at age five and appeared on the Joe Franklin Show with her sister Leilah to promote their single “Grandma We Love You”.

Jeordie and her older sister, Leilah, formed a folk band, later joined by their younger brother, Beau-Jarred. The siblings have performed at various festivals and events, including the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas and the Winnipeg Folk Fest in Canada. She has released solo albums, such as “Can I Ask You Something?” in 2003 and “Jeordie & The Mixology Project – Vol. 1” in 2011.

Currently, Jeordie resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she remains active in the Southwest music scene.

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

(Photo by Bobby Talamine) Sine, the brainchild of New York-born drummer/multi-instrumentalist Rona Rougeheart, is back with an all new video, “Trauma Bondage”. Musically Sine mixes beats with industrial noise, Sub-bass and synthesisers.

Having issued records via the Austin indie media company eMERGENCY heARTS, Rougeheart recently signed to Metropolis Records and has released a brand new single entitled “Trauma Bondage” today. The track is taken from an album to be issued in early 2025. The self-written song was co-produced with US hip-hop producer AwareNess with musical contributions from Curse Mackey and mastering by Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps.

About Sine

2019 saw Rougeheart open for Bauhaus in Orlando, Florida, which led to the ongoing band project Shiva Saves SITE formed by their bassist David J that also features industrial darkwave artist Curse Mackey, plus a revolving cast that includes Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner.

Examples of other artists she has collaborated with are Adrian Sherwood, Meat Beat Manifesto, Clan of Xymox, Chris Connelly, (Pigface, Revolting Cocks), Mark Pistel (Consolidated), Andee Blacksugar (KMFDM, Blondie), Xiu Xiu and the late Mark Stewart (The Pop Group).

As Sine, Rougeheart recently opened for Nitzer Ebb and Clan Of Xymox and will support the latter on an American tour right after her debut appearance at the 2024 edition of the Cold Waves festival in Chicago on 29th September.

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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Data Void emerged from the collaborative efforts of Don Gordon (Numb, Halo_Gen) and James Mendez (Jihad ao). This year, they released their debut album, “Strategies Of Dissent,” on Metropolis Records. The songs feature a Dark-Electro and EBM sound, yet there’s an overwhelming Cinematic vibe running through the work. It is a remarkable opus, and I had the opportunity to connect with Don and James, who revealed many details about their work and album. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The two of you have been in the music industry for a long time, but what has brought you together, and what has led to the origins of Data Void?”?

JM: The very beginnings of the project initially began back in June of 2020, where I initiated the idea of collaborating on a song to see how things would progress. In response, Don shared some early ideas that which evolved into the track “Seven Seconds”. The idea of collaborating on music together was something that came up after many different discussions we had (both music / non-music related) throughout the approximate year and half we remained in contact since meeting up in Southeast Asia where I met Don for dinner in Ho Chi Minh City where he was living at that time. From there, it wasn’t something we both knew we were going to pursue and continued working on more ideas/material which sort of played out organically throughout the entire process up to what you hear on the finished album.

DG: While there wasn’t an initial plan to release anything we realized quite quickly that there was something quite unique coming together out of the experiments. This led to discussion about possibly releasing some of the material as an EP which over time expanded into an album. The conceptual framework for the album emerged after the first couple of songs were finished. The name of the project was suggested by the alignment between themes we were exploring lyrically and articles that I was reading concerned with information data voids and misinformation/propaganda.

Q: I can imagine that such a new project must be very exciting. Did it feel that way for you throughout the entire writing and production process? How did the songs on the album come together?

DG: The album was developed through the online exchange of audio and MIDI files and lots of discussion. This meant that there wasn’t a lot of real-time interaction during the writing phase. The process would start with one of us sending a sketch of a groove or harmonic progression to the other person who would use this as a creative jumping off point. The first couple of exchanges usually led to quite marked departures and evolutions from the original source idea. This iterative back and forth allowed for unexpected ideas to be introduced and a more reflective approach to development of ideas. After structuring the primary instrumental components of a song, I would write lyrics and record a version of the vocals. These were forwarded to James who would then record an alternate variation. The most interesting elements from these different versions were then used as the basis for a song’s vocals. This resulted in some songs in which the main vocal part would alternate between James and myself in the verses and chorus (i.e. “Crash, Burn & Resurrect”), other songs where both vocal approaches were integrated throughout, and in some there would only be a single vocalist (i.e. “A Failure Of Language”, “This Night Goes On Forever”). While I executed the final mixes, these too would undergo revision based on discussion.

JM: I was really exciting to see how the ideas we started out with would evolve as they developed into full-length songs, and in turn how this would lead to a complete album. It was quite interesting to see how we both approached the song writing process, along with all technical aspects (i.e., sounds, textures, percussion, mixing elements, etc.).

Regarding how the songs came about on the album; one of us would start out by sending the other a short clip (~45s – 1m) that would entail several different sequences  that represented the beginnings of an idea where the other would then add additional parts to compliment where the other left off. Going back and forth in this fashion until we completed the outline of what felt like the song should be. We would complete a rough draft of each song and then repeat the process again, starting out with more ideas until we eventually completed the next song and so on. As we continued working on each song, we would also discuss all of the details via email, chats, and video calls when things became a bit more complex, as this would save a lot of time in conveying our thought process.

We both use different DAWs (Logic Pro and Ableton Live) when writing music but also use several of the same virtual instruments / effects which helped make things a little easier when sharing files back and forth. We would share a combination of audio files, MIDI, VST patches, screenshots, configuration files, etc. so we could essentially mirror all of the individual sequenced tracks and song structures on both of our DAWs respectively as we continued to complete each song.

After we finished each song, Don would write lyrics and share them along with a rough sketch as to how they may be structured. The vocal structure would also undergo the same iterative approach going back and forth until we were content with the final outcome. After finishing three songs, we both reevaluated what we were going to do as far as a release was concerned and decided to continue working on more music until we felt we had enough songs to complete an entire album.

Q: The title of the album, “Strategies Of Dissent”, sounds intriguing and particularly relevant in the context of world politics. What is the album all about, and what inspired the lyrics?

DG: Lyrically and conceptually the album explores the themes of power, control and resistance to it, and the attraction for many to ‘lost causes’. Each song takes a different perspective, a different strategy if you will, to engaging with these themes. Not surprisingly, information spaces, misinformation, conspiracies, and technology figure into this with most of the songs having their basis in contemporary events and social/political currents. That being said, the lyrics were constructed so as not to come across as didactic, but instead to present these ideas at a more personal level.

“Nothing Changes” is intended as a ‘call to arms’ in response to the deception and erosion of individual control being exercised by big tech, corporations/banks and governments. The dilemma is that this is not some unified grand conspiracy but rather the outcome of a number of overlapping and competing self-motivated agendas.
“A Failure Of Language” and to a degree “What’s Left Unsaid” question the current collapse of language, the appeal of conspiracy theories and skepticism, and the increasing failure of our ability to communicate meaningfully and where this leads. A new Babel?

“Echoes Of Ritualised Performance”, while an instrumental track, was inspired by our need to repeat inherently negative social behaviors/tropes of the past and a seeming inability to learn from these… each echo a further degraded/distorted version of an initializing event from the past.

“This Night Goes On Forever” was conceived of as a reflection on the individual consequences for those who found themselves supporting and surviving a major conflict started for the wrong reasons, and the resultant aftermath of physical, psychological traumas and guilt that extend far past the event.

The 2020 Hong Kong protests and the 2021 coup in Myanmar resonated strongly with me after having lived in Southeast Asia for 20 years. So “Alien” was inspired by photos, reportage and interviews about these events and was an attempt to try and put yourself into the head of a person who has found their world suddenly and radically changed and themselves unexpectedly at the center of violence and/or as a symbol of resistance.
“The Goal Of Seven Seconds” was to evoke an anthemic quality while presenting a scathing critique of those who ‘sell dogma and deceit’ in order to incite an ill-conceived end of days for their own personal gain.

The tracks “Crash, Burn And Resurrect” and “Control” were written as a comment on the rise of extremist rhetoric and behavior.

Q: You’ve explained how this collaboration took shape, but can you tell us more about the chemistry between you?

DG: My sense is that the chemistry comes from our overlapping but distinct musical reference points and different approaches to our creative processes. It was the embrace of these differences that provided the creative dynamic that led to many of the interesting ideas as we developed over album.

JM: It was quite interesting for me to reconnect with Don 22 years after first meeting him in 1996 Austin, TX when Numb was on tour with FLA and Die Krupps. It became clear that we share some common perspectives and ideas about different things, which also happens to carry over into music. And because of our similar yet different musical preferences and approaches in our writing styles, this played a significant part into how the album turned out. As part of the musical journey when collaborating on the album, one thing I can appreciate is being challenged in a way that I would constantly be conscious of the writing style and mood I would contribute, to deliberately not write in the same fashion I am typically accustomed to and comfortable with. It certainly helped me take a different approach to writing for this project and in general.

Q: “As experienced musicians, do you still have certain influences or references when making and finishing a song? Also, how would you describe the album “Strategies Of Dissent”?

DG: In many ways you never outgrow your early influences as they are a baseline to which you add, refine and push-back against over the years. While I’m always listening to new artists and across genres, I find those early influences still subtly find their way into my more recent work.

“Strategies Of Dissent” is an album in the ‘old-school’ sense, a series of thematically connected songs that have been ordered in a manner so as to present the listener with a loosely structured narrative rather than just a collection of songs. I feel this provides a more interesting experience for the listener and allows them to get a better sense of where the project is coming from.

JM: Having been exposed to so many different kinds of music styles, genres, and artists over the years (to include the discovery of new bands regularly), there are many references I feel that have made their way (subconsciously) into music I’ve written years ago including some of the more recent work I’ve done. I think it’s inevitable.

With “Strategies Of Dissent” we set out to capture the intensity of early Electro-Industrial and integrate this into more contemporary Electronic music sound. The album as a whole, in my opinion, is homogeneous in that each song works well independently and thematically throughout the entire album.

Q: What does the future hold after this album? Do you have any concrete plans at the moment?

DG: We’ve been thinking about a follow-up release (EP?) with a combination of new material and dub versions of some tracks from “Strategies Of Dissent”. We’re also exploring the possibility for a version of Data Void to do some live European shows.

JM: We have discussed in passing the idea of working on some new material, whether that would be a new single/EP or possibly a new album at some point to also include some alternate versions of existing tracks. We’re also considering live alternate versions of the songs for some shows in Europe later this year and next.

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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Out via Bureau B in October is the brand new Propaganda album, simply titled “Propaganda”. The new album will hold 8 tracks and will be out in 3 formats.

This self-titled set was co-written by Ralf Dörper and Michael Mertens. Recorded entirely in their native Düsseldorf it features guest appearances from Hauschka and Thunder Bae.

The album will be out on vinyl, CD and as a limited expanded digipak 2CD in a hand numbered edition of 1000 copies worldwide. The expanded version holds 5 exclusive bonus-tracks, namely “Not good for You”, “Solace in Sin”, “World out of Joint”, “I feel mysterious” and “The Calling”.

There will also be a double-vinyl edition. A first version on orange vinyl was already sold out on pre-order.

Below is the track “Purveyor of Pleasure“, the first of two single released already next to “They Call Me Nocebo“.

About Propaganda

Propaganda was formed by Ralf Dörper, former synthesist with electro-punks Die Krupps, and Andreas Thein in 1982, but it wasn’t until the addition of Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra percussionist Michael Mertens that the outfit emerged as the dark synth-pop powerhouse which would see chart success as part of the ZTT machine.

Upon signing with Trevor Horn’s imprint in 1983, Propaganda, now comprised of vocalists Claudia Bruecken and Susanne Freytag alongside Dörper and Mertens, delivered their classic debut LP “A Secret Wish” and a string of international hit singles, such as “Dr Mabuse”, “Duel” and “P Machinery”.

After a late 80s hiatus spent escaping their unfavourable contracts, during which the singers went their separate ways, the project returned on Virgin in 1990, with a new line-up, including Betsi Miller on vocals and former Simple Minds rhythm section Derek Forbes and Brian McGee. Working alongside producers Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes, the ensemble delivered “1234”, featuring collaborations with Howard Jones and David Gilmour.

After this album, Dörper resurrected Die Krupps and Mertens moved into TV and Film composition and provided a conduit for Düsseldorf’s experimental electronic scene via his Amontillado Music label.

It was a 2015 remix request from Zang Tumb Tuum chum and former Frankie Goes To Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson which finally prompted the pair to revamp the band. Still, it would take them another 9 years to announce a new studio album, their third.

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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(Photo by Abby Laspia) Today, Cleopatra Records has reissued the Spahn Ranch album “The Coiled One”. “The Coiled One” by the Los Angeles-based electro-industrial act was originally released in 1995, and now comes with 8 bonus tracks that include album recording session outtakes that have previously never been released in any form.

