Johan van Roy – SIDE-LINE

Suicide Commando to drop 20th anniversary re-release of ‘Axis of Evil’ on 2CD

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 08 Sep 2023 11:05:27 +0000

Out on October 13th is the 20th anniversary re-release of the Suicide Commando album “Axis of Evil” on 2CD. “Axis of Evil” is fifth album by the Belgian act and was released in 2003. 20 years ago, it is like it was just yesterday really.

CD1 comes in a brand new remastered version while CD2 contains b-sides, previously unreleased versions and 3 new 2023 remakes of songs from the “Axis of Evil” campaign in 2003.

Here’s the tracklist for CD2

Deliver us from Evil
Disposable Paradise
The killing Game
Face of Death (Torment 01)
One Nation under God (Off Beat)
Cause of Death: Suicide (Club edit)
Plastik Christ (instrumental version)
Face of Death (2023 mix)
Evildoer (2023 mix)
Deliver us from Evil (2023 mix)

Suicide Commando was formed by Johan Van Roy in 1986. Two years later he released his first tape under the moniker Suicide Commando.

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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Ginger Snap5 revamps the Ukranian beast on new version of 2020 album ‘The Beasts Came To The Town’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:40:23 +0000

“The Beasts Came To The Town”, the 2020 album by the Ukranian electronic act Ginger Snap 5, is now available in a totally revamped version under the “The Beasts Came To The Town (RevAMPed)” title. It is not just a remastered version, this is a totally reworked version of the album.

Behind Ginger Snap5 we find Odesa based musician Romeo Soroka who combines a hybrid of dense electronic music, breakbeat, and upbeat with industrial. Below is a teaser for the all new version.

We also advise you to compare both versions. Below is the all new revamped version.

The Beasts Came To The Town (RevAMPed) by Ginger Snap5

This is the original 2020 release, the deluxe 14-track version that is.

The Beasts Came To The Town (Deluxe) by Ginger Snap5

About Ginger Snap5

Ginger Snap5 was established in 2004 when Roman Soroka, after leaving his previous band, decided to shift his musical direction towards electronic music. In a span of three months, the project produced two singles, including “Hunting 4 (Child Mix)”. The track quickly gained attention among local DJs at Kyiv gothic parties, and Gothic.com.ua even hailed it as the “discovery of the year”. Over the next two years, Ginger Snap5 embarked on remixing various bands’ works, and in 2006, Roman met Johan Van Roy, who invited the project to contribute to the Noise Terror Productions compilation.

In 2007, the release of “Noise Terror 2 – World Wide Electronics” featured Ginger Snap5’s track titled “Feel My Rhythm”. This led to further appearances on compilation albums. Then, in 2013, Ginger Snap5 caught the attention of the SkyQode label, resulting in the official label debut single, “Break Me Down”, followed by the album “Snapped By You” in the autumn of the same year. However, the release of the second full-length album, “Against The Days”, via Dependent in 2017, proved to be a disappointment for various reasons. Consequently, Roman decided to alter his musical direction and parted ways with Dependent in 2018.

Throughout 2018, Ginger Snap5 embarked on exploratory ventures into different musical styles. In 2019, the project released “Insert Coin To Begin” purely for enjoyment. Continuing to experiment with musical directions in 2020, Ginger Snap5 unveiled a third album, “The Beasts Came To The Town”. Two years later, Ginger Snap5 released a fourth album, “Make me Bad”. That same year the project also appeared on the charity compilation “Electronic Resistance” from Side-Line.

Roman, dissatisfied with the sound of the previous album, decides to rectify it. Thus, the project transformed the remastering process into a comprehensive remake, leading to the release of an overhauled version of the album titled “The Beasts Came To The Town” in 2023.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide Commando back with all new single, ‘God Of Destruction’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 26 May 2023 11:11:16 +0000

The Belgian electro-industrial act Suicide Commando releases an all new song “God Of Destruction (Lies Lies Lies)” through Out Of Line. The EP deals with issues of religion and mankind.

Johan Van Roy: “While religion is meant to be something constructive, positive and should bring people hope, it unfortunately often is destructive and one of the biggest dangers of mankind. Whether you believe in a Jesus or a God in whatever religion. Religion often brings war, destruction, pain … just think about all those terrorist attacks of the last decades, think about all those wars going on in Africa or elsewhere, and not to speak about the 2 faces of the church and their years of child abuse etc …”

Musically you can expect Johan Van Roy’s signature dark electro.

Besides the main song, the EP contains remixes by the American EBM project Kreign and the Greek act Siva Six. Furthermore you can find a new remake in 2 chapters of “Destroyer of worlds”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide Commando – Goddestruktor (Album – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: Five years have passed since the last studio album “Forest Of The Impaled”. In the meantime the army of Suicide Commando fans got a few noticeable singles and the “Mindstrip Redux”-album.

Content: Suicide Commando strikes back with a hard and merciless work. Inspired by themes which stand for the loss of the world Johan Van Roy has found his inspiration he transposed into solid bass lines with EBM influences, dark melody lines, aggressive sequences, banging rhythms and enraged, cavernous vocals. One of the exceptions are the female vocals by guest singer Charlotte Nuytkens injecting a ‘human’ and artistic touch to one of the songs. You’ll rediscover the latest hits “Bang Bang Bang”, “Trick Or Treat” and “Bunkerbitch”.

+ + + : Suicide Commando strikes back with rage and fury, which both were elements I was missing at “Forest Of The Impaled”. This is Suicide Commando at its best; a great sound DNA, well-crafted Dark-Electro cuts accentuated by some solid bass lines, freaky samplings and tormented, icy, sound atmospheres. The best cuts remain the aforementioned ‘singles’ although I also like the opening piece “Kill All Humanity”, “Jesus Freak” and especially “Destroyer Of Worlds” which is carried by an irresistible bass line and pumping kick.

– – – : The softer “Land Of Roses” featuring female vocals byCharlotte Nuytkens is a cool experiment revealing a talented singer, but this is Suicide Commando and I’m missing rage!

Conclusion: Suicide Commando feeds its inspiration by world dramas, horror, religious fanatism and other related themes so how would this project sound-like when living in a happy, shining and bright world? Terror rules and so does Suicide Commando!

Best songs: “Trick Or Treat”, “Bang Bang Bang”, “Destroyer Of Worlds”, “Kill All Humanity”, “Jesus Freak”, “Bunkerbitch – Censored”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: www.suicidecommando.be / www.facebook.com/IIXIII

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

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Suicide Commando sees earliest material re-released on vinyl: ‘Industrial Underground’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 13:59:26 +0000

The small Belgian label Walhalla Records announces a limited run of the Suicide Commando vinyl “Industrial Underground” featuring the very first 4-track home recordings of Suicide Commando from 1987. This is a real treat for those of you who like the very minimal and old school sounds of Suicide Commando.

The first 100 copies contain an extra insert signed by Johan Van Roy. Below are some visuals.

The LP will officially be presented from 6 pm tomorrow on in Djingel Djangel on the Walhalla Records Label Night and you will also be able to buy the release during this event. Unfortunately Johan Van Roy will not be able to attend the event. The music during this free event will be provided by DJs Aimé (Walhalla Records) & Baxter (Wave Frequencies).

Full info on the event can be found right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide Commando – Bang Bang Bang (EP – Out Of Line / Metropolis Records)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 19 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Suicide Commando is working on a new full length and that’s a damned good thing as the last ‘new’ album already dated from 2017 (!). This new EP features next to the title song the previously released single “Trick Or Treat” (released for Halloween 2021).

Content: The title song is not a cover version of the famous “Bang Bang”-song but a merciless Dark-Electro assault inspired by war and gun violence. A remix has been made by C-Lekktor. “Trick Or Treat” is another violent piece. Next to the original version there’s a surprising and totally different version/remix by Fuckbot.

+ + + : Suicide Commando strikes back with a bang. If both songs are teasers to the upcoming full length it will be one of the most violent works ever released by Johan Van Roy. “Bang Bang Bang” is a terrific piece of Dark-Electro; powerful, dark, danceable and tormented. I also want to say a word about the cool remix of “Trick Or Treat” by Fuckbot which even features a few Acid sequences.

– – – : Two singles instead of one so no reason to complain.

Conclusion: Suicide Commando added two more hits to its endless list; the true power of Dark-Electro!

Best songs: “Bang Bang Bang”, “Trick Or Treat”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.suicidecommando.be / www.facebook.com/IIXIII

Labels: www.outofline.de / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel / www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Suicide Commando returns with ‘Goddestruktor’ as a 2CD digipak, double vinyl and deluxe boxset

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 09:50:48 +0000

Out on July 22 is an all new Suicide Commando album and this time Johan Van Roy also hired the voice of Charlotte Nuytkens, finalist of the Belgian edition of “The Voice” on the track “Land of Roses”.

