Genre/Influences: EBM, Body-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Greek duo George Sofianos – Nick Von Karma last year released their debut album “Karma Reloaded”. It was an honest debut work featuring a fusion between EBM and Electro-Pop. Prometheus Flame is now back with this EP featuring the title-song “Magic Spell” originally released on their album. The work has been released in different formats featuring a limited 7” Vinyl with only two songs. The CD and Digital formats are featuring two extra songs.

Content: “Magic Spell” was not exactly my favorite song from “Karma Reloaded”. It has something EBM driven, but there’s also something more evasive and Pop-like running through it. The way of singing reminds me of Jean-Luc Demeyer (Front 242). We next get a “Club Mix” plus remixes by Rotersand and Massive Ego

+ + + : Quite honestly “Magic Spell” caught more my attention than on the album. It’s maybe because of the different versions/remixes while the essence remains the same. It’s a cool track for the natural osmosis between EBM and Electro-Pop. The song is well-crafted and clearly inspiring Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) and Scot Collins (Massive Ego) who both did a great remix. The Rotersand-remix has something icy-like while Massive Ego injected cool, refreshing bleeps to the song.

– – – : I expected a bit more punch and power from the “Club Mix”, which is a bit disappointing.

Conclusion: This EP is a nice addendum to the debut album “Karma Reloaded” and once more revealing a Greek band we better keep an eye on.

Best songs: “Magic Spell – Massive Ego Remix”, “Magic Spell”, “Magic spell – Rotersand Rework”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.prometheusflame.eu / www.facebook.com/Prometheus-Flame-402883157167543

Label: www.digitalworld.audio /   www.facebook.com/DigitalWorldAudio

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: EBM, dark-pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Prometheus Flame is a Greek project set up by George Sofianos and supported by Nick Von Karma. The debut album “Karma Reloaded” was released by the end of 2019 and promoted by X-Beats.

Content: It’s not that easy defining the sound composed by Prometheus Flame. It clearly is an electronic format, mixing elements of EBM with darker influences. The songs are supported by melodic- and atmospheric strings, which have something pretty vintage like. The vocals are rather clear and sometimes remind me of Jean-Luc Demeyer (Front 242). “Karma Reloaded” is an album that will make you dance, but also features more melancholic pieces you can dream on. 

+ + + : The first aspect from this work that caught my attention are the vocals. The way of singing sometimes reminds me of the Front 242 singer. Sound-wise Prometheus Flame is mixing different influences. I like the EBM-pop driven “Human State”, which is a great song to dance on. But I also enjoy the more evasive and melancholic driven “Eight Of Cups”. But the most noticeable song is “The Price” revealing great songwriting and especially the way this song progressively evolves reveals talented musicians. I also want to mention “Dance In The Light”, which is carried by a solid lead.

– – – : It’s not that easy to label this band as one specific style and that’s maybe one of the single points to conquer an audience, listeners often preferring ‘standards’.

Conclusion: “Karma Reloaded” is an honest debut album revealing a band with some potential. So let’s see what they’ll bring next. 

Best songs: “The Price”, “Human State”, “Dance In The Light”, “Eight Of Cups”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/Prometheus-Flame-402883157167543

Label: www.digitalworldaudio.com / www.facebook.com/DigitalWorldAudio    

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: Dark-rock, cold-wave.

Background/Info: German formation Golden Apes this year celebrates their 20^th anniversary. Instead of releasing a ‘best of’ they simply strike back with a new full length album, which is the band’s tenth opus in 20 years. The title is taken from a mountain of Caucasus, which also was the place where Prometheus was chained to a rock while an eagle gnawed at his regrowing liver. A piece of mythology we have all heard in school.

Content: Golden Apes moves on composing their own thing. Some of the songs are more into a dark-rock tradition while others are taking us back to 80s cold/dark-wave reminiscences. The tracks are moving in between harder, punching cuts and more evasive, melancholic pieces. On top of it all you’ll hear Peer Lebrecht’s deep timbre of voice.

+ + + : First of all there’s a great and artistic digipak, which I’m sure will please all CD-freaks. And here again, a physical copy means so much more than ‘cheap’ streaming platforms. Sound-wise Golden Apes don’t really innovate, but this work reflects all the talent and writing skills of an experienced band. The guitar playing is an essential aspect of the composition, which creates the spirit hanging over the songs. “Dust And Dew” is a beautiful exposure of this album, but also perfectly resuming the global approach of Golden Apes. It also is a song featuring female backing vocals.

– – – : The only ‘little’ thing this album is missing –but which often has a great impact… is a hit!

Conclusion: “Kasbek” is what I should call a beautiful album and speaking for myself, probably my favorite one!

Best songs: “Dust And Dew”, “Kasbek”, “Deliverance”, “Oblivion”, “Interference”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.goldenapes.com / www.facebook.com/GoldenApes

Label: https://shop.af–music.com/

Inferno Sound Diaries

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

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop.

Background/Info: Russian E-Gens call themselves a ‘neo-romantic duo’. They started playing music in 1987 as AT-Home. Later on they started composing their music under the E-Gens moniker and released a noticeable album entitled “Renewed Light” (2013) on the now gone A Different Drum. “Prometheus” got released last year in their homeland on ScentAir Records.

