You for sure know Brant Showers as member of ∆Aimon. A few years ago now the American artist also set up Sølve. This is a solo-project wherein he can deal with more personal and occult themes. After the debut album “The Negative” (2016) he this year unleashed “Earth Inferno” which has been released by Re:Mission Entertainment. It’s a dark and sophisticated piece of music which is hard to define but clearly dealing with Industrial, Witch-House and Cinematic influences. I talked about Sølve and the new album with Brant Showers.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What does this solo-project means to you and what place does it take -next to  ∆Aimon, in your artistic odyssey?

Brant: Initially the Sølve project was meant as a way to work through some personal experiences unrelated to my relationship with my wife and partner in ∆Aimon. It was also an opportunity to explore pieces that were more Ambient and Experimental with a heavier dose of occult themes. As the project developed though, it has become a very important outlet of expression for me. I keep the style fluid and open so I can explore any influences or ideas, that appeal to me, whereas ∆Aimon has a much more consistent and solid aesthetic that we work within.

With ∆Aimon we approach everything as a duo so the subject matter and compositions reflect our relationship and the blend of our influences -my solo project tends to be inherently a lot more self-indulgent and often harsher in style because of my particular interests.

Q: Your debut-album “The Negative” originally released in 2016 and re-released plus remastered in 2021 was a very personal work. How was it to get back to this album and the themes that inspired you?

Brant: I actually had a really difficult experience going back to those works. “The Negative” came from some pretty dark thoughts and revisiting that headspace ended up taking a heavy toll on my frame of mind and emotional state. I definitely wasn’t expecting to be hit so hard with the ramifications of pulling up those sessions, but in the end I think it was really important and helpful for me to see it all from a relatively healthier perspective and to reflect on what I’ve accomplished since then -emotionally and artistically.

Q: Your new album “Earth Inferno” is directly inspired by the book of Austin Osman Spare. This is an interesting ‘artist’ as he got involved with different forms of artistic expression. I like him for his connection to  Symbolism and Art Nouveau, but you seem to be more inspired with the darker and occult side of the man. Tell us a bit more about it and especially the way you transposed the influences into music?

Brant: My introduction to Austin Osman Spare was through his occult writings and influence on Chaos Magick, so that’s where my mind went when I started working on the “Earth Inferno”-album. The album came about during quarantine at a time when police brutality, school shootings, alt-right rallies, political insurrection, and the numerous nation-wide protests were all boiling up to a breaking point. It’s all still incredibly pervasive, divisive, and intense everywhere, but the quarantine really seemed to push people past their limits. The themes in Austin Osman Spare’s “Earth Inferno” and my album share a similar distress over the bleaker side of the human condition and the nightmare of life. Spare’s own antisocial tendencies and way of condensing ideas into concise and blunt aphorisms has always been an influence on my writing as well -not to mention his specific occult work.

My first album was a lot more laden with magical significance, but there’s always a bit of it in my music as I’m a very ritualistic person and it’s an important way for me to process and develop.

Q: What have been the different stages, difficulties and maybe challenges you’d to go through to achieve this new album?

Brant: I Initially didn’t have any plans to work on a Sølve album at the time, as I had several other projects in the works, but sometimes inspiration just makes things happen. Within a few days I suddenly had the sketches for an EP underway and that quickly grew into a full length release.

As I mentioned, the circumstances regarding the political and social temperature was an important theme I wanted to convey but last year I went through an incredibly tragic loss of a close family member as well as the blessing of news that my wife and I were pregnant with our first child. These highs and lows had a profound impact and have me re-evaluating everything important to me. So the direction of the album changed pretty dramatically half-way through production. Everything took on a more directly personal context. Instead of focusing on the state of the world and my place within it, I found myself looking at it from the perspective of how deeply we are connected. How love and loss are intertwined. The cost of letting people into our lives is the heartbreak we endure when we lose them. Likewise, a new set of anxieties surfaced in regards to the world my daughter would inherit and all the insecurities and fears that come with it. The framework of “Earth Inferno”-shifted in a way I couldn’t have anticipated -a reflection of how my own philosophy and focus on life has shifted. It still carries a lot of the initial idea, but more intensely pointed.

Q: I think it’s nearly impossible to label your music, which also makes the strength and originality of your composition. How would you describe your album to people who never heard of Sølve before? And I’m wondering about criteria and references you’re using to compose and produce your music?