The regular edition comes as double-CD in digipak, featuring a full length bonus-CD with exclusive remixes of album tracks by Suicide Commando itself and befriended artists such as Cryo, Assemblage 23, C-Lekktor, Dead when I found Her, Tactical Sekt and others.

The album is also out as a limited edition double clear vinyl featuring all 10 main tracks of the new album, 3 tracks from 2 deleted singles and an exclusive version of “Kill all Humanity”.

And finally there is also a limited deluxe boxset (666 copies worldwide) which contains:

The regular digi2CD
Exclusive bonus 2CD: CD1 contains a ‘Collective Suicide Best of” Album, featuring a selection of the most popular tracks by Suicide Commando, while CD2 is a ‘Collective Suicide’ of rare tracks-compilation
Customized Suicide Commando cross body bag
Hand-numbered certificate

Below are some visuals from the 3 versions.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide Commando is back with a triple bang! All new MCD ‘Bang bang bang’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 02 May 2022 10:42:02 +0000

(Photo by Sandra Sturm) To kick off the forthcoming album by Belgian hard-electro pioneer act Suicide Commando, Johan van Roy and co. present a foretaste of what to expect: “Bang bang bang”. This 4-track maxi CD is available now on MCD in strictly limited edition of 500 copies worldwide.

Johan explains the track: “Each day too many people die from gun violence! Even though the song actually is about gun violence, it now also got an extra dimension with the current war in Ukraine. How power, greed, and hate can cause destruction & war. Make music, not war!”

In addition to “Bang bang bang”, the single “Trick or Treat” which was released on Halloween 2021 is also included on the maxi, along with a remix of each of these tracks.
Watch the video below.

You can check the full MCD below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Click Interview with Asseptic Room: ‘Thanks To Music We Have Been Able To Escape From This Madness’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

Carlos Ruiz got involved with the Spanish Dark-Electro duo Dioxyde. The band gained recognition in its genre, but Carlos left in 2004 to move on with his solo-project Asseptic Room. The sound became different although still driven by good-old Dark-Electro vibes. The albums “Morbid Visions” (2006) and “Visceralophobia” (2011) saw the daylight. It next took ten years to Asseptic Room to strike back. Carlos Ruiz got joined by Mario González to compose the new work “Extinction Or Reawaken”. The opus has been again released by Advoxya Records and became a double album revealing next to the Dark-Electro influences at the first disc a more Cinematic exploration at the second disc. I asked a few questions about the past, the present and the future to both protagonists.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I noticed you first started in the scene as DJ. What kind of music were you playing and how did you finally made the step to compose your own music and getting involved with Dioxyde?

Carlos: I started as a professional DJ in a famous club in Madrid somewhere at the end of 1987 – beginning of 1988. I started collecting vinyls since I was 14 years old and my ear was always attracted by genres that were not very commercial at that time. One day a couple of vinyls came into my hands in an import store, (“Party Hate” from Click Click and “Freiheit Fuer Die Sklaven” from Pankow), which made me listen to genres such as Industrial, EBM from the 80’s and especially Dark-Electro from the 90’s.

I started to compose my first tracks in 1991, when I was able to buy my first great computer ever and a Kawai keyboard. But it wouldn’t be until 1998 when I would meet Marcos Calvo and decided to take the leap to produce an album. During one of my sessions as a DJ in a famous Club in Madrid, I met Marcos Calvo who told me about the idea of making music together. In a short lapse of time we had a lot of good songs; Marcos had already composed some good songs, and at that time I had many bases and consolidated themes, which we finally managed to adapt to create the first Dioxyde album “Torschlusspanik”.

I decided to send a cassette with a small sample to Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando). I never thought he would answer that soon with the intention to know more about the project. It was the beginning of a beautiful story.

Q: How did you finally come to set up Asseptic Room and what makes the difference in sound and approach with Dioxyde?

Carlos: My experience with Dioxyde was incredible. It allowed me to grow as an artist and develop all my creativity and to create my own compositions. Time passing by I found the need to do something on my own and create that dark sound that had been spinning around in my head for so many years. So in 2006 I decided to take a leap into the void and started working for my most personal project.

With Asseptic Room I wanted to explore other types of genres, perhaps more retro, Experimental, more Ambient, but without neglecting the hardness of the percussion and the melodies that have been so successful in my previous work with Dioxyde and used to create songs. such as “Acto Primero”, “Angel (Espina Mortal)”, “Panzerfaust”, “Primary Structures” or “Torschlüsspanik”, a track that I had created for a long time and which has a lot of strength.

That same year (2006) I sent my first demo to Tommy T (DSBP Records) to release the first album “Morbid Visions”. The album responded satisfactorily to my expectations and proof of this is the long list of compilations that wanted to include songs from that first album.

Also, it gave me the opportunity to do some remixes for bands like: Alien Produkt, Vigilante, Aengeldust, Haushetaere, Tyske Ludder or Acylum (Pedro Engel’s project with whom I have had contact on several occasions to create some of my best remixes). Nor will I forget, the magnificent remixes that have been created for Asseptic Room, to highlight among others those of Totalverlust, Acylum, Hioctan, Reality, Suicide Solution, Proyecto Mirage, Larva and many others.

During these years I got in touch with my great friend, Mario González and we had the opportunity to work together in the studio, developing a track for this album. Next I personally went through dark and very difficult years. It was like this until 2011 and the release of the second album “Visceralofobia”. It was a difficult album, like a challenge going through a restless and desperate period. But in the end and with a lot of efforts I was able to release the album thanks to Advoxya Records. After this album I’d to go though the most difficult moments of my life resulting in abandoning the creation of music for many years.

Q: So does the new album you released last year feel like a new beginning? How did it feel all these years without releasing new material? What brought you back to compose new songs?

Carlos: Finally, after the loss of my partner and two years of mourning I came back to surface. One night some musical notes began to sound that I could not stop listening to over and over again. I had to get up and play it in the middle of the night. The first thing I thought was that it was different and it was born from deep within. Those were the first notes of “The Memory Of Silence”; I even imagine to play it in a great philharmonic. A nice dream;)

Around the same time I got back in touch with Mario after many years and everything started flowing quickly. The Covid 19 pandemic came into our lives and for us there were moments of great creativity that helped us to create many new songs.

Q: The new album “Extinction Or Reawaken” has been released as a double album and there clearly is a difference between both discs; than main disc is pure Dark (h)El(l)ectro music while the second disc sounds more into Soundtrack. Tell us a bit more about both discs and the global production process of the work?

Carlos: When we began to develop the songs for the new album, we realized that we had a lot of material and we did not want to leave any song off the album, for this reason we had to think that “Extinction Or Reawaken” should be a double one. It is true that in a few months we had a large and varied number of songs, some songs are pure Dark-Electro, but I incorporate new elements to the compositions that make them different from other personal works.

We had to stop for a moment to reflect if we wanted to create classic dark music or experiment to achieve what our heads wanted with these new compositions. We finally decided to open up and experiment with a multitude of genres.

We had classic songs, perfect to be played in an orchestra, with epic choirs and we had to learn to work with this type of instrument. We also had tremendously hard and dark tracks and other ambient and epic songs.

In the end, all those tracks were a mixture of feelings and emotions, which tell a story full of symbolism for us. It has been a very hard job that has lasted many months, and we are very satisfied with the final result.

Q: What have been the main sources of inspiration to compose this new work and what did you try to express by the title? What has been the input of Mario González and how did you get in touch?

Mario: The inspiration came mainly from the recent loss of our family members. They were very hard times for both of us, but thanks to this we have done our best work.
We explore many sounds with our equipment and for the first time we did not dare to put any limits on creativity and we were open to explore and experiment even antagonistic genres.

We try to go beyond the Dark-Electro genre by simply trying to imprint the soul of Asseptic Room by using influences from classical music, epic passages, Tibetan sounds and even pure noise.

The album title was chosen on the edge of life’s bad circumstances and somehow represents the nature of human life that transcends good and evil to survive/self-extinct.

Carlos: Mario and I got in touch at the end of 2019 at a perfect time and with all the past experience we had making some tracks for the “Morbid Visions”-album. The process happened automatically and we rarely even talked about how to make music because of a very special connection. We really enjoy doing these things.

Q: How do you see Asseptic Room evolving and what are the further plans –especially in times of ongoing pandemic?

Mario: Our next plans are to prepare the concert in Madrid with Hocico. We have finished taking up the album “Visceralofofia” with a new production. Eight tracks are included in this new work and our idea is to release it in a special vinyl edition. Now we have to assess the budget to launch it in the coming months.
We have also started working on new songs for Asseptic Room and doing a review of tracks created in my period with Dioxyde. A special way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the project.

