Zoth Ommog – SIDE-LINE

Click Interview with Kanka Bodewell: ‘We didn´t want to sound like Orange Sector or Armageddon Dildos’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 19:00:00 +0000

Uwe Kanka (Armageddon Dildos) and Martin Bodewell (Orange Sector) are both part of the collective memory of EBM fans. Imagine both guys releasing an album together. They simply called the project Kanka Bodewell and first surprised us with the release of the heavy, retro-EBM-driven EP “Herzblut”. It was released in 2022 by Infacted Recordings. And two years later they hit back with the album “Stroboscope”. The full length is more diversified with, in addition to EBM, also strong Electro-Pop pieces and even a kind of retro-Techno track that takes us back to the 90s in the Frankfurter Techno Club. I contacted both artists to learn more about their collaborative work. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I think this collaborative project was already in the pipeline for a while, but what finally made it happen and what ideas did you have in mind when you decided working together?

Kanka: The idea for the project was born at a joint gig in Frankfurt twelve years ago. Martin suggested a collaboration and I agreed without any reservation. However, years went by and nothing happened. As Martin called me last year and told me that he had some tracks and that he could very well imagine releasing them with me I said yes and so the story went on.

Bodewell: We decided to call our project Bodewell & Kanka. The first ideas were Armageddon Sector or Orange Dildos. It is unbelievable what we think about. The first ideas were not good but very funny.

Q: You both can look back at incredible and successful careers so I guess it must be also exciting and challenging to set up something new. How did you experience this new project, the collaboration itself and what are the expectations?

Kanka: It was from the beginning and still is a very relaxed way of working for me. I liked the tracks straight away and felt very comfortable writing the lyrics and recording the vocals. I immediately had vocal lines for almost all the tracks Martin sent me and plenty of scope to play around with my voice in different styles and quickly realized that vocals and instruments harmonized very well.

Q: I can imagine that you got in touch with each other during the legendary Zoth Ommog years. How did you view each other’s respective bands Orange Sector and Armageddon Dildos and what are the influences from both bands you find back in Kanka Bodewell?

Kanka: As far as I remember, we didn’t have any intensive contact during our time together at Zoth Ommog. Lars and Martin lived in Hanover and Dirk and I lived in Düsseldorf. But we always had a lot of fun at occasional meetings in Frankfurt or at concerts together. I liked the guys’ musical style and energy right from the start. I think the way Martin uses the synths and his understanding of this kind of music has a big influence on the music of Kanka/Bodewell. It also gives me the opportunity to go new ways with my voice and the melodies of the vocals.

Bodewell: We find a good mixture of classic EBM and eighties-influenced Electro-Pop. Everything was allowed, but we didn´t want to sound like Orange Sector or Armageddon Dildos.

Q: Your debut EP “Herzblut” sounded like good, old EBM which can also be heard on the album “Stroboscope” although it is also featuring some Pop elements. Tell us a bit more about the album, the songs and its inspiration? And what have been the different stages to achieve the job?

Kanka: In a nutshell, it was like this: Martin sent me rough version of the tracks, I worked on the lyrics and vocals and sent him back the final recorded vocals. Mixing and mastering took place in Hannover. In my opinion, the work on “Stroboscope” actually took place without too much talking, rather intrusively and, above all, quite quickly.

Q: A very striking track is “Techno Club” which has a strong 90s Electro influence and is especially reminiscent of the legendary Techno Club in Frankfurt. I assume this is not a coincidence, but what have you been trying to express here? And how do you guys remind those unforgettable 90s and the Techno Club located in the Frankfurter airport?

Kanka: The nights at the Techno Club were often insane. Fans and bands from Music Research met up to have fun, exchange news and simply dance the night away. I have an incredible number of images from that time in my head and some of them inspired me to write the text for “Techno Club”.

Martin: The song “Hass Und Liebe” from ECO inspired me a lot for this idea.

Q: Do you consider Kanka Bodewell to be a one-shot project or are there future plans like new songs, remixes, new clips and why not a gig?

Kanka: I can very well imagine a continuation of the Kanka/Bodewell project. However, now is not the time to think about it. I’m in the middle of working on a new Armageddon Dildos-album. Unfortunately, I had a serious knee operation and am currently undergoing rehabilitation. Of course, that sets me back for a while. That’s why my focus over the next few months will naturally be on completing the new Armageddon Dildos-album.

Bodewell: The new Orange Sector will be released in the autumn of 2024. At this moment I work very hard on it. At the end of this year we will talk about the future. But performing the music of Kanka & Bodewell on stage is a very interesting idea.

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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X Marks The Pedwalk returns with ‘Superstition’ album on meshwork music in November

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 11:19:14 +0000

Out November 10th is the all new album by the German electro pioneering band X Marks The Pedwalk aka the duo Sevren Ni-Arb and Estefania. This will be the band’s 12th album in their 35-year career as a band.

Sevren explains the idea behind the album: “‘Superstition’ is an immersive exploration of deepest desires and feelings and does not shy away from the somber reality of despair and mortality. Dive into the depths of human experience, the fragility of life, our vulnerability and complexitity of human connection. All is shaping our indivdiual perceptions and that makes each of us extraordinary and unique.”

The album will hold 11 tracks. So far no tracks have been offered as a single.

About X Marks The Pedwalk

Originally named ‘Scarecrow’, X Marks the Pedwalk was the brainchild of Sevren Ni-Arb, or André Schmechta, conceived in 1987. Serving as the creative nucleus of the ensemble, Schmechta undertook the composition, production, and engineering of every track. Their journey began with their debut single, “Black Door”, in 1988 under the Techno Drome International label. Soon after, they attracted an offer from German DJ Talla 2XLC’s emerging record label, Zoth Ommog. To circumvent potential legal complications over the ‘Scarecrow’ name, they transitioned to X Marks the Pedwalk, drawing inspiration from Stephen King’s “Dance Macabre”, which references a tale by the science-fiction stalwart Fritz Leiber, “X-Marks The Pedwalk”.

Throughout its evolution, André Schmechta embraced or initiated various side projects to give voice to musical expressions distinct from X Marks the Pedwalk’s core ethos.

“PAX” materialised from a dynamic partnership between Schmechta and Heiko Daniel. The duo’s synergy birthed two albums and an EP, described by Schmechta as captivating— an amalgamation of simplicity, raw emotion, and novelty. “Ringtailed Snorter”, Schmechta’s solo venture, had its genesis in a heartfelt tribute to a late friend. This endeavour veered from X Marks the Pedwalk’s hallmark sound, favouring unblemished configurations and minimalist sonic landscapes to spark introspection amongst listeners. A unique collaboration, “Hyperdex-1-Sect”, brought together André, Stefanie Schmechta, and Jonathan Sharp (of New Mind). Their auditory output was enriched with remixes, inclusive of one from cEvin Key’s ensemble, Download. “U-Tek” fused the musical talents of Alexis Schaar (alias AL/X/S and a former contributor to X Marks the Pedwalk) and Schmechta, blending dance rhythms with Schmechta’s EBM proclivities. Their subsequent undertaking, “A-Head”, veered towards alternative electro. “Deluga”, a darkwave melding of Thorsten Schmechta, Stefanie Schmechta, and Falk Aupers, regrettably remained embryonic. In 2012, André unveiled his solo initiative “SN-A”, an acronym denoting Sevren Ni-Arb. As SN-A, he crafts dance-inspired electro-ambient tunes, as lauded by Side-Line Magazine. André’s musical canvas also encompasses collaborations with his spouse Stefanie, manifested in “Viviane” and “Polyxena” (with Heiko Daniel’s involvement) and “Lighthouse”, in partnership with Bernd Schöler.

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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In Strict Confidence releases 25 years edition of ‘Face the Fear’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 12:30:21 +0000

Out on Minuswelt is the 25 anniversary edition of In Strict Confidence’s “Face the fear” album. “Face the fear” was the second album by In Strict Confidence and was originally released in 1998 on the electro label Zoth Ommog, which was also home to bands like Front 242, Pankow, Frontline Assembly and many others in the 90s.

After the debut album “Cryogenix” 2 years earlier, “Face the fear” was a big step forward for the German act – both in qualilty of production and in the songwriting. Preceeded by the EP “Industrial Love” it also includes “Hidden thoughts”. Now, 25 years after the first release, the album is back on the market in a new design and with bonus material.

The bonus tracks are the following:

Alles in mir (ISC Remix)
Learn to Live
Hidden Thoughts (Original Controlled Fusion Version)
Industrial Love (Club Stress Version by Aghast View) 6:42

In Strict Confidence is a German electro-industrial band. Formed in 1989, they were known as Seal of Secrecy until 1992.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Mentallo & The Fixer’s ‘No Rest For The Wicked’ see 30th Anniversary release in a very limited edition

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 18:18:49 +0000

“No Rest for the Wicked” is the debut studio album of Mentallo & The Fixer, released in 1992 by Simbiose Records. It now gets a 30th anniversary release via Mentallo Big Cartel and Re:Mission Entertainment in various limited formats holding 4 bonus tracks.

This reissue contains the original seven tracks remastered by JM Mastering.

1992’s “No Rest for the Wicked” was the band first major underground release and while the recording was low-budget it introduced their audience to the band’s dynamic energy and sense of melody. The recording sessions were completed during 1990 and 1991 but the album’s release was stalled for personal reasons by the band, with founding member Gary Dassing discussing the lyrics as being about his sister’s placement in an asylum.

The digital version will contain all twelve tracks from the original CD plus four additional songs from the 1991 “Wreckage + Ruin + & + Regrests + [Redemption]” GPC cassette tape.

Available are also two vinyls, a limited edition in black vinyl and one in silver vinyl, the latter is already completely sold out. The vinyl versions hold the restored original artwork, but also a folded poster autographed by Gary and Dwayne Dassing.

You can order these releases via Mentallo Big Cartel or via the Re:Mission Bandcamp page.

No Rest For The Wicked: 30th Anniversary by Mentallo & The Fixer

About the album

Mentallo And The Fixer was born from the minds of brothers Gary and Dwayne Dassing in 1988.
The duo began their career earlier by experimenting with traditional rock instruments such as
guitar and drums, but made their focus synthesizers and samplers with their first band
Benestrophe with vocalist Richard Mendez. From that project spouted two tapes worth of
material released via Ras Dva Records as “Sensory Deprivation” and “Auric Fires”. Mentallo And
The Fixer soon formed after Benestrophe went dormant.

Their debut album “No Rest For The Wicked” saw released on Portuguese label Simbiose
Records, whilst also gaining the attention of Zoth Ommog records.

Gary Dassing recalls: “Thirty years have passed since our first release, “No Rest For The Wicked”. Dwayne and I have been fortunate to have kept this band going in some capacity after all these years. Mentallo And The Fixer came about after our first band Benestrophe disbanded due to a number of reasons. Dwayne moved from San Antonio to Austin for better job prospects in the electronics industry. Rich Mendez had other priorities being school and computer programming. I was left to my own devices and began recording tracks on my own, continuing to work on music in the privacy of my home studio, which I dubbed The Churchyard. I had no interest in being a vocalist much less a front man. I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot. I had nothing to lose and figured the only ones hearing my music, and having to put up with my nonsensical garbling gibberish at the time would be my close friends and parents.

Back in the day, technology was a far cry from what it is today. Our recording methods were quite archaic. Everything was recorded on a standard Teac tape deck. I was monitoring the mix using a Panasonic jambox, and Commodore 64 as our sequencer, taking 15 to 20 minutes to load the program off a floppy disk, a 12 channel Ross mixer which was intended for live sound, load in a 90-minute cassette and hit record.

For these tracks, nothing was structured and everything was recorded on the fly, even the vocals. I would randomly change drum patterns, effects, muting and unmuting synth sounds and levels, etc. The sequencing program would run on a loop, repeating, until I hit the spacebar to stop the song. It was a bit of unwavering controlled chaos. Half of what I was recording vocally was completely improvised. I was trying to capture a feeling, filling up one side of the cassette and selecting the best version.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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‘Click Interview’ with Ravenous: “Forward To The Roots” Reminds Us Of Our Strength And Power’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Ravenous got some fame in the 90s. The German formation released three albums in between 1996 and 2000; “Mass Mental Cruelty” (1996, on Off Beat), “No Retreat And No Surrender” (1998, on Zoth Ommog) and “Phoenix” (2000, on Bloodline). The band next took a long break and got finally reactivated this year to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of their debut album. Björn Böttcher, Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik ao) and Tim Fockenbrock joined back hands together and released the ‘new’ album “Forward To The Roots” on RepoRecords. The band’s fourth album is a mix of new songs, previously unreleased tracks and rarities and the never released single “Frozen Tears”. The work remains a danceable mix between EBM and Electro-Pop. I got in touch with the band’s singer Tim Fockenbrock.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: After more than twenty years of silence, Ravenous has been recovered from dust. What have been the triggers and motivation to bring the project alive?

