The Sisters of Mercy’s third studio album, “Vision Thing,” turns 36 on 22 October. Merciful Release and East West Records released the gothic rock record in the UK on 22 October 1990, with Elektra Records handling distribution in the US.

Andrew Eldritch produced the album, sharing the credit with Jim Steinman on the track “More” and with Chris Tsangarides on “When You Don’t See Me.” The band recorded “Vision Thing” over nine months at Puk Recording Studios in Gjerlev, Denmark. Eldritch wrote or co-wrote all eight tracks, which run: “Vision Thing,” “Ribbons,” “Detonation Boulevard,” “Something Fast,” “When You Don’t See Me,” “Doctor Jeep,” “More” and “I Was Wrong,” totaling 42 minutes and 35 seconds.

The lineup on the record featured Eldritch on vocals, guitars and keyboards, alongside guitarists Tim Bricheno and Andreas Bruhn, bassist Tony James and the band’s drum machine, Doktor Avalanche. Guitarist John Perry, who had turned down a full-time role in the band, contributed guitar and slide guitar on “Detonation Boulevard” as a guest, and Maggie Reilly sang backing vocals on five of the eight tracks. “Vision Thing” reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver by the BPI, and it later went Gold in Germany. Merciful Release reissued the album in November 2006 with five bonus tracks, including the non-album single “You Could Be the One.”

About The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy formed in Leeds, England, in 1980 around Andrew Eldritch and guitarist Gary Marx, later joined by guitarist Ben Gunn and bassist Craig Adams, with a drum machine the band named Doktor Avalanche standing in for a live drummer from the start. The band built its following through a run of independent singles on its own Merciful Release label before signing to WEA/East West for wider distribution. Its 1985 debut album, “First and Last and Always,” established the band within the emerging gothic rock scene, followed by 1987’s “Floodland,” which included the singles “This Corrosion” and “Dominion/Mother Russia” and featured bassist Patricia Morrison. Morrison left the band by the end of 1989, and former Sigue Sigue Sputnik member Tony James joined on bass as the band, now also featuring new guitarist Andreas Bruhn and later Tim Bricheno, prepared its third album. “Vision Thing,” released on 22 October 1990, closed out the band’s studio album releases to date; The Sisters of Mercy have continued to tour and perform new unreleased material live in the years since without issuing another studio record.

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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Ben Christo is a guitarist who has learned that volume is rarely the most dangerous thing a guitar can do. Sometimes the sharper weapon is restraint: three notes placed with intent, a riff stripped until it stops showing off, a melody dark enough to carry memory without collapsing under its own drama. That sense of control runs through his long tenure with The Sisters of Mercy, where guitar often works as atmosphere, pressure and architecture rather than simple attack. Yet Christo’s musical life is much wider than one band’s mythology.

With Ricky Warwick, he returns to a more instinctive rock language, closer to the teenage thrill of classic guitar energy. With Diamond Black, the emotional centre moves closer to his own life, touching mental health, chronic pain, alcoholism, recovery and the difficult work of making hope sound earned. His phrase for the thread running through it all is “dark, gritty melody”. It is a useful key to this conversation. In this interview for Side-Line Magazine, Ben Christo speaks with us about The Sisters of Mercy, Diamond Black, sobriety, songwriting as narrative movement, Andrew Eldritch’s lessons in restraint, the way new songs change on stage, and what fans may expect from the next tour.

Ben Christo interview

Karo: Ben, thank you for taking the time. We have around 30 minutes, so I will try to stay focused. I wanted to start with your recent tour with Ricky Warwick. It seems like a very different musical environment from The Sisters of Mercy: more direct rock’n’roll energy, more organic movement, and a different relationship with the audience. What does a run like that give you as a player before you move back toward something more controlled like The Sisters?

Ben: Yeah, that’s such a great question. To see that very clear contrast between the two performance styles. As you’ve pointed out with the Ricky Warwick show, it is very much what feels right in the moment. The last show that we played was this fantastic festival called Bonfest, and that was the last show we played. It was a big stage, big audience, and it really gave me a good chance to connect with something very inveterate, I think, in my own playing, which is simply playing three chord rock on a Gibson SG to an excited crowd. And that’s something that I think is very much in the roots of where I’ve come from as a player, where I’ve come from in terms of my influences and my very early influences being things like AC/DC and Def Leppard and these more classic rock bands. So I did feel during those shows a real connection with myself as a teenager and a child again. It was a very joyful feeling and a very different kind of enjoyment than I get from playing The Sisters of Mercy shows, where I feel within that that I’m stepping more into an existing personality of the band’s aesthetic, which does have perhaps more guidelines, even unspoken guidelines, than something like a classic rock, rock and roll show like Ricky Warwick, where the guidelines are kind of: there are no guidelines, just rock. Just have a good time, just enjoy yourself. And so, yeah, it is a very different dynamic. And both are freeing and liberating in different ways.

Karo: Would you say that Ricky Warwick reconnects you more with a more instinctive guitar language?

Ben: Absolutely. That’s a very good way of putting it. That instinctive guitar language is very much where I feel that I am with the Ricky Warwick dynamic. Absolutely.

Karo: What about Diamond Black? It gives you a different kind of exposure, because the songs, the emotional centre and the visual identity sit much closer to you personally. What does Diamond Black allow you to say or risk that would not belong inside, for example, The Sisters?

Ben: Well, it’s very much talking lyrically about the experiences that I’ve had of issues around mental health, alcoholism, chronic pain, and being able to talk very directly to the audience. Not necessarily going into detail about: this happened to me, this was this thing. The songs talk about that in-between. I get to just talk more generally about mental health and give guidance, but without it being, I’d like to think, preachy in any way. It’s just suggestions and it’s just my experience. And one of the things that I was often saying during the last tour before the final song was that “this song is dedicated to anybody who felt quite nervous about coming out tonight. Maybe they felt like they couldn’t face the world, that they didn’t have the confidence, but they still did it and they’re still here tonight. So whoever overcame that demon, this song is dedicated to you.” And it was really, really enriching that many people would come up to me afterwards and say, “I was that person. That was me. I almost didn’t come because I was too nervous. I felt too self-conscious, but I did it. And to be recognised for that, I feel seen.” And that’s such nice feedback to get, particularly as I imagine a lot of people feel like that. I’ve felt like that. I still feel like that, of overcoming that anxiety to come out for a night, come to an event, put yourself out there. So, yeah, things like that, where it’s not specifically talking about, hey, “this is what happened to me.” It’s more like “these are the observations that I’ve made through my experiences, seen through a lens of what I hope are shared experiences that people can connect with and relate to.”

Karo: You have posted very openly about sobriety, and I was following those posts because they were very encouraging. Alcohol is often treated as part of the music scene, or at least part of its mythology. Do you feel that sobriety changed your relationship with performance, recovery, discipline and the emotional rhythm of being on the road? Of course, only if you are comfortable answering.

Ben: Well, firstly, thank you for reading those or watching those so carefully. And that feedback you’ve given me is very encouraging. I definitely think it was a very happy accident that very naturally the necessity for me to move into sobriety then became part of what I wanted to present within my music. What’s really interesting was that in the first bunch of songs that the band released, Diamond Black, we had a song called “If You Kill My Demons”. And the idea about that was, the lyric was written about the idea that “without destructive behaviours, I am not the real me. Those destructive behaviours are the real me.” The voice of the protagonist of the song was saying that “if you take away the demons of alcoholism and self-sabotage, then I stop becoming myself. I need those things in order to be me.” And that was how I felt back then. That was when I was still drinking heavily and engaging in self-sabotaging behaviours. And then I was able to look back at that lyric, still perform the song and go, “this is the way I used to feel. This is a voice of a previous attitude, an incarnation of myself.” But when we entered a newer era of the band, the songs very naturally became about looking at things like alcohol, alcoholism and self-sabotage, and then looking at the positive aspects of overcoming those things in a slightly oblique way, because some of those songs were still written in a time when I was still drinking alcohol. However, what’s great is that the new album that we’re working on is 10 songs that have all been written in sobriety and therefore are able to reflect stories retrospectively regarding alcoholism, chronic pain, self-sabotage, and in a much more progressive way. Because the starting point of the song is one of struggle. But for each of the songs, there is a sense of a journey, that by the end, there is an element of hope, an element of progression that says, “okay, so we started in this place in verse one. By chorus three, we’re somewhere else. We’re still looking at the problem, but we’re looking at some solutions at this point.” And there’s a glimpse of a way out, which is something that previous songs didn’t have. They just existed within the same scene for the entirety of the song. The new songs all have this narrative arc where we go from the initial setup of “this is the status quo at the start – the destructive element. By the end of the song, there’s progression.” And not only do I think that reflects my beliefs well, I think it’s just kind of a cool thing to do with songwriting, to take people on a journey from the start to the end. I never really used to think of it like that. I used to think a song, basically, you start and you end in the same place. Maybe you make some changes to one of the lyrics, or you have an extra guitar at the end or some more vocal harmonies or whatever. That’s the change, not the story. The story isn’t changing. It was pointed out to me by someone who’s very good at lyrics that that was one of the weaknesses in my lyrics: they didn’t have a narrative arc. Anything that’s any piece of art, like a movie or a music video, there’s a journey. Songs are different because they don’t explicitly say, “let us tell you a story.” They say, “let us tell you a feeling.” But you’ve got the opportunity there to observe that feeling from different vantage points from the start to the end. And I find that was a really interesting and fun thing to do with the song, to say: “okay, how can I change this by chorus three so that it still is the same kind of a chorus, but there are little subtle changes in the words that mean that we’ve moved somewhere else?”

Karo: That is a beautiful kind of progress to show. It gives the listener a chance to participate in this journey, even from the outside. Moving to another area of your work: you work across very different contexts, Diamond Black, session work, touring with other artists and The Sisters. When you move between these worlds, what changes first for you as a player?

Ben: That’s a very interesting question. And I wonder if it’s just been something out of necessity, that due to the nature of how my career has developed, I have by necessity had to fulfil different roles. If I was someone like, let’s say, Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode, that’s what I do. I write the songs like that, I sing like that, I perform like that. That’s it. For myself, however, I have a number of different substrata to my brand or my identity as a musician that I can step into, whether that being something that’s more moody or something that’s more energetic or even something that’s a bit heavier and more aggressive. I love all those things. Therefore, I’m able to step authentically into all of those things. I can play in a hardcore metal band. I can play in a dark indie band. I can play in an emotional, acapella vocal band. Because as long as there’s an element within it that I engage with, then I can feel authentic and excited. And that element for me always is: dark, gritty melody. That’s my kind of keystone of: “do I like this music?” It doesn’t matter what genre it is. “Does it have dark, gritty melody?” If it does, I like it. That tends to be my guiding star. And that means that I can like anything from some singer-songwriter folk that is impassioned and dark and moving to something that is a lot heavier, as long as I still feel it’s got melody. I still feel the lyrics mean something. And I’ve got that whole spectrum because, as I said, that same key thing is there. So all of the projects that I’ve been involved in that I’ve really enjoyed the most generally have a sense of dark, gritty melody. Some of the songs that that band has or that project has might not be completely within the Venn diagram of what I like. There might be some stuff on the periphery, but most of it is in the middle. So, say, for example, if I was to play with a punk band, most of their songs are quite dark and quite aggressive. They might have some ska songs as well. Now, I’m not so much into ska, but as long as the lyric and the melody and the general vibe of the band still retains that element, that personality, and doesn’t suddenly just become, “hey, really fun music”, I still feel I can invest in the project in general.

Karo: When I think about The Sisters’ guitar sound, it is often as much about space and absence as it is about riffs. There is a discipline in what you choose not to play. How do you decide what to leave out? Is that something you arrive at in rehearsal, or something you feel in the moment on stage?

Ben: It’s something that certainly had to be taught to me, because when I first came to the band when I was 25, I wanted to play all the time. I felt like every song was an opportunity for me to show everything. It was driven by a kind of fear of, “if I don’t show everything that I can do, people won’t think I’m very good!” So every song is a chance for me to go, “hey, look, I can do this, this and this,” regardless of whether or not the song’s mood and story needed it. So how that then developed over the years was, first of all, Andrew was very good at saying, “okay, look, I think you’ve got a lot of potential. You’re here. Let’s reduce what you’re doing. Let’s really think about these three notes that you’re going to play all the way through this song. You have to play them really well. You have to play them with the right kind of emotion and restraint. Sometimes you have to not play them and just stand there.” And he taught me a lot about that, and he got me to listen to a lot of Atlantic Records, Motown music that he loved when he was growing up and said: “listen to the restraint. Listen to how one instrument just does the same thing all the way through the song, because that’s its part in the machine of the song. Listen to the emotion behind this music because it’s been written and performed in a time of great oppression from the people who are creating it. Think about how that is being imbued into three or four notes.” It’s not just about, “hey, look at this cool thing I can do.” You’re telling a story of a time and a place and a climate. And so that meant that when I got to play riffs like, let’s say “Dominion”, just three, four, five notes throughout the song pretty much, I was able to think, “I’m not just playing three notes. I’m playing something that tells a very important story about the song.” But also, these three or four notes have found their way into the hearts of hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people, and they mean something. I want to play them right. I want people to hear them and think, “oh my God, that takes me back to this. Or that reminds me of that person, or this song feels like me.” And that’s going to work if those notes are played in the right way and if those notes are played with the right kind of sound as well, the right effects, the right guitar, the right kind of velocity that you’re playing the notes. So it’s all really important. And it reminded me, particularly when it’s songs that people really care about, how important it is to have fidelity to what they’ve heard on the record that has been part of their life soundtrack.

Karo: Brutal Assault announced that The Sisters of Mercy pulled out of the 2026 edition because the band had moved up the recording schedule for a new album. That sentence landed like a small explosion in the fan community after so many years of speculation. What was it like watching that public reaction from inside the band?

Ben: That’s something I can’t really comment on, I’m afraid.

Karo: I understand. Then let me ask more generally about the group of newer songs. Many are credited to you, to Andrew Eldritch and to Dylan Smith, with some other credits as well. These songs have already lived on stage and inside the audience before any possible studio version. If material like that enters the recording process, does it arrive already shaped by the live experience?

Ben: I think what happens, generally speaking, with that process in any band is that the song gets written in a rehearsal room initially, and then sometimes you can record a demo of it just because you want a reference as a band to go, “okay, look, how does this go? Oh, look, we’ve done that, to decide how the parts work.” Sometimes songs can be written like that as recordings, people sending recordings back and forth: “I’ve come up with this. Okay, I’ll send it to your house and your computer, you can add something to it, I’ll send something back.” And that can be a process, that the song is written, or certainly some of the song is written. And then, yes, the live performances will shape the song. You’ll realise things that work and things that don’t work. It’s a bit like if you are performing a play and you start to realise which bits get a good laugh, which bits create a lot of tension, and you’re able to then amp those up or show restraint. “Oh, actually, that joke didn’t work very well. Or when we try and do this dramatic scene, it doesn’t land. It doesn’t feel right.” You can’t tell certain things until you actually do them live in front of an audience, both with music and with acting, performance. So, yes, the songs have certainly been shaped by the live performances and the things that we’ve naturally felt either as players or as performers – what does the audience vibe, what do they get from this – that have then shaped the progression of the song’s development.

Karo: Your name appears in the credits of several newer songs, so your role is not only interpretive. When you bring a riff, a structure or an idea to The Sisters, how much of it tends to survive the process? Does the song strip back, mutate, or become something you did not expect?

Ben: All of the above, really. Sometimes I’ll bring a fully fleshed-out song and one part of the main riff will then be changed and be made into the bassline or something, and the song will develop like that. Other times I’ve come with a fairly comprehensive map of the song and then vocals have been added to it, or riffs and ideas have been taken away or developed, often simplified when I’m working with the other guys in the band. And it’s finally found its final destination through that process. Or I’ve got a bit of a riff idea and then that gets built on by everybody else and myself. And then finally the original riff idea will have disappeared entirely. And it was only what came later that was inspired by the original riff that actually becomes the song.

Karo: You joined The Sisters when you were 25, so it is close to two decades of playing with them, which makes you one of the longest-serving members in the band’s history, apart from Andrew, of course. Beyond the mythology, Andrew Eldritch is a bandleader you have been making music with for a very long time. What have you learned from him about how to lead a band, hold a sound together, or simply make decisions inside a project this singular?

Ben: Yeah, definitely. I think the ethos that I’ve taken away with the songwriting is often when I’m writing for my own projects or other people’s projects that I’ve been asked to write for and I’m composing a guitar melody or a vocal melody, I’ll often think: “could this be simpler? Would this make the cut for a Sisters of Mercy song? Could it be simpler? Could it be more interesting?” It’s often about, you’ve got three notes, but instead of putting them in one place in the bar, you move them to an unexpected place in the bar. And those sort of techniques that hitherto I probably wouldn’t have considered. I’d just think, “hey, let’s do as much as possible. If it sounds cool, let’s just do it.” Rather than “actually, how could this be better by doing less and doing less in a more interesting and unique way? And how can we get more out of this piece of music, not by adding more notes, but by considering how we present those notes and when we present those notes?” That is definitely something that I got from working on The Sisters’ material.

Karo: To close our conversation, I wanted to bring it back to the upcoming tour. I will probably be seeing you in Wrocław on 22 October. What can fans expect from this tour, without revealing too much?

Ben: Well, I guess what I can say is that where we left off on the last tour might be a good barometer or a good directional point to say “it will probably have some of these elements.” Where we were when we finished the last tour, we had a pretty fair split of recorded works and unrecorded works in the set list. Things would come and go, so other new songs would come in, other older songs would come in, and there would be some fluctuation there. The show itself, I think, is very visually unique in terms of the way that light and shapes and stage set are used. I think we have developed a really powerful frontline of the band. I think Kai has brought so much to the band that when we last played in certain places in Europe, Kai wouldn’t have been there. So that’s something that some audiences wouldn’t have witnessed before. Kai’s brought something very special, particularly vocally, to the band that was different from what we were doing before. And so for people witnessing the band for the first time since perhaps 2022, there will be key differences. And I think one of those key differences is what Kai brings to the table. It’s a different vibe, it’s a different feel, it highlights a different part of Sisters history than other iterations of the band have highlighted. I’m not saying any particular iteration of the band is better or worse than any other. It’s just I think people who come to this band have some kind of connection and history with it, and they bring that history with them or that connection that they’ve personally made to the band, and then they present that on stage as part of their performance. That’s certainly what I did when I first came to the band. For some reason, I decided it was more of a metal band than it really was, “Vision Thing” being my main album that I’d known as a kid, and therefore I thought, “oh, this must be really heavy guitars all the time.” Not recognising that for many of the fans, the more important part of The Sisters sound was something that was colder and had more restraint and was more spacious and more cinematic, and it took a while to find that nice balance. So, yeah, I think members and players for The Sisters can sometimes bring what they liked as fans or as followers of the band to the band. Even if they weren’t particularly fans of the band before they came to it, everyone pretty much knew something about the band before they came to it, so they bring that something with them. And I think Kai brings a very special something that maybe previous iterations haven’t brought.

Karo: Apart from The Sisters of Mercy, will the time before the tour be preparation for you, or will you be doing some other shows with other bands and focusing on your own project?

Ben: So in July, I’ve got some festival shows with Ricky Warwick again. There’s the Wacken Festival, which is going to be cool. There’s Firevolt Festival in the UK and a few others. And then I’m going to be working on the Diamond Black album. We are in the mixing stage now, so that’s where we’re at. And just trying to get a sound that everybody feels represents what is important to them individually, I think, and as a band. And yeah, that’s kind of the focus for the next part of the year before September.

Karo: Thank you very much, Ben. That was a lovely chat. I really appreciate your time.

Ben: You’re very welcome. And I think your questions were extremely well thought-out and researched. It was a really fun interview for me to do because you’d put the time in and you clearly are passionate about the things we were talking about. So thank you very much.

About Ben Christo

Ben Christo, born Benjamin David Christodoulou on 22 March 1980 in Bristol, England, is a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and session musician. He began playing as a child and first drew national attention with the punk-metal band AKO, which he co-founded in 1998 and which released the album “Find Yourself” in 2001 before splitting after a 2005 show at South By South West.

In 2006 Ben Christo joined The Sisters of Mercy as lead guitarist and backing vocalist, having been approached by the band in December 2005. He has toured worldwide with the group and co-written newer songs with Andrew Eldritch and guitarist Dylan Smith, several of which were premiered across the 2019-2020 and 2022 tours. Ben Christo is now one of the band’s longest-serving members alongside Eldritch.

Alongside The Sisters, Christo founded the melodic rock band Night By Night in 2008, releasing the album “NxN” in 2014, and established the dark rock band Diamond Black in 2016, whose debut single appeared in 2017. Diamond Black now works as a three-piece with Christo on lead vocals. As a writer and session player Ben Christo has contributed to Lord of the Lost’s number-two German chart album “Judas” (2021), PIG’s “Risen” (2018), records by Esprit D’Air, and Ricky Warwick’s 2025 album “Blood Ties”; he joined Warwick’s touring band in 2022.

In March 2026 The Sisters of Mercy withdrew from that year’s Brutal Assault festival, moving up the recording schedule for a new studio album. In this interview Ben Christo confirms that a new Diamond Black album, written entirely in sobriety, is in the mixing stage, with festival dates alongside Ricky Warwick set for July and a Sisters of Mercy tour that reaches Wrocław on 22 October.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

For the collectors, three new Radio Broadcast BBC sessions LPs have popped up: The Sound’s “In Concert (BBC Radio One)”, Killing Joke’s “BBC Radio Sessions 1981”, and a new pressing for The Sisters of Mercy’s “BBC Sessions 1982-1984”.