Brant: I struggle a lot with trying to describe my music to others. I’ve always listened to music in a sort of vacuum without associating it within any context, so I never really know how to categorize what I listen to or write. My brain doesn’t do well with trying to fit things into a framework and I find it really difficult to place music into any particular classification. I would say the elements I aim to bring to the forefront of my works are all emotional rather than stylistic, so I tend to describe it in those terms… ritualism weighed by melancholy -sentimental and sad. No idea if that helps anyone contextualize the music, but it’s how my reasoning works.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been heavily inspired lately by a lot of other difficult to categorize bands. Stuff like Health, Godflesh, Haunted Horses, Uniform, Witch Fever, and Profligate. All are artists that operate without fitting into any particular genre, and maybe that’s part of what is appealing to me. I can only describe what I write as an accumulation of decades worth of listening to a wide range of music -all pieced together from whatever speaks to me personally through all those years of absorbing sounds and styles.

Q: You’ve just released a new single, which is a cover version of “Blood And Tears” originally written by Danzig. What does the original song mean to you and how did you adapt the song into your own music universe? Any further plans?

Brant: I have a tradition of releasing new Sølve material every year on my birthday and always try to use it as an opportunity to do something outside of the usual style and themes that the project encompasses. Last year’s track was a rather emotionally heavy one (a cover of Lorn’s “Acid Rain”) recorded as a way to work through some of the grief I was experiencing -so this year it was really important for me to step outside of all the difficult subject matter I’ve been dwelling on lately.

Danzig happens to be an artist I’ve enjoyed since my teenage years and “Blood And Tears” is a song that I have a very strong nostalgic attachment to. It felt right to adapt a song that has such a positive personal significance but is still so moody and romantic. There is a bit more material from the “Earth Inferno” period that I’ll be putting out as a follow up EP -so I’ll be diving back into those heavy themes again, but in the meantime I’m thankful to have had the Danzig cover as a mental break.

Next up will be that satellite EP and then I’ll be following it with something on the noisier side in line with my Drone, Ambient, and Experimental work. That’s currently only in the beginning stages though, so we’ll see how that develops. Things will always evolve and change.

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: Electro-Pop, Body-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: German Gen-ZX strikes back with the band’s debut album. Three years after the rather deceiving debut-EP “Tick-Tock”, Jan Laustroer (Antibody) and Marko Hein (singer of Frame Of Mind) are back on track. 

Content: This album has less in common with “Tick-Tock”; the sound has seriously evolved revealing a more mature production. Gen-ZX has found its sound and style, which is a well-crafted Electro-Pop format driven by hard kicks and empowered by some guitar sounds. The album features 10 songs plus 2 remixes by The Saint Paul and j:dead. 

+ + + : I first of all salute the global evolution of the entire production process. This is a refreshing Electro-Pop format, which merges power together with elevating choruses and a talented vocalist. The project is a kind of generation shock between one of the youngest musicians of the scene and a veteran. But you can’t hear any generational conflict; music and vocals are in perfect harmony resulting in cool songs. The remix of “Inside Your Mind” by The Saint Paul is a damned efficient Club-driven song.

– – – : It took me a few listening to catch the essence of the album so it’s not an average and ready to consume Electro-pop production. I however think some songs need an extra catchy touch.

Conclusion: “Darkness Of The Day” is a cool debut album for a band that has gained in maturity.

Best songs: “Hide & Seek”, “It’s Not Enough”, “Inside Your Mind – The Saint Paul Remix”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/genzxband

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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

KREIGN is an American set up in 2010 by featuring Ryan Hutman and Xiån Austin. They met thanks to a mutual friend. Ryan was involved with HARDWIRE and in search of a drummer. Xiån was drumming for Sang:Rael and Alter Der Ruine at the time and finally joined HARDWIRE. Some HARDWIRE songs were pretty EBM-driven, which was the reason to start a side-project. KREIGN was born and asked Dave Strand (THE STRAND) to join in as singer. But he finally decided to move on with THE STRAND. Being a side project, KREIGN didn’t really move anywhere for 10 years even though they had quite a few songs started and set aside. But KREIGN finally released their self-titled and self-released debut album in 2020, which got rapidly re-released by Scanner (Dark Dimensions). The work is a powerful mix of good-old EBM with an impressive sophisticated production on top. “Kreign II” is a true masterpiece and one of the best EBM releases from the past years.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: KREIGN has been set up as a tribute to ‘old-school’ EBM. What makes this ‘old-school’ style that special and what do you like in EBM sound? 

