Gothic rock band Christian Death has announced a series of European tour dates. Dubbed the ‘Armageddon Tour’, the run will take the band from Spain through Germany, Belgium, Poland, Italy, France, The Netherlands and Czechoslovakia before concluding in Ireland on June 3.

Regarding the title of the tour, Christian Death leader, Valor Kand says: “We do not claim to be clairvoyant, just look around. An eye for an eye, a pound for a pound.”

Christian Death will be supporting their most recent full-length album, “Evil Becomes Rule” while performing classic tracks from their extensive back catalog. “Evil Becomes Rule” is the band’s 17th studio album with a line-up consisting of Valor, Maitri, Chuck “Chains” Lenihan and Steve Kilroy.

Christian Death ‘Armageddon Tour’ Europe 2024

• Saturday, May 11 – Madrid, ES – DarkMAD
• Monday, May 13 – Bochum, DE – Matrix
• Wednesday, May 15 – Kassel, DE – Goldgrube
• Thursday, May 16 – Berlin, DE – Lido
• Friday, May 17 – Leipzig, DE – Wave Gotik Treffen
• Sunday, May 19 – Krakow, PL – Gwarek
• Tuesday, May 21 – Hamburg, DE – Bambi Galore
• Thursday, May 23 – Trier, DE – Mergener Hof
• Friday, May 24 – Martigny, CH – Sunset Bar
• Saturday, May 25 – Modena, IT – NotteTempio
• Sunday, May 26 – Milan, IT – Legend Club
• Tuesday, May 28 – Prague, CZ – Kasarna Karlin
• Thursday, May 30 – Drachten, NL – Iduna Poppodium
• Friday, May 31 – Eernegem, BE – B52 Music Club
• Saturday, June 1 – Paris, FR – La Boule Noire
• Monday, June 3 – Dublin, IE – The Grand Social

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: Death-Rock, Goth-Rock.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Valor Kand (vocals, guitars, violin, cello, piano, keyboards, percussion), Maitri Nicolai (vocals, bass guitar) and Pao (drums) composed and recorded the seventieth studio album of Christian Death.

Content: Despite the numerous line-up changes Christian Death has always held on to this typical and powerful Death-Rock style. The guitar parts create this furious and heavy impression while electronic arrangements achieve the work with a heavenly touch. Male- and female vocals are in perfect harmony although Maitri’s vocals have something bewitching.

+ + + : Christian Death has this atypical sound you directly recognize among others. The perfect fusion between Dark-Rock and Gothic music creating a heavy and sometimes merciless sound. The guitar playing dominates and even excels when carried by electro arrangements like on “Blood Moon” which is my personal favorite one. I also must mention “Abraxas We Are” which is another exposure of the band’s maturity and potential.

– – – : After all these years of commitment and an impressive discography Christian Death no longer takes me by surprise. The sound formula is a familiar one resulting in a predictable composition. The fans will not complain. 

Conclusion: Christian Death remains a unique experience in sound which still inspires other artists. The new album will not enter into history as their most successful one, but fans will not be disappointed.

Best songs: “Blood Moon”, “Abraxas We Are”, “Elegant sleeping”, “Beautiful”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.officialchristiandeath.com / www.facebook.com/christiandeath

Label: www.season-of-mist.com / www.facebook.com/seasonofmistofficial

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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On Friday 26th and Saturday 27th August, the biggest gothic gathering in Central Europe will return to Prague. It will feature 11 bands (including scene mainstays Christian Death and The Frozen Autumn or contemporary cults Kælan Mikla or Minuit Machine), DJs and the traditional gothic picnic.

In a message to Side-Line the organisation says the following: “Who would have thought seventeen years ago that Prague Gothic Treffen would one day grow into the biggest event of its kind in Central Europe? That it would host the very bands we then used to play from Winamp for a few gothic enthusiasts with religious reverence. But it did. In fact, PGT started attracting so many people that after a few years it is moving from our beloved Futurum to a bigger club.“

In the two inter-connected venues, Fuchs 2 and Bike Jesus, you will be able to enjoy two concurrent stages covering everything from traditional goth to the hottest trends in the dark scene in terms of genre.

Tickets are available right here, you sign up to the Facebook event page right here.

The top 4 artists

The most recognizable name at this year’s PGT is Christian Death, the Apostles of deathrock defined the genre in the early 80s on the iconic albums “Only Theatre of Pain” and “Catastrophe Ballet”. The band continued on even after Rozz Williams left this world and Valor Kand took over the reins of the band. They will return to Prague six years after their excellent concert at Chmelnice.

