Following up on his previous single (“I Love You”) as ImJudas, Maxx Maryan (male half of the Italian electro rock industrial duo Helalyn Flowers) now releases a new wave ballad, “Stjudas”. The EP is out now via the Alfa Matrix sublabel Spleen+.

The EP, includes the previous single as well and a dark cover version of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry”. This EP is another teaser for the upcoming ImJudas album “Viscerheart” which will offer melancholic 80s pop-wave mixed with post-punk ingredients.

ImJudas was initially started as a noir-dyed electro-pop project in 2016 and has since incorporated a rough guitar component. The project’s debut album, “Yrjudas”, showcases a blend of electronic dark wave and a few rock elements. You can read a full interview with Maxx on ImJudas right here.

ImJudas discography

Albums

• Yrjudas: Released in 2022 under Alfa Matrix

Singles & EPs

• Tulpa (2017): This EP, consisting of 5 trackd files, was released under Alfa Matrix
• Ritual (2021): Another release under Alfa Matrix, “Ritual” is a 6-track EP
• People Of The Blame (2023): Released by Spleen+ holding 7 tracks
• So Untrue (2023): On Spleen+, “So Untrue” holds 6 tracks
• I Love You (2023): A single release under Spleen+
• Stjudas (2023): 3-track EP

Compilations

• Sonic Seducer Cold Hands Seduction – Vol. 246 – Various – Sonic Seducer (2023)
• Matrix + Downloaded 011 – I Love You – Alfa Matrix (2023)
• A Strange Play.2 – Tribute To The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry – Spleen+ (2023)
• Anthologies 4 – Ritual – Je M’en Fish (2023, JMF202302)
• The Zombietapes (Face The Beat 7 Megamix) – Various – Side-Line (2022)
• Gothic File 22 | 1 – People Of The Blame – Alfa Matrix (2022)
• Sonic Seducer Cold Hands Seduction – Vol. 237 – Various – Sonic Seducer (2022)
• The Dark Hits Of Tomorrow Vol. 4 – Ritual – Orkus (2022)
• Face The Beat: Session 7 – Ritual (Reichsfeind Remix) – Side-Line (2022)
• Sounds From The Matrix 21 – Apostatik – Alfa Matrix (2020)
• Matrix Downloaded 009 – Apostatik – Alfa Matrix (2020)
• matrixx – 20 Years Of Alfa Matrix (Best Of Electro, Synthpop, EBM, Darkwave) – Without Us You Are Nothing – Alfa Matrix (2021)
• Face The Beat: Session 5 – Various – Side-Line (2019)
• Endzeit Bunkertracks [Act VIII] – Tulpa (AD:Key Remix) – Alfa Matrix (2019, AM1276FCD, [Act VIII])
• Alfa Matrix Re:Covered Vol.3 (A Tribute To Depeche Mode) – Various – Alfa Matrix (2019)
• The Other Face Of Evil – Zombie – EK Product (2019, EKPCD062)
• Sounds From The Matrix 20 – Without Us You Are Nothing – Alfa Matrix (2018)
• Matrix Downloaded [008] – Without Us You Are Nothing – Alfa Matrix (2018)
• Matrix Downloaded [007] – Tulpa – Alfa Matrix (2017)
• Sounds From The Matrix 19 – Tulpa – Alfa Matrix (2017)
• Orkus! Compilation 127 – Tulpa – Orkus (2017/12-2018/01, 127)
• Matrix Downloaded [006] – People Of The Blame (Alfa Edit) – Alfa Matrix (2016)
• Recovery>For You< (An Alfa-Matrix Tribute to Front 242) – Various – Alfa Matrix (2016)

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.

www.side-line.com

SUPPRESSOR is a solo-project hailing from Chile. You might have discovered this hard- and dark minded Electro-Trance project on one of the famous “Endzeit Bunkertracks”-compilation series or by a remix for SynthAttack. Suppressor already released a few EP’s, but has now released the debut full length “Into A Deep Void” on darkTunes Music Group. The work is an astonishing sonic fusion between Psy-Trance and Dark-Electronics.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You are already active under the Suppressor moniker for several years now, but can you briefly tell us who you are, where do you come from and how did you get contaminated by the electronic-music virus? What have been your sources of inspiration?

Bergen: My name is Bergen Schlitzie, I am from Santiago, Chile. Since I was a child I started listening to Techno and growing up I got interested in Electronic music. In my adolescence I got interested in Gothic- and Industrial music plus hard Electronic beats.

