Traitrs, the Toronto post-punk / coldwave duo of Shawn Tucker and Sean-Patrick Nolan, release their fourth studio album “Possessor” on 13 March 2026. The record appears digitally under the band’s own imprint via Believe and as a dedicated European edition on Icy Cold Records.

The Traitrs Possessor album follows a run of singles issued between late 2025 and early 2026. “Burn in Heaven” arrived in September 2025, “I Was Ill, You Were Wrong” followed in November 2025, and “Dream Drowning” landed on 13 February 2026, all offering a more direct and stripped-back approach to songwriting.

Band co-founder Shawn Tucker has described “Possessor” as “the most personal record I have ever written,” pointing to lyrics that examine illness, grief and shifting identity.

“Possessor” is a ten-track album running just over 42 minutes and it was recorded again with longtime collaborator Josh Korody, with mastering by Matt Colton.

Icy Cold Records issues the European physical edition as a limited cream-white vinyl LP (500 copies) and a standard digipak CD. This pressing includes an insert with credits and photography alongside the ten-track album. Furniture Records is handling additional territories with further vinyl and CD editions, as well as cassette versions and a bundle combining formats.

Traitrs ‘Possessor’ tour 2026

To support the Traitrs Possessor album, the duo will embark on an extensive tour through 2026 under the “Possessor Tour” banner. A European run in early 2026 is followed by a North American leg that starts with a Toronto show at Lee’s Palace and concludes at House of Targ in Ottawa, with dates in cities including Montreal, West Palm Beach, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston and Richmond.

Several dates are billed where the band will be supporting with She Past Away, (SPA) Lebanon Hanover and Ultra Sunn.

About Traitrs

Traitrs is a Toronto, Canada-based post-punk/darkwave duo formed in 2015 by Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker. The pair initially treated Traitrs as a recording project, working with producer Josh Korody at Candle Studios from early 2016 onward.

Traitrs released their debut album “Rites and Ritual” in 2016, followed in 2017 by the EP “Heretic” and the mini-album “Speak In Tongues,” which were issued through labels including Pleasence Records and Manic Depression and circulated via vinyl, cassette and digital formats. In May 2018 they delivered the full-length “Butcher’s Coin,” later supplemented by the alternate “Butcher’s Coin Red” edition.

In 2021 Traitrs issued two releases in quick succession: the EP “The Sick, Tired and Ill” and the album “Horses in the Abattoir,” with the latter presented via Freakwave and Metropolis Records.

From 2020 onwards Traitrs became a regular presence on festival and tour line-ups. They also were tour support for VNV Nation’s “Electric Sun” North American leg.

As of 2026 the current lineup remains the founding duo of Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker.

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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Toronto post-punk duo Traitrs will release their fourth album “Possessor” in Europe as a dedicated EU edition via Icy Cold Records on 13 March 2026, with distribution handled by Audioglobe. The album follows 2021’s “Horses in the Abattoir” and arrives as both a limited cream white vinyl LP and a standard digipak CD.

The European LP edition of “Possessor” is limited to 500 copies on cream white vinyl and includes a printed insert. The EU CD edition arrives as a 3-panel digipak, carrying the same 10 tracks as the LP.

“Possessor” was produced by long-time collaborator Josh Korody (The Beaches, The Dirty Nil, Japandroids, Tanya Taqaq, F*cked Up) and mastered by Matt Colton (The Cure, Depeche Mode, Fontaines D.C., Wet Leg, Dua Lipa, Blur etc).

The band has shared audio-only clips on YouTube in the run-up to the album: “Burn In Heaven” and “I Was Ill, You Were Wrong“.

“Possessor” will also be out as a first-pressing black LP, several limited CD editions, cassette variants and a vinyl/CD bundle issued through Furniture Records.

About Traitrs

Traitrs is a Toronto, Canada-based post-punk/darkwave duo formed in 2015 by Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker. The pair initially treated Traitrs as a recording project, working with producer Josh Korody at Candle Studios from early 2016 onward.

Traitrs released their debut album “Rites and Ritual” in 2016, followed in 2017 by the EP “Heretic” and the mini-album “Speak In Tongues,” which were issued through labels including Pleasence Records and Manic Depression and circulated via vinyl, cassette and digital formats. In May 2018 they delivered the full-length “Butcher’s Coin,” later supplemented by the alternate “Butcher’s Coin Red” edition.