Tim: That´s pretty simple. We had our first CD-release in 1996 and so we´ve got our 25th anniversary in 2021. So Björn asked me, if I was interested to release some old Mix-Versions and unreleased material. I agreed and we took that chance to make some new stuff.

Q: What did you guys keep in mind from the early years, the ‘old’ releases and their sound approach and what does the band stands for today?

Tim: We were and still are incorrigible believers in hope and justice and that everything will turn out good in the end. We became older and wiser and our new songs are representing the powerful and uncomplicated faith in ourselves and our sound.

Q: The album “Forward To The Roots” is a melting pot of new songs, rarities, remixes and even a previously unreleased single. What can you say about it?

Tim: We are all different characters in our band. We´ve got different stories to tell. We have internalized and accepted our past and our shadows. Now we are in peace with ourselves. Now the circle closes and we are ready to look forward without forgetting where we came from. “Forward To The Roots” reminds us of our strength and power.

Q: How comes the single “Frozen Tears” –meant to be released in 2001, never saw the daylight? And how comes Ravenous finally stopped its activities after three rather successful albums?

Tim: It´s because I started to make experiences in different bands. I was always open for good music, no matter what genre. So we had a break which took longer than we thought.

Q: How was it working on the new songs of the album? What’s the input of the different members and did you notice main changes with the old albums?

Tim: It was great to feel the power and inspiration again. In my opinion, the way we create our music, is now more effective. Gerrit creates the sound and I translate this on my piano to find the right melody. Afterwards we turn it back into the Electronic sound. This is a very special mix and typical for the Ravenous-sound. By writing the lyrics I also got another option to speak about my feelings, which is great.

Q: I noticed the single “Roots” has reached the Deutsche Alternative Charts while speaking right now, the album will probably enter as well. What does it mean to reach the DAC? What’s the true impact of these charts? And what brings the future for Ravenous?

Tim: It´s always good news if a lot of people recognize our music. Especially fans, DJ`s and Radio-Stations. There is no pressure and we will see what the future brings.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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’30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with Uwe Kanka / Armageddon Dildos: ‘We Were In The Right Place At The Right Time!’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. EBM formation Armageddon Dildos definitely is a band I had to interview. The German band, which started as a duo, composed a very dynamic EBM sound and got rapidly famous for their impressive live shows. The band never stopped to evolve and rapidly started experimenting with harder Industrial elements to finally move towards a more ‘Poppy’ production. Uwe Kanka kindly accepted to look back at the impressive career of ‘the dildos’.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Armageddon Dildos was originally set up in 1990 (!) by you and Dirk Krause. How did you guys meet and what was your music background?

Uwe: Dirk and I met us in 1986 in the same rehearsal room in Kassel. I played guitar/vocals in a classic three-man band (Beat The Beat) and Dirk keyboards/synths in a Synth-Pop group.

We liked each other immediately and very quickly it became clear to us that we wanted to explore new musical ways. Harder and more aggressive Electronic sounds and harder beats, that was the plan. After a few jam sessions, we knew that it worked great!

Q: Armageddon Dildos became an instant successful EBM band; you got directly signed to Zoth Ommog, releasing the EP’s “Never Mind / Pressure”, “East West”, “Resist” and of course the debut album “That’s Armageddon”. According to you what made the success formula of the early productions and what has been the impact of Talla 2XLC who produced your first works?

Uwe: I am still firmly convinced that it was largely due to the symbiosis between Dirk and me – added to that the incredible energy of that time.

Actually, something new was always happening; musical as well as social (fall of the Berlin Wall) changes certainly played a part in it. It was an unbelievable dynamic, open and wild time. Being signed to Talla 2XLC and Musik Research/Zoth Ommog was a blessing for us. It was the perfect timing for Armageddon Dildos. Talla and its staff convinced us with their high level of competence and passion for music. Frankfurt and the Techno Club, for example, was, along with Berlin, the measure of all things in Germany for us at that time. Looking back, I am sure that the success of Armageddon Dildos was largely due to Talla 2XLC and his team. We were in the right place at the right time!

Q: Zoth Ommog was one of the absolute leading labels from the 90s Electro underground scene. How do you look back at this period, the 90s, Talla 2XLC, the label and label mates?

Uwe: Zoth Ommog was very important for the development and spread of Electronic music at that time worldwide. Label bands like Leather Strip, X Marks The Pedwalk, Bigod 20, Orange Sector, Consolidated, Psychopomps, The Armageddon Dildos to name a few, played an important role in the scene in the late 80s to the mid 90s. Those were very exciting times.

Through Talla’s contacts and our gigs at the New Music Seminar 1991 and 1993 in New-York, Howie Klein became aware of us and we got a contract with Sire Records in the U.S.A. Rüdiger Ladwig took over our management and booked our concerts. “Homicidal Dolls” was released by Sire Records in 1993 in The States and “Lost” followed in 1994. After the release of “Lost” we went on tour and played among others at the Zillo Festival in December 1994 at the Zeche Karl. We were accompanied at the Zillo gigs by Markus Hartmann, who would play an important role for us in the next few years.

Q: Quite progressively the band evolved towards harder music, still EBM driven, but with an Industrial input with guitar play and samplings. What made this evolution towards a more ‘Industrial’ sound?

Uwe: We have always worked with samples. That was our usual way of working. Sampled speech, noises but also instruments like guitars were part of almost every production.

On some tracks I played the guitars later myself. In 1994, for the production of “Lost”, we went to Chicago to Wax Trax Studio to work with Keith ‘Fluffy’ Auerbach (producer/sound engineer of Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pigface, Skinny Puppy etc.). During this time we recorded guitars and drum sequences instead of sampling them. To bring the production to the stage, Vom, who now drums for The Toten Hosen, and Uwe Osterlehner, played guitars, joined the band.

Q: You also started working with another producer; Sevren Ni-Arb produced several productions and I remember a lot of bands wanted to record in his studio. What made him that special and what has been his true impact on the final production? Are you still in touch with him?

Uwe: Most of our albums/EP/singles from ’89 to ’99 were produced by different producers. However, Dirk and I were always significantly involved.

We met Andre Schmechta (Sevren Ni-Arb) through Talla in Frankfurt. We immediately got along really well, had a very consistent understanding of music and, not to be underestimated, a very similar sense of humor. Therefore we decided to produce “Homicidal Dolls” with Andre. Working on the album was a lot of fun, full of energy and musical creativity. Later on we worked again with him on “Fear” and “Homicidal Maniac”. Besides, it always smelled wonderfully of freshly baked goods in the studio because there was a bakery in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, we lost track of each other over the years and are no longer in contact.

Q: I got the impression the “Speed”-album (my favorite by the way) released in 1997 was a kind of turning point in the band’s early years. You signed to a major company (BMG), got produced by Bob Kraushaar and Andy Gill (Gang Of Four). The sound became ultra-professional, but how did you experience the “Speed”-album and the move to a major company?

Uwe: Through Markus Hartmann (see above) we got the contract with Metronome and later also with BMG Ariola in Hamburg. The move from Zoth Ommog to a major label changed a lot for us: first of all, of course, the financial means for production, marketing etc.. We travelled to London in search of the right producer and met Bob Kraushaar (Pet Shop Boys, Paul McCartney, ABC etc.) among others. Bob had very concrete ideas about the production of the new Armageddon Dildos album and suggested to have one half of the CD produced by himself and the other half by Andy Gill, the legendary guitarist of Gang Of Four. We agreed immediately and went to London in the Summer of 1996 to produce “Speed”. But some tracks on the album were also produced at Skyline Studio in Düsseldorf. “Speed” is, and I agree with you 100%, a very professional production and an excellent album.

Q: Do you remember how much albums you were selling at that time and was it possible to earn a living from your music?

Uwe: We had very good sales at times and could also live on it during such periods. However, the consistency was missing. I think many artists are in the same situation. You should always have a plan B in mind. But let’s be honest: there were never enough albums sold to be able to make a living from it in the long run.

Q: BMG became a one-shot experience, you get back to Zoth Ommog, revisiting some of your early songs by the album “Re:Match”. It also was the last work together with Dirk Krause. How do you explain the split of the band and are you still in touch with Dirk today?

Uwe: In hindsight, I think the events following the completion of “Speed” were key to the band’s development. We had a fantastic team behind us at the Metronome, a killer production and a very good video for “Open Up Your Eyes” recorded in Kenya. Everything was great and then we got the devastating news: Metronome was dissolved!

What a bummer. We got the rights for “Speed” and ended up with BMG Ariola, but that didn’t work out. The label split up with us and we had to look for a new label. All that was hard stuff and the band didn’t take it too well.

Dirk decided to leave the Dildos to start a new project. I wanted to continue. We decided to do one last release together and that became “Re.Match” on Zoth Ommog in 1999. Dirk and I have hardly any contact today.

Q: “Morgengrauen” released in 2003 on Electric Blue was the first album you were totally involved in the song writing. That was something new and without offending you Uwe, I think the only Armageddon Dildos-album that couldn’t convince me. What’s your personal analysis about this work?

Uwe: I underestimated, as I see it not only now, that this kind of music definitely does not fit to an EBM/Industrial band like The Armageddon Dildos.

I like “Morgengrauen”. It’s an Electro album with good songs, artwork and photos. However, I should have released it as a new project with a different name. But as we all know, hindsight is always the wiser!

Q: “Sangreal” got released in 2005 on Ausfahrt, but it finally was the “Untergrund”-album released in 2011 on Alfa Matrix that put you back on the map. You joined back hands with a leading label from the scene and for the very first time you also produced the album. What does this album mean to you and where do you place this work in the band’s discography?

Uwe: “Untergrund” is a very important album for me. It combines interesting Electro sounds and beats with hard guitars without slipping too much into pure Industrial. Unfortunately, I could not convince Ausfahrt/Electric Blue with this production. I asked for a termination contract, got it and signed with Alfa Matrix a short time later.

However, this is not the first independently produced album. I have been working with sound engineer and producer Mathias Black since 1997, who mixed and co-produced all Armageddon Dildos albums from “Re:Match” onwards.

Q: After “Untergrund” it took your nine years to strike back with the “Dystopia”-album, which became one of the most achieved, diversified and professional albums. Do you feel this album as different from the others? And tell us a bit more about the ‘teamwork’ to achieve “Dystopia”?

Uwe: “Dystopia” is the first Armageddon Dildos album where I did everything on my own until the mixing phase. From the composition/lyrics to the recording and programming of the instruments to the recording of the vocals including Malin’s vocals for “Neon”. I had quite clear ideas in which direction “Dystopia” should move. Mathias changed or added vocals and some sounds later while mixing the tracks. We had a very good division of labor. I am really satisfied with the result of this production!

Q: Armageddon Dildos always had a strong live reputation. How did you see the shows evolving throughout the years and what’s your connection with the fans?

Uwe: What has changed over the last thirty years is the number of musicians on stage: Dirk and I started in ’89 as a duo. In the mid-90s, there were four of us for a while with Vom and Uwe Osterlehner. After that with Vom it was three.

At the first gig without Dirk at the beginning of 2000, Malin and Dave Anderson were there with me. Then Ulf Häusgen joined on guitar/vocals. A short time later Rene Nowotny took over the keyboards. On our five-week U.S. tour with Inertia in 2007, Gabriel Shaw joined me and Ulf Häusgen.

And for almost ten years now, it’s been just the two of us on stage again: Uwe Kanka and Sven Mouhcine. Last but not least, it is very important to say that Mathias Black has been responsible for the sound of the Dildos as a member of the band for 99% of the gigs since 1996.

What has not changed at all during this time, thank God, is the energy and power of every Armageddon Dildos show, which also includes the very close contact to the audience and the fans.

Q: I remember there was an Armageddon Dildos fan-club. How important is it for a band to have a fan club?

Uwe: I think that a fan club is very important for artists. In our case it was phenomenal. The Armageddon Dildos Fan Club was founded in Aachen after our gig in Übach-Palenberg on 24.06.1991. After that, regular meetings took place in Düsseldorf or Aachen. The fan club did unbelievably good public relations work, e.g. published an info letter. Members of the fan club were at almost all the band’s concerts until the middle of the ’90s. Due to personal changes and also due to the musical development of the band from the middle of 90s onwards, the interest of the members of the Fan Club in the band waned.

