The doom bass duo Antania have announced their signing with the Italian label, The Triad Records. The forthcoming album, “The God Complex” will be released in early January. The album will be the follow-up to the 2023 album “Lividity” which also features a collaboration with Erk Aicrag of Hocico.

The American duo is made up of the producer and musician, Dr Luna and singer, Kali Mortem . Musically they mix electronic and industrial music with extreme metal, mainly black, death and doom metal.

Below is the title track for the new album.

You will be able to catch Antania live next Winter.

• 01/06/24 Costa Mesa CA/ support Green Jelly
• 01/13/24 Pinon Hills CA / Trapt in the Desert Fest (NecroFlesh Events)
• 01/22/24 San Antonio TX – The Mix
• 01/23/24 Austin TX – Elysium
• 01/24/24 Denton TX – Rubber Gloves
• 01/25/24 Houston TX – Black Magic Social Club
• 01/26/24 New Orleans LA – Siberia

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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After their last album “HyperViolent” (2022), Mexico’s dark electro act Hocico is now back with “A Symphony Of Rage”.

Erk Aicrag and Racso Agroyam say this about the new single: “‘A Symphony of Rage’ is a powerful and intense song, with lyrics that embody strength and determination, the song channels an unyielding energy! It portrays a protagonist who refuses to back down and confronts the challenges they face head-on.”

With the single the duo also refers to them being survivors of the physical and mental violence rising daily on the streets of Mexico City.

Emerged in 1993, Hocico celebrate their 30 year anniversary this year with a tour & multiple packed festival shows. Here are the dates for their “HyperViolent” European tour in August:

• 13.08. M’Era Luna, Hildesheim GER
• 18.08. VooDoo, Warsaw, PL
• 19.08. Fekete Zaj Festival, Gyöngyös, HU
• 24.08. De Helling, Utrecht, NL
• 25.08. W Festival, Oostende, BE

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: Dark-Electro, Cinematic, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: Twentynine years after their creation the masters of Mexican Dark-Electro are back on track unleashing their newest full length. the title speaks for itself. The fans will be ravished to know the album is available in different formats and with nice little extras.

Content: “HyperViolent” moves on from where “Artificial Extinction” stopped. Erk Aicrag and Racso Agroyam remain driven and inspired by dark themes but the sound is evolving again. The main part of the work is still touched by power, sonic aggression and harsh vocals but they move on to elaborate Cinematic parts but also injecting elements like D’n’B and Metal -including a cover version of Ministry.

+ + + : There was a time Hocico released great but predictable albums. This has changed now. Even if they’re still dealing with pure Dark-Electro the global production became more open-minded while featuring Cinematic breaks. Hocico even dares to experiment with D’n’B patterns while adding Metal riffs. The production of the vocals became also more diversified, revealing a less ‘distorted’ voice on several tracks. I can’t say this is Hocico V.2 but the band is clearly in evolution and that’s an aspect I fully respect. The song “Acts Of Aggression” is an absolute masterpiece for its elaboration and cool sound effects. “Broken Empires” -previously released as a single, remains another essential piece. It also shows the evolution of the band exploring different paths.

– – – : I can imagine Dark-Electro die-hard freaks will be disappointed by some songs which are no longer in the ‘classical’ Hocico style.

Conclusion: The new Hocico is still holding on to its sonic basis but also accentuating their exploration of new  ideas. It probably is their most versatile work.

Best songs: “Acts Of Aggression”, “Broken Empires”, “Lost World”, “What Are Nightmares Made Of”, “Peccata Mundi”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/hocicoofficial

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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, AggroTech.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Justin Thiele’s fourth official album has been introduced by the artist as ‘a personal record of accumulation for loss, pain, and unthinkable misery, yet also stands as a testament to perseverance in the face of a fate we all share’. “Death Curse” features eleven songs plus five remixes.

Content: Dark-Electro lovers will be for sure familiar with the dark and tormented Electronics of this American project. The album takes off with a kind of intro and rapidly moves on with furious and harsh Dark-Electro characterized by distorted vocals, carrying icy leads and stumping kicks. The last song has something Hardcore like.

Remixes have been accomplished by God Module, Sin DNA, Amduscia, Erk Aicrag and XXOt. 

