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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The Bleak Assembly, a collaboration between Kimberly Kornmeier (Bow Ever Down) and Michael Smith (Fiction8), return with a new album “Until The World Stops Hurting”.

The darkwave duo added lyrical references to light and the Sun so vocalist and lyricist, Kimberly says: “I have always come from a dark place especially with my lyrics because that’s where I put all my pain — into the music. It’s my release. Whenever you have total darkness there must be some form of light. Its lyrically on so many various levels all about love which I think is the answer to the title of the album “until the world stops hurting.”

“Until The World Stops Hurting” is available on all major digital platforms including Bandcamp and Spotify.

The Bleak Assembly formed in August 2022. The duo collaborates entirely remotely—Kimberly writing and recording from Kurdistan, and Michael from Denver, CO, USA. Previously, both artists were on the Nilaihah Records label in separate bands: Kimberly with Bow Ever Down and Michael with Fiction 8. They originally connected through the Sounds & Shadows social media group. The two also collaborate as the current lineup of Bow Ever Down.

The Bleak Assembly’s name loosely references the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House.

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 May 3rd via Metropolis Records is the release of the 16Volt album”NegativeOnArrivals”.

It holds condensed versions of the two most recent albums are being reissued on 3rd May as the single disc “NegativeOnArrivals”, with Powell stating: “I am excited to get this material out to a larger base through Metropolis! The collection of tracks was created during a hard time in my life and to feel them set free together is a great exorcism, I hope everyone enjoys them as we get warmed up for our new album.”

You can pre-order the album right here. Below is the artwork.

In further news, after a period of inactivity that saw 16Volt unable to tour, Powell began working on new material in his studio and re-signed with Metropolis Records for a brand new album entitled “More Of Less” to be issued later in 2024.

Here’s already the video for “The Last Time” featured on the new album.

About 16Volt

With roots dating back to the early days of the industrial rock genre, 16Volt have been successfully crossing over into multiple related genres for over three decades and retained a healthy worldwide fanbase while doing so.

Group founder, songwriter, lead vocalist, programmer and rhythm guitarist Eric Powell actually signed his first record deal in 1991 while still in his teens and delivered three albums in swift succession – “Wisdom” (1993), “Skin” (1994) and “LetDownCrush” (1996) – that saw him working alongside co-producers such as David Ogilvie (Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy), Keith ‘Fluffy’ Auerbach (Ministry) and Jeff ‘Critter’ Newell (Ministry, Angels & Airwaves, blink-182), as well as guest musicians like William Tucker (Ministry), Marc LaCorte (Schecter Guitars) and Bryan Black (Black Asteroid). Earning both critical praise and pole positions on the US Alternative Chart and at College Radio, the band also built a significant live following as they toured extensively around North America and eventuallly signed a major deal with Mercury Records.

Producer Bill Kennedy (Nine Inch Nails, Megadeth, Sepultura, Mötley Crüe) was hired to help make “SuperCoolNothing” (1998), which featured appearances from film composer Joseph Bishara (Insidious, The Conjuring, Marylin Manson, Danzig), Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails), Mike Peoples (Skrew) and Kraig Tyler (Crazytown), but the group soon found themselves in the middle of a legal battle shortly before album release when their label was bought by Seagram and its funding was cut. However, in a genius move, Powell was able to buy back the rights and made a deal with Sony to feature it within the Playstation game “Primal” as well as a two-disc European release that included both the album and the game with the band skinned in as characters and utilised as in-game bonus material.

The mid-’00s saw 16Volt sign to Metropolis Records and release the albums “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009) and “Beating Dead Horses” (2012), which featured guests such as Paul Raven (Ministry, Killing Joke, Prong), Steve White (KMFDM) and Bildeaux (Lance Herbstrong), as well as mix engineer Shaun Thingvold (Strapping Young Lad, Lamb of God).

Meanwhile, an extensive touring schedule was maintained that included stints with KMFDM, Korn, Filter, Chemlab, Orgy, Prong, Stabbing Westward, Revolting Cocks, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242 and more, as well as multiple successful headlining tours in their own right.

2016 saw the release of “The Negative Space”, produced by Marc Jordan (Velvet Revolver, The Cult, Hyro Da Hero, Die Antwoord), with “Dead On Arrivals” following a year later.