Carlos: The pandemic has not stopped our illusion of continuing to do what we like and now our creativity is at a high level and we are excited about the amount of work we have in our hands. The pandemic has been very hard, as for everyone, but thanks to music we have been able to escape from this madness.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Suicide Commando releases ‘Trick or treat’ single and video

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 08:39:12 +0000

Out now is the newest single by the Belgian electro act Suicide Commando. “Trick or treat” is taken off the project’s upcoming album (the first since 2017’s “Forest of the Impaled”) and comes accompanied by a video which you can see below.

The track is a classic Suicide Commando track, no surprises, but it serves the Halloween purpose.

Suicide Commando is a Belgian electro-industrial music act formed by Johan Van Roy in 1986. For live shows, it consists of Van Roy himself on vocals, Torben Schmidt on keyboards, and Mario Vaerewijck on drums.

Here’s the video for the single.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Agonoize – Revelation Six Six Sick (Album – RepoRecords)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 20:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD.

Background/Info: “666 Degrees Below” was a solid teaser to Agonoize’s seventh album to date. The Berlin-based combo released their second album on RepoRecords and again asked Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik) to mix and master the album. The album again included a second disc featuring six extra tracks.

Content: The influences and sound formula of the ‘Hellectro’ band hasn’t changed. Frontman Chris L. seems to be warding the sound formula to remain the same. The sonic universe of Agonoize is made of provocation, which you can notice in the titles, artwork and of course the songs versus lyrics. The sound remains driven by furious beats overloaded by dark strings and carried by heavy, melodic sequences. On top of it all you’ll hear Chris L. singing in his familiar enraged way. The songs are sung in German, but some choruses feature English words while there also is one song in English. Some of the melodies are reminding me of Suicide Commando, but where Johan Van Roy also likes calmer, moody songs, Agonoize holds on a constant and merciless power. The album features 13 songs and among the tracklist you’ll recognize the already familiar “666 Degrees Below” plus the original edits of “Komakind”, “Angst Ist Macht”, “Faux Amis” and “Dein Gott”, which were featured in an alternative- and/or remixed version at the EP.

The bonus disc brings a bit more diversity revealing a few ‘softer’ songs, but the main trend remains harsh and merciless. The tracklist features and “Frozen”-edit of “666 Degrees Below” plus alternative edits of “Mststck” and “L.ove I.s L.ost” plus 3 real new songs. One of these songs (cf. “Every Day, I Die”) is a kind of hell-electro ballad while both other cuts are pure rage.

+ + + : I think it was not easy releasing a new album after the successful“Midget Vampire Porn”, released in 2019. But Agonoize seems to like challenges and did it again. The work doesn’t innovate, but the band simply becomes better and better. The songs are just what you might expect from Dark-Electro music; harsh, dark, powerful and provocative. Agonoize brings all these ingredients together in a perfect, balanced work. “666 Degrees Below” remains an absolute hit, but I also want to mention “Faux Amis”, the English sung “Love To Hate”, which is a song that will appeal to Suicide Commando fans and “The Age Of Depression”. On the bonus disc I recommend “Tease & Denial” and Krank”, the last cut featuring cool epic chants. “Mststck – Sucht” sounds also more convincing than the original version on the main disc. The nearly constant power of this album is great. I also highly recommend the CD-version for its –once again, great, artistic digipak and artwork.

– – – : You get a total amount of 19 songs and there’s only one single piece –the atypical ballad-like “Every Day, I Die”, which couldn’t convince me. So you’ll have to agree there’s no reason to complain.

Conclusion: Agonoize moves on there where the previous album stopped, and it’s again an undeniable masterpiece and for sure what will become one of the best Dark-Electro albums of 2021!

Best songs: “666 Degrees Below”, “Love To Hate”, “Faux Amis”, “The Age Of Depression”, “Mststck”, “A Hole” + “Krank”, “Tease & Denial”, “Mststck – Sucht”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.agonoize.berlin / www.facebook.com/AgonoizeOfficial

Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404

Inferno Sound Diaries

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’30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando): ‘I Probably Will Continue Writing Music Till I Drop Dead’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 02 May 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. I met Johan Van Roy even before I wrote my first review. He was busy composing music under the SUICIDE COMMANDO moniker. I liked the dark and tormented atmosphere of his early demos, which were reminding me of THE KLINIK. I got the chance singing on one of his early songs and we even set up together a music project. SUICIDE COMMANDO became one of the absolute leading formations from the Dark-Electro scene, playing as headliner at big festivals, selling thousands of albums and having an impressive word-wide fan base. Beyond the successful career hides an humble person. No star attitude, but an accessible and kind man who simply remains himself.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Thirty five years ago now you started experimenting with Electronic music while setting up SUICIDE COMMANDO. What incited you back in 1986 to experiment with electro sounds and noises? How did that happened and what equipment did you use?

Johan: I grew up in the early 80s with the in that time booming New-Wave scene, listening to bands like THE CURE, SISTERS OF MERCY, but also more Electronic sounding bands like DEPECHE MODE or FAD GADGET … It was because of these bands that my love for Electronic music started. Not much later I discovered bands like THE NEON JUDGEMENT, FRONT 242 and THE KLINIK (in those days these bands even got airplay on national radio stations like BRT…).

These bands had such a big impact on me that I also wanted to start making Electronic music. And so I bought my first keyboard back in summer 1986, the now legendary Roland SH101, not much later added with 2 drum machines, the Boss DR110 Dr. Rhythm and the Boss DR220E.

Very limited gear, but in those days very expensive equipment, so it wasn’t that obvious to buy more equipment. For example samplers were extremely expensive and even with a sampler you only could record a few seconds of sound…

Q: People maybe don’t realize it took you years and a lot of patience plus perseverance to get some recognition. I get the impression you couldn’t maybe directly break through because of a lack of equipment. As you said, electronic equipment was very expensive and there weren’t the same facilities as today. How do you look back at this period regarding equipment, the multiple cassettes you released, the first compilation features etc?

Johan: It obviously were totally different times, not just only because of the cost and the lack of equipment, as I already mentioned before. But there also wasn’t any social media, so that means it took way longer to get your music spread around. Everything still had to be done by post, so things took much longer then nowadays.
Today’s possibilities are unlimited, but nonetheless I don’t regret I had to start this way. It gave you much more freedom and time to work on music. You also had to be way more innovative and inventive to create and write music. Today almost everything is already canned, get yourself a PC and some music software and in one day you can write yourself a complete album …

Many bands had to start like I did, writing music with very limited gear and releasing it on tape… bands like FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, NITZER EBB… all started this way.
It also gave me time to improve and create my own style, something I do lack in today’s music scene.
So I definitely look back at it with pleasure.

Q: You became involved with LESCURE 13, which in a way -and right in the beginning became more recognized than SUICIDE COMMANDO. I was even sure LESCURE 13 would even become the Belgian ‘next big thing’, but it finally didn’t happen that way. How comes and what do you keep in mind from the LESCURE 13 experience?

Johan:I don’t think that SUICIDE COMMANDO was less recognized, but it was much harder to get the same recognition if you don’t do live shows, and I think that was the main reason why LESCURE 13 got picked up faster. Initially I never really planned on doing live shows with SUICIDE COMMANDO, but as our first live show with LESCURE 13 at the legendary Side-Line festival at ‘VK’ in Brussels became such a success, it convinced me to start doing live shows with SUICIDE COMMANDO as well. So in a way Side-Line is to blame for that 🙂

It was fun doing LESCURE 13 with Stefan Bens (STIN SCATZOR), but since SUICIDE COMMANDO got more and more successful in the years after, I got less and less time to focus on LESCURE 13, so on the long run the combination became too difficult and stressful for me. I’ll never forget our very first live show with LESCURE 13 in Brussels.

Q: I got the privilege to start another project with you, which was TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME. How do you look back at this experience and a few other side-projects like DB.F and KOMBAT UNIT?

Johan:I enjoyed doing them all, but just like with LESCURE 13, time became the biggest problem. The combination of doing music with SUICIDE COMMANDO + work + family just became too time consuming and stressful.

But like I said, I enjoyed doing all these side projects. As SUICIDE COMMANDO was my solo-project I enjoyed working together with others from time to time, even though it requires a different approach.

With LESCURE 13 we still do some live shows now and then, and also KOMBAT UNIT with Jan (NOISUF-X, X-FUSION) never really stopped, but it’s all just a matter of time.

Doing TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME was fun too, but in the end you have to make choices and set priorities, but I look back at it with lots of pleasure.

Q: The split-album/compilation “Induktion, Varianz Und Deren Folgen” released by Stefan Herwig on his early label Kugelblitz in 1993 made things change! Suddenly more people were discovering SUICIDE COMMANDO! How important was this compilation in the career and development of SUICIDE COMMANDO? And how important was Stefan Herwig who finally brought you to join his Off Beat label?

Johan: Oh, for sure this was a career changer and I’m sure that without Stefan Herwig, SUICIDE COMMANDO never would have become as big as today. I already knew Stefan Herwig for a few years after he discovered SUICIDE COMMANDO through my tapes released on the German ZNS tapes label, so when Stefan started his own label with Kugelblitz Records he soon invited me to join on his “Induktion, Varianz Und Deren Folgen” split-CD.