+ + + : Viscera Drip has accomplished a hard and merciless work. It’s not that innovating, but simply a great, powerful piece of Dark-Electro like this artist has already done before. The global production process became more mature and resulted in several great songs. I especially recommend listening to “Why Can’t You See It?” and “Fading Voices”. There’re interesting names about the remixers, and also great pieces of music like the Dark-Techno remix of “The Other Side Of Hell” by Sin DNA and God Module’s remix of “A Place Beyond The Stars”.

– – – : The more Hardcore driven “Dark Water” isn’t exactly a song that I’ll keep in mind and with less in common with the rest of the tracklist.

Conclusion: Viscera Drip remains in my opinion a rather underrated or less familiar formation in the wide fields of Dark-Electronic music.

Best songs: “Why Can’t You See It?”, “Fading Voices”, “Better When We Die”, “A Place Among The Stars” + “The Other Side Of Hell – Sin DNA Remix”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/VisceraDrip

Label: www.advoxya-records.com / www.facebook.com/pages/Advoxya-Records/265765706059

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 Mexican industrial-electro act Hocico have just released a lyrics video for their brand-new single “Backstabbers”. You can check it out below.

Here’s what Erk Aicrag comments on the new Hocico song: “’Backstabbers’ is an angry anthem for the betrayed. The lyrics deal with the problems many friendships and love relationships face, when someone you care for stabs you in the back and then pretends to be the one bleeding, I think we all can relate to that!”

So what can you expect musically? Racso Agroyam explains: “This is an energetic industrial/drum and bass song ready to set the clubs on fire!” We didn’t expect anything else from the duo of 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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Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, dark-pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Two of the Out Of Line flag holders were supposed touring together and surprise their fans with a common single. The tour has been postponed, but the single “Obscured” has been released as a collaboration between both artists.

Content: “Obscured” is a surprising song, which has been clearly composed to hit the dancefloors. It’s also crazy to hear a perfect mix between the harshness of Hocico and the refinement of Blutengel. Both bands appear to be fully complementary and even for the vocals. Chris Pohl and Erk Aicrag both have different styles of singing, but a kind of chemistry happened while backing vocals by Ulrike Goldmann just inject an elevating sensation during the chorus.

The song has been transformed by Hocico and then by Blutengel while the last cut of the CD is a remix by Dulce Liquido (side-project of Rasco Agroyam). The digital version features an extra remix by [:SITD:].

+ + + : “Obscured” simply sounds like a real great hit; it also is a great mix between the harshness and power of Hocico on one side and the melodic, wave-pop refinement of Blutengel on the other. I like the duo between both vocalists while the female backing brings something heavenly on top. All the remixes are worthy of examination, but I here have a preference for the Blutengel version. It seems that this song has been composed in two days so I can only say it’s a lucky shot, but a damned good single/EP.

– – – : It would have been cool to get another remix by one of the artist’s side-projects instead of the [:SITD:] remix.

Conclusion: I didn’t know what to expect, but this work is absolutely great. This is a truly sonic symbiosis between dark-electro and dark wave-pop music.

Best songs: “Obscured”, “Obscured – Into The Void Version by Blutengel”, “Obscured – Dark Dance Version by Dulce Liquido”.

Rate: (9).

Artists: www.blutengel.de / www.facebook.com/BlutengelOfficial / www.facebook.com/hocicoofficial

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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

‘Erk Aicrag’ (Erik Garcia) and ‘Racso Agroyam’ (Oscar Mayorga) set up Hocico in 1993. The Mexican duo rapidly became one of the references when speaking about dark-electronic music. They released an impressive list of successful album and got numerous hits played by DJ’s all over the world. Hocico definitely belongs to the dark-electronic music history. They now released their new opus “Artificial Extinction” (Out Of Line), which has something refreshing while carried by an impressive, mature sound production. I contacted singer Erk Aicrag to get more details about this album.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: It’s the first time Hocico fans had to wait such a long time for a new studio album. How do you explain this hiatus of four years and when did you start the writing of “Artificial Extinction”?