Ryan: It evokes aggression from me and I like that. I like the groove. I like that it is simple and minimal. 

Xiån: I grew up a New-Waver… in Utah of all places. My first glimpse of EBM and I’m not sure  if it could be categorized as such, but it was MINISTRY’s “Twitch”-album. I could not stop listening to “We Believe”. It was the driving bassline and simplicity of the beat that gripped me. I wanted to hear more. I was now on the hunt for something similar. Back then there was no Internet. The only way to find new music at the time was via magazines, clubs and/or word of mouth. A friend of mine had a DJ buddy in New York City. He would send him mixtapes of music he was spinning. I discovered bands like FRONT 242, NITZER EBB, DAF, PANKOW, SKINNY PUPPY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY and more. I would comb through record stores for hours and I would buy anything with cool cover art that looked Industrial or EBM. That’s how I discovered the now legendary Wax Trax Records. 

In the late 80’s, early 90’s, Salt Lake City spawned a killer Industrial club called ‘The Pompadour’. We would go religiously every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. The DJ was awesome and he knew his shit. Funny thinking about it now, he was probably more annoyed at the fact that, almost every song, we’d go to the booth and ask who he was spinning. Haha! 

Q: You guys got both involved with HARDWIRE while you were still active in other projects as well. What did you learn out of these previous experiences and what makes the difference with KREIGN? 

Ryan: Jonah from HARDWIRE taught me to not always use the ‘easy’ word to make a rhyme and to put more thought into my lyrics. Now, I am proud of my lyrics, even though they are usually simple. I can say more with less words. 

Mike from HARDWIRE and I learned early on that a live drummer can take a show to the next level. Even though I admit I suck at playing drums, I do it for KREIGN when Xiån sings “Disco King” and “In That Frame Of Mind”.

Xiån: I learned that it’s very difficult to manage multiple projects. Haha! All good though, the experience was worth every moment. I enjoyed traveling, playing shows and meeting cool peeps. As far as the difference with KREIGN, I think Ryan and I have very similar mindsets. When we hook up to write, it just flows. It’s a freak of nature I suppose.

Q: Old-school EBM often sounds simple and powerful; solid bass lines mixed with a danceable tempo plus harsh vocals and eventually metallic percussion parts. I consider KREIGN as one of the first bands breaking the codes; your music being definitely old-school like, but much more sophisticated and elaborated. Tell us a bit more about ‘sound’ and writing/production of the songs? 

Ryan: I figured out how to bend notes with soft synths in Cubase and I couldn’t stop doing it. We then translated that forced portamento back into the Nord Lead 2. Then Xiån and I would grab a few knobs on the Nord while the computer played the midi and recorded whatever we thought sounded cool. Fucking with FM, octave selector, pitch, and cutoff was so fun. We couldn’t do it without four hands on it and us laughing at the crazy sounds it made as we pushed the keyboard to it’s limits. It became a signature bass sound in most of the songs. It is rare for us to leave a bass sound without at least messing with the cutoff. Almost every sound is modulated by hand or is programmed to modulate.

Our formula also includes a few other hallmarks like basslines that play for just one verse, break downs that go to ultra minimal and then build up bigger, random sounds that only happen once in the song, ambient creepy background noise, and lead synth lines.

Q: How did the self-titled debut album “Kreign” see the daylight? What have been the influences, triggers, maybe references, lyrical themes and criteria to achieve the album? 

Ryan: I was really influenced by WULFBAND and GESSAFELSTEIN. I went back through a bunch of our songs and randomly detuned them after hearing WULFBAND for the first time. GESSAFELSTEIN influenced me to go back and crank the treble on the synths.

Lyrically, most of the songs have an upbeat message about how to deal with stress, anxiety, and tragedy. “Live Fast” is about my love for my Harley Davidson. “Disco King” is a fun song written with tongue in cheek.

Xiån: The push came from our good  friends in HOCICO. Erk invited us to play a show with them in Mexico City. We couldn’t decline the offer. We only had a couple finished tracks at that time. I think we had three or four months to complete the album, learn the songs, and rehearse them enough to perform a decent show.

It was an amazing experience. To this day I can’t believe we pulled that one off. (Still breathing heavy)…

Q: The limited edition of the album is something really special featuring only great remixes by mainly great names from the EBM scene. How did this bonus disc see the daylight and tell us a bit more about the different artists and the remixes they made?