Q: If you had to introduce Armageddon Dildos to people who never heard of the band before, what song and album would you choose first?

Uwe: It depends on the people. I have friends who can’t do anything with our older songs; I would play “Stay” or similar tracks for them. People from the scene who don’t know us, mmhm, that’s not so easy. Maybe “I Can’t Remember” or “White Room”. But I could also think of pieces by “Speed” and “Homicidal Dolls”. I personally like “Gottland” very much.

Q: Do you’ve other passions in life next to music?

Uwe: Ride a motorbike, skiing and enjoy the tranquility of nature.

Q: Did the success of the band had an impact on you as human being?

Uwe: I don’t think so. Rather the failures. Because those were the ones that kept me going.

Q: What’s your best- and worst memory after more than thirty years Armageddon Dildos? And do you still have secret wishes and dreams?

Uwe: I would like to mention two of the many wonderful memories: the fantastic concert in Übach-Palenberg together with And One, when we met the people from the later Fan Club, and our performance at the Roskilde Festival at midnight in front of about 10,000 spectators. That was gigantic.

The worst was definitely the moment when we were informed about the closure of Metronome.

Secret wishes and dreams? Yes, I do. And they should be kept secret.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Re:Mission Entertainment launches official merch store for Mentallo And The Fixer

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 10:31:21 +0000

Re:Mission Entertainment has launched the official merch store for Mentallo And The Fixer.

The Big Cartel site contains such items as autographed box sets from their Alfa Matrix catalog, t-shirt designs; including a double sided silk screen print featuring the original “Where Angels Fear To Tread” album art, a classic red logo t-shirt and the brand new “Judgment” t-shirt. The site also includes limited edition merch for such side projects as Benestrophe and Kitty Kosmonaut.

You can access the official merch store right here.

And here’s a teaser of what to expect.

About Mentallo and the Fixer

Mentallo and the Fixer (sometimes written as Mentallo & the Fixer) is the project name used by Texan electro-industrial musicians Gary Dassing (Mentallo) and Dwayne Dassing (The Fixer) from 1988 to 1999, and by Gary Dassing alone from 1999 to the present day. The band has several releases on the American record label, Metropolis Records, and also on the Belgian label Alfa Matrix (including side-projects).

The band is named after two Marvel Comics characters.

The Dassing brothers first began experimenting with music by the means of more traditional rock music instruments, such as guitar and drums. However, by the time the two formed their first band Benestrophe with vocalist Richard Mendez, the instruments of choice became synthesizers and samplers.

After parting ways with Mendez, the two brothers began work as Mentallo & The Fixer. Their first album release “No Rest for the Wicked” saw a limited 500-copy run on vinyl and a CD by the Portuguese label Simbiose records, and also gained the attention of Talla 2XLC from Zoth Ommog records. Zoth Ommog released their next two major albums, “Revelations 23” and “Where Angels Fear to Tread”.

Mentallo & The Fixer soon after signed with Metropolis Records with a domestic re-release of their second and third albums as well as a CD of unreleased back catalog material, “Continuum”.

By 1999, Dwayne and Gary agreed to split in order to pursue their own musical directions. Gary continued to use the Mentallo & The Fixer name and released several albums including “Algorythum”, “Love Is the Law”, “Return to Grimpen Ward”, and “Vengeance is Mine”. After “Grimpen”, Mentallo’s album output slowed somewhat, resulting in two albums: “Enlightenment Through a Chemical Catalyst” in 2007 and “Music From the Eather” in 2012, both released by Alfa Matrix.

In September 2014, Mentallo & the Fixer released a 3 CD box titled “Zothera” on Alfa Matrix. It contained two remastered albums from their Zoth Ommog era, namely “Revelations 23” and “Where Angels Fear to Tread”, and a third bonus CD “Apocrypha” with unreleased material including remixes.

After a several year break a new album was recorded, “Arrange The Molecule”, released by Alfa Matrix in 2017.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Orange Sector Feat. Armageddon Dildos – War Of The Religions (EP – Infacted Recordings)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 07:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: EBM.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: This new EP by German EBM legend Orange Sector was accomplished together with another legend of the genre, Armageddon Dildos. Both bands remind us of the great Zoth Ommog label.

Content: The title song is pure EBM adrenaline, carried by a solid bass line, dancefloor rhythms and charismatic vocals. There also is a cool spoken sampling. The song has been remixed by Rob Dust, TC75 and Puppenjungz. The B-side song is heavier than the “War Of The Religions”, sung in German, but with a less carrying chorus.

+ + + : To see both EBM Grandmasters united is a pretty cool thing and for sure a very good reason for EBM fans to purchase this work. The title song also is a great piece of music, which is the right song as the EP title track. Among the remixes I heard a cool contribution by Rob Dust and a short, but powerful EBM remix by the unknown Puppenjungz.

– – – : The B-side song “Alles Ist Grau” is nothing less than an EP-filler with less substance.

Conclusion: Orange Sector had a great idea to ask Armageddon Dildos to work together; this is good-old EBM.

Best songs: “War Of The Religions”, “War Of The Religions – Puppenjungz Remix”.

Rate: 7½.

Artist: www.facebook.com/OrangeSector

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

War Of The Religions by Orange Sector feat. Armageddon Dildos

About Orange Sector and Armageddon Dildos

Orange Sector is a German EBM band founded in Hannover in 1992, with Martin Bodewell, Lars Felker and Rene Nowotny listed as members. Discogs traces the band from "Faith" in 1993 and "Kids In America" and "Flashback" in 1994 through "Love It!" in 1997 and "Masquerade" in 1998, then a second run that includes "Bassprodukt" in 2006, "Der Maschinist" in 2012, "Endzeit" in 2017, "Die Fahne" in 2018, "Alarm" in 2019 and "Zerstörer" in 2020.

Armageddon Dildos is a German EBM duo founded in Kassel in 1990 around Uwe Kanka and Dirk Krause. Their catalogue runs from "East West" in 1990 and "That’s Armageddon" in 1991 through "Homicidal Dolls" in 1993, "Unite" in 1995 and "Speed" in 1997, with later returns on "Untergrund" in 2011, "Herbstzeitlose" in 2018, "No Pain Forever" in 2019 and "Dystopia" in 2020.

"War Of The Religions" was issued by Infacted Recordings in 2021 as a digital single credited to Orange Sector feat. Armageddon Dildos. Uwe Kanka set out the two bands’ shared history with Side-Line in the ‘30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with Uwe Kanka / Armageddon Dildos, and Kanka and Bodewell were later interviewed together in the Click Interview with Kanka Bodewell.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Resurrected EBM squad Ravenous launches brand new single and lyric video for ‘Roots’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:34:42 +0000

(Photo by Ravenous & Pixel Breed) The new song “Roots” is the first new Ravenous release in over 20 years. It is available as a digital single in all relevant stores today. An official lyric video is available on YouTube and can be seen below.

“Roots” is the opening track for Ravenous’ upcoming 25 years anniversary album “Forward to the Roots” which will be released on 29 October on Repo Records and is the 4th album of the trio consisting of Björn Böttcher, Gerrit Thomas and Tim Fockenbrock.

The album is a mix of new songs (“Roots”, “Here Again” and “Free Me”), unreleased tracks and rarities from the band archive ranging from unreleased versions of tracks from the 1996 debut (recorded by X-Marks the Pedwalk’s mind Andre Schmechta), to unreleased remixes, demos and rarities.

Also included is the never released re-recording of the single “Frozen Tears” (originally planned for 2001 but never released).

Enjoy the official “Roots” lyric video.

About Ravenous

Ravenous was born somewhere in 1989 and after their debut album on Off Beat they would release a second album, “No Retreat And No Surrender”, on Zoth Ommog in 1998. “Phoenix” followed in 2000 on Bloodline. And after that the lights went out.

During these 20 years apart, the band members have musically gone their own ways: While Björn Böttcher, after an extensive live artist career with Funker Vogt, ultimately delved into label and artist management with RepoRecords, Gerrit Thomas took a career in music production. Tim Fockenbrock, for his part, worked with several bands outside the scene and even deployed a dubbing career.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Out via Repo Records is the first new Ravenous album in 21 years: ‘Forward to the Roots’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 16:18:10 +0000

The German electro band returns after 21 years of silence. Björn Böttcher, Gerrit Thomas and Tim Fockenbrock are to release a new album on the 25th anniversary of their 1996 debut album “Mass Mental Cruelty” (Off Beat), November 29th that is.

The new album, “Forward to the Roots”, will be released via Repo Records and is the band’s 4th album.

Also included is the never released re-recording of the single “Frozen Tears” (originally planned for 2001 but never released).

Tracks:

Roots
Here again
Frozen Tears (2021)
Free Me
If you believe it (2002)
Roots (Alternative Vocal Edit)
Frozen Tears (2001)
Violent World (Plain Real Remix 1996)
Faster than Time (Alternative Version 1996)
Flesh and Bone (Alternative Version 1996)
Silverray (Radio Edit 1999)
Empire (Unreleased Version 1999)
The Last (Demo 1999)
Between the Worlds (Re/Work Remix 2000)
My Name (The Dust of Basement Remix 2000)
The Loop (2002)

About Ravenous

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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In Strict Confidence back with ‘Cryogenix (25 Years Edition)’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 17:35:48 +0000

With “Cryogenix”, In Strict Confidence released their debut CD on Talla 2XLC’s electro cult label Zoth Ommog in 1996. Four years after its release, however, the label ceased to exist and as a result, “Cryogenix” disappeared from the market in 2000 until today.

The band and its label Minuswelt have now revived this album for its 25th anniversary in a special edition. The new edition comes with 4 extra bonus tracks (rare and unreleased material): “Dementia” (Funker Vogt Remix), “Inside” (Inside Out Instrumental), “Heavens Help” (Life – Part 3) and “Dementia” (Redux).

About In Strict Confidence

In Strict Confidence is a German electro-industrial band. Formed in 1989, they were known as Seal of Secrecy until 1992. In Strict Confidence has been signed to several record labels, including Zoth Ommog, Metropolis Records and WTII Records.

In Strict Confidence originally started out as a quartet, but stripped down to a duo (Dennis Ostermann and Jörg Schelte) in 1992, releasing two demos tapes on the way to their debut release “Cryogenix” on Zoth Ommog in 1996, shortly followed by an EP “Collapse”. The third album “Love Kills!” was released on the newly formed but unfortunately short lived Bloodline label two years later.

Founding member Stefan Vesper then re-joined the group in time for “Mistrust the Angels” in 2002 with subsequent albums “Holy” and “Exile Paradise” appearing at two-year intervals. These albums saw the increasing use of female vocals from Antje Schulz, vocalist of the band Chandeen, and the addition of female vocalist Nina de Lianin.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Labels Interviews: File 6: Torben Schmidt / Infacted Recordings: ‘It Was Always A Moving Experience To Be Part Of Creating Something’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 22 May 2021 18:30:00 +0000

Torben Schmidt gained some experience about label activities working as A&R manager for the legendary Zoth Ommog and Bloodline. He set up Infacted Recordings in 2001 and signed bands like Orange Sector, Namnambulu, Frozen Plasma, Reaper, X Marks The Pedwalk, Prager Handgriff, Heimataerde, Grendel, ES23, Ruined Conflict, Xotox, NZ, Aircrash Bureau, PreEmptive Strike 0.1, Shiv-R, Torul, IC434, Vanguard… but still the own bands he’s involved with Lights Of Euphoria and Binary Park. Twenty years later Infacted Recordings became a reference when it comes to EBM, Electro-Pop and Dark-Electro artists.

(Stéphane Froidcoeur / Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Was there a kind of ‘philosophy’ when you set up your label and did it evolve over the years? How would you define your label activities today?

Torben: My main aim and intention when I started Infacted Recordings back in 2001 was to get independent and release/support the music I love, whenever possible detached from the economical side (which of course is not always possible). I was working for other people/companies before I started my own record company and experienced many good, but also quite some things, which were to be improved. I think the big advantage I had from the start was that I knew both sides, working in a record company and being an artist, producer myself.

Q: I can imagine you must have specific and explicit criteria to sign an artist/band. Can you give us more details about this aspect and how important is it for you to know the person(s) hiding behind the ‘artist(s)’?

Torben: Well, to be honest, for me it is basically a matter of personal taste. One rule I had from the start was to get to know the human behind every band/artist whenever possible to make up my mind about the individuals. If there is a good chemistry in between label and band/artist, that’s the most solid base you can get for a strong work together.