Erk: We already made our fans wait for about the same amount of time between the albums “Wrack And Ruin” and “Memorias Atras”. Besides being busy with the family life in the time between “Ofensor” and “Artificial Extinction” we were busy touring the world as usual plus we released our first “Best Of” record (cf. “The Spell Of The Spider”) in 2017 along with an EP full of fresh songs entitled “Spider Bites”. In 2018 I was busy recording a new Rabia Sorda-album and playing shows with this band too. There’s no rest for the wicked!    

Q: What is the new album all about? What have been the main sources of inspiration and how do you look back at the writing and recording of this album?

Erk: The title deals with two concepts, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Human Extinction’. The idea that we, humans could go extinct due to unforeseen events in the development of our own technology, precisely ‘Artificial Intelligence’ has captured our attention since it might not seem a threat right now, but it might be in the future. 

Bright minds like Elon Musk or Stephen Hawking warned us about it and they both think (thought in the case of Stephen) it is already too late for humans to reverse the effects of artificial intelligence in the future. This is the overall scenery that this album presents, especially the self-titled song. It is a way to describe how the world is turning to a dark place due to the misuse of our technology.

We wrote this album during the winter of 2018 and 2019, and it was real fun to achieve it. Somehow, we feel we are getting good at making records, we are fucking proud of it!

Q: I personally experienced “Artificial Extinction” as one of your most innovative releases in history; the production of the vocals sounds more polished while the sound treatments reveal some new elements as well. It all feels like something has changed and I even dare to say it’s one of your most accomplished works to date! Did you feel the need to try something new and maybe different?

Erk: We have learned a lot about making records along the years; everything from the technical side of things, like recording and producing to vocal techniques and song-writing. We made use of all of that on “Artificial Extinction” and fortunately the magic happened.

Ever since we started making music, we have always tried to make something different on every album, but it seems we managed to do it this time. We really prefer to fail trying something different than repeating the same formula from album to album. 

Q: There always has been a strong cinematic element in your music, but here again “Artificial Extinction” reveals a few great songs in the genre, but especially “El Ballet Mecanico”. Tell us a bit more about this song and the cinematic side of the album? What would you think about releasing a real soundtrack?

Erk: The title was inspired by Kurt Schmidt’s theater play from the 1920’s; it is based on the mechanic movements of the body. The song brings to mind the movements and sounds of a doll music box.

Hocico has always explored the cinematic music because basically you can express feelings without words in it. We have already contributed with music to a couple of films like “Perfume De Violetas” and “The Guest” and certainly it would be cool to be involved in a soundtrack of a full movie.     

Q: Artwork has been always an important element, but what can you tell us about the artwork for “Artificial Extinction” and the link with the lyrical content?

Erk: Last year we discovered this amazing German artist called Jochen Schilling; he had the perfect artworks to express graphically what we wanted on this album. Basically portraits of humanoids, that give the impression to be part humans, part machines living in a dark world.   We contacted him and he was willing to collaborate with us. The rest of the design and artwork was made by our long time designer and collaborator Userdx.

Q: There’s a new live tour in the pipeline. After all these years of touring do you still feel the same sensation when playing live and especially when playing in your homeland? Can you give us more details (setlist, image, live visuals…) about the new shows?

Erk: Oh yes, one of the most exciting things about being involved with Hocico is that we get to play all these shows around the world and besides the hassle of security at the airports and traffic on big cities, it is still worth traveling to be close to our fans. It always is special to play in Mexico as we get to meet our families and old friend’s there. Our live set is composed of 30% songs of “Artificial Extinction” and 70% of songs from almost all our history, including the songs that our fans regard as ‘hits’. We created brand new visuals for it and we hope some of you will join us on one of the shows!  

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: Gothic, goth-metal, industrial, dark-rock.

Background/Info: Ten years after the first official release (cf. “Dry the Rain”) Lord Of The Lost the German band set up by Chris Harms unleashes this massive ‘best of’. There are different versions and format available, but we here get a fine selection of four discs.

Content: The first disc is the one and only ‘best of’ looking back at the band’s first decade of existence. Lord Of The Lost deals with goth-metal music, but sometimes move into a more electro/industrial sound. From heavy metal guitar assaults to melancholic ballads, this first disc will give you an interesting summarizes of this band.

The second disc features ‘rarities’ featuring 2 songs together with Hocico front man Erk Aicrag. This is an opportunity to (re)discover less familiar cuts.