Note that all three are unofficial releases aka bootlegs.

The Sound release is released as a 140 gram black-vinyl issue built from the band’s BBC Radio One “In Concert” recording from November 11, 1981 at Paris Studios in Lower Regent Street, London. The tracklist supplied for this edition is the following: “Pete Drummond Intro”, “Unwritten Law”, “Skeletons”, “Fatal Flaw”, “Winning”, “Sense of Purpose”, “Heartland”, and “New Dark Age”.

The Killing Joke LP compiles three BBC sessions from 1981 plus a bonus track recorded for John Peel in 1979. The tracklist : “The Fall of Because”, “Tension”, “Butcher”, “The Hum”, “Empire Song”, “We Have Joy”, “Chop Chop”, “Tension”, “Unspeakable”, “Exit”, and “Wardance”.

The Sisters of Mercy title is not a brand-new issue but a repressing. “BBC Sessions 1982-1984” holds 11 tracks: “1969”, “Alice”, “Good Things”, “Floorshow”, “Heartland”, “Jolene”, “Valentine”, “Burn”, “Walk Away”, “Poison Door”, and “No Time to Cry”. Note that an official Warner/Rhino version of “BBC Sessions 1982-1984” was also issued in 2021, so this Radio Broadcast pressing sits beside already-existing authorized BBC-era Sisters material.

We previously covered another unofficial Radio Broadcast title, The Sound’s 1982 Utrecht “No Nukes Festival” set, and in 2015 we also reported on bootleg sales that included Sisters of Mercy material.

Note that these items are distributed by mailorders, major ecommerce platforms, and… several label mailorders. As such it is not surprising that these vinyl editions sell in rather high volumes.

About Radio Broadcast

Radio Broadcast is best described as an unofficial archival vinyl imprint focused on radio-derived material. It’s an unofficial label, and as Side-Line previously reported, it is an Italian label specializing in radio-broadcast releases, with other titles including Joy Division and New Order.

The label repackages live radio sessions, BBC material, and broadcast-derived recordings as standalone vinyl products with minimal rights-context on the packaging. That does not make every release automatically illegal everywhere, but it does mean these records should be treated as unofficial unless an artist, estate, broadcaster, or rights owner has explicitly authorized them, which they haven’t of course.

Here’s an idea of what they have released over the years.

• Chameleons, The – Peel Sessions 81-83 – LP
• Cure, The – BBC Radio One 1984 – LP
• Dead Can Dance – The John Peel Sessions 1983-1984 – LP
• Depeche Mode – Radio Broadcast 1994 (Honolulu, Hi) – LP
• Echo & The Bunnymen – The John Peel Sessions 1979-1980 – LP
• Jam – BBC Sessions 1977-1979 – LP
• Joy Division – 1979 BBC Recordings – LP
• Manson, Marilyn – The Ultimate Broadcast 1999 – LP
• New Order – 81-82 BBC Recordings – LP
• Pink Floyd – BBC Radio One (London, September 30th, 1971) – LP
• Pink Floyd – Live At Pompeii – 2LP
• Pink Floyd – Live At Pompeii – CD
• Pink Floyd – Radio Sessions 1969 – Deluxe Reissue – LPL
• Police – WBCN, Boston – November 1979 – LP
• Siouxsie & The Banshees – The Peel Sessions 1977-1978 – LP
• Smiths, The – BBC Radio One 1986 – LP
• Wire – The Complete 1978 Peel Sessions – LP

Are these bootlegs legal in Europe and in the USA?

In Europe, the answer is not a simple yes. EU-related-rights rules are layered. Belgium’s FPS Economy states that neighboring rights generally last 50 years, except for music performances fixed on phonograms, where the term is 70 years, and it also states that broadcasters’ related rights run from the first broadcast.

The European Commission’s 2025 report on the Term Extension Directive likewise says that the EU extended protection for music performances fixed on phonograms and phonogram producers’ rights from 50 to 70 years. As a practical reading of those rules, BBC music recordings from 1981 to 1984 are not safely treated as public-domain material across Europe today.

A radio broadcast can involve multiple right layers at once: performer rights, phonogram rights where a protected recording exists, composition rights, and broadcaster rights. A shop listing in one EU country does not prove the same item is lawful to sell, import, or distribute in another territory.

In the United States, the position is tighter. Federal law states that anyone who, without the performers’ consent, fixes a live musical performance, reproduces it, or sells or traffics in it is subject to copyright-style remedies. Separately, the U.S. Copyright Office says the Music Modernization Act’s Classics Protection and Access Act brought pre-1972 sound recordings partially into the federal system and extended federal remedies for unauthorized use. These Radio Broadcast LPs are based on 1980s performances, so they should not be assumed lawful for U.S. sale or import unless there is clear authorization from the relevant rights holders.

In short, in both Europe and the U.S., these records are grey-market or unofficial broadcast releases.

Only Germany enforces hard. Selling bootlegs there is unlawful and can trigger injunctions, damages and even criminal liability (§§ 97–98, 106 UrhG). German law firms routinely issue takedowns/abmahnungen against bootleg sellers. That’s why many retailers mark these as “not for Germany.”

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

At Side-Line, we have often reported (and joked) about a new The Sisters Of Mercy album being in the works, but this time there is a little more to go on than rumour. On March 12, the Czech festival Brutal Assault said the band canceled its 2026 appearance “because it had moved up recording work on a new album”. The festival added that it is already in talks to bring the band back for next year.

We already reported in 2022 that The Sisters Of Mercy had written thirty new songs during the corona years. At the same time Eldritch said that a new record was highly unlikely “because making records is a great way to lose a lot of money”. Ben Christo gave a more open answer in August 2025. When asked whether there were plans for a new studio album, he said: “there are no plans to record an album, there are no plans not to record an album.”

If the recording schedule mentioned by Brutal Assault indeed leads to a finished release, it would mark the first The Sisters of Mercy studio album since “Vision Thing” which the band released in 1990.

About The Sisters of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy are an English gothic rock and post-punk band formed in Leeds in 1980 by Andrew Eldritch and Gary Marx. Their first release was the single “The Damage Done / Watch / Home of the Hit-men”, issued on their own Merciful Release label after the band pressed 1,000 copies to get the record on the radio. In 1981 the group shifted to the drum machine Doktor Avalanche, with Craig Adams joining on bass.

The Sisters Of Mercy then started regularly releasing new material: “Body Electric”, “Alice”, “The Reptile House E.P.” and “Temple of Love”. Ben Gunn joined as second guitarist in late 1981, and Wayne Hussey entered in 1984 as The Sisters Of Mercy moved toward its first full album and signed to WEA. “First and Last and Always” was released in 1985, and was the only studio album by the Eldritch-Marx-Adams-Hussey line-up.

After the 1985 split, Adams and Hussey left and Eldritch continued through the related Sisterhood project, releasing “Gift” in 1986. The next The Sisters Of Mercy album “Floodland” landed in 1987, largely built around Eldritch and Patricia Morrison, followed by “Vision Thing” in 1990 with contributors including Andreas Bruhn, Tony James and Tim Bricheno. In 1992 the re-recorded “Temple of Love (1992)” with Ofra Haza reached No. 3 in the UK, and “Some Girls Wander by Mistake” collected the band’s early independent material.

The band stopped releasing new studio albums after the early-1990s dispute with East West, but never fully disappeared as they continued to playing live. Side-Line has also covered the band’s later activity, including the report that they had 30 new songs ready in 2022, the first U.S. tour in over a decade in 2023, and their live-first release strategy in 2024.

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

It all began in 1983 under the name Xymox, a musical project founded and spearheaded by Ronny Moorings. Shortly after, the project evolved into Clan Of Xymox, marking the birth of a band destined to leave an indelible mark on the Dark-Wave scene. Signed by the legendary British label 4AD, the band released two seminal albums that would become classics in the genre. While they briefly returned to the original name, since 1997, they have been known exclusively as Clan Of Xymox. What makes Clan Of Xymox truly special is not only their pioneering role in the New/Dark-Wave movement but their unwavering ability to create valuable and impactful music over the decades.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, who often rely on the nostalgia of 80s hits, Clan Of Xymox has consistently released strong, fresh material, proving that their creative spirit remains as vibrant as ever. With a career spanning over 40 years, Clan Of Xymox has firmly established themselves as one of the most influential forces in Dark-Wave. Ronny Moorings has remained true to the essence of his sound while allowing it to evolve, ensuring a timeless yet contemporary edge. Their latest and 18th studio album, “Exodus”, released via Trisol (Germany) and Metropolis (USA), is a testament to this balance. Featuring a collection of masterful tracks, the album combines melancholic, dark, atmospheres with Pop-infused arrangements that are both haunting and danceable.

I felt it was the perfect time to take a retrospective look at Clan Of Xymox’s incredible journey. In this interview, Ronny Moorings graciously shared his insights, reflecting on the band’s beginnings, their evolution, and their current work. I am deeply thankful for his enthusiastic cooperation and for taking the time to answer in such detail. His dedication to crafting inspired music over such a long period is remarkable, as is the man behind the artist. Respect! (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

‘I Wanted To Be A Part Of Things Which Were Happening In Front Of My Eyes’

Q: Getting back to the early 1980s which marked the rise of New-Wave music and subgenres like Dark-Wave, Cold-Wave, and Post-Punk. How do you reflect on those formative years and what do you recall from the very beginning of your career? Specifically, what events or circumstances led to the formation of Xymox and, later, Clan Of Xymox and what was your original dream when you first started making music?

Ronny: I will make this a short story because there is so much to say about how it came to be. I was in bands from on my childhood in my birth town Roosendaal (NL) where I already played live at the age of 11 with older 15 year old friends. When it was time for me to study, I first moved to The Hague, deciding after a year of Social Academy that I’d rather do a Sociology study in Nijmegen.

In the early 80’s there was a lot going on. Musically we had the Deutsche Welle and from the U.K. came New-Wave. This appealed a lot to me and DJed (what I also already did in Roosendaal as a teenager) this type of music in the local venue Doornroosje. It was volunteers work, but I got to see all the cool bands coming in.
The alternative scene was thriving in the whole of The Netherlands. Naturally many British bands were on the fore front of innovation. The Goth / Wave movement came also to Doornroosje. I remember especially Bauhaus and The Virgin Prunes making a big impression on me because they sounded and looked visually stunning. The Virgin Prunes making a complete theatre out of their show; it looked like genuine madness with a lot of stuff flying about on stage. With Bauhaus, Peter Murphy just looked the ideal part, a new ‘thin white duke’ with white light shining under his chin and the rest of the band in fluorescent colours, exposed with a black light.

Every week there was a brilliant band to be seen in Paradiso (Amsterdam) or in Doornroosje, like Echo And The Bunnymen In an army outfit with camouflage nets hanging over the stage, The Sound, Dance Society, The Birthday Party with Nick Cave swinging like a monkey from left to right from the light supports, giving it a high energetic performance, Siouxie And The Banshees, The Cure ( they played in a circus tent) and later seeing Robert Smith playing guitar with Siouxie in Rotterdam , Theatre Of Hate, Eyeless In Gaza, Black Flag, The Comsat Angels, Sisters Of Mercy, in the Milkyway Amsterdam,  of course with Wayne Hussey,  Further The Slits, Liaison Dangereuses, U2 ( played in Arnhem for 400 people) who was pretty unknown still etc. Too many to mention!

All bands not jet known by the majority of people but making a big impact on everyone alternative seeing them live. New-Wave, Deutsche Welle, Punk, Synth-Pop and New-Romantics was now a major alternative movement perfectly fitting the times we were living in.

Also the Netherlands produced influential bands who made quite an impression on me, like I already mentioned Mecano & Minimal Compact from Amsterdam, Nasmak from Eindhoven, Coitus Interruptus from Utrecht, and ‘famous’ local bands from Nijmegen like Mechanic Commando and Vice.

By seeing all these brilliant international and national bands I knew there and then that I had to start something new and interesting too. I wanted to make music like these bands. I was totally inspired. I wanted to be a part of things which were happening in front of my eyes. I wanted a band instead of just making things late at night on my own on a 4 track for no one else to hear.I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. It seemed that nearly anyone in the local scene started a band. In every squat people started a band and rehearsing was no problem in these industrial buildings we all occupied. Music was becoming a way of life, a means to express your views. There were enough opportunities for bands to play. There were always some old factories freshly squatted. One of the first shows I did was on a festival in De Plu Fabriek, a desolate disused umbrella factory. The festival had a social awareness theme about ‘Acid Rain’ of which maybe a handful had heard about. It was not taken very serious yet by the general public. It was the first ever show of Xymox there.

Round the same time at the University we had to do a video project. We had to film something about a socially significant social subject, so I started filming and interviewing the squatters local bands I knew. I still have the V2000 video tape but because of its backdated discontinued format, I haven’t been able to see it since the presentation at the University of Nijmegen.

In the beginning of 1980 in Nijmegen I had no real serious relationship with anyone. I was fairly new in town and most people I found quite uninteresting. The typical jeans and long hair student types, freshly coming from their cosy parental homes, with only one aim in life and that is to study, graduate and getting a job. Also most people were just coming out of the seventies and their clothes reflected that, very colourful shirts, a lot of blue jeans and mostly having long hair. In Rotterdam long hair in the back and short in the front was accompanied by a little moustache was the local fashion there.

Anyway, just after my initiation weeks of the University back in Nijmegen, one night I went out, going to a bar where I would normally not come with my fellow student friends. I was standing there drinking beer with my mates until I spotted this girl in the distance. She had the same kind of image as me. Out of place I thought. I simply had to talk to her and soon we were engaged in conversation and ended up spending the night together in her basement flat.. She told me she came from Nuenen, a small village close to Eindhoven but very famous for the house of Vincent Van Gogh. Her name was Anke.

In this period I wanted to start a Live band with the name I already had:  Xymox.  One day I showed her my songs I had recorded and asked if she would want to be in my ‘band’ which was just me at the time 😉 I said it would not matter that it was only the two of us because a lot of bands played with a drum machine and it would be a cool thing to do; she agreed. The songs were most of the time two or three chords so it was not too difficult for her to learn the tracks. I released this tape at the time, sold it for cheap (some people still have it). She liked the songs and decided to learn and play the bass guitar so she could play live. We started rehearsing together in 1982. I started sending my old Xymox demos to various venues and to my surprise a dozen clubs or so liked it.

Soon we played live with the two of us in various alternative clubs. I was singing, playing guitar and the synth plus operating the rhythm box. She played the bass by now and did some backing vocals . The songs were all mine, if you could call them songs 😉 For transportation I had my old cheap orange Renault 4 with a shift stick. All the equipment fitted in beautifully. Because we were just with the two of us and the fuel was very cheap, the money earned was very reasonable for those days.

Later we got asked by the locally known band Vice to support them. We did so and managed to play quite a bit of shows in the South of the Netherlands again. We felt we were getting somewhere.

Later a few friends to join our ‘band’ live. They were hitting metal pieces or doing backing vocals etc. Inspired of course by Einstürtzenden Neubauten. We started rehearsing in the empty vaults of a squatted bank building. Soundproof and safe it luckily was 😉

Anke wanted to move to Amsterdam in 1983, when she changed her study. She wanted to study Psychology and since I finished my Sociology ‘Candidates’ phase holding an official diploma. I was looking for a relevant Masters study so I decided to go to Amsterdam as well, I chose for  ‘Media Studies’ at the ‘University of Amsterdam’. Apparently you would have a lot of freedom with this study as well.

In Amsterdam I was asked by a friend in 1983, if I wanted to DJ for a local pirate radio station WHS. The show; ‘De Lege Huls’, translated ‘The Empty Shell’, would be late at night which of course I gladly accepted. I did this for quite some time well into 1985 until I got too busy with Clan Of Xymox and its many obligations.

As I already said I saved for a while every penny in order to buy my much desired object, a Teac 4 track multi tape recorder. I bought it in Antwerp, Belgium, November 1982. After many recordings of songs and ideas in Nijmegen I started a new In April 1983, frantically starting to record some new songs; the old ones were already more than a year old and I wanted to have new ones. With the help of the Teac 4 track recorder I could be more creative with writing and recording, bouncing previous recordings and build on that.

The instruments I had access to were: a Yamaha synth, Korg Poly 6 Synthesiser, Korg MS10 and MS 20, a rhythm box K500 , an electric Framus guitar, Welson Keyboard, a standard Shure 58 mike of course, my fantastic vintage space echo, melodica, guitar pedal effects and a bass guitar. A later valuable asset was later a Solina Strings but this one was borrowed once and a while.

All instruments were played in real time on tape. No sequencer used. That was too expensive.
These were the days computers were only academic and hardly used by anyone at all. Computers were just those big main frames standing in a government building or only portrayed in science fiction. Today our ears are completely trained to sequenced patterns, then it was something new, the ear was untrained to these sounds and pattern uses.

Soon things were ready. I asked Anke if she wanted to sing one song on the track I already prepared for her. It ended up with the title “Call It Weird “, so now  all tracks were done and everything was set up to bring these recordings to a mastering plant near Amsterdam called  Dureco. This was a vinyl factory specialised in producing Dutch product, the type like ‘Dutch Schlager’ like Vader Abraham known internationally for his “Smurf” songs. He was prominent on the wall everywhere in the factory offices. The main earner. Newer versions of this first EP exist: “Muscoviet Musquito” ( deliberately spelled this way) and “Going Round”. Both have various versions over the years.

‘I Felt That The Xymox Days Were Not The Right Way To Go’

Q: Xymox became Clan Of Xymox when you signed to 4AD, but later you reverted to Xymox before ultimately returning to Clan Of Xymox in the late ’90s. How do you view these shifts in retrospect? What, in your opinion, distinguishes Xymox from Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny: I started with the name Xymox and released my first EP “Subsequent Pleasures“ under this name. When Xymox got signed by 4 AD and the first debut album was called “Clan Of Xymox” I decided it was a slightly better name also because I had found people to play the songs live, so hence the ‘Clan’. I considered Xymox as my Pseudonym.

When Clan Of Xymox got signed by Wing / PolyGram USA I felt this was a significant change and wanted to underline this with shortening the name and perhaps with the reasoning that it would be easier for people in general to remember our name when it was shorter.

After 4 albums under the name Xymox, with the album “Phoenix” it had gotten too commercial in my opinion. With the 2 UK releases “Metamorphosis“ and “Headclouds” which were too Experimental and nothing much to do with the early material on 4 AD I decided in 1997 it was time to reintroduce Clan Of Xymox again with the same approach and attitude as in the earl 80’s. I felt that the Xymox days were not the right way to go and that it was better to stick to my own opinion instead of letting people influence me in one way or the other.

The result was the album “Hidden Faces” released worldwide on Tess Records and Pandaimonium Records in Germany in 1997. This was the start of Clan Of Xymox again. Since Phoenix I didn’t tour anymore. Had actually no live band anymore. I started to find again people who could play live with me and soon I had a live band ready to start promoting “Hidden Faces” and the older works on 4AD. Mojca my partner was there already since 1991 with me learning to play an instrument, keys and bass. She already designed the artwork from on 1992. In 1995 I decided to play in The Netherlands and promote “Metamorphosis” and “Headclouds”. The old live members from the 80’s Frank Weyzig and Will Anvers joined me on stage together with Mojca on Keyboards. This tour made me realise I missed playing live and soon since 1997 Clan Of Xymox played live each and every year till now and will keep on playing live.

I have a steady crew for more than a decade now with Mojca from on 1991 (of course), Mario ( more than 20 years), Sean and Daniel. I stay with the labels Metropolis (USA ) and Trisol (Germany ) as well as I run my own label Xymox Control now for decades a steady course with Clan Of Xymox, only expanding with my band, slowly but gradually. It manifests in the vast amount of sold out shows we are having each year.

‘We Were In Our Extravaganza’

Q: You were closely associated with 4AD, one of the most groundbreaking labels of the early New-Wave era. How did an unknown band from the Netherlands find its way onto such an iconic label? And how did your time with 4AD influence your evolution as an artist?

Ronny: Back in 1983 I felt that my former town Nijmegen ‘deserved’ a few copies of “Subsequent Pleasures” too. I was doing all the distribution myself. I sold 150 through Rough Trade UK, 150 in New Waves France and 150 export to Essen in Germany. Anyway, so I went to Nijmegen the night of the ‘Day of the Dead’, 1st of November.
I decided to visit a friend but he was not at home so not knowing what was going on that evening  I soon found out The Cocteau Twins were playing in Doornroosje that night, so I had to see them. There was still plenty of time left so I decided to have something  to eat in my favourite eating cafe De Plak. Whilst having dinner I heard English was spoken on another table, so my interest was aroused. Maybe this couple were The Cocteau Twins? Had to be! An English male and female.  Without any hesitation I went to their table and asked them all sorts of questions about their band The Cocteau Twins. They informed me politely that they were not The Cocteau Twins but were their supporting act called Dead Can Dance and if I wanted they could put me on the guest list; which I naturally did not decline since I was no longer active in Doornroosje anymore. In return I gave them a copy of “Subsequent Pleasures” for them to listen to.

Having seen Dead Can Dance they blew me away, just like of course The Cocteau Twins. After the show I went boldly to the dressing room and drank some beer with both the bands as they were sharing the dressing room and already established that we were all like-minded, talking to each other, or trying to, because Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau’s had a very heavy Scottish accent. Difficult to understand for a  Dutchman who knew and spoke only ‘school’ English. That night I learned then that Brendan was Irish, lived in New-Zealand, moved to Australia, met Lisa in Melbourne and moved to London to work on their musical career. A similar story was true for The Cocteau Twins who moved from Scotland to London to work on their career. All was very interesting and at the end of the night we swore to keep in contact and said our goodbyes.