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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Set up in 1990 by Sean Brennan, Californian (USA) based London After Midnight never stopped to increase their success and popularity. After having conquered the West Coast they progressively started to play world wide becoming a true phenomenon at the wider fields of Dark-Wave and Gothic music. While Sean Brennan is working on a new opus for several years now he this year unleashed the album “Oddities Too” featuring rare songs, alternative edits, cover versions and demos. The album has been released on Sean’s own label Darkride Records and is a true, artistic, creation mixing heavy Goth-Rock passages together with a Cinematic style. I talked about it all with Sean Brennan.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: The odyssey of London After Midnight started more than thirty years ago now. Can you draw up the balance sheet of this amazing and successful story?

Sean: LAM has experienced a great deal, both good and bad. In the end when reflecting back I mostly think of the music I was able to create and the people who it mattered to, rather than the struggles.

Q: Over the past thirty years you for sure have seen things changing/evolving. I’m thinking to aspects such as internet, streaming platforms vs. physical sales, new technologies and equipment, more and more labels closing doors, the growing importance of image, etc… What’s your perception of this entire evolution? What are the pros and cons?

Sean: In some ways it’s a devolution. But yes, a lot has changed with our culture in a relatively short time span. The internet brought about many problems- from impacting peoples’ mental health with toxic social media, the spread of disinformation and conspiracies, to the collapse of the music industry, but it has presented opportunities, too, like for people who are normally without a voice -some social media has provided a platform to challenge the powerful or raise awareness.

But it’s hard to gauge the pros versus cons because things have changed so radically and tumultuously in that time span -maybe now we’re so accustomed to tragedy and disaster and corruption and conspiracy that our standards have been lowered, so we accept the small benefits that come from the internet without questioning the costs. But I think generally, with a few exceptions, there are greater costs than benefits.

Q: How much of the ‘young’ musician you were early 90s do you still recognize in your approach today? And are there specific aspects you would have done differently?

Sean: Things have changed from that time, obviously, how I feel about it and how I view it now from external influences- forced upon me by the world. There’s still a passion and drive to create that’s always been there. How that might manifest itself in the future is unknown to me, but I will always love music.

Q: I think to remember you were working on a completely new album, right? How are things evolving and can you already reveal some details?

Sean: The all new album is about half recorded. It would have been much further along if not for the pandemic. I recorded some drum tracks before I moved out of Los Angeles to the east coast of the USA, where I planned to finish the albums. But then the pandemic hit (lucky timing for me, because being in over-crowded LA during the pandemic was reportedly a nightmare). So the pandemic delayed everything by at least 2 years.

I feel the all new album has my best work on it so I am very eager to get it released. I just have to finish up some lyrics and then do some final recording. There will be one cover song on it, the rest are all original, new songs. But the cover song is pretty special as it turned out quite nicely. It will probably be another unexpected cover-song like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”-cover from “Oddities Too”, but quite emotional.

Q: In a previous question I was mentioning the streaming platforms. (Younger) people are no longer listening to an entire album but are making their own playlists featuring separate songs. So do you think  releasing an album still makes sense today?

Sean: In one sense you have to release a full album to earn enough to make it worth recording, to make the process pay for itself. Just a drum session in a real studio, for example, can cost a few thousand dollars. And then mixing and mastering will cost several more thousand dollars. If you release a 4 song EP then you sell it for far less than a full album and aren’t really able to earn those costs back to make the practice sustainable. And there are a lot of people who also still buy physical product, CDs or records, which my new record label I started in 2019 is releasing -Darkride Records.

And pressing CDs and LPs is another huge cost. So making physical products with fewer songs means lower pricing and a harder time earning back what you’ve invested. You can lose money releasing music, which is clearly not sustainable. But yes, it’s sad that people’s attention spans are so short now. Too often the music is just a playlist, background music, and people don’t even know who the artists are, despite all the effort and work the artists put into their creations.

Q: In the meantime you released “Oddities Too” which became a mix of rare songs and alternative edits, surprising cover versions, demos and new material as well. How did this album saw the daylight and how was it working on it? And tell us a bit more about this amazing new song “October”?