The material on this reissue was digitally remastered by Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps and is now available for the first time on vinyl in a limited edition colored version that includes the original 10 songs, as well as a limited digipak “The Coiled One: Deluxe Edition” CD version (that contains the 8 bonus tracks). “The Coiled One” will also be available on all digital and streaming platforms.

Additionally, a seldom seen video created by a European fan for the song “Heretic’s Fork,” is now available once more.

“The Coiled One” was Spahn Ranch’s second studio album. Co-produced and engineered by Judson Leach, the album also included programming by Matt Green and Rob Morton, with vocals by Athan Maroulis (currently of NØIR).

About Spahn Ranch

Spahn Ranch was established in 1992 in Los Angeles by Matt Green and Rob Morton, his collaborator from New York. They pooled their savings to launch the band, having already worked together musically for the previous five years. That year, they inked a deal with Cleopatra Records and debuted with a self-titled EP featuring four tracks, with Scott “Chopper” Franklin—who would later join The Cramps as a bassist—on vocals. Franklin had left another band to join Spahn Ranch on vocals.

In 1993, Athan Maroulis joined Spahn Ranch as a vocalist, and the band recorded their first album, “Collateral Damage”. Maroulis had previously formed the New York-based group Fahrenheit 451 (1984–1986), with whom he recorded his first commercially available album. Over the ensuing years, Maroulis established himself in a number of alternative musical genres including gothic, industrial and electronic. Stints with the Philadelphia-based Executive Slacks (1987–1990), as well as Tubalcain (1991–1993), followed.

They released their second album, “The Coiled One”, in 1995 amidst Morton’s exit from the band over creative and logistical clashes. Following his departure, the lineup grew to include Christian Death’s drummer David Glass, Screams for Tina guitarist Kent Bancroft, and Tubalcain drummer Harry Lewis. This expansion ushered in a darker, more diverse electro-industrial sound that became Spahn Ranch’s hallmark. By 1997, the band had streamlined to a trio comprising Green, Maroulis, and Lewis.

Throughout the late 1990s, Spahn Ranch continued producing music. Their 1997 album “Architecture” featured contributions from Killing Joke/Prong bassist Paul Raven and Rockats/Nancy Sinatra guitarist Danny B. Harvey, taking a more experimental turn with the introduction of drum and bass, dub, and live guitar elements. “Beat Noir”, released in 1998, furthered this experimental direction and included collaborations with Bauhaus/Love & Rockets bassist David J. In 2000, the band released “Anthology 1992–1994”, a compilation including their first four releases and previously unreleased tracks.

Their final album, “Closure”, was recorded in 2000 and released in 2001.

In less than 8 years, Spahn Ranch completed a total of 5 studio albums, 4 EPs and performed more than 200 concerts in over a dozen countries before calling it a day in late 2000.

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 industrial rock band, Fleischkrieg has just unleashed their new single, “I Believe In Gnomes”. “I Believe In Gnomes” is a song about our beliefs, who shapes them, and why.

The band explains further: “Many things that were too absurd to believe in (such as UFOs) have now been proven to be true. The crackpots have been vindicated. Now the gnomes ask us to consider what else have we been lied to about, and why. They ask us to examine our beliefs. Are they really ours to begin with or did we inherit them from a society bent on hiding the truth from us?”

The single was produced / mixed / mastered by Logan Mader who has produced and mixed acts such as Fear Factory, Divine Heresy, and Five Finger Death Punch.

“I Believe In Gnomes” is available on all major digital outlets including Spotify and Bandcamp.

The group, currently based in L.A., cite Rammstein, DK-Zero, Die Krupps, and Lord of the Lost as musical influences. For their live shows they have added Nick Mason on drums and Kaylie Cortez on synth/keyboards.

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 via Cop International on March 14 is “The Plague”, the brand new album by The Cassandra Complex. The album is their first since 2013 and while the streaming version of this album came out in 2022, it’s only now that the album will see a CD version, albeit in a fully remastered version. It will be supported by a world tour across 12 countries throughout 2024.

The band took a hiatus for several years while Orpheus worked creating some of the most widely used music technology today, as well as production work with other bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Within Temptation, Sinead O’Connor, Die Krupps, and many others. During the COVID lockdown the band got together using online collaboration tech to create 10 brand new songs.

The Cassandra Complex revisits ‘Sex & Death’

Out the same day is “Death & Sex” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moment Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth got together in a basement in Leeds, England with a collection of cheap second-hand guitar pedals, synthesisers, and drum machines to start recording material. In 1993 they released the legendary album “Sex & Death” and now the band re-recorded 7 tracks of this classic record from scratch (note the inverted album title).

This new version features the original founders of the band Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth, with long time additional members Chris Haskett (Henry Rollins Band, David Bowie) on guitar and Mera Roberts (Faith and the Muse, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) on cello, plus new member Brent Heinze (Probe 7) on keyboards.

The Cassandra Complex – First Tour dates 2024

• UK – 14/03 Todmorden, The Golden Lion
• UK – 16/03 Gateshead, The Black Bull
• UK – 17/03 London, The Lower Third
• B – 21/03 Charleroi, La Ruche Verriere
• NL – 22/03 Amsterdam, Q-Factory
• NL – 24/03 Heerlen, Nieuwe Nor
• DK – 30/03 Copenhagen, Lygten
• CZ – 21/05 Prague, Palac Akropolis

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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(Photo by Elemental Eyes Photography) Negative Gain Productions recording artists Bestial Mouths have an all new remix album, “Backbone”, out tomorrow. But you can already stream it exclusively via Side-Line today.

The release is the follow-up (or rather companion) to their latest LP, “R.O.T.T.(inmyskin)” and offers reworks mixing darkwave-industrial with synthpop elements. The remixes were executed by Broken English Club, Actors, Rebeka Warrior, Curses, XTR Human, Modern Men, Lana Del Rabies, IV Horsemen, Crune, Orphx, GenCAB, Trace Amount, Carrellee, Daniel Myer, Maduro, Snowbeasts and Bedless Bones.

“Backbone” will be available tomorrow on all major digital platforms including Spotify and Bandcamp. Stream the full release below.

Fronted by Lynette Cerezo the band formed in 2009 and has mixed a number of elements in their work, from goth, industrial, post-punk, New Wave, noise, metal, to other underground sounds using live acoustic and electronic drums and analog synthesizers.

In their decade-plus existence, the band has worked with myriad of producers and artists including Zola Jesus, Mick Harvey, Rhys Fulber, Egyptrixx, Boy Harsher, Die Krupps, Mater Suspiria Vision, Zanias, The Horrorist, and Ludovico Technique to name but a few.

Here’s the video for the genCAB remix of “iNNARDS”. Read the review of ‘Backbone’.

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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Prior to the Nitzer Ebb concert at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach in November 2021, the band’s frontman Douglas McCarthy suffered complications from a pre-existing, non Covid related medical condition. He was admitted to hospital and was declared stable and undergoing continued treatment and observation so the band’s management informed.

Despite the illness of Douglas McCarthy, the tour continued with Bon Harris stepping in to perform lead vocals. This was a temporary lineup, yet a special one for those who were at the concerned shows. The band was at that moment on tour including the original band members David Gooday and Simon Granger.

Since then McCarthy has been working on his health and comeback. In a 2022 video he announced he was indeed coming back to the stage.

But he is back now, and we have seen him perform across Europe, including last night in Oslo together with Front 242. He is not the old one yet, but he’s clearly enjoying the shows. And that is what counts after all.

Welcome back Douglas!

About Douglas McCarthy

Douglas (John) McCarthy (born 1 September 1966) is the vocalist of the English EBM band Nitzer Ebb. Apart from Nitzer Ebb he has appeared on multiple recordings by Recoil (Alan Wilder) and has released material in collaboration with DJ Terence Fixmer as Fixmer/McCarthy. He also contributed vocals to tracks by Die Krupps, Motor, KLOQ (band), Client, and Kenneth James Gibson’s Reverse Commuter project.

After Nitzer Ebb originally split, McCarthy began his work with Recoil, then left the music business and focused on film studies and design in Cambridge. He moved to London in 2000 to work in the advertising field.

McCarthy’s first solo album was originally titled “Life Is Sucking the Life Out of Me”. The album was written, recorded and mixed at Easier with songwriter/musician/producer Stephen Papke and British house DJ/producer Mark “Blakkat” Bell. All songs were co-written by McCarthy, Papke and Bell. Performing as Douglas J. McCarthy, his first solo album, “Kill Your Friends”, was released in November 2012 on the Los Angeles-based label Pylon Records followed by the EP “Move On” in 2013.

McCarthy then collaborated with Headman and producer Scott Fraser on the “Noise” EP, and with Cyrus Rex on the “DJMREX” EP.

You can read a long interview with Douglas McCarthy here on Side-Line.

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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In 2023, Dancedelicd collaborated with Brussels-based Je M’en Fish Records on three vinyl releases. Among these, The Neon Judgement’s compilation “Blue Screens” is scheduled for November 5th. This release will be on a 180-gram vinyl format and will come in three different colors.

In the early 1980s, Dirk Timmermans, also known as Dirk Da Davo, and Frank Vloeberghs, known as TB Frank, founded The Neon Judgement. They initially gained attention for their unique blend of stark industrial elements with intricate guitar and synthesizer work.

During the 1990s, the duo shifted their musical direction and also changed labels. They released Dazsoo under KK Records, known for artists like Bauhaus and Frontline Assembly; At Devil’s Fork with Synthetic Symphony, home to Die Krupps and Welle: Erdball; and Smack on LC Music/Dancedelic-D, Dirk Da Davo’s own label.

This 10-track compilation features a curated selection from these latter three albums, all of which have been fully remastered and are making their debut on vinyl.

Earlier this year Dirk Da Davo’s album “Retrospective 1987 – 2023” album was released in April. Additionally, June saw a reissue of The Neon Judgement’s “PIAS 40” vinyl, which includes several tracks from the 1980s.

A digital EP is planned for November 20th, involving Dirk’s side project DDDJMX and Jean-Marie Aerts (JMX). The EP is titled “23”.

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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COP International has welcomed the influential industrial rock band, The Cassandra Complex, to its line-up of artists.

Originally formed in Leeds, England, The Cassandra Complex came together through the collaboration of Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and later journalist Andy Booth. Their debut single “March” was released in 1985. Rodney Orpheus later moved to Hamburg, Germany, where he teamed up with guitarist Volker Zacharias, a longstanding member of the band.

Over the decades, The Cassandra Complex’s music has evolved to encompass a rich blend of EBM, industrial, goth rock, new wave, and synth-pop elements. They have gained recognition for their unique blend of electronic music, post-punk vibes, guitar-driven compositions, and the distinctive vocals of Rodney Orpheus. Songs such as “Moscow Idaho”, “One Millionth Happy Customer”, and “The War Against Sleep” are considered iconic tracks of their genre.

Beyond his work with The Cassandra Complex, Rodney Orpheus is also noted for his significant contributions to music technology. He played a key role in developing and advocating for many of the tools that musicians globally use today, with a particular focus on Virtual Studio Technology (VST), which has been a game-changer for the music industry. His collaborative work in this field extends to a variety of artists, including Kevin Godley (10cc, Godley & Creme), Sinead O’Connor, Sisters of Mercy, Die Krupps, and Future Sound of London.

Recently, The Cassandra Complex has been independently releasing their music. Currently, they are in the process of producing a new album and revisiting and re-recording selections from their extensive back catalogue. As they approach their 40th anniversary in 2024, fans can look forward to a special, limited edition reissue of their work to commemorate this significant milestone.

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: Together with Repo Records Funker Vogt moved on revisiting the band’s back catalogue. “Blutzoll” was originally released in 2010 by Synthetic Symphony and Metropolis records (for the USA). The “Collector’s Edition” features all original songs plus bonus disc with remixes and the EP “Arising Hero”. Three previously unreleased remixes have been featured as well. Back in time master mind and ‘machine man’ Gerrit Thomas was still accompanied by Jens Kästel on vocals -and the band’s original singer.

Content: No true surprises for the fans of the band but a remastered edition getting us back to this album. “Blutzoll” was the tenth studio album by Funker Vogt revealing a band in good shape, mixing EBM and Dark-Electro with the easy-recognizable bass lines, sequences, rhythms and arrangements of Gerrit Thomas and the harsh vocals of Jens Kästel. The first disc features next to the original “Blutzoll”-album the EP “Arising Hero”. The bonus disc brings us back to an impressive list of remixes and extra songs. Remixes were accomplished by FGFC820, Rotersand, Dopestars Inc, Vigilante, Eric Van Wonterghem (Monolith), Faderhead, Die Krupps, Punto Omega,  Noblesse Oblige, Komor Kommando and Mortiis. One of the previously unreleased songs is a “2021”-version of “Terroristen”. 