During that time I kept in contact with Brendan and Lisa who lived together on the Isle Of Dogs. They invited me to their London home and I stayed at their place quite a few times. In those days I had to travel by ferry to the UK, a long journey. They lived on the 11th floor with a fantastic view over London. The flats were those typical council flats, ashen grey and reeking of urine in the elevators. They had a staggering amount of locks installed on their front door. With all their equipment at home I could understand their mistrust of their surroundings. It was all very depressing but very exciting for me. Brendan worked the same way as I did. We ended up with almost the same equipment in 1986. Brendan and Lisa were then still living together and were really dedicated to music. Every day they recorded or rehearsed. Lisa mainly singing and playing the Yang Ching. I slept in the living room and later on some visits they had a closet, like the one of “Harry Potter”. I slept there and was pretty cosy;)

Xymox started playing live in 1984 again. One day Brendan Perry called me up and asked me if we wanted to support them on a tour in the UK.  Without any hesitation I agreed to do it and almost a week later we were in London. Unfortunately when we arrived nearly all the dates of Dead Can Dance got cancelled and there were only three dates left:  one in London, Huddersfield and one in Dudley. We stayed with Brendan and Lisa, sleeping all on the floor in the living room, which I knew already too well.

During our first concert In London I nearly disappeared through the hole in the stage, I had to walk very carefully  because they did not manage to cover all the holes under the stained carpet. The father of Brendan was I believe the tour manager and his mother made sandwiches for Dead Can Dance when we went on the road to Dudley. The town looked nothing much and the bar we had to play likewise.. our dressing room was between beer barrels and if we wanted to have a drink we had to buy it at the bar said the promoter resembling “Dell Boy” of “Only Fools And Horses”. Still we had a great time hanging out with Brendan and Lisa, who were very generous to give us some money for covering our ferry expenses, which I know for sure they were paying out of their own pockets. After that we did more shows all over The Netherlands till summer.

Brendan Perry was the first one who told me about 4AD.  Before that I only paid attention to bands and not too much to record labels strangely enough.  He said he gave “Subsequent Pleasures” to Ivo Watts Russell , the label boss of 4AD, and so I followed up with sending a demo to 4AD with some newer additional tracks in July 1984, recorded in the Amsterdam Octopus 8 track studio. The demo I had sent 4AD after our shows in Paris’ old theatre La Seballe Club, several Dutch and the 2 UK dates. I was getting impatient as always. I gave Ivo Watts Russell a phone call. I was complaining about how the Dutch music industry sucked and that his label was the only independent label appealing to me. A week before that,  I had a meeting with the Dutch division label EMI but this meeting reminded me of all the cliches I ever heard about Major labels. To my absolute delight and surprise Ivo told me he liked what he had heard from the demo so far and wanted to meet, to see us in person and talk about it.

Ivo wanted to meet the band, so arriving in London, me and Anke  were heading to the private home of Ivo Watts Russell and his girlfriend Debby who also worked for 4AD as their press agent. They lived together in a residential SW12 London area. We stayed in their house for a week.

Anke and I had placed these long extra hair extensions in our hair so we looked a bit like ‘Uber Goths’ with a lot of make-up and special clothing we had designed for us by a friend who was handy with the sewing machine and wanted to become a fashion designer. I saw the surprise on Ivo’s face when he saw us for the first time. We were obviously not looking the way he expected us to look. Most of his bands on the label looked actually quite normal with no real image to speak of; so here we were in our extravaganza.

Luckily Ivo and Debby liked us or the music enough to offer Xymox a record deal and with that great news we went back home. The news had spread that we were the first band 4AD signed since two years of their last signing of Dead Can Dance. After this published fact my phone started to ring frequently and offers for radio and new Dutch live shows offers came in by the plenty.

When the self-titled album “Clan Of Xymox”’ was released funny enough nearly all the journalist thought we were Scottish by origin judging by their reviews. An Englishman is always very sensitive to accents. I saw it as a compliment though. Of course ‘Clan Of’ was suggestive enough 😉 . Most reviews were ecstatic, full of praise with five star ratings, the highest you could get. I guess we got lucky with my intention not to advertise we were Dutch. Having no names on the artwork and let the album speak for itself.

The British can be real chauvinists regarding their music industry, they didn’t take foreigners making music too seriously in those days. Of course the weekly music magazines Sounds, Melody Maker, New Music Express etcetera made up their ‘mistake’ in the eye to eye interviews, clearly pointing out us being Dutch and using the usual stereotype references, with headlines like ‘Dutch Bake’, ‘Dutch Courage’, ‘Going Dutch’, ‘Hollandaise Sauce’ and any phrase relating to the war between the Dutch and the Brits a few centuries ago. Anyway it did not matter anymore because we got the attention;  had a proper selling debut album. We did a lot of photo shoots with an English photographer using drapes in the back ground giving us a more Gothic image. This was used as our promo picture.The Music Maker and Sounds were giving us regular features and interviews afterwards, which gave us finally an international standing. Soon 4AD set up a few shows in Croydon and the University of London plus a John Peel session, which was very important to establish up and coming bands.

‘We Had To Prove Ourselves Time And Time Again’

Q: You’ve already mentioned several legendary British bands that were prominent in the 1980s and shared strong connections and camaraderie. What was your experience of the Dutch music scene during that time? How do you reflect on it now?

Ronny: I only had French, British and Scottish bands as friends. I could not get along with any band in The Netherlands in the mid-eighties. In the Netherlands there was a very strong Rock culture with no space for bands like us. We had to prove ourselves time and time again. I didn’t understand the provincial attitude towards synths coming from the Dutch critics. In a very first review the national music magazine Oor reviewed synths as magic boxes which made them nervous listening to them. When our first album came out we finally got greeted by the more alternative media which just got a foot in the door and were played on radio and TV, MTV and the like. Suddenly we were part of a movement to be reckoned with. Sometimes we even played live twice on a day in The Netherlands.

‘The Only Disappointment For Me Was That I Actually Never Got To Meet John Peel’

Q: During that period, you worked with or crossed paths with notable figures like the aforementioned Brendan Perry. But what about John Fryer, David M. Allen and John Peel? What can you share about those interactions and their impact on your journey?

Ronny: Our first John Peel session was in the beginning of  November 1985. It was pretty stressful for me. We had to record 4 to 5 songs with the live band in one working ‘BBC’ day of 6 hours or so. It didn’t occur to me that I should have taken adaptors for English power plugs with me.  Because it is the BBC, no one is allowed to change a power plug without the assistance of a fully qualified engineer, so it took them already one hour to find such a person as labour union regulations dictated that the technician supposed to have his tea break of an hour. We were already losing valuable time! We didn’t have computers in those days. My first Commodore computer with TV monitor I got in 1988 when I wrote the “ Twist Of Shadows“ album.  The Macintosh 128K a normal mortal could not afford. Clan Of Xymox did however use an 8 track recorder for the backing tracks, like Depeche Mode or The Cocteau Twins used as well. It consisted of individual drum tracks, sequenced bass triggers and strings. This made life a bit easier.  We could thanks to the ‘eight track’ finish within the timeframe of the BBC.

The only disappointment for me was that I actually never got to meet John Peel. Even then he was a legend, especially to me, because it was the best program for discovering new exciting bands. I only got to call him from the 4AD office, thanking him for the opportunity he gave us. He declared in his program that we were the pioneers of Dark-Wave. That was a huge compliment and recognition for Clan Of Xymox. Soon Dutch radios started to follow suit. We got to record a live show for Radio Veronica in Hilversum. Several TV shows invited us for music programs like the VARA. MTV picked us up too. We felt we were on a roll!

John Fryer I instantly liked as a person and sound engineer. He was the in house sound engineer of 4AD and knew what he was doing. He was not afraid to experiment with sampling sounds and replacing them. The AMS delay was his secret weapon. I remember sitting evenings together with John mixing tracks by hand. So I had to pull and push knobs on my side and he on his side. It was a lot of fun and very educational. Later in live John made me a remix for “Big Brother“ from the album “Limbo” (2021).

I worked with David M. Allen on tracks like “Out Of The Rain” and “Sing A Song” together with Jools of Nitzer Ebb. It was in Leamington Spa in John Rivers’s studio. I worked with John Rivers already on the “Blind Hearts”-EP for 4AD and several B-sides for later PolyGram. Now I was working with John on the “Hidden Faces”-album (1997) and we thought it would be very cool to have Dave M. Allen involved. This certainly worked. I wished we had the budget to work on all the songs but I was already glad these two songs worked out fantastically. Dave is a very likeable person with an air of mystique around him. He gives suggestions for you to try and they always make sense. He taught me to delve deeper when needed.

‘Without Me There Is No Clan Of Xymox’

Q: Both Xymox and Clan Of Xymox included founding members Anke Wolbert and Pieter Nooten. What role did they play in shaping the band’s identity, and how do you reflect on the line-up changes over the years?

Ronny: They were both not founding members. They joined me in the beginning of the Xymox period. First Anke as I told you and later in 1985 Pieter. Because they were the first ones joining they are seen as founding members but I am sorry to say; it was always my thing. I was and still am the driving force behind the band and it’s musical direction. No one else. They concentrated mainly on their own songs like “Masquerade” or “Stumble” and “Fall” back in the days. The bulk I wrote. I participated also on their songs as well.

Regarding the songs it is true we worked more together like a band should. In the beginning we rehearsed the songs for live shows and many got changed during this process. This was only sustainable for a short while as nobody liked to rehearse together.

We ended up as 3 individuals writers with different taste and musical directions so it was inevitable it wouldn’t work out long because we were all to egocentric to begin with. When I officially broke up with Anke it was also the end of working together as a collective. We all went our own way.

Indeed we had many changes but maybe the irony is in the word ‘Clan’, a group of close knitted people. So in the end there were many LIVE musicians joining the band for a short or longer period. Joining ‘the Clan’. The red line was and is simple: without me there is no Clan Of Xymox.

All happened really fast in those days. It was a learning process for all involved. Books about the music industry and bands hardly existed. Everyone was left to do whatever with their experiences, positive or negative.
I never knew or expected that just making music could make me enemies but also gaining a lot of friends of course. Jalousie and spite can make people really vicious and vindictive and yet equally so many fans or friends treat you with the utmost respect or even adoration. To me it is just music but soon you realise it is something more than that. 

Former friends or partners turning into your personal enemy. It is the worst thing that can happen, because they know your weaknesses and irritation points and will not shy away from using this against you if they have no pride, dignity or integrity.

Thinking back on this short period between 1985 and 1989 stir more negative emotions then positive ones in me. It wasn’t all bad of course but I can’t remember real long good periods. I realise looking back that I am only happy with the band since the beginning of the  mid 90’s to now, at least 33 years so far:)

Q: How does the young Ronny Moorings compare to the musician you are today? What traits have endured, and which aspects of your younger self do you miss in your music or approach to life?

Ronny: I was definitely very naive in the beginning. When I wrote a song for example I just split the rights between the band members because I thought it would motivate my band to pull more their weight in the band and…. after all I was a socialist and not a capitalist 😉

Soon I discovered that when people sense they don’t have to do too much and can simply lay back whilst I do the heavy lifting because they get paid anyway.

I started to get annoyed with this uneven situation and learned from this that I should not give away my rights that easily just to please band members or partner. So I ended this naive approach and never looked back.
Equally I used to work with bigger crews, managers, tour managers, lawyers and all the professional people they told you would need to have in order to make it as a band.

After many annoyances about the enormous bills I decided I could do most jobs way better. I know I am a control freak. You have to be. You have to understand the way things work. Now I have a lean machine and I like it a lot. Later I also learned to delegate things and that is also very rewarding. I guess ‘live and learn’ is true in my opinion.

‘Dark-Wave Has A Strong Hold All Over The World Like In The 80’s’

Q: Many legendary New/Dark-Wave bands achieved their greatest success in the ’80s. Why do you think those years were so special and unique for the genre? How do you see the evolution of New/Dark-Wave music from its origins to today, particularly in terms of its spirit and cultural significance?

Ronny: Yes, it was a new style taking over with fashion unseen before, It was against the Hippy culture, the jeans wearing long haired pot smokers. It was a clean break from all of this, plus the ‘no future’ feeling with all the political turmoil and nuclear threats hanging over our heads. Remember Thatchers England. Ronald Reagan as president.

These bands made the sound track of our lives and guess what? It is happening again. Dark-Wave has a strong hold all over the world like in the 80’s. Yes, it’s not on the dying radio or TV stations as we know it but streaming like crazy, this time on internet radios, YouTube, Spotify It feels a bit like maybe the pirates in the 80’s.

It feels the same to me and also we have the same nuclear threats back again. In a way it feels coming ‘full circle’.

Q: Over the decades, the music industry has undergone tremendous changes -rising social media, streaming platforms, declining physical album sales, advances in technology, and shifts in performance venues from intimate gigs to massive festivals. How have you navigated these transformations, and what are your thoughts on the (r)evolution of the industry?

Ronny: I navigate these changes just fine I think. I always welcomed change and will ever do. We need to improve. We need to move forward and not backward. When for the very first time in the 80’s I could get my hands on a computer I embraced it as a big help with sequencing and programming. It made endless rehearsing patterns on keyboards so much easier. Later it became my entire virtual studio platform. Streaming is now the most important thing now in the music industry and some artists do not like it, but remember when music was pirated and artists would get nothing from it financially and no insight how many like to listen to your music etc. I love Spotify and as an artist you have access to all date regarding what your fans are listening to.
Most music I listen to these days is from platforms, on my phone with airpods. This gives me more time to listen to music when I am on the move or outside. Everything in one device is just brilliant I think. Of course I have at home all old media devices still in place. I do play vinyl as well when I am in the mood. I still love vinyl and the looks of it. The best format for the artwork to shine.

Q: While it’s difficult for any musician to choose a single album or song as their best, is there a particular piece in your discography that holds special significance for you? Or do you believe that your most recent work is always your finest?

Ronny: I have to agree with my fellow musicians. My recent is indeed the best so far as I can see and feel 😉 It is simply because new songs are for the one who wrote and recorded it the most exciting, the most fresh and recent to your current experiences. You have to play them live which you haven’t done before and in the end they will sound different then when it came out. If you don’t have that feeling the artist should not release the album in the first place 😉

‘I Let The Listener Feel What I Feel’

Q: Your lyrics often feel deeply expressive, sometimes addressing social and political themes, other times delving into introspection. Do you see your lyrics as a reflection of your true self? What value and purpose do they hold for you?

Ronny: Sometimes yes and sometimes no. It’s complicated 😉 I definitely sing about emotions I feel or felt. Say I sing about Evelyn, Louise or Michelle. That doesn’t mean I know a person with that name or sing about a real person. All these names are fictional but the feelings and thoughts what went into these songs are real. Sometimes more than one person I think about finds its place into a song lyric. It all depends. Political themes are the ones which affected me like in the Lockdown periods in the early 20’s. It comes home, becomes personal and I describe more the situation than anything else. I let the listener feel what I feel.
Sometimes I write a song to blow off steam and feel good afterwards. Most of the time it’s about a person who doesn’t want to leave me alone almost my entire life 😉 I can keep going on like that. I always delve the lyrics out of the depths of my mind where it lay buried until I get it out through some type of instrumentation deciding for me what the topic is going to be. A new to be written song has most of the time its own will and direction.

Q: Clan Of Xymox has consistently attracted new fans over the years. What do your fans mean to you, and how does it feel to have a lasting influence on the Dark-Wave scene?

Ronny: Fans are the most important to me. Without a doubt. We meet so many dedicated fans, traveling to all of our shows they can reach within reason. We always talk to anyone after the show who’s interested, have selfies taken, give autographs, give something a fan would like to experience, a closeness you can’t give onstage. A hand shake, a look in the eye.

I am honoured to contribute to the Dark-Wave scene as it is today. All bands who are now big I met when they were still beginning and were our support one time or the other. I know that we had an influence on them but now they are an influence on me the same. So it works in the end both ways. To me this scene is the best scene ever for me.

Q: Looking back on your career, what do you consider to be your biggest milestones? And what were the most significant disappointments?

Ronny: I am still working on my biggest milestone 🙂 My quest is to see how long I can still play live with the band. That is my ultimate quest in life. Disappointments enough, especially in people, but to me that is also an inspiration to write songs about so in the end all turns out for the best. I am lucky I have many good friends in my life to compensate for the negative. Unfortunately I am a person who has to be on the darker side of things in order to feel inspired. So I don’t mind 😉

Q: How have you managed to keep finding fresh ideas and challenges over the years? Were there periods where inspiration waned, and if so, how did you overcome those creative blocks?

Ronny: I think in the beginning it was harder to write as it is now. To me writing comes very natural I think. Maybe because I have more to say now than when I was in my twenties. In that time I read a lot of books in order to get lyrically inspired. For a long time now I just write from what comes up in my mind and put it into lyrics. Way easier I think and less time consuming 😉 The music was never a problem. Finding words to it is a harder nut to crack sometimes.

A creative block I handle very easy: I put the song away and start with something else. Sometimes its years later that I have a look at it again, if I can do something with it and often that’s the case. So for me I don’t like to force a song if it doesn’t present it by itself.

‘Joy Division, The Sisters Of Mercy And The Cure Were Very Important To Me’

Q: One of the most surprising entries in your discography is “Kindred Spirits” (2012), a cover album featuring renowned songs and artists. How did you choose the tracks, and what connection do you have to those songs? Would you consider them key sources of inspiration?

Ronny: When I was young, the only means of getting to know music was the radio or “Top of the Pops” later in the 70s. In the Netherlands we had bands like Shocking Blue, Brainbox, Earth And Fire, Focus, The Golden Earring and such, which appealed to me a lot. These were the bands I was interested in. On TV we grew up with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and of course The Monkees especially grouped for US TV. These bands made me want to play an instrument at a very young age. After that I always stayed on the alternative side of music. On my album “Kindred Spirits“ you can see and hear which artist influenced me in the direction I was going. Bands for example like Joy Division, The Sisters Of Mercy and The Cure were very important to me.

I gave or restricted myself to make a choice for ten songs of bands who had in one way or the other an impact on my musical taste. I wanted to give an ode to these bands and revive these songs in my memory to keep and make them as my own. In the end I did 11 tracks of my all-time favourite bands or songs.

Too many bands like to hide their influences or deny them. I decided to give them my own pedestal.

Q: This year marks the release of Clan Of Xymox’s 18th album, “Exodus”. What does this album represent within your extensive discography? Can you share insights into its creation?

Ronny: I finished and released the album “Limbo” in 2021 and I wrote the “Exodus” album after writing “Save Our Souls” in 2022 in 2023. The last song I wrote for this album was in January 2024 and here we are. In a way keeping the tradition of one album release in every two or three years.

We toured an awful lot so the little time I had, I spend in the studio taking my mind of things. The late general developments in the world I felt writing about. Instead of introspective lyrics I felt more like describing our current times we live in. After “Save Our Souls” I wrote “Fear For A World At War”, especially after all the rhetoric of Putin threatening Europe or the world with nuclear strikes. Because the world is massively gearing up for war.

When I was born there was the biggest world crisis between the Soviet Union and the USA about the missiles in Cuba.

It is ironic that now we are living with almost the exact conditions but this time closer to home, having a nuclear missile threat. History repeats itself . I certainly hope this is not getting out of hand but the signs are that we seem to step up our war talk more and more. SOS indeed. The world is at turmoil and nothing good will come out of this. Exodus for me as well when it gets out of hand. Anyway, this is the back ground for writing all these songs for “Exodus”.

Q: Talking about “Save Our Souls”, there clearly is a sense of commentary on the state of the world. Do you see music and this album as a unifying force in troubled times? How do you perceive its broader impact on society?

Ronny: “Save Our Souls” was specific about the invasion of the Russians into the Ukraine. It was a shocker for me. Especially after just having toured there in September 2021. I see music in troubled times more as a safety blanket you can wrap yourself in. It gives comfort and soothes your mind and well-being. An escape as it were from the daily sorrows we get bombarded with each and every minute. So far music can change or influence politics when masses cry out for social change. I don’t see that happen with this album or any of my albums;) Never intended for it either.

Q: Authenticity seems to be a hallmark of your music. Many fans describe a sense of genuine emotion and connection in your work. How do you experience this dynamic and interaction with your audience? How powerful or influential do you think music can be in bridging gaps and inspiring change?

Ronny: Wow, if you talk about the grand scale of things you might have a chance to do so but in the cult circuit we are maybe just the inspiring factor. That which might work on a small scale. I should certainly hope that our fans and other listeners get the music of Clan Of Xymox and feel the emotions I feel when I perform these songs with my band. Live you notice this the best. During the show I always look at people and there are so many various expressions on people faces, you feel that you are almost privileged to see an expression of someone when they sink into the song with mind and body. I love it!

‘Contrast Works Always The Best In A Way’

Q: Your music often combines dark, melancholic themes with an energy that makes people dance and feel alive. How do you reconcile these contrasting elements?

Ronny: Contrast works always the best in a way. I defines, it outlines. I have a lot of slow songs with equally dark lyrics but playing live I want to entertain people, want to make them move inside and out. I have luckily lots and lots of songs to choose from and during the years it taught me a lot about which songs people like to hear when they go to our concert. That means the classics are always included and never ignored.

Q: Finally, let’s end with a few rapid-fire questions:

• ‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’ Roll’: does this resonate with you?

Ronny: During my long career all certainly resonates at one time or the other. Experimenting with drugs I steered away long time ago. It was perhaps hip in the 80’s or attractive to experiment but the same goes for smoking or anything else unhealthy. I value a healthy life style with perhaps an alternativee: Sex, Wine and Wave 😉

• Is there a band or artist you would have loved to collaborate with?