It was in 2004 when together with Ignacio J. Vera (Traumatic Injection, Don Baphomet) we set up our first project called NEUTRAL KONNTROL and so, our way in the music production. I always quote Noisuf-X, Xotox, as a source of inspiration, as well as more neural rhythms such as Psy-Trance and Goa

Q: You this year released your new album “Into A Deep Void” revealing a true sonic fusion between Industrial- and Psy-Trance music. How do you perceive your own evolution from the previous releases till “Into A Deep Void”?

Bergen: Since I started as a SUPPRESSOR, I wanted to have a different and danceable sound. I progressed and got more interested in creating something more ‘personal’.  

Then I decided to try the mixture of Industrial and Psy-Trance for the “Shaman”-EP, which generated what I was looking for to obtain that sound; that mixture that was different from the previous one that I already had published and that pleased the public in general.

Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing, recording and production work of the album?

Bergen: “Into A Deep Void” is a very personal process. The title and the album itself are inspired by the film “Enter The Void” by Gaspar Noé. In this album I reflect my desires for an introspective journey. The album itself is a process of ending and beginning, a new beginning both personally and artistically. It was a process of trial and error, but with a result that I love.

Q: The Psy-Trance influences are very present in the album, but still in the clip of “ Śūnyatā”. Tell us a bit more about the clip and the way you get in touch with Psy-Trance music? What does this genre of music mean to you?

Bergen: “Śūnyatā” or “Void” is a Buddhist concept that opens the inner being, empty of feelings and memories, to return as you wish.

Psy-Trance is a music genre that attracts me by its message and connection with nature, it transports me to another place within the subconscious, it creates my “Void” and restart as many times as necessary.

Q: I think it’s not an easy thing to release a new album during the Covid-19 pandemic. How do you experience this situation and does it have a real impact on your activities?

Bergen: This pandemic has been quite difficult to live, both creatively and personally. I should mention that this record was an escape valve. I was able to concentrate on writing it, arranging it, mixing it, and thus freeing myself from many burdens. Enjoy the process, that’s all.

Q: You are hailing from Chile so what can you tell us about the scene (bands, labels, clubs, promoters, organizations etc) in your country? What do you expect to be signed on an European label?

Bergen: There are good bands and musical projects like Say Just Words, Die Braut, Traumatic Injection, as well as good places to play and show your art… but there is a lack of support from the public.

The Chilean scene is many years away from what has been achieved in Europe or Mexico where bands are getting a bigger support. I hope to have more opportunities of diffusion together with other European labels (apart from DarkTunes) to show my art to many more people and to get far with my project.

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: Dark electro-pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: H.O.W. (Her Own World) is a Polish duo featuring the front man of Reactor 7x ‘Ad-X’ and female vocalist ‘Yu’. Some of you might have discovered this band on the latest issue of the famous 3endzeit Bunkertracks”-compilation series. Just like Reactor7x this duo got signed to Alfa Matrix to deliver their first official EP.

Content: The title song is the already familiar “Happiness Imperative”, which got featured on “Endzeit Bunkertracks”. It’s a dark electro song featuring a carrying lead and the sensual, somewhat ethereal timbre of Yu’s voice. This song sounds like the offspring between dark-electronics and dark-pop music. The other song “Stalker Girl” mixes the same ingredients, but still has a technoid touch on top.

Both songs have been remixed by several artists. Neikka RPM and Aesthetische, both label mates, are for sure the most familiar names from the list. Other remixes have been done by Inva//id, Jeremiah Kane, Switchface and Freaky Mind (known from some productions released by SkyQode). 

+ + + : “Happiness Imperative” is a cool song and for sure the main song from this EP. It’s a cool mix between different influences, like a sonic yin and yang. At one side you get a darker, angry sound and at the other side a more refined and catchy one with sensual female vocals on top. Inva//id did a great remix, injecting some extra club vibes to the song. Neikka RPM did a great job as well, injecting its usual bombast and punch. The Aesthetische remix is also a noticeable one so in the end I should say “Happiness Imperative” is a good song and for sure inspiring for remixes.

– – – : “Stalker Girl” sounds a bit like the B-side song of the EP, but that’s not totally true. It’s a cool song as well, but the remixes are a bit disappointing here.

Conclusion: H.O.W. doesn’t bring that new, but this debut EP is however a promising production so I’m really looking forward to hearing more from this band.