Not much later Stefan started working for the rising Off Beat label and so he was able to get me in there as well… and the rest is history I guess.

I’m aware I was pretty lucky, being at the right place at the right time I guess… so yes, without Stefan my career would have looked totally different I guess.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO was often compared to THE KLINIK, which has been one of your main sources of inspiration. What has been the real impact of THE KLINIK and eventually other bands –and maybe music genres, in the development and evolution of SUICIDE COMMANDO till today?

Johan:Well, no need to deny that bands like KLINIK or yet FRONT 242 (and others like THE NEON JUDGEMENT, FAD GADGET, SKINNY PUPPY, NITZER EBB…) had a major impact on me and my music throughout the years. They not only were a major source of inspiration, these bands also were THE main reason why I started doing ‘Electronic’ music in the first place. My older brother was playing guitar so my first steps into the music scene were as a bass player, but when I discovered bands like KLINIK, FRONT 242… a whole new world opened before my eyes (and ears).
Still in 2021 a band like KLINIK remains probably my biggest influence.

Q: You last year celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the “Mindstrip”-album. This production probably became the most successful one in the band’s history, but how do you look back at this album and did it make specific things/aspects changing?

Johan: Not sure if it was my most successful album, but it sure had the biggest impact on my career. We already gained some recognition with the huge success of “See You In Hell” and to a lesser extent “Desire” and “Better Off Dead”, but the release of the “Mindstrip”-album and the “Hellraiser”-single taken from this album certainly brought us to the top of the scene. Again I think Stefan Herwig had a big part in this success as he just started his own division with Dependent Records, gathering bands like COVENANT or VNV NATION… I think SUICIDE COMMANDO certainly benefitted from their success as well.

On top of that I think “Mindstrip” filled a gap between the at that time trending Future- and Synth-Pop acts and the more harder side of the Electro scene which was at a decline at that moment, and therefore “Mindstrip” marked an important milestone in the entire scene. All of a sudden bands started to copy SUICIDE COMMANDO and harsh electro was born. In the next years many bands would jump onto the harsh ‘Electro/Endzeit’ train.

So it not only marked the start of a new subgenre in the Electro scene, it also changed the expectations of the media and the crowd.

My follow up album “Axis Of Evil” was 8 weeks at the top of the at that time highly acclaimed German Alternative Charts (DAC).

Q: You’re organizing an interesting annual ‘SUICIDE COMMANDO poll’ where the fans can choose their favorite songs. In which way is it representative for your personal favorites and what are your favorite songs? And do you’ve some songs, which remained underrated?

Johan: It’s a good representation of what the fans consider the best SUICIDE COMMANDO songs, but that’s about all. It surely doesn’t reflect my personal favorites, even though a few of my personal faves are also in the top 10 of this list.

I’ve always enjoyed doing the more slower and atmospheric songs. A few of them like “God Is In The Rain” or “The Devil” also gained club success, but personal favorites like “Euthanasia” (1998), “Body Count proceed” (2000), “Until We Die” (2010), “Severed Head” (2010), “Repent Or Perish” (2013)… remained under the radar.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO became the absolute leading formation from the Dark-Electro scene! I can imagine it’s a deserved recognition for hard work, but what does this ‘status’ really mean to you? What has been the impact of this success on the person hiding behind the artist? In which way did it change your life?

Johan: I don’t think it had that much impact on me personally. I always remained (probably too) humble and down to earth. Of course I’m flattered by this recognition, but compared to some others in this scene, I always kept both feet on the ground. And let’s face it, compared with the mainstream Beyoncé’s and Madonna’s of this world we’re just tiny little dwarfs…lol

Q: Do you know how much SUICIDE COMMANDO-albums have been sold today? What have been the best-sellers?

Johan: With the rise of digital downloads and sales I have no idea anymore of actual physical sales. The market completely changed in the last 2 decades. Physical sales of CD’s completely collapsed and the digital market is so diverse that it’s hard to give any concrete numbers.

On platforms like Spotify… people don’t listen to complete albums anymore, they just pick their favorite songs. Not even sure if complete albums still will be released in 10 years from now…

So it’s hard to compare, I know an album like “Mindstrip” sold over 25.000 physical copies, but it never even reached the official album charts, while my latest 2 albums even made it to a position in the top 20 of the official German album charts, even though their physical sales are way less than the original “Mindstrip”-album for example, simply because digital sales totally took over the market.

Q: Is it possible for an underground artist to earn a living with music? How important is money when you’re a renowned artist?

Johan: Yes, (in non-Covid times!) I think it’s possible for the bigger acts in the underground scene, if you do it properly, which means doing regular live touring + releasing music on a regular base.

But it takes a lot of work, time and devotion. I’m still one of the lucky few who can live from music, but since I have a responsibility towards my wife and kid, I deliberately choose to keep doing a half time job to remain financially safe.

Q: SUICIDE COMMANDO is also a live band with a solid reputation. How important is it for you to play live shows and feel the interaction with the fans?

Johan: I find it very important and I realize it even more at times like these today with the pandemic. I do miss this interaction with the fans and the crowd. It gives so much satisfaction and energy to be on stage and interact with your fans.

Q: Torben Schmidt and Mario Vaerewijck are your long-time live mates. How does it happen when you guys are on tour and what makes the chemistry between you all (and the entire crew)?

Johan: I think we all enjoy it very much to be on the road, in a way it’s also our escape from boring daily work ‘eat-sleep’ routine. A big advantage also is that we’re not a conventional band, I mean, basically SUICIDE COMMANDO is just me doing all the music, so Torben and Mario only join in on stage, so we don’t have to sleep with each other (which does happen sometimes being on tour haha…).

Usually it’s all very easy going when we’re on the road and that keeps things pleasant.

Q: You played at numerous festivals and in very different countries all over the world. Do you see noticeable differences between countries and continents and are there some specific places/venues you would ever like to play?

Johan: There certainly are differences. Not specifically because of the crowd, although we do notice a difference between playing in countries where people hardly ever get to see live bands from other continents (like Mexico or Brazil…) or countries where you can watch the same band every 2 weeks (like Germany …).

The gratitude is bigger in countries where you don’t get to play every month or year. I do notice more differences on the technical level. Clubs and venues usually are much better equipped in Europe then across the ocean. It’s a much bigger challenge to do shows in the US for example, but what counts in the end is the response from the crowd. I can be more satisfied playing in front of 100 people in a dirty basement with a crappy sound system then playing in front of 5000 people, as long as the people had fun I’m happy.

Q: What has been your biggest satisfaction and deception so far?

Johan: I’m overall happy that I could make my biggest passion a big part of my job and life. Music has always been my passion, so I feel privileged that I could make my music my (part time) job and life. I feel privileged that I can share my music and my passion with my fans, that’s probably my biggest satisfaction.

My biggest deception? Hard to say, maybe the fact that it also takes a lot of sacrifices to combine all these things (my daily part time job + music + family + …), it already got me into a severe burn-out few years ago, my knee is fucked up after the accident on stage in the US, my ears are fucked up because of the often too loud music on stages …

Q: A lot of things have changed/evolved since you set up SUICIDE COMMANDO in 1985! What’s your perception about it all and how did you see the scene and entire music business evolving throughout the years?

Johan: Oh for sure many things have changed throughout the years, it’s really been a technological revolution… The technological possibilities became endless, maybe not all for the best though.

We’re living in an ever faster society and that’s even reflected in our music. In 1985 a song had to be 120 bpm maximum, today we’re living at a speed of 135 bpm or more… lol

The rise of the digital media totally killed the CD and vinyl market, but also brought new possibilities, so I also try to see the positive effects of it.
Social media became the new normal and brought music & bands closer to their fans, but also gave us a shallow and resentful society.

So it all has it’s pro and cons… and there’s no way back.

Q: Do you sometimes imagine the end of SUICIDE COMMANDO and are there other things in life you would like to accomplish?

Johan: I don’t think SUICIDE COMMANDO will ever stop. I tried to split several times, but it’s so hard being a one man project…lol. No seriously, I can’t imagine my life without music, so I probably will continue writing music till I drop dead.

Q: What might we expect from SUICIDE COMMANDO for the next few months?

Johan: I’m currently working on a new album, but I don’t want to rush things, so no idea when it will be finished.

I certainly do hope we can start doing live shows again sometime this Summer, so I’m really looking forward to that.
And there might be some more surprises coming up, but wait and see…

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Suicide Commando – Mindstrip Redux (Album – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 21:00:39 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, 2CD, Double Vinyl.