Ronny: It’s a shame I never got to work with David Bowie. I met him once in LA when he came to see our concert in the Palace. I was too starstruck to even think of asking him. What a missed chance !

• Do you feel a spiritual connection with any particular artist or band?

Ronny: Yes, plenty! I have got so many great friends in the current scene who make great music. Backstage is always fun when we meet.

• In a world without music, what do you think you’d be doing?

Ronny: Not breathe.

• Which Clan Of Xymox song would you recommend to someone who has never heard your music before?

Ronny: “A Day”, “She” or “Loneliness” as a starter.

• How many albums has Clan Of Xymox sold, and which remains the most successful?

Ronny:  Wouldn’t you like to know 😉 “Twist Of Shadows” was still the most successful in terms of hard record-CD/Cassettes sales because it was at the time people could only buy that and did. There was no piracy then, apart from the classic copying on a blank cassette. In terms of streaming and overall impact I have to point to my later works.

• What is the ultimate dream for Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny: To carry on like the last two years.

• What would you want written on your epitaph and that of Clan Of Xymox?

Ronny:  

See you on the other side.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am not there, I didn’t go.

I didn’t die, so you know. 

See you on the other side.

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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Dark alternative / post-punk project …And We All Die, based between Texas and D.C., returns to celebrate Halloween with their new 4-track single / EP, “Static Age”. Musically the release blends hardcore, post-punk, noise-rock and industrial influences. “Static Age” by …And We All Die is available from 31 October 2024 via download from Bandcamp, and streaming from Spotify and all the usual digital music platforms.

You can however already catch an exclusive streaming of the …And We All Die feat. Gost track “TV Casualty (Industrial Mix)” right here on Side-Line!

The single is centred around covers of the Misfits’ “Static Age” and “TV Casualty”, augmented with two industrial-infused reworkings of the tracks featuring Metal Blade synthwave artist Gost. The Misfits are an American punk rock band often recognized as the pioneers of the horror punk subgenre, blending punk and other musical influences with horror film themes and imagery.

Founder Raymond Burton Estes, says: “We chose these Misfits covers because they’re great songs from the band’s early era that lend themselves to interpretation. We leaned into their heavier elements but chose a more post-punk or noise-rock approach, rather than a straightforward punk or metal one. Our releases usually come out in the Spring, but Halloween is a more appropriate time to share these songs and celebrate the Misfits.”

This release features Raymond Burton Estes on vocals and bass; joined by longtime friends and fellow East Texans, Walter Lee (Rockett Queen) on drums, and guitarist Guillermo Murillo (The Half Guided Hearts). Adding extra spice to the title track, the core trio is augmented by Shelby Cinca (catbeats) on additional guitar.

Both Estes and Lee play in Texas hardcore band Eleventh Hour together, while Estes has also been a touring bassist for Pop Unknown and Total Chaos. Cinca, now based in Sweden, previously played with D.C. post-hardcore outfit Frodus. Estes says: “…it was great having members of ‘90s hardcore bands collaborate on a Misfits song. Perhaps it’s a taste of what to expect with some …And We All Die in the future.”

James Lollar (a.k.a. Gost) has in turn been enlisted for synths on industrial versions of each song; with further synths and programming provided by William Faith (The Bellwether Syndicate).

About …And We All Die

…And We All Die first took shape around the year 2000 as an effort to collaborate with a diverse group of friends and artists; and with the idea of fusing heavy music in the vein of UK82 punk rock, US hardcore, and industrial bands (Exploited, Integrity, Ministry) with darker, melodic post-punk music (The Cure, New Order, The Sisters of Mercy).

From their self-titled debut in 2016, to the “Modern Day Privateers (Remixes)” collection in 2018, …And We All Die in 2024 continues to develop a rather distinct combination of hardcore, post-punk, dark alternative, noise-rock, and industrial music.

Asked what …And We All Die has been up to since 2018, Estes says: “We have been busy recording songs and have several releases in the works, including a dark industrial rock album; an EP of Cure covers; a rock record; and at least one new punk rock song. Our next release will be this dark album with a broad range of influences – post-punk, industrial, and noise rock. John Gable of post-punk revival band Knifight did the bulk of the
production, and it’s headed to William Faith for post-production and mixing. We hope to get this record finished and released in 2025.”

“Static Age” is the first new release from …And We All Die since 2018’s “Modern Day Privateers (Remixes)”, which featured such acts and musicians as Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, Tones On Tail), Assemblage 23, Gost, Ego Likeness, The Gothsicles, and others.

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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Belgian band Ground Nero is back with their first new album in 5 years -or is it four? “Blood Never Sleeps” was released digitally nearly a year ago, and now it’s finally getting a physical release through Danse Macabre. The main change is for sure that the band welcomed British Mark Sayle as new vocalist. Despite the lineup change, the band’s signature sound remains intact, rooted in the dark and moody influences of iconic ’80s bands like Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy. Ground Nero’s music blends pure Dark-Wave with an added touch of Rock, with several tracks driven by soaring guitar riffs and accented by synth lines that provide an extra burst, particularly in the choruses. This new release, already teased by several singles, includes standout tracks that are sure to expand the band’s fanbase. (Rating:7½).

Listen to “The Risen”:

About Ground Nero

Ground Nero is a Belgian band that mixes Goth-Rock, 80s Post-Punk and Cold-Wave influences into a dark, guitar-and-synth driven sound. The band debuted with the EP “Beyond” in 2016 and released the album “Divergence” through Danse Macabre Records in 2019.

“Blood Never Sleeps” first appeared digitally in 2023, and the CD edition followed through Danse Macabre Records in 2024, marking the band’s return to physical formats five years after “Divergence”. The current lineup consists of Mark Sayle (vocals), Peter Philtjens (bass) and Peter Smeets (guitars and synths), with Sayle joining as vocalist for this album. Earlier members include Danny Quentin and Guido Wampers.

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

“A Secret to Protect” is the third single from the dark electronic duo Ex-Hyena and is taken from their latest album “A Kiss of the Mind” which is out now on Re:Mission Entertainment. The 3-track single – available via Bandcamp – includes the normal version of the track plus remixes from Andre Obin and Johannas Kilngebiel.

The music video was directed by Reuben and stars Doommaedel, who plays a seductive, dangerous woman who goes on dates with various people and there’s vintage clothes shopping, bike riding, psychic readings (kind of), light bondage, murder, an undead dance party, hot tub fun, and more.

Bo Barringer and Reuben Bettsak from Ex-Hyena gave us feedback on the single.

Reuben explains: “‘A Secret to Protect’ is another high energy song that helps keep the album energetic and interesting. It’s such an electronic dark disco treat. It mixes soulful disco beats, Latin clave hits, speedy punk-funk guitars (whatever the fuck that means), and mixes it with the Ex-Hyena dark infused electro feels and a hint of Britpop, Pulp vibes. We play this song right after ‘In Slow Motion’ live and the two songs make such a great one-two punch….we love to shapeshift and not stay completely in one or two musical lanes, and this song exemplifies that.”

Bo from his side had this to add: “During the pandemic summer, concurrent to the first Ex-Hyena, I was working on a ‘solo record’ which started out with the simple concept of limiting myself to a Waldorf string machine and a CR-78 drum machine plug in. Not sure how successful that experiment was. Most people will never hear this, but I knew this one had to see the light of day. I played it for Reuben when we were in DC playing a show and he dug. I remember thinking ‘The Sisters of Mercy Does Saturday Night Fever’ when I wrote the chorus.”

About Ex-Hyena

Ex-Hyena is a Boston-based dark electronic duo consisting of Bo Barringer and Reuben Bettsak. The band debuted in 2021 with “Artificial Pulse” and continued to expand their sound with “Moon Reflections” (2022) and “A Kiss of the Mind” (2024).

Their music blends elements of synthpop, darkwave, and trip-hop, with a distinctive dual-vocal approach that contrasts deep, dark tones with brighter, higher-pitched melodies.

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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For decades, The Sisters of Mercy have defied expectations, shrouding themselves in mystery while delivering some of the most influential gothic rock music. Rumors of a potential new album pop up every year, and in 2025 we will again have some false hope among fans, because they will not release a new album.

Since their last album, “Vision Thing” (1990), The Sisters of Mercy have amassed a collection of over 60 unreleased songs​. But these songs like “Show Me”, “Eyes of Caligula” and “Don’t Drive on Ice” have only been teased during live performances, studio versions remain elusive.

Frontman Andrew Eldritch has made it clear that the band’s primary focus is on live shows, rather than new albums. With each performance, The Sisters of Mercy continue to debut fresh material, keeping their audience engaged without the immediate need for traditional album drops it appears.

Preference for live engagement

Eldritch himself has abundantly criticized the financial pitfalls of album production, suggesting that their decision not to release a new record aligns with the band’s long-standing preference for live engagement​. Eldritch has also frequently stated that the modern music industry offers little incentive for established bands to release albums, especially considering the cost and diminishing returns.

Fact is that by focusing on touring, The Sisters of Mercy have found a sustainable way to continue their creative journey without the burden of traditional album cycles. And perhaps that is also why Eldritch’s creative output isn’t confined to music alone. He’s reportedly working on a book about Soviet-era science fiction films as we reported before.

Sure thing is that The Sisters of Mercy’s approach challenges the conventional model of music distribution. By prioritizing live performances over recorded releases, they’ve redefined how a legacy band can engage with its fanbase. Their decision to keep new songs exclusive to live audiences makes every concert an event.

About The Sisters Of Mercy

The Sisters of Mercy formed in Leeds, England, in 1980, founded by Andrew Eldritch (vocals) and Gary Marx (guitar). The lineup regrouped around 1981 with Craig Adams (bass) and a drum machine nicknamed Doktor Avalanche, with Eldritch moving to vocals only; guitarist Wayne Hussey joined in 1983. Each of the band’s three studio albums was recorded by a different lineup, with only Eldritch and Doktor Avalanche constant throughout: “First and Last and Always” (Merciful Release/WEA, 1985, featuring Hussey), “Floodland” (1987, featuring Patricia Morrison) and “Vision Thing” (1990, featuring Andreas Bruhn, Tim Bricheno and Tony James).

After a dispute with label WEA/East West in the early 1990s, the band halted new studio recordings; its last commercial single was “Under the Gun” (1993), and no studio album has followed. The Sisters of Mercy has operated as a touring act since, performing extensive unreleased material live and remaining independent of any record label. The current touring lineup includes Eldritch alongside guitarists Chris Catalyst, Ben Christo and Dylan Smith.

Eldritch told Belgian newspaper De Morgen the band had written roughly thirty new songs during the 2020-2021 period, crediting guitarist Dylan Smith’s arrival for the renewed activity, while saying a studio album remained unlikely given the band’s reliance on live income rather than record sales. The Sisters of Mercy has released no new commercial single since “Under the Gun” (1993), touring independently of any record label since.

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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(Photo by Roger op den Camp) COP International Records and Strict Tempo announce the USA leg of the CX40 World Tour by the legendary Anglo-Irish post-punk group The Cassandra Complex. The band has been celebrating their 40 year anniversary in 2024 with an extensive world tour spanning Europe and the Americas.

As part of the tour they will be making a rare visit to play in the USA in September – October, starting with an appearance at the Cold Waves festival in Chicago, and continuing through the West Coast of the USA. The last time The Cassandra Complex played in America was almost 20 years ago, so this will be a unique chance to see their live show. The second leg of the tour will commence with shows in the USA and Latin America in the Fall, followed by more shows in the UK and EU later in the year.

The band will be supported on USA shows by DJ Vox Sinistra and on European shows by the Swedish post-punk duo Sjöblom. Tickets can be order now.

• 29 Sep 24 Chicago IL, Cold Waves Festival
• 30 Sep 24 Portland OR, Dante’s
• 02 Oct 24 Seattle WA, Central Saloon
• 04 Oct 24 San Diego CA, Corazón del Barrio *
• 05 Oct 24 Long Beach CA, Que Sera *
• 06 Oct 24 Albany CA, The Ivy Room (SF Bay Area) *
• 12 Oct 24 Ciudad de México, Foro 28
• 15 Oc t24 San José Costa Rica, Amon Solar
• 18 Oct 24 Santiago Chile, RBX
• 19 Oct 24 Sao Paulo Brazil, Madame
• 23 Nov 24 Leeds UK, The Old Woolen
• 24 Nov 24 London UK, The Black Heart
• 26 Nov 24 Reading UK, The Facebar
• 28 Nov 24 Bochum Germany, Matrix **
• 29 Nov 24 Bielefeld Germany, Movie **
• 30 Nov 24 Cologne Germany, Blue Shell **
• 04 Dec 24 Berlin Germany, Urban Spree **
• 05 Dec 24 Copenhagen Denmark, Lygten Station **

* with Vox Sinistra
** with Sjöblom

About The Cassandra Complex

The Cassandra Complex was formed in 1984 by Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drums machine), Paul Dillon (electronics), and Andy Booth (guitar, keyboards). Musically they bring a synthesis of post-punk, goth, EBM, and industrial music, coupled with Rodney Orpheus’ voice.

After a long hiatus, The Cassandra Complex recently returned with the album “The Plague”, recorded during the COVID lockdown. In March 2024 they released “Death & Sex”. Both albums are available from COP International Records on CD and on all streaming services.

Rodney Orpheus has also worked as a producer, remixer, and music technologist, working with artists such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Beborn Beton, The Future Sound of London, Girls Under Glass, Faith & the Muse, Within Temptation, and many more.

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 cult goth band Rosetta Stone returns this month with a new album on Cleopatra Records on August 30. It is 25 years since the group debuted with the EP “Darkness and Light” after having released five cassette tapes and having developed a loyal following around their hometown Liverpool.

Now they release “Under The Weather”, which will be Rosetta Stone’s seventh studio album, and their first since 2020’s “Cryptology”. The new full length will be out on CD and vinyl.

The band’s new single and video for the title track “Under the Weather” is released today.

About Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone emerged from the vibrant musical landscape of the late 1980s in the UK. Founded in 1988 by Porl King and Karl North, the band quickly garnered attention for their dark, atmospheric sound and compelling live performances.

Porl King, the creative force behind Rosetta Stone, played guitar and took on vocal duties, while Karl North handled the bass. The band’s lineup saw various changes over the years, but these two remained the core members during the formative period. Drawing inspiration from gothic pioneers like The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, Rosetta Stone carved out a niche with their ethereal melodies and brooding lyrics.

Their debut album, “An Eye for the Main Chance”, was released in 1991. Throughout the 1990s, Rosetta Stone continued to evolve, experimenting with electronic elements and darker, more complex compositions. Their subsequent albums, “The Tyranny of Inaction” (1995) and “Chemical Emissions” (1998), reflected this progression.

Despite lineup changes and the shifting musical landscape, Rosetta Stone maintained a dedicated following. After a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, Porl King revived Rosetta Stone, releasing new material and performing live again.

In 2019, the band released “Seems Like Forever”, marking a return to their roots while embracing contemporary production techniques. It was followed by 2020’s “Cryptology”.

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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(Photo by Roger op den Camp) COP International Records, International Booking Department, and Resistencia Booking have announce the second leg of the CX40 tour of the Anglo-Irish post-punk group The Cassandra Complex. This second leg will take the band, which celebrates its 40 year anniversary, to Germany, Belgium, USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil, UK, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

The second leg will commence this summer with festivals in Germany and Belgium, followed by dates in the USA and Latin America in the Fall. The tour continues then with more shows in the UK and EU later in the year. The band will also be supported on select European shows by special guests and labelmates Sjöblom.

You can order your tickets here.

• 11/08/24 Hildesheim Germany, Mera Luna Festival
• 24/08/24 Ostend Belgium, W-Festival
• 25/08/24 Sint-Niklaas Belgium, De Rembrandt Festival
• 29/09/24 Chicago USA, Cold Waves Festival
• 12/10/24 Ciudad de México, Foro 28
• 15/10/24 San José Costa Rica, Amon Solar
• 18/10/24 Santiago Chile, RBX
• 19/10/24 Sao Paulo Brazil, Madame
• 23/11/24 Leeds UK, The Old Woolen
• 24/11/24 London UK, The Black Heart
• 26/11/24 Reading UK, The Facebar
• 29/11/24 Bielefeld Germany, Movie
• 30/11/24 Cologne Germany, Blue Shell
• 01/12/24 Bochum Germany, Rockpalast
• 04/12/24 Berlin Germany, Urban Spree
• 05/11/24 Copenhagen Denmark, Lygten Station
• (More dates to be confirmed)

About The Cassandra Complex

The Cassandra Complex was formed in 1984 by Rodney Orpheus (vocals, synths, drums machine), Paul Dillon (electronics), and Andy Booth (guitar, keyboards). Musically they bring a synthesis of post-punk, goth, EBM, and industrial music, coupled with Rodney Orpheus’ voice.

After a long hiatus, The Cassandra Complex recently returned with the album “The Plague”, recorded during the COVID lockdown. In March 2024 they released “Death & Sex”. Both albums are available from COP International Records on CD and on all streaming services.

Rodney Orpheus has also worked as a producer, remixer, and music technologist, working with artists such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Beborn Beton, The Future Sound of London, Girls Under Glass, Faith & the Muse, Within Temptation, and many more.

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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Chicago’s dark alt-rock act Plasmata, have unveiled a new video and free download of their cover of Blue Öyster Cult’s classic “Tattoo Vampire”. “Tattoo Vampire” by Plasmata is available now as a free download on Bandcamp, with Spotify and other major digital platforms to follow.

Plasmata, led by Jeffries since 2005, blends classic Chicago industrial-rock and dark alt-rock with gothic “Glampire” aesthetics. The 2021 EP, “Portraits of Pain”, produced by William Faith, explored themes from Jeffries’ recovery from a brain aneurysm to the “Jack the Ripper Manifesto”. The EP also featured remixes by William Faith and Ben Christo of The Sisters of Mercy.

The band, now a four-piece, is set to bring their show to the US East Coast in September 2024 with [melter] and 2Forks for the Imperfect Waves Tour.

For more details on the tour, visit this page: Imperfect Waves Tour.

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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“Black Magic” is the third album by Italian Dark-Wave/Post-Punk band They Die. As with their previous works, their sound is characterized by a bleak and dark atmosphere, reminiscent of bands like The Sisters Of Mercy and Suspiria. The album features a perfect blend of somber guitar riffs and melodic synth arrangements, creating a hauntingly beautiful soundscape. The vocals are deep and possessed, adding to the overall sense of despair. This album includes several standout tracks that reaffirm the band’s remarkable talent. (Rate:8).

Listen to “Black Magic”:

Read the news on ‘Black Magic’.

About They Die

They Die is an Italian electro trio founded by Giorgio Ricci, previously of Templebeat as well as Dynamica-Machinery, Sub/Mission and 21st Circuitry. Where Templebeat favored 90s Electro/EBM, They Die takes a darker, more gothic direction. The band released “Emptiness Prevails” in July 2022, and “Black Magic”, its third album, followed via Swiss Dark Nights on 16 February.

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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Out on Metropolis Records on 19 July 2024 is the brand new album by the post-punk/goth legends The March Violets. The band signed to Metropolis Records in early 2024 and will release a brand new studio album entitled “Crocodile Promises” on 19th July. A single and video is available now, “Hammer The Last Nail”.

Describing the track’s lyrical content, singer Rosie Garland states: “There’s no time like now to break free of gaslighting; no time like now to untangle from toxic people. The March Violets are set to Hammer the Last Nail into damaging relationships that keep us in prison.”

The band will play seven UK dates in late July and early August prior to a US tour. Their schedule includes shows in London and Glasgow, the latter immediately preceded by a slot at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool (2nd August).

Regarding the band’s current line-up, Mat Thorpe (bass, vocals) joined band founders Rosie Garland (vocals) and Tom Ashton (guitar) as a permanent member of The March Violets in early 2024.

About The March Violets

The March Violets are a British post-punk band that emerged from the Leeds music scene in the early 1980s. They are often associated with the gothic rock movement and were contemporaries of bands like The Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus.

The March Violets were formed in 1981 by Tom Ashton (guitar), Laurence “Loz” Elliott (bass), Simon “Si” Denbigh (vocals), and Rosie Garland (vocals). The band quickly gained a following with their unique sound characterized by a dual vocal approach and a blend of post-punk and gothic rock elements.

Their early singles, released on the independent label Merciful Release, which was also associated with The Sisters of Mercy, included tracks like “Religious as Hell” (1982) and “Grooving in Green” (1983). These releases helped establish the band’s dark and atmospheric style, marked by prominent bass lines, guitar riffs, and haunting vocals.

In 1984, The March Violets signed with a major label, London Records, and released the “Natural History” compilation, which included a mix of their earlier singles and new material.

Despite their early success, The March Violets faced numerous lineup changes and internal conflicts, which affected their stability and output. They released their only full-length album of the original era, “Electric Shades,” in 1985. The band disbanded in the mid-1980s but left a lasting impact on the gothic rock and post-punk scenes.

The March Violets reformed in 2007 and have since performed at various festivals and released new music. They released the album “Made Glorious” in 2013, which was funded through a successful crowdfunding campaign. The band’s recent work has continued to blend their signature gothic rock sound with modern influences. Read the review of ‘Crocodile Promises’.

The March Violets Discography

• Religious as Hell (1982)
• Grooving in Green (1983)
• Natural History (1984)
• Electric Shades (1985)
• Made Glorious (2013)
• Crocodile Promises (2024)

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 June 7th is the brand new Clan Of Xymox album “Exodus”. “Exodus” is the band’s 18th studio album and comes 3 years after the “Limbo” full length.

“Exodus” comes in various formats, on CD and on limited red transparent audiophile vinyl limited to 500 copies.