The Italian The Frozen Autumn are the darkwave ambassadors. Originally a solo project of Diego Merletto the band was inspired by the European cold wave and bands of the iconic 4AD label. The duo perform very rarely, plus their concert at Prague Gothic Treffen will also be their Czech premiere.

The Icelandic women trio Kælan Mikla bring a unique and hard-to-define Nordic atmosphere  enhanced by abstract lyrics in Icelandic. Expect elements of post-punk, synthpunk, cold wave, ethereal to darkwave. The band recently released their fifth full-length album “Undir Köldum Norðurljósum”.

Rounding out the top four names on this year’s line-up is the French duo Minuit Machine who will bring their typical contemporary dark electronica.

And also…

The EBM side of things will be covered by the Swedish band Wulfband. The band will come to Prague for the first time. Another Czech premiere will be the performance of German goth rockers Wisborg and the Slovak deathrock act The Last Days Of Jesus. The Polish subculture will be represented by the dark electronic trio Her Own World and will present their current EP “This Fire”. From Ecuador comes Naturata Brutalismus mixing coldwave atmosphere with deathrock guitars and Spanish sung lyrics. More coldwave, postpunk and new wave will come from the Munich trio Paar. The Czech scene is also present thanks to the electronic act Isiolia.

DJ boots and more

After the live shows on both stages, the afterparties will commence with foreign and Czech DJs, spinning everything from classic goth/deathrock through dark/new wave and post-punk to various forms of dark electronica. The traditional Saturday afternoon gothic picnic is also an integral part of the PGT and a neat tradition – an ideal opportunity to meet and chat with other event visitors from all corners of Europe and tune in to the evening club scene. 

Here’s the video trailer for the event.

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 American death rock pioneers Christian Death are reissuing one of their most classic releases, the 1985 album “The Wind Kissed Pictures”. There will be 3 formats, a digipak CD, a black vinyl and a dark green vinyl, the latter is limited to 600 copies.

The offering was the first Christian Death release after Rozz Williams left the band and Valor K took over command. It features Valor’s girlfriend Gitane Demone on vocals on 2 tracks and on keyboards on 1 track and even their common child, Sevan Kand, has a vocal appearance on “Ouverture”.

Originally a 4-track mini-album (limited first edition with a bonus-track on a 7″) on the Italian Supporti Fonografici label, this album has seen countless re-releases on different labels: Chameleon (USA 1986), as a 7-track CD in 1988 (Supporto F. + Normal Germany), in the same version on Cleopatra USA (1999) and as a 8-track edition with 1 bonus live-track on Candlelight UK (1999) and on Candlelight US in 2002.

The tracklist of this new 2021 edition is identical to the album that was released via the Contempo Records label in 1990, under the album name “Past, Present and Forever”.

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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Gothic death rock pioneers Christian Death have revealed the special, limited edition “The Dark Age Renaissance” CD collections for Part 3 and 4.

“The Dark Age Renaissance Collection Part 4: The New Dark Age” combines their three most recent recordings – “Born Again Anti Christian” (2000), “American Inquisition” (2007), and “The Root Of All Evilution” (2015) – into one limited package. It will be released on September 3, 2021 via Season of Mist.

“The Dark Age Renaissance Collection Part 3: The Age Of Decadence” is a 4 CD jewel case set which features three of their middle-period recordings and 1990 demos/outtakes compilation – “Insanus, Ultio, Proditio, Misericordiaque” (1990), “Sexy Death God” (1994), “Prophecies” (1996), and “Pornographic Messiah” (1998) – into one limited package. This is set for release on October 8, 2021 via Season of Mist.

Parts 1 and 2 will be revealed at a later date.

This release series is part of an ongoing series of CD and vinyl reissues of Christian Death’s catalog via Season of Mist. Previously, the label reissued LPs for the band’s “Catastrophe Ballet” (1984) as well as “The Root of All Evilution”, “Ashes”, “The Scriptures”, and “Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ” as well as CD and vinyl reissues for 1986’s “Atrocities”.

About the early Christian Death

Founded in Los Angeles in 1979 by Rozz Williams, Christian Death trail-blazed the American goth and death-rock movement with their debut album, “Only Theatre of Pain” (1982) and the genre-defining “Catastrophe Ballet” (1984) and “Ashes” (1985).

