“Predator: Badlands” hits the cinemas worldwide on November 7 2025 in IMAX and RealD 3D. The film, produced by 20th Century Studios, is a creative shift because for the first time, a Predator story unfolds almost entirely from the Yautja’s perspective, with no human protagonists. Director Dan Trachtenberg, who revived the franchise with “Prey” (2022), said at San Diego Comic-Con that “there are no humans in this film.”

‘Predator: Badlands’ plot

The film takes place in the future on a remote, hostile planet called Kalisk (or “Badlands”) which features extreme terrain and predatory fauna. The story centers on Dek, a young Yautja outcast (smaller in stature, considered a runt or underdog) played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, and Thia (played by Elle Fanning), a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic (hence, no humans in this film). When a failed experiment strands them on a planet filled with rival Predator clans and colossal creatures, their uneasy alliance challenges ancient rules of honor and exposes the corporate manipulation behind the “perfect hunt.” Dek soon realizes that Thia’, whose ‘s knowledge of the planet’s ecosystem, dangers, and corporate motives are vital for his survival. Their alliance begins reluctantly but evolves.

Trachtenberg describes it as “a brutal survival story, but also strangely fun,” blending high-concept sci-fi with tribal drama. For the first time, the production team built a full Yautja language, developed by the linguist who created Na’vi for “Avatar”, to ground the Predator culture in linguistic realism.

“Predator: Badlands” is the sixth live-action feature in the franchise (ninth if counting spin-offs and animation). It takes place centuries after “Prey”, yet before the modern-day installments. The inclusion of Weyland-Yutani also ties the film to the wider “Alien” / “Predator” shared universe. 2025 also marks the launch of “Alien: Earth,” Noah Hawley’s FX/Disney+ series set in 2120. That project deals with Weyland-Yutani experiments on Earth, overlapping thematically with “Badlands”’ portrayal of corporate manipulation and bio-weapon ambition.

A new Predator trilogy in the making?

At Comic-Con, producer John Davis confirmed that “Badlands” opens the door for a trilogy exploring the Predator homeworld.

What distinguishes “Predator Badlands” from the rest of the franchise is that the Predator is no longer the monster but the lens. Viewers experience hierarchy, ritual, and fear through Yautja eyes. Multiple clans, each with unique armor designs and fighting codes, feature in large-scale sequences filmed in New Zealand. Entire dialogues unfold in subtitled Yautja.

Marvel’s “Predator: Badlands #1” comic, releasing November 12 2025, will already expand Dek’s backstory as a rite-of-passage prequel.

7 ‘Predator: Badlands’ trailers

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 next week is a revised version of the Stoneburner album “Red In Tooth And Claw”. The record has been polished up with some minor edits, it has been remastered and includes a new song. Behind this industrial music project we find Steven Archer, one-half of the band Ego Likeness, which he co-founded with Donna Lynch. Stoneburner focuses on a blend of tribal rhythms, industrial beats, and dark ambient soundscapes.

“Red In Tooth And Claw” tells the story of The World Wolf, a massive wolf god that guides humanity’s development. Steve explains: “The story begins with the wolf finding his mate dying after drinking from a polluted river. The betrayal enrages him and he turns on our careless civilization, destroying city after city. After multiple months of chaos, he is visited by the spirit of his mate, Cyan, who points out that all of the killing and destruction is not bringing her back and the only way to end his rampage that will help humanity is by allowing them to kill him. He accepts this as his fate but vows to not make it easy for them. He will not go down without a fight. As his blood pours out and his life comes to an end, she visits him again to help him come to terms with the experience. The moment of his death passes but, to his surprise, his spirit continues, just as Cyan’s did.”

This story will also be released as a 200+ page graphic novel via Raw Dog Screaming Press. Written and illustrated by Steven this novel contains over 400 images expounding on “Red In Tooth And Claw” and connecting it to the stories on the 2018 release “Apex Predator”.

Both the book and re-release will be available in August 2024 from Cop International and Raw Dog Screaming Press, respectively.

The first two chapters of the book can be read here.

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 via the Slovakian label Aliens Production is the all new album by the one-man project Fractal. The new album called “Antidote” is out on CD and available also in digital formats.