Background/Info: Back in 2000 Suicide Commando released the album “Mindstrip”, which was the fourth official full length of the Belgian master of Dark-Electro music. The album became a referential work thanks to some legendary hits. Twenty years and several more successful albums later, Suicide Commando is more than ever ruling over a music genre that saw countless bands trying to emulate Johan Van Roy. “Mindstrip Redux” is a special re-issue of this important work featuring the original album next to an album with reworked versions. There also is a limited vinyl edition featuring the extra songs –and hits “‘Cry For Mother” and “Dein Herz, Meine Gier” taken from the EP “Love Breeds Suicide” (2001). Back in time Suicide Commando was signed to Dependent.

Content: Let’s start with the first disc featuring the reworked versions of the album. Ten songs featuring one of the most legendary hits of the band, “Hellraiser”! The songs are easily recognizable, but the major and noticeable difference is the global sound production. The sound got a serious boost, Johan Van Roy using more professional equipment than 20 years ago. You’ll for sure notice some little differences in sounds and arrangements while the production of the vocals is also more professional. Most of the songs became a little less short or more extended, but you’ll for sure easily recognize the different tracks.

The best way to realize the difference between the songs is to first listen to the original edit at the second disc and next directly switch to the ‘new’ edit.

+ + + : I was a bit skeptical about this release. “Mindstrip” remains to me the best ever released work by Suicide Commando, but I’d some preconception this would be just a cheap way to make some money. But if you know Johan Van Roy, who’s such a kind and humble person, you know this is not true. He reworked the songs and did a real great job improving the global production of the songs. The difference with the original work is simply impressive and I can’t imagine DJ’s will ever play again the ‘original’ edits. “Mindstrip” remains a brilliant album thanks to the already mentioned “Hellraiser”, but other cuts like “Comatose Delusion”, “Raise Your God” and of course “Love Breeds Suicide” became instant hits as well. Twenty years later this album got a sonic facelift, but remains a reference. Notice by the way the artwork has been completely reworked as well.

– – – : A few songs are maybe suffering a little less from the weight of time, but that’s maybe just because I’m here referring to a few ‘softer’ tracks. There’s no real reason to complain.

Conclusion: When a twenty years old album, which has been boosted still, has its original power and impact, you might consider it as a masterpiece! “Mindstrip” is this kind of masterpiece!

Best songs: “Hellraiser – Post Mortem”, “Love Breeds Suicide – Endzeit 2020”, “Raise Your God – 2020 Bigotry”, “Blood In Face – First Aid Mix”, “Jesus Wrept – Resurrect v.2020”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.suicidecommando.be / www.facebook.com/IIXIII

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

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Placebo Effect – Shattered Souls (Album – Placebo Effect)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 19:00:22 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, EBM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: This album stands for one of the most surprising and exciting comebacks from the last few years. German trio Placebo Effect was active between 1989 and 1999. Driven by the trio Axel Machens, Christoph Kunze and Achim Windel the band gained instant recognition with the referential album “Galleries Of Pain” released in 1992 on Danse Macabre. The next album “Manipulated Mind Control” released two years later on Ausfahrt didn’t get a similar success although it confirmed the status of this band. Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando) once affirmed Placebo Effect probably was one of the true inventors of the Dark-Electro style. Placebo Effect reformed in 2014, but two years later Achim Windel passed away. But now the band is back as a duo self-releasing their first new album in twenty six years!

Content: “Shattered Souls” features 15 songs and is much diversified work. A few songs remind me of the harshness and power of “Galleries Of Pain” while most of the compositions reflect a Dark-Electro atmosphere. I can’t say that it sounds typically 90s, but you for sure recognize some elements while the vocals of Axel Machens are more polished, but still aggressive. You’ll also notice a few shorter tracks, kind of intermezzos in the tracklist.

+ + + : This album is an important production as Placebo Effect definitely belongs to the collective memory of the 90s. I think it makes no sense comparing the new stuff to “Galleries Of Pain”, the band members being now 28 years older. It probably explains why there’s no longer the same rage, which has been replaced by an omnipresent dark atmosphere. This album has something haunting revealing well-crafted songs with cool strings. “Evil Dead Trap” is for sure one of the most noticeable songs in this genre, but I can also mention “Feed Your Creatures”, which simply is a beautiful track. I however prefer the few harder cuts, like a wink to the past… “Pain” and especially “Hard Work” (which is an older song that has been reworked) both are potential hits. I also have to mention “Down On Your Knees”, which is another cut belonging to the harder side of the work. Last, but not least I also have to say a word about the artwork of this album; if you know the older releases you’ll directly notice the link with “Shattered Souls”.

– – – : I think a few songs could have been a little bit extended. And I’m not referring to the kind of intermezzos, which I’ve to say don’t really add an extra to the album. I also regret there’re not a few harder cuts featured.

Conclusion: Placebo Effect is one of the numerous comebacks and I’ve to say I wasn’t disappointed. This band still has a real potential while bringing something different to the Dark-Electro scene, which remains a music genre that is too often repeating itself.

Best songs: “Hard Work”, “Pain”, “Evil Dead Trap”, “Down On Your Knees”, “Slave”, “Feed Your Creatures”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.facebook.com/PlaceboEffect.official

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Suicide Commando – Deine Herz, Meine Gier / Bunkerb!tch (EP – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 19:30:23 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Suicide Commando strikes back with a special EP. He reworked two ‘old’ songs from his repertoire and added two new cuts as well. “Deine Herz, Meine Gier” was originally released in 2001 at the EP “Love Breeds Suicide” while “Blood In Face” got released in 2000 at the legendary album “Mindstrip”. Notice by the way the CD format has been limited to 999 copies.

Content: “Deine Herz, Meine Gier” was a kind of B-side song from the EP “Love Breeds Suicide”, but it became an instant dancefloor killer. This “Reanimate 2020”-version has been boosted and adapted into some modernism while holding on the original ingredients of the song. “Blood In Face” is a song I had forgotten, the “Mindstrip”-opus featuring much more famous tracks. This reworked song sounds more into an atmospheric perspective even revealing a cinematographic synth part.

About the new songs, “Bunkerb!tch” is a hard-hitting and enraged new cut, which will not miss its target when played at the clubs while “Belief” is a kind of EP filler.

+ + + : This EP is not entirely new and yet it features reworked versions. Especially the new version of the title song will again hit the dancefloors while “Bunkerb!tch” reveals the most evil and enraged side of the Belgian Electro master. So in the end we get 4 songs and that’s for sure an appreciable aspect for the fans of Johan Van Roy.

– – – : “Blood In Face” is a somewhat unexpected song to get reworked 20 years later and honestly not the best Suicide Commando-song in history.

Conclusion: I was a bit skeptical about this ‘reworked’ version of “Deine Herz, Meine Gier”, but this successful cut now finally got its deserved EP-title song format.

Best songs: “Bunkerb!tch”, “Deine Herz, Meine Gier – Reanimate 2020”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.suicidecommando.be / www.facebook.com/IIXIII

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

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Suicide Commando returns with ‘Dein herz, meine gier / Bunkerb!tch’ single at the end of August

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 14:06:49 +0000

Out on August 28th is the brand new single by Suicide Commando, “Dein herz, meine gier / Bunkerb!tch”. “Dein herz, meine gier / Bunkerb!tch” will be released just before the re-recorded classic “Mindstrip” hits the street as “Mindstrip Redux”.

The “Dein herz, meine gier / Bunkerb!tch” will have 4 tracks including 2 reworks: “Dein herz, meine gier” taken of the “Love Breeds suicide” EP which got a full remake, “Blood In the Face” taken from “Mindstrip” giving an appetizer to what is to be expected on “Mindstrip Redux”.

You also get 2 new tracks: “Bunkerb!tch” and the second new track “Belief”.

Tracklist:

Dein herz, meine gier (REanimate 2020)
Blood in face (first aid mix)
Bunkerb!tch
Belief

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Suicide Commando – Hellraiser (Digital EP – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 21:00:15 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro.

Background/Info: Suicide Commando has decided to revisit one of his greatest and early hits “Hellraiser”. Originally released in 2000 on the “Mindstrip”-album (Dependent), the song became a long-time favorite fan track. Notice by the way this EP is also available as a vinyl picture disc.

Content: “Hellraiser” has been reworked and remastered. The “Post Mortem 2019”-version is still powerful and accentuated by some extra little details. The same procedure has been used to give “Mindstripper” (originally released at the same album) a new life as well. This song is much calmer and into obscure atmospheres.

Both last songs (B-side of the vinyl) are original tracks from 2000. You first get the original edit of “Hellraiser” and the rather surprising original version of “Kevorkian” originally released on the “Comatose Delusion”-EP.

+ + + : “Hellraiser” is of course the perfect song to get re-released, but I especially like that it concerns a ‘reworked’ version with some extra little noises and a passage with robotic vocals –next to Johan Van Roy’s usual enraged singing. The song hasn’t lost its initial power and remains magic. Therefore it will be for sure a major song from the upcoming live shows. “Hellraiser” is the ultimate song to expose the power and obscurity from the Belgian Master of dark-electronics. “Kevorkian” is a surprising choice as it never has been a real successful song from Suicide Commando, but it brings the early sound of the project back to life.