Sean: “Oddities Too” started out as a 10 song sequel to the 1998 “Oddities”-album, featuring unreleased, re-imagined, and new material. But it has transformed into a double album including everything from “Oddities”. With my label, Darkride Records, I want to reissue all my past albums that are out of print, but make them better than they were by remixing them from the original multi-track master tapes. Doing this I am able to included missing audio elements cut from the original mixes due to limitations at the time, and even forgotten recordings. I always planned for another album like “Oddities”, and the time was right.

The song “October” is probably the first LAM song. I wrote it when I played keyboard for another band when I was a kid, just months before starting LAM. It was someone else’s band, but it fell apart after its first concert. So I started LAM and used the song as a starting point. A really rough recording appeared on LAM’s first 4 song self-titled demo cassette tape in about 1990 or 91. Then it was removed off the tape as I had just recorded “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World” in 1991 and I replaced “October” with the new song “Revenge”. Some people never understood “October”, so I just buried it. It was meant to be like a Goth-Punk version of “Timewarp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, not literally but just a thing that wasn’t in any way serious. But people looking for a reason to attack me used the song to try and say I was claiming to be a vampire, or that I thought I was God’s gift to women or something. They wanted to pretend it was serious just so they could talk shit. I was shocked at how utterly stupid these people were, that they couldn’t understand a silly song. The humor and fantasy of the song was lost on them. But it’s always been popular with fans, I would still get requests for it even now, so I decided to include it on “Oddities Too” and see what happens. Hopefully the naysayers won’t resort to more insane accusations of me being a vampire this time around.

Q: There’s an important ‘Cinematic’ side featured at the album. Do you have concrete plans to release a Soundtrack and do you’ve favorite soundtrack composers?

Sean: I’d love to score film, but I’m actually getting more interested in making films rather than music for them. But we’ll see what happens. My first love was film Soundtracks and Classical music. I have records and CDs from childhood of film scores from Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Ron Grainer, John Barry, John Williams and tons more. That’s the music I listen to most frequently.

Q: I really have to mention two cover versions featured at “Oddities Too”. I wasn’t surprised by the David Bowie cover but you took me by surprise covering Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff”. I guess you covered “Hot Stuff” because of the lyrics? Does the BOWIE song have special meaning to you?

Sean: I covered “Hot Stuff” because I’ve always liked some of the music from that era, and I thought that song had a very cool guitar riff melody (which I play on keyboard in my version). I thought it could make for a sort of creepy, weird, dark song that might contrast in a funny way with the lyrics. “Scary Monsters” is a song that LAM used to perform live starting in maybe 2006, or so. So that’s just a little history of LAM. I was quite shocked after I released “Hot Stuff” that the guy who wrote the song for Donna Summer, Pete Bellotte, sent me an email saying how much he loved my cover. He said of all the covers he’s heard mine stood out as original, hypnotic, dark, and ‘great’. I was utterly floored, as he’s a sort of legend in the song writing world, having written songs for big artists.

Q: The ongoing pandemic seriously affected all artistic activities. How did you experience this situation and how does it feel to be back on stage again?

Sean: It was very difficult- LAM had some tour plans for 2020 to promote the re-release of “Selected Scenes From The End Of The World: 9119”, but those obviously had to be cancelled. Touring now is even harder than before because this readjustment period, when shows are starting to come back, is exposing the weaknesses of the music industry. Even major, top 40 bands, are posting to their social media about how they cannot sustain touring any longer due to costs or harsh schedules required or problems with cancellations, etc. So it’s kind of difficult at the moment.

Q: Any concrete plans for the coming months/year?

Sean: In regard to concerts LAM will perform at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in 2023 with Sisters Of Mercy, System Of A Down, Korn and many other bands. Then there should be a festival scheduled in Germany later in summer and maybe a few other shows. We’ll see. And I will continue with recording the all new album, as well.

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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The last year it has been very calm in the OOMPH!-camp. No online concerts during corona, no rescheduled festival-dates, no new album news at all. The sudden announcement that OOMPH!’s lead singer Dero Goi has left the band, after 32 years being the frontman, reached us today via the official facebook-page of the band. At this moment it is unclear if Dero will start a new project or stops with singing completely. OOMPH! however continues to exist under the same name with composers Crap and Flux and a new singer, who hasn’t been announced yet.