Behind Fractal we find the Polish EBM musician Tomasz Lukowicz. Tomasz: “The brand new album is a work whose production took place in the previous months, so this is a new direction and view of my musical world. Musically, the project is on a synthetic wave full of pulsating electronics and melodic structures. Of course, the melancholic instrumentals are also included in the new concept, where they are a strong part of the album.”

The 10-track album, mastered by Anatoly TOKEE Grinberg, is heavily influenced by bands such as Front Line Assembly, Haujobb, Forma Tadre, Noise Unit and related acts.

Here’s the video for “Leaving a dead planet” (Predator mix).

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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EBM act Aeon Rings is to release a new album “Enemy” on Negative Gain on October 7th. Available now on Side-Line is the exclusive premiere of the music video for the new song “Fully Operational”. Aeon Rings debuted in 2014 with the mini-album “Floods”, but this new material will be the first official release for the band since then (besides a few compilation appearances in the past few years).

Here’s what Aeon Rings says about the track: “Lyrically the track inspired by the internal conflict of self doubt and rising above what naysayers may say and do in attempts to keep you down with their feet on your neck. Finding the strength within yourself you know you truly have despite the fear and anxiety of what weak words are attached to you by others. We are all capable of being our best selves with determination and self work and worth. Never give up. Never give in. Persevere no matter what with a stiff upper lip because at the end of this life, you are all you truly have and the only one you can count on.”

The video storyline is that of a henchman hunting his prey, whom he doesn’t realize is far more powerful than he ever imagined. In the end, the subject of prey shows the henchman who is the true powerful one and instead of killing the henchman off, he shows mercy and converts the predator into his own kind by showing him the true way.

You can view the video for “Fully Operational” right below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Beckahesten is a Swedish trio set up by Peo Bengtsson, Per Åhlund (previously involved with SOPHIA and also still active with Skare, Diskrepant and live member of Karjalan Sissit) and vocalist Viktoria Rolandsdotter. The band name is inspired by a creature from the Nordic folklore. It is a insidious predator that tricks women and children into riding on its back and then pulls them down into the water. Its back grows longer and longer the more people sitting on it. It has its equivalent in Scottish folklore, the water kelpie. Beckahesten already released two albums; “Vattenhålens Dräpare” (2020) and “Tydor” (2021), plus the single “Midvinter” (2021). Their works have been released by Cyclic Law. The sound of Beckahesten is a bit atypical although revealing familiar influences like Ritual- and Dark-Ambient music with great female vocals on top. I consider this band as one of the most promising new-comers. This interactive interview will give you a better idea about this formation.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: How and where did you guys meet and what makes the chemistry and/or complementarity between all of you?

Per: Me and Peo had been moving in circles around each other at concerts and festivals for years and had many common acquaintances. It was Johannes Ahlberg, our friend that mastered the first two albums and “Midvinter” who said ‘…there’s this guy you should meet’. He thought we had a lot of things in common. Johannes said that me and Peo should meet a few times and then Peo sent me the first version of Beckahesten which I really liked. But Peo didn’t agree that the material was ready for release. He felt a bit stuck and didn’t think his vision came through properly. So he asked if I could listen to some tracks and come with some advice. He then sent me over twenty, yes twenty, long tracks. I said that he could just take six of the tracks for one album, five for another album and ditch the rest of the tracks. But Peo wasn’t really pleased with that idea either. So he asked me if I could come to the studio and work on the material, so I did. That was the point we realized we work very well together and “Vattenhålens Dräpare” and “Tydor” took form quite quickly. Wanting to try lyrical elements and vocals in the music Peo brought Viktoria into the picture who gave another dimension to the material with her voice and her lyrics and then and there we created what now is the form of Beckahesten.

Peo: Yes, and Viktoria and I met when we were recording one of my dead end projects some years ago. After that we started to talk a lot about folklore and occult stories from southern Sweden where we both come from. I felt like Viktoria could contribute a lot to Beckahesten so I brought her to the studio.

Q: You introduce Beckahesten as the offspring between different music genres: Industrial, Ambient and Folk. I guess it reveals something about your potential sources of inspiration, but do you have explicit references when composing your music? And how do you transpose all the aforementioned influences into your own music?