– – – : I expected a bit more from the other tracks left and especially both B-side cuts, which are simply remastered songs from 2000.

Conclusion: “Hellraiser” doesn’t bring real innovation, but just a sonic facelift from one of Johan Van Roy’s major songs and biggest hits.

Best songs: “Hellraiser – Post Mortem 2019”, “Kevorkian – Original Version 2000”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www .suicidecommando .be / www .facebook .com /IIXIII

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

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[:SITD:] – Sturmlicht (CD EP – Infacted Recordings)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 30 Jun 2019 19:25:20 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark electro-pop, body-pop.

Background/Info: [:SITD:] which released their last work on Frank D’Angelo own label Scanner has now moved to Infacted Recordings to release this new EP and the upcoming full length “Stunde X”.

Content: [:SITD:] has used to bringing us dark-electronics and now took me by surprise delivering a rather dark-pop electro title song. The song reveals certain club-power. Remixes have been accomplished by label mates Frozen Plasma, Ruined Conflict and Shiv-R.

The B-side song entitled “Miscreed” is definitely darker and featuring vocals by the one and only Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando).

+ + + : The title song isn’t exactly my favorite cut from [:SITD:], but I have to admit it has a real strong club-feeling. It sounds danceable and the chorus has been polished by a somewhat pop-like touch. I especially like the remixes by Ruined Conflict, which has something EBM-like on top and the harsher approach of Shiv-R. It’s hard to say if “Miscreed” is a real B-side song, but having Johan Van Roy on board is a real interesting element to catch the attention of the fans –and all Suicide Commando freaks as well.

– – – : As I already said, the title song is okay, but not what I’m used to hearing from this band.

Conclusion: I’m really wondering about the new album, which will give us more information about a possible evolution of [:SITD:] towards dark electro-pop fields.

Best songs: “Sturmlicht – Ruined conflict Remix”, “Sturmlicht – Shiv-R Remix”, “Sturmlicht – Single Version”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .facebook .com /SITDofficial

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

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‘Click Interview’ with Dawn Of Ashes: ‘This Album Was Meant To Tell Older Fans That We Hear You’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 01 May 2019 17:00:45 +0000

Set up in 2001 by Kristof Bathory, the Los Angeles (USA) based Dawn Of Ashes is a band that went through different periods. The early records, released by the now defunct NoiTekk, revealed a dark- and tormented electronic sound. Quite progressively the band started to explore new sonic paths, composing albums driven by heavy industrial-metal music. There was a break in between 2013 and 2016, but DOA stroke back releasing new material. The newest opus “The Crypt Injection II (Non Serviam)” released on Metropolis, is a kind of back to the early dark-electro sound mixed with elements of metal music. It’s a powerful and fully accomplished opus, which incited me to get in touch with Kristof Bathory and… Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando) who has been invited to do guest vocals on one of the tracks.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Your new album “The Crypt Injection II” clearly sounds as a back to the roots, but still featuring the industrial-metal approach from the recent years. What incited you to go back to the early sound of Dawn Of Ashes and where do you place this new work in the band’s history/discography?

Kristof: There has always been a high demand about returning to our earlier sound from fans that have been following us since the beginning, and there are fans that understand how we have the capability of blending both metal- and industrial music. I feel that I did neglect the origins of where DOA started from, but also know that I initially wanted Dawn Of Ashes to be a blend of metal and industrial from the beginning. Dawn Of Ashes is an industrial-metal band that experiments with various sides from different types of metal- and industrial music. I wanted to pay homage to the first “Crypt Injection” while throwing in what we do now. This album was meant to tell older fans that we hear you and that we don’t have to bury who we used to be any longer.

Q: So how did it feel getting back to dark-electronics and how would you compare writing an industrial-metal album versus a dark-electro album?

Kristof: This first attempt emerged when I wrote the debut “Bornless Fire”-album. Toying with synths again has been something I really missed. There is definitely something special about the combination of synth sounds and metal music. Not a lot of bands can pull it off and if they do, it sounds amazing. The dark-electro era had a very simplistic style of writing, while writing industrial-metal is a lot of work. The mixing process is very different and working with others and having them capture my vision of the sound is challenging. I feel that there is a sense of maturity difference between both “The Crypt Injection 1” and “The Crypt Injection 2”. Both unique in different ways and both have their own charm.

Q: What has been the main focus in the composition- and production process of this work and what are the elements you’re particularly proud of?

Kristof: The focus was to achieve the sound of the original “Crypt Injection” while making it completely different. The style of writing dark-electro / industrial and writing metal and putting them together while doing the math was very interesting. Mixing this album with Brendin Ross was the biggest nightmare and probably the hardest album to mix in my opinion. I feel like I’m mostly proud that I was able to pull this off and bring back that old sound, but also making it unique.

Q: I’m intrigued by the cover inspired by the Sephiroth, the famous ‘tree of life’ from Kabbalah. What does this ‘symbol’ means to you and what’s the link between the artwork and the lyrical content of the album?

Kristof: It’s actually the ‘Tree of Death’ or the Qliphoth. I have made it public that I am an active practitioner of The Left Hand Path and Black / Dark Magick. While in the middle of this album, I was studying and working with the Qliphothic Magick in a LHP order that I am involved in. The concept of the Tree of Death went well with the theme of “The Crypt Injection 2”. Death as a symbol of transformation or the mysteries in darkness and injecting this symbol within the knowledge of the mind.

Q: The song “Hexcraft” is featuring Johan Van Roy who’s accentuating the dark-electro side of the work. How this featuring did happen and what makes Suicide Commando that special to you?

Kristof: Johan has always been a friend even though we still have not met in person. I felt that he would be the perfect person to do guest vocals since this album was meant to pay homage to the early years of dark-electro. I have always loved his work so it just happened.

Q: Johan, do you’ve some personal criteria when you accept to get featured on an album and what was your personal experience on “Hexcraft”?

Johan Van Roy: In theory I don’t have any personal criteria to accept any guest vocal requests, after all I’m just an electro whore, so I do all for money …:-)

No seriously, basically my only conditions are that I like the music and/or the song, and the artist behind this music. I would never sell my soul to an artist I don’t like personally. I know Kristof Bathory of DOA for many years now, and we always had much respect for eachothers work, so for me it was an honor to do guest vocals on “Hexcraft”.

Q: I always have experienced Dawn Of Ashes as a rather versatile formation and I here refer to numerous line-up changes, the band’s break in between 2013 and 2016 and the evolution in sound. It looks pretty rock’n’roll like, but how do you look back at all these different topics and how do you see the further years of the band?

Kristof: One of my top favorite bands is Nine Inch Nails. All of Trent’s albums sound very different, but it still is NIN. Every album has a sound and its own charm. Each DOA album is different, but it still is DOA. The equation is metal and industrial equals who we are. I am going to stick to both, but not alienate one or the other. That is the future of Dawn Of Ashes.

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Suicide Commando – Death Will Find You (CD EP – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 19:30:59 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro.

Background/Info: Last year Suicide Commando released the album “Forest Of The Impaled”, which Johan Van Roy introduced as his most personal and intimate album to date. “Death Will Find You” moves back to this album featuring several remixes of 2 songs originally featured on the album plus 2 new cuts.

Content: Let’s start with both new cuts, which perfectly stand for the ‘obscure’ sound of Suicide Commando. One of the songs (cf. “Black Hole”) was written together with Mario Vaerewijck (live drummer and ex-Insekt). Both songs totally fit with the inhibited style of the full length.

Among the remixes you’ll get an interesting selection of bands (The Firm/E-Craft, Ruined Conflict, Binary Park and Bornless Fire). Notice by the way Suicide Commando made a remix of each song as well.

+ + + : It’s quite interesting to get 2 new songs featured on this EP although the best exponents are 2 remixes by Binary Park and Ruined Conflict, both reworking the original versions of “We Are Transitory” and “Death Lies Waiting” into cool dancefloor-killers. There also is a cool remix of The Firm/E-Craft.

– – – : I’m disappointed by the new cuts, which don’t sound like the best and most inspired work I’ve heard from Suicide Commando. I think this EP was the right place to put them on.

Conclusion: This EP is a nice addition to the latest Suicide Commando-album. It first of all is an item that will be purchased by the heaviest fans of the Belgian master of dark-electronics while it doesn’t bring that new for the others.

Best songs: “Death Lies Waiting – Binary Park Remix”, “We Are Transitory – Ruined Conflict Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .suicidecommando .de / www .facebook .com /IIXIII

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Other Artists About Suicide Commando: ‘Without Him Our Scene Would Be Very Different’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 17:00:02 +0000

Suicide Commando is a long-time leading formation from the dark-electronic scene. The band is an important source of inspiration for numerous new bands. So I got the idea asking a question to artists who are or have been related to Johan Van Roy. What do they think about his music, about the man hiding behind the artist…

I got in touch with Torben Schmidt, Dirk Ivens, Jean-Luc De Meyer, Jan L., Nero Bellum, Markko Barientos and Sakis (aka SynthetiC).

