Genre/Influences: Metal, Post-Punk, Electro & Metal.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: True Lovers is an American formation, which has been introduced as ‘modern day vampires playing early 2000’s American Rock with the 1980’s Post-Punk attitude, wearing nothing but leather and sunglasses’.

Content: This debut album features 9 songs, which are mainly empowered by furious Metal-driven parts. The heavy and sometimes furious vocals perfectly match with the harshness of the music. But there also is a ‘softer’ side running through the album. Songs are moving from merciless, boosting passages into softer parts. And there’s even a few soft cuts accomplished with Electro arrangements.

+ + + : The harder side of True Lovers is sometimes reminding me of Limp Bizkit for its Nu-Metal approach. Guitar and vocals are finding a harmony in rage, which you’ll notice at “Phoenix Down” and “Bleeding Heart”.

– – – : The softer part of the album (cf. “Royalty”, “Night Sky”) is not exactly the most exciting one.

Conclusion: True Lovers is bringing different influences together, which makes it hard to define their style, but will maybe catch the attention of a diversified audience.

Best songs: “Phoenix Down”, “Bleeding Heart”.

Rate: 6½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/trueloverspunx

Label: www.futurelunch.com / www.facebook.com/futurelunch

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: Power-noise, death-industrial.

Background/Info: Thomas Garrison has already been active under the Control moniker since the late 90s. The American noise terrorist has released an impressive number of productions, now striking back with a new work on Ant-Zen.

Content: “Blood Will Rain” confirms the merciless power-noise style of this artist. Heavy industrial sounds are rapidly turned into pure noise assaults. The hardest cuts are leading the listener into an impressive kapharnaum characterized by heavy noise waves. A few other cuts are more into death-industrial direction featuring heavy, screaming vocals.

+ + + : “Blood Will Rain” stands for pure power-noise intermixed with death-industrial cuts. It’s an overwhelming production that will literally blow you away. “The Blood That Powers All” is one of the best exponents from this work; it’s carried by monstrous noise wall joined by enraged screams. I like the switch between power-noise and death-industrial although both influences are pretty related to each other.

– – – : Control remains an extreme experiment in sound or should I say in noise!? This is the kind of production that will appeal for the true lovers of the genre.

Conclusion: “Blood Will Rain” is a record for the power-noise purists while death-industrial freaks will be interested as well. “Blood Will Rain” will split your tympana…

Best songs: “The Blood That Powers All”, “The Chosen call”, “Der Weg”.

Rate: (6½).

Artist: www.facebook.com/pages/Control/487467091325148

Label: www.ant–zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official

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: Black-metal, death-industrial.

Background/Info: The album “Gleipnirs Smeder” by Jotunspor was originally released in 2006 (!) on Satanas Rex (UK) and Candlelight Records (USA). Two years later (2008) the album got a re-release as a vinyl on Temple Of Darkness Records. The album was the first release on Satanas Rex, which is/was a black-metal division of Cold Spring, which now again has re-released the album. Jotunspor is a Norwegian duo featuring ‘King’ and ‘Kvitrafn’. Both members have been involved with different bands while they both were members of Gorgoroth.

Content: The ‘metal’ roots of both members rapidly emerge at the surface. Dark guitar playing and a furious cadence have been joined by enraged vocals. It creates the main substance of this work, which is just interrupted by a rather dark-soundscape cut filled with humming blasts while another track is more into death-industrial influences.

+ + + : Jotunspor created an obscure sonic universe inspired by old Norse cults and beliefs. It has been transposed into a sonic mayhem, evoking a giant drill driven by hardcore cadence. The album creates a sonic wall, which is just interrupted by the soundscape-like “Svartalvheims Djup” and “Solartjuven”, which sounds a little bit death-industrial like as well. I personally prefer this ‘softer’ side of the work.

– – – : Black-metal music is an extreme sensation to me and not exactly the kind of music that captivates me.

Conclusion: “Gleipnir Smeder” is a truly sound cataclysm; an extreme experience in sound, which is intended to please the true lovers in the genre.

Best songs: “Solartjuven”, “Svartalvheims Djup”.

Rate: (6).

Artist:

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

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: IDM, electro-ambient, cinematographic.

Background/Info: Michael Morton better known as Displacer has already released an impressive number of releases on different labels. His project became an established and renowned name at the wider fields of electro-experimental & ambient music, but still at the more contemporary IDM. This new opus seems to be inspired by some existential themes resulting in 10 new cuts featuring a few guest artists.

Content: Displacer moves on with the familiar electro complexity, which started during the early millennium years. The influences remain pretty similar although every single new album sounds as a further exploration of this very unique sound universe created by Michael Morton. It remains pretty electro-ambient supported with astral atmospheres and carried by slow, broken rhythms.

+ + + : Displacer always sounds like a voyage through futuristic sound galaxies. The artist takes care to create magic sound treatments revealing, deep resonating bass lines, multiple sound effects and refined bleeps. “No Matter Where You Go…” makes me even think of an ambient version of Kraftwerk. There’s a noticeable progression in the song structures, which sometimes reaches a real climax like on “White Tiger” (feat. Brien Hindman). Some tracks are somewhat mystic while other passages are clearly into a cinematographic dimension.

– – – : Displacer always has this little experimental touch, which makes the sound only accessible for the true lovers of this genre.

