The six tracks on “Decay” came out of the same sessions as “Purge” three years ago, and Justin Broadrick held them back while he looked for a label. He found one: the tenth Godflesh album arrives on 25 September 2026 through Relapse Records, the first the Birmingham industrial duo have issued outside Broadrick’s own Avalanche Recordings since their 2010 return. “Living/Ending” is the first single.

“Decay” is the penultimate Godflesh album, not the last one. Broadrick has said a further record is written and still to be recorded, and in March 2026 he announced the end of Godflesh live performances after abdominal surgery for a hernia.

Broadrick explained where the record came from and why it took three years to surface:

“Decay was born from the same sessions as Purge,” he stated. “It was one huge pool of songs. I picked what I felt was appropriate for what I wanted to achieve with Purge, with the intention of releasing the songs that didn’t fit as a new album within a year of Purge being released. Unfortunately, two years passed whilst considering external labels, so that I didn’t have to self-release GODFLESH anymore, but it took an awful lot of time to establish a comfortable home for me. The recordings were done, but as usual for me, I did change a lot of stuff once I came back to it.”

The band have done this before. “Decline & Fall”, issued on 2 June 2014, was built the same way, from tracks Broadrick cut from the sessions that produced “A World Lit Only By Fire” four months later.

He also addressed how the surgery intersected with the recording, since the hernia itself came from the way he sings:

“Fortunately, all of the recordings for Decay were completed long before the surgery, vocals included… although the back end of a couple of songs were recorded with the hernia itself, and that was a struggle. I was already aware that the GODFLESH shout, so to speak, was exacerbating the hernia greatly, as was every GODFLESH performance in the lead-up to the surgery once the hernia appeared, and the hernia was mostly caused by year upon year of shouting in GODFLESH. The album was mixed post-surgery, and while I was still in some pain and considerable discomfort, but fortunately GODFLESH is generally me expressing my pain, albeit [usually] mental, philosophical and existential, whereas this was physical pain.”

Broadrick points to the opening and closing tracks as the record’s core, and notes that the two of them together run half its length:

“The bookends of Decay are the most important pieces to me. They say it all, so to speak; the album could have been just those two songs alone – the duration of them is half of the total album!”

Godflesh ‘Decay’ tracklist and formats

The album runs six tracks:

1. “Master and Slave”
2. “Living/Ending”
3. “Feral Colony”
4. “Fear Of Man”
5. “Fodder”
6. “Consume Me”

Relapse Records offers “Decay” on 12-inch vinyl, CD and cassette, with a digital edition through Bandcamp. A deluxe 12-inch pressing in two limited colours, housed in a silver board laminated jacket with gloss UV and packaged with a slipmat, poster and sticker, has already sold out at the label store.

About Godflesh

Justin Broadrick and bassist G.C. Green formed Godflesh in Birmingham, England, in 1988. Broadrick had played guitar on side one of Napalm Death’s “Scum” the year before, and the pair built Godflesh around downtuned guitar, bass and a drum machine rather than a live drummer. The self-titled debut EP arrived in 1988, followed by the album “Streetcleaner” on Earache Records on 13 November 1989. “Pure” came in 1992.

The band ran until 2002, when Broadrick ended the project during a US tour; “Hymns”, from 2001, was the last album of that period. He spent the following years on Jesu and other projects before reactivating Godflesh in 2010 with Green.

The reunion output came out on Broadrick’s own Avalanche Recordings. The “Decline & Fall” EP appeared on 2 June 2014 and the seventh album, “A World Lit Only By Fire”, on 7 October 2014. “Post Self” followed in October 2017 on vinyl and CD. Six years later the duo returned with the ninth album “Purge” on 9 June 2023, previewed by “the ‘Nero’ single and a US tour announcement”. Away from Godflesh, Broadrick records as JK Flesh and has remixed and contributed to work by acts including Pitchshifter and Derision Cult, the latter alongside members of Ministry and The Cure.

“Decay” leaves one Godflesh album still to record. On what closing the project means, Broadrick stated: “It expresses my pain, and I’ve put my body and soul into this expression for the majority of my existence. I feel quite lucky, because Godflesh is now physically impossible for me, rendering it useless. I now wish to move out of its constraints, move on creatively with heavy/ugly music to new ground.”

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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Cold Spring have announced the first ever release of the legendary BBC sessions by Pitchshifter for the late John Peel, “Peel Sessions 1991-93”.

These – ultra heavy industrial metal – tracks were recorded over two sessions at the Maida Vale studios: 28th April 1991 and 30th March 1993 and were sourced directly from the BBC Archives with remastering for CD and vinyl. The 1991 session was recorded during the same period as “Industrial” (Deaf Records / Peaceville), with the 1993 session recorded around the time of “Desensitized” (Earache).

Jon “JS” Clayden explains: “If you look on your Pitchshifter albums you will see that we always credit John Peel. He was instrumental in getting the band out there and often played our music on the radio when no one else dared. The ‘Peel Sessions’ we did were a great honour and every time I met John he was always such a great guy… a legend.”

Tracklisting of the “Peel Sessions 1991-93”:

1. Gritter
2. Tendrill
3. Dry Riser Inlet
4. (A Higher Form Of) Killing (Radio Phuque Edit)
5. Diable (Wayco Survival Mix)
6. Deconstruction (Reconstruction)

The release will be out in the following formats and can be ordered right here via Coldspring.

• CD in matt-laminate 6-panel digipak
• Ltd Ed 500 copies on white heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve
• Black heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve
• Ltd 100 copies on Black & White swirl heavyweight 180g vinyl in a matt-laminate sleeve *

Only available at Pitchshifter UK tour (*)

Pitchshifter UK tour

• 26th Nov: Thekla, Bristol
• 27th Nov: Gorilla, Manchester
• 28th Nov: The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
• 29th Nov: The Garage, London (sold out)
• 30th Nov: Rock City, Nottingham

About Pitchshifter

Pitchshifter, an industrial metal band from Nottingham, England, is known for blending aggressive guitar riffs with electronic, drum-and-bass, and techno influences, creating a gritty, cyberpunk-inspired sound. Formed in 1989 by brothers Mark and Jon “JS” Clayden, the band initially drew inspiration from industrial acts like Godflesh and Ministry. Their early work, such as the 1991 debut “Industrial”, leaned heavily into dark, abrasive textures that mirrored the desolate feel of post-industrial Britain.

Throughout the ’90s, Pitchshifter evolved, infusing their sound with more accessible, electronic elements. Their 1998 album “www.pitchshifter.com”, marked a peak in their popularity, featuring tracks like “Genius”. Known for its satirical, anti-establishment lyrics and electronic sampling, the album showcased a futuristic edge.

Pitchshifter toured extensively with bands like Korn and Nine Inch Nails, aligning them with the rising nu-metal wave. Though they disbanded in 2003, Pitchshifter left a legacy as pioneers in genre fusion, influencing countless artists across metal and electronic music. The band has reunited sporadically since then.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out on August 30th via Progress Productions is the brand new single from Briar Moth´s alias the US-based darkwave project Vexagon. The track is a new remix of the track “Eyes Without A Face” by JK Flesh aka Justin Broadrick from Godflesh (and a founding member of Napalm Death).

The original version of “Eyes Without A Face” is taken of Vexagon´s album “A New Flesh Experience” released in January 2024 also under Progress Productions.

Here’s the original version.

Justin Broadrick has been very active recently with for instance a new Godflesh album titled “Purge” (June 2023), a series of U.S. dates this year, and a new album for his electronic project JK Flesh, ” Sewer Bait”.

While Godflesh focuses on industrial metal, JK Flesh allows Broadrick to explore darker, more experimental electronic territories, often blending elements of techno, dub, and industrial music.