Some time ago Dero posted on social media that he got baptised and also announced that he’s against Covid-vaccinations. His last side-project DIE KREATUR also suddenly stopped after disagreements with Chris Harms (Lord Of The Lost) who wrote on 31st December 2020 on facebook: “Not to forget, I have released an album with a side project called Die Kreatur, which I was looking forward to so much, which I have been proud about big time, but sadly short after its release, some circumstances have rendered a continuation of the project impossible. This year I have made new friends. This year I have lost friends – some to death, some to a world of insanity, where I can’t possibly follow them to. Once more I have learned that prejudices are so damn misleading and I still can’t entirely free myself from them. Some people that I liked in the beginning turned out to be real jerks, and some others that really made me shake my head in the beginning became brothers.”

OOMPH! was originally founded in 1989 in Wolfsburg (Germany) by Crap, Dero Goi and Robert Flux. They released their first single “Ich Bin Du” in 1991, followed by the single “Der Neue Gott” and their first (self-titled) album in 1992. The band played in 1993 in the legendary Limelight club in New-York and became “crossover”-pioneers in mixing elements of EBM with groovy metal guitar-riffs, or as Billboard magazine said “Sepultura meets DAF”. Unwillingly they created the “Tanz-Metal” (Dance-Metal) or “Neue Deutsche Haerte” (New German Hardness) genre, which was the German answer on American Industrial-Metal bands as Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Prong, etc. There is no doubt that OOMPH! has paved the way for many later bands as Rammstein, Eisbrecher and many others.

In 2004 the band received a platinum award for the single “Augen Auf!”, in 2015 a golden award for the album “GlaubeLiebeTod” and in 2018 a platinum award for the album “Wahrheit Oder Pflicht”. The last album “Ritual” reached in 2019, for the first time ever in the history of the band, the number 1 position in the German album charts. OOMPH! (featuring Marta Jandova) won the German “Bundesvision”-contest in 2007 and their music was also used in games (“FIFA”), movies (“Alien vs. Predator”) and tv-trailers (“The Walking Dead”). The band did remixes for bands as Korn, And One, Joachim Witt, De/Vision and others and worked together with artists as Nina Hagen and Apocalyptica. OOMPH! released 13 studio-albums in total and also played as support-act for Metallica, Marilyn Manson, HIM, Skunk Anansie, …

The last years the band was especially very popular in Russia although it’s not sure if the live-dvd with symphonic orchestra, recorded in 2018, will ever see the daylight.

Out now is a brand new music video and single from Germany’s Neue Deutsche Härte ‘enfant terrible’ Sacha Korn: “Unsere Kraft”. The track is the first release from the album “Heimat”, which will be released next year.

You can check out the video and song below, or via Amazon. For the Neue Deutsche Härte / dark metal act it’s the first new single since the release of the album “Feuer” in 2016 on which Terence Trent D’Arby’s brother Daren D’Arby delivered vocals on several tracks.

And here is the video for the track.

The single is also available from Amazon (right here), Spotify etc..

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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Florida based post-punk artists Astari Nite have released a brand new single, “Dearly Beloved”. The track is the first song off Astari Nite’s new album “Here Lies”, which is expected in the Winter of 2020 on the dark electronic label Negative Gain, (also home to Mr. Kitty, Goo Munday, Curse Mackey and Panic Priest).

You can download the track right now from Bandcamp.

Vocalist Mychael explains the inspiration behind “Dearly Beloved”: “This friend of mine sure has a way with words, I’m intrigued by her capability to explain sorrow from afar. I quickly realized that sometimes there isn’t a diary left behind to follow when letting go of someone in the afterlife. I’m understanding that love / affection can pour down at any moment, kind of like the summer rain, in essence “Dearly Beloved” can be described as a funeral – holiday song.”

“Dearly Beloved” was produced by Astari Nite and mastered by Jason Corbett of Actors at Jacknife Sound.

You can check out the song below.

Upcoming Shows

• September 8th Los Angeles,CA – Part-Time Punks with Ash Code and Tearful Moon
• October 5th Tampa, FL – w/ Assemblage 23, Actors, Twin Tribes and more

Who are Astari Nite?