Q: You are already active for numerous years now so you must have seen a lot of things changing and evolving; think about social media, streaming platforms, Youtube channels… but also economic crisis etc. What are the pros and cons of these changes/evolutions and in, which way did you had to adapt/change your strategy and activities?

Torben: I think you already hit the point with the question. Time changes and we, as the motors and creators of this scene had the task to step up with the changes. We are innovators to a certain point, always at the pulse with being DJs, musicians, producers, people who initiate ideas and start projects. For me personal it was always a moving experience to be part of creating something. I think you really have to be where the heart of the scene is, at clubs, at festivals at concerts, meeting fans and supporters and have a good communication.

Q: The ongoing pandemic has affected all artistic life and activities so what’s the true impact on your label activities and do you think it will also affect your long term objectives?

Torben: The main problem we all seek is that one big part of our scene is missing, that’s the live/club thing we have with our bands and our supporting DJs. Many plans we had with touring and release events for 2020 and 2021 had to be shifted. There are fresh ideas with streaming events, but this rarely compensates the feeling most of our scene loves and lives. So well, we honestly hope that there will be perspectives again soon. On the other side I am very happy to have so many supporters out there who continuously aid me/us as a label and the bands and DJs directly.

Q: Do you think media (magazines, online platforms etc…) still have an impact and a role to play today? What’s your relationship with ‘journalists’ and how important is their work?

Torben: I can only speak for me personally here, but I think that print media is losing more and more of its impact due to various factors. Time is running fast and news are spread way more easily digital then in print media. It’s not really blaming, but print magazines concentrate too much on the same bands over and over again (of course often due to demand).

There are exceptions of course and I truly appreciate the support we get and a lot of still really enthusiastic journalists, but I experienced so many people stop buying magazines in the last years and change to digital media to get there information. For me as a label, social media and online media in general is an important key for my promotional work.

Q: What do you consider as your biggest accomplishment(s)? Do you have specific goals/dreams you want to achieve and how do you prepare and see the future of the label(s)? And what are your biggest regret(s)?

Torben: During the years I had the opportunity to work with so many talented artists, known/not so knows, small/big, which is/was truly an honor. So many relationships were started, collaborations occurred and friendships actually did result. My dream to live & work with music did already happen, so I am pretty thankful for this. I have to say that I do not really regret anything. Being in the music scene was great in almost all time periods and every phase had it great moments. Even on bad experiences you grow and make internal progress.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Labels Interviews: File 2: Dave Heckman / Metropolis Records: ‘The Bottom Line Is To Adapt Fast To A Changing Industry’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 18 May 2021 08:02:13 +0000

Metropolis Records was set up in 1994 by Dave Heckman. In no time the American label became a truly reference when it comes to Electronic and Industrial music. The label licensed –and still does, European productions, but also signed new artists. Among the Metropolis roster you’ll find bands as VNV Nation, Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Wumpsuct, Project Pitchfork, Juno Reactor, Assemblage 23, The Birthday Massacre, KMFDM, Numb, Haujobb, Leather Strip, Apoptygma Berzerk, Velvet Acid Christ, God Module, Covenant, Informatik and many, many more

(Stéphane Froidcoeur / Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: Was there a kind of ‘philosophy’ when you set up your label and did it evolve over the years? How would you define your label activities today?

Dave: No philosophy per se. It was just something I wanted to do for a living, so I needed to go about things in a very professional manner and always stay focused on that goal.

I am going to presume you mean label activities as compared to my activities at the label, although I will go into both.

The first step is to find the talent and that has always been my job. I am the owner and the A&R guy. Then, of course, a deal needs to be worked out and again that has always been my job too.

After a deal is done, we have to assemble the assets for the release such as artwork, photos, masters, videos, and publishing information. This is all needed to setup the releases with our worldwide distributors and to manufacture the albums themselves.

Then comes promotion. Retail, club, radio, video, press, touring, social media, etc. A lot of this is done internally, but sometimes we hire outside companies, particularly for video, radio, press, and booking tours.

Finally, the royalty statements need to be processed and payments made. A tedious and important part of the business.

So, believe it or not, as much as the industry has changed, the setup and promotion is really quite similar to what it was years ago. The revenue just comes from different sources.

Dave: Not really. In general, I sign bands I like and there is no particular sound I am looking for. I cannot really tell you why I liked Numb or Project Pitchfork, I just did. When it comes to art, whether music, film, or paintings I cannot tell you why I like what I do. In some way it has to move me.

That said, I do have a tendency to like or lean towards things dark, edgy, and innovative. Some of the bands that I was interested in were never signed, because we could not come to an agreement. Sometimes the bands had higher expectations than I did and the advance they wanted was too large or we had different ideas on promotional aspects of a campaign.

Metropolis has released over 1200 albums with over 200 different artists, so I did not get to meet and know everyone. In the beginning I just licensed from a few European labels like Zoth Ommog, KK Records and Hyperium. So, my relationships were with my licensing partners. However, as things progressed and we brought the bands over to tour and I went overseas to festivals and conferences and finally met these artists, my relationships with them developed. Always liked to travel and visit the artists where they lived and liked hanging out with them during and after shows. As we got to know each other better it just made everything smoother.

Dave: The biggest change was the death of retail record stores. That was how I started consuming music as a 10 year old kid. I mean I just did not go there to buy music, but to discover it. The cool stores played cool music and I also would just go through the record bins to find something new that caught my eye. Retail was still a force in music in the 90’s, but went really downhill after 2002 or so. As I mentioned above, retail promotion was important, but now it is almost gone.

So, of course digital comes along and I knew tons of artists and labels that were vehemently opposed to the format. Don’t get me wrong I thought 128 bit rate MP3 played on a computer sucked compared to a Compact Disc on a good stereo system. However, that is the way people wanted to consume, so we sold digital downloads.

At present, hardly anyone buys downloads and streaming revenue is going through the roof. Of course, I have artists complaining about this. More arguments / discussions with artists about streaming than any other industry issue, but it has saved the industry not destroyed it. Illegal downloads and CD burning where the real culprits.

Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Prime, Deezer, Pandora are great platforms. However, YouTube sucks. They pay a fraction of what everyone else does, but people are complaining about Spotify instead of them. That I do not understand.

The bottom line is to adapt fast to a changing industry.

The benefit of the digital world is the massive savings on manufacturing, storage, and shipping, which of course is also good for the environment.

As far as the economic downturn, we go through these all the time and readjust.

Q: The ongoing pandemic has affected all artistic life and activities so what’s the true impact on your label activities and do you think it will also affect your long term objectives?

Dave: The pandemic has hurt the industry considerably. We had a dozen tours lined up for last spring including Lords Of Acid, Clan Of Xymox, KMFDM, Front Line Assembly, The Birthday Massacre, and many more. All cancelled and the bands lost money to varying degrees. However, the recorded music industry saw their revenue grow since almost everything is digital or online even including physical sales. In the long run and this intermediate period, nothing will change much, people will go back to their old habits for the most part.

Q: Do you think media (magazines, online platforms etc…) still have an impact and a role to play today? What’s your relationship with ‘journalists’ and how important is their work?

Dave: Yes, that medium is still important. All promotional activity counts. You have to spread the word around wherever you can. However, I really cannot comment on my relationship with the journalists as I never really had one. I am talking about me, not the label. Publicity and press is one of the few things I have always delegated to someone else.

Dave: Even though I eventually worked with some big names in the industry what I liked most was taking bands that were once small and introduce them to the scene, promoting them and then selling reasonable amounts of records for them. Covenant, Haujobb, Velvet Acid Christ, Wumpscut, Combichrist, Apoptygma Berzerk, And One, Assemblage 23 were all selling just a couple thousand copies and eventually sold 20,000 to 50,000 albums in North America alone. These are good numbers for alternative music. VNV Nation sold even much more than that. Just to put it in perspective only one in a hundred artists sold over 10,000 copies back then no matter what the genre.

I have met my goals. As I mentioned I wanted to do this for a living and I did. Also, Metropolis has a good brand name and I got to meet a lot of great artists who are now my friends. I wish I could have pushed the boundaries more and could have done more outside the Goth / Industrial genre. However, that did not work out that well except with the a few bands like Mindless Self Indulgence and Electric Six.

I am content with the label’s accomplishments. The label is 27 years old and I was well into my thirties when I started in the music business. So, we will continue to do what we do and improve where we can, remembering that adopting to change is important.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Seven Trees: ‘Trying To Break Patterns And Challenge Ourselves’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 06 May 2021 17:00:00 +0000

There’s a hiatus of twenty four years between Seven Trees’ debut album “Embracing The Unknown” (1997, Zoth Ommog) and their new opus “Dead/End” released on Progress Productions. Johan Kronberg and Henrik Karlsson both remain the single members on board. It’s not an easy thing to label their music, but it sounds to me as the offspring between The Klinik, Project Pitchfork and Front Line Assembly. You never got the feeling this band has stopped composing music for such a long time; “Dead/End” has something retro-like, but still personal and featuring multiple great songs. I talked about it all with Henrik Karlsson.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: When evoking SEVEN TREES people are always getting back to your debut album “Embracing The Unknown” released in 1997 by Zoth Ommog. What did this album and the fact it was released by Zoth Ommog mean to you and what has been its further impact on your career?

Henrik: It meant a lot to us; it was the perfect label to be on at the time, and we got a lot of exposure. People seem to really like that album, which is equally important for a career in music; it acts as a mental booster for future compositions. Also, our tour with MENTALLO & THE FIXER most likely had an impact.

As for today… I think signing with a prominent label like Progress Productions most likely strengthened the interest in the first ‘come back’ release, the “Trauma Toxicity”-EP. Finally, the expanded re-release of “Embracing The Unknown” in Infacted’s “Classixx”-series was definitely very important too.

Q: There’s a hiatus of 24 (!) years between the debut album and your new opus “Dead/End”. Do you feel it’s still the same band with a similar approach and perception about music or is this something totally different? What are the most noticeable changes & evolutions?

Henrik: We have put a lot of effort into developing our sound to a more modern soundscape, while at the same time leaning towards the more old-school Dark-Electro. We still have the same visions for SEVEN TREES, while at the same time trying to break patterns and challenge ourselves. I think this is quite evident if comparing the EP and the new album, which has a more carefully considered neater production.

Q: Over now to “Dead/End”. What kind of album is it all about and did you’d specific ideas in mind about sound and production? In which way is there a connection between “Dead/End” and the “Trauma Toxicity”-EP from 2017?

Henrik: There is quite a strong connection, despite the differences in production. They both deal a lot with for example the consequences of being subjected to extensive and prolonged trauma. With the EP we were trying out our grounds, see how we wanted the ‘new’ SEVEN TREES to sound. It’s a very dark EP. When working on the new album we felt like we wanted to do something even darker, especially when it came to the lyrics, all the while making that work with our ‘new’ sound. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. We did not plan for a specific production, it came naturally as we were working on the album.

Q: I was just asking you about the ‘sound’ of SEVEN TREES, which according to me is hard to label, being more a kind of sonic osmosis between different music genres. What does it say about your potential sources of inspiration and do you handle specific criteria and/or references when it comes to writing and production?

Henrik: We don’t have much of criteria at all, except for that we will stay in the Dark-Electro realm. Also, we don’t really like doing club tracks or similar, it’s just not our thing. Honestly as for genre, we don’t really know where to place us either, but people say Dark-Electro so I guess that’s what we do.

We’re both very broad in our taste in music; my favorite band is PLACEBO, and Johan listens quite a bit to Black-Metal. We grew up on Electronic music of various kinds, but eventually broadened our horizons. We both listen to a lot of Electronic stuff nowadays too though, but varying it with other genres.

As for lyrics I draw inspiration from for example Brian Molko and Robert Smith, while incorporating my own style of writing.

Q: “Dead/End” is an intriguing title for lyrical themes, which are clearly evoking despair, disillusion… which can be summarized with one of your songs: dystopic illusions! What did you try to express and what does it reveal about your perception of life and society?

Henrik: Funny you should ask, because this particular song is something we’ve never done before, it’s very different from the other tracks on the album (the lyrics). It is very political, something I never thought we’d do, but with everything that was going on last year over here I guess I felt like trying it out. I wanted to do it in a rather cryptic way though, so it might not be very obvious. There’s quite the pitch black worldview in that song, and I guess in most of the other tracks too.

Q: What are the further plans and especially considering we’re actually going through this ongoing pandemic? Dystopia became reality don’t you think?