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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Finnish industrial pioneer, And Then You Die, continues the digitization of its early catalog, announcing the remastered release of the “Geisteskrank” EP via Skithund Records on digital channels on May 3, 2024, and this over 30 years after its originally sold-out cassette release. The EP was originally released as a MC-cassette in 1993 via Medical Records and offers dark and experimental industrial music.

And Then You Die was formed all the way back in 1990 and were one of the first electro/industrial acts in Finland. The roots of the project’s sound lie in dark music with such artists as Einstürzende Neubaten, Swans, Godflesh and Scorn. The group paints their soundscapes with loops and sequences, heavy bass, guitars, analog synthesizers and sometimes even real drums.

Over the years the And Then You Die has released limited edition VHS singles, vinyl’s and cd’s plus a wide bunch of digital releases. With minimal promotion they have gained a certain cult status and been referred as one the best kept secrets in Finland. And Then You Die released their latest album “Electric Uterus” on May 2021.

Here’s the remastered version of “Geisteskrank”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The industrial label Glitchmode Recordings has announced the October 16th release of Derision Cult’s “The Mercenary Mixes”. “The Mercenary Mixes” is a sixteen-track remix series that follows the Derision Cult EP “Mercenary Notes Pt 1”. On remix duties we find Assemblage 23, Moris Blak, Stoneburner, SpankTheNun and Stabbing Westward among others.

The Mercenary Mixes will be available in its entirety on October 16th via Bandcamp while individual singles will be released in the coming weeks.

The previously released “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” EP was the result of a collaboration between Dave McAnally and Sean Payne (Cyanotic), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure), Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), plus Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh).

You can already check the Assemblage 23 remix 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. 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: Rhythmic-Industrial, Power-Electronics.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Justin K. Broadrick -mainly known from his Godflesh project, started this new solo-project last. This debut album was originally released on his own label Avalanche Recordings and now gets a CD edit released by Zoharum featuring two bonus cuts.

Content: Exit Electronics sounds hard, raw and merciless. The basis of the production might remind you of the legendary Esplendor Geometrico. Distorted noises plus rhythms have been mixed to get a true sonic power bomb.

+ + + : Justin K. Broadrock is an artist dealing with endless number of projects and styles; his work however remains mainly harsh and powerful which is extremely illustrated by the appropriated title “Learn The Hard Way”. He doesn’t innovate but will appeal for all lovers of extreme sensations. This is an unpolished, perverted sound carried by dark, buzzing, low tones. I like the most ‘danceable’ cuts from the album but especially “Never Learn”.

– – – : The work becomes a bit predictable at the last part of the work.

Conclusion: Exit Electronics sounds like a sonic bulldozer; robust, rough, powerful and merciless!

Best songs: “Never Learn”, “Tough Love”, “Teeth Grit”, “Expelled Like Piss”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/jkflesh

Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum

About Exit Electronics

Exit Electronics is a solo project of English musician Justin K. Broadrick, best known for Godflesh as well as Jesu, Final and JK Flesh. “Learn The Hard Way” is the project’s debut album, self-released digitally via Broadrick’s own Avalanche Recordings in August 2022, before this extended CD edition, adding two bonus tracks, followed via Zoharum in February 2023 in an edition limited to 400 copies.

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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English industrial metal act Godflesh are set to release “Purge”, their first new material in six years, on June 9th following the 2017 release “Post Self”. The digital-only single for the opening track “Nero”, along with three remixes, has just been unveiled and you can check it below.

Justin K. Broadrick, Godflesh’s songwriter and creator, explains: “‘Nero’ serves as a symbol and reminder of the ongoing, reckless self-destruction that has always existed and will continue to do so. In true Godflesh fashion, three self-reinterpretations are showcased, displaying the many facets of the same coin.”

In January 2022, Broadrick confirmed that a new Godflesh album was being demoed for release later that year and that two live albums documenting the performances of “Pure” and “Selfless” at Roadburn 2013 and 2018 respectively were forthcoming.

Musically “Purge” mixes 1990s hip-hop grooves through the trademark Godflesh sound. The album’s title, “Purge”, alludes to how Broadrick uses Godflesh’s music as a temporary reprieve from his diagnosed autism and PTSD.

Justin: “Since my childhood, I have felt like an outsider and have used the band’s music to express my feelings of being overwhelmed by hypersensitivity and misunderstood. Godflesh serves as a means of catharsis and transcendence, communicating overload and disillusionment with the human condition, the abuse of power, and the systems that bind us. ‘Purge’ reflects on the never-ending cycle of horror inflicted by those in power in the name of religion, control, money, and national pride.”

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the original title O.P.D. (later Fall of Because) but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and B. C. Green (bass) renamed the band and decided to use a drum machine for percussion. Melding heavy metal with industrial music and later with electronic music and dub, Godflesh’s sound is widely regarded as a foundational influence on other industrial metal and post-metal acts and as significant to both experimental and extreme metal.

In addition, Godflesh has announced a series of US tour dates.

Godflesh headliner

• Jun. 18 – Austin – Oblivion Access Festival at Empire Control Room

Supporting Priest Religion

• Jun. 21 – San Diego – Brick By Brick
• Jun. 22 – San Francisco – DNA Lounge
• Jun. 23 – Los Angeles – El Rey Theatre
• Jun. 24 – Denver – Trve Bacchanale at Gothic Theatre
• Jun. 28 – Portland – Hawthorne Theatre
• Jun. 29 – Salt Lake City – Metro Music Hall
• Jun. 30 – Lawrence – The Bottleneck
• Jul. 01 – Atlanta – Terminal West
• Jul. 02 – Orlando – Conduit

Supporting Cel Genesis

• Sep. 13 – Philadelphia – Underground Arts
• Sep. 14 – Baltimore – Baltimore Soundstage
• Sep. 16 – New York – Desertfest at Knockdown Center
• Sep. 20 – Montreal – Foufounes Electriques
• Sep. 21 – Toronto – Lee’s Palace
• Sep. 22 – Detroit – El Club

Godflesh headliner

• Sep. 24 – Chicago – Coldwaves Festival at The Metro

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The American one-man industrial metal/noise act 8 Hour Animal (8HA) just unleashed a music video (directed by Ben Rinehardt from Hold Me Down) for the song “Under the Sod” via Sentient Ruin which premieres now on Side-Line.

“Under the Sod” is taken from the sophomore LP “Kill Your Boss” by the New York state-based solo artist and has been released on MC/digital on March 17 via Sentient Ruin.

You can expect an onslaught of heavy rhythmics and cold sequences assaults based on concepts like societal alienation, industrial exploitation, rogue capitalism, and depersonalization through modern day slavery. As references 8HA uses the work of Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, Controlled Bleeding, :Wumpscut:, Wolf Eyes, Skullflower, Incapacitants, and Coil.

Here’s the video for “Under the Sod”.

You can check out the full album right 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. 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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American one-man industrial metal/noise act 8 Hour Animal premieres a new track, “Under the Sod”, from the project’s the sophomore LP “Kill Your Boss”, to be released on MC/digital on March 17, 2023 via Sentient Ruin.

The New York state-based solo artist brings a blend of heavy rhythmics and cold sequences to instrumentalise the concepts of societal alienation, industrial exploitation, rogue capitalism, and depersonalization through modern day slavery. The project formed its sound respecting the industrial legacy from bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, Controlled Bleeding, :Wumpscut:, Wolf Eyes, Skullflower, Incapacitants, and Coil.

Here’s the new track, “Under the Sod”.

And here is the full 5-track strong album from which you can also check already the track “Grind Down”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Oakland, California based label Sentient Ruin Laboratories announces the release of “Kill Your Boss”, the brand new album by American harsh industrial metal / power electronics act 8 Hour Animal. The new album arrives almost two years after introducing the band via its 2021 debut offering “Resigner”.