In 2021 Traitrs issued two releases in quick succession: the EP “The Sick, Tired and Ill” and the album “Horses in the Abattoir,” with the latter presented via Freakwave and Metropolis Records.

From 2020 onwards Traitrs became a regular presence on festival and tour line-ups. They also were tour support for VNV Nation’s “Electric Sun” North American leg.

As of 2026 the current lineup remains the founding duo of Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker.

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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VampireFreaks have announce the line-up for the 3-day music festival Dark Force Fest which takes place in Parsippany, NJ (one hour from NYC) on May 2nd to 4th, 2025.

The festival features 35 bands performing across two stages: including ORGY, The Birthday Massacre, Covenant, Suicide Commando, Aesthetic Perfection, Genitorturers, Funker Vogt, Razed In Black, Calabrese, SITD, Haujobb, Klutæ, TRAITRS, Beborn Beton, God Module, Flesh Field, Dead On A Sunday, Rosegarden Funeral Party, Amelia Arsenic, NYXX, Panic Priest, 2 Shadows, Seraphim Shock, Dancing Plague, genCAB, Occults, SINE, Circuit Preacher, Corbeau Hangs, Die Sexual, Frenchy and the Punk, Everything Goes Cold, Contracult, Project .44, and Whorticulture.

You can order your tickets here.

Dark Force Fest takes place at the Sheraton Parsippany, a castle-style hotel that features 44,000 square feet of event space and 370 hotel rooms. While the hotel rooms in the main venue sold out within days of announcing the festival, there are still overflow hotels in the surrounding area.

In addition to 35 bands, Dark Force Fest activities include:

• Over 100 Vendors
• Sideshow Performances
• Drag Queens
• DJ Club Events (Playing Goth-Industrial Music)
• Classes & Activities
• Panels and Presentations
• Food Trucks

Below is a preview of what to expect.

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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Today, the legendary Clan of Xymox has released a new video, the title track of the EP “X-Odus” which we reported already about a few days ago.

The video was directed and edited by Zoe Kavanagh, with cinematography by Ismael Diarra. The video also holds stunts performed by Jennifer Kilmurray, Phillip Condron, Bianca Castilho and Daire McMahon.

The EP is the first taste of their forthcoming album “Exodus”. The new “X-Odus” EP features remixes by TRAITRS, The Bellwether Syndicate, Principe Valiente and more. “Exodus”, the band’s 18th album, will be released on June 7th by Metropolis Records on all digital and streaming formats along with a CD version. Clan of Xymox will be touring North America in June.

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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Metropolis Records recording act VNV Nation continues its North American Tour in support of their album “Electric Sun”. The tour commences in Tampa, FL on March 29th and concludes in Las Vegas, NV on April 27th.

Fellow label artists Traitrs will be opening at all 22 shows. Traitrs made their Metropolis debut in 2023 with “Horses In The Abattoir / The Sick, Tired And Ill”, which was a reissued merger of the “Horses” album and an EP made available on vinyl and CD.

VNV Nation’s “Electric Sun”, was released on a very limited edition 2 LP clear vinyl edition along with a 16-page booklet digipack CD and on all digital and streaming platforms.

Vnv Nation tourdates with Traitrs

• Friday March 29, 2024 – Tampa, FL – The Orpheum
• Saturday March 30, 2024 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
• Sunday March 31, 2024 – Durham, SC – Motorco Music Hall
• Monday April 1, 2024 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
• Wednesday April 3, 2024 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA
• Thursday April 4, 2024 – Boston, MA – Royale
• Saturday April 6, 2024 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
• Sunday April 7, 2024 – Montreal, CA – La Tulipe
• Tuesday April 9, 2024 – Toronto, CA – The Danforth Music Hall
• Wednesday April 10, 2024 – Millvale, PA
• Friday April 12, 2024 – Cleveland, OH
• Saturday April 13, 2024 – Indianapolis, IN
• Sunday April 14, 2024 – Madison, WI
• Tuesday April 16, 2024 – Omaha, NE
• Thursday April 18, 2024 – Denver, CO
• Friday April 19, 2024 – Estes Park, CO
• Tuesday April 20, 2024 – Estes Park, CO
• Wednesday April 21, 2024 – Salt Lake City, UT
• Friday April 23, 2024 – Santa Cruz, CA
• Saturday April 24, 2024 – San Diego, CA
• Sunday April 25, 2024 – Santa Ana, CA
• Tuesday April 27, 2024 – Los Vegas, NV

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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Stockholm-based dark wave artist aux animaux is back with a new video for her song Venus Lucifer. The song is from her newly released album “Body Horror” that came out on Manic Depression Records in December.