Henrik: Yeah, it certainly did. It’s been a crazy year, and it’s been tough for us all, especially being isolated, and to exercise every precaution to not get Covid. May this nightmare end soon! As for further plans, we do have a release coming up, but I can’t say anything about it yet.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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’30 Years Of Journalism – Celebration Interview’ with SEBA DOLIMONT (Alfa Matrix): ‘If You Don’t Try To Anticipate The Future, Then It Will Get You’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. The first interview I made in this series is with Séba Dolimont. He was Side-Line chief-redactor till the end of 2007. He’s now running Alfa Matrix for 20 years and got also involved as singer with AIBOFORCEN and [IN]TERNAL. But above all we’re best friends. We no longer need music to meet and speak about a lot of things although this interview is only about music…

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries; Stéphane Froidcoeur)

Q: We met more than thirty (!) years ago now. Back in time you were busy with Side-Line, which was a kind of ‘fanzine’. How do you look back at these ‘early’ years and what was your motivation to get involved with a magazine?

Séba: Time flies doesn’t it?! Well, the crazy idea of doing our own ‘zine’ was thrown on the table by my friend David Noiret back in the days, one of these nights at university when we were having fun, listening to music, having some drinks and reinventing the world… But the next day when we met again at school, the idea was stuck on our respective minds. Side-Line was born! With the aim to have a true fanzine devoted to dark underground music cos the only mag we had then in Belgium was getting more & more mainstream… We wanted to defend and promote the music from the side-line. We were then carried away by the unexpected positive response on our first issues.

A bunch of friends rapidly joined the team including my all-time friend & partner in crime Benoit Blanchart, Lol Chevaux from France… and YOU!

Q: Side-Line finally became one of the most renowned- and leading Electro/Industrial/Gothic magazines from the scene. What made it that special and maybe different from others?

Séba: Looking back at it, I think our true devotion to the scene and the quite wide musical culture of the editorial staff made the difference. We were also lucky to be one of the few first mags written in English (and this way accessible to a much wider audience) while at that time this scene was mostly covered by German mags. Once we had the opportunity of getting published on professional glossy format (by a German label (Celtic Circle Prod) and later by Claus Müller of Orkus!) magazine before becoming fully independent, powered by the unique design touch of Didier Delhez and with the challenging concept of having a CD attached to the magazine, we instantly got the massive support from all record labels, bands and the fans!

By then we had also started embracing the internet, many many years before everyone, thanks to the initiative of Ronan Harris (VNV NATION) and later the arrival of the one and only one Bernard Van Isacker who came and reinforced the digital and commercial strategy of the magazine, but also enlarged our journalistic approach thanks to his many connections with bigger bands and major labels. We were on orbit!

Q: You finally left Side-Line in 2007 because of some health troubles, but still to focalize on Alfa Matrix. As a label owner, what’s your perception of media/magazines today? What’s their impact and importance for a label?

Séba: This is still one of the most difficult decisions that I made in my ‘music’ life. But when as a father of 2 young boys you are stuck by a virus that abruptly attacks your heart and almost kills you, the long days and nights you spend at hospital allow you questioning your priorities in life. To find a more appropriate balance between family, your main job and your music passion, there was just one too much in the equation. I felt I still had much more to learn and experience for the label rather than for a magazine. I could also inject more flexibility in the label planning than for the magazine which had a strict release date planning and always imposed us long sleepless nights before the closure of each issue.

Since then I have unfortunately seen so many scene magazines falling apart one after the other because of a general disinterest from readers and a lack of support from labels and other potential advertisers. The difficulty of being active on a shrinking underground scene, in a fast evolving world where social media’s and internet sites rapidly challenge the relevance of your articles or the freshness of your news bits. And too many invested way too late in a combined complementary offer mixing on-line and print, or just did not. I am still very admirable and respectful though for the job and activities run by the few surviving print mags like Sonic Seducer or yet Orkus!. Their longevity is exemplary. Today as a label you need to mix various medias to reach your audience cos more than ever, the consumer today is king and decides his/her own information modes. Tough tough… but congrats to all journalists still investing time and energy in defending and supporting our beloved dark music scene. Without people like you Stef, who would we be?

Q: You set up Alfa Matrix while you still remained involved as chief editor of Side-Line. That sounds rather incestuous, don’t you think? How do you look back at it?

Séba: I hear you. It’s a point we discussed at creation of the label actually. I rapidly decided to be only publisher of the magazine and stopped my editorial activities. I focused only on the coordination and business side of the job, selling adverts, etc. And we always gave journalistic freedom to our editorial staff: no censorship, even for advertised releases… But our experience with the magazine and its related website was also one of the leverages that were there to put Alfa Matrix on orbit. We knew exactly the impact that Side-Line could have to help us launching new talents and new releases… So yes, you can describe it as incestuous, but in all magazines you can see clear financing by specific record labels and you see many band members or even label staff in editorial staff of several magazines. I see it more as expertise sharing. And if the connections and affinities help, this is what business is all about isn’t it?

My past work at Side-Line definitely helped me signing many artists to the label cos I had built a strong contact or friendship with them through the years…

Q: Alfa Matrix this year celebrates its 20^th anniversary. What does that mean and how did you see things and the scene evolving over the years?

Séba: Honestly, I would have never thought that 2 decades later, we would still be up & running, and especially with such an impressive repertoire and diversified constellation of artists around us. It’s been an amazing adventure. With lots of exceptional moments. Lots of ups and downs also of course. Several bankruptcies from big distributors which each time put our finances at risk. Also a radically changing and constantly evolving music market on which you need to challenge yourself continuously to remain relevant and future proof.

If I were telling you that the future is bright and beautiful I would be lying to you. It’s obvious that there is no way back at this point. The dark underground scene keeps shrinking and losing ground. The several economic crisis, without mentioning the current pandemic and the changing music consumption habits all have heavy impact on sales potential. So I expect the physical format to be more and more limited and eventually get replaced by streaming. This is it! But with the right knowledge, it’s always possible to adapt your business model and move ahead. If you don’t try to anticipate the future, then it will get you.

Q: Physical sales are going backwards for years now. What do you expect during the next years and what will be the impact on the scene?

Séba: Bigger bands will still have some limited physical releases. Smaller newcomers will be available on streaming platforms. Once streaming gets generalized, the notion of albums will vanish and get replaced by one-song releases, getting published the next day they get recorded and mastered. Time to market will get zeroed and release radars will feed us proactively… and here again the underground world will loose more & more visibility against the algorithms. So yes, when people do not react timely and invest more in supporting younger acts, this will smother our indie art slowly but surely. But at Alfa Matrix, as long as we will have the energy to do all this, we’ will be there for you and for our artists.

Q: FRONT 242, this year celebrating their 40^th anniversary, has been for sure your biggest signing; like a serious accomplishment for an underground label! How did you convince them to join the ‘matrix’ and how is it working with such a legendary formation?

Séba: The arrival of this cult Belgian band to the Matrix was indeed an amazing boost in our ascension in our very first months of existence. Years of friendships and mutual respect brought us together and it’s been a very great, fruitful and inspiring collaboration with them in all simplicity. Things flow and are obvious. We now released their ’91 live albums and managed selling out before release date, with over 50% of the pressings sold in direct by ourselves via our own webstore thanks to our amazing staunch fanbase. This is something we are very proud of.

The official collaboration started with the MALE OR FEMALE trilogy. Patrick and Daniel asked me back then helping them finding the right label for this new project cos they had been very deceived by labels from their past experiences. Back then Alfa Matrix was a tiny label with 5 bands, so I did not even consider making them an offer. I rapidly brought them a handful of contractual offers. And then they asked us why there was no offer from Alfa Matrix cos trust was very important for them! The rest is history. Respect to them and thank for the eternal trust.

Now when you say it’s our biggest signing, they are indeed a true legend. But it does not mean we don’t have other artists selling more than FRONT 242 actually! You could be surprised sometimes of the potential of our eclectic roster of artists…

Q: Some artists and their ego… you for sure know what I’m talking about! How do you manage this situation as label owner?

Séba: Well… it’s a tough one indeed. Now of course to be an artist and have an own creative concept, having an ego and a very own vision helps and makes you more pertinent. The main problem is when artists with a strong ego don’t have both feet on the ground and have no realistic grasp or knowledge of the market’s reality. Then things can turn wrong cos they can have unrealistic expectations. Sometimes also the ego is so strong that they turn into control freaks and prove not to be able to efficiently collaborate. We have been there a few times…

Being myself artists manager, through the years I started putting more and more attention to the persons themselves and not only the music. I need that click, that trustful gut feeling that tells me ‘yes we can’… Before signing anyone we take the time to talk, explain who we are, how we work. This way I try building a collaboration on solid grounds. Cos we really believe in long term collaborations in our label management concept. And when you check the longevity of the collaboration we have with a large majority of our way I wish I could do, I’m proud of the many friendships we built thanks to music…

Q: You’ve been an ‘artist’ yourself as you also were the singer of AIBOFORCEN and [IN]TERNAL. What did you keep in mind from both bands and why did you finally quit?

Séba: Yes indeed. It’s funny cos we actually started the label to self-release our 3^rd album of AIBOFORCEN. We had several nice offers from big German labels but were so much deceived by our previous record deals that we made the decision to launch Alfa Matrix. But in the end through times the label activities prevented me from being in studio and at the end, the decision became obvious. I’m so happy Benoit continues injecting life into the project. I still of course help him from distance, making connections for new collaborations, giving him tips from demos he shares with me, etc. He’s currently working on his next album and what I heard so far is once again amazing! But here again, it was a deliberate choice, keeping the balance between family, my time demanding job and my music passion.

While [IN]TERNAL was more of a one-shot project with friends without constraints. We were all free at the right place at the same right moment, all wanting to do something new outside our respective main projects. I am still very proud of that album we released on Zoth Ommog back in the days…

Q: Thanks to music, you and I became very close friends. Any specific souvenir or anecdote you want to share?

Séba: So many memories that it’s too hard to pick a specific one. But chronologically, I will surely mention receiving your ‘Deranged Psyche’-compilation tapes on which I was each time discovering new bands… I had found my master ;-)! Bringing you massive orders of CD’s from my travels to Germany. Our exceptional adventures on the road driving from one festival to the other across Europe with some special souvenirs of preparing you the craziest sandwishes I could up to sleeping on soccer fields… Memorable after party nights with our Spanish DJ friends of Girona. The first days of FUZE BOX MACHINE up to NEBULA-H. Without mentioning the amazing editorial moments within the Side-Line teams and nowadays your honest, neutral and objective support to our Alfa Matrix label. But above all the unique friendship we both constructed that is today above all this music adventure and even makes that we can meet and talk hours long without even talking ‘music’…

Inferno Sound Diaries

www.side-line.com

Seven Trees – Dead/End (Album – Progress Productions)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:30:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Ambient-Electro, Cinematographic, Electro-Wave, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Originally set up as a trio in 1993, in 1995 Seven Trees evolved into the duo Johan Kornberg and Henrico Carlson. The band’s official debut album “Embracing the Unknown” was released in 1997 on Zoth Ommog. Twenty years later they brought the band back alive releasing the EP “Trauma Toxicity”. Last year we got the single “Game Over” and here’s Seven Trees’ second full length in history featuring nine songs.

Content: Seven Trees composes a sound, which is hard to grasp. It rather sounds as a sonic osmosis between different influences, but clearly driven by a retro-Electro style. Some tracks remind me of a more polished edit of Project Pitchfork with some Klink-al sequences on top and haunting atmospheres reminding early Frontline Assembly. But in the end it’s just Seven Trees, an extremely dark Electronic format characterized by haunting atmospheres and ghost-like vocals. Both final tracks even feature an explicit cinematographic approach.

+ + +: What I like about this album is the originality. Even if Seven Trees hold on a vintage sound they create something very personal. You can’t compare this band to another, but they mixed different elements reminding ‘older’ bands. It has something atypical; a sound where the power is hiding in the dense and extremely dark atmospheres instead of hard-beating rhythms. I can’t say this album is featuring a hit, but you get non-stop fascinating, cool pieces instead. I however have a preference for “Phased Out”, which is carried by a great chorus. I also have to say a word about the lyrical content reflecting a kind of uneasy feeling.

– – – : Both last cuts, which are definitely more cinematographic aren’t my favorite ones. They create a kind of antithesis after 7 noticeable songs.

Conclusion: “Dead/End” is the first new album of Seven Trees in more than 20 years, but this formation hasn’t lost its initial magic.