With the new full-length album “Kill Your Boss”, the New York state-based solo artist subverter offers references to acts like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, Controlled Bleeding, :Wumpscut:, Wolf Eyes, Skullflower, Incapacitants, and Coil.

“Kill Your Boss” is slated for a March 17 2023 release on cassette, vinyl and digital formats worldwide. You can already stream the track “Grind down” 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. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now is the all new EP by industrial metal band Derision Cult. The “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” EP features members of Ministry, The Cure & Godflesh and continues on Derision Cult’s themes of over-stimulation that humanity is faced with in the 21st century.

Derision Cult leader, Dave McAnally says: “On the last album, we pointed out ways the media prays on people’s emotions. On this one, we’re talking about solutions and how to move forward in the 21st century.”

Mercenary Notes Pt 1 features several guests that include Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh). The 8-track EP is available on CD as well via Bandcamp.

Derision Cult is a project by Chicago solo artist Dave McAnally. He was involved in a number of projects across a range of genres and has been featured on releases by Metropolis Records as well as his own imprint, South Street Dungeon.

Here’s the video for “Year Hope Failed” from the EP.

Side-Line also covered The Cure’s ‘One hundred years’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Chicago based industrial/metal project, Derision Cult has just unleashed their new single and video, “Bastards Of The World”. The track is off the forthcoming EP, “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” set to be released on December 2 via Glitch Mode Recordings.

For the song, Derision Cult ringleader, Dave McAnally tapped into years of experience helping brands create narratives. Dave: “It deals with my experiences running campaigns that provoked enragement for a certain audience so another audience pays more attention. This has become an effective strategy. The messages we receive are attempts to illicit emotional responses.”

“Bastards Of The World” was inspired by a specific instance where Dave was approached to help a gun manufacturer infuriate gun control advocates to create a run on guns and ammunition: “On paper, the concept was very logical because when there are calls to ban weapons, we do see an uptick in sales for guns and ammunition. On principle, I didn’t take the project, but it inspired me to talk about this type of a campaign in a track because these things go on all the time.”

Here’s the video for “Bastards Of The World” in the Glitch Mode Breaks Mix version. The video was produced by Sean Payne (Cyanotic, Robohop, Conformco).

“Mercenary Notes Pt 1” will contain a set of tracks which serve as survival guide for maintaining mental health in a media-entrenched world “determined to generate hysteria and sensationalism among the masses”. Dave adds: “On the last album, we pointed out ways the media prays on people’s emotions. On this one, we’re talking about solutions and how to move forward in the 21st century.”

In addition to Dave and Sean, Mercenary Notes Pt 1 features several guests including Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure) and Justin Broadrick (Godflesh). Part 2 of the Mercenary Notes series is due for the following year.

Here’s the download for the track.

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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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

Justin K Broadrick, guitarist for Napalm Death but more importantly the founder of the industrial group Godflesh, returns under the Pale Sketcher moniker, or let’s say resurfaces because this electronic album has been collecting dust for several years.

Fifteen years ago, Justin K Broadrick began experimenting. Originally intending to create sketches for his project Jesu, Broadrick soon realized the new material didn’t fit Jesu’s signature guitar-noise. Pale Sketcher was born. Out on September 23rd is the album “Golden Skin” which was written and recorded between 2009-2013. Originally slated for release on Richard D. James’ (Aphex Twin) Rephlex Records prior to it shuttering, the material was unearthed and completed by Broadrick specifically for its release on the GIVE/TAKE label. GIVE/TAKE is boutique record label based in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, specializing in auteur-driven, experimental projects with an electronic approach.

When you pre-order the album now you will receive the lead single “I’m Your Possession” immediately.

To be released on vinyl, CD, and digital (available here in pre-order on Bandcamp) you can expect a mix of IDM, electronics, and experimental music. Note that the vinyl (transparent) shipping will happen as soon as manufacturing allows. The European fulfillment on this specific release will be provided by WeShipVinyl.

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

In the past week, several acts have canceled upcoming shows in Russia. While some artists point towards the war in Russia for canceling their concerts, others just removed the dates from their agenda without any explanation, such as The Pixies. Nick Cave for instance has canceled his summer tour dates in Russia and Ukraine, while praising the “brave people of Ukraine.”

Other bands like Laibach, Godflesh, Static-X, Till Lindemann, Lebanon Hanover, She Past Away, Oscar & the Wolf, Disclosure, Lacrimas Profundere, Tricky, Morcheeba, Fatboy Slim, Bjork, My Chemical Romance, Behemoth and Slipknot are still scheduled to play though this can change anytime as we pulled this info from ticket vendor websites who still offer tickets.

At the same time Live Nation Entertainment has announced that it will cease all business activity with Russia.

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

The Stoke-On-Trent, UK based industrial act Omnibael announce their forthcoming debut full length on Cruel Nature Recordings, “Rain Soaks the Earth Where They Lie”. As we explained earlier this month, the band makes a rather vicious noise reminiscent of early Godflesh, peak-era Ministry, Cop Shoot Cop and early Unsane.

As for the influences that powered this debut album, here’s what they say: “We were listening to The Body, White Suns, Show Me The Body, Uniform, Black Dice, Sightings, Kevin Richard Martin and Full of Hell – our friends’ music too – Rejection Ops, Territorial Gobbing.”

Side-Line can now reveal a first track: “Nothing Tastes Better Than Deceit”. Here’s the video for the track “Nothing Tastes Better Than Deceit”.

You can pre-order the album right here, including in a cassette format which is limited to 60 copies world-wide and listen to 2 more tracks 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. 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

Stoke On Trent (UK) based industrial band Omnibael are to release their 9-track debut album, “Rain Soaks The Earth Where They Lie”, on Cruel Nature Recordings on February 4th. They make a rather vicious noise reminiscent of early Godflesh, peak-era Ministry, Cop Shoot Cop and early Unsane.

Over a very short period of time, the duo formed this year, the band has realized quite some output including a split album with Lip Critic and a few live and virtually live outings.

As for their sound the band says they were “listening to The Body, White Suns, Show Me The Body, Uniform, Black Dice, Sightings, Kevin Richard Martin and Full of Hell – our friends’ music too – Rejection Ops, Territorial Gobbing.”

Check the player below to get an idea what to expect.

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

Birmingham (UK) duo Andy Swan – Damian Bennett set up Khost in 2013. Damian explains the name of the project had a strange shroud’ feel to it, like a presence. Khost is a city in Afghanistan so in the end it sounds a bit the same as acts like Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin and Nazareth. Damian Bennett felt they all seemed to be autonomous and just generated a vibe more than anything literally city-related. Andy Swan first read about the Afghan city of Khost in a CIA book and it immediately hit him as evocative and exotic and yet slightly threatening in a non-specific sort of way. It has an air of unease about it. It’s really hard to put your finger on it which suits the sound of Khost really well. Khost this year released the album “Buried Steel” on Cold Spring Records, which sounds to me as their most accomplished work to date; an album filled with overwhelming, monstrous sound treatments and carried by a rough production. It’s a work that can’t leave you unaffected so I talked about it with both members.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I noticed you’re hailing from Birmingham, which is a town where numerous bands and artists dealing with very diversified music genres have been established. What has been the impact of it all on your interest in music and starting to experiment yourself? And what’s your connection with JK Flesh/Godflesh?

Damian: I grew up loving acts such as Wizzard, The Move and Moody Blues, all of which are entrenched in the spirit of the city. Later bands like Au Pairs and Steel Pulse… if you know the latter, you know of Handsworth where I used to live. We love Birmingham rock, punk, metal, glam, reggae, D&B, house… from clubs to unofficial anarcho-punk. We love venues like The Asylum and I personally love Newtown and Aston. Sabbath would rehearse in the community centre there.