Peo: No we don’t have any specific inspiration in mind when we work, thankfully not. I do listen to a lot of different music. I also got a fascination for obscure musical stuff that would never fit in to the sonic world of Beckahesten. The references for the music of Beckahesten I would say comes more from different stories and places. I do find the most inspiration in the forests and landscapes.

Per: All three of us like many different genres and I would say that all music that we listen to inspire us in some way. But at the same time, like Peo said, we have a rather clear vision where to go with the material and what feelings and imagery it should awaken for the listener. So we stay in the realm of that vision even when bringing in new elements or ideas from different genres. We can make a Punk or a Folk song, a Ballad or a Fugue, but it will still sound like Beckahesten in the end.

Q: I however noticed a strong and explicit Ritual touch recovering the production, which is accentuated by the vocals. Do you recognize this Ritual –and even somewhat Mystic touch on top of the production, and tell us a bit more about production of the vocals, which are essential to your work?

Per: The music is very ritualistic for sure.

Peo: Absolutely. When I create the music I have to be in a certain mood and all by my own. Usually it all starts from an image, or inner vision. I work a lot to transfer the image or vision into sounds. After a while the sounds become a scenery and I play parts of it in loops to get myself into an evocative state. If I reach that state I know it’s going to be something worth to work with. The sounds, music and ideas start weaving a composition, like if the sounds come alive.  So, yes. I would definitely call it a ritual when I’m creating the fundamental elements of the songs.

Viktoria: We always seem to understand each other when it comes to the ritual part of the process- and on my behalf, the ritual expression is both conscious and unconscious -depending on what the song is about. When working on the vocals sometimes we talk about ideas and thoughts beforehand, but often we don’t.
When I’m listening to new songs, I immediately get inspired. It’s like music and sounds made to feelings, stories and pictures in my mind that was already there. I often just improvise the melody as a start, from what I can only call a spiritual place inside of my own creative darkness. Then I extend it with lyrics. It’s very therapeutic and helps me to be authentic and genuine when approaching the different subjects we are working with.

Q: It all looks like there’s a close encounter between your music and nature; your work being recorded at different places. Tell us a bit more about this fusion between nature elements and music? How did the compositions happen?

Peo: Yes, as I mentioned. The inspiration comes from the nature and old stories of our folklore. It’s those feelings you get when your mind is without stress and it is only you and nature. I guess Per has more to say about field recordings.

Per: In Beckahesten the connection with nature for me is obvious. Even material made by Peo all based on Electronic sounds has that feel to it. It’s hard to explain, it’s just there. So it was an obvious thing to do, to add organic sounds and elements and sounds from nature in general.

I’ve always been recording sounds that I find interesting. Field recordings was my main sound source for many years, making several albums based only on such material. I had plenty of field recordings and sound collages with the right feel to them gathered for an unknown project when Peo asked me to work with him. I combined his soundscapes with my recordings and it just worked perfectly.

Q: Talking about the composition, can you tell us a bit more about the different stages you’d to go through to achieve your work? What’s the input of each of you and the different guest musicians?

Peo: Most often it all starts with me creating a soundscape, harmonics and a sketch-up for a song. I prefer to do this on my own. Inspiration tends to hit me in the middle of the night. Then we meet in the studio and Per starts to re-arrange the material, and do a rough mix. Followed by recording all kinds of acoustic sounds, throat singing or adding field recordings. In the meantime Viktoria starts to write the lyrics and we record the vocals. After that some more re-arranging and then Per does the final mix. By that time I’ve already started working on two new songs.

Per: I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with people that I’ve felt are the right persons to contribute with material for Beckahesten. I made recordings when out with those friends in nature, in caves, at gatherings and at peoples houses. Sometimes I know what I’m after and ask for that typical thing, but most of the times I don’t. I usually record the material when I feel that there’s the right atmosphere not knowing where or when to use it. If the material has the right feel it always will find a place.

Q: Two albums and one single have been released in a rather short lapse of time. Where does this creativity comes from and what are you actually working on? What about live performances and how do you see Beckahesten evolving?

Per: Peo writes so much music that there’s always material and ideas to work on and develop. When together we usually work really fast and with several songs simultaneously. Where that creativity comes from is hard to say. It’s the combination of us three I guess. We just open up the flood gates.