We next get a disc with remixes by a much diversified list of artists active in different –although related, music genres. We here get 18 (!) remixes by bands such as Blutengel, Chrom, Formalin, Solar Fake, Subway To Sally, Mono Inc., Rabia Sorda ao.

Last, but not least the last disc features demo versions.

+ + + : No doubt about it, this is a real complete ‘anthology’-album and a must have for the fans. Speaking for myself, I think the first disc (cf. ‘best of’) brings an interesting view upon the past ten years of the band. From their legendary and totally funny “La Bomba” to the ballad like “See You Soon” to the “2019”-version of the title song this album reveals the diversity of Lord Of The Lost. Another interesting disc is the one featuring the remixes. You’ll hear a real eclectic selection of remixes from pure metal to electro to orchestral to rock a billy.

– – – : Lord Of The Lost are ‘big’ in their homeland, but outside Germany they’ve never reached a similar status. So in the end it mainly remains a German phenomenon!

Conclusion: This kind of albums is always interesting for die-hard fans, but also for music lovers who want to discover a band they aren’t really familiar with.

Best songs: “Drag Me To Hell”, “Till Death Us Do Part 2019”, “La Bomba”, “See You Soon”, “Raining Stars” + “The Most Radical Thing To Do”, “Morsal” + “ Afterlife Of Death -Afterlife Remix by Unzucht”, “Kill It With Fire – But Kill It Good – Rabia Sorda Version”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/lordofthelost 

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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.

Background/Info: Four years have passed since the previous studio album “Ofensor” (2015). The Mexican duo Erk Aicrag (lyrics & vocals) – Racso Agroyam (programming) are active under the Hocico moniker since 1993 and became a long-time leading ship from the dark-electro scene. The new work is also available as vinyl format and a limited boxset featuring an extra CD with remixes and goodies for the fans.

Content: The new work remains easily recognizable through the typical haunting atmospheres, sometimes moving into pure cinematographic music, but “Artificial Extinction” is without a shadow of a doubt the most ‘atypical’ album since the band’s debut. The production of the vocals is different on several songs. Erk Aicrag is still singing in a powerful way, but there’s less rage in his voice. Sound-wise several songs are also touched by some modernism, which you’ll hear in some bleeping passages. The opening song “Dark Sunday” perfectly symbolizes this evolution in sound.

+ + + : This album remains ‘pure’ Hocico-like, but there are some new elements in the global production work. There seem to be a will to evolve towards ‘new’ sonic path while holding on the harsh, haunted and powerful sound. The dark cinematographic input is nothing new, but here again the duo has accentuated some elements of it. “El Ballet Mecanico” even can be considered as the best track they’ve ever written in this style. I however prefer the more danceable cuts and I would like to mention “Shut Me Down!” with an irresistible lead and “Damaged” for its global power mixed with icy, bleeping sequences. “Palabras De Sangre” is another attention grabber, which an anguishing, mysterious mood hanging over the track. One of the main ‘differences’ is according to me the production of the vocals, which are more spooky and maybe less enraged. Speaking for myself I prefer it like this.

– – – : This is a great work and I don’t see real minus points although the somewhat punkish-styled “Cross The Line” is not my favorite one.

Conclusion: I can’t say that Hocico has reinvented its sound, but “Artificial Extinction” became different and yet very Hocico-like. This is a great opus confirming the long leading status of this band in the dark-electro scene.

Best songs: “Shut Me Down!”, “Damaged”, “Dark Sunday”, “Psychonaut”, “Breathing Under Your Feet”, “Palabras De Sangre”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/hocicoofficial 

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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

Coming up is the Lord Of The Lost best of compilation “Till Death us do part”. The 2CD version of this best of additionally contains a CD with rarities and B-sides (18 tracks in total) incl. guest features of Der Schulz (Unzucht) and Erk Aicrag (Hocico). A double LP is also planned and for the treasure hunter there is a 4CD-digibox-Version that features an exclusive remix CD and (on CD4) a series of demo versions, some of them more than 20 years old and written and recorded long before the band was found.

