(Photo by Eliana Giaccheri) “The Heart of a Lover” is the second single from the Italian industrial darkwave act This Eternal Decay. The track is taken from their upcoming album, “Absolution”, set for release on May 19th, 2023. This dark synth ballad explores the concept of love as time passes, revealing how what once excited us can eventually become frightening.

“The Heart of a Lover” is available on all streaming and digital platforms from today, April 14, on. It features an Exfeind remix and an acoustic version of the track. And today Side-Line can exclusively reveal the all new video that will accompany the new single.

This non-traditional video showcases digital artwork created by Roman artist Alessandra Meneghello, also known as @disagire. The digital painting evolves in tandem with the song’s sounds, expressing the emotions woven into its sonic layers.

Watch the official video below.

This Eternal Decay, a group focused on industrial-dark-wave music, consists of members Ricardo Sabetti (Spiral69), Pasquale Vico (Date at Midnight), Andrea Freda (Spiritual Front), and Alessio Schiavi (Avant-Garde). Their sound is a fusion of romantic darkwave, industrial beats, and synthpop elements. Their first album, “I Choose an Eternity of This” (Trisol Music Group), garnered positive reviews.

In April 2020, the band launched their sophomore album, “Silence”, featuring collaborations with artists from Then Comes Silence and Theaters Des Vampires. Despite pandemic-related cancellations of several European tour dates, the album saw three repressings within its initial five months.

In June 2021, they released the maxi single “Leave”, accompanied by two Kurs Lestat remixes and an acoustic rendition of the track with Luigi Rubino (Ashram) on piano. Their third studio album, “Nocturne”, was released on January 7th, 2022, and included guest appearances from Hapax and Avant-Garde, as well as remixes by ACTORS, Ash Code, Wisborg, and A Copy for Collapse.

In October 2022, This Eternal Decay began their 15-date European NocTour. Throughout the year, they worked on their fourth studio album, titled “Absolution”.

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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.

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Genre/Influences: Industrial, metal, electronics.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: German solo-project Exfeind strikes back with a second opus. The debut album “Exfeind Nummer Eins” (2018) was a promising debut work mixing elements of industrial-, metal- and electronic music. The new opus reveals ten new tracks.

Content: Exfeind holds on the influences from the debut album. It remains a true sonic fusion between industrial-, metal- and electronic music. I experienced the songs as a bit more electro-driven, but globally speaking this work appears as the logical next step in this band’s evolution. The work again takes off with a blasting cut featuring German vocals. Nearly all songs are sung in the artist’s Mother tongue, but you’ll notice some English passages as well. I also noticed one song with a rather rap style of singing (cf. “Viel Zu Spät”) although the sound remains hard-industrial driven.

+ + + : This new album doesn’t sound that different from the debut work, but the main evolution can be heard in some production details. There’s a real great and efficient balance between electronic parts and guitar riffs. It creates a powerful sound, which comes to emersion at the opening song “Wie Ein Boss”. But I also have to mention “Keyboardkrieger” and the English sung “Unleash Me”. The production of the vocals is also an essential aspect of the production; rough and charismatic!

– – – : “Zweipunktnull” is maybe just missing some little details to make this album totally accomplished. There are a few songs, which are more hesitant, but globally speaking this band confirms its potential.

Conclusion: I still believe Exfeind is a band with a huge potential and this new work confirms the project’s progression.

Best songs: “Wie Ein Boss”, “Keyboardkrieger”, “Unleash Me”, “Exzess”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.exfeind.com / www.facebook.com/Exfeind

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

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: Industrial-metal, gothic-metal, industrial-rock.

Background/Info: Trisol is not often signing new bands, but when a new artist joins the German label you  nearly know for sure it’s worthy to discover. Behind Exfeind is hiding the solo-project from Lian Exfeind. The debut album is logically entitled “Nummer Eins”

Content: If you’re familiar with the Trisol roster and especially with the ‘typical’ German ‘industrial’ bands such as ASP and Samsas Traum, you might have an idea of how Exfeind sounds. I think we can easily speak about a sonic offspring between Oomph!, Rammstein and Eisbrecher. It’s not only about the powerful vocals sung in German, but the influences mixing metal guitar riffs, electronic arrangements à la Rammstein in the choruses and gothic atmospheres are intended to conquer the German scene.

+ + + : The opening song of the album directly reveals the power and knowledge of Exfeind. But there’re more potential hits featured on this album. Exfeind has accomplished a truly ‘tour de force’, which is due to the perfect match between the different influences featured on this work. I’m fond of this metal-gothic power achieved with electronics. It especially during the choruses creates this elevating sensation, which I’m sure is what we expect when listening to music.

– – – : No doubt about it, Exfeind has become an instant success in the German scene so who am I to point out any single negative argument!? I just regret there’s no real originality in the sound writing, which sounds as the perfect symbiosis between all aforementioned bands. Trisol took less risk singing this band!

Conclusion: “Nummer Eins” became a prophetic title as the album gained the podium of the famous ‘Deutsche Alternative Charts’! I definitely can speak about a hot and successful debut for Exfeind!

Best songs: “Göttergatte”, “Brich Das Eis”, “Gefallene Engel”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.facebook.com/Exfeind

Label: www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol–Music–Group/104166526285471

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