Astari Nite formed in 2007 and released their self-titled debut EP shortly after they emerged onto the local new wave scene. Their debut EP was followed up by EPs “Winter’s Gone” and “Requiem Mass” and established them as a regular live act resulting in opening acts for Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), Cold Cave, Modern English and Apoptygma Berzerk.

After joining up with producer Stephen Thompson (Whitney Houston, Blues Traveler, Korn) Astari Nite hit the studio for months on end to record “Stereo Waltz” which was released in 2013. The band’s first full-length album featured their best known single so far, “Pyramids”.

In 2018 the band released “Midnight Conversations” which was produced by Tom Shear of Assemblage 23.

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 brand new industrial alternative rock project ODDKO has released a new single called “Disobey” via a music video released today. You can watch the video below.

ODDKO is a new Los Angeles based music project lead by Giovanni Bucci, award winning director who worked on two music videos for Korn, as well as promos for Red Bull and MTV. As motion designer Gio has also been involved on several film titles including: “Star Trek”, “Ninja Turtles” and “RoboCop”.

“Disobey” is the first single released by ODDKO, part of the debut album – “Escape the Maze” – fusing metal, electronics, orchestral elements and cinematic sounds. The album includes guest vocals by Veronika Coassolo (Tricky, Subsonica), drums by Francesco Paoli (Fleshgod Apocalypse) and it was mastered by Howie Weinberg (Rammstein, Madonna, Metallica…). More tracks will be released over the following months.

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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Strvngers announce the release of their new EP “Exhumed Vol 2”. The new EP features a previously unreleased song by the band along with remixes of tracks from their previous album “Amor/Noir”. “Exhumed Vol 2” also features covers of classic songs such as “Dancing With Myself” (Billy Idol/Gen-X), “Party All The Time” (Eddie Murphy), “Cry Little Sister” (Gerard McMahon) “Closer” (Nine Inch Nails) and “A.D.I.D.A.S.” (Korn).

“Exhumed Vol 2” will be available as a free download on October 13th through Negative Gain.

Strvngers is a dark Canadian duo with an electronic seedy sound. Maria Joaquin and KC blend gothic undertones with catchy dance music to create a sonic-erotica of synths, guitar and EBM. Formed in 2015, Strvngers so far released a self-titled album released in 2016 via Negative Gain Productions, as well as a follow-up full length LP “Amor/Noir”.

Here’s a video of the band live at work:

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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Sick Man, the project by Sacha Korn with Aggressive 69 and (ex) Subway To Sally members, has hit the DAC-charts with the track “Sick Man” single which is out now. The track is sitting at place 16.

The track is also featured on the album “Sick Men”, out now as well. The album, which you can listen to below, also features 2 excellent remixes by Dark Acylum of the track “Feuer”, which was actually already featured in a ‘Deutsche Härte’ version on the Sacha Korn album “Feuer”.

Recommended club dark electro!

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 high explosive collaboration between Funker Vogt and Berlin musician Sacha Korn caused quite a big commotion a few years ago. As you might remember Sacha Korn was publicly crucified for his political views which some of his critics don’t share. It turned soon into what can only be called a witch hunt after which Funker Vogt and Sacha Korn decided to go separate ways.

After taking some time off and gathering together new band members, Sacha Korn has now funded the electro act Sick Man (named after Funker Vogt´s single “Sick Man” from 2014 with Sacha Korn on vocals). The other band members are G.Schade (Ex and founding member of Subway To Sally), and Robert Tuta from the Polish act Agressiva 69.

The first track out now (in an original version and in 2 remixes) is the rather excellent track “Sick Man”, which can be ordered now on Bandcamp. Here’s the video for the track “Sick Man” which already gathered over 47.000 views on Youtube!

And here are the 3 tracks available now on Bandcamp.

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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Funker Vogt was set up in 1995 and got instantly successful. Gerrit Thomas (composing) and Jens Kästel (vocals) progressively became one of the leading bands from the dark-electro & EBM scene. They released legendary work on Zoth Ommog, Bloodline, Synthetic Symphony while their previous full length got released on Out Of Line. When Jens Kästel left the band in 2013 the band had to search for a new vocalist. Sacha Korn (‘Sick Man’) joined in creating a real media storm. A new singer and a new label had to be found so Chris L. (Agonoize, The Sexorcits, Dance Or Die) joined in and Repo Records recently released the new album “Code Of Conduct”. I got in touch with Gerrit Thomas and Chris L. but started the interview with a question for label owners Kai Schmidt and Björn Böttcher (who both got involved with Funker Vogt as well) to know what they think about it all.