Lord of the Lost is a German dark rock band from Hamburg created by singer and frontman Chris Harms. Founded in mid-2007 by Chris Harms as a solo project, Harms originally called the project Lord, but changed the name of the band to Lord of the Lost to avoid possible name disputes with Lordi and The Lords. Before Lord of the Lost, Harms was a singer and guitarist of the rock band Philiae (1999-2004), a guitarist and second singer with the Glam-Metal-Band The Pleasures (2004-2007), as well as a musician on various projects like Big Boy or Unterart.

The debut single “Dry The Rain” was released in 2009 and the debut album “Fears” was released in 2010 with the independent label Out of Line. More albums followed: “Antagony” (2011), “Die Tomorrow” (2012), “From the Flame Into the Fire” (2014), “Empyrean” (2016) and “Thornstar” (2018). Next to that the band also released several DVD’s and compilations.

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

When Erk Aicrag set up Rabia Sorda in 2003 it all sounded as a side-project to his main band Hocico. The original dark-electronic sound progressively evolved from album to album. Fifteen years later Rabia Sorda released its fourth full length in history entitled “The World Ends Today” (Out Of Line). It’s without a shadow of a doubt the hardest and most enraged work ever. The band now consists of Erk Aicrag (vocals, lyrics, machines), Marcus Engel (guitars, keys, percussions) and Maxx (drums). Erk gave me more details about the work.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The new album “The World Ends Today” is without a shadow of a doubt your darkest and hardest album ever. Tell us a bit more about this evolution in sound and darkness plus what has been the impact of the new band members?

Erk: Right from the beginning I was set out to create a furious and violent sound for this album. My band mate Marcus took the plunge and supported me to create “The World Ends Today” all the way long! Having Marcus and Maxx in the band has definitely made a great impact on Rabia Sorda’s music, they are wild, energetic and crazy too, It’s been refreshing to have them around for the last years.

Q: The new songs are bringing multiple influences together; from metal to industrial to dark-electronics and even punk. How do you explain this diversity and how did the writing and recording of the songs happened?

Erk: I have always been an eclectic music lover for the main part of my life so most of the music I enjoy will definitely find a place in Rabia Sorda’s songs. “The World Ends Today” is an album that at some point Rabia Sorda had to make, just angry, hard and fucking loud. I think a great album has to offer many facets of an artist and “The World Ends Today” has absolutely that.  I had a bunch of songs I had written over the past 3 years and as I showed them to Marcus he got excited and joined forces to bring this album to life.

We both made a great team and started meeting regularly in my studio and slowly started shaping the sound of “The World Ends Today”, we even wrote some songs from scratch together, later on Out Of Line hooked us up with Nils Lesser who did an extraordinary job mixing the album and gave it that extra punch you feel when you listen to it, overall the whole process was a very enriching and stimulating experience!

Q: It’s quiet interesting to see the evolution in sound and influences from your debut album “Métodos Del Caos” (2006) till “The World Ends Today”. It all feels a bit like two different bands! What means this project to you? And tell us a bit more about this artistic freedom and how do you see Rabia Sorda evolving? 

Erk: Rabia Sorda’s sound has been evolving according to my personal artistic and sometimes obsessive needs. In this moment I need an aggressive guitar-driven sound and to scream as loud as possible to produce adrenaline! And I am very proud of how “The World Ends Today” came out, it matches the way Rabia Sorda really sounds in my head. I enjoy the artistic freedom that Rabia Sorda allows me to explore music and I am glad the first album sounds different than the last one, because I am a different person.

Q: Lyrical wise the new album is also filled with extremely dark themes while the vocals have been never that enraged. Tell us a bit more about this interest (maybe fascination) for the ‘evil side of life’ and what does it say about your own perception about life and humanity?   

Erk: I definitely have a fascination for the dark side of life; I am Mexican and that seems to be part of our cultural DNA. I think you have to acknowledge the darkness inside of every human in order to fully enjoy life and there is no better way to do that than having the chance to be violent and furious inside an artistic environment. I think I am good at bringing out the rage and the fury of growing up in a Western modern society. I still want to write music that challenges me and challenges the fans, music that punches you and puts a smile on your face at the same time. Going through the process of writing songs keeps me well-balanced…

Q: “The World Ends Today” features great songs to play live! How do you look back at the latest concerts where you played the new tracks of the album and how would you describe Rabia Sorda on stage?

