Out now is the brand new album from the South African industrial act Terminal: “The Hush of Cannons Cold”. The album title is taken from the song “Testify”, which appeared on the group’s most recent full-length release, “The New Republic” (2023).

“The Hush of Cannons Cold” is a collection of eight instrumental reworks released on Metropolis Records. The instrumental tracks appeared as seven brief interludes on the first two Terminal albums and were now remixed and developed into full-length instrumental pieces by different collaborators.

Contributing artists include Flesh Field, iVardensphere, Stahlschlag, Evestus, spankthenun, RailWRX and Searching For Survivors. “More than one artist expressed that this was a unique challenge for them,” states Terminal head Thomas Mark Anthony. “In many cases, the first thing a remixer does is delete everything but the vocal track. With no vocal track, they had to change their approach right out of the gate. They all rose to the challenge.”

Terminal themselves have also included an all-new track entitled “From The River To The Sea [Palestine Will Be Free]”.

Editor’s note: The phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is highly controversial due to its political and historical implications. This slogan refers to the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which encompasses both the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Its interpretation and the intent behind its usage are central to the controversy. For some Palestinians and their supporters, the phrase symbolizes the aspiration for an independent Palestinian state across the entire area currently comprising Israel and the Palestinian territories. It expresses a vision for Palestinian self-determination and national sovereignty. However, many Israelis and supporters of Israel perceive this phrase as a call for the elimination of the State of Israel. They interpret it as advocating for a future in which Israel does not exist, effectively replaced by a Palestinian state. This interpretation suggests that the phrase negates Israel’s right to exist, leading to accusations that it is inherently anti-Semitic and incites violence against Israelis. The phrase has been used by various groups, including political movements and activists during protests and rallies, particularly in contexts related to Israeli-Palestinian relations. Criticism of the phrase has come from numerous Jewish organizations and other groups who argue that it undermines efforts for a peaceful two-state solution. They contend that it dismisses the possibility of coexistence between an independent Palestinian state and the State of Israel, promoting a zero-sum scenario instead.

Terminal will be playing selected dates in the Summer and Fall of 2024.

Terminal is the work of singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Thomas Mark Anthony, a lifelong anti-apartheid and civil rights activist over a life lived in South Africa, Canada and the USA. David Ross Phillips (drums) and Sonia Weimann (bass/keyboards/vocals) have recently join Antony (vocals/guitar) for upcoming live performances.

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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Eric and Jeremy Hanes set up Spankthenun in 2019. The duo released an impressive number of top notch singles, albums and remixes. Dealing with a powerful mix of EBM and Dark-Electro the Hanes-brothers never stopped improving their work. The last year self-released album “The Bunker Tapes Vol.III” was a new masterpiece driven by solid bass lines, icy sound treatments, danceable rhythms and harsh vocals. I asked a few questions to Eric Hanes to get a bit more details about Spankthenun.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s traditionally start by asking you about the background of Spankthenun? How did the project saw the daylight and what  brought you together?

Eric: Spankthenun began as an idea between my brother and I. We knew we wanted to do something with music but the original idea was more of a Love And Rockets meets Joy Division, with a full band. We experimented with that format for a while and had fun with it. We had trouble holding onto the guitar player and the drummer and stopped playing but kept writing. A number of years later I started experimenting with drum machines, DAWs and synths and started putting a new concept together. Writing a bunch of tracks, but with no plan for release. In 2019, I sent a few demos out to different producers looking for help with mixing and mastering… we ended up with a bunch of tracks, including a collab with Claus Larsen; he really helped us see the potential of what we had. He helped explain a few things to us that really set us on our journey. We worked with Scott Fox (iVardensphere) on mixing the album; he taught me the basics, and we pulled together the first album, which we released as Spankthenun.

Q: I think you set up Spankthenun in 2019 and already released an impressive number of works featuring three albums. How comes you’re that prolific and what means music vs. Spankthenun to you?

Eric:The first artist that agreed to work with us on a remix or production was Zoog Von Rock, he really gave us the confidence to push things forward and do it for real. Next, Claus Larsen agreed to work on “Rotting Meat” and took the time to help us understand songwriting better. We knew how to get what sounded good to us, but we didn’t really understand the concepts of melody and choruses and repeating what worked. Claus helped us understand that in a way that never made sense to us. The original “Rotting Meat” track we sent him did not have a chorus, he identified a hook in a random bridge we did and turned that into a chorus with a very strong hook that is powerful in the live shows and the club.

I also believe in being creative every day. As soon as I wake up I go into the studio and work for an hour on something new. I also like to end the day in the studio, especially if I am dead tired. I find that time to be a super creative time. I often create a complete track in an hour if I start on it at 2 am and in bed by 3 am. Other times, I get two or three good sketches down, and I forget about them until a few days or weeks later when I discover them again. There is something about being tired and being creative. I rarely get ‘writer’s block’. I subscribe to the David Lynch way of combating it. Keep your space you work in conducive to creativity and ideas. Have different things to work on when something isn’t working out. So, if I get stuck on a track or can’t come up with a good hook to get started. I’ll switch over to another artist’s track and remix, or I’ll switch over to the graphic side of things and design an album cover.

Q: Can you give us details about your perception of sound? Do you’ve a specific way of working together and references plus sources of inspiration when writing your music?