+ + + : Thirteen years after the original release this album still kicks ass. It sounds in the purest power tradition of Funker Vogt and featured great songs like “Arising Hero”, “Genozid”, “Terroristen” and “Bloodthirst”. Among the remixes I especially want to mention the diversity of the versions but as main attention grabbers the Komor Commando-remix of “Arising Hero” and the totally EBM adapted “Fire And Forget” by Die Krupps. The song “Urban War” was a cool bonus at this bonus disc and the song still kicks today.

– – – : From a very personal view I would say “Blutzoll” wasn’t exactly the best Funker Vogt-album in history and probably one with the least ‘hits’.

Conclusion: This is a great work for the world wide fan basis of this legendary formation.

Best songs: “Genozid”, “Arising Hero – Club Mix”, “Terroristen”, “Ariusing Hero” + “Arising Hero – Factory Mix by Komor Kommando”, “Fire And Forget – Die Krupps Remix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.funkervogt.de / www.facebook.com/officialfunkervogt

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

About Funker Vogt

Funker Vogt is a German EBM and Dark-Electro band built around core member and producer Gerrit Thomas, formed in the 1990s. The group has worked with a series of singers over the years, including original vocalist Jens Kästel, who fronted the band for “Blutzoll”, its eighth studio album, released in October 2010 on Synthetic Symphony and Metropolis Records. Chris L. later took over vocal duties for three albums before Bastian Polak, also known from Intent:Outtake, joined for 2024’s “Final Construct” on Repo Records. Repo Records reissued “Blutzoll” as a remastered 2CD Collector’s Edition, pairing the original album and the “Arising Hero” EP with a bonus disc of remixes and previously unreleased tracks.

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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Funker Vogt’s 8th longplayer “Blutzoll” (October 2010) is available again as a new collector’s edition via Repo Records from June 2nd on. The double digipak contains all the tracks and bonus tracks of the original CD, as well as the maxi CD “Arising Hero”. As a special extra there are 3 previously unreleased, exclusive remixes. Everything was remastered personally by Funker Vogt mastermind Gerrit Thomas.

Check out “Arising Hero” (Faderhead remix) right below.

Here’s the tracklist.

Tracks CD1:

1. Arising Hero
2. Genozid
3. The State Within
4. Fire and Forget
5. Robots
6. Hold my Ground
7. Terroristen
8. Krieger
9. My Innermost
10. Bloodthirst
11. Black Waters
12. Arising Hero – Forgiven
13. Arising Hero – Club Mix
14. Arising Hero – Redemption
15. Arising Hero – Revolution
16. My Innermost – Loop Mix

Tracks CD2:

1. Genozid (FGFC820 Remix)
2. Arising Hero (rotersand rework)
3. Fire and Forget (Remix by Dopestars Inc)
4. The State Within (Vigilante Remix)
5. Wake up
6. Genozid (Goldremix by Eric Van Wonterghem)
7. Arising Hero (Faderhead Remix)
8. Fire and Forget (Die Krupps Remix)
9. The State Within (Revolution Mix by Punto Omega)
10. Urban War
11. My Innermost (Noblesse Oblige Remix)
12. Arising Hero (Factory mix by Komor Kommando)
13. Fire and Forget (Mortiis Remix)
14. From the Flames
15. Terroristen (2021)
16. My Innermost (Demoversion)
17. Arising Hero (Minimix)

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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What comes in mind when hearing the names Jürgen Engler, Marcel Zürcher and Ralf Dörper? Die Krupps! Right; but since a few years they also started a new side-project called Die Robo Sapiens. This new band moves back to pure Electronic music and will mainly appeal for EBM fans. The German project signed to Alfa Matrix unleashing a debut EP in 2018. We next had to wait four years till by the end of 2022 they released the debut album “Robo Sapien Race”. This work is one of the best EBM albums from the past year which is clearly featuring explicit retro elements. An album filled with power and still a part of fun… and that’s what Die Robo Sapiens  is all about. I asked Jürgen Engler a few questions for the interview.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You guys have been next to Die Krupps involved in multiple other side-projects but what does Die Robo Sapiens stand for? How did the project come to life and how does it feel to start a new ‘band’ when you’ve been involved in a successful formation like DIE KRUPPS for so long?

Jürgen: The idea for Die Robo Sapiens came to me when I didn’t get the budget from the record company that I needed to produce an Industrial-Metal album. I also realized that I always ended up writing songs from time to time that didn’t quite fit that Die Krupps Industrial-Metal concept. So I decided to leave those songs purely Electronic. I know we also have fans who are more into the Die Krupps-EBM style tracks, so why not cater to them and give them something they will enjoy? It is a fun project for me as well, I can really play around with all my analog synths!

Q: Listening to your music and the debut album I got the sensation Die Robo Sapiens move on there where Die Krupps started to play with guitars. Is this what you mean?

Jürgen: The concept picks up there, but isn’t restricted to staying within that framework. I wanted to create somewhat of a niche for us, merging hard Die Krupps EBM with the sound of Düsseldorf-Electro, and with that I mean the roots. Kraftwerk and Die Krupps may stem from the same city and we know each other quite well, but they were never a direct influence on me. But I understand that Düsseldorf will forever be associated with Kraftwerk, and their music breathes Düsseldorf. So it was a logical progression for me to combine these musical styles. It sounds unique, and expands the genres. Niemals stillstehen! 

Q: While your debut EP was already released in 2018 it took a few more years to achieve the debut album “Robo Sapien Race”. Tell us a bit more about the writing and accomplishment of “Robo Sapien Race”? What have been the different stages in the writing and production of the work and what’s the input of each member?

Jürgen:At the time of the EP, I was ready to continue with the project, but the former record company threatened not to release the album if it was an all Electro album. They insisted on getting an Industrial-Metal album, so I was forced to move ahead and finish the new Die Krupps-album first. When that album was completed and the following tour, we continued working on the tracks that fit the concept. During the process it became more and more clear to me what the music needed to give Die Robo Sapiens a sound of its own. To me it’s always important to find your own style and niche. That’s how we did it since the beginning, don’t follow trends, spearhead them!

Q: It seems there’s a kind of concept behind this album dealing with ‘the dehumanization and technological dependency of mankind… without it you are nothing…’ How do you face this fact and how do you see the pros and cons of technology in the evolution of Electronic music -especially when compared to the 80s analog era?

Jürgen: I am fascinated by new technology, but I won’t let it dominate my life unless it is useful and making my life easier. Unfortunately, most people let technology dominate their life nowadays, and the balance seems off. We cannot make ourselves completely dependent on computers and machines, I personally refuse to becoming a Robo Sapien in my lifetime! We are the human race and should resist becoming one with the machinery. Although it’s a fascinating thought, it will be the end of humanity. I think the time will come sooner or later that man will be replaced by robo sapiens. I know I won’t be around anymore, and I have a feeling that’s a good thing.

Q: Soundwise you already mentioned the Kraftwerk-touch which is easily noticeable for the sound color and atmospheres but there also is the hard EBM side of DAF… and Die Krupps as well;-). How do you perceive it  and was there something as a ‘Düsseldorfer’ scene?

Jürgen: DAF are not a Düsseldorf-band, they were from Wuppertal and part Austrian. But Gabi did start his musical career in Düsseldorf, that’s true. I was friends with him before he even started a band. Ralf and I knew Kraftwerk because we all used to hang out in the same clubs and movie theatres around town back in the 70s. I later became friends with Karl and also Wolfgang. I didn’t get in touch with them regarding guesting on the album, but it’s a nice thought and I will keep it in mind. Regarding the so called Düsseldorf-scene, sure there was a scene, and it was transitional when Punk happened. Kraftwerk, Neu, La Duesseldorf were the first wave, then came DAF, Die Krupps and Propaganda. We had our background in Punk, and not in the late 60s experimental strain of the Hippy scene. Although it produced very interesting bands, the two scenes never really crossed paths musically, until I tried to unite them in the mid 90s, when I brought members of Cluster, Guru Guru, Amon Duul, Faust and Die Krupps together to produce the album “Space Explosion”. It was an eye opening experience.

Q: What brings the future for Die Robo Sapiens? Is the album just a ‘one shot’ project or should we expect more stuff and eventually live shows, remixes etc?

Jürgen:This album is not supposed to be a one off, the project will continue. I am open to all kinds of adventures, even live shows, and I know Ralf is too, if we can find the time to do it. Die Krupps is and will always be our number one, but it feels good to have another outlet for the purely Electro tracks. I enjoy the different approach, and I’m also interested in defining the Robo Sapiens sound even more. The deeper you delve into a musical project, the more you understand its own mechanisms. And I believe Die Robo Sapiens has a lot more potential. Time will prove my point. Die Zukunft hat begonnen!

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

Out on January 27th is a brand new vinyl reissue from Kirlian Camera in black and clear vinyl versions.

“The Desert Inside / Drifting” is being reissued on clear and black double vinyl in a limited edition of 400 copies each with all new artwork. Included are the EPs “The Desert Inside” (Triton, 1997) and “Drifting” (Solar Plexus, 1998).

Both EPs were following the album “Pictures from Eternity” (Discordia, 1996). “Drifting” is actually being made available for the first time ever on vinyl. A very limited picture vinyl edition of “The Desert Inside” was only available on the band’s own label Uranium Studio in 1997.

Both EPs still feature the vocals of previous Kirlian Camera singers Barbara Boffelli and Emilia Lo Jacono.

About Kirlian Camera

Kirlian Camera is an Italian band formed in 1979 in Bologna, Italy. The band was founded by Angelo Bergamini and Francesca Nicoli, and is named after a type of photography that captures the “aura” surrounding living things. The band’s early music was a blend of electronic, experimental, and post-punk influences, and was characterized by eerie, atmospheric soundscapes and evocative lyrics.

In 1980, Kirlian Camera released their debut album, “Kirlian Camera”, which featured the hit single “Eclipse”. The album was well-received by critics and fans alike, and established the band as one of the leading figures in the Italian electronic music scene. The band’s second album, “Uno”, was released in 1981 and featured the hit single “Chaostar”.

Throughout the 1980s, Kirlian Camera continued to release critically-acclaimed albums and tour extensively, earning a dedicated fanbase in Europe and beyond. In 1985, the band released “Corona Obscura”, which featured the hit single “Blue Room”. The album cemented the band’s reputation as one of the pioneering groups in the emerging dark wave and gothic rock genres.

In the 1990s, Kirlian Camera began to incorporate more industrial and electronic influences into their music, and released several albums that showcased their evolving sound. In 1995, the band released “Norderney”, which featured guest appearances from artists such as Jürgen Engler of Die Krupps and Jörg Schaaf of L’âme Immortelle. The album was well-received by fans and critics, and marked a new direction for the band.

Kirlian Camera continues to perform and record music to this day, and remains one of the leading names in the Italian electronic music scene.

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.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Four years after their impressive debut EP Die Robo Sapiens are back with their debut album. The German side-project of Die Krupps featuring Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher brings us an album of ten songs plus an extra disc (available on CD and digital edits) featuring ten extra songs.

Content: Die Robo Sapiens stands for pure EBM. Good-old and elaborated songs from Düsseldorf which sometimes to me sound like a homage to legendary town mates Kraftwerk and DAF. Pure Electronic music mixing the robotic side and atmospheres of Kraftwerk together with the power of DAF. Engler’s captivating and alluring vocals on top will bring you to dance.

The extra disc features remixes by Seb Komor, Aiborforcen, Orange Sector, AD:key, Implant, Aesthetische, Cubic, Kant Kino, Metroland and Plastic Noise Experience.

+ + + : The already familiar songs “Teufelskreis” and “Tanz Mit Dem Roboter” both remain alluring cuts but I also have to mention “Transrapid Rapid”,  “Robotimierung”, “Robo Normativ”, “Niemals Stillstehen” and  “Automatenland” which all are outstanding pieces. It feels like Die Robo Sapiens moved on there where Die Krupps decided to experiment with guitar and Metal/Industrial music. You can feel the guys had some fun composing this album while the ‘Düsseldorfer’-sound reminding Kraftwerk but also DAF is a pretty cool wink. The bonus disc brings an impressive selection of great remixes in different genres; from EBM and sophisticated EBM to Minimal-Electro it’s nearly impossible to say which one sounds the best.

– – – : No minus points to mention.

Conclusion: When ‘veterans’ are teaching EBM artists how to compose great stuff!

Best songs: “Transrapid Rapid”, “Teufelskreis”, “Robotimierung”, “Tanz Mit Dem Roboter feat. JG. & The Robots”, “Robo Normativ”, “Niemals Stillstehen”,  “Automatenland” + “Teufelskreis – Sebastian Komor Rmx”, “Robotimierung – Orange Sector Rmx, “Transrapid Rapid – Aiboforcen Rmx”, “Niemals Stillstehen – Kant Kino Rmx”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: www.facebook.com/DieRoboSapiens

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘Robo Sapien Race’.