Erk: The energy of Rabia Sorda during a live concert is amazing, I am addicted to it, there is something really special going on while we three perform. We like to rehearse as much as possible to bring out the best we have on stage. The new songs are lots of fun to play live, We had the chance to play a handful of them in Berlin last May and the audience reaction to them was amazing, it felt fucking good!

One of the biggest motivations to write the songs has always been bringing them to a live performance situation, that is the authentic fun part of being in a band.

Q: Erk, how important is it for you as an artist to get involved with Rabia Sorda, which sounds definitely more ‘rock’n’roll’ than Hocico?

Erk: It is vital for me to have my own personal way to express myself through music. At the other hand it has been mind-blowing being part of Hocico for the last 25 years, so I am very happy being active with both. They offer me different experiences and make me feel complete at this moment and I am very proud of how both bands have been developing creatively through time, still going strong!

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: Industrial-metal, dark-electro punk.

Background/Info: Hocico singer ‘Erk Aicrag’ set up Rabia Sorda in 2003. Five years after the previous opus “Hotel Suicide” the Mexican front man joined hands with drummer Maxx and guitarist Marcus Engel to release what has been announced as the ‘hardest’ Rabia Sorda album ever.

Content: The regular album features 17 tracks and the least I can say is that the sound indeed is pretty hard. The song stand for total sonic violence mixing elements such as industrial-, metal-, dark-electro- and punk music together. “The World Ends Today” reflects a hell vision transposed into enraged vocals and heavy songs.

The limited edition features an extra disc of 8 cuts. You here will discover a few more new- and alternative cuts plus remixes by Cypercore, The Chemical Sweet Kid and Sahlvader. This mini-album also features 2 cover versions (including a song of the album covered by Prismatic Shapes).

+ + + : Speaking for myself I think it’s really interesting to see the evolution of Rabia Sorda throughout the years. While the debut album was a bit hesitating and a kind of dark-electronic alternative to Hocico, the next releases progressively featured a different and harder sound. The guitar playing becomes really important now, creating this hard and merciless industrial-metal approach. The rage appears everywhere at this opus. The vocals (mainly sung in English) are just accentuating the ‘evil’ side of this work. I also noticed a cool punk touch running through several songs. On the bonus disc I especially want to mention a cool remix by Chemical Sweet Kid.

– – – : I expected a bit more from the bonus disc. The remixes are cool, but I can’t say they are adding something extra to the album. It sounds more like songs that were made for fun (cf. Los Saicos cover version) while the usual remixes are quite common for limited releases.

Conclusion: “The World Ends Today” is a nihilistic title for a furious release and you know what, I don’t give a damn sh** if the world would end with such a terrific opus. This is definitely the best Rabia Sorda album to date.

Best songs: “Violent Love Songs”, “We’re Not Machines”, “Perfect Black”, “The World Ends Today” + “Violent Love Song – Chemical Sweet Kid Rmx”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.rabiasorda.com / www.facebook.com/rabiasordaofficial

Label: www.outofline.de  / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

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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OST+FRONT are back with a brand new maxi-single, “Fiesta de Sexo!”. The CD single comes in a strictly limited digipak and contains the title song, plus exclusive remixes, demos and cover versions as you can see in the tracklist below. You can already place your order right here. For the occasion the German act teamed up with Erk Aicrag (Hocico/Rabia Sorda).

The limited maxi CD contains the title track in the album version, a previously unreleased demo and three exclusive remixes (by Rabia Sorda, Larva and Among The Living). The band also turned Miley Cyrus’ hit “Wrecking Ball” into a metal-tune with the vocal assistance of Blutengel’s Ulrike Goldmann. Massive Ego from their side turned the song “Nein” into a club track while the band Krankheit (support act on OST+FRONT’s “Ultra”-tour) have recorded a cover version of “Liebeslied”.

Here’s the video for “Fiesta de Sexo (feat. Erk Aicrag)”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLhcroH3h7o

Tracklist:

1. Fiesta de Sexo (Album Version)
2. Wrecking Ball
3. Fiesta de Sexo (Larva Remix)
4. Nein (Massive Ego Remix – Radio Edit)
5. Fiesta de Sexo (Rabia Sorda Remix)
6. Fiesta de Sexo (Among The Living Remix)
7. Liebeslied (Coverversion von Krankheit)
8. Fiesta de Sexo (Demo 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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