There’s one EP and another full album that is now in the process of being mastered and we’re working on album four and EP two. We’re also working on a single that will be featured on a compilation released by Cloister Records.

Peo: Yes it’s crazy and without revealing to much; there is more to come for sure. I feel that we have a really special relation to each other and respect for our individual work. When we meet in Beckahesten everything just fits together in a really creative way.

Live performances will come. When the restrictions of the pandemic finally will loosen up and the venues are opening up again. I really look forward for performing live with Beckahesten.

Per: As long as we keep working with Beckahesten it will evolve for sure. In what way is really hard to know. We just sit stern on the back of the horse and will see to what places it will bring us.

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.

(Photo by Steven Archer) Coming up later this year on COP International Records is the Stoneburner album “Apex Predator” which will be produced by John Fryer. The album will be a follow-up to Stoneburner’s last self-released LP “Technology Implies Belligerence”.

Stoneburner is the project by Steven Archer, also known for co-founding the darkwave gothic rock duo Ego Likeness with Donna Lynch.

As for why he started this particular project Archer says: “For this album, I decided to write music that I feel addresses the ways modern industrial music falls short. Focusing not on dance floors and clubs but writing songs with intelligent lyrics that speak to the human condition, both in general and based on my own personal experience.”

In the past year, he has produced 3 EPs, a mini full-length of original Stoneburner material, two records of instrumental soundscape tracks, and three EPs of covers, along with 15 videos.

More announcements regarding Stoneburner will be forthcoming in 2021.

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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André Matthes and Thomas Niedballa started their music activities in 2001. A few years later they singed to HANDS and started to release heavy Industrial & Experimental productions under the HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH moniker. The new work “Brankmanship” is their first new album in six years, but also a work revealing a more sophisticated sound mixing Industrial, Rhythmic-Noise, Experimental and Industrial-Techno. I experienced the work as the fusion between power, melody and intelligence. Both artists had a lot to say about their work.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Brinkmanship” is your first new album in six years! How does it feel to have released this new work after such a long time and why did it take that long?

André: I’m surprised myself that there’s such a long time  between the two albums. The selective sense of time is sometimes very relative, I don’t feel that the time span since our last release “Mecanismos De Control” is that long. Nevertheless, six years is of course a long time in which a lot has happened, both in the small private sphere and on a global scale.

After “Mecanismos De Control”, which dealt in the broadest sense with the financial crisis in 2008 and the actions of the responsible actors behind it, we worked together with Mike Erkau (The_Empath) on our joint project Trackologists. The work on Trackologists’ debut album “No Surrender, No Retreat” proved to be very fruitful, inspiring but also time-consuming, so there was space for new HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH ideas during this time. It then took some time until we had enough material for new songs, and above all a unifying idea on the theme, a guide that should connect the tracks on the album.

We like to give our albums a story in which the songs are embedded and refer to each other. Storytelling is already important in our way of working, perhaps it also explains the longer intervals between our releases. In the early summer of last year we had all the songs ready, the tracklist was fixed and an intensive phase of fine-tuning followed. I listened to every song and the album almost every day for eight weeks and made some changes. It is really difficult for me to accept the track as finished and release it for mastering. That’s when the control freak in me comes through. Terrible 😉 Thomas does it a more Punk-style. Boarded up and good. Then I come and start to make some changes. But that’s only good up to a certain point, because at some point it gets smoother and more pleasing but not really better.

HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH has always stood for a certain amount of unspoken joy in experimentation, and of course I don’t want to and should not optimize it to the max. At the end of 2019 the master was finished and we were very proud to be part of it, I think I can speak for both of us. The album shows so many different facets and yet, in my opinion, never loses the red thread. It is an astonishing further development to its six years older predecessor, especially when you listen to both of them one after the other. Now, a good year after the completion of our songs, I can say for myself that I can still get excited about the titles, despite listening to them umpteen times. 🙂

Thomas: I feel like André: the previous album “Mecanismos De Control” is somehow still present and doesn’t seem so far away. However, after that album there was a bit of ‘air out’ and we concentrated on the joint project Trackologists with Mike. During this joint work we were able to benefit from Mike’s knowledge for our own composition and production process. Thanks to this input, we then invested much more time than before in the current album “Brinkmanship” to compose and produce the tracks as cleanly as possible without losing sight of the worn edges.