Ryan: We had previously done a remix CD and an EP with some remixes with HARDWIRE. We met Jürgen Engler first through Facebook when we asked him to remix HARDWIRE. We got to meet him in person on the FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY-tour. When we asked him to take a look at KREIGN, he liked it and wanted to remix “5 Layers Of Chaos”. He also wanted to sing a duet with Xiån on “Disco King”. I thought it would be cool if he would sing it in German and he agreed, even though he was unsure if German lyrics would even fit the song. I think it sounds perfect. 

I had worked with REACHING FOR SHADOWS on some of the songs on her debut album. We met SPANKTHENUN, NZ, and NOVA STATE MACHINE through Facebook and Bandcamp. As much as I hate Facebook, sometimes it comes in real handy. 

Xiån: Peter ELM and I have been friends for many years. He was one of the first people we asked to do a remix. His amazingness never fails. A number of years ago I was invited to play drums for VOLVO:242 (a side-project of SPETSNAZ) at ‘Familientreffen 5’ back in 2009 (there’s a couple of cornball videos on YouTube) and I met the guys in AUTODAFEH who were also on the bill. These guys are top notch! Loved their music and performance. They later asked me to play drums on a couple tracks for their upcoming album, “Identity Unknown”. (“Evil Doll & Love Hate” and “Pain” to be exact). I was honored to do so.

Q: 2020 has been for sure a horrible year to release a debut album. How do you experience the pandemic versus your artistic activities? And what are the plans for post-Covid 19?  

Ryan: We would like to play more shows. We did a livestream show called “Isolation Room” and it was fun, but it was in an empty room. We usually feed off of the energy of the audience. It pushes us further to perform harder. We’d like to eventually play shows in Europe.

Xiån: Luckily we’ve stayed healthy throughout the pandemic and have spent a lot of time in the studio writing for our next album. Hope you will all stay tuned. New ideas and sounds are brewing…

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: Electro-Wave, Goth-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: “Erode” is meant as an appetizer to Frame Of Mind’s new full length “Return From The World’s End”.

Content: “Erode” features 4 songs taking off with the title-song, which is a surprising kind of Goth-Pop cut. This song has been composed with guitar and electronics. There also is something evasive running through “Erode”, which you’ll find on the remaining cuts. The most surprising song is the cover version of The Doors’ “Riders On The Storm”. It still has this original psychedelic touch, which the band however transposed into something intimate and personal.

+ + + : “Erode” is a surprising release for Infacted Recordings. It also reveals a band, which sounds miles away from what they did in the early years. It however has something original and that’s why I especially like the cover version of “Riders On The Storm”. The song stands for the delicacy of this production.

– – – : I didn’t experience this work as a song that will conquer the DJ’s, but just as an appetizer for the new album. I like the band’s approach, but I think it also is a challenge to bring this kind of music.

Conclusion: I don’t know what to think about this EP; it brings different influences together and is therefore unique.

Best songs: “Riders On The Storm”, “Erode”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/frameofmindband

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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, industrial-pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Six years have passed since the last Menschdefekt-album “Touch Of Madness”. “Cursed” might be seen as the comeback for this German-Swedish formation featuring Fredrik Croona as singer. This album comes as an appetizer to the new opus “Empty World”.

Content: “Cursed” takes off with the title song as “Single Version”, which is a kind of dark-electro song accomplished with a catchy, poppy chorus. The vocals are harsh, but the melodic lead has something elevating. This is a song to all together sing and dance to.

We next get 8 remixes by Ruined Conflict, Frame Of Mind, Reichsfeind, X-Horize, BloodConnek7ion, DV8R, Nine Seconds and Mechanical Moth. 

+ + + : There’s no better way announcing a new album by such a sonic bomb! “Cursed” is a song you’ll rapidly keep in mind and before you realize it, you’ll be contaminated. You’ll spontaneously start to sing the chorus again and again to finally repeat the song again. I also heard several cool remixes like the more poppy- and minimal like one by Ruined Conflict. I also like the job done by Frame Of Mind, DV8R and Mechanical Moth.

– – – : It’s just a pity this EP only features one song and an endless list of remixes; good for the DJ’s, but I’m expecting a bit more so let’s wait for the album.

Conclusion: Menschdefekt strikes back with a dancefloor killer!

Best songs: “Cursed – Single Version”, “Cursed – Ruined conflict Remix”, “Cursed – Frame Of Mind Remix”, “Cursed – DV8r Remix”, “Cursed – Mechanical Moth Remix”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.menschdefekt.com / www.facebook.com/official.menschdefekt

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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: Electro-pop, future-pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Dortmund (Germany) based Rroyce is back on track unleashing their second EP taken from their last album (cf. “Patience”).