Eric: I have to have a hook in our songs; I put a hook in every song. Usually, it’s a bassline. Our basslines are often the melody of the track, too. I start with the bassline and kick and get a hook that works. if it works on that basic level, I keep working on it. I spend about 10 minutes doing that; if it doesn’t work in 10 minutes, I dump it and move on to a new one. Industrial music gives you some liberties to use more noise and unconventional sounds, so sometimes I like to take the bassline and transpose to a weird glitch or white noise or machine sample and bury the hook in there. 

My brother and I write many of the tracks independently; he will send me the tracks he is working on, and I will finish them. We can write separately but write tracks that still work together. I will create a set of sounds that we both use. I create a template with a kick and percussion, snares, a bass, and a lead sound. So we are working with the same template many times.

Q: Your newest album “The Bunker Tapes Vol.III” is the last part to a trilogy dealing about ‘a fictitious 30 year career of a band that never really existed, covering influences from 1994 – 2024.’ What is it all about and how did you transpose the concept of this trilogy into music?

Eric: I have a strong affinity for the 1994 Industrial club music, something about that era really speaks to me, but I also am really hooked on modern new music and pushing the boundaries on what is labeled Industrial or Dark-Electro music. We came up with the concept at the beginning of Covid in early 2020 right after we released our first album. My brother sent my 8 tracks in less than a week that nailed that 1994 sound. We had about 20 songs within a month and realized we needed to split these up. That is when it occurred to us not just to focus on 1994 but to make something that transcended eras and moved us into the modern world of Industrial-Bass, Cyber-Punk, and EDM.

Q: All songs from the new album have been first released as singles. What’s the idea behind it and how important is it today to releases singles versus albums? Do you’ve favorite songs and remixes from the new album?

Eric: In the scheme of things the ‘music industry’ has been around for the blink of an eye. Less than 100 years and even those 100 years we have seen it dramatically shift; the last big shift was with smartphones and putting any music we want to listen to at our fingertips. When our kids group up, they will never know about record stores and physical media; it won’t make sense why you would have those. In reality, those existed for a very short amount of time. But many people grew up with that and still want that, and it’s nostalgic, and it’s how they know things work. Streaming is here to stay, anyone can upload music. The reality is that 60% of uploaded music is never listened to. You still have to put in the work to get your music heard. We have opportunities to reach more people than ever before. Right now, releasing one track at a time makes the most sense. More people want a single bite than the whole album. Fewer people want 12 songs than 1 or 2 songs at a time. I am fascinated by the marketing side of things and enjoy solving that challenge.

When we switched from an album release strategy to a single release strategy, we went from less than 500 to 20,000 streams a month within three months. With singles, we get added to new playlists and saves every week; with an album, it’s one and done. The old release strategy doesn’t make sense to most new artists. We still do make physical media for the fans who really want it. With this album, we added some exclusive tracks to the physical media that are not on the digital stuff. This world we live in has always been an adapt-or-die world.

Q: I think the artwork must be very important as well. Tell us a bit more about this aspect and what did you want to express?

Eric: The artwork is also important to me; I like seeing that cool, dark, weird image pop up on the phone or the display in the car when listening to something new; it adds to the atmosphere of the track. Early on we worked with different artists on art concepts. We worked with a now very popular fantasy artist known for his work on Magic: The Gathering and D&D. Then we started seeking out more obscure artists that were just getting started. But the reality is we are finishing a new track every week, and we need so much art that it is just easier for me to do it most of the time. I do enjoy doing it and it gives me another way to explore the vibe of a track while I am working on it. Many artists I do remixes for will tell you I also do a remix of the artwork.

Q: I noticed you already announced new live dates in the US. What kind of live band is Spankthenun and how does a live performance looks like? 

Eric: We did some shows earlier this year and are locking in dates for the summer. We just played a show with LEATHER STRIP, which was something we have wanted to do for a long time. Bring things full circle for us. The crowd at that show was great and energetic. Our goal is to have fun, get the crowd shouting the lyrics back at us, jumping up and down, and going crazy. We are very interactive with the crowd. We bring a very high-energy show. We played a show with Piggy D (Rob Zombie, Manson Fame), and his crowd was made up of ROB ZOMBIE fans. When we walked out on stage, people were yelling, ‘Where are the guitars?!’ within 10 seconds of starting the show with our track “Dominate”, the crowd was moshing and dancing and completely forgot about us not having guitars.

Most of the crowds we play for have never heard of us, yet we get them chanting along the whole time. We pride ourselves on a high-quality professional show that sounds as best as it can at any venue.

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

Referring to the events that unfolded globally, 2023 has again been a bloody, terrible year. Music continues to be a true therapy for soothing pain and suffering, though it seems to have a diminishing impact on the ongoing horror. Therefore, I’m once again wrapping up the year with a personal selection of my very own ‘best of’ albums.

Throughout the year, over 700 productions were selected, and 450 reviews were conducted. Some productions were declined because the style of music didn’t fit, others weren’t reviewed for not being ‘good enough’, while a final portion of reviews will be postponed to early 2024. I am immensely grateful to all the labels, bands, and promoters for considering my work, and I look forward to collaborating again in 2024.

I extend my deepest gratitude and thanks to Rich Bova (NEIKKA RPM), who has been reading, correcting, and improving the reviews for many years. Without Rich, these reviews would not exist. I also want to thank Bernard Van Isacker, chief editor of Side-Line Music Magazine, for our ongoing, successful collaboration. Last but not least, I thank my lovely wife, Katja, for giving me the time and freedom to pursue my passion.