Q: That’s maybe why I experienced this new album as your most diversified production ever; a true mix between different influences. How do you explain the evolution from the early, rough Industrial productions till “Brinkmanship”?

André: I think the driving force behind our work is experimenting with our possibilities. Personally I was inspired by Rhythm Noise and related styles. Especially by the fact that you suddenly got the chance to become creative yourself. That was in the mid-nineties. Until then I was rather an enthusiastic consumer. Records and concerts -I took everything that excited me, and that was always very comprehensive. Whether AlternativRock, Grunge, Punk or Avant-Garde, EBM, DarWave, Rhythm Noise -I could and still can get enthusiastic about many styles.

That was my input, and has remained so to this day, with some small cutbacks. For every time and for every situation there is the right music for me. So at some point I started to become creative myself, using pickups and microphones to shape and record noises and soundscapes. In addition, I had the possibility to merge the whole thing together using simple PC tracker programs and thus record my first (mostly very repetitive) songs. In this phase I found a like-minded person in Thomas and from then on we complemented each other in initially still separate projects. In the following time we self-released some CDRs, which we mostly distributed to friends and acquaintances and played a handful of concerts in small clubs. Our equipment at that time consisted of two PCs including tube monitors, pickups and lots of stuff. At some point we were actually allowed to play at the “Maschinenfest 2004”, and so we joined the HANDS label there.

Label boss Udo Wiessmann offered us to release an album on HANDS. It was a huge thing for us, it was incredibly inspiring and expanded our possibilities enormously. From this time on we officially called ourselves Heimstatt Yipotash, in reference to the previous solo-projects. With the years and every further release the learning curve in what we did and how we made music increased. In addition to the initially dominant intuition and joy of experimenting, we also gained a growing understanding of songwriting. In principle, we taught ourselves to make music over time, we are the absolute autodidacts 🙂 And -as mentioned at the beginning, we experiment with the respective possibilities we have.

Thomas: Since the beginning of our musical journey together, we have loved jumping between drawers and playing with listeners’ expectations. We actually always do what we want to do and do not look for disco suitability or the satisfaction of listening habits or expectations. But at the same time we don’t turn a song around until it absolutely sounds “especially creative and different”. We are insanely happy that Udo has always allowed us this creative freedom and that we can release our albums on the HANDS label without ‘censorship’ or ‘creative guidelines’.

The songs of the first albums sound for us now, with the distance of the years, both from the composition rather ‘simple’ and low-fi. Also some of our own musical preferences are shifting, which is reflected in the current songs. You find  more influences from IDM and other ‘song based’-styles than the more dominant Rhythm Noise of the earlier years. More stringency in sound and less jumping between genres could possibly be helpful to be more successful. But that has never been our motivation to make music. We want to entertain, but at the same time we want to encourage people to think, do research and also to exchange ideas. All the albums we have recorded so far reflect our view of society, the world and our environment at the time.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the writing and production process of the new songs? And what makes the chemistry between you both?

André: The driving force for each of our albums is usually to tell a story. The narrative element is already strongly pronounced. In the case of the debut “Storegga Effect”, for example, it was the cyclical sequence of major natural events with mass extinctions and the subsequent renewal or regeneration of the biosphere. The most narratively dense work to date, “Urban Night Motifs”, was a dystopian plunge through a dark, dirty and violent metropolis at night. We wanted to achieve a similarly dense atmosphere again on our current album, because I still like the soundtrack-like gloomy atmosphere very much.

The content of our songs is always close to the problems of the world and we have often addressed them. Also this time we created many songs that take a stand on global problems, so like new catchwords like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, data surveillance or old scourges like war, corruption and abuse of power. Originally the album should be called “Tribunal” and it should be a kind of condemnation of the conditions. From today’s point of view, it seems to me to be richly bold and naively superficial. We had already taken this direction somewhat with “Mecanismos De Control” and we didn’t really want to go on further like this. We changed the context and formed the songs into a kind of taking status of the world today (“Artificial Ego”, “Fix, Find, Finish”, “Belt To Blender”). We contrasted this with our personal feelings, anger and powerlessness (“Progress”, “At the Edge Of Words”) and the desire to escape this mad world (“Step Into The Void”, “Separation”, “Trigger”).