We both have connections to Godflesh over decades and I was really proud to have worked on music in Avalanche studio, and to play like in Techno Animal… Justin on guitar, Kev on sax, was insane. Plus touring with Godflesh in the depths of Winter, was badass.

Andy: I was born and raised in Birmingham. I left school at 16 and immediately went to work in a Birmingham factory which had a massive effect on me. Birmingham back then had a more lived-in sort of feel which it doesn’t seem to have these days -it’s all plastic and shiny which I hate. It used to have a lot more soul but it’s devoid of that in some ways now.

I was in a band called Final with Justin from Godflesh back when I was 15 or so. We go back a long way!

Q: What means Khost to you and what did you originally tried to express/exorcise?

Damian: I love the possibilities the Khost vibe/temp/mindset presents. I don’t of many acts that have done as much wide-ranging material as we have… this year alone, “Buried Steel”-album –plus videos for that, “Steel Veil”-book, “23_12”-compilation which is ongoing and another project with a USA band which is in the works.

We comprise super heavy riffs, tones and electronics –such as “Intravener” –multi visuals on stage, and have many guest artists such as Eugene from Oxbow, Stephen from Wrangler/Cabaret Voltaire, Syan –who has also played with us live –Daniel Buess, Jo Quail.

We also get some pretty hefty swipes in about what passes for modern civilization. Hardcore commentary, just not the same delivery as you would get in punk. Though we obviously love punk and hardcore throughout the decades. I want to say on the latter am a massive Will Haven fan, for their sonics, approach, vibe, lyrics, live… wow.

Andy: I think that Khost is completely genre-free. It allows any sort of expression which is very liberating.

Q: What kind of work did you wanted to accomplish with “Buried Steel” and what have been the different stages you’d to go through to achieve the album?

Damian: Many albums can be a fairly simple journey from A to B. This is not.

Some albums are just a compilation of tracks. This is not. To do the latter would be, for me, to regard a ‘film’ as being a compilation of separate visual segments then just stuck together: if done right, it’s not that at all; it’s a narrative, a continuum under the watchful eyes of a unified team.

We wrote the material immediately starting after “Governance” and it really developed organically over time, with people entering the space and delivering their part. I think the first piece written was “Kent House”.

We had mechanical mishaps on the way such as a reel to reel catching flame –this is an occupational hazard with the band, but would salvage what we could and make something new from the salvaged material: like creating twisted sculptures from burnt wreckage.

Q: You again asked several guest artists to contribute to the album. Tell us a bit more about the input of other artists, which became like a common thread in the different works you’ve released? How does it happen and do you handle some specific criteria to ask other artists?

Damian: For me some of the spoken parts were inspired by interludes and narratives from the past from people such as Gira and Rollins, and loved how spoken interludes worked with the flow of the album, not to mention live… the connection between spoken and sung lyrics was so cool to me. I loved their books too: “Black Coffee Blues” and “The Consumer” for examples.

We would work with the people over time and develop the sound design to work with the material. It develops a lot as you discuss life and ups and downs. One discussion was about insomnia. We have done this since “Buried Steel” too, with people like Syan on “5 Steps Adrift” and Daniela v.k too, check out “Every Single Lie”.

The piece with M. Liebeskind –engineer for Oxbow, Melt Banana, 16-17 -is something from late night phone discussions and is very eerie actually: about two people on a tram talking to each other without moving, like a B&W film, or painting by Magritte, with a feeling of menace. It’s hard to get the same feeling in a musical piece if you follow.

Similarly Stephen from Tunnels Of Āh and his work… but I don’t want to talk too much more as it is down to the movie that plays in the mind of the listener.

I am also inspired by Mary Ocher who works in music in a way that transcends normal ‘songs’. She is awesome live.

Andy: I go back to the early 80’s Birmingham power electronics scene with Stephen from Tunnels Of Āh. He, along with all the other contributors, ‘get’ khost so they know the score immediately.

Q: I’ve always experienced your works as a mix of different influences, but in the end it always reveals a dark, obscure and event tormenting sound! What’s hiding behind this ‘terror sound’ and what inspired and/or drives you to compose this kind of music?

Damian: This connects to the ‘menace’ point, above. If that’s there then there would be the sort of unease that films from a different era presented… as they used old technology like analogue sound, had different acoustics, lighting, film stock, video stock… that could be low budget horror from 70s; “Lets Scare Jessica To Death” for example, it could be certain scenes even in films like “Dirty Harry”, like when he is confronted by the rogue cops in ‘Magnum Force’ in an underground carpark… it could be certain scenes in Polanski films, like “Rosemary’s Baby” when Rosemary realizes that the older couple are not right or normal (pierced ears), or when she’s in the phone booth and someone has his back to her outside… and in his version of “Macbeth” where dawn comes up and the castle is bathed in red light… not to mention scene with Banquo’s ghost! Or it could be overt stuff like “Evil Dead”, Korean/Japanese horror, moments in the early ‘V/H/S’ franchise… or my personal faves, “Paranormal Activity” 1-3. So it’s usually things from unexpected sources.

And the “World At War”-series. The sound/music on that is enough to stop anyone in their tracks.

Andy: Back when I was a kid there was a TV series called “Armchair Thriller” which scared me to death. There was one particular episode that included a faceless nun which was terrifying to me as a young kid. The first movie however that gave me nightmares was “The Wizard Of Oz” which in itself wasn’t a scary film, but had that underlying unease to it which is something that we’re definitely into. Not overtly horrific or scary but disconcerting and uneasy.

Q: Khost definitely is a live project! You already did an impressive number of live performances in very different countries. So I can easily imagine you must have been frustrated –and still are, because of the restrictions due to Covid 19. So what have you been doing during the lockdown? And how do you transpose your sound and work from the studio towards the stage?

Damian: We continue to work on “23_12”, which is inspiring. We did a live to air/stream at beginning of lockdown. We recently did an hour long mix, full of interesting moments. On a personal front have also done a side-project called TRIAL, industrial-thrash-metal.

Andy: We’ve had quite a few shows and festivals cancelled this year which has been a great shame. We have however been able to work on new material some of which will appear on a split EP to be released later this year or early next year.

Khost live is a different beast altogether. We’ve had all sorts of unexplainable occurrences during live shows -lights failing, laptops refusing to boot, sound cutting out, which all adds to the unease.

Damian & Andy: Merci beaucoup!

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-rap, ambient, hip-hop.

Background/Info: Zonal is the meeting –and comeback, of  Justin Broadrick (JK Flesh, Godflesh) and Kevin Martin  (involved with numerous projects like The Bug, King Midas Sound ao). They both already worked together in the early 90s under the God moniker. They also released an album as Zonal in 2000. “Wrecked” is their newest opus featuring Moor Mother.

Content: “Wrecked” features 2 distinguishable parts. You first get 6 tracks featuring Moor Mother and next you’ll hear 6 instrumental cuts. The songs featuring Moor Mother are something really special; the music is the fusion between industrial and trip-hop while the vocals are pure rap. It creates something really unique –or at least I’m not used to hear industrial-rap or –trip-hop. It creates an anguishing feeling, the music being raw and the slow cadence creating an imaginary state or paranoia.

The other tracks left are quite similar in sound, but remain instrumental versions. The music is a little less more industrial-minded, but still featuring poignant ambient, icy passages.

+ + + : This Zonal album definitely deserves an award for most original industrial album of the year or should I say most creative hip-hop album of the year? I prefer to assimilate it with industrial music because of raw sound treatments and overwhelming atmospheres. This is an extremely dark opus accentuated by the rap vocals of Moor Mother. The album brings a succession of great cuts and I have to confess, I’ve already listened to this work a few times.

– – – : The main difficulty for Zonal will be to catch the attention of a wider audience. I’m confident they’re on the right label to get the recognition they deserve, but this mix of styles is a hard challenge!