Content: “Prometheus” sounds sweet and accomplished with delicate sound treatments. The songs are all sung in Russian reflecting some melancholia. Most of the songs have a dreamy touch, which is accentuated by astral sound arrangements.

+ + + : The production stands for maturity and knowledge. The songs are well-crafted and reveal a subtle approach, which totally fits with the sensibility of the singer’s timbre of voice. I like the multiple space-bleeps and global sound treatments.

– – – : All songs have been sung in Russian –which was not on the “Renewed Light”-album. So it sounds a bit like this work was mainly accomplished for the Russian market and that’s maybe a bit sad as English would have made the work more accessible. Song-wise there’re less highlights although cool and enjoyable tracks. There’s a club mix from one of the songs as bonus, but I here expected a bit more dance-vibes.

Conclusion: “Prometheus” is a real pleasant work revealing a talented Russian electro-pop formation, but the language might be a serious obstacle to gain an international recognition.

Best songs: “Ветер”, “Зов”, “Душа”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: http://e-gens.com / www.facebook.com/egensmusic

Label: www.scent-air.com / www.facebook.com/ScentairRecords

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: Dark-electro, industrial-metal, crossover.

Background/Info: Plague Called Humanity is a band from the Czech Republic which after a few line-up changes released this debut EP early 2017. I don’t know if their band name got inspired by the “Plague Called Humanity” album from Prometheus Burning (2009), but it’s a weird coincidence.

Content: After an introduction track the music rapidly moves in to a furious merge of dark-electronics and metallic guitar riffs. The vocals are extremely harsh and here again mixing dark-electronics together with metal music. “Disconnection” sounds hard and brutal, sometimes mixing spooky-like atmospheres with their devilish electro style.

The EP features 5 original songs followed by 5 remixes accomplished by Dolls Of Pain, Qx-Rh85, Jerk In The Can & Doug Fury, ESA and BloodPact.

+ + + : If you’re into extremely powerful sound creation, this album could be something for you. I think it’s the kind of music that could appeal for dark-electro heads and metal addicts. Plague Called Humanity has accomplished a furious and explosive fusion, which get us back to the essence of crossover. I noticed cool remixes by Dolls Of Pain (the right band for this kind of music) and BloodPact.

I also have to say a word about the original and somewhat cartoon-like artwork of this digipak format.  

– – – : I can’t get away from the feeling this band still has to find its own style. It now sounds a bit like metal freaks discovering electronic music. I also expected a bit more from the remixers. The mixing and especially mastering of some songs is another aspect that has to be improved. You sometimes get the impression of hearing a demo.

Conclusion: The idea mixing dark-electronics and metal music isn’t new at all, but it still makes sense. The band has to improve several elements of the production so let’s see what the future will bring.

Best songs: “Doomed Generation – Dolls Of Pain Perverse Mix”, “The Truth”, “Disconnection – BloodPact Roulette”.

Rate: (5½).

Band: www.facebook.com/plaguecalledhumanity

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

20th Century Fox have announced the title for the “Prometheus” (2012) sequel, it will be called “Alien: Covenant”. In the Facebook message you can also read more about the plot.

Here’s what has been posted: “Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created in “Alien” with “Alien: Covenant”, the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with “Prometheus” – and connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world – whose sole inhabitant is the “synthetic” David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.”

Just like many other fans, we are also wondering what will be the role of Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) in this film. It could very well be – it’s actually almost a fact – that Shaw will appear in some sort of video diary in “Alien: Covenant” where she will be talking about what that ‘paradise’ planet is really like. That should be enough to scare the s*** out of the Covenant crew, and the cinema goer.

For those who remember, at the end of “Prometheus”, Elizabeth Shaw and David chart a course for the engineer’s home world.

“Alien: Covenant” will hit the theatres October 6th, 2017.

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 filming of the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2012 sci-fi thriller “Prometheus” is soon to start. After finishing the shooting of his newest film “The Martian”, Scott will be starting to film “Prometheus 2” in January 2016. Next to Scott a few others return such as actors Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. The script seems to return to a more horror-like genre than the original. Also, Scott has eluded that the film will be (partially) set on Earth.

Good to know, Ridley Scott will be executive producing Neill Blomkamp’s “Alien 5” (that’s just a working title) as well to ensure plot details do not contradict anything found in “Prometheus 2”. It seems that film will disregard the events of “Alien 3” and “Resurrection”. The plot for the film will take place well after the events of Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and its sequel – obviously – and closer to the timeline between “Aliens” and “Alien 3”.

In the meantime “The Martian” should keep you happy. The science fiction film, based on the 2011 novel “The Martian” by Andy Weir, stars Matt Damon in the leading role and has a plot which will surely keep you interested. During a human mission to Mars, astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after being caught in a storm, and is left behind when the rest of the crew evacuates the planet heading back to Earth. Watney now has to find a way to signal home and stay alive until he is being rescued (there is no realistic prospect for a rescue). “The Martian” is scheduled to be released on October 2, 2015.

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