Seen in this light, the current album is less combative than the previous one, but rather pessimistically resigned. Perhaps it results from the realization that no matter what happens, no matter how bad the disasters and wars will be, people still rarely learn from mistakes, and that in the end the predator prevails. Our way of working is usually to sit together (usually in Thomas’ arbor), connect our equipment and just jam away. Sometimes the first ideas come up, sometimes we just do sound exploration and fill our sample memory. The resulting song sketches are then moved back and forth a couple of times, and at some point the individual track develops its own character, which is then worked out. It’s not that we set ourselves a concept and then work it out, it all starts intuitively, almost like jazz from the gut. 🙂 If the track comes to life, it gets a name and is then shaped in the desired direction. When you finally compare the sketches and the finished track, you are amazed and get the impression that the song has a life of its own and we are just the obstetricians. It has always been like that, and I think that’s what makes up the way we work.

Thomas: Instead of the rehearsals and jam sessions that are usual with ‘classic’ bands, we have now established a well-functioning ping-pong method for us: if not out of jam sessions together, relatively many sketches are first created at my place. These are partly loops of only 10 seconds, but can also be rough song structures of three minutes. André takes over these beginnings and works on them with his own preferences and moods. This gives the sketches a completely new dynamic and complexity, which you often can’t even think of when you tinker with them alone. The nice thing about our joint work on songs is that nobody has a special role as ‘songwriter’ or ‘drummer’ or similar, but the songs can always develop without ‘selfish’ wishes or preferences. Neither of us has the claim to put more songs than the other on an album or to always have to listen to our own samples in the finished song. There are tracks that completely change their sound several times during their creation.

The possibilities of working with, in our case, Ableton Live are simply indescribably beneficial here. For us, it is amazing how the songs on the albums ultimately come together to form a harmonious product, without us planning it that way from the beginning. All our albums had a common thread, which we often only found during the ongoing creation process, without having to ‘bend’ the songs.

On “Storegga Effect” the mutual influences of environment and human beings on each other were the main theme. “Perpetual Beta” focused more on the mechanization of the world and the anonymization of the individual in society, but also on the simultaneous (self-zchosen) revelation of very private things, for example on the internet. “Urban Night Motifs” highlighted a modern and realistic, but also dystopian metropolis in the current time: psychological problems, pressure to perform, pollution of the environment, social injustice and increasing loneliness of people were the topics. “Mecanismos De Control” extracted this view on a political / social level, whereby we chose the situation in Argentina in 2001 as the main theme. “Brinkmanship” could now be interpreted as a once again ‘zoomed up’ view of the whole world politics and its influence on each and every one of us.

Q: “Brinkmanship” indeed appears to be a critical reflection about the world we’re living in. What’s your perception about the latest news events like the Covid-19 pandemic, the presidential election in the USA ao?

André: “Brinkmanship” is indeed a critical examination of the state of the world. The term means as much as the politics of absolute risk, the planning of one’s own destruction, the play with fire. There are many political examples, the policy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War is only one of them. Even today, the term can be applied to many aspects. We have tried to cover some of the topics on the album, even if many things are missing (climate change, environmental destruction, etc.) There are many questions that most people are reluctant to ask, because the answers might question their way of living. Will artificial intelligence dominate us one day? Will we become slaves of omniscient networks and algorithms? How dangerous is genetic engineering? And is it ethically acceptable? What do animal experiments and factory farming and the perversities associated with them say about our humanity? These and countless other questions, some of them more or less philosophical, occupy our minds and are a recurring theme in our songs.

Much of this can be discussed controversially, and I too have no productive answers to many of them. Nevertheless it is important to ask these questions and to deal with them. Because if you don’t face it, you are much more receptive to ‘strong men with simple solutions’, which brings us back to the actual topic. The multitude of questions seems to overwhelm a large part of the people intellectually, there is no other way to explain, for example, a President Trump, Erdogan or Putin. In my view, Trump is one of the most stupid and incompetent people you can imagine at the head of such an influential superpower. But Trump is for me not the cause, but rather the symptom of a certain social and societal degeneration that can be observed throughout the Western world.