About Die Robo Sapiens

Die Robo Sapiens is a German side-project of Die Krupps, formed by Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher. The project debuted in 2018 with the single “Teufelskreis – Tanz Mit Dem Roboter” before releasing its debut album, “Robo Sapien Race”, through Alfa-Matrix in 2022 on digital, CD and vinyl formats, accompanied by a bonus disc of remixes. Side-Line spoke with the band about the project’s Düsseldorf-rooted EBM approach in a 2023 Click Interview.

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: Electro-Pop, Punk-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: German duo Diana and Boog aka Junksista are back unleashing their fifth full length album. It also is their first album released by COP International. “0A” features ten songs and an impressive list of guest singers.  Yvette Winkler (Vaselyne), Lis van den Akker (Psy’Aviah, Die Krupps, Grendel), Noemi Aurora (Helalyn Flowers), Maria (Omnimar) and Emke (Black Nail Cabaret) got invited to sing on a few cuts.

Content: Time has passed but Junksista held on to their initial sound approach revealing a kind of ‘evil-punk-pop’ style. The songs are driven by electronics and empowered by guitar playing. The work is pretty diversified and accentuated by the different contributors. Now danceable and carried by Trance leads and then cold and groovy the album also reveals darker and colder passages.

+ + + : Junksista hasn’t lost their ‘anarchistic’ sound approach. It’s not a coincidence they sometimes call it ‘dirty-pop’ as it clearly sounds atypical; not classical Electro-Pop but with a sharp Punk touch on top. I especially recommend the last track “Fuck Your Pretty Face” which also is one of the hardest and darkest cuts but still a cut with menacing guitar play and hot female vocals. Other highlights are the opening song “Phoenix” and “Fragile” featuring Maria Mar (Omnimar).

– – – : The songs with guest singers unfortunately aren’t the most convincing ones although they for sure make this work really exciting. Junksista remains faithful to their initial sound formula although the early magic is a bit gone.

Conclusion: Junksista is Pop music for tough people.

Best songs: “Fuck Your Pretty Face”, “Phoenix”, “Fragile featuring Maria Mar”, “Do you Wanna feat. Emke”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/Junksista

Label: www.facebook.com/copint

About Junksista

Junksista is a German duo formed by Diana Noir and Boog, working in an electro-pop and punk-pop register. “0A” is their fifth full-length album and their first release through COP International, issued on October 7, 2022 with ten songs written and produced by the duo themselves. The album features guest vocals from Yvette Winkler (Vaselyne), Lis van den Akker (Die Krupps, Grendel, Psy’Aviah), Noemi Aurora (Helalyn Flowers), Maria Mar (Omnimar) and Emke (Black Nail Cabaret).

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

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange / Techomancer press release. Photos: Tarjei Krogh) Out now is the new album from the Norwegian synthwave act Technomancer a.k.a. Alexandria “Alyxx” Digre (she/her). She debuted with the album ‘System Failure’ in 2013, and now, almost 10 years later, the second album ‘Hyperfuel’ is finally being released!

Originally from the Northern town of Mo I Rana, Norway, Alyxx moved to Sarpsborg in 2014 and had already started working on the album at that point. Realizing that the next album had to be of much higher quality than the debut album, Alyxx started working on honing her production skills, getting plenty of practice on her side projects Zone Tripper and Laboratory 5, as well as doing numerous remixes for bands/artists such as Die Krupps, Nitzer Ebb, Anne Clark, Naked Lunch, Attrition, Robert Marlow (RIP), Apoptygma Berzerk and several others.

After ‘System Failure’, a departure from the former sound was set almost immediately. The sleek futurepop style was cast aside in favour of a heavier influence from the 80’s, with The Sisters Of Mercy providing a strong influence on the new sound. Together with Zone Tripper, Technomancer adopted very much an early synthwave sound which since then has become a signature sound for Alyxx’ productions as a whole. The new album relies heavily on sampled guitars and drum machines to give a much heavier retrowave feeling, which should please fans of synthwave acts such as Dance With The Dead and Scandroid.

The album has been co-produced by Stephan L. Groth (Apoptygma Berzerk) and his brother Jonas Groth (Piston Damp, Apoptygma Berzerk) who both have also provided guest vocals on the album. Frequent collaborator Per Aksel Lundgreen (Angst Pop, Cronos Titan, Chinese Detectives, Shatoo) has also been involved.

Ole-Espen Kristiansen (OK Minus, Elec This!) has mastered the album and also mixed a couple tracks. Ole-Espen has also done mastering and live mixing for Apoptygma Berzerk and Piston Damp.

Wanting to know more about this release, we contacted Alyxx to have some questions answered.

S-L: You’ve gone from furutepop to synthwave – what’s the next step in your evolution?

Alexandria Digre: Well, I really don’t know. I’ve been listening to harder stuff lately. I especially loved REIN’s album, ‘Reincarnated’ and really loved that kind of old school EBM sound making a comeback. I also finally got around to listening to some Nitzer Ebb stuff, especially their legendary ‘That Total Age’ album. Some of my recent demos have been more in the vein of that, combined with some influences from Empirion.

I also saw Sierra in Gothenburg this summer and really loved the harder synthwave sound she had going. I’m definitely still in the synthwave scene and been listening to a lot of stuff there lately, so that might still be an influence going forward. I don’t think the next album will take a decade to make so I also doubt it will be as much of a new direction. But we will see, it all depends on where my writing takes me.

Right now I have some ideas for a new album but nothing solid, as I rarely do in the early stages. I actually wrote a few futurepop/techno tracks at the start of making ‘Hyperfuel’ that ended up not really fitting in, but I might use some of that for the next album if I can find a new sound they would fit in. But so far I’ve been wanting to draw more on early 90s EBM influences like Front Line Assembly and that early EBM sound.

S-L: How has the feedbacks on the album been so far?

AD: Well, even as the singles came out, it was usually positive. But as for the album, it really seems people are loving it. Everyone I’ve sent it to has enjoyed it and hasn’t really had much bad to say about it. Which is both flattering and a bit concerning. I really hope someone really goes into depth on the album at some point. I love praise and knowing people are connecting with the music, but I also love to know where I can improve going forward. After all, ‘Hyperfuel’ wouldn’t be the album it is without the criticism I got from ‘System Failure’.

S-L: You got some covers here – tell us more about how they came to life!

AD: ‘Puppets’ came to life as I was invited to contribute to a Depeche Mode tribute project. I made the original version on my own in my studio and on a journey with Stephan (Apoptygma Berzerk) I played it for him and Per Aksel (Angst Pop) and Stephan really loved what he heard. He not only advised me to release the cover myself, but also allow him to do it together with me. I was floored by the fact Stephan straight up asked to work with me on something, so naturally I agreed.

He spent a few days in his studio recording some additional synth riffs on his Korg MS-20 and recording the vocals, which we then added to the mix. We then spent a while in my studio producing the track with Per Aksel.

So yeah, very glad I didn’t just release it as a tribute album track. It ended up becoming a lot more than that, and I have so many good memories with ‘Puppets’. Only downside is I doubt I could perform it live without Stephan. It wouldn’t feel right, haha!

‘Ecstasy’ was a song I’ve wanted to cover for a long time. I’ve been a fan of Black Lab since I heard their cover of the Transformers Theme from their ‘Technologie’ EP, where ‘Ecstasy’ was also featured. I immediately connected with the song and it has always been my favourite Black Lab track.

‘Ecstasy’ was actually always intended to be on the album. I think it was on the first demo I brought Per Aksel right after I had moved to Sarpsborg. On the demo version, I did all the vocals myself, but I always wanted someone with me on it. Per Aksel suggested Stian Joneid as a candidate, and we also considered Dag Brandth (Shatoo) to do it with me. Honestly, Dag might have been perfect for it, but due to circumstances that never worked out, so I ended up choosing Jonas Groth (Piston Damp) since I was recording my final vocals in his studio for the song and he’s the best singer I know.

Jonas’ vocals really helped bring the song to another level and I am so happy we got to work together on it. Him and Truls Sønsterud did an amazing Piston Damp remix of it by the way that you can find on the single.

‘The Outsider’ was a song I originally did for a Psyche tribute album, ‘Unforgotten Rhymes’. It was also the second music video I did after moving to Sarpsborg, with Per Aksel directing and shooting it. It sort of became the first single from the album actually, featuring the signature sound I would be going for. It’s always been a song I connected with on a personal level, so having it on the album felt natural to me.

S-L: What’s next up for you?

AD: Working on a new Zone Tripper album and some other side projects. Lab5 has been dormant for a while and I am itching to get some of our material out there. Also working on a synthwave project called Neo Hyperdrive together with Hexebyte and Max Static from Lab5. There will also be a 2CD Deluxe Edition of Hyperfuel that will also be available on my Bandcamp. I’ll announce a release date for that later on.

The album was released digitally worldwide on November 4^th 2022, with a Deluxe Edition also available on 2xCD via Sector Industrial (www.sector-industrial.com) and digitally exclusive via the Technomancer Bandcamp, which includes 5 additional tracks and remixes by Machinista, Echo Image, Piston Damp, Substaat and Christian Espeland of Code 64. Release date for the Deluxe Edition will be revealed later.

Get it at Bandcamp along with more of the discography, or have a listen at Spotify!

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

After a couple of teasing EP and video clip releases, the Belgian Alfa Matrix label releases today the full length debut album by Die Robo Sapiens, the ultimate EBM project by the members of Die Krupps. “Robo Sapien Race”. The release is available now on a fan edition Vinyl (with lots of extras such as a DJ Turntable slipmat) and as a limited 2CD box set pressing next to download.

Behind Die Robo Sapiens we find the Die Krupps members Jürgen Engler plus Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher.

The 10-track “Robo Sapien Race” album offers a blend of minimal, vintage and powerful synth music with harder, stronger and angrier EBM assaults made of fat and ripping basslines, powerful German vocals and upbeat synth sequences. The artwork was rendered by the talented Japanese designer Tomoki Hayasaki.

Jürgen Engler: “The idea for us was to have an outlet for songs that couldn’t be used in a Die Krupps context. The use of guitars in Die Robo Sapiens music being taboo In a way, it’s a return to our electro roots, but with a twist. Imagine the Duesseldorf sound of Kraftwerk mixed with hard Die Krupps EBM. This combination of styles has been spooking around my brain for a while, and it was time to put it into action.”

The album’s first pressing comes out as a limited deluxe double-CD Digipak holding a bonus disc featuring each album song remixed by an impressive list of electro artists in the likes of Sebastian Komor, Orange Sector, Plastic Noise Experience, Metroland, Aiboforcen, Ad:Key, Implant, Aesthetische, Kant Kino and Cubic.

The album also gets released on vinyl format as a fan edition pack limited to 333 units worldwide including the 10-track album on black vinyl in a deluxe gatefold packaging (with full lyrics) with a bonus DJ turntable slipmat, a page marker and a numbered postcard, plus the new 20-track “Sounds From The Matrix 023” label CD compilation which for now is exclusive to this release.

You can check the tracks right below. Read the review of ‘Robo Sapien Race’.

Videos

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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Skren is a German duo driven by ‘Bias’ and ‘Poisa’. Hailing from Düsseldorf they this year self-released their second album “Chaos”. This work comes one year after the debut-full length “Grell” while they also released multiple singles. I discovered an Electronic duo driven by multiple influences like Industrial, Techno and EBM. The fusion between all these elements creates a dark and powerful sound. The production sounds raw and unpolished, but still visionary. This might be the sound for further generations of Electronic artists. Skren definitely deserves a wider attention and recognition so I hope this interview will incite people to discover the ‘analog chaos and digital dust’ made by Skren.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Skren: Skren is analog chaos and digital dust. Skren is part of our Industrial Riot-label that includes productions of Electronic music, art and all types of collaborations.

Bias: As a kid I was always listening to music-cassettes that my sisters recorded with 90s stuff like Clawfinger, Type O Negative, NIn, Faith No More. I wrote lyrics taught myself to play the guitar and the drums. I programmed my first midi sequences on and old Roland Groove-box and learned working with a DAW. It was a very creative time with lots of artistic experiments. All my friends also did something with music and we pushed each other to get ahead. After I’ve been involved in various sound-projects Poisa and I started making music together. We got our first synth the Waldorf Blofeld which is still a part of our studio today. We continued making music during my studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Skren was initiated shortly after the graduation.

Poisa: In my family music and art were always around. I play the piano since the age of 5 and my two older brothers really were into having a band and playing their music in our basement. As a teenager I had to follow my personal taste in music to differentiate myself from the traditional styles of music that surrounded me. Instead of studying music I decided to study fine arts, focusing on sculpture and painting during these years. In my art studies I learned to be able to express myself in any medium. It enabled the liberation of my music from the academic approach and I now make music my art.