You can order the band’s newest album right here.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You (Repo Records) guys are quite familiar and pretty close to Funker Vogt so how did you perceive all what happened around the band during the past few years and what does it mean to you and Repo Records to have released this new album?

Repo Records: After our split in 2010, we have all kept a distance from each other. So we have certainly read about all this, but at that time it didn’t affect us that much. We all decided to go separate ways in 2010, without knowing if we ever will get together or not. And at that time, we managed this ‘divorce’ as harmonic as such a thing can happen.

As we have been personally involved in the old releases, we wanted to make them available again. So we approached Gerrit with this idea. After some negotiations we found an agreement.

Last year Gerrit told us that he wanted to restart Funker Vogt and if we were interested to release also new material. After so much time has passed, we thought that the time was right, to work together again. And it works very well so far.

For us this release really matters as Funker Vogt was a big part of our past. And from the label side it’s nice to have them on board for the very first time with a brand new release.

Q: Gerrit, after the departure of Jens Kästel, there was a lot of commotion around the new singer Sacha Korn who got rapidly replaced by Chris L. I can imagine it must have been a relief to release this new album “Code Of Conduct”?

Gerrit: We worked on some songs for about three years until they were sung by Chris and finally got released. It was a very hard time before Chris joined the band. So, the release of “Code Of Conduct” was a kind of start into a new era for us. And now, we’re so happy about all the good reactions.

Q: I can easily imagine all the commotion that happened must have been one of the darkest chapters in the band’s history. How did it feel for a musician to face all these events and what do you think about it right now?

Gerrit: Everything comes to an end -also hard times and dark chapters. Time heals all wounds! There had been lots of bad things against the band in itself, but also personally against René and me. Many things that were not justified. But I don’t want to rewind this by going into details here. We’re just happy to start again now.

Q: I should say “Code Of Conduct” sounds in the purest tradition of Funker Vogt, but with another singer instead of Jens Kästel. Tell us a bit more about the writing of the album and how did the integration of Chris L. happened?

Gerrit: The writing process remained exactly the same as before. I did the instrumental parts by always knowing where the vocal parts should later be. Then Chris got the instrumentals, wrote some fitting lyrics and sung them. Chris got that Funker Vogt-feeling from the very beginning, so we never had much to discuss or change a lot of his work. It simply fits!

Q: Chris, I can imagine it’s not an easy thing to become the new vocalist of such a famous band. What does it mean to you personally to have joined Funker Vogt and how did the collaboration happened with Gerrit?

Chris: We have been friends for a long time, I didn’t thought about it that much; we just did it, maybe because I never had in mind to replace Jens… I can live very well with the shitstorm…

Q: Funker Vogt has been always much more than simply hard electronic dance stuff, but still a band with a critical perception about society and our world. What about “Code Of Conduct” and tell us a bit more about the song “Brexshit”?

Chris: Every single day is an inspiration; turning on the news and see all the shit that is going on gives more inspiration then I actually need. Europe is falling apart as a community; it’s a good idea but it doesn’t seem to work as long as people are only taking care of their own needs…

Q: What have been the main changes and evolution in the global production process from the very first album “Thanks for Nothing” towards “Code Of Conduct”?

 Gerrit: Puh, the whole production has completely changed all over the years. 21 years ago I worked with real synths, drum computers and samplers and recorded all the stuff with DAT tapes. Now, it’s all made with hard drives on computers – from the first note through the vocal recording to the mastering. Therefore everything’s much easier and works faster than twenty years ago.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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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On 12th and 13th August 2017 the annual M’era-Luna festival takes place in the area of Hildesheim-Drispenstedt, Germany. M’era Luna exists since 2000 and is one of the biggest Gothic festivals in the European scene. Gothic, new wave, electro, EBM, industrial and medieval bands are featured on 2 stages.