Content: “My Dearest Enemy” was the second song from the “Patience”-album. Speaking for myself, I didn’t consider it as one of the best cuts from the album although it’s an efficient piece of danceable electro-pop music with some little future-pop elements on top. The song takes off with a sequence reminding me of Rammstein’s “Du Hast”. The song evolves a typical electro-pop way revealing an elevating chorus.

We next get remixes by Dominatrix, Aircrash Bureau, Frame Of Mind and Nine Seconds.

+ + + : I’m still convinced this is not the best song taken from “Patience” although I have to admit it had more impact on me now. The song is driven by great danceable, pop vibes and some empowering guitar riffs. The chorus has this transcendental effect, which makes a song accomplished and efficient! Among the remixes, I especially like the remix by Dominatrix, which clearly appears to be the most inspired band here.

– – – : I remain a bit skeptical when it comes to EP’s with only remixes. I also expected a bit more from the different remixes, Dominatrix being the single project adding a bonus.

Conclusion: No doubt about it, “Patience” is an album from which you can release several EP’s. Rroyce also is one of the newest electro-pop sensations from the past few years.

Best songs: “My Dearest Enemy – Original Mix”, “My Dearest Enemy – Dominatrix Remix”, “My Dearest Enemy – Frame Of Mind Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.rroyce.de / www.facebook.com/RROYCE.official

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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

Empirion saw the daylight in 1993. Set up by Oz Morsley, Jamie Smart and Bob Glennie the band became quite famous thanks to the legendary “Narcotic Influence”-EP released in 1994 on Wanted Records. They next signed to XL Recordings unleashing in 1996 their debut album “Advanced Technology”. Bob Glennie lost his battle with cancer in 2005, which also seemed to announce the end of a great band. Oz Morsley moved on setting up Kloq, but since 2010 Empirion came back to life doing live performances. They last year came up as a duo releasing new material featured at the EP “I Am Electronic / Red Noise” and here’s now their first new album since “Advanced Technology”. “Resume” (Dependent) mixes early, analogue sound treatments together with solid EBM bass lines resulting in a high-tech, energetic production for the dancefloors. I talked about “Resume” with Oz and Jamie.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Empirion was already active again since a couple of years now, but when did you finally get the idea to compose new songs and how did the entire writing process of “Resume” happened? 

Oz: We had played a few gigs and festivals over the last few years nd at the beginning of us getting back together we didn’t really have a plan to release music. Further along to way we started to think that we should possibly write some new music because the response was good with the live shows, old and new fans made it clear they wanted new material. We wrote a couple of tracks then we thought we could release an EP, then we wrote some more and started to think we could do an album! At that point we really started to think about what the album should be in terms of the Empirion sound… what would we be writing if we had carried on from the 90’s? How would we sound? It sorted itself out after being in the studio together a few times, we wrote a couple of things that didn’t work, but then we just came together and we found our sound again… we just relaxed and it came back to us… but a more contemporary up to date polished version of Empirion.

Q: We all know what happened with Bob Glennie, but what has been the impact of his loss on both of you and on the band? How did it feel to set up Empirion again without him and tell us a bit more about the ‘new’ line-up? 

Jamie: Myself and Oz hadn’t seen each other for many years after Empirion finished at the end of the 90’s. I got in touch because of a gig offer that had come my way so it was the perfect moment for us to meet up and discuss things. It was cool to see each other again and obviously we had a chance to discuss what people (and us) would think it we restarted the band without Bobby. We came to the immediate conclusion that Bob would want us to take this chance and get Empirion back in the game. It was a difficult one, some friends and family may have not been completely happy with us carrying on, but to be honest everyone has been cool, plenty of encouragement and positive vibes especially now the album is out and it’s gathering force… we’re ok with doing this to keep the name alive, he would be to. 

Q: Tell us a bit more about “Resume”? What kind of work did you had in mind and how did you finally (sound-wise) filled the gap between the early work and “Resume”?

Oz: We wrote some of the tracks for “Resume” a real long time ago actually. We did have a very short period of time where we had to play about with sounds/production to get back in the right frame of mind, but as we mentioned before once we got it back they just started to flow. We didn’t want to write a whole bunch of tracks that we just like the early stuff or even come back with music that didn’t relate to it, so as you can imagine having to make up for 23 years of lost time was quite a challenge. If we’d been writing for all those years we would have naturally and gradually morphed the sound of the band, but this way was a lot harder to produce… having to think about every sound, every riff and every type of style.