The most pressing current issue is the Covid-19 pandemic. The exceptional situation in which we are currently living is magnifying the acute social upheavals like under a burning glass and is a test of character for each individual. Whether and how measures to contain the infection will be effective will only be known when it is history, because much of it cannot yet be assessed. It is therefore easy to condemn decisions in retrospect and to know everything better. As a realist, I see the situation, recognize possible risks and try to avoid them without hysteria. In my opinion, it would sometimes be helpful for many people if they could look at things more soberly, abstractly and then stick to the facts. That way, prophets and conspiracy theorists of all colors would have less of an audience.

Q: Because of Covid-19 artists can’t no longer play live, which must be frustrating when you’ve a new album out. How do you try to face the situation and what do you expect from artistic activities during the next few months?

André: Of course this is extremely frustrating for us! Originally “Brinkmanship” was supposed to be presented at the “Elektroanschlag” festival or at the “Forms of Hands” and we had prepared some limited bundles with iron-on patches and stickers for the record release. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions, all this became obsolete. The release date was postponed to August, and unfortunately we had no chance to present the album live until now. And it’s through concerts that you can reach a larger audience. As far as that is concerned, we really fell victim to a bad time.

But it’s not just us! Much worse affected are artists who have to live from their art, who depend on the income. As far as that is concerned, we are well off as ‘amateurs’ and too much complaining would be somehow indecent. Well, what the future will bring, we will see. Maybe we will try ourselves as street musicians 😉 At the moment, it’s mid-October, the infection numbers are rising again and I don’t believe in a return of the festivals soon. What this means for the whole music industry, promoters and labels cannot yet be estimated, but the coming period will certainly not be easy. Many are acutely threatened in their existence. That is something you should bear in mind! Therefore: ‘Support your artists! Support your label!’

Thomas: Yes, it makes us sad not to be able to present the new material live and experience the feedback of the audience. But in the current situation we have the big advantage over musicians who have to earn their living by performing, that we both have regular jobs and therefore the band has been a pure hobby project from the beginning and doesn’t have to feed families. So we see the situation as very uncomfortable for us, but for the whole music industry, especially the independent labels and concert operators, with far greater concern and fear for the future of the many employees and enthusiasts.

We house label HANDS are also severely affected by cancelled concerts and closed clubs. This is the best way for each of us to help: Buy CDs and merchandise directly from the small, fine labels!

Q: Next to HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH you’ve been also involved with other projects. What can you express and maybe exorcize in these other projects –like TRACKOLOGISTS, and do you plan new releases?

André: I am cautiously optimistic when I say that there will be a sign of life from TRACKOLOGISTS in the near future. Optimistic, because all three of us have a great desire for it and already have concrete ideas for a release; cautious, because all three of us are involved in other projects and therefore many things simply go slower and need more time. It will probably be like with the first and so far unfortunately only TRACKOLOGISTS album: we will set ourselves a lot of goals, we will meet several deadlines and still get it finished. 🙂

Thomas: I think the chances of an upcoming release of the TRACKOLOGISTS are good. We love the project and the slightly different development process than at HYMSTATT YIPOTASH. TRACKOLOGISTS songs are much closer to the EBM and IDM than our own tracks, but working with Mike enriches our own way of working immensely as we benefit from his knowledge and set the bar high ourselves. Whether there will be another masterpiece of “No Go!” depends mainly on the simultaneous availability of (too) much time, extremely obscure sample collections and large amounts of alcoholic beverages…

André: Thanks for your questions and hopefully see you soon live!

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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A few days ago we talked about Neill Blomkamp’s “Alien 5” and Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus 2” being prepared, today we can announce that “Predator 4” is also in the making. “Iron Man 3” director Shane Black – whom starred in and co-wrote the first “Predator” movie – is working on a fresh sequel to the 1987 original “Predator” movie and this together with Fred Dekker.

Originally announced to be a remake or a reboot of the franchise, Black later said that it was to be a sequel. No more details are known about the plot. The movie should be out by in 2018.

Produced by 20th Century Fox, the “Predator” series started in 1987 with the film “Predator”, which led to two sequels and novel, comic book and video game spin-offs. Related to the franchise are the “Alien vs. Predator” films, which combine the Predator with the creatures from the “Alien” film series.

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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