Conclusion: “Wrecked” is without a shadow of doubt an album I’ll keep in mind! This project proves it’s absolutely possible to bring opposite styles together, but in the end we have to admit that nothing is impossible when it comes to making good music.

Best songs: “Debris”, “Wrecked”, “In A Cage feat. Moor Mother”, “Body Of Wire feat. Moor Mother”, “Black Hole Orbit”, “Medulla feat. Moor Mother”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/jkflesh / www.facebook.com/kevinrichardmartinofficial

Label: www.relapse.com / www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

About Zonal

Zonal reunites Justin Broadrick and Kevin Martin, who first worked together in the early 1990s as God before releasing an album as Zonal in 2000. Broadrick remains best known for Godflesh, the Birmingham industrial duo he continues to lead, and also records solo as JK Flesh; Martin’s other projects include The Bug and King Midas Sound.

“Wrecked,” their first Zonal album since the 2000 debut, was released on Relapse Records and features vocalist Moor Mother across half its tracks.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

JK Flesh is the electronic- or should I say techno project of Justin Karl Broadrick. Internationally praised and renowned for his involvement with Godflesh, JK Flesh brings a totally different exposure of the artist. He recently released the third JK Flesh full length entitled “New Horizon” on Electric Deluxe. It’s not pure techno music, but an interesting and somewhat experimental approach of the genre.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What kind of work did you want to accomplish with “New Horizon” and how do you perceive the evolution in sound from the debut album “Posthuman” till the new work? 

Justin: The evolution has been somewhat radical; “Posthuman” still contained the residue of my more established works, guitar and vocals much like Godflesh, but fundamentally electronic music, which was the albums intention. Ironically “Posthuman” was designed as a purely electronic statement, but the then label boss of 3by3, Steve, who was also a member of the much missed Cloaks, suggested that I integrate the vibe of my other work with guitars and vocals to make something more arguably unique, at that point I felt maybe he had a good point. So, I set about adding organic instrumentation to the existing songs.

Once he folded both his label and project, I intended to lose all organic/physical instrumentation and return to my original vision for JK Flesh. Each subsequent release has become increasingly electronic based. “New horizon” is an album, so it’s conceptual and should be viewed as a whole work. In a nutshell, it’s an exploration of the darker fringes of what  is essentially ‘dub techno’, as established by such luminaries as Basic Channel, Maurizio and the Chain Reaction label.

Q: One thing is for sure I experienced “New Horizon” as your most ‘progressive’ JK Flesh work to date; it feels a bit like you’re exploring different sonic horizons while accentuating some ‘techno’ influences. What is it all about? 

Justin: Yes, for me it’s still fundamentally techno, and although I generally don’t like work that is considered progressive, much like I’ve never been enamoured with guitar solos! I do agree that texturally this album is indeed progressive; I wanted the machines to breathe and appear as if they’re organisms, which I achieved via constant, but subtle manipulations of every piece of hardware used in this creation.

Q: What did you keep in mind from the entire writing- and production process of “New Horizon” and do you’ve a specific way of working? 

Justin: Maybe I’ve covered this above, but I can add that this album was created via hardware only and then edited on a computer, my task was to make the machines sound alive and consistently in flux, which somewhat mirrors the subject matter of our next stages of evolution, and my emotional response to this evolution; it’s not academic, it’s a reaction.

Q: I’ve been intrigued by the track “The Next Stage”, which has something more soundtrack-like. What is it all about and are there some plans/ideas to ever compose a soundtrack? 

Justin: I recently backed out of composing a soundtrack for a film! I found the process too limiting, and I think ultimately I’m useless at following someone else’s criteria.

“The Next Stage” is probably the pinnacle of the album in the context of it being an exploration of texture; this track is intentionally more concerned with texture than any actual musical content; it lives and breathes, and this was what I was attempting to achieve, but it’s still techno, but stripped of virtually everything, but conversely it’s not really truly minimal because texturally it’s maximal.

Q: Techno music becomes more and more diversified and I especially like the mix with industrial music. What’s your perception about techno music globally speaking and specific evolutions such as industrial-techno in particular?

Justin: Everything appears to be about micro genres now, and I hate to sit within any micro genre due again to the limitations imposed, but I have an obvious affinity with both industrial music and techno loosely speaking, for me my sound is old; it’s rooted in older industrial music like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire and older techno like Jeff Mills and Basic Channel. I see myself fitting somewhere between the two camps, the organic aspect and having some sort of swing to the music is also important to me; I’m less interested in industrial music that is what I’d call stiff and lifeless. I like this music to be on the verge of decay and sound like it’s crumbling apart.

Q: JK Flesh remains a truly sonic enigma to me; a mix of industrial-, minimal-electronics, dark-techno music ao genres. What kind of sound do you want to create and how do you see this project evolving? 

Justin: This project is still in its infancy as far as I am concerned; it’s the beginning, I’m still learning to communicate this sound; it’s somewhat isolated and it’s very personal.

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

About JK Flesh

JK Flesh is a solo project of Justin Broadrick, founder of Godflesh. Broadrick launched JK Flesh in 2012 with the album “Posthuman” and signed to Electric Deluxe for “Suicide Estate” (2016) ahead of “New Horizon”, his second release for the label.

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: Experimental, techno, industrial.

Background/Info: You are probably hailing from a distant music planet if you have never heard of Justin Broadrick. The legendary Godflesh front man returns under the JK Flesh moniker to unleash a new technoid experiment. JK Flesh already released multiple productions and now joined hands again for a second EP on Downwards.

Content: “Exit Stance” doesn’t deal with classical techno music and to tell you truth, I don’t consider it as pure techno music. The 4 tracks reveal a solid and experimental crossover between industrial- and techno music. Repetitive loops and raw technoid treatments have been mixed with heavy experiments, which sometimes become more accessible through a kind of melodic tune running through “Bullied By Love”.

+ + + : I have always been fascinated discovering the work of JK Flesh, which has nothing in common with Godflesh. It reveals an artist with a wider arsenal of influences. “Exit Stance” definitely reveals a very personal approach of techno music, which at the same time also sounds industrial-like. There clearly is a mix between both genres resulting in a truly experimental work. You can hear the artist likes to manipulate sounds and noises without taking care for any compromise. I think it’s the single way to create something personal!

– – – : The other hand of the coin is the experimental result, which I can’t call accessible for a wider audience. So this 12” will be first of all please to experimental addicts and techno lovers with a real open-minded vision.

Conclusion: I already heard better and more accessible productions from JK Flesh, but the artist definitely composes music with a very own approach. It sounds like a big “f*** you” to stereotypical standards without a truly sound identity.

Best songs: “Caveman”.

Rate: (6½)

Artist: www.downwardsrecords.com / www.facebook.com/jkflesh

Label: www.facebook.com/Downwards–Records-255360997821158

About Justin K Broadrick

Justin K Broadrick is a Birmingham-born English musician who started making solo material under the name Final at age 12. He then connected with B. C. Green and Paul Neville in Birmingham before moving through Fall Of Because and an early period in Napalm Death. In 1988, Broadrick and Green formed Godflesh. After Godflesh’s initial 2002 split, Broadrick launched Jesu in 2003 while continuing parallel work across Final, collaborations with Kevin Martin, remix projects and solo releases.

JK Flesh is Broadrick’s dedicated electronic alias, launched with the debut full-length “Posthuman” in 2012. Side-Line interviewed Broadrick about the project later in 2018 in a Click Interview.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Ambient, experimental, industrial, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Echoes Of Yul is a Polish solo-project, which released 3 albums thus far. “The healing Sessions” moves back to their previous work “The Healing”, which was originally released on cassette format. This CD format is an opportunity to discover multiple cuts from this original release plus some extras.