Best songs: “Happiness Imperative – Inva//id Remix”, “Happiness Imperative”, “Stalker Girl”, “Happiness Imperative – Neika RPM Remix”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: http://herownworld.eu / www.facebook.com/howherownworld

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

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 6th track on our free (or pay-what-you-want to support our charity work) download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 5” is by the German solo powernoise project Antibody. The track was originally released on the single with the same name via the fine Heidelberg, Germany based darkTunes label. If you remember well, Antibody was also featured on the 4th volume of the compilation series, namely with the track “Desperation”.

You can listen to “Secrets” right below.

Antibody was formed in 2013 when Jan was only 12(!!!) years old, which also makes him the youngest artist on this compilation. From 2013 to 2015 Antibody went through some changes, hunting down and seeking out its true identity/image. Things really started rolling when he made a remix of Aengeldusts club hit “Meth Face”, all of a sudden Antibody had became a recognised name within the underground industrial scene.

One remix after the other followed including reworks for the Canadian noise act Displacer and for the German dark-elektro act Binary Division. In 2015 Antibody successfully submitted a track to the infamous Alfa Matrix Industrial Compilation Endzeit Bunkertracks (Volume 7) and saw “Shrimps” released. The “Desperation” single followed in 2016 and in 2017 the debut album “Opera of Death” got released. Last year we also got “Revolution Dance” showing that this is a project to stay! You can follow Antibody right here on Facebook.

Check “Face The Beat: Session 5” on Bandcamp to discover the other bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

Martin V. Kester aka ‘Losttrooper’ is already active under the Dunkelwerk moniker for several years now. He this year released his fourth full length album entitled “Waffengang” on Alfa Matrix. The German project is considered as one of the latest real ‘endzeit’-electro projects. Even if I think that the sound of previous albums were darker, the main theme inspired by defeat and misery plus their impact, is really ‘endzeit’-minded. I asked a few questions to Martin about this new opus and his fetish theme…

“Waffengang” can be ordered straight from the Alfa Matrix label.

You can listen to the album whilst reading the interview:

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Dunkelwerk is a project releasing new albums at irregular basis and which doesn’t play live. It feels a bit like a ghost-project emerging each time again from the depths, but what’s the explanation to this situation?  

Losttrooper: I don´t have much time for music. It´s my hobby. It´s also true that I work slowly… I work on a track, then I don´t make music for two or three weeks. When a track is finished I’ll wait one or two months to listen to it again. I’m asking myself if it’s still good or if I’ve to change some elements. Dunkelwerk is not a constant workflow. For me it is unimportant if I need 2 or 5 years to release an album. So far the results were worth every year of waiting in my opinion. But I know that this is a little nightmare for every music label. Years of silence, no live performances and only a few social media activities… No one knows exactly why Dunkelwerk sells some CDs at all. But wait… I know it! But I don´t tell it… Something like ‘strong focus’ or ‘attitude’…

Q: Compared to previous albums I experienced “Waffengang” as less dark, but more elaborated, refined and accomplished. What kind of album did you’d in mind and tell us a bit more about the different aspects of the writing and production?

Losttrooper: I don´t know. For me “Waffengang” sounds dark as hell. The German lyrics are full of death, defeat and misery. The making of “Josef Ritter von Gadolla” is a good example of how I (sometimes) work. I was in Gotha (German city) and suddenly I stood in front of a memorial tablet, which told the story of this person. I read it and it became clear that it would become a theme for a Dunkelwerk song. Other tracks are the result of one very strong sample I found in the darkest speech and sound archives. ”Waffengang” starts with a beast of a sample and the rest of the composing was craft.

Q: How do you see yourself evolving as musician from your very first work “Troops” (2005) to “Waffengang” (2019) and what do you still want to accomplish in the further years?

Losttrooper: In my opinion I´m not a real ‘musician’. I can’t read music. I can’t play the melody I composed one week ago. Strange. I only have this little talent to find good melodies and combine them with noise and dark sounds. I often hear that the music of Dunkelwerk sounds very German. I don´t know. I´m happy that the vocal work starts to get better. I´m not a singer. That´s the disadvantage I have to deal with. I also don´t want to pitchshift or hardcore-overdrive my voice that no one can understand the lyrics. Future? I don´t care. Maybe it would be a good idea to leave the battlefields a little bit. Maybe I should get rid of concept albums. Who listens to albums anymore? Most people listen to personal playlists and don´t care about a concept album at all. However I will focus on defeats and misery. Trust!