Q: When listening to “Resume” I get the feeling to hear songs reminding me to the legendary “Narcotic Influence”-hit and to the 90s breakbeats of The Prodigy, but still other songs with a modern techno/EBM approach and driven by solid bass lines! Is this the essence of “Resume” and can you give a few more details about the sound creation properly speaking? 

Jamie: Yeah it’s a blend of old and new, that’s what we wanted to create for the listeners. The whole feel of the album had to have something for the old-school fans to connect with and also new fans to feel there is a link to what’s going on now in a way. Obviously we were using old technology to create the early music so keeping the same essence was important to us. 

Q: I think “Resume” is an appropriated title for this new album. Another appropriated title could have been “Challenge” as I can imagine it must be not that easy to reactivate Empirion, which had such a successful career! How does it really feel? Is it a challenge or is it just about ‘passion’ and ‘artistic creation’?

Jamie: As mentioned earlier it was a little bit of a challenge, but we just stay true to what we want to write and the rest seems to follow. We can only write what we feel, we’re not interested in doing what everyone else is doing, in some ways we don’t care as it’s not going to change what we want to do.

Q: How do you as artists and band evolve throughout the years? Do you focalize on different aspects or do you have other influences and references when it comes to composition and production?  

Oz: We both feel it’s important to have standards with what we create. Have a balance of old and new as we said earlier, take on some new influences of what’s going on, but ultimately do something as fresh as you can, don’t worry too much or over think it all… push the production as much as you can to deliver the proper sound that people get off on.

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.

Background/Info: Set up in the late 80s and split in the 90s, Frame Of Mind got reactivated in 2017 and released the full length album “At The End Of Your World” in 2018. This EP is taken from the album and got released by the end of 2018.

Content: “Nothing Else To Do” was not exactly a song that caught my attention on the album. It however perfectly stands for the sound and EBM approach of this German project. It’s pretty retro-like and mainly carried by dark atmospheres. It’s more EBM to listen to instead of a heavy club-track.

Remixes were done by Antibody (raw technoid driven remix), Bathead (quite sophisticated approach), Netz (pretty minimal-like) and Pyrroline (intelligent version).

+ + + : Frame Of Mind remains an interesting formation for old-school electro-lovers. This song is driven by 90s influences. I especially like the remixes. Antibody did a great job transforming the original version into a raw-technoid edit. I also have to mention the great and inspiring work of Pyrroline. But globally speaking all the remixes make sense!

– – – : I know it’s all a question of taste, but I think there were more interesting songs featured on the album to get released as EP-title song.

Conclusion: This EP merges an old-school title song together with more contemporary electro-formats. I think everyone will find a suitable match.

Best songs: “Nothing Else To Do – Antibody Remix”, “Nothing Else To Do – Pyrroline Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/frameofmindband

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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: Experimental, industrial, noise

Background/Info: Behind Diagnostic is hiding Jan Robbe, who you maybe know from his involvement with Frame Of Mind. Diagnostic is his debut work released on the Serbian label Jezgro (set up by Ontal-member Darko Kolar).

Content: “Repercussions” features 12 songs plus 6 remixes. The work is mixing an impressive number of music styles, but in the end it mainly sounds experimental-like. There also is a fascination for sound manipulation, which often leads into explicit noise atmospheres. You get the impression the musician has found a sonic platform to exorcize all kinds of music fantasies.

Two remixes have been made by Syyt while the others are from Aethereal Arthropod, Katran, K.K. Null while there also is an extra remix of the title track. 

+ + + : If you like experimental music, which is mainly driven by noise and industrial you’re probably going  to like this work. The mix between different genres is interesting, but more interesting is the impressive sound arsenal used by Jan Robbe. I’ve a little preference for one of the most accessible cuts (cf. “Cyberclub II”), which is merged with some techno influences. The remix of “Sacrifice System” by Syyt is another cool cut. 

– – – : This album is pretty complex and accessible because of the endless intermix of genres.

Conclusion: This is an album that will mainly catch the attention of experimental music freaks and lovers of improvisation.

Best songs: “Cyberclub II”, “Repercussions”, “Sacrifice Systems – Syyt Remix”.

Rate: (6).

Artist: www.facebook.com/diagnostic13

Label: www.facebook.com/jezgrorecordings

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, technoid.