However…

Looking ahead to 2024, I’ve been scaling back my activities for a few years and plan to reduce them further. Having started with my first reviews and interviews back in 1991, I feel the end drawing near. My aim is to reach 2025, but nothing is certain. I’ve grown a bit tired and disillusioned with how things are evolving.

That’s why I want to express a big ‘F*** you’ to so-called ‘artists’ and label owners who fail to realize or appreciate the work I do in creating reviews and preparing interviews to spotlight them. Guys, I do this for free and in my free time! The attitude and lack of respect shown by some – fortunately a very few – is very, very sad. But, I’m afraid it reflects the world we live in. Behind a genius artist doesn’t always stand a great person. It’s odd realizing that the ‘biggest’ and long-established artists in this scene are often the most accessible.

Writing reviews remains highly subjective and a source of discussion. Remember, it’s always the reviewer’s perception. I assure you, I always strive to substantiate my reviews as best as possible. A review is subjective but must be honest!

Like every year, I’ve selected the best albums of the year 2023. This ‘TOP 25’ encompasses various styles like EBM, Dark-Electro, IDM, Synth-Pop, Ethereal, Dark-Ambient, Industrial, Ritual, Cinematic, Gothic, Post-Punk, Cold/Dark-Wave, Dark-Techno, and a few related genres. It’s always an exciting yet challenging task.

This ‘TOP 25’ is based on the promotional material I received, excluding compilations, ‘best of’ productions, EPs, and singles. So, here’s my ‘TOP 25’ from 2023, and don’t forget to share it with your friends…

Stéphane Froidcoeur (for Inferno Sound Diaries/Side-Line Reviews)

Top 25 albums of the year 2023

1. CERULEAN VEINS “Black” Cold Transmission Music
2. LIEBKNECHT “Fabrikat” Ant-Zen
3. FRONTIER GUARDS “Colony” Aliens Production
4. SOPOR AETERNUS & THE ENSEMBLE OF SHADOWS “Alone At Sam’s – An Evening With…” Apocalyptic Vision / Trisol
5. WAVESHARD “Waveshard” Corvus Records
6. THE EMPATH “Black Hole” Audiophob
7. VNV NATION “Electric Sun” Metropolis Records
8. EFF DST “Incarnate” Ant-Zen
9. ENZO KREFT “XL” Enzo Kreft
10. DELEYAMAN “The Sudbury Inn” TTO Records
11. GIRLS UNDER GLASS “Backdraft” Dependent Records
12. ALIEN VAMPIRES “Return Me To Hell” Alfa Matrix
13. SUN’S SPECTRUM “The Silence After The Fall” Cold Transmission Music
14. DANIEL MYER “Hingab” Sonic Groove
15. SHROUDS “Shrouds” Hands
16. DIARY OF DREAMS “Melancholin” Accession Records
17. MONO INC “Ravenblack” NoCut / SPV
18. ROME “Gates Of Europe” Trisol
19. OHNE NOMEN “The S-Witch” Cold Transmission Music
20. THE SEVEN WHORES OF THE APOCALYPSE “All Through The Waste” Scanner / Dark Dimensions
21. SPANKTHENUN “The Bunker Tapes Vol.3” SpankTheNun
22. BLACKCARBURNING “Watching Sleepers” COP International
23. GOD BODY DISCONNECT “The Weight Of Regression” Cryo Chamber
24. MILDREDA “Blue-Devilled” Dependent Records
25. PASCAL SAVY “Simulacra” Cyclic Law

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.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: American brothers Eric and Jeremy Hanes are back on track unleashing the third installment of “The Bunkertapes”-series. This album features eleven songs plus eleven remixes.

Content: If you’re familiar with this formation you probably know what to expect. The work moves on where the previous album left off; elaborated EBM songs covered with cold, Klinik-al atmospheres, solid bass lines, Industrial sound treatments, and powerful vocals. Remixes have been accomplished by Mirland, Grendel, Ext!ze, Moris Blak, Blak Emoji, Mechanical Vein, Anthony [H], Batavia, Moaan Exis and Chris Vienna. The digital format is featuring 3 more remixes.

+ + + : Spankthenun is a band with its own approach although the sound might remind you of Leather Strip -and that’s not really a surprise as Claus Larsen was featured on their previous work. This is a familiar EBM format achieved with a true sound intelligence. There are several cool songs and also some exciting remixes. The remixes are adding a real bonus.

– – – : The songs are elaborated although the sound formula remains quite similar for all the songs. I think this band is even able to do better.

Conclusion: If you like well-crafted and powerful EBM and if  you have never heard of this band before, I can strongly recommend listening to Spankthenun.

Best songs: “Blot Out The Sun”, “Fuck The Apocalypse”, “Crushing Blow”, “Madman”, “On The Run”, “The Grind” + “Chrome – Ext!Ze Remix”, “No One Survives – Grendel Remix”, “Blak Out The Sun – Moris Blak Remix”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/spankthenun

About Spankthenun

Spankthenun is a self-released project set up by American brothers Eric and Jeremy Hanes in 2019. The duo works in EBM and Dark-Electro, driven by solid bass lines, icy sound treatments, danceable rhythms and harsh vocals. The band released a trilogy of albums under the title “The Bunkertapes”, closing the series with “The Bunkertapes Vol.3”, which features eleven songs and eleven remixes contributed by artists including Mirland, Grendel, Ext!ze, Moris Blak, Blak Emoji, Mechanical Vein, Batavia and Moaan Exis.