Coming out on the same date is a limited multicoloured art edition – equally on audiophile vinyl – of the 2012 album “Kindred Spirits”. Limited also to 500 copies “Kindred Spirits” holds 11 cover versions, entirely played, sung and recorded by Ronny Moorings. Included are “Blue Monday” by New Order, “Question of Time” by Depeche Mode, “Decades” by Joy Division, “A Forest” by The Cure and “Alice” by The Sisters Of Mercy.

About Clan Of Xymox

Clan of Xymox was formed in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1981. Their breakthrough came with the release of “Twist of Shadows” in 1989, propelling them into the limelight with hits like “Blind Hearts” and “Obsession”, and achieving their most significant commercial success by selling over 300,000 copies globally.

Following internal disagreements, the early ’90s saw a shift in the band’s lineup and musical direction, with Moorings exploring new soundscapes that diverged from their initial darkwave style. This period was marked by experimentation but also by a decline in their U.S. popularity amid the grunge movement’s ascendancy.

A resurgence of interest in gothic rock in the late ’90s saw Ronny Moorings reviving the Clan of Xymox moniker and relocating to Germany, tapping into the burgeoning industrial music scene. Albums like “Hidden Faces” and “Creatures” from this era offered a matured sound, blending electro elements with their trademark darkwave aesthetics. Read the review of ‘Exodus’.

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 Cop International on March 14 is “The Plague”, the brand new album by The Cassandra Complex. The album is their first since 2013 and while the streaming version of this album came out in 2022, it’s only now that the album will see a CD version, albeit in a fully remastered version. It will be supported by a world tour across 12 countries throughout 2024.

The band took a hiatus for several years while Orpheus worked creating some of the most widely used music technology today, as well as production work with other bands such as The Sisters of Mercy, Kraftwerk, Within Temptation, Sinead O’Connor, Die Krupps, and many others. During the COVID lockdown the band got together using online collaboration tech to create 10 brand new songs.

The Cassandra Complex revisits ‘Sex & Death’

Out the same day is “Death & Sex” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the moment Rodney Orpheus, Paul Dillon, and Andy Booth got together in a basement in Leeds, England with a collection of cheap second-hand guitar pedals, synthesisers, and drum machines to start recording material. In 1993 they released the legendary album “Sex & Death” and now the band re-recorded 7 tracks of this classic record from scratch (note the inverted album title).

This new version features the original founders of the band Rodney Orpheus and Andy Booth, with long time additional members Chris Haskett (Henry Rollins Band, David Bowie) on guitar and Mera Roberts (Faith and the Muse, Black Tape for a Blue Girl) on cello, plus new member Brent Heinze (Probe 7) on keyboards.

The Cassandra Complex – First Tour dates 2024

• UK – 14/03 Todmorden, The Golden Lion
• UK – 16/03 Gateshead, The Black Bull
• UK – 17/03 London, The Lower Third
• B – 21/03 Charleroi, La Ruche Verriere
• NL – 22/03 Amsterdam, Q-Factory
• NL – 24/03 Heerlen, Nieuwe Nor
• DK – 30/03 Copenhagen, Lygten
• CZ – 21/05 Prague, Palac Akropolis

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 the “Moving Forward” EP by m o k r o ï é. Released independently, this digital EP also includes a cover of Sisters Of Mercy’s “More” in an ‘ecstatic electronic mix’. The cover comes accompanied by an animated music video that captures the essence of a Californian road trip.

Francesco Virgilio, the founder of m o k r o ï é, utilizes a range of styles from electro-pop to electro-industrial leveraging minimal equipment.

The EP features contributions from artists such as Allonymous, M. A. Jouveaux (TRANK) and Carol Aplogan.

You can download the EP right now from 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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Genre/Influences: Wave-Pop, Dark-Pop, Electro.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: By the end of 2023 German formation Absurd Minds unleashed their eighth opus which came three years after “Sapta” and twenty three years after their official debut album “Deception” -which by the way was already released by Scanner.

Content: This is an album without surprises and which will be liked by the growing fanbase of the band. The songs are driven by this unique Absurd Minds Electro/Wave/Pop touch mixing harder, dancefloor-orientated songs and softer, melancholic; Ballad-like cuts. I once more experienced Absurd Minds as the sonic hybrid between Project Pitchfork and The Sisters Of Mercy.

+ + + : The band doesn’t try new tricks or innovation but simply achieved a professional and alluring production. I prefer the ‘harder’ cuts whereon the band excels in great crafted songs carried by strong melody lines. I also like the symphonic, electronic, arrangements the songs have been made of while Stefan Grossmann remains a great, and charismatic, singer.

– – – : I never have been a huge fan of the band’s softer side and these cuts aren’t still my favorites after having heard the new work.

Conclusion: Absurd Minds strikes back in style once more confirming they’re a band with a very own and recognizable sound.

Best songs: “A Million Miles”, “No restraint”, “Silicon dreams”, “Gravitas”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.absurdminds.de / www.facebook.com/AbsurdMinds

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

About Absurd Minds

Absurd Minds formed in Dresden, Germany, in 1995 around Tilo Ladwig and Stefan Grossmann, working with producer Francesco D’Angelo of Scanner / Dark Dimensions. The band released its debut album, “Deception”, on Scanner in 2000.

After “Serve Or Suffer” in 2010, Absurd Minds returned in 2017 with “Tempus Fugit”, followed by “Sapta”. The eighth album, “Gravitas”, followed on Scanner / Dark Dimensions at the end of 2023, with Stefan Grossmann remaining the band’s vocalist.

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 industrial metal act FEBRVVM has released the third single from its upcoming new album “Cholera in the Time of Love” which is due on February 16. The song is called “One Two Three Four” and is accompanied with a lyric video that features AI-generated monstrosities.

The band explains the video as follows: “Basically it is a collection of Midjourney pictures, most of which are anime girls with guitars. Multiple impossible guitars. Played by creatures with three arms who have six fingers on each hand. You know, the usual stuff. The longer you look at the picture, the worse it gets. Does it have to deal anything with the subject of the song? It kind of does.”

You can watch the lyric video for the track below.

You can download the track via Bandcamp as well.

About FEBRVVM

FEBRVVM is an alternative/industrial/gothic rock/metal band hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. The band, characterized by its industrial metal roots, has also been known to infuse elements of gothic metal into its sound.

The discography of FEBRVVM includes several releases including the debut EP “Secretly Dreaming of Freezing to Death” from 2017. This was followed by the EP “Ekpyrosis” in 2018 and “Praemeditatio Malorvm” in 2020. The year 2021 saw the release of two albums, “Apokatastasis” and “Breaking the Broken”.

In addition to original compositions, FEBRVVM has also made a mark with a cover album, “Cross Over and Turn”, offering his take on songs by The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Leonard Cohen, Low, Tweaker with Will Oldham, U2, and more.

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, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Francesco Virgilio strikes back with a new EP of his Mokroïé project. “Moving Forward” reveals four new songs plus two bonus cuts.

Content: The EP reveals a more Electronic approach than previous works. There however is one exception which is “More”. It reminds me of The Sisters Of Mercy which is not a coincidence as it’s a cover version of Andrew Eldritch’s band. The electronic side features vintage sound treatments, deep bass lines and some astral sequences.

+ + + : “Moving Forward” sounds as a varied and eclectic work. The cover version of “More” -also featured as an instrumental, bonus, track, is a great tribute to The Sisters Of Mercy. Another essential cut is “Forest Of Uncertainty” -which is also featured as an instrumental, bonus, edit. The retro-synth treatments are really cool here while the sung edit features half spoken like vocals.

– – – : The work’s diversity is maybe missing somewhat cohesion.

Conclusion: I’ve mixed feelings listening to this work because of its diversity although it’s pleasant.

Best songs: “More”, “Forest Of Uncertainty”

Rate: 6½.

Artist: https://mokroie.com / www.facebook.com/mokroie

Listen to “Moving Forward”:

About Mokroïé

Mokroïé is the electro-pop and dark-wave project of Francesco Virgilio. The project’s catalog includes the album “Machines & Soul” and the EP “Works2k21”, alongside a series of singles. “Moving Forward” follows the 2021 single “Natural” and continues the project’s eclectic electronic direction, this time incorporating more pronounced rock elements.

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

FEBRVVM, an industrial metal act, has released the second single from its upcoming album “Cholera in the Time of Love” due in February 2024. The song is called “Sleeve” and deals as the band says “in a humorous manner with situations which are, frankly, not funny at all.”

You can watch the lyric video for the track here.

The single is available for streaming pretty much everywhere, including bandcamp.

About FEBRVVM

FEBRVVM is an alternative/industrial/gothic rock/metal band hailing from Providence, Rhode Island. The band, characterized by its industrial metal roots, has also been known to infuse elements of gothic metal into its sound.

The discography of FEBRVVM includes several releases including the debut EP “Secretly Dreaming of Freezing to Death” from 2017. This was followed by the EP “Ekpyrosis” in 2018 and “Praemeditatio Malorvm” in 2020. The year 2021 saw the release of two albums, “Apokatastasis” and “Breaking the Broken”.

In addition to original compositions, FEBRVVM has also made a mark with a cover album, “Cross Over and Turn”, offering his take on songs by The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy, Leonard Cohen, Low, Tweaker with Will Oldham, U2, and more.

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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(Photo by Kevin Condon/WeirdHours) Fresh off of tour runs in Europe and North America with The Sisters of Mercy, Clan of Xymox, and Then Comes Silence respectively, Metropolis welcomes Brooklyn’s A Cloud of Ravens to the Metropolis Records family. Side-Line covered this band several times already.

Singer/guitarist Matt McIntosh and bassist Beth Narducci formed A Cloud of Ravens in the autumn of 2018. The 2021 full-length album “Another Kind of Midnight” was their breakthrough release merging classic and contemporary post-punk and darkwave. A remix EP followed, featuring reimagined tracks by artists such as Actors, Clan of Xymox, Chris Vrenna, John Fryer, and Ritual Howls.

A Cloud of Ravens’ most recent album “Lost Hymns” was released by Schubert Music Europe’s Nexilis imprint, and is now being brought to North American audiences by Metropolis Records in its original form on all digital platforms. Expect an extended version of the album with bonus remixes and a new exclusive track from Metropolis in the coming months.

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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Grey Gallows is a Greek duo hailing from Patras. The band is driven by Konstantin (vocals & keys) and Dionisis (guitar, bass & keys). They this year released their fourth full-length album “Strangers” which also is the second one released by Cold Transmission Records. The band take us back to the darkest hours of Dark-Wave and Post-Punk while adding a personal touch on top of the composition. “Strangers” deals about different themes which can be summarized to human psyche, love, pain, alienation, and the redemption of the individual, concerning social issues that plague the modern era. I got in touch with Konstantin to know a bit more about this cool formation.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Grey Gallows is now active for a couple of years. How did the band saw the daylight and what do you consider as your main accomplishments so far?

Dionisis: We formed as a band in 2016 when I moved to live in Patras and met Konstantin. We became close friends and as we understood that we shared the same taste in music, we decided that we would like to make our own band and express ourselves.

I believe that signing with a label like Cold Transmission and be given the opportunity to perform abroad and especially at WGT is something that we didn’t expect back then and that makes us really proud.

Q: I think your music sounds obviously 80s Dark-Wave / Post-Punk inspired with something extra on top which makes me think to an imaginary hybrid between The Sisters Of Mercy and She Passed Away. Does this description fits to your own perception of sound and what have been the main sources of inspiration?

Konstantin: Well, this is an interesting description, we definitely love The Sisters Of Mercy and we have high respect for She Past Away. We are obviously into 80s Dark-Wave / Post-Punk, listening all those great bands of the past, such as The Cure, Joy Division and Deine Lakaien, but we also like more recent bands, like Lebannon Hanover.

Τhe latest years, being on Cold Transmission, I think that we have been influenced by its distinctive sound and musical approach in general.

Q: You already released several albums but especially both last productions released by Cold Transmission Music give you a wider exposure. How do you analyze the evolution of the band and what’s the impact to be signed on a leading label of the Dark-Wave / Post-Punk scene?

Konstantin: Signing to Cold Transmission gave us both the artistic freedom to express ourselves musically without limits and, on the other hand, to have the chance to reach a broader audience, especially in Germany and central Europe. So, being on a label as supportive as Cold Transmission, is very benefic for us.

We share with Suzy and Andreas our music ideas, discuss the evolution of the band which resulted in friendship.  Moreover we are now family, we belong to the Cold Transmission family and we are very happy and proud of it.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your new album “Strangers”. How did this album saw the daylight and what did you try to express by its lyrical themes?

Konstantin: Some of the songs, for example “Strangers”, were written during the pandemic, so in one aspect they reflect a state of sentimental and social isolation we found ourselves being into those days.

Musically, we tried to evolve our sound, combining a traditional Dark-Wave sound with Cold-Wave and experimenting with more Electronic elements than our previous albums.

Of course we had the honor to have two great female singers in two songs, Kriistal Ann from Paradox Obscur and Irini Tiniakou from Incirrina, a fact that we believe gave a different kind of emotional approach to our songs.

Lats but no least, we had the opportunity to work again with Nick ‘TheMute’ Chalntoupis, our sound engineer, who gave to ‘’Strangers’’ its distinctive sound.

Q: I experienced “Strangers” as your most accomplished and best work to date. Do you think the last album is always the best one? Do you handle specific criteria and/or references when it comes to composition and production?

Dionisis : For Grey Gallows I think that this is true. “Strangers” is our most complete work until now in terms of composition and production. We tried to add more elements in our sound and explore more genres and so we loved that we were able to do different things in each song of this album.

We try in every release, to have let’s say a ‘pallet’ of songs that shows our influences and in “Strangers” we experimented more so that we could broaden our musical horizons.

Q: I noticed you last year also released a live EP/mini-album featuring five songs. How important are live shows to you -and especially after the lockdowns all over Europe? How do you look back at WGT you played this year?

Dionisis: These songs were recorded during the last lockdown for a stream event and later on we came up with the idea to release it as EP.

It was a strange and hard era during the covid for every musician and for their fans also, because gigs are the best way to share your energy and feelings with people who support you and listen to your music.

WGT was an amazing experience and I would say that it was the best gig we had until now. The feedback that we got and the support during the show was something that we really hadn’t expected so we couldn’t be happier. It was a really memorable experience.

Q: What comes next for Grey Gallows?

Dionisis: We are currently working on some new songs for our next album, this is our fuel that keeps us evolving and moving forward.

Furthermore, we have scheduled some live gigs for September, we are a band who loves playing live. In one of those we are supporting the mighty Covenant in Athens on December, along with our friend Night In Athens. So we would like to thank you for this interview, it was a real pleasure and honor for 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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Genre/Influences: Dark-Wave, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: “Strangers” is the fourth official studio album by Greek formation Grey Gallows. It also is their second opus released by German label Cold Transmission Records.

Content: The work reflects the darkest hours of Dark-Wave music and especially the opening cut sounds like emerging from the grave. Guitar and singing are once again reminding me of The Sisters Of Mercy but the production also features very explicit electronic sound treatments. In the end you get a perfect twist between guitar and electronics; between dark power and melody lines. The work also features interesting collaborations with guest singers Kriistal Ann and Incirrina.

+ + + : This is a great dark production revealing a band which has seriously improved most aspects of their production. They first of all found a better balance between typical Dark-Wave guitar playing and elevating, melodic, Electronics. The low singing vocals only accentuate the darkness of the work while female guest singers -and especially Kriistal Ann, injects her familiar cold, sterile, and sensual way of singing.

– – – : Both last songs aren’t my favorites and a bit like an antithesis to a great piece of music.

Conclusion: Grey Gallows reinvents the 80s Dark-Wave spirit; kind of imaginary hybrid between The Sisters Of Mercy and She Passed Away.

Best songs: “Strangers”, “Lies”, “Spirits Feat. Kriistal Ann”, “Dying Light”, “Bare Inside Featuring Incirrina”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/greygallowsband

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206 Read the news on ‘Strangers’.

Listen to “Strangers”:

About Grey Gallows

Grey Gallows is a Greek dark wave duo from Patras, formed in 2016 by Konstantin (vocals, keys) and Dionisis (guitar, bass, keys). The band signed to German label Cold Transmission Records, which gave them a wider audience across Germany and central Europe and led to a performance at Wave-Gotik-Treffen. “Strangers”, released in 2023, is the band’s fourth full-length album and its second for Cold Transmission Records. Partly written during the pandemic, the record combines the duo’s Dark-Wave and Post-Punk foundation with Cold-Wave and electronic elements, and features guest vocals from Kriistal Ann of Paradox Obscur and Irini Tiniakou of Incirrina, mixed by longtime sound engineer Nick “TheMute” Chalntoupis.

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-Wave, Gothic.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Belgian formation This Vale Of Tears was mainly active during the 90s. Brussels (Belgium) based label Je M’En Fish brings the band alive with a fine selection of remastered early demos and promos. Sixteen songs have been featured. Notice by the way Je M’En Fish last year already re-released the self-titled debut work of this band on vinyl.

Content: We first get 6 demo songs from the self-entitled cassette released in 1994 revealing the pure, dark-Wave, style of the band. The sound is evoking famous bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Sisters Of Mercy. We next get 6 more songs from the demo “Where The Sun Now Stands” (1995) which moves in a similar way although the influences are more diversified and even becoming Industrial-like. Last but not least there are 4 promo tracks (2000) revealing a sound in evolution.

+ + + : It’s cool to get back to the early days of TVOT which clearly had a true potential; great dark-Wave music mixing powerful tracks but also more melancholic, slow, pieces. The guitar playing has something magic evoking the 80s spirit. “Frozen Zone” and “Down & Under” both remain great pieces of music which you’ll rediscover. I also have to mention the more Industrial-driven “Happy Birthday” and the powerful “Flame” featuring passionate vocals.

– – – : We can only but regret This Vale Of Tears didn’t become more famous and no longer releases new material.

Conclusion: Great Dark-Wave music made in Belgium; this album getting back to the origins of the band.

Best songs: “Down & Under”, “Frozen Zone”, “Happy Birthday”, “Flame”, “The Liar”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063716311259

Label: www.facebook.com/JemenfishBE

About This Vale Of Tears

This Vale Of Tears was a Belgian goth rock band whose lineup included Bart, Erik Duffeler, Johan Peeters and Tom Simons. The band self-released a self-titled demo in 1994, followed by the demo “From Where The Sun Now Stands” in 1995. Two studio albums followed on FZ-records, “Precession By Sunset” (1997) and “Adam Nude” (1999), before “Exceed” appeared on Black Rain in 2002.

Je M’En Fish began reissuing the band’s archive on remastered vinyl in 2021 with “Higher Spirits / The Liar,” followed by two more limited lathe-cut singles in 2022. The compilation “Analecta,” gathering sixteen remastered demo and promo tracks, followed on Je M’En Fish in 2023.

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 independent record label Massacre Records, known for its focus on heavier metal genres, is set to launch a cover album titled “New Wave Gone Metal” by James Rivera‘s Metal Wave in late August. This venture marks a new direction for the Germany-based label, introducing the concept of ‘metal wave’.

James Rivera, an American vocalist known for his role as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Helstar, is the brain behind this project. Rivera, who also lent his voice to Seven Witches from 2002 to 2005, has been part of numerous tribute bands throughout his career, which provides some context for this latest album.

Rivera, who has also been associated with bands like Helstar, Killing Machine, Seven Witches, and formerly Flotsam and Jetsam, shares, “I have always loved each of these songs in their original versions, but after reimagining them in our unique metal style, it’s challenging for me to listen to them as they once were. I believe that once these new wave classics grab hold of you in their metal wave form, you’ll never hear them the same way again!”

The album will feature ‘metal wave’ renditions of songs from bands such as Depeche Mode, The Cure, Tears for Fears, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, The Sisters of Mercy, The Psychedelic Furs, Peter Gabriel, Ramones, and The Cult.

Here’s the video for the project’s ‘metal wave’ interpretation of Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration”. The video was directed and edited by Larry Barragán for Hombre Malo Studios.

The release will be available in 3 formats, a black and red vinyl (250 copies) and on CD.

Tracks:

1. Black Celebration (Depeche Mode)
2. Love My Way (The Psychedelic Furs)
3. Lovesong (The Cure)
4. Shock The Monkey (Peter Gabriel)
5. Black Planet (The Sisters Of Mercy)
6. Everybody wants to rule the World (Tears For Fears)
7. Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Bauhaus)
8. The Killing Moon (Echo & The Bunnymen)
9. Pet Sematary (Ramones)
10. Rain (The Cult)

For more on The Cure, see The Cure has top grossing tour and gives the middle finger to… on Side-Line.

About James Rivera

James Rivera (born 15 April 1960) is an American heavy metal vocalist best known as frontman of Helstar, a power metal band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1982 by guitarist Larry Barragan, which Rivera joined shortly after formation. Helstar’s debut album, “Burning Star” (Combat Records, 1984), placed the band within the emerging US power metal scene, and Rivera and Barragan remain the band’s only original members across its subsequent lineup changes. Rivera has also fronted or guested with Vicious Rumors, Destiny’s End and Seven Witches, and performs with the project Distant Thunder.

Rivera’s covers project, credited to James Rivera’s Metal Wave, released the album “New Wave Gone Metal” via Massacre Records, reimagining 1980s new wave and post-punk songs in metal arrangements, including Depeche Mode’s “Black Celebration,” the Cure’s “Lovesong” and Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” alongside covers of the Psychedelic Furs, Peter Gabriel, the Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, Echo & the Bunnymen and the Cult. “New Wave Gone Metal” reworks songs originally by Depeche Mode, the Cure and Tears for Fears, among others, in metal arrangements.

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 fine people at Audioglobe inform us of a new release that is out now via Young & Cold. Leeds-based band Deathtrippers have released their latest 2022 album, “Passion & Fire”, in a limited edition offering of 250 copies on black vinyl.