Background/Info: Jan Laustroer is a German teenager dealing with dark-electronics. He probably is one of the youngest artists active in the scene and can already look back at a few noticeable self-released productions. He’s also involved with Gen-ZX, which is a new band he set up together with Frame Of Mind-singer Marco Hein. Antibody now joined hands together with DarkTunes to unleash this new opus. The CD format is strictly limited to 100 copies.

Content: Previous works revealed cool ideas, but this new opus is more mature and elaborated. Antibody clearly sounds inspired by dark-electronics, but also with raw- and sometimes hard technoid elements. Some songs are still instrumentals (like the previous album), but a few other cuts are featuring guest vocals by Technolorgy and Avarice In Audio.

The final chapter of the album features remixes by Grendel, Cyferdyne, Kant Kino and Cease2Xist.

+ + + : As I already mentioned most aspects of the writing and production have been improved. Jan Laustroer can be considered as a little genius. I can’t remember such a young guy making this kind of music. It’s not all good and efficient, but this work makes sense and features multiple cool songs. I have a preference for the sung tracks injecting extra power to the song. Antibody is perfectly mixing different influences and I like his dark-techno approach on top of the dark-electronics. The remix of “See Them” by Grendel is a real great piece of music, but I also have to mention Kant Kino, which did a great remix of “Ouroboros”.

– – – : The main challenge for Antibody will be to find a singer or just go on composing instrumental songs with some spoken samplings. But you can hear some songs simply need a vocalist.

Conclusion: I can’t say this album is an absolute ‘must have’, but this teenager took me by surprise composing such cool music. He can only become more experienced and talented so the best is yet to come.

Best songs: “Shut Your Mouth”, “Secrets – Vocal Version feat. Avarice In Audio”, I See Them”, “I see Them – Grendel Remix”, “Ouroboros – Kant Kino Rework”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/musicantibody

Label: www.darktunes.com / www.facebook.com/darkTunesMusic

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, industrial-punk, experimental-techno.

Background/Info: Gen-ZX is a brand-new German duo driven by two familiar names of the electronic scene. The music has been composed by upcoming talent Jan Laustroer (Antibody) while Marko Hein (Frame Of Mind) takes care of the vocals. “Tick-Tock” is their debut work featuring 7 songs. It rather looks like a mini-album instead of a full length.

Content: The main difficulty with Gen-ZX is to define the music genre they’re dealing with. They bring different sources of inspiration together, which can be resumed as EBM, industrial and techno with some punkish and experimental touch on top. The production remains raw and unpolished, which makes me speak about ‘punk’.

+ + + : “Tick-Tock” is hard to define and therefore definitely an atypical production. The songs are rather elaborated while mixing different influences together. Jan Laustroer remains one of the youngest artists active at the scene and even if he still has to grow in the global writing- and especially production process, he really shows interesting ideas. That’s probably why Marko Hein who could be his father started a project with him. They belong to different generations, but are definitely sharing a similar passion for electronic music.

– – – : The sound production remains maybe intentionally unpolished, but this way it also suffers from a real professional sound recording. That’s according to me what they’ve to improve. The atypical approach in sound can’t fully convince me although it’s an approach I like and I want to encourage them to go on with it.

Conclusion: Gen-ZX couldn’t convince me, but I’m sure this band has a potential to move on. I think they mainly need a talented producer to learn them some tricks and improve the sound mix.

Best songs: “Building A World On My Own”, “Illusions”

Rate: (6).

Artist: www.facebook.com/genzxband

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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.

Background/Info: Set up in the late 80s by German duo Michael Friedrich – Marko Hein, Frame Of Mind was featured on a few noticeable samplers while the debut album they were working never got released. Infacted Recordings finally released this ‘early’ stuff on their famous “Classics Series” (2017). The duo is alive and kicking! They finally reactivated Frame Of Mind and this opus is the result.

Content: You rapidly get the impression that this album is a new release from older tracks. But “Resurrected” is a ‘new’ album, but simply composed the ‘old’ way. It sounds like a move back to the late 80s and 90s, a bit like the offspring between X Marks The Pedwalk, Skinny Puppy and even Leather Strip. I guess it’s not entirely of a coincidence Claus Larsen got invited to sing on one of the tracks. “Resurrected” smells like good-old, but still intelligent EBM.

+ + + : “Resurrected” feels a bit like a search or maybe a quest for good-old EBM. This work is totally free of modern influences like techno elements. This is 100% EBM in the darkest vein of aforementioned bands, but you have to agree that X Marks The Pedwalk and Skinny Puppy are much more than simply references.