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

The Dallas, Texas-based dark electro act, SpankTheNun releases “The Bunker Tapes Vol. III”, thus bringing ‘The Bunker Tapes trilogy’ to its conclusion. The trilogy was – a quite interesting take on things – envisioned to represent a fictitious 30 year career of a band that never really existed, covering influences from 1994 – 2024.

Musically the trilogy see the start clearly rooted in early 90s Belgium and German EBM and dark electro with influences from Leather Strip, Skinny Puppy and Wumpscut. The second volume see’s that influence move towards the early 2000’s influences, adding in influences from new styles and sub-genre’s of industrial music. The final volume finds itself showcasing a more refined yet minimal sound, that is clearly influence by more modern approaches to dark dance music.

“The Bunker Tapes VOL III” covers themes of loss from the pandemic and real world virus that took millions of lives from us. The band envisioned a future where everything is destroyed and hundreds of years from now archeologists are digging in the dirt and find the ruins of Glitch Studios where SpankTheNun has recorded all of their work. They discover a long lost collection of digital audio tapes in this underground bunker and call them ‘The Bunker Tapes’.

For the first two ‘Bunker Tapes’ albums SpankTheNun enlisted Claus Larsen of Klute and Leather Strip. The third album the enlisted the talents of John Mirland to mix and master the new album.

Check out the trilogy 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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The industrial label Glitchmode Recordings has announced the October 16th release of Derision Cult’s “The Mercenary Mixes”. “The Mercenary Mixes” is a sixteen-track remix series that follows the Derision Cult EP “Mercenary Notes Pt 1”. On remix duties we find Assemblage 23, Moris Blak, Stoneburner, SpankTheNun and Stabbing Westward among others.

The Mercenary Mixes will be available in its entirety on October 16th via Bandcamp while individual singles will be released in the coming weeks.

The previously released “Mercenary Notes Pt. 1” EP was the result of a collaboration between Dave McAnally and Sean Payne (Cyanotic), Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie, The Cure), Chris Connelly (Ministry, Pigface), plus Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh).

You can already check the Assemblage 23 remix 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!

side-line.com

Last week the Dallas-based dark electro act SpankTheNun launched the original “Chrome” video, today Side-Line can exclusively present the remix of that video for a different version of the song, “Chrome (Extize Remix)”.

This new video uses AI to remix the video into a wholly new piece of work. For the band this is their seventh single from their forthcoming new album, “The Bunker Tapes Vol III” set to be released later this Summer.

Here’s what the band says about this new approach: “Using AI in art and music is a passion that we have been exploring for years. It is also a passion of Extize who recently released a track written by ChatGPT. When we teamed up with Extize for this remix, we knew we were going to have to do something special with the video for the Extize remix of ‘Chrome’. We knew we had to incorporate it somehow.”

In the video SpankTheNun leverages AI rendering technology to effectively remix the video they made for the original version of “Chrome” and recreate it for the “Chrome (Extize remix)”. The band adds: “The video starts out very similar to the original but quickly takes a sharp turn into the mad world of AI. Our main character in the video is transported into an alternate cyberpunk underground club where nothing is what it seems.”

Here’s the video.

SpankTheNun has been releasing a new single from their forthcoming album every month. Each single is available on all streaming platforms, but additional remixes are available on Bandcamp or Soundcloud only.

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

Industrial bass act SINthetik Messiah returns with a brand new single, “Know Your Enemy,” a song that takes a strong anti-communist stance. The track delves into the United States grappling with the threat of communism, highlighting that contemporary communist regimes engage in a psychological war, rather than a battle fought with bullets. This war on minds is portrayed as the greatest threat to the USA.

The artist points out the current definition of “Communism” in the Oxford Dictionary as an example of this psychological battle taking place in the US. The dictionary defines communism as “a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.”

In the press release for the track SINthetik Messiah elaborates on the actual definition of modern-day communism as a type of government and economic system that often follows an atheist system: “In a communist system, individuals do not own land, factories, machinery, or capitalist businesses; instead, the government owns these assets. In theory, everyone shares the wealth they create. However, the people in communist countries lack freedom and rights, and they are described as modern-day slaves who have been brainwashed to love their government – a situation akin to a population-level Stockholm syndrome.”

The lyrics video for the Anthony H remix of the song can be found below. The original music for “Know Your Enemy” was written and mixed by Bug Gigabyte, with remixes by Anthony (H) and SpankTheNun. The entire project was mastered by David Villalta.

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

Noxious Emotion, the electro-Industrial band from the NorthWest formed in 1992, is finally back. Michael ‘Mike’ Wimer and Shane Aungst are working on a brand new album, and have already finished a new remix for spankthenun.

For the duo it will be their first new collaboration since the album “Count Zero” (out via A.D.S.R. Musicwerks) from 1997.

Shane Aungst explains how the duo got together again after so many years: “Mike and I randomly ran into one another at a local club and got to talking about music and what we are each doing and I’ve dropped a couple hints at Mike in the last couple of years. While hanging out I told Mike how I had been asked to do a remix for spankthenun and I thought it was perfect timing for us to work together again.”

More news as we get it. You can check out the full back catalogue for Noxious Emotion right 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!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Gothic-Pop, Dark-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Metamorph is an American formation featuring front woman Margot Day (previously involved with The Plague). Margot’s daughter Julifer Day joined in as vocalist while Erik Gustafson (Adoration Destroyed) added some guitar, bass and beats while he also produced the work.

Content: “Kiss Of The Witch” features 6 songs plus 2 remixes. The sound brings different influences together; somewhere in between Gothic and Electro-Pop with flute play on top and fragile vocals. One of the songs is an adaptation of an old Plague-track. Remixes have been done by Xris SMack! (Mindswerve) and Spankthenun.