Q: You say you’re not a singer and it sometimes feels a bit like you don’t feel comfortable with the vocals, which is also accentuated by the cinematographic side of the album while your early work was instrumental. What’s your perception?

Losttrooper: The vocals are important to explain the difficult Dunkelwerk theme. That´s the reason why I started to ‘sing’. It would be MUCH easier for me to stay instrumental, but to be honest it would be boring. So I fight my vocal war release after release.

Q: The main concept remains ‘the moment of total defeat; no glory, no victory just the sweet smell of discomfiture’. This theme is often always related to the horror of WWII, but what fascinates and inspires you in this dark vision of life and how does your sound has to cover this theme?

Losttrooper: For me the war setting is a metaphor. Defeat and misery can be found in many other settings. WWI and WWII are kinds of melting pots for all these terrible things. In the abyss of Dunkelwerk I deal with something far away from war. I know defeats and I know misery in a different way. No bombs, no tanks or troops….but losings and darkness.

Q: You’ve always used a lot of samplings, which because of their origin, might sound a bit controversial. I can imagine that’s precisely why you clearly indicate on your Facebook page and the back cover of the album, Dunkelwerk ‘has NO use for ANY fascist train of thought!’ Did you already encounter some negative feedback about the ‘image’ of Dunkelwerk and the controversy it might create? Controversy also is a way to provoke some reaction so it might become a marketing strategy as well. What is it really all about?

Losttrooper: So far most people understood what Dunkelwerk is about. Not everyone likes the way I do it. That´s ok. I make clear statements and don´t play the typical ‘Let´s say nothing’ promo game. I wrote these songs because the stories are promptings of my heart. I don´t sit here and think ‘How could I shock my little sister or my mother?’. Other bands work this way. I sit here and listen to very old recordings from the war times and suddenly there is this little girl singing this “Maikäfer”-song. And I know she died by VERY terrible circumstances. All what is left are her words and I used them with MUCH respect. Some fans told me that songs like “Sternensoldat” (from “Troops”) or “Pulverland” (from “Waffengang”) left them with some tears in their eyes. This IS endzeit electro with an attitude!

Marketing strategy? Hahahaha….I know the sales rates. If this is a marketing strategy it is a bad one. There might be some reasons why no other German ‘endzeit’ projects are around anymore. I quite often hear: ‘:Wumpscut: dead. Retrosic dead. You are the only one doing this stuff!’. In my opinion this fact is very sad and marketing wise unfavorable. Take this great “Endzeit Bunkertracks” series by Alfa Matrix. It collects all kinds of ‘dark evil’ music. Dunkelwerk is on it but I hardly find other bands on it doing music close to Dunkelwerk. Normally I should ask myself: is it a good idea to go on the way I do? I don´t care! I follow my heart and don´t care about marketing. You can make more money with every average EDM track. You better sell some lemonade at the street that makes more sense than booting your audio PC to start a new dark-electro song. The 90s are over! When a band like :Wumpscut: stops making music you know what time it is! It´s time for EDM or the comeback of Eurodance, but it is definitely not the time for dark-electro, synth-pop, hellectro or any other alternative gothic stuff. SAD! But who cares? We go on! Besides this I´m a big fan of Eurodance. I collect this stuff! So this situation is not only a catastrophe for me. Ha!

Thanks for being interested in Dunkelwerk!

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: Dark-electro, EBM, electro-industrial, techno-body, power-noise, IDM.

Background/Info: The first ‘act’ from this now legendary compilation was released in 2005. Fourteen years later Alfa Matrix released the eight edition of this series devoted to dark-electronics. The massive work features 72 songs on 4 discs and 40 extra songs available as download.

Artists: Suicide Commando, Blutengel, Zombie Girl, Funker Vogt, Komor Kommando, [SITD], Angelspit, Noisuf-X, Solitary Experiments, Ad:Key, Acylum, Phillip Münch ao.

Content: It’s impossible to go in detail when you’ve to review such a compilation featuring 112 songs! But “Endzeit Bunkertracks” remains faithful to a mix of music genres dealing with electronics and a fusion between great and established artists plus discoveries. No doubt about it, the some upcoming talents have been featured here. Next to a bunch of Alfa Matrix bands the compilation also features big names from other labels such as Out Of Line, Dark Dimensions, Infacted Recordings, Repo Records ao.