Conclusion: “The Face You Deserve” only confirms the genius sound approach of Michael Morton. He’s an artist who doesn’t really care about compromises and fashion trends, but simply moves on exploring sound fields of the future.

Best songs: “White Tiger (with Brien Hindman)”, “Out Of Time (with Snowbeasts)”, Shadow Self”, “No More Mr Nice Guy”, “No Matter Where You Go”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.displacer.ca / www.facebook.com/displacermusic

Label: www.ant–zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official

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: Experimental, industrial, cinematographic.

Background/Info: This production released on the Scottish label Bearsuit Records is a split album featuring Swamp Sounds (Japan) and Uncle Pops & The Dumbloods (Scotland). Both artists deal with experimental music and have been featured each with five cuts.

Content: Swamp Sounds takes the first part and mainly reveals a pure experimental composition made of decomposed sounds, broken rhythms, but still melodic passages and even dances parts. Yuuya Kuno clearly likes to manipulate sounds and noises, which finally resulted in a truly sound collage.

The work of Uncle Pops & The Dumbloods remains pretty experimental-like, but we here move more into cinematographic parts. The tracks sound more compact and clearly appealing to be accompanied by a visual work.

+ + + : Bearsuit Records is one of those small, but interesting labels dealing with atypical artists. That’s an aspect I’ve always liked and especially encouraged when it comes to release ‘original’ music. This is an interesting work for experimental lovers who’re into sound decomposition and noise treatments. The work of Swamp Sounds is quite diversified, but always carried by 100% experimental treatments. The work of Uncle Pops & The Dumbloods is more accessible and I especially refer to some passages reminding me of the mysterious atmosphere of the “Twin Peaks”-series. “Autoroute” is a noticeable cut in the genre.

– – – : Experimental music always remains a particular experience, which is less accessible for a wider audience although loved by the true lovers. I can imagine it rather sounds as a sonic enigma for non-experimental lovers. Speaking for myself I’ve been more surprised by the difference in sound and influences between both artists.

Conclusion: If you’re a curious and you like to discover experimental talents, this is for sure an album that will catch your attention! The sound is perfectly represented on the front cover: fragmented and made of multiple little pieces, which don’t necessarily match with each other.  

Best songs: “Moon Circles” + “Autoroute”, “The Comfort Singer”.

Rate: (6).

Bands: www.facebook.com/Swamp–Sounds-189486954870356 / www.facebook.com/unclepopso

Label: www.bearsuitrecords.webs.com / www.facebook.com/bearsuitrecords

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: Experimental, industrial.

Background/Info: The “Transparent”-album is more than simply history. It brings artists and friends with a common passion together. This album was originally released in 1984 as a cassette on Nekrophile Rekords. Later on it has been re-released on CD- and vinyl format, but Cold Spring Records bring it back to life with some extra goodies.

But let’s get back to Zos Kia which was originally set up by John Gosling, Min Kent and John Balance while assisted live with mixing by Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle). Balance and Christopherson were of course partners in crime and world-wide recognized as Coil. Zos Kia and Coil did some concerts together playing the tracks originally featured on “Transparent”. This album also features 2 extra cuts by Ake, which was a band featuring John Gosling, Min Kent and 2 extra members. Ake was active before Zos Kia.

Content: “Transparent” sounds like the good-old industrial and experimental music from the early 80s. It has something apart and definitely unique compared to the later and contemporary industrial music. It was all about originality and noise creation, sterile and/or shouting vocals and rather provocative. Some tracks reflected controversial persons such as Aleister Crowley and Charles Manson.

It all sounded like industrial music with an attitude. The work of Zos Kia was raw and without any possible compromise. It sounds a bit anarchistic and filled with Min’s terror screams.

The work together with Coil moves even deeper into experimentalism and a kind of anti-music attitude. You’ll also (re)discover some demo-like electro loops and rhythm box parts created by John Balance.

Both Ake tracks sound like pure improvisation featuring noises and effects. It’s moiré chaotic, but in the truly spirit of early industrial music.

+ + + : Cold Spring Records is used to re-release old industrial- and experimental releases. It always is a kind of documentary and a way to remind people of where this music comes from. We get back to the sources and this album is a real must have. The booklet also includes an interview with John Balance about the album and multiple pictures from that period plus the concert dates. This album is pure nostalgia, but also a look back to the most creative period in history of so-called industrial music. This is about authenticity, engagement and passion.

– – – : Industrial- and experimental music both have always been extreme and back in time hard to understand for people listening to commercial- and/or pop music. More than 30 years later it remains a singular sonic experience, which only the true lovers will understand and cherish. This is ‘extreme’ music!

Conclusion: This is one of the re-issues by Cold Spring Records I totally support and enjoy. This work brings us back to the original soul of industrial music. It was one of the albums I ever expected to be re-released. I would be a happy man if Cold Spring or any other label could ever re-release (and for the first time on CD format) the “Shoulder To Shoulder”-album from Test Dept. and South Wales Striking Miners Choir.

Best songs: “Baptism Of Fire”, “Silence & Secrecy (Section)”, “Truth (Version)”, “On Balance”, “Rape”.

Rate: (7).

Label: www.coldspring.co.uk / www.facebook.com/coldspringhq

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