This record follows their 2017 debut EP “Unity of Light” and their 2018 single “Disintegrate / Hand In Hand”. The group, which emerged in 2015, is led by Sasha Raoul and has experienced several lineup changes since the start. The current formation includes Sasha on vocals and instruments, Rick on guitar, and Oli on bass and drum machine.

“Passion & Fire” is a collection of new tracks in a classic UK-style goth rock which is not really a surprise as they hail from Leeds, a city renowned for its gothic music scene in the 80s with bands like The March Violets, The Three Johns, Salvation, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, and The Sisters of Mercy. Deathtrippers continue this tradition while blending it with guitar wave influences from bands like Lowlife and Sad Lovers & Giants.

The band has been working on the new material throughout 2021 and recorded the material with legendary producer Choque Hussain. Choque Hussain, a British music producer and sound engineer, has worked with numerous alternative / gothic bands in the past including Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, The Mission, and Claytown Troupe, among others.

Listen to “Shadows & Whispers” from the album 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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Editors note: We completely distance ourselves from the Russian band Ploho on this line-up. They have have done nothing to express their support for the Ukrainian people or to condemn the cruel and unwanted invasion in Ukraine, on the contrary. The organisors of the festival have been made aware of our view on this.

The Greek darkwave and post-punk music lovers are in for a treat as the Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival 2023 announces its line-up. Set to take place at the Technopolis City of Athens on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, the two-day event will showcase 14 bands across two stages.

The festival opens on Saturday, July 22, with a diverse roster of acts, including VNV Nation, The Soft Moon, Selofan, Rue Oberkampf, Ploho, Kalte Nacht, and Youth Valley. On Sunday, July 23, the event continues with headliners The Sisters of Mercy, followed by performances from She Past Away, ACTORS, Absolute Body Control, Mecano Un-Ltd., Mechanimal, and Data Fragments.

Located at 100 Piraeus Street, the Technopolis City of Athens is easily accessible by metro, trolley, and bus. To reach the venue, festival-goers can take the Blue Line (Line 3) to the Kerameikos station, trolley No. 21 from Omonoia station to Fotaerio Stop, or any of the following bus lines: No. 049, 815, 838, 914, Β18, and Γ18.

Tickets for the Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival 2023 are now available for pre-sale. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.athens-technopolis.gr or call (+30) 213 0109300 or 213 0109324. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to experience some of the best live music in the heart of Athens.

Here is the list of all bands playing:

• The Sisters Of Mercy
• VNV Nation (Do also check out this VNV Nation interview.)
• She Past Away
• The Soft Moon
• Actors
• Absolute Body Control
• Mecano Un.Ltd
• Selofan
• Ploho
• Rue Oberkampf
• Kalte Nacht
• Mechanimal
• Youth Valley
• Data Fragments

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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(Photo by Renaud Monfourny) The 35th anniversary release of Suicide’s third studio album, “A Way of Life”, will be available on May 26th, 2023 through Mute/BMG. The album has been remastered and includes previously unreleased tracks. Suicide, consisting of members Alan Vega and Martin Rev, was a pioneering duo in the punk and synth-pop scene.

The anniversary edition of “A Way of Life” will be released on transparent blue vinyl (including an art card and two bonus tracks), CD (with a 4-page booklet and five bonus tracks), and digitally. Jared Artaud discovered the unreleased bonus tracks while working on the Vega Vault archives. Denis Blackham of Skye Mastering, who worked on the recent remastered reissues of Suicide’s first and second albums, remastered the album. The album’s artwork design and concept were created by Artaud and Michael Handis.

Listen to the unreleased version of Suicide’s 1988 live cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” right below.

“A Way of Life,” originally released in 1988, more than a decade after their groundbreaking self-titled debut, features classic Suicide tracks like “Surrender”, “Jukebox Baby 96”, and “Dominic Christ”. For the production of the album, Alan Vega and Martin Rev collaborated once again with Ric Ocasek, frontman of The Cars.

Suicide, formed in the early 1970s, became an integral part of the New York punk scene by 1976. Their debut album has since been recognized as a significant influence on countless artists and musicians, such as New Order, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen, KLF, Spiritualized, Moby, Soft Cell, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Sisters of Mercy, Primal Scream, and Nick Cave.

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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London’s Cadiz Music label in conjunction with Merciful Release has announced that a re-mastered version of the “Gift” album by The Sisterhood, the musical project formed by Andrew Eldritch after the demise of The Sisters of Mercy, will be re-issued on the 26th of May 2023. Originally put out on Eldritch’s own Merciful Release label in 1986, the album will now be available digitally, on CD, cassette and limited clear vinyl and features five tracks including the extended mix of the band’s first single ‘Giving Ground’.

Track listing:

1. ‘Jihad’
2. ‘Colours’
3. ‘Giving Ground’
4. ‘Finland Red, Egypt White’
5. ‘Rain From Heaven’

Controversy

In 1985, after the release of the first Sisters of Mercy album “First and Last and Always,” the band prepared for a follow-up. Singer Andrew Eldritch saw it as an opportunity for a change of direction, wanting to explore recording songs without typical rock structures and guitars. However, the band’s musical differences grew, ultimately leading to guitarist Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Adams leaving the band.

The pair had expressed their intentions to form a new band and use the name “The Sisterhood.” In an attempt to prevent them from capitalizing on The Sisters of Mercy’s success, Eldritch swiftly formed his own band under the same name, effectively blocking Hussey and Adams from using it.

The formation of The Sisterhood caused a rift among the members of The Sisters of Mercy, ultimately leading to the departure of Hussey and Adams. They went on to form the successful gothic rock band The Mission. The controversy surrounding The Sisterhood’s formation led to speculation that the project was an act of revenge by Eldritch. However, Eldritch has downplayed these claims, stating that The Sisterhood was a creative response to the situation and a way to protect the legacy of The Sisters of Mercy.

Gift: The Sisterhood’s Only Album

The Sisterhood’s sound was a departure from the typical gothic rock sound of The Sisters of Mercy, incorporating electronic elements and a more experimental approach. Next to Eldritch the band’s lineup included Alan Vega (Suicide), Lucas Fox (Motorhead), Patricia Morrison (Sisters Of Mercy), James Ray (Gangwar) and Doktor Avalanche (the Sisters’ drum machine).

“Gift,” The Sisterhood’s sole album, was released in 1986. The album features a mix of gothic rock, electronic, and experimental music, with lyrics that touch on themes of religion, love, and betrayal. The album was not a commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics. However, it has since gained a cult following among fans of The Sisters of Mercy and the gothic rock genre. Some notable tracks from “Gift” include “Giving Ground,” “Dance on Glass,” and “Jihad.” “Giving Ground” features a driving bassline and dark, atmospheric synthesizers, while “Dance on Glass” is an uptempo electronic track with a catchy melody. “Jihad” stands out for its haunting and atmospheric sound, featuring spoken-word vocals and Middle Eastern-influenced instrumentation.

Merciful Release announced the single’s release with a press statement: “From among the forces allied to Merciful Release we bring you the Sisterhood. capturing (in this instance) the musical bile of Andrew Eldritch, and introducing James Ray and the Performance … of whom more soon.”

The original “Giving Ground” version is expanded to a seven minute long take here while the lyrics of “Finland Red Egypt White” are taken from the manual of the AK-47 machine gun and a version of “Colours” was later included as a bonus track on CD versions The Sisters of Mercy album “Floodland” in 1987 only this time sung by Andrew Eldritch.

Aftermath and Legacy

Following the release of “Gift,” The Sisterhood disbanded, and Andrew Eldritch returned his focus to The Sisters of Mercy. The band underwent significant lineup changes, with Patricia Morrison joining as bassist. Eldritch has been relatively quiet about The Sisterhood project in interviews, stating that it served its purpose and that he has moved on from that chapter of his career.

Despite its short-lived existence and limited output, The Sisterhood remains an interesting and controversial part of gothic rock history. The band’s formation, the tension between Eldritch and his former bandmates, and the release of “Gift” have all contributed to a mythology surrounding The Sisterhood that continues to fascinate fans and music historians alike.

Reflecting on The Sisterhood later, Eldritch stated: “The Sisterhood album was a weapon in this corporate war. That’s why I called it Gift (in German: poison) But I still like the record. It’s weird but it’s fine. I see it as a techno record. Or what I thought to be techno at the time. The Sisterhood project was born out of a certain period of upheaval and conflict within the band. It was a way to assert control over the situation and protect the legacy of The Sisters of Mercy. It’s interesting how The Sisterhood has developed its own mythology over the years. People have their own interpretations and theories about it, which is something that has always fascinated me. The Sisterhood was a response to a particular moment in time. It served its purpose, and then we moved on. I don’t spend much time thinking about it these days.”

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 UK goth rock act Salvation will play at the ‘Tomorrow’s Ghost Festival’ in Whitby on Oct 28th with The March Violets.

For those who missed it, the band released the live album “We Gave You Diamonds​.​.​. Live at De Casino!” on CD and purple vinyl in late 2021. There are still a few copies available from this limited vinyl edition of 300 copies. The first 100 copies came with a free Salvation Tote Bag. The CD version holds a 12-page colour booklet with exclusive photos of the band on stage and the fans.

The live recording itself was made at De Casino in Sint-Niklaas (BE) on March 7th 2020 on the final night of a four-date tour supporting The Mission.

About Salvation

Salvation was formed in 1983 by Danny and James, who experimented with noise using bass guitar, synths, and pedals. They recorded their first single, “Girlsoul” on Merciful Release, with the help of Andrew Eldritch from The Sisters of Mercy, and recorded six songs for an album, “Clash of Dreams”, that was ultimately shelved. Only 4 ‘test pressings’ were made at the time and the release was shelved. The album remained unavailable until it was remastered and released in October 2014.

Mike left the band, but Choque joined with his 12-string guitar and pedals, and the band continued to produce recordings with a psychedelic goth sound.

In 1987, James left and was replaced by Ben and Richard, transforming Salvation into a well-oiled rock ‘n’ roll machine. The band’s “Diamonds Are Forever” album sold solidly at home and abroad and breached the indie charts.

The band continued to tour and record, but Paul left and Choque left for his mistress, The Hollow Men. The band underwent serious auditions and brought on new members, Andy M and George Schultz. The band released their “All And More” EP and in 1989, the band was signed to Miles Copeland’s IRS label and released their album “Sass”. Salvation from then on toured extensively with The Alarm, Fields of The Nephilim, New Model Army and The Wonderstuff.

Constant gigging took its toll, and the band’s groove machine reached terminal meltdown. Danny left the band in mid-1990, signalling the end of their IRS contract. The band recruited another singer, but things were never the same, and the final curtain soon descended.

In March 2020, the band played 4 shows supporting The Mission in France and Belgium.

The current line-up consists of Daniel Mass, Benoît Farvak, Paul Lavender, Nic Bate and Stuart Owen.

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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(Photo credit by Lara Aimee) The Sisters of Mercy have announced their first US tour in over 14 years: 19 dates, commencing on May 10, 2023.

In November 2022, the band had already announced their first live appearance on American soil since the second Bush administration with a headlining spot at the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas. They continued with a concert announced for May 23rd at the Palladium in Los Angeles, selling out within 48 hours. Less than a week later, they also announced two additional dates – a headline in Las Vegas following Sick New World and a second show in the City of Angels.

That resulted in a full fledged tour now. Check the full list below. Tickets for the US return of The Sisters of Mercy can be purchased right here.

Tour dates

• Wed, May 10 – Silver Spring MD @ The Fillmore DC
• Sat, May 13 – Las Vegas NV @ Sick New World Festival – SOLD OUT
• Sun, May 14 – Las Vegas NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
• Mon, May 15 – Los Angeles CA @ Hollywood Palladium
• Wed, May 17 – San Francisco CA @ The Masonic
• Fri, May 19 – Portland OR @ Crystal Ballroom
• Sun, May 21 – Seattle WA @ Moore Theatre
• Tue, May 23 – Los Angeles CA @ Hollywood Palladium – SOLD OUT
• Wed, May 24 – Tempe AZ @ Marquee Theatre
• Fri, May 26 – Houston TX @ Bayou Music Center – Please see venue website
• Sat, May 27 – Austin TX @ Austin City Limits Live at Moody Theatre
• Mon, May 29 – St Louis MO @ The Pageant
• Wed, May 31 – Boston MA @ Big Night Live
• Fri, June 2 – Brooklyn NY @ Kings Theatre
• Sat, June 3 – Philadelphia PA @ The Fillmore
• Mon, June 5 – Detroit MI @ The Fillmore – Please see venue website
• Tue, June 6 – Chicago IL @ The Salt Shed – Please see venue website
• Thu, June 8 – Kansas City MO @ Uptown Theatre
• Fri, June 9 – Denver CO @ Fillmore Auditorium

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: Post-Punk, Dark-Wave.

Format: Digital, 5CD Box.

Background/Info: This massive box brings me back to the golden 80s era of Post-Punk and Dark-Wave music. There was a great scene in Leeds featuring bands like The Sisters Of Mercy, Gang Of Four, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and many others. The March Violets were still from Leeds and belong to the collective memory of all Post-Punk fans. This box features a first disc with the “Complete Singles 1982-85”, one with “Extended Versions & Eras”, “another with “BBC Recordings 1982-84”, one with “Unreleased Rarities 1982-84” and a last one featuring “Unreleased Rarities 1985-87”.

Content: The music of The March Violets brings us back to this legendary formation. The sound was characterized by guitar, bass guitar and a rhythm box (just like The Sisters Of Mercy). The vocals were mixing male vocals together with female backings. They had a very specific and recognizable sound which was into pure Post-Punk with some extra Rock elements on top. This is an opportunity to (re)discover the band’s most famous hits like “Religious As Hell”, “Walk Into The Sun”, “Lights Go Out”, “Snake Dance”, “Fodder”, “Children On Stun” and much more.

+ + + : This is a great, artistic Box bringing The March Violets alive. They indeed announced new live shows and even new songs for this year. But this is a way to get back to the early years and the way it all started. You maybe don’t know Andrew Eldritch released their official debut single “Religious As Hell”. I like this band for their unique sound and the great complementarity between male- and female vocals. The first disc is the most essential one but the other ones feature interesting passages like live tracks & BBC live recordings for the famous John Peel sessions, alternative- and extended versions.

– – – : On the long run you get the same songs again and again.

Conclusion: This band entered into history quite a long time ago and I’m wondering what they will bring on stage after all these years.

Best songs: “Religious As Hell”, “Walk Into The Sun”, “Lights Go Out”, “Snake Dance”, “Fodder”, “Children On Stun”, “Grooving In Green”.

Rate: 8.

Artist: www.facebook.com/marchvioletsband

Label: www.jungle-records.com / www.facebook.com/JungleRecords

About The March Violets

The March Violets formed in December 1981 in Leeds, England, with Tom Ashton (guitar), Laurence “Loz” Elliot (bass), Simon “Detroit” Denbigh (vocals) and Rosie Garland (vocals), backed by a drum machine nicknamed “Dr. Rhythm”. Fellow Leeds figure Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of The Sisters Of Mercy, released the band’s debut 7”, the four-track “Religious as Hell” EP, on his Merciful Release label on 28 August 1982, followed by the single “Grooving in Green” on 27 November 1982. The band then launched its own Rebirth label, releasing “Crow Baby” on 30 April 1983. Cleo Murray joined as a second female vocalist for “Snake Dance” (December 1983); after Garland’s departure, Murray became sole female singer for “Walk Into the Sun” (4 August 1984). The compilation “Natural History” followed in October 1984, collecting the first four singles plus two tracks from a 1983 BBC Peel Session. Denbigh left in February 1985, shortly before the band’s first American tour, though he still appears on the single “Deep” (11 May 1985). A second compilation, “Electric Shades”, was issued in the US by Relativity Records in 1985. The band then signed to London Records, adding drummer Andy Tolson, and released the single “Turn to the Sky” on 24 February 1986, which was later featured, alongside a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Miss Amanda Jones”, on the soundtrack to the 1987 film “Some Kind of Wonderful”. In 1993, Jungle Records released the band’s first CD compilation, “The Botanic Verses”, covering their 1982-1984 catalogue. The band reformed 25 years after forming, touring the UK, USA and Europe and recording new material through Pledge Music, before that phase ended in 2016 due to illness. The March Violets reunited again in 2022, and Jungle Records marked the moment with the 5CD box set “The Palace Of Infinite Darkness”, gathering the complete singles, extended versions, BBC recordings and unreleased rarities from 1982 to 1987.

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: Post-Punk, Death-Rock.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Set up more than thirty years ago now Götterdämmerung released its first new album since 2007.

Content: “Intensity Zone” sounds as Götterdämmerung never stopped releasing new stuff. The work sounds like the perfect offspring between Post-Punk and Death-Rock. Solid guitar parts and demonic rhythms with deep vocals on top are leading the listener into dark and violent travel. The work also featured a few softer and moodier cuts like the last song going over the 10 minutes.

+ + + : This album is a true attempt to kick your tympana. But I like this violent and rough sound, which especially during the debut part of the album kicks ass. The guitar playing injects a true spirit to the work reaching a climax at “Never After”. There’s also something to say about “Invisible Greed” which is a moody cut, reminding me of the Sisters Of Mercy for the guitar.

– – – : From a very personal point of view I’m sometimes missing melodies which I’ve to admit is not the band’s trademark. 

Conclusion: Götterdämmerung is alive striking back with a smashing opus.

Best songs: “Never After”, “Circus Of The Flying Tools”, “Sink Into Fragrance”, “Invisible Greed”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.gotterdammerung.band / www.facebook.com/gotterdammerung.band

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

About Götterdämmerung

Götterdämmerung formed in the Netherlands in 1991 and later relocated to Berlin, Germany. The band plays deathrock, gothic, and post-punk. “Intensity Zone” arrived via Dark Dimensions in 2022, more than three decades after the band’s founding.

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

Set up and driven by Mark Sayle and Phil Reynolds Mark E Moon is hailing from the Isle Of Man. After having released an impressive debut-album “Refer” in 2019 they two years later confirmed their strong potential by the opus “Old Blood”. The band is clearly driven by good-old Dark-Wave and Post-Punk reminding legendary acts like The Sisters Of Mercy, Bauhaus, Joy Division ao.  Earlier this year they did it again unleashing the mini-album “Lux Vindictae”. I consider Mark E Moon as one of the hottest contemporary formations in their music genre. I talked with Mark Sayle and Shelly Rourke.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Two years ago now we did an interview for the debut album “Refer”. A lot happened since then; lockdowns due to the ongoing pandemic, political scandals in the UK plus Brexit, the war in Ukraine… and you released a second album and now an EP while the line-up evolved as well. How do you look back at all these events?

Mark: The ancient curse ‘May you live in interesting times’ has certainly never been so apt. Don’t get me started on Politics or we’ll be here all day. Phil probably has something to say on Brexit but I doubt it’ll be anything complimentary.

The band line-up has certainly evolved, not that anyone was kicked out, we’d love the opportunity to work with Kieran or Steve again, but circumstances change and people aren’t always available for various reasons. The pandemic was, and is still, a terrible time for everyone. I know musicians moan a bit about not being able to be in the same studio but when you consider that more than a million people, in the US alone, have died from this disease it puts artists petty gripes into a more sobering light.

Q: Let’s get back to your second album “Old Blood” which was a rather engaged piece of music against fascism. Why did you feel the need to deal with this theme? And how did the transition happened from “Refer” to “Old Blood”?

Mark: After “Refer” we wanted to do a more cohesive album that felt like the sum of its parts. “Refer” was basically a bunch of, admittedly very well recorded, demo tracks. The title track “Old Blood” deals with this sea of right wing populism, white supremacy and outright fascism that has swept the western world, washing over some and sweeping away others in its spiteful currents. The incident that ignited the touch paper for me was the events in Charlottesville and the murder of Heather Heyer in 2017. The slogans chanted by the Neo-Nazis became a festering sore in my soul that wouldn’t go away. The only way I have to react to something like that is through music and my lyrics, so that is, eventually, what I did.

Q: Your newest work is the EP “Lux Vindictae”. It rather looks as a mini-album featuring six songs. What have been the main sources of inspiration for this work and its title? Was there any specific focus in the writing- & production process and were there aspects from previous albums you wanted to change/improve?

Mark: With “Lux Vindictae”, certainly from a writing perspective, some songs were created quite differently than the usual deal of me writing a bassline, a riff and some lyrics and taking it to Phil to transform it into a proper song. George, who happens to be Phil’s older brother, had joined us and had some fantastic musical ideas of his own. If you listen to “Anastasia”, for example, that’s George’s music and the Russian lullaby was Shelly’s idea.

Shelly: I was already a Mark E Moon fan, so being asked to add vocals to a track on “Lux Vindictae” was hugely exciting –and subsequently being asked to join the band as a permanent fixture was mind blowing for me! My first experience of being part of the creative process was everything I hoped it would be and I think some of our new dynamic shows.

Q: The lyrical themes featured at “Lux Vindictae” are quite different. ‘Depression, rage, assault, alcoholism, the murder of an innocent child and the sheer horror of life on an alien feudal world’. It all sounds more personal and intimate so did you have to chase inner demons? And how important is music to express inner thoughts?

Mark: I’m constantly battling my demons. Being bipolar and having ADHD gives me a certain perspective on situations I think, not a unique one by any means but they force me to try to think differently about subjects. My thoughts are generally pretty dark, even when I’m writing something quite upbeat, and I think that comes through.

Q: I noticed you also released a cover version of Soft Cell which has been released on a tribute-album. I didn’t exactly expect Mark E Moon covering Soft Cell. What did this band mean to you and how did you transform the original version into a personal adaptation?