Speaking for myself I got the opportunity to work with Johan on a common project called Toxic Shock Syndrome. That was quite a long time ago now, but all over the years Johan remained the same kind and accessible guy for which I can only express my admiration for the talented artist he is and my respect for the great person hiding behind the artist. There where some artists are ‘struggling’ with their egos, he simply remains himself…

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Torben Schmidt is the owner of Infacted Recordings, member of Lights Of Euphoria and Binnary Park plus long-time live member of Suicide Commando.

Q: We all know Johan Van Roy as an ‘artist’ and ‘performer’, but what kind of man is he behind the scenes?

Torben: I know Johan since more then 20 years now and I have to say that he is one of the most loyal and kind guys I ever met. In fact he turned from an artist I respect into a real friend. We experienced so many cool things in the last 17 years being a part of his band which really made us friends. I’m really happy that I got to know him and that we had the chance to expand our friendship.

Dirk Ivens is a living legend of the electronic underground scene, front man of The Klinik, but still involved with Dive, Sonar, Absolute Body Control… he also was a source of inspiration for Suicide Commando.

Q: The Klinik definitely was one of the main sources of inspiration for Suicide Commando. How much of The Klinik do you recognize in Suicide Commando?

Dirk: It looks like more than 30 years after the release of the first album of The Klinik that these songs are still very much alive and were a big inspiration for a lot of bands during the years.. including Suicide Commando. Johan was one of them and especially his early work before he developed and finally found his own musical touch.

Jean-Luc De Meyer is the singer of the pioneers of EBM, the one and only Front 242! He’s also involved with 32 Crash, Underviewer and Modern Cubism. Jean-Luc De Meyer did some guest vocals on the song “The Pain That You Liked”, which was originally released as EP and featured on the newest Suicide Commando album as well.

Q: Jean-Luc, you already sung in multiple projects and did multiple guest vocals, but I never expected you singing on a song of Suicide Commando. What kind of experience was it for you and what’s your perception of the Suicide Commando sound?

Jean-Luc: I’m not that sociable you know so I lately met Johan, maybe 3 or 4 years ago now. But I’d seen numerous concerts of Suicide Commando before. Singing on “The Pain That You Like” was a rather easy job because music and lyrics both were already written and I only had to interpret the song. It was quite simple and a bit of an evidence for me as I felt like a fish in the water singing on this kind of music…

Jan L is for sure another leading artist from the electronic underground scene. From Noisuf-X to X-Fusion to Stoppenberg he ever ever set up Kombat Unit together with Johan Van Roy.

Q: You ever set up Kombat Unit together with Johan Van Roy. What did you keep in mind from this experience and what’s your perception of Johan Van Roy as an artist/performer?

Jan L: Yes, we started Kombat Unit some time ago.. and we had a lot of fun making music together. We both have very different ways of working.. but it worked very well in the end, even if we only finished 2 songs. Our problem was only our lack of time. That´s why we stopped with Kombat Unit.

You maybe know that we both know each other since a very long time and we are close friends. I respect Johan as a very nice person and as a great artist. I also love to work with him, when it comes to mixing/mastering his Suicide Commando stuff. His music inspired countless bands since a very long time and he is a very important person in our scene. Without him our scene would be very different.

Nero Bellum is the front man of Psyclon Nine and get featured on the opening song of the new album.

Q: How did you get in touch with Johan Van Roy and what kind of experience was it for you contributing to the opening song (cf. “The Gates Of Oblivion”) of the new album?

Nero: I believe that my first correspondence with Johan took place just as “Mindstrip” was being released. I had just formed my band Psyclon Nine and had just begun work on our first album. Suicide Commando was one of my biggest influences at the time and Johan was happy to give me advice.

“The Gates Of Oblivion” gave us an opportunity to collaborate in a much deeper way. While Johan had most of the music written when he approached me, I was able to bring live, modular synthesis into the picture as well as my lyrical contributions. Performing the track at ‘Wave Gotik Treffen’ 10 minutes before my shuttle arrived was something that I won’t soon forget.

Markko Barientos is without a shadow of a doubt one of the leading artists from the Mexican dark-electro scene, but he in the meantime became a word-wide recognized artist involved with C-Lekktor, Circuito Cerrado and Kromak.

Q: Do you remember the first time you’ve heard Suicide Commando and what did you think? What means this band to you?

Markko: Yeah I still remember that day, the first time I heard Suicide Commando here in Mexico city we have a ‘Music Market’ named “El Chopo” and I got the “Critical Stage” CD by luck. At that time there wasn’t internet and to find original CDs was something that became a real pain in the ass, but fortunately I found it and it was so blasting that it changed my own panorama from what I was listening to those days. ‘COLD-VIOLENT AND CATCHY’ are my favorite 3 words when it comes to dark electronic music. I just wanted to get more and more from Suicide Commando.

Suicide Commando had already released the “Stored Images”-album around that time I found the “Critical Stage”-album (so you can see how hard it was to find music in Mexico during that time?) From that day I always knew that I was so engaged with his sound and after all these years I still consider it as one of my biggest pleasures and influences in my music. For me “Construct-Destruct” is and will be always one of the best albums. To keep it short, ‘I’M A SUICIDE COMMANDO ADDICT, aren’t you?

Sakis aka SynthetiC from Nano Infect is a Greek artist who definitely found his inspiration in the cold electro sound of Suicide Commando. Johan Van Roy was guest singer on the Nano Infect’s song “Lifeless”.

Q: Suicide Commando clearly sounds like a source of inspiration for numerous dark-electronic bands. What makes the sound of Suicide Commando that special and what specific elements in this sound do you like?

Sakis: What makes Suicide Commando so special to a point that, at least to me, literally everybody is inspired, is the man behind the project; Johan Van Roy himself. He’s a loyal and simple guy while his sound features a straight forward structure plus a melody that gets stuck in your head from the very first moment. Needless to mention the groovy bass lines and that super fat sounding signature snare!
As for the lyrics, you get to see that Johan Van Roy is an everyday normal guy with thoughts like yours and mine… Songs about depression, death, the way the mind works… simple thoughts of a man who feels he has to express them…

It has been an honor to know him and I would like to thank him in public again for everything.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Suicide Commando / Part 1: ‘I Really Wanted To Go Into The Opposite Direction Of All Those Copycats Of Today’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 31 Jul 2017 17:00:46 +0000

Four years have passed since the previous Suicide Commando-album (cf. “When Evil Speaks”). Johan Van Roy had to struggle with a burn out, but he finally found the energy to beat his inner demons. This experience inspired him to compose one of his darkest and maybe most ‘atypical’ albums to date entitled “Forest Of The impaled” (released on Out Of Line). Suicide Commando remains one of the leading ships of dark-electronic music and I’d a chat with the captain on board.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I think to have understood that “Forest Of The Impaled” probably is one of your most intimate releases to date, right? What is it all about and is there any particular meaning/symbolic behind the title?

Johan: Yes, it definitely became my most intimate and personal release to date. “Forest Of The Impaled” turned out to be my own private therapy to fight my fears and monsters which I had to conquer in the last 2 years.

There’s a lot more emotion and feelings in this new album then in my previous works. Maybe not because of the vocals, but surely because of the dark music and atmosphere. In fact there’s no real meaning behind the title, I just thought it fitted the cold and apocalyptic atmosphere I wanted to create pretty well.

Q: I remember one of your songs “Death Cures All Pain”, but don’t you think music can cures all pain as well?

Johan: Oh sure music can cure pain, actually I’m a perfect example of that. Music helped me to overcome my burn out, “Forest Of The Impaled” is the result of that. Half of the tracks on the album were already written 2 years ago before my burn out, the rest was written in the last few months and for me was the perfect therapy to fight my inner monsters. That’s why “Forest Of The Impaled” isn’t a happy album and probably my darkest album ever.

Q: “Crack Up”, “Death Lies Waiting” and “Chasm Of Emptiness” are quite refreshing songs; it feels a bit like you’ve reinvented the Suicide Commando sound by adding subtle treatments and ‘new’ influences. Are you aware of this evolution and did you’d a particular sound in mind when starting the writing?

Johan: I never really start with a plan. These things have to come spontaneously, you (well, at least I can’t !) can’t write something on command, it wouldn’t work for me. The only thing that in some way was done deliberately, was the plan to have more slower songs on the new album. Either I’m getting too old, or call me stubborn, but I really wanted to go into the opposite direction of all those copycats of today. In times where each song has to be over 120 bpm I only have 3 songs this time going over the 120 bpm.

Q: How did you convince Jean-Luc Demeyer to sing on the already familiar, but still surprising “The Pain That You Like”? How did the writing and recording of this song happened?