+ + +  : I like the singer’s fragile timbre of voice and the somewhat mystic flute parts adding a magical touch to the work. Metamorph is hard to define and definitely has a very own approach. The remix of the title song by Spankthenun is an absolute highlight for its Leather Strip-like bass line and Dark-Pop reminding me of Collide.

– – –  :  I sometimes get the feeling this band is still in search of its sound and style. The approach is however interesting.

Conclusion: I’m not totally convinced but this work features intriguing parts.

Best songs: “Kiss Of The Witch – Spankthenun Remix”, “Dream Curve”.

Rate: 6.

Artist: www.metamorphmusic.org / www.facebook.com/Metamorphmusic Read the news on ‘Kiss Of The Witch’.

Listen to “Kiss Of The Witch”:

About Metamorph

Metamorph is the project of Margot Day, previously frontwoman of the 1980s New York goth band The Plague, joined by her daughter Julifer Day on vocals. “Kiss Of The Witch” was written by Margot Day and produced by Erik Gustafson of Adoration Destroyed, and includes a remake of the Plague song “Empress” alongside remixes by Spankthenun and Xris SMack! (Mindswerve).

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, Industrial-Pop, Indie-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Eva X is the sonic brainchild of Canadian female artist  Gaby Gustafson. After having released a few singles she signed to Distortion Productions unleashing her official debut album “I Dream Of Reality”.  

Content: The work sounds like the offspring between different but related influences. It creates a naughty Pop sound driven by passionate vocals. Broken rhythms are one of the album’s trademarks while there’s an interesting twist between electronics and guitar parts.

+ + + : Eva X reveals a very own approach in sound. This girl has something from her own which I like. The sound is hard to define but definitely ‘Pop’ related; somewhat in between Industrial and Indie-like. The timbre of voice is sometimes reminds me of Gaby’s compatriot Jennifer Parkins (aka Ayria).

– – – : The work features remixes by Adoration Destroyed, Nebulae complex and Spank The Nun. I personally prefer the remixes to the original edits.

Conclusion: Eva X is a name to keep in mind; this artist is not dealing with the most accessible kind of Pop but the work resulted from a true creative process I can only but support.

Best songs: “Wipping Girl”, “Machine”, “Control – Spankthenun Remix”, “Machine – Adoration Destroyed Remix”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/evaxband

Label: www.distortionprod.com / www.facebook.com/distortionproductions

Side-Line first covered the release on September 9, 2022, when Eva X released the album through Distortion Productions on CD alongside digital and streaming platforms.

Listen to “I Dream of a Reality”:

About Eva X

Eva X is the solo Gothic pop project of Gabrielle Gustafson, based in Vancouver, Canada, blending dark electro, industrial pop, synthwave and hyperpop. She released the singles “Whipping Girl” and “Machine” ahead of her debut album, issued by Distortion Productions on September 9, 2022. The label and Side-Line list the album as “I Dream of a Reality”, while this review carries the title “I Dream Of Reality”.

Eva X later released the single and video “Dopamine Blind” in April 2024.

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 Dallas, Texas based act SpankTheNun has released an all new single, “Blot Out The Sun”. The single features remixes from Moris Blak and Jay Ruin, with the mixing and production handled by Mirland.

This is the first single from the forthcoming full length album “The Bunker Tapes VOL III” which will be out in June 2023. The new single picks up where the last album left off, adding elements of Industrial bass and doom step.

The band is releasing one single from the new album each month until the album hits streaming services in June 2023.

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: Future-Pop, EBM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Second mini-album in the “God & Sinners” series by Ruined Conflict, following “God & Sinners Part 1”. We get six new songs, two remixes and one reworked edit from an early song.

Content: This second part moves on in the line of the first one. Ruined Conflict becomes harder, harsher, and colder. It however remains very accessible music reminding the glorious days of Future-Pop. There are songs reminding me of the power of Leather Strip and yet it remains very Ruined Conflict-like. One of the main songs entitled “We’Ve Comde” has been remixed by Anthony H and SpankTheNun. Last but not least there’s a “2022”-edit of “Defiance” which was originally released at the debut album “A.R.M.O.R.” (2013).

+ + + : Where will Xavier Morales stop? I’m simply impressed by the way he non-stop improves his work, the global production becoming harder and more professional. The way he mixes harsh and powerful sound treatments and solid bass lines together with the melodic side of Future-Pop is simply impressive. “Anarchy”, “We’ve Come”, “Switch”, “Defiance 2022” and “Miracle” left me breathless. Power and melody are in pure harmony becoming a true Electronic symphony. On top of this production there still is the captivating vocals of Xavier Morales.

– – – : This is simply the best Ruined Conflict work to date. Both remixes are the less convincing part although these remixes aren’t bad at all.

Conclusion: The point has come Ruined Conflict simply excels in its art becoming one of the leading projects in contemporary Future-Pop music.

Best songs: “Anarchy”, “We’ve Come”, “Switch”, “Defiance 2022”, “Miracle”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.ruinedconflict.com / www.facebook.com/RuinedConflict

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

About Ruined Conflict

Ruined Conflict is a Future-Pop and Synth-Pop project founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 2011 by producer Xavier Morales together with Eric Holzer. The project released its debut album “A.R.M.O.R.” in 2013, followed by “Revolutionary Mayhem” in 2014, “Triumphant” in 2017 and “Valediction” in 2019, moving from its industrial origins toward a more melodic Future-Pop and Synth-Pop sound. Ruined Conflict signed with Infacted Recordings for the “God & Sinners” mini-album series, which opened with “Part 1” and continued with “Part 2” in 2022, featuring new material alongside remixes and a reworked edit of “Defiance” from “A.R.M.O.R.”.