Content: Echoes Of Yul mixes different influences with each other. It sounds pretty experimental, but the industrial elements and other ambient atmospheres make the sound more accessible. The experimental approach can be heard in the transformed (sampled) vocals and global sound manipulations. Guitar parts can be heard as well, which are sometimes moving into an apocalyptic sensation. Other cuts are into a cinematographic approach getting the album pretty diversified.

+ + + : This project seems to exorcise an impressive canvas of sonic ideas. I like the bombastic passages leading into apocalyptic music while next moving into ambient and cinematographic parts. The work is rather relaxing at one moment and dark and somewhat freaky at the next moment. The live drums played by a guest drummer on two cuts are once again accentuating the versatile character of the work, but in the end it all remains pretty heterogeneous.

– – – : Echoes Of Yul clearly doesn’t sound as the most accessible work, but it will be for sure a discovery for experimental lovers.

Conclusion: This album is an experiment and the imaginary meeting between Godflesh and Swans working on a soundtrack.

Best songs: “La Chèvre” “Enjoy The Crash”, “All Right”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/echoesofyul

Label: www.zoharum.com / www.facebook.com/zoharum

About Echoes Of Yul

Echoes Of Yul is a Polish solo electronic project that released a self-titled debut album in 2009, followed by “Cold Ground” in 2012.

The project’s 2015 album “The Healing” was accompanied by a companion recording, “The Healing Sessions”, originally issued as a cassette on Tar Trail the same year. Zoharum reissued “The Healing Sessions” on CD in 2017 with additional tracks, the edition reviewed here.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Out by mid-November is the newest Godflesh album “Post Self”. “Post Self” has been over 2 years in the making and explores the less ‘metal’ side of Godflesh. So expect material influenced by late 70’s early 80’s post punk and industrial.

The 10-track release is available on vinyl (you can order it here) and on CD (you can order it right here).

Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham which was formed in 1988 by Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Green (bass).

Signing to Earache Records in the late 1980s, the band released their debut, “Streetcleaner” (1989) to critical acclaim. After releasing 1992’s “Pure” and 1994’s major label debut “Selfless”, they started experimenting with live drums, as well as hip hop and breakbeat influences. The resulting releases, “Songs of Love and Hate” (1996) and “Us and Them” (1999), were followed by “Hymns” (2001).

Broadrick ended Godflesh in 2002 shortly after Green’s departure and pursued various other projects, including Jesu. Broadrick and Green reformed Godflesh in 2010, releasing “A World Lit Only by Fire” (2014).

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: Industrial-doom, death-industrial, industrial-metal.

Background/Info: Hailing from Birmingham (UK), Khost has gained a serious reputation in a rather short lapse of time. Andy Swan and Damian Bennett released some real noticeable productions while they did some massive live performances. The apotheosis probably was when Justin Broadrick (Godflesh) reworked the work of Khost on the “Needles Into The Ground”-album (2016). Khost is now back on track with a somewhat intimate work, which was inspired by some personal drama like sickness and one near-death-experience.

They’ve asked a few guest musicians who by the way are already familiar with Khost. Eugene Robinson (Oxbow), Syna, Daniel Buess and Jo Quail already contributed to the “Corrosive Shroud”-album (2015).

Content: Khost is not exactly music for sensitive souls. The mix of heavy screams, dark and oppressive atmospheres, heavy industrial elements and drones and metal music all together create a rough sonic creation. You now and then will notice some unexpected elements such as a kind of esoteric chants and sweet female vocals.

The entire work remains driven and controlled by hard and merciless industrial-doom & metal music.

The last track is a remix of “Coven” by Adrian Stainburner (Israel).

+ + + : It didn’t take that much time to Khost to become experts in their genre. The music style is pure crossover featuring different influences, which might appeal to lovers of doom-metal music, but still to death-industrial. The sound is constantly recovered with heavy sound layers and oppressive atmospheres leading the listener into a vision of horror. I sometimes get the impression that Khost is starting there where their town mate Justin Broadrick is stopping. But on the other side I also like the few, more sensitive elements –such as the contribution of Jo Quail, running through the work.

– – – : Khost is one of those formations composing music for extreme souls! It means that it’s not exactly the kind of accessible release. Speaking for myself, it took some time to get into the sonic aggression created by this combo.

Conclusion: Khost are truly sound terrorists composing sonic bombs, which can provoke a serious brain damage!

Best songs: “Cloudbank Mausoleum”, “Redacted Repressed Recalcitrant”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/khostband

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

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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Following 2016’s “Larva Lumps & Baby Bumps”, Controlled Bleeding returns with “Carving Songs”, a remix album totalling 20 tracks, including a 21st track, “TROD”, a brand new Controlled Bleeding composition by founder Paul Lemos.

The hand-picked cast of remixers includes Japanese noise-guru Merzbow, Justin K. Broadrick from industrial-metal act Godflesh (not to mention Jesu), as well as Monolake, Crowhurst, Ramleh, Child Bite, and many others. Even notorious experimental guitarist (and current Lydia Lunch Retrovirus member) Weasel Walter makes an appearance.

The remixes range from straight up power noise, to post-black metal, to industrial-influenced beats, and are as varied as Controlled Bleeding itself, a project known for being impossible to classify.

The album comes in a limited edition dark green double LP vinyl with insert, next to a normal dark vinyl version and a 2CD version which can all be ordered right here straight from the label itself.

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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A few days ago we announced that you could listen to a superb free remix by Apoptygma Berzerk of the Mortiis track “Sins of Mine”.

Good news, that remix is now available as a free download from the Mortiss Bandcamp page. It furthermore includes a remix of “Demons are Back” by Technomancer/Angst Pop. For those familiar with Apoptygma Berzerk, Per Aksel Lundgreen who is behind the projects Technomancer/Angst Pop used to be in Apoptygma Berzerk when the band started out.

It’s not the first time that Mortiis is offering free downloads, here are the previous free download singles which can still be downloaded here:

– “Bleed Like You” – Merzbow & Prurient Remixes
– “The Great Leap” – Godflesh & Chris Vrenna Remixes
– “The Die Krupps & Leather Strip Remixes”

The remix by Apoptygma Berzerk is part a collection of “corrupted” tracks released as “The Great Corrupter”. That album also includes remixes by Chris Vrenna, Rhys Fulber, Die Krupps, John Fryer, GODFLESH, In Slaughter Natives, Raison D´Etre, Je$us Loves Amerika, PIG, and many more, as well as unreleased material from the original “The Great Deceiver” recording sessions.

“The Great Corrupter” is available on vinyl which will be limited to 500 copies in five different vinyl colors (all versions are available via Mortiis’ very own webstore), limited to 100 copies each, with a unique center-opening gatefold. Four vinyl colors will come with its own exclusive poster, only available with that specific color, and one with a large woven patch.

The CD version will be made up of eight-panel, DVD sized Digipak, containing a 24-page booklet of exclusive photos. The set (available here) will also include additional remixes exclusive to the deluxe CD package. This package will include download cards for three previously unreleased uncensored videos. This deluxe version will also be limited to 500, after which the CD will be available in a less elaborate standard format. The CD version is also available digitally right here on iTunes.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Sebastian Ludvigsen) On the latest single from “The Great Corrupter“, Norwegian “futurepop” group Apoptygma Berzerk transforms Mortiis’ “Sins of Mine” into a synth-loaded version. Quite a transformation but that is clearly the idea behind Mortiis’ “The Great Corrupter”, namely offering new and sometimes unconventional reworks of the tracks from “The Great Deceiver”.

“Stephan from Apoptygma Berzerk really twisted ‘Sins of Mine’ into a way more accessible format, which I really liked,” says Mortiis. “When I made that track, it was this semi-dissonant, somber piece about hopelessness and just giving up and letting past guilts and crimes wash over me and undo me, just make me disappear. So it was really dark. Stephan twisted it around to become this way more accessible, yet very uncommercial song, still about the darkness that follows guilt. Those wonderful feelings were kept intact.” 