Q: I noticed you guys are hailing from Düsseldorf. I instantly think about Kraftwerk, DAF, Die Krupps… but what’s the impact of those artists on younger generations of musicians like Skren?

Poisa: We always get confronted with these artists and the time frame they came up in. The history of these bands is connected to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and they leave a strong legacy. We have great respect for these artists and their work. But we don’t continue this tradition, because we’re following a very different expression… more dark, more heavy, more aggressive. We don’t care much about making music in Düsseldorf of all places. Skren’s sound can happen everywhere. Contemporary music is much more interesting for us.

Bias: Only a handful of artists here in the city do Noise, EBM, Hard-Techno and Industrial stuff. The vital places where music developed back in the days aren’t there anymore. Without being disrespectful to the artists you mentioned, but they are already part of the music history with an exhibition in the local museum. For me personally, I respect the pioneering spirit but the influence is very harmless, I need a completely different musical energy.

Q: You already released a few productions so how do you look back at the evolution from the early songs till the “Chaos”-album?

Poisa: Our first attempt producing songs for an album ended up after nearly one year, because we were not satisfied with the sound and the feel of the material. So we had to reset the whole setup and workflow to start with a new mindset. We refreshed our gear and ended up in changing the vocals from English to German which helped us a lot to become more direct and authentic and in this state the “Grell”-album happened almost naturally. It was the first collection of songs that made up sense as an album to us and defined a direction we could imagine to continue and build up on.

Bias: The “Chaos”-album developed more under an over-all vision we had. Sound-wise, lyrically and visually we both had some plans where we wanted to go. But the production was a little difficult for both of us and we struggled a lot to finalize the different production steps. But in the end we are very proud of the result with all the different musical directions it opens up for us, and how it comes together with the video visuals and the artwork. With every single production we got more into synth- and production-techniques.

Q: I think you perfectly exposed the theme of “Chaos” by the artwork of the album… which is pure chaos! What did you try to express by the title and the artwork and how do you transform the theme of chaos into music?

Bias: For me the title “Chaos” is a term to set the outline for the scenario that opens up within the album. I felt like existing in a world where it is hard to find reliable and consistent points to orientate oneself. The constant uncertainty about the future and the feeling of powerlessness in the face of events has helped me to shape the vision for the album. The songs reflect different situations to face this chaos.

Poisa: The title song “Chaos” is about this totally functional system that is so controlled and efficient. It is always pushing forward up to the limit, highly technical and everything gets swept away in a current. But a small change can bring this whole system into trouble, into a total loss of control. I like the idea of destruction and the search for a fresh start. When you have to rethink your routine and discover new perspectives. It is a struggle which is always present in life especially as a visual artist who in this world first fulfills no purpose at all except to ask questions. For me our music and the artwork represent this struggle. The structured elements get counteracted by parts which happened by accident. The confrontation of opposing parts and the intentional loss of control is our way to integrate chaos into the music.

Q: Your sound is featuring multiple influences, but how do you perceive this work? What’s the input of each member and what have been the main difficulties when writing and producing this album?

Bias: The multiple influences that can be heard in our music certainly result from the different music styles we listen to and from the interest in playing various instruments. When we produce music we try to follow the requirements of the song. It’s not about adapting our music to a certain genre. Therefore Skren’s sound is open to various influences. And of course this is audible in the music. That is how we define Industrial for us. It is a form of mixing different elements together to achieve contrast and friction. My musical approach is basically to transport feelings and moods and to give them expression. I do the vocals, write the lyrics, and come up with guitar ideas and drum-sounds. And I do additional synth programming, sample work and most of the technical side of mixing and mastering. When it comes to arrangement and mixing and mastering we sit down together and listen to what we prefer the most.

The main difficulties in writing the “Chaos”-album were to bring all the different parts together to achieve our sound and distill the essence from all the ideas.

Poisa: I do most of the synth stuff like programming sounds and sequencing basslines or lead patterns. And I also play the bass in some songs. I do the counterpart during arranging, mixing and mastering and listen from a more distant perspective. I often take on the subtractive part in the band. When we have collected a lot of material for a song, it is often my job to shorten and reduce in order to come to a straighter musical line.

Q: Skren seems to be a pure DIY (do it yourself) formation, but how important is it to you to stay ‘independent’ and would you consider singing to a label? What brings the future by the way?

Bias: Doing everything on our own is the most direct way to immediately express everything we want to as an artist. The independency we have is good for us and we really can work on stuff in our tempo without thinking about deadlines and fitting into defined categories. But working independently is very time-consuming. The whole organization to exploit all possibilities for people to get to know our music requires a lot of energy that we would rather spend in the studio. For this it would be advantageous to have a professional partner who takes over these tasks.

Poisa: For the future we are open for any kind of collaboration if it pushes Skren to new and exciting directions. Currently we are working on new material for future releases and we are preparing a set for a live scenario. So we hope to hit some stages soon. 

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

Out August 19 via Cleopatra Records is a 6cd box holding the earliest recordings of Front Line Assembly. Founded in 1986 by Bill Leeb shortly after leaving Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly laid the foundation for what became known as Electronic Body Music (or EBM) as well as the second wave of industrial music.

The brand new box set entitled “Permanent Data 1986-1989” will hold 6 individual CD wallets as well as a full-color 12-page booklet of liner notes written by music journalist Dave Thompson based on an exclusive and recent interview with Leeb. Every track has been digitally remastered by Jürgen Engler of German band Die Krupps, including also rare bonus tracks. The set is capped with a rare 1989 live album.

As an added bonus, Cleopatra Records is also releasing a digitally remastered 2CD collection of Front Line Assembly demos. Titled “Nerve War”, the collection is available as both a 2CD set as well as on vinyl in a 2LP gatefold jacket with splatter vinyl.

Disc 1: Total Terror I

1. Total Terror
2. A Decade
3. Rebels In Afghanistan
4. Eternal
5. Developing Suicide
6. Black Fluid
7. Falling There
8. All You Do
9. Seeing Is Believing
10. Empty Walls
11. Enemy Number One
12. On The Cross

Bonus Tracks

13. Freedom
14. Distorted Vision
15. Cleanser

Disc 2: Total Terror Ii

1. Assassination
2. Intensive Care Unit
3. Immobilized
4. They’re Going To Kill Us
5. Stimulant Combat
6. Hatred By Society
7. Intruder
8. Face Puller
9. A.E.C. Krunch
10. Cro-Magnon
11. Guilty
12. Attack Decay
13. The Bonening

Disc 3: State Of Mind

1. First Reprisal
2. Consequence
3. Burnt Soul
4. Testimony
5. Landslide
6. Terminal Power
7. Malignant Fracture
8. Eastern Voices

Bonus Tracks

9. Resistance
10. Sustain Upright
11. No Tomorrow
12. And They Shall Bow

Disc 4: Corrosion

1. Lurid Sensation
2. Right Hand Of Heaven
3. Concussion
4. On The Cross
5. Conflict
6. Controversy
7. Dark Dreams
8. The Wreck Part III (Wisdom)

Disc 5: Disorder

1. Body Count
2. Obsession
3. Aggression
4. Lurid Sensation
5. Die-Sect
6. The Wrack

Bonus Tracks

7. Solitude Of Confinement
8. Collision
9. Headcase Fargone (Wisdom)

Disc 6: Live

1. Intro (Turmoil)
2. Digital Tension Dementia
3. Sedation
4. Lethal Compound
5. Bloodsport
6. Body Count
7. Lurid Sensation
8. Foolsgame

For more on Front Line Assembly, see Ministry announces 2023 headline tour dates with direct support from… on Side-Line.

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

After 29 years in existence as a band, the UK act Inertia are back with a brand new single, released on their very own label, Cryonica Music: “Scowl”. “Scowl” features bandleader, Reza Udhin with members Ollie Cater (Guitars), Andrew Lowlife (Keyboards) and Circus performer Blue Jigsaw on drums. And, good news, coming back to the Inertia fold after 7 years is co-leadsinger and ex drummer, Alexys B, lending her vocals to the track.

And that’s not all, we also hear 3 more guitarists: Steve White (KMFDM and PIG), Tim Stephens (ex-Inertia, ex-EMF, Mojiles) and Nick Bayford from Alexys B’s own Rockabilly band Lady Luck Lexy & the Riverside Boys.

Next to the title track we also get 2 remixes by CyberIndustries and Modulate. Out today, you can check the lyric video below, and get the 3-track single right here on Bandcamp.

Welcome back guys!

About Inertia

Inertia was formed in 1992 Reza Udhin and was signed to Germany’s Celtic Circle Productions in 1994 through which the debut MCD “Infiltrator” was released in June 1995. This CD was actually a re-recording of the band’s first demo tape. The band returned to the studio in February 1996 to start work on the “Programmed to respond” album and the “Mind-Energy” MCD. The album and MCD were released respectively in February 1997 and December 1996. By then 1996 Alexys B had joined Inertia on electronic drums.

1997 Mark Barrett leaves Inertia., Ed Luxmoore joins Inertia on Synths.

February 1999, the band released the remix album “Demagnetized / Remagnetized” which featured remixes by artists such as Das Ich, Spahn Ranch and Julian Beeston (Nitzer Ebb). The same year a brand new album, “Negative Prime”, was released in May 1999 on Nightbreed Recordings. A year later the remix CD “Positive Angel” was released on Inertia’s own label Cryonica Music.

November 2001, the new single “No Defect” is launched while the band complete their brand new album “Advanced Revelation” due for release in February 2002. In 2004, the album “Black Ice Impact” hits the streets followed in December 2005 by a best of Double CD “Decade of Machines – 1994-2004”. This DCD is released by Cryonica Music in Europe and Cleopatra Records in the USA.

May 2007, a brand new self titled album “Inertia” is released on Cryonica Music. The album features several guest musicians, including Kneill Brown (Killing Joke), Client E / Emily Strange (Client) and Phill Good (Libitina/Pinion). Inertia also recruit a new member, Bob Malkowski as guitarist. 2 years later the remix album “Interpret”, with remixes from Youth (Producer/Killing Joke), Die Krupps and Armageddon Dildos featured, is released by the Japanese label Deathwatch Asia. In the meantime Reza Udhin becomes the keyboard player for the legendary band Killing Joke.

2010, Inertia emerge with a new line up with Kneill X on Guitar (ex Killing Joke, Killer B Movie) and Andrew Lowlife on Synths (Swarf). In early 2010, they release the covers album “Kloned”, it is followed by the single “Repeat & Follow” later that year. November of the same year sees the new album “Deworlded” being released. At at the end of the year they collaborate with UK band Mechanical Cabaret to release a cover version of the classic John Leyton/Joe Meek track “Johnny, Remember Me”.

2012 Inertia signs with Metropolis Records. A new single “Alive” is released in October, followed by a brand new album “Universal Blood” in November 2012. 2 more albums follow on Metropolis, “Existential” (2015) and “Dream Machine” (2017), plus a string of singles, the last one being “Only Law” in 2017.

4 years later the band returns with the single “Inertia” featuring Sieben on Cryonica Music, and now the new single “Scowl”.

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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(Picture by Renee Parkhurst ) Let’s hope this article doesn’t get flagged by Google, Facebook and related because the follow-up of words in the title is rather worrysome (joke aside).

Adult has launched a remix of the Bestial Mouths song “Unshivered”. A video was equally made and can be seen below. The song is included in Bestial Mouths’ remix album “Thousandneedles” that features collaborations with SRSQ, Ash Code, Void Vision, Light Asylum, and more and which dropped earlier this month.

“Thousandneedles” will be available on vinyl and cassette versions this August via Fill-Lex Records and Soil Records.

In a reaction Adult says: “We got this remix request in the summer from Bestial Mouths and it was just the thing we needed to get us back in the studio again. It wasn’t like looking at a blank canvas and it felt more like collaboration in a way, which was much needed during such an isolating time.”

The track’s visual counterpart offers a psychological portrait of a person clawing their way to meaning. Director Jamie Parkhurst, who has previously worked with Los Angeles post-punk outfit, Death Bells, and experimental electronic artist Trevor powers, was helped by producer Yelena Akopian, stylists and designers Bradley Soileau and Elliott Evan, photographer Renee Parkhurst, DP Connor Ellman, and camera operator Alex Van Putten. The video was edited by editing is by Alex Nicolaou (Drab Majesty).

Here is the video.