Best songs: “Phased Out”, “Pure Sedation”, “Game Over”, “Dystopic Illusions”, “End Of The Line”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.seventrees.se / www.facebook.com/embracingtheunknown

Label: www.progress-productions.com / www.facebook.com/progresspro

About Seven Trees

Seven Trees is a Swedish dark electro/industrial project originally formed as a trio in 1993 by Johan Kronberg, Andreas Wahlstedt and Marcus Johansson. From 1995 the band continued as the duo Johan Kronberg and Henrik Karlsson. Seven Trees released its debut album “Embracing The Unknown” in 1997 on Zoth Ommog, followed by the EP “Trauma Toxicity” (2017), the single “Game Over” (2020) and the album “Dead/End” (2021). The band later released the remix album “End/Dead” in 2022.

Inferno Sound Diaries

www.side-line.com

‘Click Interview’ with IMPERATIVE REACTION: ‘I Am Not The Type Of Person Who Writes Well When Actually Going Through Hard Times’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 18:00:00 +0000

Early this year IMPERATIVE REACTION released its first album in ten years. The American project driven by Ted Phelps released its very first studio album “Eulogy For The Sick Child” (1999) on the legendary, but unfortunately now defunct Zoth Ommog. All other full lengths got released on Metropolis Records. After the sixth self-titled opus released in 2011 the band progressively disappeared from the radars. Ted Phelps told us what happened and how he came to fight back again. “Mirror” is a great work mixing raw Dark/Electro-Pop influences together with heavier EBM pieces.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Mirror” is the first IMPERATIVE REACTION-album in ten years! I can imagine this period must have had an impact on the musician- and person you are? What do you see as the main changes and evolutions?

Ted: I was 32 when I submitted “Imperative Reaction” to Metropolis and I am 42 now. A lot has changed over the last decade both personally and musically. In 2011, we were very active and had been since 1999. We did two tours to promote the self-titled album and by the end of 2012, I was just completely exhausted. Many years of album, tour, album, tour, tour had taken its toll on me and I just needed to step back and get some rest. I declared a hiatus for the band in 2013.

In 2014, my wife and I separated for almost 2 years. This was particularly rough due to the fact that we met 28 years ago and have been together for most of the time since. I am not the type of person who writes well when actually going through hard times. Rather, I like to look back once things are better and write. I went through those years on autopilot and kind of lost my sense of direction both personally and professionally. Fortunately, we got back together in 2016 and it was my wife who asked me a short time later why I wasn’t writing anymore. One day I decided to give it a go and I started developing some ideas. One thing led to another and I think within a year, I had the basis of what would eventually become “Mirror”. We played a few shows to keep the name alive and I realized that I really missed being in a band so I got serious about it again in late 2018/early 2019.

Thanks to a very sustained effort on my wife’s part, I slowly progressed through the writing stages. Most of the music was written during that time and the vocals were recorded during the Summer and Fall of 2020.

Q: “Mirror” seems to be a very personal album dealing with a painful period of your life. Can we speak here about a kind of mental healing? And what’s the importance of music –and composing music to exorcise personal experiences and pain?

Ted: It is the most personal album I have written to date. Thematically it is a love letter to my wife and the mirroring that occurs between twin flames. Obviously not all songs pertain directly to that, but this served as the main impetus behind the concept. I have to admit that part of what held the production up was my anxiety lyric-wise. I didn’t want to just pick up where I left off as I’m a lot older now. At the same time, I wanted to make sure the lyrics were true to my experience and told the story I needed to tell. I can say that once I overcame that, the lyrics helped put things into perspective and on the right course –both artistically and personally.

By looking into the “Mirror” I was able to see a lot of things I did wrong from a different perspective, and my life and relationship have improved tremendously as a result.

Regarding healing, the release of the album brought up some unprocessed trauma for my wife related to our separation. This experience caused her to also look into the “Mirror” which ultimately led to a much deeper connection for us. The entire process has been very healing.

Q: I’m always fascinated how musicians are transposing personal feelings into sounds and songs. How did it happen for “Mirror”? And how did the composing process of this work happened?

Ted: My writing process has always started with the most basic elements first. Kick drum, bass, etc. From there I will see what chord changes work and try to build from that. The overall goal is to create a mood that fits whatever I’m feeling in the moment. I try to put together a cursory verse and chorus from that. I normally build up a collection of about 25 of these and then listen to each one in the car and see which ones work and which don’t. Sometimes I get an instant ‘hit’ that I know will make it. Other times, I will have some ideas that I know aren’t quite there yet, but are worthy of keeping around. Eventually, 25 becomes 15 which becomes 10, 8, etc. Once I get my momentum going, I will drastically change 2 or 3 and create 2 or 3 more and then I will have an album ready for lyrics and vocals. At that point, I will imagine some titles that fit with the overall theme I have in mind and assign them to a few of the songs. Finally, I just play around with vocal melodies and lyrics I have written and try to match them with the music. Along the way I mix and master everything like a nutcase because that’s what I do. “Mirror” probably would have been released in 2019 if I wasn’t so neurotic about this.

Q: The first songs have a raw Electro/Industrial-Pop touch while the sound progressively evolves into harder pieces, reaching a true, powerful climax. How important is it to put the right song at the right place? And are you more touched by some songs than others?

Ted: I really like this question. The reason is in this day and age, the emphasis is placed on single tracks which I understand with Spotify and Apple Music being the dominant outlets. I realize that album openers carry much more weight now than they once did. However, I grew up and began my career when albums were still very important. And all of my favorite records provided the listener with a sort of ‘journey’. The ebb and flow, the album sequence was just as important as the marketability of the singles. I try to continue that trend with the track sequences on my albums. I used to have a habit of front loading my releases with my favorite tracks and then putting the least compelling tracks at the end.

With “Mirror”, I really wanted to avoid that so I purposely put tracks like “Intertwined” and “Half Of One” toward the end even though I think they are two of the strongest tracks on the album. Given that much of the album deals with the negative aspects of what we endured, I wanted it to end on a positive and hopeful note. So, the key change at the of the song represents where I am at now with my wife and in life in general.

Q: I think one of the main strengths of “Mirror” is that it’s hard to label as one specific music genre, but rather sounding as the offspring between different influences and styles. What does it say about your music influences/standards and eventually criteria you handle when writing music?

Ted: Years ago I got caught up in the trap of wanting to really appeal to the club crowd while also writing songs in a traditional structure. I think we definitely got it right in some cases, but I also realize that some of our releases were hindered by this approach. This time around, I decided to only include songs that I was truly moved by regardless of their danceability, how hard they were, etc. I spent a lot of time listening to the albums that inspired me to begin writing music in the first place. Albums like “Violator”, “The Downward Spiral” and “Showtime” amongst others reminded me that every song does not have to fit together perfectly to produce a great result.

I wanted this album to be as honest and untouched by what’s popular as possible. At my core, I am a singer-songwriter who enjoys everything from PANTERA to FRANK BLACK and LANA DEL REY to BILLIE EILISH. I just happen to enjoy writing Industrial Music.

Q: How do you expect things evolving for IMPERATIVE REACTION during the ongoing pandemic and post-Covid-19?

Ted: Beyond everything else the thing I miss most is playing live. That has always been a major part of what we do so it’s hard to accept that we can’t tour right now. I’ve been talking to some very talented people about how we can try to overcome the current circumstances and play ‘live’ and get it out to our fans. I’m excited about the possibility and will hopefully have some news very soon.

Additionally, I am working on my side project, MERCURY LUST, with my life Lisbeth Phelps and we intend to release our debut album in November of this year. It’s been a long time coming and I am really excited about this project.

In an effort to avoid another ten-year gap between albums, I am already working on the next IMPERATIVE REACTION album. I think this one is going to be a more aggressive one which I’m also excited about.

Oh yeah, we also are working on a full remix album of “Mirror” and I’m hoping it will be released in May/June.

Inferno Sound Diaries

www.side-line.com

Imperative Reaction – Mirror (Album – Metropolis Records)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:00:00 +0000

Genre/Influences: Industrial-Pop, EBM.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Imperative Reaction strikes back with the band’s first album in ten years! “Mirror” is the seventh full length by the American band, which once started their career releasing their debut album on the legendary Zoth Ommog. That was in a previous Century, Ted Phelps is now unleashing eleven fresh songs.

Content: When a band is releasing its first new album in a decade, they in a way have to put their name back on the map. “Mirror” is for sure a work that will appeal for numerous lovers of Electro-Underground music. The work has something rough, Industrial-like and yet polished with Pop arrangements. That’s at least how “Mirror” takes off, but the work is progressively evolving towards harder pieces carried with solid EBM bass lines. The vocals are rather clear right in the beginning of the album, but here again there’s an evolution towards a more enraged way of singing.

+ + + : I read Ted Phelps considers “Mirror” as his magnum opus and the least I can say is that it indeed is the best work I’ve heard from this artist. “Mirror” reflects a diversified Electronic canvas, which you can’t label as one particular genre. The work sounds as a true apotheosis between different, but related influences. The main characteristic and strength of the album is the raw sound production creating this Industrial exponent. Some sound treatments also have a pretty vintage-like touch, which mainly comes through in the brilliant “Like Swine”. Another outstanding cut is “The Scales”, which are pure rage carried by a tough EBM bass line. But there’s also something to say about the ‘softer’ opening cuts, which have a raw-pop touch on top.

– – – : I don’t see real minus points about this work; except I regret a few tracks aren’t just a little bit longer (but that sounds rather positive)!

Conclusion: Imperative Reaction strikes back with a bam! This is for sure an album we’ll remember at the end of the year when making the list ‘best of Electronic productions of the year’!

Best songs: “The Scales”, “Like Swine”, “Ignite”, “Glass”, “Stranger”, “Split”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: www.imperativereaction.net / www.facebook.com/imperativereaction

Label: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords Read the news on ‘Mirror’.

“Mirror” by Imperative Reaction

About Imperative Reaction

Imperative Reaction is the Los Angeles-based project of Ted Phelps, formed in the mid-1990s. The act debuted with “Eulogy For The Sick Child” in 1999 on Zoth Ommog, followed by “Ruined” (2002), “Redemption” (2004), “As We Fall” (2006), “Minus All” (2008), a self-titled album (2011), “Surface” (2011) and the “Siphon” EP (2013). “Mirror”, released via Metropolis Records in January 2021, marked the band’s first full-length in ten years. Phelps discussed the album in a Side-Line interview that March.

Inferno Sound Diaries

www.side-line.com

‘Click Interview‘ with Armageddon Dildos: ‘We Are On The Highway To Dystopia!‘

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:00:00 +0000

Uwe Kanka and Dirk Krause set up ARMAGEDDON DILDOS in 1990. The German duo from Kassel became an instant successful EBM formation with a great live reputation. They got signed to the legendary Zoth Ommog label and became one of the EBM flagholders from the 90s. When Dirk Krause left the band, Uwe Kanka decided to went on. He released a few more albums on Ausfahrt and Alfa Matrix “Dystopia“ released on Alfa Matrix is the band’s new full length and also the first new one since 2011. It also is the most diversified opus in the band’s history. From EBM to Electro-Rock to Electro-Pop with an 80s touch on top, the new work sounds as the most mature and achieved one to date. Time to ask a few questions to Uwe.

Dystopia (Bonus Tracks Edition) by ARMAGEDDON DILDOS

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: I realized the first ARMAGEDDON DILDOS EP’s “Never Mind/Pressure” and “East West” were released exactly 30 years ago now! What do you keep in mind from the early, successful years and how did you see the band –and yourself, evolving till today?

Uwe: Dirk Krause and I met in a joint rehearsal room in Kassel. He made Synt-Pop with his band while I was involved with harder sounding New-Wave guitar music with the formation Beat The Beat. It quickly became clear that we were on the same wavelength. We wanted to break new ground together, make harder electronic music; powerful, aggressive, sweaty. We were young and didn’t know any limits. With the record deal with Zoth Ommog and the success of the first singles, we felt confirmed walking on the right path. It was an incredibly dynamic and lively time with lots of gigs and fantastic fans.

The cut came in 2000 when Dirk left the band. We had grown apart, musically and privately. I chose to continue alone with ARMAGEDDON DILDOS. The first few years weren’t easy for me. I had to buy new equipment and get used to it. The advantage, however, was that I could implement my ideas more uncompromisingly. For me, “Dystopia” is the logical consequence of this tough and instructive time.

Q: “Dystopia” is the first new album since “Untergrund” (2011). Why did this new work took that long and did you ever consider to stop composing new songs?

Uwe: I just take the time it takes for me. It has always been like this. We also published “Herbstzeitlose“. Then there is the work on remixes. And no, I never thought of stopping composing.

Q: Let’s talk about “Dystopia”, which I personally consider as the most mature and still most diversified work since you’re composing the songs. When did you start the writing and what has been the input of Mathias Black and Sven Mouhcine?