The mastering for the album and also this track was done by Doruk Öztürkcan from She Past Away with whom she has been touring in Germany, Netherlands, Turkey and Scandinavia this year.

Regarding “Venus Lucifer” aux animaus says this: “I have been interested in astrology for a long time; both my mom and her best friend are astrologers. During the Venus retrograde this year, while I was writing the album, I read about how having Venus as a morning star (hence, Lucifer) or evening star can affect the kinds of relationship patterns you may have. It provided me with many answers about why I have behaved in certain ways, answers that psychology couldn’t offer, and this inspired the song.”

Here’s the video.

About aux animaux

aux animaux was founded in 2015 by musician Gözde Düzer in Stockholm. Gözde Düzer, originally from Istanbul, now resides in Stockholm and has also spent some months in Strasbourg. She plays bass guitar and theremin and describes her music as hauntwave. Gözde Düzer is married to Jonas Fransson who plays drums for Then Comes Silence.

The French project name aux animaux translates to “for the animals” and reflects the animal rights movement and veganism. Her video for “Lost Souls” features footage from the animal rights organization Djurrättsalliansen. In March 2023 she published the EP “Operatione Daemonum” as Melaina Chole.

aux animaux tour dates

• 8.3 Göteborg, Musikens Hus,SE
• 18.4 Lille, La Malterie, FR¨
• 26.4 Athens, Death Disco, GR#
• 27.4 Umeå, Bottenfauna, SE^
• 2.5 Barcelona, TBA, ESP#
• 3.5 Madrid, TBA, ESP#
• 4.5 Malmö, Plan B, SE°
• 23.5 Nottingham,The Chapel,UK’
• 24.5 Manchester, Rebellion, UK’
• 25.5 Glasgow,Classic Grand,UK’
• 26.5 London Lexington, UK’
• 21.6 Berlin, Slaughterhouse, DE
• 28.6 Subkultfestivalen, SE
• 30.8 Musta Juhla festival, FI
• 8.9 Leipzig, TBA, DE
• 19.10 Naples, Lizard Club, IT
• 7.11 Ilmenau, TBA, DE
• 9.11 Siegen, Beautiful Noise, DE
• 10.11 Graz, PPC, AT+

*W. Buzz Kull, °W. Abu Nein, ^W. Agenst Side Grinder, ‘W. Traitrs, # With Kontrovoid,¨With Patriarchy, +With She Past Away

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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Celebrating its 30th year, Audioglobe, the most important distributor in the darkwave scene, just shared a statistical review, revealing the shifts and trends in the darkwave (and related) music genre.

Our readers will surely remember that we have reported on these stats for years, until 2018, the first year that Audioglobe didn’t communicate these stats. Sebastian Koch from Audioglobe explains: “Some customers never really cared that much about these, as they have better things to do than reading boring mails from the undersigned. But… Surprisingly there are quite a high number of customers, that sort of ‘complained’ about the fact, that no stats were being done any longer… The reason is: I was simply always far too busy in past years. Anyway: Here we go with the first new stats since 2017!”

So here are some export facts.