This album is not into speed cadences, but all the power emerges from the dark spheres and the intelligence of the sound treatments. You sometimes might notice a little poppy touch running through a song, but it’s just a kind of melodic element adding some harmony to the album. I also enjoyed the typical, spooky way of singing.

– – – : This is the kind of work that would have become instantly successful during the 90s! It’s now more a kind of old-school opus for nostalgic EBM lovers although I think this is the kind of music some people are still waiting for! It’s not that really an original work, but damned efficient!

Conclusion: If you’re into old-school EBM, this is definitely a production that will catch your attention. This vintage sound formula still works and even delivers a few great cuts!

Best songs: “System Overload” “Is Love? (2016 Version)”, “The Heist”, “Dance With The Lions”, “We’re Not Alone feat. Leather Strip”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.facebook.com/frameofmindband

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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, dark-electro.

Background/Info: Frame Of Mind was a German duo consisting of Michael Friedrich and Marko Hein. They were active during the late 80s and early 90s dealing with EBM. Two songs were released for the “Body Rapture”-compilation, which back in time was a famous sampler released on Zoth Ommog. This sampler featured legendary formations such as Leather Strip, Armageddon Dildos, X Marks The Pedwalk, Aircrash Bureau, Bigod 20, Brigade Werther, Tribantura ao. The band next worked on a debut album, which never saw the light of day. The songs have been now recovered and released on CD format for the very first time for the “Classics Series” on Infacted Recordings.

Content: This album is a somewhat different edition in the “Classics Series” as I can imagine a lot of EBM lovers never heard of this band before plus “Murderous Thoughts” reveals a major part of previously unreleased material.

You will quickly notice the main sources of inspiration. Frame Of Mind is not exactly a copy of Skinny Puppy, but the sound is quite close to the Canadian masters of EBM. A few other bands such as Click Click, Frontline Assembly and early X Marks The Pedwalk are other potential sources of inspiration.

Frame Of Mind composed a complex and dark electronic canvas. You’ll hear some industrial sound treatments and the classical samplings.

+ + + : “Murderous Thoughts” is a fascinating experience in sound and I’m sure this band really had the potential to become a leading formation in the early 90s EBM genre. They didn’t compose the classic and somewhat cheap format of EBM, but a complex and well-crafted sound supported with overwhelming atmospheres and ghost-like vocals. There also is a great use of industrial noises. This album is pure lust for all 90s EBM lovers while this album features several noticeable songs. No doubt about it this is the most original edition in the “Classics Series”.

– – – : Frame Of Mind never gained the status of the other Zoth Ommog bands and that’s a real pity because they had the talent to break through.

Conclusion: Frame Of Mind sounds like a lost EBM treasure that has been reactivated and the good news is that they’re busy working on new material, which is announced to be released in the near future.

Best songs: “Black Man”, “Peer Culture”, “Change”, “Bypass”, “1933”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/frameofmindband

Label: www.infacted–recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted–Recordings/124099254321690

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 Norwegian synthpop act Echo Image have a new vinyl-only release, “Compulation”, out now on the new label HolmByKarlsen Rekords. Echo Image released their last album in 2002. “Compulation” isn’t exactly a new album as it holds a collection of songs from the band’s 4 previous releases, including one unreleased track. The album is only available on vinyl.

Here’s the tracklist:

Side A

1. Skulk 5:34 (Compuphonic)
2. Endless Day (Original Version) 5:04 (Endless Day single)
3. Need To Be Proud 4:56 (Compuphonic)
4. Frame of mind 4:27 (prev. unreleased)
5. Good Intentions (centravibe mix) 5:06 (Compuphonic)

Side B

1. Fading 4:37 (Compuphonic)
2. Like A Child 5:13 (Compuphonic)
3. Standing Alone 4:41 (Compuphonic)
4. En Annen Verden 4:10 (Compuphonic)
5. Will You Know 3:39 (Standing Alone b-side)

The band was formed in Fredrikstad by Pål-Magnus Rybom in 1998. They signed with the American record label ADD, released one album and 3 singles, attended over 20 compilation releases, had a song on the videogame “Dance-Dance Revolution”, won the Norwegian synth championship, and joined Apoptygma Berzerk on a 3-month European tour, before splitting up in 2002.

The band has since reunited, and are back in the studio working on new material. Here’s already a snippet of “Walk My Mind”:

A releaseparty will be held in Fredrikstad (Norway) on May 14th.

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.

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