Uwe: All songs, except for “High Up In The Sky“, were written in the last four years. I started with the compositions and texts on my own. Later on, Mathias receives the material in order to edit it musically and soundly if necessary. After that, I continued to work on it in order to produce the final versions with Mathias. We were in direct contact with each other, including Sven, during the entire process. Sven plays the keyboards and sings since 2012 and is responsible for all questions about the band’s live hardware and software, the entire sound and technical process including video recordings on stage.

Mathias and Sven are extremely competent in their work and have meanwhile become indispensable for the smooth performance of the Dildos. We also get along very well, which makes things easier.

Q: The cover of the album and its title both remind me to the legendary novel of George Orwell “1984”, but the album is a critical perception of our society and the world we’re living in, right? Does dystopia became reality!?

Uwe: The big problems of our time such as environment and climate change are no longer national problems. The effects can be felt worldwide. Poverty and famine, crisis areas such as the Syrian conflict and the resulting waves of refugees affect us all. The growing gap between rich and poor and the associated social unrest knows no boundaries. And I’m not mentioning Corona. And yes, we are on the highway to dystopia!

Q: Your daughter, Malin, is already featured on this album. What does it mean for you as father to see your daughter joining in? And what does she think about ARMAGEDDON DILDOS?

Uwe: Malin has already worked on “Morgengrauen” and “Untergrund“. So this is not a new situation for me. She is professional, has a very special voice and excellent empathy. It is always a great pleasure to work with her.

What does she think about the ‘Dildos’? Well, I don’t think it’s like she’s listening to ARMAGEDDON DILDOS at regular basis. In the end, it’s just not her music, but out of the many songs I’ve written, there’re probably a few ones she really likes.

Q: Reality today is that artists no longer can play live because of the pandemic. What do you think about this situation and what will be the impact for the further years?

Uwe: These are tough times for culture enthusiasts, artists, event organizers, club owners and all of those who’re involved with it. I have never experienced something like that. Unfortunately, the entire industry in Germany lacks government support.

I hope that soon something will happen and that we all together can get out unscathed from this situation. It is important that we find our way back to the ‚pre-Corona‘ status very quickly. Music belongs to the stage !!!

Inferno Sound Diaries

www.side-line.com

First Imperative Reaction studio album in 10 years to be released in January: ‘Mirror’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 14:46:13 +0000

Imperative Reaction’s 10 year long hiatus is over, the band will release its long-awaited 7th album early next year, January 15th to be precise, on Metropolis Records featuring 11 brand new tracks.

“I’ve never been as happy with an album as I am with this one, and I do think it is the most diverse album we’ve released,” says Imperative Reaction’s Ted Phelps in a first reaction.

Check out the teaser for the album right below.

About Imperative Reaction

Imperative Reaction is an American electro-industrial band founded in 1996 by Ted Phelps and David Andrecht from the remains of the band Digital Neural Assault. A demo tape titled Debris was originally released in 1996, but was eventually recalled and destroyed as the band chose to go a different direction. The band’s next effort, a demo entitled Persistence of Memory, featured the track “Predicate”, which was included on Possessive Blindfold car Recordings compilation album Exoskeleton Vol. 1.

The band’s first studio album, “Eulogy For The Sick Child”, was released in February 1999 and picked up by Zoth Ommog Records for European distribution in April 1999. In the summer of 1999, the band changed labels, due to the buyout of Pendragon Records by Metropolis Records. The follow-up album “Ruined” was released on July 9, 2002 and soon after the accompanying tour, the band worked on their next album, “Redemption “, which was released in the United States on March 9, 2004.

“As We Fall” followed on November 7, 2006, “Minus All” on October 7, 2008 and a self-titled album was released on 13 September 2011. But after that things got silent. In 2016, the band confirmed via their Facebook page that a seventh album was being recorded, with the title later confirmed as “Mirror”, but it took them 5 more years to see it released in January 2021. Read the review of ‘Mirror’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Cleopatra to release ‘Leaether Strip: The Zoth Ommog Years 1989-1999’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 17:11:59 +0000

Cleopatra Records has announced the forthcoming release of “Leaether Strip: The Zoth Ommog Years 1989-1999”, a boxed set featuring 10 individually packaged CDs with original artwork and rare bonus material. This limited edition collection showcases the output of projects helmed by Claus Larsen when being signed to the German label Zoth Ommog with both Leaether Strip and Klutae.

This collection will hold 148 tracks along with a 16-page booklet filled with rare photos as well as liner notes by Athan Maroulis (Spahn Ranch, Executive Slacks, NØIR). The set will reach the shops on December 4th and will also be available via all digital and streaming platforms.

About Leaether Strip

The Danish musical project Leaether Strip was founded in January, 1988 by Claus Larsen. Its influence has been most felt in the electronic body music and electro-industrial genres.

Leæther Strip was one of the earliest and most prominent acts on Germany’s now defunct Zoth Ommog record label. For distribution outside of Europe, the music has been licensed to the U.S. labels Cleopatra Records and Metropolis Records.

After the demise of Zoth Ommog in 1999, Larsen signed to Bloodline Records, which only released a single before also going out of business. In 2005, Leæther Strip signed with the Belgian-based label Alfa Matrix until 2011.

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Armageddon Dildos return with ‘Dystopia’ in 3 formats: CD / 2CD / Download – out now

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 03:28:00 +0000

In March 2020 Düsseldorf’s leading EBM act Armageddon Dildos launched a brand new download EP, “Heut Nacht” (available here on Bandcamp). Today the band releases a new album. Uwe Kanka takes the opportunity to protest against our world’s dystopia in general, and socio-political issues in particular like intolerance, abuse, disinformation or yet selfishness.

For the occasion he surrounded himself with studio gurus and old time friends Mathias Black and Sven Mouhcine. You can expect 80’s melodic influences with the 90’s power of industrial dark techno.

Below you can listen to the complete album.

The limited edition of the album includes a bonus album featuring one remix of each album song by a wide range of collaborators including Orange Sector, Digital Factor, Ad:Key, Lights Of Euphoria, Schramm, Intent:Outtake, First Aid 4 Souls, Inertia, Synapsyche, Dave Anderson, Rico Piller and Fredrik Söderberg.

Available formats:

Armageddon Dildos – Dystopia Download
Armageddon Dildos – Dystopia CD
Armageddon Dildos – Dystopia 2CD

And here are the first 2 tracks to check out.

Dystopia (Bonus Tracks Edition) by ARMAGEDDON DILDOS

Slowly but steadily

Armageddon Dildos was formed in 1988 in Kassel Germany, and the name comes from the slang term for intercontinental ballistic missiles. The band has always been popular within their native Germany but also outside of Germany they have a cult following among industrial music lovers. They released their first album, “That’s Armageddon”, in 1990 on the cult label Zoth Ommog. The rest is history.

Noticeable is that the band has always taken it time to record and release new material. Their latest full album already dates from 2011 when they released “Untergrund”, also on Alfa Matrix. Read the review of ‘Dystopia’.

Untergrund (Bonus Tracks Version) by ARMAGEDDON DILDOS

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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‘Click Interview’ with Numb: ‘I Started Writing Material As A Personal Response To The Social/Political Changes’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 18:00:09 +0000

Numb is a Canadian electronic formation that saw the daylight in 1986. The band was driven by Don Gordon, David Hall and Sean Stubbs. Singer David Collins joined the band in 1995. Numb started as an electronic formation, but the sound progressively evolved towards a harsh and merciless industrial sound. Numb on stage was a bit like facing a merciless noise wall. They released several successful albums on major companies such as KK Records and Zoth Ommog. The band splitted in 1998 and instigator Don Gordon moved to Vietnam. Twenty one years after the last album “Language Of Silence” released by the long-time defunct Zoth Ommog, Numb strikes back with a noticeable electro-driven opus “Mortal Geometry”. The work got released on Metropolis Records and reveals a somewhat old-school, fascinating electronic creation. It talked about it with Don Gordon.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Mortal Geometry” stands for the return of Numb, but also the return of Don Gordon as musician/composer. How do you look back at the past years, the feeling to be no longer releasing new music and what incited you to strike back and writing this new work?

Don: After completing “Language Of Silence” and “Halo_Gen” in 1999/2000 I had intended on taking a break from Numb. However, this break extended for longer than originally planned due to a number of opportunities that I was able to pursue when I arrived in Vietnam. That being said, the limited amount of Numb material released over the last 20 years (ie. remixes for other artists and some compilations/re-issues) doesn’t reflect a lack of activity on my part in other areas of music/sound production. After moving to Vietnam I focused more on commissions, commercial sound design and production rather than Numb. A couple of highlights from the commissions included writing and performing the music for “Missed Connections”, a video installation work by artist Richard Streitmatter-Tran that is now part of the Singapore Art Museum permanent collection. The track “The Waiting Room”, which is included on “Mortal Geometry”, had its origins as a short 30-second soundtrack for a YouTube promotional clip to the novella of the same name by the literary erotica author Remittance Girl.

I was also engaged in audio production work in advertising and teaching music/sound production at a university in Vietnam.

About 3 years ago, I started writing material as a personal response to the social/political changes I was seeing and Numb felt like the relevant instrument through which to comment… “Mortal Geometry” is the outcome of this.

Q: You are a kind of veteran, who has seen it all; you have been involved with music since the 80s, you released multiple successful albums with different projects, you played live all over the world, worked with prominent record companies etc. How do you look back at it all and what have been the main changes/evolutions throughout the years?

Don: A complete answer to this could probably fill a book but to summarize a few observations:

-The evolution of music technologies from the 80’s through to the present day has completely transformed the way in which I write, record and produce music. The creative/technical potential that I have to work with in my home studio was unimaginable not so many years ago.

-The mass adoption of digital media technologies has radically changed how music is consumed and used by audiences as well as redefining the relationship between artists and their fans.

-The music databases at Spotify, Apple etc have created this interesting scenario in which they both provide an incredible resource for music fans and musicians while at the same time creating a situation in which new artists are now competing for attention with the whole history of recorded music

Q: “Mortal Geometry” sounds a bit like ‘going back to the roots’, but what kind of album did you want to compose and what means this album to you compared to previous Numb-productions?

Don: From the outset I intended for “Mortal Geometry” feel contemporary, but recognized that at the same time it also needed to evoke a sense of continuity with previous Numb releases. One of the ways this was accomplished was to consciously reference elements of earlier Numb to act as a bridge… a bit like picking up on a lapsed conversation with an old friend you haven’t seen in a long time through the introduction of some familiar ideas and then to build on these as the foundation for new explorations.

The actual approach to production for “Mortal Geometry” was quite different from previous releases reflecting both changes in technology and in the fact that as a solo production I was able to bring the vocals into the process earlier on. This allowed for a more tightly integrated link between the music, lyrics and vocal delivery.

Q: Next to the harder songs I also noticed cinematic/ambient passages running through “Mortal Geometry”. Where do they come from and do you’ve references and/or favorite artists when it comes to this specific music genre?

Don: Numb-releases have always included aggressive industrial/EDM tracks along with abstract/cinematic tracks. On “Mortal Geometry” this is more pronounced as there are several instances in which both aggressive and cinematic elements are combined within a single track.

I still think of an album as an integrated whole through which the listener navigates, rather than as a collection individual tracks.

My interest in cinematic/abstract music goes way back to my first hearing of releases like side 2 of Bowie’s “Low”-album, early Berlin period Tangerine Dream and composers like Edgard Varese. My exposure to traditional Asian musical forms over the last 20 years, in particular Gamelan and Smot, has furthered this interest. There is an abstract trance-like quality to this music that is particularly strong when experienced live.

Q: You said you started to write new songs ‘as a personal response to the social/political changes’ so what did you try to express with the album title and the lyrical content of the album?

Don: The title and artwork reflect a convergence of different themes that are explored on the album. Living in Asia for the last 20 years has had a massive influence on me so it was important that the cover art visually capture an element of this experience. The visual core of the artwork is a series of images by Andrew Stiff who produces ‘extrusion photographs’ as a part of his PhD research. In particular he is looking at the application of Tschumi’s architectural theories of space, event, and movement in the context of the (destructive) urbanization in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. This approach to representation easily extends to include how digital technologies are mapping/recording our lives as data points within spatial geometries over time… in essence, surveillance to predict and control. In parallel to this there is the impact of digital disruption on communications/media that corrupt and erode meaning by intent (editing/redaction/hacking), error (glitch), spectacle and apathy… and through this, a death of social rationality. So “Mortal Geometry” is a kind of metaphor for this convergence visualized through an Asian lens.