Mark: I like to think of Mark E Moon as a fusion of Gothic-Rock, the darker side of Post-Punk and Synth-Pop. Soft Cell were (along with acts like Belois Some, Yazoo, Depeche Mode and Blondie) a very important band in my musical development. My sense of what Pop music could be had its roots firmly embedded in the darker (lyrically) themed bands. Of course, Soft Cell had had a massive hit with their cover of the Gloria Jones number “Tainted Love”, but it was “Bedsitter” that really turned me onto them. The cover we did of “Facility Girls” isn’t that dissimilar but we tried to put our own slant on it.

Q: I can imagine you guys must be excited to play on stage again. What are the plans and your expectations? What are the further plans for the second half of 2022?

Mark: We released “Dark Love” in September as a taster of the forthcoming album “Pop-Noir”. Whether the new album is ready before the year is up is anyone’s guess but we are beavering away to make it the best possible record it can be.

Shelly: 2022/23 will be busy and hopefully bear many fruits. We would like to add some UK gigs too. As Mark said, George is a wellspring of music so we have a deep pool of new songs to work on, and Phil’s excellent skills to weave them into a tapestry. After adding a few snippets of my own lyrics to some songs, the guys have given me the confidence to write more. Mark is always on hand to lend his expertise when I struggle. Writing about life from this woman’s perspective can be difficult as some of my past was painful and very dark, but I’ve found it cathartic. And if it gives the listener a new experience to explore then my worst moments will have purpose, whilst keeping the Mark E Moon sound ever evolving.

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: Cold-Wave.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Set up in 2020 the Italian Cold-Wave formation They Die strikes back with their second opus. One year after the remarkable “Deviant Love” they now joined hands together with Swiss Dark Nights. 

Content: They Die sounds like awakening from a long hibernation. The sound of this band brings us back to the midst of the 80s; obscure and moody atmospheres created by mewing guitar and melodic synth parts while low, vibrating, bass play only accentuate the dark approach. The band is once more reminding me of The Sisters Of Mercy but also The Virgin Prunes and more contemporary formations like Lebanon Hannover. They again put a cover song to the album and chose Bauhaus’ “The Passion Of Lovers”.

+ + + : I was already under the influence of “Deviant Love” but the new work moves a step further. It’s a great and mature production bringing the true spirit of the 80s alive. I especially like the guitar playing and bass lines on one side and the electronic arrangements bringing a refined touch to the other side. The album features the single “One Last Kiss” but there are more potential singles like “All Your Magic” and “Everything That Burns”. Both songs are potential hits. Last but not least they now also accomplished a cool cover version, “The Passion Of Lovers” being adapted into their own style.

– – – : The last song of the album sounds like an outro and rather an antithesis to the rest of this brilliant work. I would also like to see this band being produced by a renown name improving a few details in sound.

Conclusion: I already said to keep an eye on this band and the new work only confirms the huge potential of They Die. This is great Cold-Wave!

Best songs: “All Your Magic”, “Everything That Burns”, “One Last Kiss”, “Single frame”, “Done Done Done”, “Absolution”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064035960463

Label: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100060056806073

About They Die

They Die is an Italian Cold-Wave act set up in 2020. The project’s debut album appeared via Jetglow Recordings in 2021. “Emptiness Prevails” follows in November 2022, the band’s first release with Swiss Dark Nights, a partnership that continued with “Black Magic” (2024), “Darkroom Session” (2025) and “Smoke And Mirrors” (2026).

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

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange / Techomancer press release. Photos: Tarjei Krogh) Out now is the new album from the Norwegian synthwave act Technomancer a.k.a. Alexandria “Alyxx” Digre (she/her). She debuted with the album ‘System Failure’ in 2013, and now, almost 10 years later, the second album ‘Hyperfuel’ is finally being released!

Originally from the Northern town of Mo I Rana, Norway, Alyxx moved to Sarpsborg in 2014 and had already started working on the album at that point. Realizing that the next album had to be of much higher quality than the debut album, Alyxx started working on honing her production skills, getting plenty of practice on her side projects Zone Tripper and Laboratory 5, as well as doing numerous remixes for bands/artists such as Die Krupps, Nitzer Ebb, Anne Clark, Naked Lunch, Attrition, Robert Marlow (RIP), Apoptygma Berzerk and several others.

After ‘System Failure’, a departure from the former sound was set almost immediately. The sleek futurepop style was cast aside in favour of a heavier influence from the 80’s, with The Sisters Of Mercy providing a strong influence on the new sound. Together with Zone Tripper, Technomancer adopted very much an early synthwave sound which since then has become a signature sound for Alyxx’ productions as a whole. The new album relies heavily on sampled guitars and drum machines to give a much heavier retrowave feeling, which should please fans of synthwave acts such as Dance With The Dead and Scandroid.

The album has been co-produced by Stephan L. Groth (Apoptygma Berzerk) and his brother Jonas Groth (Piston Damp, Apoptygma Berzerk) who both have also provided guest vocals on the album. Frequent collaborator Per Aksel Lundgreen (Angst Pop, Cronos Titan, Chinese Detectives, Shatoo) has also been involved.

Ole-Espen Kristiansen (OK Minus, Elec This!) has mastered the album and also mixed a couple tracks. Ole-Espen has also done mastering and live mixing for Apoptygma Berzerk and Piston Damp.

Wanting to know more about this release, we contacted Alyxx to have some questions answered.

S-L: You’ve gone from furutepop to synthwave – what’s the next step in your evolution?

Alexandria Digre: Well, I really don’t know. I’ve been listening to harder stuff lately. I especially loved REIN’s album, ‘Reincarnated’ and really loved that kind of old school EBM sound making a comeback. I also finally got around to listening to some Nitzer Ebb stuff, especially their legendary ‘That Total Age’ album. Some of my recent demos have been more in the vein of that, combined with some influences from Empirion.

I also saw Sierra in Gothenburg this summer and really loved the harder synthwave sound she had going. I’m definitely still in the synthwave scene and been listening to a lot of stuff there lately, so that might still be an influence going forward. I don’t think the next album will take a decade to make so I also doubt it will be as much of a new direction. But we will see, it all depends on where my writing takes me.

Right now I have some ideas for a new album but nothing solid, as I rarely do in the early stages. I actually wrote a few futurepop/techno tracks at the start of making ‘Hyperfuel’ that ended up not really fitting in, but I might use some of that for the next album if I can find a new sound they would fit in. But so far I’ve been wanting to draw more on early 90s EBM influences like Front Line Assembly and that early EBM sound.

S-L: How has the feedbacks on the album been so far?

AD: Well, even as the singles came out, it was usually positive. But as for the album, it really seems people are loving it. Everyone I’ve sent it to has enjoyed it and hasn’t really had much bad to say about it. Which is both flattering and a bit concerning. I really hope someone really goes into depth on the album at some point. I love praise and knowing people are connecting with the music, but I also love to know where I can improve going forward. After all, ‘Hyperfuel’ wouldn’t be the album it is without the criticism I got from ‘System Failure’.

S-L: You got some covers here – tell us more about how they came to life!

AD: ‘Puppets’ came to life as I was invited to contribute to a Depeche Mode tribute project. I made the original version on my own in my studio and on a journey with Stephan (Apoptygma Berzerk) I played it for him and Per Aksel (Angst Pop) and Stephan really loved what he heard. He not only advised me to release the cover myself, but also allow him to do it together with me. I was floored by the fact Stephan straight up asked to work with me on something, so naturally I agreed.

He spent a few days in his studio recording some additional synth riffs on his Korg MS-20 and recording the vocals, which we then added to the mix. We then spent a while in my studio producing the track with Per Aksel.

So yeah, very glad I didn’t just release it as a tribute album track. It ended up becoming a lot more than that, and I have so many good memories with ‘Puppets’. Only downside is I doubt I could perform it live without Stephan. It wouldn’t feel right, haha!

‘Ecstasy’ was a song I’ve wanted to cover for a long time. I’ve been a fan of Black Lab since I heard their cover of the Transformers Theme from their ‘Technologie’ EP, where ‘Ecstasy’ was also featured. I immediately connected with the song and it has always been my favourite Black Lab track.

‘Ecstasy’ was actually always intended to be on the album. I think it was on the first demo I brought Per Aksel right after I had moved to Sarpsborg. On the demo version, I did all the vocals myself, but I always wanted someone with me on it. Per Aksel suggested Stian Joneid as a candidate, and we also considered Dag Brandth (Shatoo) to do it with me. Honestly, Dag might have been perfect for it, but due to circumstances that never worked out, so I ended up choosing Jonas Groth (Piston Damp) since I was recording my final vocals in his studio for the song and he’s the best singer I know.

Jonas’ vocals really helped bring the song to another level and I am so happy we got to work together on it. Him and Truls Sønsterud did an amazing Piston Damp remix of it by the way that you can find on the single.

‘The Outsider’ was a song I originally did for a Psyche tribute album, ‘Unforgotten Rhymes’. It was also the second music video I did after moving to Sarpsborg, with Per Aksel directing and shooting it. It sort of became the first single from the album actually, featuring the signature sound I would be going for. It’s always been a song I connected with on a personal level, so having it on the album felt natural to me.

S-L: What’s next up for you?

AD: Working on a new Zone Tripper album and some other side projects. Lab5 has been dormant for a while and I am itching to get some of our material out there. Also working on a synthwave project called Neo Hyperdrive together with Hexebyte and Max Static from Lab5. There will also be a 2CD Deluxe Edition of Hyperfuel that will also be available on my Bandcamp. I’ll announce a release date for that later on.

The album was released digitally worldwide on November 4^th 2022, with a Deluxe Edition also available on 2xCD via Sector Industrial (www.sector-industrial.com) and digitally exclusive via the Technomancer Bandcamp, which includes 5 additional tracks and remixes by Machinista, Echo Image, Piston Damp, Substaat and Christian Espeland of Code 64. Release date for the Deluxe Edition will be revealed later.

Get it at Bandcamp along with more of the discography, or have a listen at Spotify!

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(Photo by Al Pulford) On the eve of the release of a 5CD retrospective box set, Leeds based English post-punk/gothic rock act The March Violets have announced a reunion. They plan to tour and make new recordings through 2023-2024. Here’s what they just announced: “Founder-members Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton are joined again by William Faith (musician and vocalist with Faith & the Muse, Conflict and The Bellwether Syndicate) and we are excited to be back in the studio creating brand new material & planning live dates for 2023- 2024.”

A digital single of “Walk into the Sun” (the 7″ version) – out now – will be followed by the 2LP vinyl “Play Loud Play Purple” which compiles all their 1980’s releases and more – on purple vinyl. Next is the 2LP vinyl “Big Soul Kiss” holding 23 BBC session tracks with 9 unreleased songs, on yellow vinyl. And finally there’s the 5CD box set with all their indie releases, the BBC Sessions and two discs of unreleased rarities.

About The March Violets

The March Violets formed in December 1981 with the following line-up: Tom Ashton (guitar), Laurence “Loz” Elliot (bass), Simon “Detroit” Denbigh (vocals) and Rosie Garland (vocals). Percussion was provided by a drum machine, nicknamed “Dr. Rhythm”, a feature they had in common with many of the bands in the Leeds scene at the time. Fellow student Andrew Eldritch, lead singer of the Sisters of Mercy, released the band’s debut 7″, the four-track “Religious as Hell” EP, on his Merciful Release label on 28 August 1982. A second single on Merciful Release, “Grooving in Green”, followed on 27 November 1982.

The band then established their own Rebirth record label, releasing the “Crow Baby” single on 30 April 1983. Cleo Murray joined as second female vocalist for the next single, “Snake Dance”, issued in December 1983. Garland left after “Snake Dance”, and Murray took over as sole female singer for “Walk Into the Sun”, issued 4 August 1984. That October, the band released their first compilation album, “Natural History”, which collected the first four singles plus two tracks from a 1983 BBC Peel Session.

The March Violets shifted towards a more pop-oriented sound, and Denbigh left the band in early February 1985, prior to the band’s first American tour in March 1985. Denbigh did appear on the next single, “Deep”, released 11 May 1985 but that was recorded prior to his departure. A second compilation album, “Electric Shades”, was issued in the US by Relativity Records that year; it collected the contents of the “Snake Dance”, “Walk Into the Sun” and “Deep” singles, including a piano-laden remix of “Snake Dance”.

The band then signed to major label London Records, adding drummer Andy Tolson to the lineup. The “Turn to the Sky” single was released 24 February 1986 on London, although still bearing the Rebirth imprint. The song (and their cover of “Miss Amanda Jones” by the Rolling Stones) was featured on the soundtrack to the 1987 film “Some Kind of Wonderful”, which included a live performance by the band of “Turn to the Sky.” Although groomed for greater success, it didn’t work out as planned and only one single came out.

In 1993, the band’s first CD compilation, The Botanic Verses, was released by Jungle Records in the UK and Cleopatra Records in the US; it covered their entire 1982-1984 catalogue.

The band reformed 25 years later, successfully touring the UK, USA and Europe and making new recordings through Pledge Music. However, illness twice beset that phase and it ended in 2016.

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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Polish Monstergod-duo this year released their third official full length album “Ozymandias” by Space Race Records.  Miłosz and Marek don’t exactly release new work at regular basis, which probably explains the sound is in constant progress. “Ozymandias” is mixing an impressive number of influences resulting in a kind of ‘Epic-Industrial-Pop-Metal’-work. It’s a major production mixing sensuality and bombast. I talked about this masterpiece with Marek.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s get back to the origins of Monstergod. How did it all started and what was the main purpose when it comes to composition and production? And how did you see the project evolving?

Marek: Me and Miłosz have met about 2000, we became friends, talked about music, books, life etc and in 2003 or 2004 we decided to try making music together. We didn’t have any particular purposes, just wanted to make some music for fun and maybe play a few gigs around. So, it’s going. As well, we usually work on albums together. This time, during recording “Ozymandias”, I was more involved than before. For example I’ve recorded as a few of vocals.

Q: Let’s talk about your sources of inspiration, which are going further than only music. Literature and poetry seem to be very important for Monstergod. Tell us a bit more about these influences and the way you transpose literature and poetry into sound?

Marek: At the beginning of our music journey, we just wanted to make some music inspired by The Sisters Of Mercy, Suicide Commando and Laibach with great poetry of William Blake and Charles Baudelaire.

The general idea is still evolving by adding new inspirations and new poets. On “Ozymandias” we have added, for example, Friedrich Nietzsche to our lyric sources. 

We usually make music first and after that we try to find lyrics for it. It’s not a sophisticated process. Much more interesting is how to find a unique sound to be not just a copycat of other bands but try to make something fresh. That’s why we try to use different instruments on our albums. Of course, what we do is based on electronic, computer-generated sounds but we’re not afraid to play bass, guitars, harp or even banjo or baglama. If something adds something unusual to the music – we would like to use it.

Q: How did the writing and production of “Ozymandias” happened? And tell us a bit more about the title, which must be inspired by  Percy Bysshe Shelley?

Marek: “Ozymandias” is, in my opinion, the most dark and depressive album we have ever done. I started to work on demos back in 2018 but most of the material was created in Covid pandemic. Title song “Ozymandias” was composed as one of the last songs. I wanted something to open the album, to show how we evolve from electronic to epic choir, bass and guitar sound.

I always liked Shelley’s poem. I had no idea how to use it on music. After watching “Alien Covenant” with so great opening scene and declamation of this poem by one of main characters –David, I knew I have to use it at least as a vocal sample. After recording music I added vocals, choirs and used the whole poem as lyric.

Q: Sound-wise this album is a great mix of influences resulting in a kind of ‘Epic-Industrial-Metal-Pop’-production. What is the sound all about and what have been the input of all members and guests -but especially Dariusz ‘Daray’ Brzozowski in the final production? 

Marek: When we started to mix this album I had all of the songs as open music projects ready to be changed if any ideas come up. Once I asked Cesar Soto from Ministry to help me record guitars for “Austere”. He agreed, but after receiving tracks I decided to change a bit an arrangement. Filip ‘Heinrich’, who mixed the album, added bass, some synths and asked me to record live drums with his friend. A moment later, we called Daray to help us.

Daray is a great drummer, probably the best I’ve ever met. He’s a true professional. I had all the drum parts written in midi, Daray played them all adding his own flavor, music sense and feelings. After recording I was more than surprised how it all sound together.

The real hero in this album production was Filip Heinrich who spent hours on calls with me but was also open to record some additional instruments or even changed some arrangements. Without him the album wouldn’t sound as it is. 

Q: I experienced “Ozymandias” as a noticeable evolution in sound, but where do you place this work in the band’s history? And how did you see Monstergod evolving over the years?

Marek: Creating music for fun as I do means to find new ideas. I don’t want to record another identic album. It’s boring. I’m not focused on selling CDs or counting streaming incomes so I can experiment, I can always try to add something new to the sound or sing in German, hahaha. But, at the moment, I see “Ozymandias” as a final chapter of Monstergod history. I have no idea how to evolve further with this project.

Q: “Ozymandias” has been released in dark- and uncertain times. Do you think music and arts generally speaking can bring relief and maybe a solution by connecting people?

Marek: “Ozymandias” is also a reflection of times we live in and my own personal problems I was struggling with. I make music for myself to deal with my own demons and it’s my way getting a relief. If somebody else could get it in the same way –great, but if you feel it too depressive –sorry, do not blame me. Read the review of ‘Ozymandias’.

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-Wave, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: After two impressive albums Mark E Moon strikes back with six new songs. It rather looks as a mini-album inspired by themes like ‘depression, rage, assault, alcoholism, the murder of an innocent child and the sheer horror of life on an alien feudal world’.

Content: The citizens from The Isle Of Man hold on their successful sound formula bringing good-old Cold-Wave souvenirs back alive. The Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim sound as main sources of inspiration. The dark guitar play and cavernous timbre of voice are leading the listener into a universe of despair and sadness. You’ll also notice female backing vocals.

+ + + : From a very personal point of view I consider Mark E Moon as one of the hottest and most talented Cold-Wave / Post-Punk formations from the past years. They deal with a mature and well-crafted production which brings the darkest hours of 80s dancefloors back alive. The elevating chorus of “Revenge” is pure sonic ecstasy. I also have to mention “Anastasia” featuring delicious female backing vocals. There’s definitely something to say about each single track.

– – – : I don’t have minus points to mention but just regret there are only 6 songs featured.

Conclusion: Mark E Moon stands for a high qualitative level among contemporary Dark-Wave bands.

Best songs: “Revenge”, “Anastasia”, “Drowning”, “Blacklight”.

Rate: 9.

Artist: www.facebook.com/MarkEMoon1

Label: www.coldtransmission.com / www.facebook.com/coldtransmissionmusic

About Mark E Moon

Mark E Moon is a dark-wave and post-punk band from the Isle Of Man, set up and driven by Mark Sayle and Phil Reynolds. The band released its debut album “Refer” in 2019 and followed it two years later with “Old Blood”.

“Lux Vindictae”, the six-track release reviewed here, appeared on 8 April 2022 through Cold Transmission Music. Side-Line spoke with Mark Sayle and Shelly Rourke about the band later that year in “‘Click Interview’ with Mark E Moon: ‘I’m Constantly Battling My Demons’”, by which point the line-up had changed.

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

Set up in Paris (France) Je T’Aime released their debut single “The Sound” in 2018. This song also was the opening track of their self-titled debut album released in 2019 by Manic Depression Records and Icy Cold Records. It was a successful work featuring explicit 80s Cold-Wave elements. Early this year the band released the new album “Passive” again by the same French labels. Dany Boy, Tall Bastard and Crazy Z confirmed their strong potential achieving a work which will appeal for lovers of 80s icons such as The Cure and The Smiths.

(Picture credits by Anaïs Novembre / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Let’s take off by the origins of Je T’Aime. How did you guys meet and what brought you to set up JE T’Aime? And why this band name?

dBoy: With Tall Bastard we met in 2014 when he was the bassist for the band Saigon Blue Rain. I was doing their live sound (among other joys). The plan to make the Goths of Europe dance came after a dinner together. After a few glasses of red wine, we went to my studio to have some fun and that’s how “The Sound” came to be, in the early morning. We kept telling each other: I love you man! That’s why we’re called JE T’Aime.

Tall Bastard: The song was written in emergency and fun. We’ve always tried to keep this spirit for the next sessions.

Q: Your sound is clearly evoking good-old 80s Dark-Wave bands. Tell us a bit more about your sources of inspiration and what made the 80s that special to you?

dBoy: The 80’s remind me of my childhood so it’s quite natural for me to go back to it. Having lived in Atlanta (USA) as a child from 1984 onwards I was overwhelmed by this New-Wave culture. It was a given that I would end up singing this genre of music at some point.

Tall Bastard: The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Sisters Of Mercy, And Also The Trees and Joy Division are the bands I used to listen when I was a teenager. I’ve learned playing music with their songs. I was playing in the Cold-Wave band Saigon Blue Rain before forming JE T’Aime. New-Wave is definitely in my DNA.

Q: How did the transition happened from your self-titled debut album towards “Passive”? Did you try to improve and/or change specific elements of the production and how did the album come true?

dBoy: First of all, we selected everything we liked in the first album, we wanted to keep certain sounds to find a certain artistic coherence. With Crazy Z. we really like a lot of different musical styles, it’s impossible for us to restrict ourselves to one musical style. So, the idea was to modernize our sound without betraying the first album and its musical purpose. I also wrote the first lyrics very quickly, which told the story of the adventures of this guy who is completely lost in life, whom we meet on the first album. So, it quickly became clear to us that we wanted to write a sequel to this first album.