There’re a lot of exclusive cuts features and/or remixes while the best bands aren’t always featured on the discs.

+ + + : A great sampler and a hard copy means so much more than the digital version. The artwork by Japanse artist Tomoki Hayasaka is absolutely great and matching with the concept. Song-wise you’ll discover interesting young talents such as H.O.W., Complex Mind, Eexee, Suppressor, Playngrain, Pax Sono, Nitek, Fabrikmutter and C-Phalea. The diversity of the songs made this ‘sonic orgy’ more accessible then releasing such a box format with only dark-electronic bands.  

– – – : Even if this compilation remains a great and successful work, 112 songs is definitely too much so this is a compilation you’ve to listen spread over several days.

Conclusion: It has been my pleasure tipping some ‘unknown’ talents, which have been selected for the compilation while “Endzeit Bunkertracks” remains a sonic bible for all dark electronic souls!

Best bands: Komor Kommando, Implant, Noisuf-X, Electronic Frequency, Funker Vogt, [X]-Rx, Suppressor, Nitek, Ice Ages, Larva.

Rate: (8½).

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

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 75th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the Italian hard electro duo Synapsyche.

The italian duo Synapsyche was formed in the late 2008 by Stefano Mannequinetik, soon joined by singer Marco Katatronik Mantovani (formerly in Zona Traffico Libero and Ultima Necat). Their first release is the self-produced 4-track EP “Wait/Hate” released in 2013. In 2014 Synapsyche releases its self-produced full-length debut album “Crashdown Connected”.

In march 2015, the brand new track “Breath Control” is included in the Alfa Matrix compilation “Endzeit Bunkertracks VII – The Bonus Tracks” and becomes a hit in the industrial clubs. That same year a new self-produced/self-mixed/self-mastered EP “Meds” comes out. The Russian label SkyQode picks up the band and issues the EP “Hate And Psyche” in December 2015. In 2016 SkyQode releases “The Abyss Effect” mastered by Jan L. at X-Fusion Music Production. In 2017 they produce the EP “This Is Gonna Hurt”.

You can find the project back on Facebook, make sure to check it out.

Listen to “We All Suck” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

The 66th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the Helsinki, Finland based dark electro act Shades​:​Of​:​Hell.

Behind Shades​:​Of​:​Hell is DJ Shades FIN, co-organizer and resident DJ of Hellfire Club, Dead Souls Gathering and Goths On the Rocks. Remixer and producer of Electro-Industrial music you will probably know him from the remixes he has done for C-Lekktor (Castle Party 2014 compilation), Totem Obscura vs. Acylum, Cynical Existence, Siva Six, Kuroshio, Zombie Girl and from his high quality appearances on Endzeit Bunkertracks VII. New songs are being prepared, but for now enjoy this great dark tune!

Listen to “Bastards Screaming​​” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

The 47th track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by My Dear Killer.

My Dear Killer is the solo dark electro project of James A. Hepburn. You might already know the project from its contribution to “Endzeit Bunkertracks Act VI” and from the Rgesus Factor’s “Mann der Albeit – The Remixes (Vol. 1)”. The project has had a steady output the last 2 years and is slowly but steadily gathering a following thanks to the project’s dark electro style that has its roots in the early 90s dark wave / electro. Check the band right here on Facebook.

Listen to “Sea Of Trees” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

The 3rd track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by Antibody​​​. The track “Desperation” is an instrumental powernoise cut which will please those who enjoyed the early stuff from Glis for instance.

Antibody is the solo act by Jan Antibody based in Germany. The project started in 2013 but raise to the attention of many thanks to his remix of Aengeldust’s club-hit “Meth Face”. After making some other remixes, for example for the Canadian noise act Displacer or for the German dark elektro project Binary Division, Antibody ended up on Alfa Matrix’ well known industrial compilation “Endzeit Bunkertracks 7” with the song “Shrimps”.

Antibody’s first single “Desperation” was released in September via Bandcamp via darkTunes. But for now you can listen to the band’s track below and download it here for free:

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.

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.

side-line.com

Out by March 30 via the Xperiment XIII label is the newest 2CD album by Parasite of God, “Outcasts and Freaks”. The limited 2CD deluxe gatefold edition package can be ordered right now from Bandcamp (as well as the digital album, which only has the tracks from CD1). The complete trackless for the 2CD can be found here.

