Out on September 6, is the newest single from the Swedish electro-pop duo Sjöblom, “Dead For Years”. “Dead For Years” is the lead single from their forthcoming album “Dead Of Night”. The single is available for pre-order now, and the upcoming album is set to be released later in the year on COP International.

The single also features two remixes: the “Apparition mix” by Fracture Foyer and the “Rapid Eye Movement mix” by Operation Blue Eyes.

Sjöblom, comprised of Johan Sjöblom Eliot and Robert Eklind, drew inspiration from iconic bands like Depeche Mode and Apoptygma Berzerk for the sound on this new single. “It’s funny how perception works,” says Robert. “I always intended for this track to have a darkwave or even gothic sound, but a friend mentioned it reminded him of Depeche Mode, which is a huge compliment.”

The lyrics are based on a text by Johnny Nattsjö (DJ Batcat). The production was handled by Jon Bordon and Sjöblom at Joniverse Studios.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Genre/Influences: EBM.

Format: Digital, Vinyl, Cassette.

Background/Info: Tomas Zackarias Westberg is a Swedish artist who has been involved with numerous projects. During the past few years he mainly focused on his EBM project Syntet, releasing multiple singles. “Hjärtats Slag” was released by the end of 2020 and is the project’s debut album featuring ten songs.

Content: While the front cover of the album looks clearly inspired by a Throbbing Gristle album, the sound is into pure EBM. Syntet deals with a somewhat minimal-like EBM sound, which reminds me of DAF. The songs have been sung in Swedish and are featuring some backing guest vocalists; Leif Viklund isn’t exactly a familiar name, but one of the songs is featuring J3 from à Grumh… (and that’s maybe not totally surprising as one of Westberg projects, Queer, was influenced by à Grumh…).

+ + + : Syntet took me by surprise. This project deals with pretty cool retro/minimal-driven EBM. There’s something to say about nearly every single song although I have a preference for “Ungdomens Hus” and “Som Du”. All songs excel in great minimalism, like reminding us that a good song doesn’t need to be complex. It’s just the power and efficiency of the sound treatments and structures.

– – – : The songs are pretty short and that’s a pity; before you really realize it the album is already coming to its end. 

Conclusion: If you like retro-EBM and you don’t know Syntet yet, just buy this work without hesitation!

Best songs: “Ungdomens Hus”, “Som Du”, “Brinner Ut”, “Lova Mig Allt Blir Bra”, “Genom Natt Och Dag”.

Rate: 8.

Artist & Label: www.facebook.com/syntetmusik

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

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Genre/Influences: Electro-ambient, industrial, cinematographic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Natt is a Polish DJ & producer that I last year discovered on Zoharum with the duo-project Dren and the debut album “Life & Form”. “A Better Place” is the debut work of his solo-projects and features four songs.

Content: “A Better Place” sounds as a great mix of influences. It’s hard to label the sound as an established music genre, but you’ll notice different sources of inspiration such as ambient-, cinematographic-, industrial-, electronic- and even ritual music. The producer this way creates a very personal style, resulting in a true crossover work. Every single song is characterized by a few emerging influences.

+ + + : The opening song “Tanzmusik” sounds as an invitation to dance although it rather appears to be an electro-ambient composition with some industrial elements and drones. The song has something cinematographic, but is a cool exposure. Another interesting cut is the last one, which has something spooky accentuated by whispering vocal (probably sampled) parts. The main characteristic of Natt however is diversity. So you for sure will find something to your taste. This artist clearly strives for a very personal sound creation.

– – – :  I’m sure the tracks could have been a bit more elaborated and accomplished. It rather sounds like a rough demo.

Conclusion: “A Better Place” is a work revealing a nice melting pot of music influences, which need to be a bit more worked out.

Best songs: “Tanzmusik”, “Can’t Make News Memories”.

Rate: (6).

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Experimental, dark-cinematographic, trip-pop.

Background/Info: Dren is a Polish duo set up in 2018 by producers/DJs Natt and Akton. “Time & Form” is their debut work released in their homeland by Zoharum Records.

Content: The work is mainly characterized by darkness. You rapidly feel entering an obscure sonic universe, which is driven by slow tempo’s and a kind of industrial trip-pop approach. The opening piece reminds me a bit of Massive Attack, but much darker and tormented! You’ll also hear a more experimental side running through other songs and even a pure cinematographic composition.

+ + + : The opening piece “Time” is an absolute masterpiece; it feels frightening and leading the listener into an imaginary horror vision. The songs clearly have a strong visual strength, which is accentuated by the cinematic passages from the work. One of the best cuts comes in the end. “Shadow Of The Sun” has something industrial-like; drones and tribal percussion passages lead the listener into a transcendental state.

– – – : The sound formula is efficient, but a bit similar after a while.

Conclusion: This debut album is quite promising and a real strong basis to move on with. Let’s keep an eye on this Polish duo!

Best songs: “Shadow Of The Sun”, “Time”, “Instynkt”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/drenpl

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

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Ulver (Norwegian for wolves), the Norwegian experimental musical collective founded in 1993 by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg, are back with a brand new album: “Drone Activity”.

A first teaser for the new full-length CD / vinyl has now been released (see below) and it captures the special live set the band played at the Drone Activity festival in Oslo (Norway) last Summer. Pre-orders are accepted now, the CD can be ordered here, the double vinyl can be ordered here.

For those unfamiliar with the band, their early works, such as the debut “album Bergtatt”, were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band has since evolved a fluid and increasingly eclectic musical style, blending genres such as rock, electronica, symphonic and chamber traditions, noise, progressive and experimental music into their oeuvre. Ulver have sold in excess of half a million records, have been nominated twice for the Norwegian Grammy Awards, Spellemannsprisen, in different categories, won Album of the Year at the Oslo Awards for Shadows of the Sun in 2008, and also won the NATT&DAG award for Best Live Act in 2011.

Here’s a first excerpt from the new album.

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