Besides watching concerts you can also visit markets, artist signing events, gothic fashion shows, book readings and parties. The Gothic Garden, an oasis of calm right in front of the festival infield, offers demanding festival-goers comfort, space and conveniences to make your stay more exclusive, pleasant and more relaxing. A new fact this year is the M’era Luna Academy where you can follow catwalk workshops and lectures by Mark Benecke and Gerald Axelrod.

The last years the festival was every time sold out and had about 25.000 visitors. This year some of the confirmed artists are: Korn, DAF, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, Leaether Strip, And One, ASP, Blutengel, Subway To Sally, Schandmaul, Project Pitchfork, Ashbury Heights, Haujobb, Mono Inc., Covenant, The Cruxshadows, De/Vision, Mesh, Megaherz, Solar Fake, …

The interactive M’era Luna app can be downloaded here and tickets can be ordered here.

Available online now is a live version of Sacha Korn’s “90 Millionen” track taken from the excellent Neue Deutsche Härte album “Funkenflug” originally released in 2013. Interesting detail, the track was recorded in front of fans in the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, the place where the album was also recorded.

There aren’t many bands who invite their fans into the recording room and play a live session. Sacha Korn is the exception, and you can notice that there is no stage, instead the band plays between some 50 selected fans and friends. Says Sacha Korn: “It was an unforgettable night to play live in these legendary recording rooms where such legends as U2, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave or David Bowie recorded many of their hits. REM just finished their very last album a few days before we hit the studio there.”

Note that Sacha Korn recently launched a Bandcamp page from where you can download his releases and get merchandise as well.

Enjoy this excellent live version:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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We were quite surprised when we heard that the Neue Deutsche Härte act Sacha Korn had joined up with industrial electro act Acylum for the release of a 3-track single of the title track of Korn’s latest album “Feuer”. The result is absolutely smashing.

The single has, besides the single edit of “Feuer”, also 2 remixes, a slow Anti Club Mix (by Acylum) and the a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y brilliant Wir Schaffen Das Club Mix (again by Acylum).

You can listen to the single below or download it right here on Bandcamp. Let’s hope this duo keeps on working together because it’s pure chemistry. Highly recommend and that’s also why we have added the Wir Schaffen Das Club Mix of “Feuer” on our official Side-Line Spotify Playlist.

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 Neue Deutsche Härte / dark metal act Sacha Korn returns with “Feuer” in January. Out now is already a video for the title track “Feuer”, you can watch it below. The album is available now from the Sacha Korn Bandcamp page both on CD and as download (including an immediate download of the track “Feuer”).

The “Feuer” album holds 9 tracks and comes 2 years after the release of “Funkenflug” and musically you can expect heavy guitar riffs mixed with melancholic melodies. The band recorded the album in Stockholm at Fascination Street Studios together with Jens Bogren, a record producer who has worked on albums by Paradise Lost, Amon Amarth, Dragonforce, The Ocean, Haken, and so on. Another part of the album was recorded in Berlin.

Lyrically, the album handles the current situation in Europe. Sacha Korn: “Lyrically it tackles the current identity crisis Europe is going through with a patriotic non-political correct touch to it. Patriotism has for years received a negative connotation in the European music world. But with the current immigration crisis and the recent terroristic attacks in Paris, France, being a patriot is no longer a filthy word, but something to be proud of as it stands for Western values which are more and more under threat. Being proud of the values of the real Europe is now more than ever the correct stance to take. This is not about religion, this is about our values which everyone willing to live in Europe should embrace.”

For those looking to discredit the musician (and there are many), know that Korn’s credits for instance include guest speaker appearances at music conferences in China and consultancy work for Afro-American 80ies super star Terence Trent D’Arby. Terence Trent D’Arby’s brother Daren D’Arby actually delivered vocals on several tracks on “Feuer”.

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

Neue Deutsche Härte / Industrial Metal artist Sacha Korn, who in a previous life was consultant of afro-American 80ies super star Terence Trent D’Arby, sees his “Wie Lange Noch” album, originally released in Germany only in a sold out limited edition of 5000 copies, distributed digitally worldwide now for the first time.

The album is available via: Amazon DE, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, iTunes , …

In further news, you can now download the Funker Vogt remix of “Treibjagd” for free on Bandcamp.

Korn also announced a couple of live dates, with more to be confirmed:

• 04. December Dresden
• 12. December Berlin
• 28. November Moscow

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