Top 10 Bestselling Labels of 2023 (export)

1. FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET
   • She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…
2. METROPOLIS
   • Birthday Massacre, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, A Projection, KMFDM, Legendary P.D…
3. ICY COLD/MANIC DEPR.
   • Twin Tribes, Je T’aime, Traitrs, Kill Shelter, Closed Mouth, Talk to Her, Schonwald…
4. ALFA MATRIX
   • Alien Vampires, Front 242, Metroland, Die Robo Sapiens, Elm, 808 Dot Pop, Helalyn Flowers…
5. RUSTBLADE
   • Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone, Lycia Lunch, Spiritual Front, Ketvector, Legendary Pink D…
6. OUT OF LINE
   • Blutengel, Hocico, Solitary Experiments, Suicide Commando, Signal Aout42, Erdling…
7. TRISOL
   • Sopor Aeternus, Rome, Clan of Xymox, Asp, Ostara, Skinflicks, Nachtmahr, Mantus, Soman…
8. DEPENDENT
   • Kirlian Camera, Girls Under Glass, Spectra*Paris, Mildreda, Black Nail Cabaret, Beborn Beton…
9. ARTOFFACT
   • Actors, Noise Unit, cEvin Key, Kaelan Mikla, Ploho, Sacred Skin, Kauan, Ken Mode, Spectres…
10. AUERBACH
    • Spiritual Front, Sol Invictus, Tenhi, Moon and the Night Spirit, Haavard, Hekate, Orplid…

Best Export Territories of 2023

If we look at the Audioglobe stats, we notice that Germany and Greece remain the company’s strongest markets, continuing a trend that has been consistent for ages. However, the 2023 statistics reveal some notable shifts.

Canada, once a prominent market for Audioglobe, has surprisingly disappeared from the export landscape. In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom have re-emerged as significant territories, marking their return to prominence in the darkwave music scene after several years.

The most unexpected development in 2023 is the rise of Australia as a key market. This growth stands in stark contrast to Switzerland, which, despite its affluence, has seen a sharp decline in sales. Sebastian Koch adds: “The (by far!) lowest sales of all countries where we export to, was to Switzerland… The rich Swiss don’t buy records! Since I left the country (1990), something is wrong back home!”

Here is the top 10 list of export territories:

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. USA
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Russia
10. Poland

Not in the top 10, but France, Japan, Malta, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, and Perù are also good export territories for Audioglobe.

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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Following their 2019 album “Chaos/Control” (of which our reviewer said it was a true earworm), Korinthians, the Ghent-based post-punk band, are set to release the sequel, “A Major Walk” on 25th May. But ahead of that album you already get the new single “No Future”, the follow-up to the first single “Well”.

You can check out “No Future” below.

The band asked various people to write a short story around songs featured on the new album, and this what Danny Quetin penned about “No Future” called “A Future”:

Young adolescents we were, in the late 1970s, early 1980s. Budding adolescence. Rebellion. Well, we tried that anyway. Though we didn’t quite know against whom or what. It was a time when we still had all our hair, which we let stand up in spikes with liters of gel. We would shout ‘No Future’, if not only because a certain English group did so, loudly, on an album called ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’. (And which later also turned out to be just a scam)

Later, yes. Because the future did appear to exist. And was it good? Not necessarily, no. Just as the past hadn’t always been satisfactory.

Yes, rebellion is still possible, and with plenty of reasons for it, too. But the yoke of puberty, that we left behind some decades ago. It is now stored in a record cabinet, where bands of our youth are fighting their battles among themselves, against society and especially against their political leaders. Capital A with a circle around it, that was the signature of the time. ‘No Future’ the cry of the struggle.

Time, it turns out, is relative. The future becomes the past in a heartbeat. That’s how fleeting times are. What you read is the present, just for a second. Upon second reading, it is already the past. The clock is ticking mercilessly.

But if some big bang says ‘enough with this’ and seconds no longer exist, only then will time come to an end, will the future no longer have foresight. Future becomes no future. The end of time as the final destination. Credit where credit is due.

The album “A Major Walk” is due on 25th May, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Koenraad Foesters at Studio Jupiter.

The quartet first released an EP called Olympus in 2016. However, it was their debut album, Chaos/Control (2019), that propelled the band onto festival stages such as Sinner’s Day, Dark Skies Over Witten (Germany), Porta Nigra Festival, Into The Dark, Zeeheldenfestival (Netherlands), Platzhirsch (Germany), and Corrosion (UK). Korinthians have been the supporting act for international bands like Traitrs (Canada), She Wants Revenge (USA), and The Sheila Divine (USA). After a mini-tour in Germany, the band also embarked on a UK tour in March 2023.

Videos

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 post-punk / dark electronic music festival Absolution has announced it’s full line up and dates.

Absolution will be taking place October 6th-8th in Tampa (Ybor City), FL. In it’s third year, the festival is once again featuring acts within the post-punk, industrial, darkwave, and synthpop genres.