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

Goth rock pop acts Metamorph reveals its latest full-length album “Kiss Of The Witch”. Metamorph is Margot Day and her daughter Julifer Day. Included on the album is also a remake of “Empress”, a song by the 80s goth band The Plague. The legendary New York band was once fronted by Margot Day.

“Kiss Of The Witch” was written by Margot Day and produced by Cleopatra Recording artist Erik Gustafson of Adoration Destroyed. Remixes were delivered by Spankthenun (Bandcamp version) and Xris SMack! (Mindswerve). The album is available now on all digital platforms including Bandcamp.

Below is the “Kiss of the Witch” music video including a cameo by author Sali Crow. It was filmed by Victoria Zolnoski and edited by Erik Gustafson cinematography.

Here’s the full album. Read the review of ‘Kiss Of The Witch’.

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 Re:Mission Entertainment is the brand new video for the Swedish dark electro / industrial solo-act :Waijdan:. The video was made for the project’s newest single “Rip Them Apart” and today we can exclusively present you this video.

The video comes in anticipation of the upcoming album “Ravage:Defeat” by :Waijdan:. The video features distorted and glitched out horror footage synchronized to heavy beats.

“Ravage:Defeat” will be out on Friday, August 12th and will hold 10 new tracks. Re:Mission Entertainment will release the album both digitally and on CD. It will also feature 7 remixes from Grendel, ESA: Electronic Substance Abuse, Dread Risks, SPANKTHENUN, MATT HART, Hardpot and Binary Division.

For now, check out the video for “Rip Them Apart”.

You can preview a first track below on Bandcamp, a remix by ESA of the track “”Rip Them Apart”, and pre-order the album as download and on CD. You might also want to pick up a brand new T-shirt there.

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

“Industrial Beats” is the all new single from the Texas based EBM squad Spankthenun. The single features a whopping 10 different versions of the bouncy EBM track.

Next to a remix the EBM’ers from Kalt also made a total remake of the track with Kalt taking over vocal duties and rewriting the track from the ground up. Other remixers include DJ Matt Hart, Diverje, Dread Risks, SINthetik Messiah and an ultra-aggressive remix from Harsh R.

The single will be released on all platforms on February 24, that’s right, EBM day. The single is available now on Bandcamp for pre-order. You can see the new video for the track and get four early release tracks.

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, CD.

Background/Info: Spankthenun is an American duo set up in 2019 by Eric and Jeremy Hanes. The Hanes brothers seem to be prolific as they already released an impressive number of works in a rather short lapse of time. This new work features nine songs and four remixes. 

Content: The work takes off with a refreshing and powerful piece of EBM driven by guest singer Claus Larsen (Leather Strip). The album moves on revealing powerful songs built up with raw sound treatments, heavy blasts, some carrying choruses and EBM bass lines, which became more explicit during the work. 

Remixes have been done by Mirland (remixing the opening song with his good-old friend and partner in crime Claus Larsen), Nature Of Wires, Planet Damage and Psychosomatik. 

+ + + : The least I can say is that Spankthenun took me by surprise. This band deals with a mature and accomplished production. This is not just EBM, but an elaborated format with overwhelming, blasting sound treatments, menacing bass lines (especially during the second half of the album) and raw sound treatments. Claus Larsen is an extra element to pay attention to for this band, but the Danish Electro master seems to be very comfortable singing on “Off Beatings” –also released as a single. I don’t want to compare this band with Leather Strip, but I think they might catch the attention of the fans for their perfect mix between EBM and darker Electro elements. The song “Industrial Beats” is a great song and potential hit; powerful and driven by a vintage lead. Another amazing song is “The Smoking Gun”, which is driven by impressive, raw sound blasts. 

– – – : I can’t say that the remixes aren’t adding a bonus to the work, but the original versions are simply better. 

Conclusion: Spankthenun has the potential to become the next great surprise from the US. This is well-crafted EBM. 

Best songs: “Industrial Beats”, “The Smoking Gun”, “Off Beatings”, “Sick Pathos”, “I’m The Fire”. 

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/spankthenun 

About Spankthenun

Spankthenun is an industrial, EBM and electro darkwave band from Dallas, Texas, set up in 2019 by brothers Eric and Jeremy Hanes.

The duo self-released the EPs “Regression Complex” and “Spiderbaby [Construct V.01]” and the single “Slow Suicide” in 2019, followed by “Jingle Bells (A Slaying Song)” and “The Bunker Tapes Vol I.” in 2020, and the single “Dominate” in 2021. “The Bunker Tapes Vol II” appeared on CD the same year.

The series closed with “The Bunker Tapes III” in 2023. Spankthenun has also produced remixes for Psychosomatik, Blue Ant, Stahlschlag and Harsh R, and contributed to the 2024 Metropolis release “The Hush Of Cannons Cold” by Terminal.

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

The Dallas based dark electro-industrial act SpankTheNun returns with an all new album, “The Bunker Tapes Volume II”, which is the conceptual follow-up of “The Bunker Tapes Volume I” released in September 2020.