Tracklist “Thousandneedles”

1. Grendel – Ruins Remix
2. Adult – Unshivered (If I Could Feel Mix)
3. Rodney Anonymous Or 7th Victim (Of Dead Milkmen) – Withiin Remix
4. Plackblague – Heavy Coil Mix (Industrial Waste Remix)
5. Ash Code -The Bleed Remix (Mixed/Mastered By Doruk Ozturkcan From She Past Away)
6. Nnhmn – The Loss Remix
7. Statiqbloom – The Falls Remix
8. Buzzkull – Lain To Rust Remix
9. Srsq – Reimagination (Souls Take Remix)
10. Shannon F /Light Asylum – Industrial Waste Remix
11. Kontravoid – Dry As Dust Remix
12. Void Vision- (A) Siren Calls Remix
13. Crowhurst – 23 Hours Before Resurrection Bestial Mouths Remix
14. Melania – Inshroudss

About Bestial Mouths

From their inception in 2009, the core root of Bestial Mouths has combined Lynette Cerezo’s voice with several genre influences across the spectrum of goth, industrial, post-punk, new wave, noise, metal, and other underground sounds using live acoustic and electronic drums and analog synthesizers. Since 2018, Bestial Mouths has been the sole project of Cerezo.

2019’s “Inshroudss” EP was the first Bestial Mouths release entirely written and conceived by Cerezo. The EP was released on the independent label RuneE & Ruin, which Cerezo formed together with friend and frequent collaborator Alison Lewis (Linea Aspera / Zanias / Fleisch Records).

In their decade-plus existence, Bestial Mouths have worked with a long list of producers and artists. Zola Jesus, Mick Harvey, Egyptrixx, Boy Harsher, Die Krupps, Mater Suspiria Vision, Zanias, The Horrorist, and Ludovico Technique are just a few collaborators, while they’ve shared the stage with the likes of Psychic TV, Austra, Chelsea Wolfe, DAF, 3 Teeth, OAKE, Front Line Assembly, White Ring, Suicide Commando, David J, King Dude, Youth Code, Cut Hands and Light Asylum.

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 very first Die Krupps live show from 1981, recorded on June 6 at the Krefeld Haus Blumenthal (Germany), will be released as “The Big Industrial Bang” on CD and DVD and this to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the show. The release date will of course be June 6th as well.

In the artwork you will notice ‘The Yuzuru Agi Tapes’ and this refers to the late Yuzuru Agi, a Japanese singer, editor, publisher, producer and music critic. He worked as a DJ on KBS radio, before becoming editor of “Rock Magazine”. He also established the independent Vanity Records label in 1978. In the 2000s he worked as an electronic music producer.

It is in the capacity of label owner, publisher and engineer that we found him back in Die Krupp’s history as a band. More specifically he worked as an engineer on the 1981 promo single “6 Jun 1981 At Krefeld Haus Blumenthal” which was released as a flexi via his Vanity Records and served as promotional supplement for his “Rock Magazine”. The live track featured was “Stahlwerksinfonie”.

The release itself will be launched via the Japanese label Suezan Studio which was founded in 2011 by Kaoru Koyanagi. The label prouds itself that it releases “unique titles carefully selected from our own perspective”. In addition, the label will also develop the industry’s first “on-demand” release.

More info soon on http://suezan.com.

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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Die Krupps have just released a brand new single from their upcoming cover album “Songs from the Dark Side of Heaven”. Out now is their version of Gang Of Four’s “To Hell With Poverty” featuring a special guest appearance from Killing Joke co-founder and drummer Big Paul Ferguson. You can check it out below.

The cover album will be out on May 28th and holds reworks of those tracks that influenced them over the years. Included on this album which sees a vinyl and CD release are covers from Sparks, The Neon Judgement, Devo, Blue Öyster Cult, Gang Of Four, The Stranglers, Queen, B-Movie, Fad Gadget, Herringer & Siciliano.

The album also holds special guest appearances by – as mentioned above – Killing Joke’s Big Paul Ferguson, The Stooges’ James Williamson, The 69 Eyes’ Jyrki 69 and The Dictators’/Manowar’s Ross The Boss.

The artwork is of course a clear reference to Pink Floyd’s 1973 album “The Dark Side of the Moon” as created by George Hardie which depicts the light refracting from a triangular prism.

Tracks (same for CD and Vinyl):

1. The Number One Song in Heaven (originally by Sparks)
2. Chinese Black feat. Jyrki 69 (originally by The Neon Judgement)
3. Whip it (originally by Devo)
4. (Don’t fear) The Reaper feat. James Williamson (originally by Blue Öyster Cult)
5. To Hell with Poverty! feat. Big Paul Ferguson (originally by Gang Of Four)
6. No more Heroes feat. Ross The Boss (originally by The Stranglers)
7. Another One bites the Dust (originally by Queen)
8. Marilyn Dreams (originally by B-Movie)
9. Collapsing New People (originally by Fad Gadget)
10. New York (Version 9/11) (originally by Herringer & Siciliano)

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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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange / Piston Damp press release)
The Danish/Norwegian duo Piston Damp releases ‘Runaway’, their third single in six months, following their smash debut ‘Something In Me’ and the critically acclaimed ‘Loose Ends’. This time they’ve joined forces with remixers such as Die Krupps, Mesh and Substaat.

The duo consists of Jonas Groth and Truls Sønsterud, Jonas being the singer/songwriter/producer, with more than 20 years experience from both stages and studios all over the world, mostly connected to his brother Stephan’s band, Apoptygma Berzerk, and has also collaborated with various other acts like Magenta, The Anix and The Dandy Warhols.
Truls is the musical arranger/keyboardist/songwriter, connected to various bands since the late 90’s, and has worked under the alias Tröll when remixing both Piston Damp and other electronic acts.

‘Runaway’ was written and recorded in demo form in 2001 when Jonas lived with his brother in Frxta, Norway. This demo was eventually discovered by national radio station NRK P3 and voted “Song of the month” in January of 2005 and has since lived its life on its own in the electronic underground scene.
Now, in 2021, the song has been re-sung with new lyrics and totally re-recorded. The single release will include a Single Version, the what-has-become-obligatory Extended Version, and an instrumental piano version.
Runaway has also been remixed by three legendary acts; Die Krupps, Mesh and Substaat, in three very varied remixes, which will assure activity on the various dance scenes when those days return.

The B-side track ‘Re-Shaper’ is a newly written song about how Jonas sees the many riots and demonstrations in the western world the last few years, as people tend to be extreme in their ways from the get-go and have a zero-tolerance for any other view than their own. The song uses multiple layers of vocal, which has become Jonas’ trademark, inspired by his many years of arranging and vocal producing for other artists (both Apoptygma Berzerk and Take That singer Gary Barlow have recently used his voice and arrangements).

Piston Damp have also worked hard over the last few months to record songs for a full-length album, planned to be released during the first half of 2021.

Buy/listen to the single at Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.

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

Out on May 28th is the first ever cover album by Die Krupps, well, the second actually since they did the “A Tribute To Metallica” after all. On the album they are reworking those tracks that influenced them over the years. Included on this album which sees a vinyl and CD release are covers from Sparks, The Neon Judgement, Devo, Blue Öyster Cult, Gang Of Four, The Stranglers, Queen, B-Movie, Fad Gadget, Herringer & Siciliano.

The album also holds special guest appearances by Killing Joke’s Big Paul Ferguson, The Stooges’ James Williamson, The 69 Eyes’ Jyrki 69 and The Dictators’/Manowar’s Ross The Boss.

Tracks (same for CD and Vinyl):

1. The Number One Song in Heaven (originally by Sparks)
2. Chinese Black feat. Jyrki 69 (originally by The Neon Judgement)
3. Whip it (originally by Devo)
4. (Don’t fear) The Reaper feat. James Williamson (originally by Blue Öyster Cult)
5. To Hell with Poverty! feat. Big Paul Ferguson (originally by Gang Of Four)
6. No more Heroes feat. Ross The Boss (originally by The Stranglers)
7. Another One bites the Dust (originally by Queen)
8. Marilyn Dreams (originally by B-Movie)
9. Collapsing New People (originally by Fad Gadget)
10. New York (Version 9/11) (originally by Herringer & Siciliano)

The following 3 singles were already released announcing this 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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: EBM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Australian EBM duo Novakill is active for more than twenty years now. they’re not exactly releasing albums on a regular basis, “Iconoclast” being their fifth opus to date –the third one released on RepoRecords.

Content: Novakill wanted to progress in sound and all I can say is that this album mainly features an evolution in the global production process. It remains pure EBM –reminding me of an imaginary hybrid of Die Krupps, Front 242 (for some of the bass lines) and Dance Or Die (for the way of singing), but the composition is much more sophisticated than in the past and the sound mix is perfectly balanced. The album features a total of 18 songs featuring a few instrumental intermezzos. 

+ + + : Novakill has definitely reached a high degree of maturity, which is reflected in great songwriting and powerful songs. The songs are elaborated and achieved with Industrial sound treatments like metallic percussion. It resulted in multiple brilliant songs, “Light”, “Underground”, “Anger” and “Fear” probably being the best cuts I’ve heard from this band. Even if I made a comparison with Die Krupps, Front 242 and Dance Or Die, this album has its very own sound. The instrumental pieces don’t really inject a bonus, but it’s an interesting experiment as they reveal a Cinematographic approach, which might open extra possibilities and new paths to discover for the band.

– – – : I think some vocal parts can be a little bit more passionate and powerful, but there’s no reason to complaining here.

Conclusion: Novakill definitely is not the most successful name in the EBM scene and yet this album deserves a special mention in the most accomplished productions in its genre from 2020.

Best songs: “Underground”, “Light”, “Anger”, “Fear”, “Road”, “Way”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.novakill.com / www.facebook.com/novakillindustrial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

About Novakill

NOVAkILL began in 1996 when Warren Bones, performing solo as Deathly Quiet!, started organizing acts to bring more electronic music to Sydney. There he met Craig L. Saunders aka Sik, who at the time was creating dark electro music with his brother. Together, Bones and Sik started Sydney’s first all industrial club night, Virus, before taking the name NOVAkILL. Between 1997 and 1998 the duo released three tracks on local and overseas compilations, then began work on their debut album, “Hard Tech For A Hard World”, completed in 2003 and released on Metropolis Records. “Kill Everyone” followed in 2005, also on Metropolis. By 2009 the band had signed to RepoRecords for “I Hate God”, followed by “(D)anger” in 2016 and “Iconoclast” in 2020.

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: EBM.

Format: Digital, 2 CD.

Background/Info: Kreign is an American duo set up in 2010 by Ryan Hutman (still involved with Hardwire) and Xiån Austin (also involved with hardwire and ex-member of Alter Der Ruine and Dust Is Noise). They set up this band as a tribute to old-school EBM. Earlier this year they self-released a self-titled album featuring ten songs. They got signed to Scanner, which re-released this album while there’s an extra disc available with remixes.

Content: Kreign deals with a solid old-school EBM basis, which is driven by solid bass lines, heavy rhythms and powerful vocals. This basis has been mixed with sophisticated sound treatments, even featuring Acid-like sequences. The songs are all extremely powerful; there’s just one short instrumental break. Two songs are featuring The Strand.

The second disc features 9 remixes by some renowned EBM names such as Die Krupps plus Jürgen Engler, but still established names such as Autodafeh, NZ and Elm. There’s also a remix by Nova State Machine while Kreign remixed 3 songs as well.

+ + + : This album left me literally breathless. I’ve already heard great EBM productions after Nitzer Ebb; thinking of Orange Sector, Spetsnaz or more recently NZ. But Kreign moves a step further by achieving retro-EBM together with intelligent sound treatments. It’s hard to find this kind of powerful EBM with such a sophisticated composition. It’s powerful and crafted with genius. Kreign elevates EBM to a higher artistic degree. The sound treatments are simply amazing; from the heavy, menacing bass lines to the more complex sequences, which together with the enraged vocals will sound like a smack in your face. And there’s more… It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed an extra disc with so many remixes. Kreign not only asked talented projects and great names, but there’s something to say about each remix. I however have a preference for “Building You Back” remixed by NZ and “Live Fast” remixed by Autodafeh. There’s also a cool remix of “Layers Of Chaos” by Die Krupps.

– – – : Both songs featuring The Strand are the only ones that couldn’t convince me a same way, but I’m not saying these songs are worse!

Conclusion: Kreign took me by surprise, unleashing nothing, but a masterpiece of phenomenal old-styled EBM with an intelligent writing.

Best songs: “Add It Up”, “5 Layers Of Chaos”, “Shit Storm”, “Disco King”, “Lost Purpose” + “Live Fast – Remixed by Autodafeh”, “Building You Back – NZRMX”, “Layers Of Chaos – Die Krupps Remix by Jürgen Engler”, “Shit Storm – Reaching For Shadows Mix”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/kreignmusic

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

About Kreign

Kreign is an American EBM duo formed in 2010 by Ryan Hutman and Xian Austin, both also active in Hardwire; Austin is a former member of Alter Der Ruine and Dust Is Noise.

Kreign self-released its self-titled debut album in 2020 before signing to Scanner, part of the Dark Dimensions Label Group, which reissued the album as “Kreign II” in December 2020 with a bonus disc of remixes by artists including Die Krupps, Autodafeh, NZ and Nova State Machine.

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: EBM, Electro-Metal.