Headlining Absolution this year will be UK artists The KVB, French EBM act Minuit Machine, and post-punk Californians Creux Lies. The festival also features special performances from Italian darkwave/post-punk artists Hapax, and UK synthpop group Empathy Test. Additional artists playing include The Foreign Resort, Traitrs, Bestial Mouths, The French Police, SYZYGYX, XTR Human, Corlyx, Glass Spells, Hexheart, The Purge, Die Robot, Violent Vickie, and Element 104.

Tickets for all three days and single day tickets are available now and a limited amount of each will be available each day. Tickets can be purchased right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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

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Out in March 2022 via Metropolis Records is the newest album, “Barricades”, by the Swedish dark pop quartet Principe Valiente.

But before that the band offers the “Porcelain” single taken from “Barricades” which is the follow-up to “Oceans” from 2017. The single is also available as a remix package with treatments by Agent Side Grinder, Ash Code and TRAITRS. You can check the single below.

“Barricades” is the band’s first album for Metropolis and fourth overall. As with new records by many other acts, also “Barricades” is an album deeply affected by the Covid pandemic, with most of its songs recorded from home and the group members providing their individual contributions in isolation.

Although Principe Valiente has previously been seen as something of a solo project for the singer, this time around all four group members – Honorato, guitarist Jimmy Ottosson, keyboardist Rebecka Johansson and drummer Joakim Janthe – have made contributions.

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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There must be some post-punk in the drinking water in canada… Out via Freakwave on November 19 is the new album from the Canadian post-punk act Traitrs: “Horses in the Abattoir”. The release will be out on CD and vinyl. The band is known for mixing emotive melodies, propulsive rhythms, angular guitars and dark cinematic electronics into one complete mix.

Traitrs consists of Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker, the duo formed the band during the summer of 2015 in Toronto, Ontario Canada and released their debut in April 2016. They then released the LP “Butcher’s Coin” via Pleasence Records / Manic Depression / Alchera Visions in May 2018.

The bands that influenced the duo most are New Order, Tears For Fears, Phillip Glass, Protomartyr, Talk Talk, The Smiths, Placebo, The Cure… and so on. The band explains how especially Phillip Glass inspired them to write the album track “Oh, Ballerina” .

Nolan: “While on tour, I became obsessed with the minimalist composer Phillip Glass. His music completely changed the way I thought about melodies and composition. That’s how “Oh, Ballerina” started, as this minimal and abstract piano piece with some atmospheric textures and very little else. I played it for Shawn and he liked it so we took it to rehearsal and recorded a 10 minute demo. I had insomnia a few nights later and decided to listen to the demo very late at night and mid-way through the improvised recording, it was like the song suddenly revealed itself to me. Like a crack in the sky, I suddenly heard the drums and bass in my head and realized that what we worked on was literally just the beginning. At 3 am, I grabbed my laptop, quickly programmed some drums and we finished scripting it all the next day. We opened all of our fall 2019 shows with ‘Oh, Ballerina’ just to study the audience’s reaction to see if it held up with the rest of our catalogue and it always did.”

Check out “Oh, Ballerina” below.

And this is their latest single, “Magdalene”.

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 dark alternative music festival Absolution has announced their festival dates and artist lineup.

After the success of the inaugural edition of the Absolution Festival in 2019, the festival announces it’s return this year as an annual event. Absolution features a line-up of Dark Electronic artists from across globe and will take place again in Tampa, Florida in the historic section of Ybor City on October 8th-10th.

Kicking off the festivities will be a pre-party headlined by Austin,TX based artist Mr.Kitty on October 8th. On October 9th French synthwave artist Hante. will headline day one of Absolution. Day two of the festival features Los Angeles, tragic wave artists Drab Majesty headlining. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.

The full festival lineup

• Drab Majesty
• Hante.
• Mr.Kitty
• Traitrs
• The Bellwether Syndicate
• Astari Nite
• Rosegarden Funeral Party
• S Y Z Y G Y X
• Sonsombre
• Third Realm
• DIe Robot
• The Purge
• The Kentucky Vampires
• Pass/ages
• Mother Juno
• Cold Medicine
• Gulf Blvd

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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