Says the band: “‘The Bunker Tapes Vol. II’ continues the journey of mid 90-influenced industrial beats and moves into a more dark electro territory, then finally to a pure EBM vision with tracks like ‘Industrial Beats’ and ‘Lockdown’.”

Like the previous album, “The Bunker Tapes Volume II” includes original tracks and remixes of tracks like “Off Beatings”, “I Self Me” and “Right Father”.

The physical CD carries an additional track from “The Bunker Tapes Vol I”, namely “Fight and Breed” with a special dual remix from Upon Eventual Collapse and Leather Strip.

You can check out the release below, it’s available as download and on CD via 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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“Don’t know zero” is Angelspit’s first single from their forthcoming album “Diesel priest”. It’s out now via Black Pill Red Pill. The 11 track single features vocals from Imogen (Miss Ballistic) and Angelspit’s Zoog Von Rock on the title track, with guitars by George Bikos (MeteorEYES).

The single features the exclusive B-side “Love That Drug” plus 9 remixes from artists Ashley Bad, DJ Underminer, Planetdamage, Sister Sarin, Slighter, SpankTheNun, Spark Chamber, Steven OLaf and Tommy Tranq.

You can check it out 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!

side-line.com

Waterloo, Iowa based electro-Industrial band Microwaved has just unleashed their new EP, “Save Me”. The video for the title track featuring Kimberley of Bow Ever Down can be seen below.

The EP contains 16 tracks, 14 of which will be available on streaming platforms June 12th. The Bandcamp release – which you can check out right below – will contain two bonus tracks: a collaboration with Liebchen on a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” and an additional remix from the remix artist Steven Olaf.

The Ep sees the band collaborating with Kimberley of Bow Ever Down as we said earlier but also with Nathan of Milkfixer and Mitch of Doomslayer. Save Me also has many different remixes from varying artists starting with PilgrimOmega (keyboard player for Monster Voodoo Machine) to I Ya Toyah and SpankTheNun plus many of the friends that founder Gabe Wilkinson has made through the years.

“Save Me” refers to the album’s theme of loss. Gabe Wilkinson, the founder of Microwaved says: “All of my songs seem to be about loss, addiction or monsters. These songs fall into the loss of love category. This record for me is also about taking these songs and expanding my musical vocabulary. It’s about stretching some mental muscles and playing with ideas I may not have been very comfortable with.”

Here’s the video for “Save Me”.

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 now is Planetdamage “Relapse Protocol – The Remixes” on the Black Pill Red Pill label. “Relapse Protocol – The Remixes” holds 8 tracks and as source material the album “Relapse Protocol” was used, that one was released in November 2020.

The following remixers participated: Aether Pilot, Spankthenun, Mach Fox of Zwaremachine, Freeze Etch, The Gothsicles, Chrome Corpse and Vandalaze. Mastering (and additional production on track 5) was done by Reza Udhin (Killing Joke, Implant) of Cryonica Audio Mastering.

You can hear the EP below.

Damage has been working as a producer for 5 years, landing 5 EPs and a number of remixes, collaborating with bands like First Aid 4 Souls or Black Nail Cabaret, having been remixed by musicians such as Haujobb, Leaether Strip or Attrition.

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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KREIGN is an American set up in 2010 by featuring Ryan Hutman and Xiån Austin. They met thanks to a mutual friend. Ryan was involved with HARDWIRE and in search of a drummer. Xiån was drumming for Sang:Rael and Alter Der Ruine at the time and finally joined HARDWIRE. Some HARDWIRE songs were pretty EBM-driven, which was the reason to start a side-project. KREIGN was born and asked Dave Strand (THE STRAND) to join in as singer. But he finally decided to move on with THE STRAND. Being a side project, KREIGN didn’t really move anywhere for 10 years even though they had quite a few songs started and set aside. But KREIGN finally released their self-titled and self-released debut album in 2020, which got rapidly re-released by Scanner (Dark Dimensions). The work is a powerful mix of good-old EBM with an impressive sophisticated production on top. “Kreign II” is a true masterpiece and one of the best EBM releases from the past years.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: KREIGN has been set up as a tribute to ‘old-school’ EBM. What makes this ‘old-school’ style that special and what do you like in EBM sound? 

Ryan: It evokes aggression from me and I like that. I like the groove. I like that it is simple and minimal. 

Xiån: I grew up a New-Waver… in Utah of all places. My first glimpse of EBM and I’m not sure  if it could be categorized as such, but it was MINISTRY’s “Twitch”-album. I could not stop listening to “We Believe”. It was the driving bassline and simplicity of the beat that gripped me. I wanted to hear more. I was now on the hunt for something similar. Back then there was no Internet. The only way to find new music at the time was via magazines, clubs and/or word of mouth. A friend of mine had a DJ buddy in New York City. He would send him mixtapes of music he was spinning. I discovered bands like FRONT 242, NITZER EBB, DAF, PANKOW, SKINNY PUPPY, FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY and more. I would comb through record stores for hours and I would buy anything with cool cover art that looked Industrial or EBM. That’s how I discovered the now legendary Wax Trax Records. 

In the late 80’s, early 90’s, Salt Lake City spawned a killer Industrial club called ‘The Pompadour’. We would go religiously every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. The DJ was awesome and he knew his shit. Funny thinking about it now, he was probably more annoyed at the fact that, almost every song, we’d go to the booth and ask who he was spinning. Haha! 

Q: You guys got both involved with HARDWIRE while you were still active in other projects as well. What did you learn out of these previous experiences and what makes the difference with KREIGN? 