Format: Digital, 6 CD Box.

Background/Info: Swedish cult EBM formation Pouppée Fabrikk struck back earlier this year by the phenomenal and dynamic EBM album “Airmen”. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic the band couldn’t play live again and released this massive Box instead. EKM stands for ‘Electronics Kroppsmusik’, which is the name they used to define their music. Anthology refers to thirty years of Pouppée Fabrikk; songs that were originally composed in between 1989 and 2019. This impressive anthology features 94 songs; taken from their albums, EP’s, but still some exclusive remixes, live tracks, rehearsal edits and demo cuts. The fans get 42 exclusive songs!

Content: Pouppée Fabrikk can be easily defined as an EBM master; a band that left a trademark in EBM history. Often compared with bands like Nitzer Ebb and DAF for the straight forward and merciless EBM they later on injected guitar playing and Metal influences getting them closer to Die Krupps. But this anthology first of all reveals that Pouppée Fabrikk still has a very own sound DNA, the kind of band that you instantly recognize for their solid bass lines, dark and disturbing sphere, heavy rhythmic and deep growls. But Pouppée Fabrikk also had something pretty Punk-like.

This Box is a way to get back to early and essential albums “Rage” and “Portent” plus the first EP’s “Summoning” and “Betrayal”, pure and unpolished, raw EBM with a Punk attitude. The next releases “We Have Come To Drop Bombs”, “Djävulen” and “Your Pain – Our Gain” revealed a sound in evolution; EBM getting mixed with furious guitar riffs becoming more Metal-like. The album “The Dirt” released in 2013 was a kind of move back to the roots.

Songs from later EP’s like “I Want Candy”, “Elite Electronics”, “Bring Back The Ways Of Old” and “H8 U” have been featured as well. Most of the exclusive songs are demo edits from some of their most famous tracks, but also exclusive remixes by Plastic Noise Experience, Nexus Kenosis and Angst, next to other remixes by Spetsnaz, Blush Response, Kant Kino, Aesthetische, Autodafeh and Polyfuse. And you’ll discover some live recordings from the early years; from 1989, 1991 and 1994.

+ + + : No need to say this Box is an absolute must have for the Pouppée Fabrikk fans. It’s a complete anthology getting us back to the band’s greatest hits, but still an opportunity to discover numerous exclusive songs. This legendary band deserves such an artistic box. The work also is an opportunity to see how the band evolved throughout the years; from the brute and unpolished “Rage” to the more accomplished “Portent” to the Punkish “We Have Come to Drop Bombs” to the Metal-orientated “Djavülen” and “Your Pain Our Gain” to the move back to EBM “The Dirt” while reminding us of essential EP’s like “Summoning”, “Betrayal” and “I Want Candy”. Pouppée Fabrikk is not just EBM, it’s a band with a very own and easy recognizable sound. Probably one of the darkest and hardest retro-EBM bands. 2020 has been the year of Pouppée Fabrikk! We first get this great new album “Armén” featuring core members Henrik Nordvargr Björkk, Leif Holm and Jouni Ollila working back together, but now there’s this great retrospective. It’s also interesting to know your favorite Pouppée Fabrikk song; mine will always be “Die Jugend” from the EP “Summoning”. Among the multiple remixes, I’ll mention the great job done by Autodafeh remixing “Bring Back The Ways Of Old”, originally released on the same-titled EP. 

– – – : The less convincing part of the work is the live recordings; the songs were previously unreleased, but unfortunately suffering from a poor sound quality.

Conclusion: There’s no better way resuming this album –and the entire work of Pouppée Fabrikk, than the title of their debut album: Rage!

Best songs: “Die Jugend”, “Retrospect”, “T.O.D.N.”, “Keine Zukunft”, “Summon The Spirits”, “Where Are You?”, “Bring Back The Ways Of Old – Autodafeh Remix”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Pouppée-Fabrikk-100329766260

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

About Pouppée Fabrikk

Pouppée Fabrikk is a Swedish electronic body music act formed in 1987, describing its sound as EKM (Elektronisk Kroppsmusik). Core members Henrik “Nordvargr” Björkk, Leif Holm and Jouni Ollila built a catalogue moving from the raw, DAF- and Nitzer Ebb-indebted EBM of the early albums “Rage” and “Portent” towards guitar-driven, Die Krupps-adjacent material on releases such as “We Have Come To Drop Bombs” and “Your Pain – Our Gain”, before returning to EBM roots on “The Dirt” and the 2020 album “Armén”.

“EKM – Anthology 1989-2019” was released on Alfa Matrix on 4 December 2020 as a 6 CD box limited to 500 copies, gathering 94 tracks and over six hours of music spanning the band’s first three decades, including remastered pre-Alfa Matrix material, 42 exclusive tracks, three new remixes and a live bootleg recorded between 1989 and 1994. No further Side-Line coverage of Pouppée Fabrikk beyond the label’s own 2025 anniversary sampler has been found.

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

The Swedish cult EBM (or is it EKM?) formation Pouppée Fabrikk closes this year in beauty by releasing a 2nd single from the “Armén” album which was released earlier this year in March. “Burn Forever” comes in 4 versions on this new single, the album version, an own remix and two more remixes by Blush Response and the promising US newcomer Kreign.

The single is out as download via Bandcamp and also on all other download and streaming platforms.

Or here for the streaming fans.

Just a few weeks ago the band also announced the 6CD box “EKM – Anthology 1989-2019” which is officially out now (and almost sold out).

Pouppée Fabrikk was formed in 1988 by Henrik Björkk and Leif Holm, who both hail from Karlskoga. Initially, the music of Pouppée Fabrikk (PF) borrowed heavily from minimalistic electronic acts such as Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft and Nitzer Ebb, but with the addition of Jouni Olilla and Jonas Aneheim on guitar PF shortly moved towards a more Die Krupps-style electronic/metal mix.

The band however soon returned to its old school sound of pure EBM.

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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(Interview by Simon Helm) Dubstar first came to prominence in the 1990s with the kind of hummable dreampop songs that worked as well driving as in clubs. 

Despite chart success, they went on hiatus at the end of the decade. Singer Sarah Blackwood joined Technique and went on tour with Depeche Mode, which led to the founding of Client, the first band on Andy Fletcher’s Toast Hawaii label. Collaborations followed with Martin Gore, Nitzer Ebb and Die Krupps, as the band rode the electro-clash wave.

Blackwood returned to the Dubstar fold and, in 2018, the act returned with a new album, One. Honed to the duo of Blackwood and musician Chris Wilkie, Dubstar’s sound maintained its classic resonance, but with updated and reinvigorated melodies.

The band’s latest release is “I Can See You Outside,” which comes with a video addressing themes like CCTV surveillance. Their previous single, “Hygiene Strip,” tackled the public health crisis. This is deeper material from a group that once got into trouble for using pictures of sexy pencil cases on their covers.

We spoke with Dubstar to find out more about creating under lockdown and their colourful history.

SL: Dubstar seems to be in a much better place as a duo. How do the two of you work together to create the new songs?

Sarah: We live a couple of hundred miles apart, so rely on WeTransfer and sending songs back and forth to each other. Chris will usually start with a template; and, if I like it and it feels and sounds good “sung,” we develop it. Sometimes the vocal suggests different areas to approach, like a key change or a word tweak, and sometimes they don’t need much development; they are almost fully formed and ready to send on to the mother ship, which is [producer Stephen Hague’s] studio.

Chris: Even the people at the end of my street seem a couple of hundred miles away nowadays. But yes, we already had a bit of practice at working “remotely” for geographical reasons. I can usually imagine what the songs will sound like with Sarah singing them, but often unforeseen ideas will emerge in response to what happens the first time she approaches it. Maybe because she hears something which I hadn’t, and her delivery suggests another layer of meaning.

SL: You have been working on new material with Stephen Hague. He seems to have collaborated with a lot of Northerners – New Order, Pet Shop Boys, OMD, Holly Johnson and Pete Shelley being just a few examples. How did you take to him, being from Yorkshire?

S: He’s very mild mannered and easy going. This time around, it was like picking up from where we left off. I can’t quite believe I’m saying this, but I’ve known and worked with him, on and off, for 25 years.

He has seen me through drunken melodramas to sober neurosis; through Dubstar to Client and back again. He even helped me design my kitchen. He’s always tried to nurture and encourage me as a person, especially during the first album, when I was overwhelmed by just about everything. He was a welcome, quiet and calming, influence; and he used to lend me books he thought would be relevant and helpful. Stephen went out of his way to put me at ease, which I massively appreciated. In all the madness, his recording studio was always a place of calm and focus. 

So, the Northerner in both myself and Chris is pretty direct. We don’t need pandering to, and hope what you see is what you get – which I think works well with Stephen’s laid-back calm, on both a productive and a personal level.

C: Perhaps it helps that he’s from Maine and is essentially a Northerner himself, in U.S. terms.

He brings a tranquility-of-mind to proceedings, which is something which me and Sarah have always struggled to achieve without assistance!

SL: The new material doesn’t shy away from confronting themes lifted from the headlines, including the pandemic. How have you been coping during the crisis?

S: I have significantly narrowed my horizons to stay sane, what with ever-changing restrictions. I can’t seem to keep up with which iterations are the most recent, so I just keep my head down, stay close to home, and go out only when it’s absolutely necessary.

I’m massively introverted, anyway, so I’ve quite enjoyed nesting and making unrealistic plans for my home environment, but some of my friends have found it very difficult and I worry for them. My WhatsApp groups with my friends and relatives have become lifelines, even if all we share is yet another banana bread recipe or the latest Donald Trump meme. I see more of my parents, via Zoom, than I ever did, so I think some good has come out of it.

I think my biggest problem will be re-adjusting, if and when the time comes. I haven’t used public transport or been into the centre of town since February. Two evenings out ended disastrously in anxiety attacks, so I think a gentle re-introduction is most definitely in order.

C: I haven’t coped well at all, but making the record has been a lifeline. I liken it to any recycling process: you can take fear and sorrow, and transform them into something less harmful, or even useful.

SL: Sarah, you have sung with Die Krupps. What was it like performing a Visage song with Germany’s legendary industrial act?

S: Well, I remember the recording of it vividly!!!! About three days before, in the middle of a tour, I was given a CD of “Der Amboss” with strict instructions to learn it – which really was mission impossible with absolutely no access to a CD player. Smartphones then were still a twinkle in the eye of Steve Jobs. 

So, on our Saturday off, Ralf [Dörper] dutifully appeared at the hotel just after breakfast, bundled me into a car, and whisked me off to a recording studio in Düsseldorf. I had the journey time to listen to it, on repeat, and then he told me I had to sing it in German too! I have no aptitude for languages, whatsoever, although all my German friends love teaching me very bad things to say for their own amusement. 

Honestly, trying to get my Yorkshire mouth and dialect around the song left us all in fits of laughter. I could see Ralf and Jürgen [Engler] doubled over in tears through the window of the control room, especially “habe spas mit mir”! It took a long, long time to record. 

I had the absolute pleasure of singing it with them onstage in London a couple of times, but I think a lot of the fans were confused as to who I was and why I was there. They were very accepting, though, and gave me a nice cheer. 

And then, post gig, I showed Die Krupps how to stretch out their hip flexors in the dressing room. That was an unforgettable image of them all doing the couch stretch. So game. Love them.

SL: Dubstar were managed, at one time, by the same man who had signed Test Department and Cabaret Voltaire to major labels. How did that come about?

S: Just like Marc Almond, our first encounter with Stevo [Pearce] was in Leeds. His first words were, “See that billboard? Your name will be on there one day, in lights!” 

I wasn’t bowled over, to be honest. That sort of thing doesn’t really float my boat. In fact, it would be more likely to induce panic if it ever happened. He was one in a long line of potential managers we had seen. The record label were losing patience with us. We needed a manager – needed one the day before yesterday – and we were terrified of making the wrong choice, but were also so tired, physically and emotionally. We were at the stage where the last one we had seen was the best one – and he was the last one.

Also, his girlfriend was Cleo Rocos. Cleo was Stevo’s secret weapon. Both Chris and I wanted to be in Cleo’s orbit. She was just one of “those” people:  warm, fun and genuinely caring. She became a bit of a rock for me at the time: encouraging me with writing and performing; buying me CDs of interesting artists, like Dory Previn; picking up false eyelashes for me on her travels; and, most wonderfully, she used to ring me when she knew I was scheduled to be on my own in a hotel room. 

She was a big fan of watching C4 Friday night comedy, especially Frasier, and Chris and I continued that tradition long after Stevo had stopped managing us. We always sent a little thank you into the universe for Cleo. 

To me, then, Stevo appeared quite bonkers. He also told me he was dyslexic, and the one thing I admired about him was that, every day, he would learn a new word and incorporate it into his vocabulary. He never saw limitations, only exciting possibilities – no matter how crazy. One of his more publishable ideas was to engineer a photo opportunity in front of the Selfridges Christmas tree, with him dressed as Santa bestowing us with our gold disc for Goodbye sales, whilst the EMI executives posed as elves. In the little green suits and curly toe shoes. It never happened.

