Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Indie-Pop, Wave-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Chris Corner started IAMX as a solo-project in 2002. More than twenty years later the ex-Sneaker Pimps front man can look back at an impressive and successful discography featuring numerous hits.  “Fault Lines¹” explores the rifts and fractures of our lives’  seen through the eyes of an artist with an autism spectrum.

Content: The work features 8 tracks taking off with a hard and dark opener driven by a menacing bass line and Corner’s unique- and androgenic timbre of voice. The work is moving from harder cuts to softer, melancholic pieces with the title song as best exposure. IAMX sounds dark and yet pretty sexy through its rhythmic, carrying choruses and Corner singing on top. A few cuts feature female backing vocals.

+ + + : IAMX is a band that from the very first album (cf. “Kiss + Swallow”) made a great impression on me. The early magic is maybe a bit gone but there are still songs getting this flame back alive. I prefer the ‘harder’ cuts like “Disciple” and “Thanatos” but also the impressive, sensual and yet dark “The X ID”. Let’s not forget the softer and deeply melancholic “Fault Lines’ “ featuring delicate piano arrangements. The work is accomplished with refinement although featuring multiple rough and raw sound treatments. IAMX always has this rough touch while it remains sexy. On top there’s this unique voice of Chris Corner who more than ever before plays and manipulates his voice as an instrument.

– – – : Eight songs isn’t that much for an album but you’ll not hear me complaining. The last two songs aren’t my favorites and rather sound as an antithesis to a new, great, work.

Conclusion: IAMX remains a very creative and sexy Pop project with an unique sound DNA.

Best songs: “The X ID”, “Disciple”, “Thanatos”, “Fault Lines”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist & Label: www.iamxmusic.com / www.facebook.com/IAMXOFFICIAL

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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Dead Inside, the postpunk – deathrock band born from the ashes of the legendary Italian act Thanatos is ready to release their debut on January 20th. Dead Inside formed in summer 2014 in Modena, Italy.

On their debut “Invisible Witness to the Holy Crime” the band offers what their label Swissdarknights calls “an oldstyle, guitar driven sound with incisive drumming, bringing back the good old deathrock sound to the scene!”

Dead Inside consists of Gianfranco Righetti on drums, Josef Serafini on vocals and guitar, Davide Grimaldi on guitar and Emanuele Bacchelli on bass.

You can check out the album teaser right below.

You can check the full album 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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Out on May 27th via Projekt Records is the Thanatos live album “Thanatos Comes Alive! — Part 1 (the 90s)”. On this release you will quickly realise that Thanatos live is a fundamentally different creature from Thanatos in the studio.

On their first two albums, the songs were mostly acoustic and built around singer, acoustic guitarist and songwriter Patrick Ogle’s voice and lyrics. Until 1996 Thanatos had been a home studio project consisting of Ogle and keyboardist Sam Rosenthal. Then in 1996, Ogle took the band out of the studio and on the road together with former Godbullies bassist, Eric Polcyn and the much rockier guitarist William Tucker (Ministry, Chris Connelly Band, Foetus, Pigface, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Regressive Aid).

On these two (almost) complete shows from ’96 and ’97 the focus of the music shifts from the acoustic to the electric guitar of William Tucker. “A big part of this change was having Tucker in the band, but it is also the fact that if you play mellow music in a club — and we played lots of clubs — you wind up with people talking louder than the music!” says Ogle.

Included on this live release is a version of Thanatos’ cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and five tracks that would later appear on the 1997 “Blisters” album.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Body-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: This new EP by the Australian duo Avarice In Audio is a song taken from their last album “The Rib Of Adam” (2020). The particularity of the song is that Tom Shear (Assemblage 23) joined in to sing. The EP features next to the title track four remixes plus one extra song.

Content: “I Pray” already was one of the best cuts from the band’s last album. The sound reveals the familiar beating Dark/Electro-Pop from the band while the vocals are mixing rough parts by the clearer and charismatic vocals of Tom Shear. Remixes have been accomplished by Synapsyche, Malcaar, Angel Theory and Elektrostaub. “Thanatos drive” is the single song left, which is a kind of dynamic sound Experiment featuring D’n’B influences.

+ + + : The title song is a right choice to get released as an EP and especially because of Tom Shear. It will for sure catch the attention of a wider audience. So it will be for sure an opportunity to gain new fans. “I Pray” is a solid piece of raw, beating Electro-Pop. I also like the more Techno remix by Synapsyche and the groovy exposure from Angel theory.

– – – : The remixes don’t really add a bonus to the EP, the original edit remaining the best one! The B-side cut is just forgettable.

Conclusion: Good and judicious idea to release “I Pray” as an EP-title song, but I expected a bit more from the remixes.

Best songs: “I Pray”, “I Pray – Synapsyche Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.facebook.com/avariceinaudioaus

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix

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