Ryan: Jonah from HARDWIRE taught me to not always use the ‘easy’ word to make a rhyme and to put more thought into my lyrics. Now, I am proud of my lyrics, even though they are usually simple. I can say more with less words. 

Mike from HARDWIRE and I learned early on that a live drummer can take a show to the next level. Even though I admit I suck at playing drums, I do it for KREIGN when Xiån sings “Disco King” and “In That Frame Of Mind”.

Xiån: I learned that it’s very difficult to manage multiple projects. Haha! All good though, the experience was worth every moment. I enjoyed traveling, playing shows and meeting cool peeps. As far as the difference with KREIGN, I think Ryan and I have very similar mindsets. When we hook up to write, it just flows. It’s a freak of nature I suppose.

Q: Old-school EBM often sounds simple and powerful; solid bass lines mixed with a danceable tempo plus harsh vocals and eventually metallic percussion parts. I consider KREIGN as one of the first bands breaking the codes; your music being definitely old-school like, but much more sophisticated and elaborated. Tell us a bit more about ‘sound’ and writing/production of the songs? 

Ryan: I figured out how to bend notes with soft synths in Cubase and I couldn’t stop doing it. We then translated that forced portamento back into the Nord Lead 2. Then Xiån and I would grab a few knobs on the Nord while the computer played the midi and recorded whatever we thought sounded cool. Fucking with FM, octave selector, pitch, and cutoff was so fun. We couldn’t do it without four hands on it and us laughing at the crazy sounds it made as we pushed the keyboard to it’s limits. It became a signature bass sound in most of the songs. It is rare for us to leave a bass sound without at least messing with the cutoff. Almost every sound is modulated by hand or is programmed to modulate.

Our formula also includes a few other hallmarks like basslines that play for just one verse, break downs that go to ultra minimal and then build up bigger, random sounds that only happen once in the song, ambient creepy background noise, and lead synth lines.

Q: How did the self-titled debut album “Kreign” see the daylight? What have been the influences, triggers, maybe references, lyrical themes and criteria to achieve the album? 

Ryan: I was really influenced by WULFBAND and GESSAFELSTEIN. I went back through a bunch of our songs and randomly detuned them after hearing WULFBAND for the first time. GESSAFELSTEIN influenced me to go back and crank the treble on the synths.

Lyrically, most of the songs have an upbeat message about how to deal with stress, anxiety, and tragedy. “Live Fast” is about my love for my Harley Davidson. “Disco King” is a fun song written with tongue in cheek.

Xiån: The push came from our good  friends in HOCICO. Erk invited us to play a show with them in Mexico City. We couldn’t decline the offer. We only had a couple finished tracks at that time. I think we had three or four months to complete the album, learn the songs, and rehearse them enough to perform a decent show.

It was an amazing experience. To this day I can’t believe we pulled that one off. (Still breathing heavy)…

Q: The limited edition of the album is something really special featuring only great remixes by mainly great names from the EBM scene. How did this bonus disc see the daylight and tell us a bit more about the different artists and the remixes they made?

Ryan: We had previously done a remix CD and an EP with some remixes with HARDWIRE. We met Jürgen Engler first through Facebook when we asked him to remix HARDWIRE. We got to meet him in person on the FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY-tour. When we asked him to take a look at KREIGN, he liked it and wanted to remix “5 Layers Of Chaos”. He also wanted to sing a duet with Xiån on “Disco King”. I thought it would be cool if he would sing it in German and he agreed, even though he was unsure if German lyrics would even fit the song. I think it sounds perfect. 

I had worked with REACHING FOR SHADOWS on some of the songs on her debut album. We met SPANKTHENUN, NZ, and NOVA STATE MACHINE through Facebook and Bandcamp. As much as I hate Facebook, sometimes it comes in real handy. 

Xiån: Peter ELM and I have been friends for many years. He was one of the first people we asked to do a remix. His amazingness never fails. A number of years ago I was invited to play drums for VOLVO:242 (a side-project of SPETSNAZ) at ‘Familientreffen 5’ back in 2009 (there’s a couple of cornball videos on YouTube) and I met the guys in AUTODAFEH who were also on the bill. These guys are top notch! Loved their music and performance. They later asked me to play drums on a couple tracks for their upcoming album, “Identity Unknown”. (“Evil Doll & Love Hate” and “Pain” to be exact). I was honored to do so.

Q: 2020 has been for sure a horrible year to release a debut album. How do you experience the pandemic versus your artistic activities? And what are the plans for post-Covid 19?  

Ryan: We would like to play more shows. We did a livestream show called “Isolation Room” and it was fun, but it was in an empty room. We usually feed off of the energy of the audience. It pushes us further to perform harder. We’d like to eventually play shows in Europe.

Xiån: Luckily we’ve stayed healthy throughout the pandemic and have spent a lot of time in the studio writing for our next album. Hope you will all stay tuned. New ideas and sounds are brewing…

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

Spankthenun have recorded a cover of the KMFDM classic “Virus”. The single holds 4 tracks including the normal edit, a Covid version, a 90s Hip Hop Beat and an instrumental version.

The normal version is very true to the original with some updated sounds and production that pumps new life into an older track. The band has taken the liberty of updating the lyrics in the Covid version. While the original lyrics place the theme in the late 80s and comment on the sexually transmitted diseases of the time, the updated version references directly to the Covid pandemic with lyrics like “Keep six feet away or you’ll die!” and “It’s gonna come back for a year or longer, you ignored the truth and made it stronger.”

Here’s the single, enjoy!

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