C: I was aware of Stevo as a teenager, because he was often referenced in relation to The The or Soft Cell, and I used to find his notes of wisdom on the Some Bizzare record sleeves interesting. The one he put on Soul Mining always stuck in my head: “With every kick in the face and every hurdle you pass, the rewards get greater“.

It seemed very profound and benevolent, so I suggested that he put one on our Goodbye album. It wasn’t quite as snappy, but I appreciated the lineage.

We could probably fill an entire book with anecdotes just from the period where he was our manager. I was amused that he had a literal, free-flowing fountain of Dom Perignon in his office on New Bond Street to entertain visitors, until I realised who was paying for it.

SL: It seems like narcissists are everywhere in the music industry these days. Does that mean they are winning?

S: Ha, I’ve encountered a couple over the years. I don’t think I ever will again, now I’m a little older and hopefully wiser. I think narcissists have always been with us but social media has given them a platform to thrive, and we are becoming more able to spot them. It’s that thing: the more you look for them, the more you see. Maybe social media exaggerates those traits in people, too, like a virus, which is very sad. They start as entertaining and end up being toxic, which can stir up emotions – and sometimes that’s not a good thing.

We have never been more scrutinised as a society; nor judged as individuals, particularly in media and politics. I think having a profile comes with responsibility, which some don’t realise, and it’s time we all started to scrutinise how we communicate. It used to be something we all just took for granted, but maybe the negative aspects of social media have thrown up some things we can all learn from. 

C: It’s unsurprising that narcissists would be attracted to the music business or any role in public life, because it affords them attention. They’re often good at it for a while, but it’s bound to end badly, because they lack the ability to perceive how others see them.

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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“EKM – Anthology 1989​-​2019” is the title of a brand new Pouppée Fabrikk 6CD BOX set (available via the Alfa Matrix webstore) and download (available here via Bandcamp). The term ‘EKM’ in the title refers to ‘Elektronisk Kroppsmusik’ which the cult Swedish elektro punk band launched years ago.

The 6 CDs gather 94 tracks totaling over 6 hours and retracing the band’s first 30 years of activities between 1989 and 2019, and including some 42 exclusive tracks (rare versions, mixes or previously unreleased on CD).

The 6CD boxset is strictly limited to 500 units worldwide and holds the fully remastered versions of the band’s entire pre- and Alfa Matrix discography (except for the 2020 album “Armén” which is available here on vinyl and CD) including their long deleted classic “Rage” and “Die Jugend” debut releases, but also all of the following albums and EPs in the likes of “Portent”, “Summoning”, “We Have Come To Drop Bombs”, “Betrayal”, “Your Pain Our Gain” and “Elite Electronics”.

Hardcore fans of the band will surely appreciate getting all previously digital-only releases finally made available on CD format for the very first time (“Bring Back The Ways Of Old EP”, “H8 U EP”, “Watch Your Sex 2017 EP”, “Only Control” EP).

Also added is the live bootleg album “One Leg In The Grave” featuring 13 live tracks recorded between 1989 and 1994 in Växjö, Sala, Köping, Örebro and Stockholm. You also get 9 rehearsal recordings made between 2014 and 2016 and 6 other very rare tracks/versions and early demos, plus 3 exclusive remixes by Plastic Noise Experience, Nexus Kenosis and Angst.

The band also included 2 skull-tagged “Watch Your Sex” condoms in the box. Use it or keep it, the choice is yours.

About Pouppée Fabrikk

Pouppée Fabrikk was formed in 1987-1988 by Henrik Björkk and Leif Holm, who both hail from Karlskoga.

Initially, the music of Pouppée Fabrikk (PF) borrowed heavily from minimalistic electronic acts such as Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft and Nitzer Ebb, but with the addition of Jouni Olilla and Jonas Aneheim on guitar the band moved towards a more Die Krupps-style electronic/metal mix.

The “Your Pain – Our Gain” CD was meant to be released in 1996, but due to differences in opinion between the band and the record company (Energy Rekords) it was delayed until 1999. In 1996 the band decided to take a break and Pouppée Fabrikk was put on hold and the band members worked on various solo projects.

In 2000 the band re-united for a gig at the Tinitus Electronic Festival and announced that they were making a comeback and returning to their roots. They released a four track mini CD entitled “Elite Electronics”. A year later though, both Jouni and Henrik left the band to concentrate on their respective solo careers. Pouppée Fabrikk disbanded shortly afterwards.

After seven years of absence from the scene the band re-united in 2009, Christian R filling the place of former member Jouni Ollila. In October 2010, they once again re-united for a gig; this time at Bodyfest in Fryshuset.

In 2019, the band announced the production of a new album, “Armén”, the first full length album since 1994. “Armén” was released in 2020 via Alfa Matrix in vinyl and CD and is available via Alfa Matrix. Alfa Matrix has also been releasing the band’s other output from recent years.

Available formats:

• “EKM – Anthology 1989​-​2019” (Bandcamp download)
• “EKM – Anthology 1989​-​2019” 6CD BOX
• “Armén” vinyl / CD

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.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: The Die Krupps gang (cf.Jürgen Engler, Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher) is back on track unleashing the second EP from their EBM side-project Die Robo Sapiens. And it’s a special work as it pays tribute to the electronic scene from Düsseldorf, hometown of Die Krupps, but of course also the city of Kraftwerk, D.A.F., Neu, Rheingold ao. “FanFanFanatisch” is a cover song of Rheingold, which was originally composed in the early 80s.

Content: Die Robo Sapiens seriously boosted and reworked the song into a great EBM version with all the power of Jürgen Engler’s vocals. The B-side song entitled “Düsseldorf” clearly appears to be another wink to the electronic scene from this magic city. It sounds more Kraftwerk-like.

The title track has been remixed by Aestetische, 808 Dot.Pop and Kant Kino (featuring 2 remixes). Notice by the way that one of the remixes by Kant Kino is a mix of D.A.F. (with the song “Der Mussolini” plus the lyrics from Rheingold). Implant made a remix of “Düsseldorf.

+ + + : What a great way to bring this early Rheingold song back to life. Die Robo Sapiens clearly stands for 100% power and the title song clearly appears to be a club smasher. Among the remixes Aesthetische accomplished a great version while I also enjoyed the minimal approach of 808 Dot.Pop mixing its Kraftwerk-pop with the EBM of Die Robo Sapiens.

– – – : I expected a bit more out of some remixes, the Die Robo Sapiens edit however remaining the best one of the EP.

Conclusion: Die Robo Sapiens so far released two great EBM EP’s plus a great cover version of Depeche Mode together with AD:Key; time for a debut album now!

Best songs: “FanFanFanatisch”, “FanFanFanatisch – Aestetische Rework”, “FanFanFanatisch – 808 Dot Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/DieRoboSapiens

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘FanFanFanatisch / The Düsseldorf EP’.

About Die Robo Sapiens

Die Robo Sapiens is the EBM-only side-project of Die Krupps frontman Jürgen Engler, together with Ralf Dörper and Marcel Zürcher. The project launched in 2018 with the download EP “Teufelskreis – Tanz Mit Dem Roboter” and its first video, “Tanz Mit Dem Roboter”, followed the same year. In 2019 Die Robo Sapiens teamed with AD:keY on a Depeche Mode tribute EP, “Master and Servant”, before returning in 2020 with the “FanFanFanatisch / The Düsseldorf EP”. The project released its debut album, “Robo Sapien Race”, in 2022 on vinyl and as a 2CD boxset via Alfa Matrix, with Engler discussing the project in a 2023 Click Interview.

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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Die Krupps and Ross The Boss have recorded a brand new version of The Stranglers’ “No More Heroes” in tribute to Stranglers keyboardist Dave Greenfield who passed away earlier this year from COVID-19.

“No More Heroes” was originally released in 1977 as a single from the album of the same name. It is one of the band’s most successful singles and lyrically refers to several historical figures, including Elmyr de Hory, Leon Trotsky, Lenny Bruce, William Shakespeare and fictional character Sancho Panza.

At the time of the single’s release, the B-side “In the Shadows” was a non-album track; however, it appeared on the Stranglers’ next studio album, “Black and White”. The band’s publishers threatened legal action against Elastica in 1995, arguing that their single “Waking Up” borrowed elements of “No More Heroes”. Elastica eventually settled out of court.

Here’s the new version.

And here is the original for those Youngers readers who don’t know the version by The Stranglers.

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 city of Düsseldorf has always been seen as the mecca for electronic music since the early 1970s, when Kraftwerk released their first albums and morphed into robotic aliases. Düsseldorf was also the home of other cult-bands like Neu!, La Düsseldorf, DAF and of course Die Krupps. It’s the city where Juergen Engler and Ralf Dörper grew up.

When Bodo Staiger of Rheingold passed away in December 2019, the time had come to pay homage to one of Düsseldorf’s legends with their song “FanFanFanatisch”. Engler decided that this should be released under their electronic-only project Die Robo Sapiens signed to Alfa Matrix. Although Kraftwerk never were a direct influence to Jürgen Engler, the track “Düsseldorf” pays tribute to the city that brought us that unmistakable sound that made the city famous.

The tracks come in their original version next to additional remixes by label mates Kant Kino, Aesthetische, Implant and 808 DOT POP. prove that even newer generations of musicians are still influenced by it today and put all their (he)art and craft into this tribute to the electronic school cradle.

This “Duesseldorf EP” is past, present and future… and its homage to electronic music is even more significant today with the recent additional loss of Florian Schneider (KRAFTWERK) and Gabi Delgado (DAF).in 2020.

The EP is available exclusively via Bandcamp. Check it out below. Read the review of ‘FanFanFanatisch / The Düsseldorf EP’.

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 cult Swedish EBM act Pouppée Fabrikk have released their very first brand-new studio album since the 90’s!

On “Armén” (out on March 27 via Alfa Matrix and available here for ordering) they bring their solid early-Electronic Body Music sonic roots across 10 tracks including Henrik Björkk’s commanding growling vocals, repetitive bass lines and solid hard beats. And for the very first time, it also features a song in their native Swedish language, “Kom Ta Min Smärta”. The whole was mastered by legendary Jouni Ollila, also a former member of the band.

4 formats (incl. vinyl limited to 300 copies)

The new album is released in 4 multiple formats including a limited black vinyl edition and a fan CD edition with bonus goodies, and a normal CD version. All 3 formats can be ordered via the Alfa Matrix webstore. The download is available now via Bandcamp as well.

The details:

• Armén (Limited Black Vinyl) LP: This black vinyl format is limited to 300 units worldwide.
• Pouppée Fabrikk – Armén (Limited) CD: This deluxe carton box edition of the album includes unique bonus outfit goodies: a 3 cm black metal pin with embossed white logo, an embroidered 10 cm black circle patch with band logo and 3 reversed crowns in silver and some bonus design material.
• Pouppée Fabrikk – Armén (Limited) CD: the normal CD version
• Pouppée Fabrikk – Armén (download): download with 2 tracks for immediate download

You can check out the album below!

Elektronisk Kroppsmusik since 1987

Pouppée Faébrikk have been active since 1987 and are the absolute leaders of what is called the EKM movement (Elektronisk Kroppsmusik). Their minimalist powerful electronic style has often been compared to electronic pioneers like DAF and Nitzer Ebb but the band has always managed to create a very own approach.

With the addition of Jouni Olilla and Jonas Aneheim on guitar the band moved towards a more Die Krupps-style electronic/metal mix. The “Your Pain – Our Gain” CD was meant to be released in 1996, but due to differences in opinion between the band and the record company (Energy Rekords) it was delayed until 1999. In 1996 the band decided to take a break and PF was put on hold and the band members worked on various solo projects.

In 2000 the band briefly re-united for a gig at the Tinitus Electronic Festival and released a 4-track mini CD entitled “Elite Electronics”. The band fully re-united in 2009, with Christian R filling the place of former member Jouni Ollila. Their previous album (“The Dirt”) released in 2013 wasn’t really a new album as it held material based on early abandoned demo’s next to a few new songs. It was however very well received by their fanbase who craved for old school material from the band.

In 2019, the band announced the production of a new album, “Armén”, the first full length album since 1994.

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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German industrial pioneers Die Krupps return with guest vocalist Jyrki69 (69 Eyes) on a new version of the 80’s underground classic “Chinese Black”, originally released by The Neon Judgement. A video has been released as well, which you can watch below.

For the video the duo teamed up with video director Vicente Cordero (Not My God, Skold, 3Teeth). “Chinese Black” will be available on all digital platforms everywhere starting April 6th. The track will also appear on the forthcoming Die Krupps album for Cleopatra Records.

Here’s the original version.

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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