“Ashes” marks the final appearance of the classic band lineup and features the final recordings of founder Rozz Williams alongside current Christian Death main-man Valor Kand, vocalist-keyboardist Gitane Demone and drummer David Glass before Williams’ death in 1998.

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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Season of Mist is reissuing Christian Death’s “Atrocities” album on LP and CD on July 9. “Atrocities” was the fourth studio album by the American act and was released in 1986 through the record label Normal.

The album’s subject matter deals almost exclusively with the Holocaust, including songs about Auschwitz and Josef Mengele. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales it also featured the songwriting and arrangement skills of Barry Galvin, who, along with Johann Schumann, would leave the group upon the completion of “Atrocities”. Both went on to form Mephisto Walz.

It is the first Christian Death record with Valor Kand taking over main duties following Rozz Williams’ departure and also the first release with no original members of the band remaining. Some until today still doubt we can still speak of Christian Death at this point, but that’s another discussion.

The re-release is part of an ongoing series of vinyl reissues of Christian Death’s catalog via Season of Mist. Previously, the label reissued LPs for the band’s “Catastrophe Ballet” (1984) as well as “The Root of All Evilution”, “Ashes”, “The Scriptures”, “American Inquisition” and “Sex and Drugs and Jesus Christ”.

About Christian Death

Founded in Los Angeles in 1979 by Rozz Williams, the band formed the American goth and death-rock movement with their debut album, “Only Theatre of Pain” (1982), “Catastrophe Ballet” (1984) and “Ashes” (1985). The latter marked also the final appearance of the classic band lineup and features the final recordings of founder Rozz Williams alongside Valor Kand, vocalist-keyboardist Gitane Demone and drummer David Glass.

“Atrocities” was followed by 1987’s “The Scriptures”, recorded by a revamped lineup of Kand, Demone, Glass, guitarist James Beam and bassist Kota. Longtime drummer Glass left the group following the release of “The Scriptures” and returned to California, where he eventually worked with several Williams side projects.

During the late 1980s, while also recording as Shadow Project, Williams resurrected his own version of Christian Death, with his wife Eva O contributing guitar as well as vocals. Billing themselves as the original Christian Death, they were rejoined by first-album guitarist Agnew for a 1989 tour of Canada. The band was signed to Cleopatra Records, and released “The Iron Mask” album and “Skeleton Kiss” EP in 1992.

Williams’ reclamation of the Christian Death name sparked a fierce battle with Kand. However, Kand already had the rights to the name due to Williams’ departure from the band and subsequent neglect of the moniker. Williams consequently billed his version of the band as “Christian Death Featuring Rozz Williams”. After this, Williams’ version released “The Path of Sorrows” album in 1993 and “The Rage of Angels” in 1994.

Williams pursued other projects before committing suicide on April 1, 1998.

Meanwhile, Kand’s Christian Death continued performing and recording, issuing the 1990 album “Insanus, Ultio, Proditio, Misercordiaque”, on which Kand conducted the English Abbey Choir and the Commonwealth Chamber Orchestra. The band released the “Sexy Death God” album in 1994, the double-live set “Amen” in 1995, the Nostradamus-themed “Prophecies” in 1996, and “Pornographic Messiah” in 1998. “Born Again Anti Christian” followed 2 years later.

7 years later, in 2007, Christian Death released “American Inquisition” featuring a new drummer, Nate Hassan. In January 2015, Christian Death released “The Root of All Evilution” digitally via Knife Fight Media, and on vinyl via Season of Mist. A CD release followed on The End Records.

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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Up now, and available for listening below, is a first new track from Christian Death’s forthcoming album “The Root Of All Evilution”, the track “Illuminazi”. The 10-track album “The Root Of All Evilution” is scheduled for worldwide release on vinyl (silver and black) on the 16th of October (both version are available here – but be fast, there are only a few copies remaining) and is their first studio album effort after an 8 year hiatus following the release of “American Inquisition” (2007).

Here are some direct links to the vinyls: black vinyl and silver vinyl.

Christian Death will be headlining the “Hell Nights” tour in Germany with The Other, Nim Vind, and Argyle Goolsby and The Roving Midnight , which will be immediately followed by more European shows.

The line-up of Christian Death anno 2015 is Valor Kand (vocals, guitars, violin, strings, keyboards), Maitri (vocals, bass guitar, keyboards) and Jason Frantz (drums). More info at www.facebook.com/christiandeath .

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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