Mortiis himself was even able to add a little to the Apoptygma Berzerk version of the song. “I had this one line from the lyrics that I could never seem to fit in, so it was left out,” he said. “But Stephan wanted me to come in and add some new vocals, so I was able to put it in there. I simply repeated it, like some sort of mantra.”

You can listen to the Apoptygma Berzerk remix right below. The collection of “corrupted” tracks also includes remixes Chris Vrenna, Rhys Fulber, Die Krupps, John Fryer, GODFLESH, In Slaughter Natives, Raison D´Etre, Je$us Loves Amerika, PIG, and many more, as well unreleased material from the original “The Great Deceiver” recording sessions.

“The Great Corrupter” is also available on a vinyl which will be limited to 500 copies in five different vinyl colors (all versions are available via Mortiis’ very own webstore), limited to 100 copies each, with a unique center-opening gatefold. Four vinyl colors will come with its own exclusive poster, only available with that specific color, and one with a large woven patch.

The CD version will be made up of eight-panel, DVD sized Digipak, containing a 24-page booklet of exclusive photos. The set (available here) will also include additional remixes exclusive to the deluxe CD package. This package will include download cards for three previously unreleased uncensored videos. This deluxe version will also be limited to 500, after which the CD will be available in a less elaborate standard format. The CD version is also available digitally right here on iTunes.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The latest single from Mortiis’ “The Great Corrupter” album comes courtesy of the Japanese dark ambient-noise artist Merzbow, who twists “Bleed Like You” into a completely new form. Check out the Merzbow Remix below.

In a reaction Mortiis says: “This is not a remix – it´s abuse, the good kind. If you prefer your music traditional, and your audio all pleasant and polished, you should consider walking away now. It is Merzbow mutilating Mortiis. I never really thought that that was going happen, and I don´t think anyone else did either!”

The radical remix also is visible in the artwork used for the single: “We’ve been trying to think a bit different art-wise for the last few singles,” said Mortiis. “I thought the time was right to try art directions that were not typical of Mortiis to take. The Merzbow remix single art is another idea I’ve had for a long time. As usual, it’s morphed from the original idea, into a different beast almost entirely, in time. But what else is new?”

Mortiis’ “The Great Corrupter” is due for release on April 21, and is a collection of tracks from “The Great Deceiver” album, deconstructed and ‘corrupted’. Other artists who remixed Mortiss for this occasion include Chris Vrenna, Rhys Fulber, Die Krupps, John Fryer, GODFLESH, Apoptygma Berzerk, In Slaughter Natives, Raison D´Etre, Je$us Loves Amerika, PIG, and many more. The record will also contain unreleased material from the original recording sessions.

Each of the record’s formats will be as its own art package with collectible artwork, including limited edition colored vinyl and a limited edition DVD sized double-CD Digipak with additional exclusive remixes and many other extras. “The Great Corrupter” can be preordered on LP and CD directly from Mortiis´ webstore!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Band photo by Sebastian Ludvigsen)
As a followup to last year’s long-­awaited ‘The Great Deceiver’ album, the Norwegian alternative rock/industrial/synth act Mortiis will release the remix album ‘The Great Corrupter’ on April 21st. Deconstructed and masterfully “corrupted” by Chris Vrenna, Rhys Fulber, Die Krupps, John Fryer, GODFLESH, Merzbow, Apoptygma Berzerk, In Slaughter Natives, Raison D´Etre, Je$us LovesAmerika, PIG and many more, the record will also contain unreleased material from the original recording sessions.

Mortiis:
“The tracks on this album are very broad. They range from retro sounding, heavy industrial to very deep ambient type music to electronic/industrial club music.”

‘The Great Corrupter’ will be available in CD and vinyl formats, each with its own unique, collectible packaging, with licensed Hieronymus Bosch  artwork, dolls   It will also be available digitally – preorder @ https://mortiiswebstore.com/
True to tradition, Mortiis released not just one, but two free download singles as a taste of things to come. The first single contains a ferocious remix by German industrial legends Die Krupps, and also features a non-­album remix by club heroes Leæther Strip. The second single features remixes by Godflesh and Chris Vrenna – check’em out on the band’s Bandcamp site!

Mortiis will be returning to the UK for a 9 date strong co-headline run with PIG on the ‘Swine & Punishment’ tour.

Mortiis: “Raymond Watts is pretty much a legend in the industrial music world, as is En Esch, who is part of PIG now, and I´ve known Z Marr for years since we toured with Combichrist a couple of times back in 2011, so this tour feels very right to me. PIG has also remixed Mortiis twice, and I just did one for them. In fact I think our records are coming out  only a month apart. The UK is always a good time, and if all else fails, their beer is usually great!”

See them live at these dates and venues March 2017:
10: Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
11: Glasgow – Ivory Blacks
12: Newcastle – Think Tank
13: York – Fibbers
14: Sheffield – Plug
15: Manchester – Ruby Lounge
16: Bristol – Fleece
17: Norwich – Epic Studios
18: London – Garage

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

Genre/Influences: Industrial-rock, doom, metal.

Background/Info: What would you expect from a band that saw the daylight on Halloween night? Nothing serious or a band inspired by haunting themes! It all happened in 2008 in a studio in Marseilles (France). The Haiku Funeral duo has released their fourth full length album, which is the second one on Aesthetic Death.

Content: “Hallucinations” is an appropriated title for an album that sounds like an invitation to join the tenebrous sound universe of this formation. The music brings different influences together, which in the end sound pretty doom-like. There for sure is a kind of dark metal-rock inspiration running through the songs, but it also sounds pretty industrial-like. The songs also reveal bombastic arrangements and psychedelic elements.

Haiku Funeral revisits different genres to finally create a unique sound characterized by overwhelming atmospheres. The vocals reinforced the obscure ambient content and are moving from screaming parts into a kind of deadly intonation.

+ + + : “Hallucinations” is hard to catch and impossible to define. That’s an essential aspect of this band making all the originality of the work. I can imagine a totally weird hybrid between Godflesh, The Swans and even Der Blutharsch, but in the end it’s just Haiku Funeral. I especially like the heavy ambient side of the work, which reaches a climax on “The Final Amphetamine Kiss” and “Razgradjone (Dissolution)” for its heavy industrial guitar playing. The sound of this band sounds like the title of the album: you don’t really know what to expect and simply embark for mysterious trip through unknown territories.

– – – : Speaking for myself I think this band has a strong potential in the composition of heavy doom-ambient pieces and industrial-rock-metal music. I would have liked to hear a complete work around these influences.

Conclusion: This “Hallucinations”-opus will show you imaginary images of evil forces. Haiku Funeral sounds a bit like touched by the hand of the devil and it sounds good!

Best songs: “The Final Amphetamine Kiss”, “Razgradjone”, “Glasat”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.haikufuneral.com / www.facebook.com/pg/haikufuneral

Label: www.aestheticdeath.com / www.facebook.com/aestheticdeath.uk

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-rock, doom-metal.

Background/Info: Ortega is a band from The Netherlands, which started terrorizing the underground scene since 2007. The band remained rather unknown to me, but I now had the opportunity to discover this new opus featuring 5 tracks. “Sacred States” has been released on different labels. The Belgian Consouling Sounds released the CD-format, Narshardaa Records the vinyl and Tartarus Records a cassette edition.

Content: Ortega sounds hard and merciless mixing different sound elements together. There’s an explicit industrial-rock touch, but still a more doom-metal inspired basis. I sometimes get the impression of hearing an offspring between early Swans for the industrial bombast and Godflesh for the metal/industrial-driven guitar riffs. The harsh and enraged vocals totally match with the sound aggression you’ll be exposed to when listening to Ortega.

Some passages are a bit slower in cadence, but you can hear some inhibited power behind the music. And when the power comes through again you get the impression of entering an industrial hell room.