Tall Bastard: For the first album, we were creating our sound. So in fact there were not so much questions. The songs were coming naturally. For “Passive” almost each song came with a question mark : Is this where we want to go? Is it not too close to what we’ve already done? …

Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing process of “Passive”? What’s the input of each member and how was it working composing an album in times of lockdown and this ongoing pandemic?

dBoy: As for the first album, we went to write this double album in Brittany, in Tall Bastard’s holiday home. It’s a very nice place, quiet, and far from the noise and fury of the city. It helps us to stay focused. The first album was written together with Tall and me. On this double album “Passive/Aggressive”, Crazy Z. was part of the writing process, so it took a bit of time to get everyone to understand each other and move in the same direction. But in reality, it went very fast. The songs went together very quickly. We usually write and record two or three songs a day, music and lyrics.

Tall Bastard: Most of the time, we start a new song by defining the mood and the rhythm.  As soon as we have the drum and the bass, everything is going nice and easy. We often have to make a choice between all the ideas that we can have.

Q: What does the title of the album refers to and what are your main sources of inspiration for the lyrical content of “Passive”?

dBoy: Passive-aggressive behavior is a set of so-called passive attitudes that indirectly express a hidden hostility that is not openly assumed or remains unconscious to the subject.

This double album tells the continuation of the adventures of the hero of the first album. A lost guy, suffering from Peter Pan syndrome, separated from his wife and father of a young girl who hates him. Our music is full of ‘joie de vivre’.

Q: In between both studio albums you also self-released a live album which makes me say live shows are very important for JE T’Aime. What are your favorite aspects in live shows and what might we expect to see when JE T’Aime is on stage?

dBoy: Oh yes, for me the stage is a bit like a big pirate ship. It goes through a thousand storms and never has to sink. It must always be cherished and cared for. The stage is an exciting thing, it’s a place to let off steam but also a place full of philosophy and even science. The science of movement, the science of communication, the science of sound and light. In 2005, I had the chance to work with the French scenographer Philippe Albaret, a well of science on the subject of concerts and the attitude to have on stage. It was a real shock in my head. The world of the Music Hall hides thousands of little secrets to be beautiful on stage. A real magic that takes years to master.

Tall Bastard: Our first purpose was to play live as much as we can and meet our audience. So we give everything we have at each concert. We just love it. And those night when the audience is giving us back this energy, for me this is pure joy. I feel completely empty and full at the same time. Intense.

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

Merciful Nuns this year released their eleventh opus in history. Driven by Artaud Seth –who will be always connected to The Garden Of Delight, “Kvltan” is a new and fascinating production wherein the band composed a sonic fusion between different music genres. Somewhere in between Industrial, Gothic and Psychedelic the album released on Solar Lodge stands for a totally accomplished and professional production. Dark atmospheres and powerful sound blasts will lead the listener to explore the origins of all earthly existence. I talked about it all with Artaud Seth.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Merciful Nuns is now active for more than ten years and can look back at a true accomplishment. Can you draw up the balance sheet of this successful story? What have been the main satisfactions versus the biggest frustrations/disappointments?

Artaud: There is no frustration at all. It’s all about art and doing what I want to do. And I love what I do. I also have the privilege that people listen to me. So all about the Nuns is a positive thing for me.

Q: When getting back to your first album “Lib. I” which was strongly influenced by one of your favorite bands (cf. The Sisters Of Mercy) and you next listen to your newest opus “Kvltan” I can only but affirming the band went through a serious evolution. How do you perceive and analyze this evolution as artist(s) and band? How much of the early songs do you still recognize in “Kvltan”?

Artaud: Of course, “Kvltan” sounds a lot different than “Liber I”. Although I still love this album to this day.The original idea to make an album like “Liber I” was to sound like bands from the mid 80’s. Actually, it was supposed to be just one album. I had no idea that it would end up being so successful. And then it went on. But just writing such, rather simple songs on and on is not enough for me in the long run. That could have been a bit more complex.AboutThe Sisters Of Mercy, they had some good numbers, especially older songs. At the latest after “Floodland” I was out. They became more and more of a simple MTV Rock-Pop thing. It’s strange that a band that hasn’t released anything new in 30 years is still relevant.

Q: Let’s talk about the new work “Kvltan”. How did the album come true? How did you prepare this work and what have been the different stages to achieve this work?

Artaud: To be honest after “Anomaly” I actually thought I was empty and burned out, and that I couldn’t write anything new. Obviously, I was wrong. In addition, someone died here at the Lodge and a deep sadness and melancholy lay over everything. All together were probably the reasons for the decision at that time. Maybe I just needed a break to regenerate. But afterwards you are always wiser than before. Incidentally, “Black Halo” was not originally planned as a Merciful Nuns-EP. I was actually trying out a few new things for a new project, but then quickly realized that it sounded very similar. I then asked myself whether I really couldn’t think of anything new. And suddenly the concept of the origin of all came to me. Actually, that was the logical consequence of all my themes: going back to the origin.

Q: I can’t get away from the idea that you’re a perfectionist in the production of your music but still about the entire ‘concept’ and artistic part of Merciful Nuns.  How do you perceive yourself and how exigent are you with your own creation? What have been the main difficulties and challenges in the production of Kvltan XI”?

Artaud:It’s also important to me that we sound good. That’s why I attach great importance to a good engineering and mixing production. Writing an album like “Kvltan” takes forever. I worked on it for over a year. And that every day. For “Liber I” it took a month. This has a lot to do with the fact that I don’t use factory sounds. All the sounds you hear on “Kvltan”, whether synths, drums, guitars or bass sounds, have all been reinvented. This is extremely time-consuming. But in the end you have your own, incomparable sound. And that’s important to me.

Q: No need to say “Kvltan” and the entire artwork of the album reflect your fascination for rites and occultism. What are the threads of the new album? And do you think there’s any possible connection between rites plus occultism and the world we’re actually living in?

Artaud:I would call myself an agnostic. That is, as someone who does not believe in any god or deity that we know of, but still assumes that there is something undefined we have no explanation for. All my work will always incorporate the mother of all questions: Where do we come from (as a species)? And where are we heading (humankind)?

The philosophical aspects in my lyrics and conceptual art are those which surround me generally. Ancient advanced cultures like the Sumerians, Egyptians, Maya and their adoration for divinities from ‘beyond’ always appear to me as an effigy of the future. By now I have arrived at the inescapable conviction that we have already been visited by these so called advanced cultures. Nowadays these visitors are worshipped as God or Gods by us.

Q: Because of the ongoing pandemic artists were no longer able to play live. How did you experience this situation and how important is it to play live? How do you prepare live shows and what do you need to speak about a great performance? 

Artaud:These are tough times right now. At least compared to what our generation has experienced so far. The current political-, economic- and pandemic situation is fatally reminiscent of the 1920s to 1940s. And those were certainly not good years. We learned nothing, absolutely nothing from them. In addition, we are destroying our basis of life, nature, sustainably. Man is naive, not capable of learning and simply too stupid to realize that we are slowly but surely wiping out ourselves. Also, I’m tired of all the power-crazed autocrats. Maybe we should only put power in women’s hands. I am sure that the world would then be significantly more peaceful, loveable and worth living in.

Of course it is important for us to play live. Fortunately, Omikron is no longer as dangerous as its predecessors and the whole thing is slowly starting to roll again. We have a lot to do: concerts, festivals, a kind of split EP… I hope the pandemic situation stays reasonably stable. Or better, at best.

A good concert? We always try to get a good balance between music, lighting concept and visuals. The overall mood has to be right. Then we are satisfied.

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-Wave, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: The Serbian project 7 Rainbows In Exile released their debut album “Twilight Gymnastics” at the end of 2021.

Content: From the very first notes of the work, you immediately recognize the strong influence of The Sisters Of Mercy and Fields Of The Nephilim. The deep timbre of voice together with the guitar playing both inject a very dark and sad mood.

+ + + : 7 Rainbows In Exile will appeal to 80s Cold-Wave lovers. It’s a stereotypical production mainly based on mewing guitar and cavernous vocal production. The opening song “The Heart Of The Storm” sounds a bit different for being harder, although it also keeps 80s memories alive. “Demon With The Boys Eyes” is one of the most noticeable cuts revealing the real inspiration of this band.

– – – : The composition sounds rudimentary and needs to be elaborated.

Conclusion: Typical Post-Punk emulation!

Best songs: “Demon With The Boys Eyes”, “The Heart Of The Storm”.

Rate: 6.

Listen to “Twilight Gymnastics”:

Artist: www.facebook.com/7rainbowsinexile

Label: www.waverecordsmusic.com / www.facebook.com/waverecords

About 7 Rainbows In Exile

7 Rainbows In Exile is a Serbian project that describes its music as isolationist darkwave and post-punk. “Twilight Gymnastics” is its debut album and the only release Discogs credits to the name.

The eight tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered at Wormhole Studios between March 2020 and May 2021, with production assistance from Livius Pavlov of Napred u Prošlost. Wave Records released the album on 12 November 2021.

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-Wave, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Klammer is a UK band from Leeds which was set up by Steve Whitfield (who did some production work for bands like The Cure, The Mission ao). They’ve already released a few albums and now strike back with thirteen new tracks.

Content: When I hear Leeds I immediately think of The Sisters Of Mercy, The March Violets, The Mission and so many more great formations. Klammer is clearly driven by the good-old Dark-Wave spirit although their sound comes closer to the guitar magic of The Cult. You can also hear it a bit in the production of the vocals.

+ + + : No innovation but just well-crafted and efficient Cold-Wave music. The album is carried by low, resonating bass lines and impressive guitar parts injecting the true spirit to this work. There are several great songs featured, but  I especially recommend listening to “The Insider”.

– – – : There’s no real surprise listening to this album. It even has something predictable although it’s cool Dark-Wave stuff.

Conclusion: If you’re an 80s die-hard fan you are for sure going to like Klammer’s new opus.

Best songs: “The Insider”, “Oblivion”, “Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: https://www.klammer.co.uk /  www.facebook.com/klammerband

Label: https://revolverrecords.com / www.facebook.com/HeavyMetalRecs 

“The Day Before Yesterday” was released on 25 February 2022 through Heavy Metal Records, on CD in a digipak with a four-page lyric booklet, and digitally. It is the band’s fourth album. The thirteen tracks are “Pass The Test”, “I Really Really Want To Believe”, “Progress (Or The Lack Of)”, “Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car”, “While You Sleep”, “The Blind Leading The Blind”, “The Insider”, “A New Direction”, “Oblivion”, “I Wish I Could Bring You Back”, “Heartworm”, “Limbic Pastime” and “Alone”. Writing is credited to Steve Whitfield, Poss Strickland, Mike Addy and Bruno Almeida. The album is not carried on the band’s Bandcamp page.

Side-Line covered the lead single when the band released ‘Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car’ in November 2021, four months ahead of the album.

Klammer – Broken Dreams In A Crashing Car (Official Video):

About Klammer

Klammer is a post-punk and dark wave band from Leeds, England. The group is Poss Strickland, Steve Whitfield, Mike Addy and Bruno Almeida. Whitfield is also known as an engineer and producer, with studio work for The Cure and The Mission among his credits.

The band’s recorded run begins with “Auslane” in 2013, followed by the self-titled “Klammer” in 2016 and “You Have Been Processed” in 2018. The singles “Everything Depends Upon The King” in 2016, “Modern God” in 2018 and “Spiral Girl” in 2018 sit between the albums.

Klammer has also worked outside its own catalogue, contributing to a Siouxsie And The Banshees tribute in 2016 and to the Pete Shelley tribute compilation “Yesterday’s Not Here No More” in 2020. Side-Line covered their reading of The Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’ in 2019. “The Day Before Yesterday” is their first full-length in four years.

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

Trevor Ristow is the American author, based in New-York, of the Sisters Of Mercy biography: “Waiting For Another War: A History of The Sisters Of Mercy Vol. I: 1980-1985”. He is a television and film producer at GKW Filmworks and was the editor of “Loudquietloud: A Film About the Pixies”.

Ristow has produced and/or edited over one hundred television episodes, documentaries or narrative films for History Channel, National Geographic, PBS, NBC, Discovery Channel, E! Network, and HBO. Series he’s worked on have won six Emmy Awards, three Telly Awards, and multiple festival prizes. The book has now also been released as a numbered limited edition paperback via Rough Trade, including a special stamp and signature and unpublished photo of the band. Side-Line already did a review of his excellent book and had a chance to do a small interview as well!

Q: Is Andrew Eldritch aware of the release of your book? Did you ask him if he was interested to work together on it or was he against it?
Trevor: He is aware of the book but I doubt he knew about it before it was announced. Therefore he did not have an opportunity to be in favor of the book, or opposed to it. It just arrived, rather unexpectedly, out of the sun. At least that is how it feels to most people who have read it.

Q: Why do you think Andrew Eldritch does not like to be associated with the “Goth” scene?
Trevor: I think he finds it limiting. In Germany the goth scene is vibrant and large, but in most of the rest of the world it is a small, somewhat unserious ghetto of mediocre bands. I imagine he considers Sisters music bigger than that scene, and I agree with him.

Q: What do you think of the quality of the current concerts of The Sisters Of Mercy, compared to the old ones? According to many fans, the first line-up would still be the best?
Trevor: Obviously I have a deep love for the early years but I have seen The Sisters many times over many decades and I’ve never walked away disappointed. It’s a whole experience that is larger than simply hearing the songs performed.

Q: What side do you prefer most? Eldritch as lyricist or as composer?
Trevor: This is a very difficult question because he’s a superb lyricist, but most of my favorite songs are his compositions also. This is the man who wrote the entire “Reptile House EP”, “Train”, “Body Electric”, “Blood Money” and “Bury Me Deep”, “On The Wire”, “Floodland”, and many more. For me, personally, it’s hard to overstate his talent as either a lyricist or a composer.

Q: How do you see the future of the band?
Trevor: Mostly on YouTube, sadly.

Genre/Influences: New Wave, Gothic Rock.

Format: Book (paperback) – also available as kindle.

Background/Info: The Sisters Of Mercy are still a cult-band nowadays, although they officially only released 3 studio-albums and started their career back in 1980. They are worldwide seen as one of the founders of the gothic rock genre and are also one of the most bootlegged bands ever. The American author Trevor Ristow was already a huge fan of the band in his teenage years and released a Sisters’ fanzine in the ’80s. He collected lots of press articles, stories from close friends of the bandmembers and his own live experiences to write this book.

Content: First we learned to know the importance of certain people in the beginning period of the band as Claire Shearsby (dj, keyboard-player, sound-mixer and ex-girlfriend of Andrew Eldritch), Ruth Polsky (booker, tourguide, fixer, photographer), Kenny Giles (sound-engineer, studio-owner), Jon Langford (Mekons, The Three Jons) and many others. But most of all we experienced mastermind Andrew as the control freak inside the band which caused lots of conflicts with other people. The stories that are being told are not only about frontman Andrew Eldritch, but also about the other (former) band members Wayne Hussey, Craig Adams, Gary Marx and Ben Gunn.

Many other topics are covered such as The God Squad and The Sisterhood, the very strong Sisters-fanbases, the first American tour (September 1983) and the tough negotiations between Andrew and some major record-companies. The start and rise of the band is very well clarified, starting from the first gig on February 16th, 1981 (Alciun College – York) until the “final” concert at the Royal Albert Hall on June 18th, 1985. Here, the legendary video “Wake” was recorded and it was also the final concert for founding member Mark Pearman alias Gary Marx. Later the split with Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams would also follow, deciding them to continue as The Mission.

+ + + : We get a deeper look into parts of the private life of the band members at that time, as well as interesting stories of what sometimes happened backstage, the tension between the band members and also the relationships of the band members at that time with their girlfriends. About 50 rare pictures, very detailed information on gigs, special anecdotes, explanation of the deeper meaning of the lyrics, the founding of the Merciful Release label … it’s all there.

– – – : Most of the covered topics are about the genius Andrew Eldritch, always driven on amphetamines and not too shy to say how much he hates being labelled as “goth-band”. Some parts of the book are written from the own perceptions of the author, which can of course be different from your own point of view.

Conclusion: Every old-school Sisters-fan should own this 270 pages entertaining masterpiece for sure! The added context that the author provides to song-texts and many other topics is amazing! We are already looking forward for the release of volume II that will cover the ’90’s era.

Artist: www.thesistersofmercy.com
Label: www.gkwfilmworks.com/sisters – www.facebook.com/waitingforanotherwar

About The Sisters Of Mercy

The Sisters Of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980 by Andrew Eldritch and Gary Marx, whose real name is Mark Pearman. The pair set up the Merciful Release label for their first single “The Damage Done” in 1980 and built the group around a drum machine credited as Doktor Avalanche. Ben Gunn joined on guitar, followed by Craig Adams on bass; Wayne Hussey replaced Gunn in 1983.

The singles “Body Electric”, “Alice” and “Temple Of Love” appeared between 1982 and 1983 and the first American tour ran in September 1983. The debut album “First And Last And Always” arrived in March 1985. The Royal Albert Hall concert of 18 June 1985 was the last with Marx and was filmed for the video release “Wake”. Hussey and Adams left afterwards and went on as The Mission.

Eldritch continued the band through “Floodland” in 1987 and “Vision Thing” in 1990, then stopped releasing new records in a dispute with the label WEA. The group has worked as a touring act since, playing unreleased material live. In March 2026 Side-Line reported that the band cancelled a Brutal Assault appearance to move up the recording schedule for a new album.

The book reviewed here covers the years 1980 to 1985 and is the first of two planned volumes. It is sold through the author’s own site rather than a record label, and no Bandcamp or streaming release accompanies it.

Ludovico Technique release a brand new single and video today, “Noise Is Gone”.

The New York City based act originally drew inspiration from goth industrial acts such as Skinny Puppy and The Sisters of Mercy, yet now, Ludovico Technique have added glimpses of Type O Negative, Rammstein, and Rob Zombie to their own take on gothic music.

Here’s the video for “Noise Is Gone”.

About Ludovico Technique

Named after the drug-assisted aversion therapy found in the novel and film “A Clockwork Orange”, Ludovico Technique launched their self titled debut EP in 2010 followed by their debut album “Some Things Are Beyond Therapy” in 2012 and the follow up “We Came to Wreck Everything” in 2013, both released by Metropolis Records worldwide.

After 2 singles, “Absence” (2010, also their last release via Metropolis) and “Live As Myself” (2020), the band has started 2021 with a string of singles: “Up To The Flames”, “I Was”, “Becoming Numb”, “Burn Everything”, “Poisoned”, “Embrace” and now “Noise Is Gone”.

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: Dark-Wave, Post-Punk.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: This album resulted from the common efforts between Pete Burns (Scotland) and Karl Morten Dahl (Norway). Their respective projects Kill Shelter and Antipole both released an album each  on Unknown Pleasures Records. They now joined hands together to achieve eight songs inspired by personal themes like loss, addiction, isolation and remorse.

Content: Kill Shelter reminded me of The Sisters Of Mercy while Antipole is more connected with The Cure. Both artists together achieved a pure Dark-Wave production featuring slower, melancholic pieces at one side and a few harder cuts at the other side. Pete Burns is singing with an expression of sorrow, but still passion. The guitar play brings us back to the darkest hours of the 80s.

+ + + : I’m often skeptical about collaborations, which often result in one shots and poorly inspired songs. “A Haunted Place” doesn’t sound like an occasional collaboration, but reveals a mature production resulting in a few great songs. It reminds me more of Kill Shelter than Antidote and especially the last part of the album is worthy of examination. The dark sphere supporting “The Edge Of Reason” and “Every Walking Hour” will give you goosebumps. And there also is the great and more passionate “Of Roses And Thorns” carried by cool, mewing guitar play reminiscent of the 80s.

– – – : The first part of the album is less convincing, the slower “Into The Fire” sounding less inspired in comparison with the great final part.

Conclusion: “A Haunted Place” is a fully accomplished, dark work, which will appeal for lovers of Dark-Wave and Post-Punk. I hope this duo will renew their collaboration.

Best songs: “Of Roses And Thorns”, “The Edge Of Reason”, “Every Walking Hour”, “Raise The Skies”.

Rate: 8.

Artists: www.facebook.com/killshelterofficial / www.facebook.com/antipoleband

Label: www.manicdepressionrecords.com / www.facebook.com/manicdepressionrecords Read the news on ‘A Haunted Place’.

About Kill Shelter and Antipole

Kill Shelter is the project of Edinburgh-based multi-instrumentalist, producer and remixer Pete Burns, who mixes post-punk, darkwave and heavily processed guitars. Antipole is the project of Norwegian guitarist and producer Karl Morten Dahl.

Kill Shelter debuted in 2018 with the album “Damage” and followed it with the “In Decay / Bodies” single in 2019. Antipole released “Northern Flux” in 2017 and “Radial Glare” in 2019.

“A Haunted Place” was released on 26 March 2021 through Manic Depression Records in digital, CD and vinyl formats. Kill Shelter continued with “Asylum” in 2022 and a fifth-anniversary reissue of “Damage” in 2023, while Antipole released “Crystalline” in 2023.

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

Ludovico Technique have released a brand new single, “Burn Everything”, a fast-tempo gothic industrial metal track. You can check out the new single right below.

The New York City based act originally drew inspiration from goth industrial acts such as Skinny Puppy and The Sisters of Mercy, yet now, Ludovico Technique have added glimpses of Type O Negative, Rammstein, and Rob Zombie to their own take on gothic music.

About Ludovico Technique

Named after the drug-assisted aversion therapy found in the novel and film “A Clockwork Orange”, Ludovico Technique launched their self titled debut EP in 2010 followed by their debut album “Some Things Are Beyond Therapy” in 2012 and the follow up “We Came to Wreck Everything” in 2013, both released by Metropolis Records worldwide.

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