The package also includes this:

• 1x Band Autographed A6 Postcard
• 5x POG A6 Fridge Magnets with Artwork [High-quality | Vinyl material]
• 2x POG Stickers [Different Artwork on each]
• 1x POG Keyring Torch for First 30 orders ONLY

The material was mastered by X-Fusion Music Production with artwork by Tomoki Hayasaka of Sheerheart, who also made some lovely designs for recent releases by bands such as Acylum, Suicidal Romance, Avarice In Audio, Ayria, the Endzeit Bunkertracks series, Zombie Girl etc..

You can already listen to 5 tracks from this album below:

We quickly spoke to Parasite of God who have this to say about the album: “This album was made over a longer time. Our goal has always been to make music we enjoy ourselves. We have a wide range of musical influences and the result is here. We don’t make music to fit in a genre or to tie us down to certain rules, we simply do what we want. The lyrics on this album mainly follow the same spirit! Stand up proud never bow, follow your own heart and be yourself, leave the judging to the weak ones. If u enjoy this album it makes us proud; if u don’t just Keep searching for the things that makes your life richer!”

The band clearly is getting its momentum as both the videos for “Outcast” and “Through Sorrows” are getting thousands of view on YouTube. You can watch them below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.

side-line.com

Interview of Seba Dolimont (one of the Alfa Matrix owners)

The new volume of “Endzeit Bunkertracks”  (the 7th already, available right here) will be released once again as a deluxe 4CD carton box featuring 68 songs mixing dark-electronics, EBM, dark-electro-pop and related genres. The box also contains an extended 32 page booklet masterfully designed by Japanese designer Tomoki Hayasaka. Next to the 4CD there also is a bonus download card giving you access to some 50 additional songs! Side-Line once again has been asked by Alfa-Matrix to recommend some interesting artists.  That’s why we decided to empower this new volume by featuring 10 short interviews of bands that you’ll discover on this new volume plus an extra interview by the “Endzeit Bunkertracks” instigator Séba Dolimont.

(by Stéphane Froidcoeur aka DP)

SL: What means the “Endzeit Bunkertracks”-series to you and what makes the success story of it?

Seba. Well… Releasing the 7^th volume now of this compilation series is quite amazing and something I did not even expect the day I came up with the idea of this sampler back in 2005!  7 editions in 10 year time. That’s a lot when you consider the time it takes to listen to all these submissions that we get and replying to every single submission with positive or negative feedback. That’s the least we can do!

The success of this compilation series is for me nothing but the result of all these great artists who have each taken part to this sonic adventure with their great music.  Add to this the collaboration with several great designers for the artwork design of the carton box and its extended booklets. My personal contribution is strictly limited to the selection of all these bands and songs and always doing my best to keep the quality level constant in my selection and focusing on diversity within a defined music genre.

What I still find the most unexpected part of this “Endzeit Bunkertracks” adventure is that in the early years of Alfa Matrix we were often seen as a ‘synth pop’ label signing mostly female fronted bands. And then we surprised everyone when signing the first ‘black sheep’ from the label roster: Dunkelwerk! And it’s after an interesting discussion with Losttrooper of Dunkelwerk that came the idea of doing a concept compilation devoted to the dark side of the electro scene.  “Endzeit Bunkertracks” was born… the rest is history and meanwhile we added a few more bands in that genre to our label family but not only ;))

SL: 118 songs and bands have been selected! Do you’ve any idea how many bands contacted you for this compilation and, which are your main criteria to get featured on it?

Seba: That’s the difficult part of the story I would say! The success of this comp makes that it becomes a dream for a lot of young dark electro bands to be some day part of an “Endzeit”-comp!  It’s also under the constant pressure of bands and fans that we decided to activate this 7^th edition.  Every volume we issue, we get more and more songs submitted to us!  We got over 2500 songs submitted for this new edition!  It can sound a lot for you, but when you know we end up with 118 bands and that many submit more than 1song at a time… you are rapidly there!  I am always surprised that there are still so many bands to discover around!  This is the exciting part of the job. It also means listening to a lot of songs that I personally did not like or from bands who still have to work to reach the correct production quality level… We also get songs submitted which do not fit the comp’s concept. Now there is no predefined recipe of success to be selected on an “Endzeit Bunkertracks”-comp! The red line for me is that the song needs to touch me in some way. I actually select songs through several preselection phases – shrinking the number of chosen songs until I have enough to fit on the comp!  This is always a quite frustrating moment cos I usually have to discard some great artists to make it all fit!  But then I keep an eye on these bands for a potential future edition. The way I do the final selection is a bit like a DJ work.  I pick them, song by song, and create the feel & atmosphere I want to give to each disc.  It’s a continuity of a DJ set for me.  And once the 4 discs are full, I move ahead with the bonus card which I forced myself to limit to 50 songs.  I always enjoy mixing established acts and totally unknown bands and I also give favor when possible to previously unreleased songs/mixes.  But above all, this comp represents my personal tastes of the moment in the “dark electro” spectrum.