+ + + : The album only features 5 songs, but the elaboration and progression is absolutely amazing. “Crows” holds you in its grip for more than 18 minutes revealing the multiple influences running through this work. “Maelstrom” is another recommended song, which also is an appropriate tilt for this heavy sound experience. I think it’s the kind of track that will please Godflesh lovers.

– – – : The extreme character of the album is not directly appealing for a wider audience. It’s not typically metal-like and industrial-minded in the widest sense of the work. Ortega will catch the attention of a very selected target of music fans.

Conclusion: “Sacred States” is a demonic piece of music where power and darkness have joined hands to terrorize the listener. No doubt about it there’ll be some lustful subjects that will fully enjoy this kind of torture!

Best songs: “Maelstrom”, “Strong Eye”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/ortegadoom

Label: http://consouling.be / www.facebook.com/ConsoulingSounds

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, power-noise.

Background/Info: This is a very special work by Justin Broadrick (Godflesh). He totally reworked the last year released album of Khost entitled “Corrosive Shroud”. I guess there are many links between both artists. They’re both hailing from Birmingham (UK) and already played at the same concerts. This is the first Godflesh album that has been released on Cold Spring, which is for sure because of the original Khost-album. Three tracks from “Corrosive Shroud” have been taken while Khost composed an extra cut for this Godflesh work that has been exposed to the sonic treatments of Broadrick.

Content: The work starts pretty industrial-like revealing crashing noises and drones. Quite progressively Godflesh moves towards harder treatments supported with dark and anxious atmospheres plus some ghost-like vocals. Justin Broadrick finally joins a real power-noise inspired sound on, which he added some guitars.

The ‘new’ song entitled “Deathsset” doesn’t sound much different, but totally fits with the global progression running through this work and the familiar Godflesh sound.

+ + + : The work stands for an impressive noise canvas that has been progressively built up until reaching a climax. Godflesh stands for an extreme sonic experience although it’s quite accessible because he can’t be totally labeled as one music genre. There’s a great symbiosis between the industrial ingredients and the great, arsenal of noises. This is a particular release and I can imagine a real privilege for Khost to see Godflesh reworking some of their own stuff.

– – – : I regret there aren’t more songs off the Khost-album that have been reworked into the Godflesh sound formula.

Conclusion: More original than remixes and definitely more creative than cover versions, “Needles Into The Ground” became a kind of sonic surgery transforming the original piece into a new industrial and noise texture.

Best songs: “A Shadow On The Wound”, “Inversion”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.godflesh.com / www.facebook.com/Godflesh-11374368195

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

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, experimental-techno.

Background/Info: Justin Karl Broadrick aka JK Flesh is one of those artists who doesn’t really need an introduction. After having been involved in bands like Napalm Death and Head Of David he of course became the leading force behind Godflesh. Broadrick has always been involved in ‘heavy’ or ‘extreme’ sound projects. A few years ago, he started a new solo-project under the JK Flesh moniker, which was more focused on techno elements. “Rise Above” is his 2^nd full length album.

Notice by the way that the album is also available on a vinyl format.

Content: the main influences running through this album directly emerge at the surface of the opening track. This work is a fusion between the familiar industrial influences of Broadrick and techno music. “Rise Above” appears to be a fascinating sonic platform to mix different influences. It’s not exactly what I would call a dark work, but truly an experiment with noises carried by techno elements while I even noticed a few dub traces as well.

Globally speaking the composition remains rather experimental, but the slower technoid minded cadence together with impressive sound treatments make it more accessible.

+ + + : The merge of industrial- and techno music is not new and still gains more and more fans. JK Flesh seems to have found the secret formula to make it sound pretty accessible while I enjoyed some traces of dub music he added on a few passages. The production is absolutely overwhelming and revealing heavy, impressive sound blasts. The rhythm brings it all into some minimal danceable vibes.

– – – : The experimental input of the work is not exactly my favorite, but it for sure features an essential aspect of the work.

Conclusion: The Godflesh frontman reveals to be a sonic chameleon who’s able to transform himself into a visionary techno-artist or is he simply blaspheming industrial music by a mix of techno? I don’t care because “Rise Above” is a noticeable work revealing several great cuts!

Best songs: “Conquered”, “Rise Above”, “Defector”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www.facebook.com/pages/Justin–Broadrick/455890651171368

Label: www.electricdeluxe.net / www.facebook.com/electricdeluxe

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Out in a few weeks is the “Needles Into the Ground” vinyl/CD which contains material by the Birmingham based experimental metal act Khost reworked by Justin Broadrick of Godflesh.

The original Khost material has been taken from the act’s second album “Corrosive Shroud”? Broadrick then extracted what he needed for his work whilst in pure Godflesh mode.

In addition to these 3 pieces, Khost has also added a new track. You can order this release on vinyl (available here) and on CD (available here).

You can listen to 2 tracks 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. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, industrial, noise.

Background/Info: Behind Shapednoise is hiding Nino Pedone who’s an Italian artist based in Berlin. He’s one of the owners of Repitch Recordings and Violet Poison while he already released a considerable number of productions. “Different Selves” is his 3rd full length and the 1st ever released by Type Recordings.

Content: Shapednoise invites the listener to join an experimental universe where industrial influences are the foreplay to real noise experiments. It’s a dark and tormenting experience in sound, which is carried by a very impressive production process.

Shapednoise is not dealing with the usual industrial format, which sounds raw and unpolished like an ‘art brut’-creation, but reveals a sophisticated approach of noise. The more you enter the obscure universe of this work the more it becomes extreme and noise-like.
Notice by the way that the opening track features Justin K.

Broadrick who was involved in several bands like Godflesh, Council Estate Electronics, Jesu, Napalm Death ao.

+ + + : “Different Selves” reveals an intelligent approach in the creation of industrial & noise music. There’s a phenomenal and professional production behind this work.

– – – : Shapednoise is not exactly the most accessible project in the genre and especially the B-side of the disc reveals a more extreme sound.

Conclusion: This album has the power to reach pure industrial- & noise lovers, but still freaks of sound creation and sonic manipulations. In the end it all remains a particular recording, which is not very accessible for a wider audience.

Best songs: “Enlightenment feat. Justin K. Broadrick”, “Intruder”, “Well-Being”.

Rate: (DP:6½)DP.

Band: www.shapednoise.net / www.facebook.com/Shapednoise

Label: http://typerecords.com

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 out at the end of October is the official “Cold Waves IV” festival CD compilation. The compilation features 15 tracks – 8 of which are exclusive to this compilation, including exclusive tracks and remixes from Pop Will Eat Itself, Lead Into Gold, Front Line Assembly, Cocksure, High-Functioning Flesh (remixed by Covenant) and more.

Other artists that appear include Severed Heads, Godflesh, Author & Punisher, and Prurient. The CD is limited to 1,000 copies, but beware – most of these were already sold at the festival, so if you want one, you better order it now.

The complete track list (* = exclusive):

1. Two From The Eye – The Clasp *
2. Pop Will Eat Itself – War Inside My Stupid Head (Acucrack Remix) *
3. Lead Into Gold – Lunatic Genius (Cocksure Remix) *
4. Front Line Assembly – Next War (Slighter Remix) *
5. Human Traffic – Degeneration *
6. Godflesh – Curse Us All
7. Severed Heads – Lo Real
8. Cocksure – Razor Invader (Cyanotic Remix) *
9. High-Functioning Flesh – Afterbirth (Darkwraith Covenant Remix) *
10. Author & Punisher – Body Dome Light
11. Acumen Nation – Insurgent Collective *
12. Prurient – Cocaine Death
13. Rorschach Test – The Third Day
14. Rabbit Junk – Pop That Pretty Thirty
15. Lab Report – Bombastic One

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