Johan: I’ve known Jean-Luc for many years now, but only got to know him better in the last 3 or 4 years. Since I’ve always been a big fan of his works for Front 242, I thought it would be a good idea to ask him to do some guest vocals. So when I was writing “The Pain That You Like” I thought that song might fit his voice pretty well, so I just asked and to my surprise he immediately agreed on doing so. After having Dirk Ivens who did guest vocals on my very first album back in 1994, I now finally could have one of my other heroes do guest vocals on a Suicide Commando song. So now I can die in peace… (laugh).

Q: “Forest Of The Impaled” will be released in different formats. What does the vinyl format means to you ano 2017 and what are your impressions about all the Suicide Commando songs that have been covered by other artists for the ‘fan-box’ edition?

Johan: I grew up with vinyl in the eighties, so for me it’s more of a nostalgia thing to have the new album on vinyl as well. It sure ain’t something to get rich with, but I’m really glad Out Of Line wanted to do a vinyl edition as well.

I’m really happy how the ‘tribute’-album turned out. It wasn’t an easy decision to pick the best covers as I received so many covers, but I think in the end it has the best mix of old and newer songs covered by bands that in some way or another have been influenced by Suicide Commando.

Q: I can easily imagine, Suicide Commando has changed your life. What’s the real impact of getting recognized and famous on the ‘person’ hiding behind the ‘artist’ and do you sometimes think what will come after Suicide Commando?

Johan: Sure it has changed my life in different ways. I was and still am able to live from and thanks to my music, with the goodwill of the company where I work to allow me to keep on working half time and spend the other half on my music. My music brought me to places all over the world where I otherwise never ever would have been able to go to. My music brought me satisfaction, friendships…

But sadly enough it also had a downside, the never ending work and stress, the killing combination of work + music + family got me into this burn out. Being recognized didn’t have much impact on my life, especially since this scene is so small in Belgium, I can still walk around on the streets without getting recognized… (laugh).

When you’re getting older you obviously start to think about things like what will come after Suicide Commando… When I started making music back in 1986 I never imagined I still would be doing this after 30 years, but I’m still doing music with the same old passion and love for this kind of electronic music. I guess that’s the main reason why I still do this music, my eternal love and passion for this kind of cold electronic music.

I have no idea how long I will continue, but I can easily imagine I’ll do this until death do us part…

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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Suicide Commando – Forest Of The Impaled (CD Album – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 18:30:37 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro.

Background/Info: Belgian proud and master of dark-(h)el(l)ectronics is back on track with the first new album in 4 years. Johan Van Roy has often took the time to accomplish new studio work, but this production also is something special as it was a way to chase personal demons… Notice by the way this album is also available as double ‘deluxe’ disc, as double vinyl together with a CD and last, but not least as a special ‘fan edition’ 4-CD box.

Content: “Forest Of The Impaled” has been introduced as being the darkest and most intimate work of Suicide Commando to date. The opening cut featuring Nero Bellum (Psyclon Nine) definitely sounds as one of the most tormented songs in the band’s history. But if you think that all the upcoming songs are sounding similar, you’ll be surprised to discover slower compositions.

Johan Van Roy also experimented with new ideas, revealing a more sophisticated and intelligent writing process. I noticed songs with refreshing bleeps and even some minimalism. There also is one of the most EBM-minded songs ever written by Johan Van Roy. This is the already familiar “The Pain That You Like” featuring Jean-Luc Demeyer (Front 242, Under Viewer, 32 Crash) on vocals.

“Forest Of The Impaled” reveals a mix between some classic Suicide Commando songs carried by icy sequences, bombast-industrial rhythms and the harsh vocals of Johan at one side and some refreshing pieces at the other side.

+ + + : “Forest Of The Impaled” probably is the most diversified work of Suicide Commando ever. Another obscure and tormented cut is “The Devil” on, which you get the impression that a demon is singing. The album is merging the unavoidable ‘classical’ dark-electro cuts with a few more ‘minimal’-driven cuts revealing a different approach in the sound treatments plus an EBM-inspired song featuring Jean-Luc Demeyer.

This is probably not the album that will enter into history as the ‘best’ album of the artist and yet there are a few outstanding pieces featured. The opening track “The Gates Of Oblivion” featuring Nero Bellum truly is a real masterpiece. The song together with Jean-Luc Demeyer is another essential cut, but I also enjoyed the ‘modernism’ running through “Chasm Of Emptiness” and “Crack Up”. One more interesting cut is the sophisticated “Schiz[o]topia”, which comes closer to the style of Mentallo & The Fixer.

– – – : I just noticed a few single cuts, which left me rather unmoved. “Too Far Gone” and “Poison Tree” aren’t exactly the songs that will enter into Suicide Commando ‘classic’ hits.

Conclusion: Every single new Suicide Commando album always is an event. I don’t know if it’s the artist’s darkest album ever, but it clearly and once again deals with pain and torture. Suicide Commando has chased its demons on “Forest Of The Impaled” with music that sounds even more evil than the most dangerous demon!

Best songs: “Chasm Of Emptiness”, “Gates Of Oblivion feat. Nero Bellum”, “Death Lies Waiting”, “The Pain That You Like feat. Jean-Luc Demeyer”, “The Devil”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.suicidecommando.be / www.facebook.com/IIXIII

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Lights Of Euphoria: ‘We Are All ’Traumatized’ Somehow And So Is Our Earth’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 20:29:44 +0000

It all started somewhere in the 90s. Torben Schmidt was running the fan club of Leæther Strip and decided to compose a song on his own. It was meant as a one-shot project featuring Claus Larsen on vocals. The song entitled “Subjection” was originally released at one of the famous Zoth Ommog compilations. Because of this successful song, Lights Of Euphoria went on and released numerous albums and EP’s. The band was later on joined by Jimmy Machon from Godheads. A lot of guest singers like Ronan Harris (VNV Nation), Stephan Groth (Apoptygma Berzerk), Vasi Vallis (Frozen Plasma/Reaper) Johan van Roy (Suicide Commando), Kay Härtle (Supreme Court) contributed to some songs. The band finally went through a long break and is actually fighting back with their first full length in twelve years! The duo got joined by Thomas Gaarn and became a real band. The new opus “Traumatized” released on Infacted Recordings is for sure an astonishing return of this band. I got in touch with Jimmy Machon.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Twelve years have passed since your previous full length album “Gegen Den Strom”. What have you been doing in the meantime and how did you finally come to reactivate Lights Of Euphoria?

Jimmy: We both got a daughter, Torben has been busy with running Infacted Recordings and playing with Suicide Commando. So a lot of work and private matters.

Q: What kind of album is “Traumatized” all about and what have been your main sources of inspiration?

Jimmy: I Jimmy Machon write most of the lyrics usually, and on this album I wrote them all. I write from experience or about subjects that I somehow have an opinion about. There is everything from lyrics about sex, fetishes, anti-religious texts, about love, about hate, about loosing or about being isolated somehow. We are all ’Traumatized’ somehow and so is our earth.

Q: I experienced “Traumatized” as your ‘hardest’ work today, but how do you analyze the evolution in sound from the early work till the new work?

Jimmy: Lights Of Euphoria have always been this strange project, where a lot of guest musicians, and guest vocalists, have been involved. So we have made pretty much everything from harsh-noise, to pretty synth-pop. This is probably the first real album where there is a red thread connecting all the songs musically or lyrically.

Q: What has been the input of each member on “Traumatized” and tell us a bit more about the production process?

Jimmy: Well Torben has been very busy, so I, and our new full-blown member Thomas Gaarn, have made most of the album. I wrote the melodies and lyrics, and Thomas is a very skilled keyboard player and is very good adding interesting elements to the production or very good at coming up with great baselines or synth parts. I did the artwork as well.

Q: Lights On Euphoria are now back on track, but what brings the future?

Jimmy: More albums, more concerts and more songs. We have already started writing new material, and hopefully it wont take another 12 years to finish another studioalbum.

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Suicide Commando cancels / postpones all shows due to health issues Johan van Roy

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 20:47:22 +0000

Johan van Roy has announced that “due to ongoing health issues I decided to cancel/postpone all remaining live shows for the rest of the year.” The shows affected include Sittard on November 28th and Paris on December 5th.

Says Johan: “I of course deeply regret that I once again have to cancel some more shows, but it’s useless to keep hoping for a miracle to recover completely in such a short notice. I’m really sorry to let both our fans and organiser(s) down, but in the given circumstances it’s the only possible option. I now realise more then ever that a good health is the greatest gift we can have. My sincere apologies to all of you.”

Earlier van Roy already had to cancel the band’s live show at the Nocturna Festival in Barcelona (Spain) in October due to illness. Back then he posted this: “Never had to cancel that many shows as in the last cursed year. Now it’s time to break the spell …” But the spell doesn’t seem to have been broken…

We’ll keep you updated.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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