SL: I’ve been surprised to see some of Alfa-Matrix’ leading bands like Ayria and Unter Null getting featured on the download card instead of the disc(s)! Is this a kind of strategy to promote the digital side of the compilation and the label?

Seba: Not really! Like I said I give priority to previously unreleased songs. So when a band – from the  Alfa Matrix roster or not – gives me already released songs – they have little less chance to be on the final track list. Some of our label bands also simply did not make it to the final selection you know! But then, still doing my DJ set selection exercise, at some point I only have 68 spots on the CD’s… When these bands/songs did not pop out in my playlist, they can show up on the bonus tracks.  For me all these songs are part of the whole compilation box.  It’s a non-stop set of 118 bands & songs! So yes some of our bands ended up on that bonus card, and some can be amongst our bigger acts like Ayria, Unter Null,  Mentallo & The Fixer, Tamtrum, Suicidal Romance, Studio-X, etc. What counts is that they are part of it.  I make no difference between bonus digital tracks or featured on the disc… You know, this time we even decided to make these 50 bonus songs available for download via our Bandcamp page.  This gives us the opportunity of offering these bonus songs for FREE to anyone, included those who did not buy the physical box.  The aim of such compilation box series that we run at Alfa Matrix is above all giving exposure to all featured bands.  I know that this comp gave lots of opportunities to a bunch of bands on the dark elektro scene, opening them new doors, giving them the chance to sign to labels, etc.  This new approach offering also the bonus songs in FLAC quality is another step forward in that direction: putting all these great bands in the spotlight and giving them some more chance to be heard and discovered. Cos we cannot as a label, sign all bands we find good cos we are limited and already have a quite large active roster of artists and a quite busy release planning for the next months!

SL: There’re a lot of new and promising bands featured on “Endzeit Bunkertracks”, but are there some bands on it, which will soon join the ‘matrix’? What might we expect?  

Seba: For every volume of our compilation box series, there have often been new discoveries that we made and some ended it up in a closer collaboration with some bands indeed! And yes there are definitely  some artists I discovered here or had the opportunity to talk with during the selection who I will continue following closely and only time will tell if more will be possible together or not.  You know, sometimes there are bands that I follow for several years before considering working with them.  Some bands also keep knocking at our door release after release they make and sometimes I have seen the gates of the Matrix opening at most unexpected moments ;))  I will not tell you now those I’m currently spotting of course, but what I can tell you is that we have a few new Alfa Matrix label signings featured on this new “Endzeit 7”-sampler who will all release something later this year… I think of Venal Flesh from Washington/USA who come with a very own atmospheric style of rhythmed dark elektro. I was happy hearing some DJ’s telling me we had signed our next Unter Null (laugh)!  Also from America, we have the very promising act Entrzelle who are a kind of darker version of Rotersand meets VNV Nation. A style we had not yet on our label!

You will also notice that we signed the Belgian band Llumen. I have been in touch with Pieter for more than 5 years now.  I have seen him grow as an artist, reaching the maturity moment to release his debut album soon. A CD that will please all fans of Assemblage 23 with the Belgian seal of quality on top! Last but not least, like you wrote it in your recent review of this comp on your great website, the cult dark elektro  from the early 90’s The Psychic Force also joined the ‘Matrix’ some months ago and are presenting their first all new song to the world on this new “EB7”-compilation – a first appetizer announcing a strong come-back! It’s just amazing that these guys have been silent for so long. So after bringing back some good old legends on the forefront of the scene like Leather Strip, AmGod, Pouppée Fabrikk, Armageddon Dildos, PNE, Mentallo & The Fixer, well, The Psychic Force are our next victims for the ultimate pleasure of your ears!

Thanks a lot for this interview and above all, for all these new bands you made me discover through the many tips you gave me throughout these 7 volumes of “Endzeit Bunkertracks”-extravaganzza!

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