Lyrically the album presents a number of themes that reappear across the different tracks. The challenge was to present these in a manner that draws a listener in rather than coming across as didactic… to seduce and entertain rather than having the listener feel that they are being lectured to. I think that Mortal Geometry has been successful in this.

“Redact” is very much a reaction to the corruption of language and meaning in the media-sphere to ultimately redefine a new compliant ‘reality’ that aligns with the narrative of those wanting power and control. It contextualizes ideas presented in the novel “1984” within the modern media environment of social media, commercialized news, contemporary technologies and the rise of authoritarianism. “When Gravity Fails” reflects some of the same issues but presents this more from the perspective society becoming increasing divided and falling apart.

“Hush”, suggests that rather than the dystopian cyber-punk futures, or a technological utopian futures suggested by some… these have been replaced by a ‘future’ that looks suspiciously like the past and which in turn looks like the present… a kind of ‘forever now’ loop. Mark Fisher and others have written about this sense of ‘haunted by lost futures’, the ‘persistent recycling of the past’ and an ‘inability to escape old social forms’.

“Complicit Silence” builds further on some of these themes while at the same time rejecting a simplistic, homogenous view of society. Silence is about so much more than just an absence of sound. Its power comes from what it reveals or makes you confront… the objects, events and ideas that are normally masked or unspoken and as a result gain an acceptance just through their being. Noise, on the other hand, is about immersion in complexity, diversity and change…qualities that I see as desirable. So the line ‘resurrect the worlds of noise’ is a call to embrace this.

“How It Ends” is about lost opportunities, a society contracting on itself, a focus on spectacle over the real and the rise of the sense of ‘the other’ through the distancing of human interaction.

Instrumental tracks like “The Waiting Room”, “Shadow Play” and “Mortal Geometry” reflect aspects of my time living in Asia while the ‘morality of altitude’ theme from the first Numb-album finds a new expression on “Mortal Geometry” in the track “Summer Lawns”.

Q: I think too much bands are sharing a similar sound today while “Mortal Geometry” sounds as a truly antidote! I can’t understand the more equipment and facilities so-called ‘artists’ have the less creative they become! What makes “Mortal Geometry” different from the rest and what means ‘creativity’ to you?

Don: For me creativity is a process in which an initial core idea gets translated into a final form which successfully communicates its intended ideas and emotional context. The challenge in this is in developing the core idea into the larger form that both amplifies and reinforces the initial inspiration without losing its essence. This can be harder than it might seem and for me is where most of the effort is applied. Interesting core ideas often come out of improvisations or ‘planned accidents’ which help you get beyond your own habits and the strictures of hardware/software interfaces that try to force you into a particular way of interacting with them.

“Mortal Geometry” succeeds at a number of levels. It is a very personal statement that incorporates a diverse range of experiences and influences; it challenges the listener with new ideas while still retaining a sense of familiarity.

The ‘early’ decades of electronic music coincided with quantum leaps in music technologies… the introduction of drum machines, analog/FM/wavetable/digital synths, samplers, etcetera. This meant that musicians, both through intent and chance, were creating new timbres, forms and genres that had never been heard before almost by default. While music technology is still evolving today these changes are much more incremental so the seeming quantum leaps in creativity appear to be fewer. Also, electronic music has been with us for at least 40+ years and as a result has developed a canon in much the same way that rock or classical music has. One outcome of this is that new electronic music tends to be viewed and contextualized against this framework by audiences and artists.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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Numb – Mortal Geometry (CD Album – Metropolis Records)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 18:30:09 +0000

Genre/Influences: EBM, dark-electro, industrial.

Background/Info: Set up in the late 80s by Canadian musician Don Gordon, Numb became an influential band and especially during the 90s. The sound became progressively harder, reaching a kind of hard-core industrial style. Twenty one years after the last album (cf. “Language Of Silence” released on the legendary Zoth Ommog label), Numb is back!

Content: Forget about the albums released in the 90s, “Mortal Geometry” sounds as the ‘new’ Numb or should I say a return to the sources. The songs are moving in between sophisticated EBM and dark/minimal electronics with an industrial flavor on top. The songs are carried by solid bass lines, industrial sound treatments and a few trance passages. I also noticed a few more cinematic-inspired cuts. There are several instrumental tracks featured while most of the vocal parts feel a bit like an extra effect.

+ + + : This album has nothing to do with the Numb-releases we’ve heard in the 90s. The electronic compositions have this Canadian sophisticated sound, which might remind a few other compatriots. But Numb has been never a copyist and strives for a personal sound. It feels like ‘updated retro-electronics’ based upon great sound manipulations and a high tech production process. There are not a lot of vocals, but the way they’ve been produced is deadly efficient. There are several great songs featured at this opus.

– – – : Each album always has a few forgettable cuts. I’m not a huge fan of “How It Ends”, which according to me doesn’t really deserves its place among the great tracklist.

Conclusion: Numb strikes back with style and an incomparable sound intelligence. It’s amazing to see how veterans from this scene still have more creative input than young and so-called ‘talented’ artists. This is a great album!

Best songs: “When Gravity Fails”, “The Waiting Room”, “Complicit Silence”, “Summer Lawns”, “Redact”.

Rate: (8½).

Artist: https ://mortalgeometry .com / www .facebook .com /groups /227641055342

Label: www .metropolis –records .com / www .facebook .com /MetropolisRecords Read the news on ‘Mortal Geometry’.

About Numb

Numb is the Vancouver, Canada project of Don Gordon, founded in 1986. Early lineups included vocalist and drummer Sean Stubbs and keyboardist David Hall, with Blair Dobson, Conan Hunter, Richard Hanley and David Collings passing through on vocals and drums over the following decade.

The band built its catalogue through the 1990s with albums including “Fixate” (1993), “Wasted Sky” (1994), “Blood Meridian” (1997) and “Language Of Silence” (1998), before Gordon disbanded Numb and moved to Vietnam. “Mortal Geometry” marks Numb’s first album in the twenty-one years since, released on Metropolis Records, whose roster has also included Velvet Acid Christ and God Module.

Inferno Sound Diaries

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The legendary act Numb returns with an all new album: ‘Mortal Geometry’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 09:14:27 +0000

Out later this Summer is the all new album by the legendary electro act Numb. Numb’s Don Gordon will offer electro with trance elements, ambient interludes & dark EBM on his newest studio effort “Mortal Geometry”.

The new album will be available on CD and vinyl.

For the newbies, Numb was founded by Don Gordon, David Hall and Sean Stubbs in 1986 and is originally a Canadian electro-industrial band that is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Since starting in 1986 the project has been releasing material via various labels including Metropolis Records, Zoth Ommog, Re-Constriction Records, Kk Records, Lively Art, Edge Records and Burning Records. Read the review of ‘Mortal Geometry’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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‘Click Interview’ with Orange Sector: ‘We Don‘T Like Bands That Behave Like The Next Big Superstars’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 18:00:56 +0000

Set up in 1992 by the Hannover duo Lars Felker – Martin Bodewell, Orange Sector would rapidly conquer the EBM community. They got signed on Zoth Ommog and released the astonishing debut album “Faith” (1993). One year later they stroke back with the impressive “Flashback”-album. Lars finally left the band and Martin went on releasing new works while experimenting with some pop elements. Orange Sector finally stopped all activities at the end of the 90s, but came back alive in 2005 for the compilation “Here We Are (Back Again)”. Lars Felker and Martin Bodewell joined hands again and started to release new albums. They moved back to their hard and original EBM sound. “Alarm” released on Infacted Recordings is their newest work featuring René Nowotny (Ad:Key, Rector Scanner) as extra member. I got in touch with the band’s main machinist Lars Felker.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Alarm” is your twelfth full length album. What makes this work different and maybe ‘special’ from the other ones?

Lars: The biggest difference is that ORANGE SECTOR now has three official band members. ORANGE SECTOR was Martin and me while René Nowotny was a live member during the time I stopped playing live shows. At the end of 2018 we played our first gig together as a trio. It was amazing on stage. René is now the official third member of Orange Sector and will play shows again. We also worked together on the new album. This is what makes it special.

Q: “Alarm” has been announced as one of your most ‘political’ works to date and it clearly reflects some ‘hot items’ our society is actually going through. What did you want to express and what’s your personal perception of our ‘world’ today?

Lars: It‘s our personal way to express what we feel and music is a good way to let things go and ‘clean’ thoughts and feelings for ourselves. We know that our music will not change people and not change the world. But I felt that I have to talk about the shit in the world and make my personal statement and show what Orange Sector stands for. People fought years and years for freedom and equal rights and now we made lots of steps backwards.

Q: While you’re dealing with ‘serious’ themes, your music remains an ultra-danceable composition. Don’t you think it sounds a bit contradictory talking about serious subjects and seeing people dancing on it?

Lars: I think it’s not a problem at all. Music for me is about feelings and freedom. When you dance to an agressive song with lyrics about something that keeps you busy…..it‘s liberating. The right lyrics make the song becoming your own song so you can get deeper in it.

Q: I already experienced your previous album “Night.Terrors” as being one of your hardest works, but “Alarm” is even harder and filled with rage! Both albums remind me to the early years of Orange Sector; straight forward and pure old-school EBM. Do you see similarities with the early period and how do you see your own evolution throughout the years?

Lars: Yes, there’re a lot of similarities. We wanted to go back to the early period and make a record like this. It was really fun and this is Orange Sector. Life show us how an album has to sound, it‘s like a mirror. Our life is the biggest influence in our music. That‘s the reason why some records sound different. Orange sector is now much better than in the early years; we tried different things, but we are still the same band and each record sounds like Orange Sector. I think we found our own sound throughout the years.

Q: I noticed an interesting post on your Facebook-page mentioning that you built a bridge between NZ and Infacted Recordings. What’s your link with NZ and is there a kind of EBM friendship between artists? What are your experiences here?

Lars: I didn‘t met them because I didn‘t play shows for some years. But Martin and René met them and I heard only good things about the guys. It‘s a kind of EBM friendship and I hope I will meet them the next time. We met lots of cool bands and are still in contact with them. Orange Sector is a relaxed band and we are uncomplicated, but we do this for more than 25 years right now and we decide with which band we go on tour or not. We don‘t like bands that behave like the next big superstars.

Q: Your music stands for pure EBM, but I remember the album “Love It!” (1997) which clearly experimented with ‘pop’-elements. It remains your most surprising work to date, but how do you look back at “Love It!” today and would you ever think or consider experimenting with other influences than EBM ever?

Lars: Oh yes… it was a special time for Orange Sector. I left the band and Martin tried to find his own way in music. So it doesn’t matter if we love it or hate it. This album stands for that special time and is part of the Orange Sector history. Who knows if other things should ever happened without this record. If it feels like being the right thing we would consider experimenting with other influences, but it would still sound like Orange Sector… like fucking EBM !!!!

Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Melotron: ‘We Lost The Sense Why We Are Making Music’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 18:00:52 +0000

Melotron

Some of you might remind The Vermin, which was the first band featuring the German trio Andy Krüger, Edgar Slatnow and Kay Hildebrandt. They in 1995 went on as Melotron and got signed on the legendary Zoth Ommog label. Other productions got released by Bloodline, Synthetic Symphony and Out Of Line. Melotron became one of the absolute leading synth-pop formation in Germany, but still a successful export product. But after numerous hits and successful albums they needed some rest to reinvent themselves. After years of silence they this year strike back with a new full length entitled “Für Alle”. The perfect moment to welcome this come-back with an interview. The questions were answered by Edgar.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Für Alle” is your first ‘new’ studio album in eleven years, but it all sounds like you never stopped making music. How does it feel to be back and have released this new work?

Edgar: I’m happy. I’m happy what we have achieved. Yes, “Für Alle” was a long and sometimes stony road. But we needed this time to think about ourselves and about Melotron. Eleven, twelve years ago we lost the sense why we are making music. There were no good ideas for new songs anymore. We felt empty and tired. Other people tried to explain how we could succeed.

We didn’t like that and we thought about breaking up the band. At this moment, we three began to think about finding out what we really wanted. We spoke about our lives, dreams, hopes, changes, responsibilities, music and the future of Melotron. Finally, we found out that we would like to continue making music together, but not in the same way as before. It was the beginning of “Für Alle”.

Q: So how do you see this new album in the band’s discography and in, which way the album became different?

Edgar: Memories about the beginnings of the band showed us the direction. We took the responsibility in our own hands and started with writing and composing like in 1991, true to the motto: ‘Alles auf Anfang’ (cf. which can be translated as ‘as in the beginning’).

Let me get to the point: In the last fifteen/twenty years we had produced only with professional producers. It was more comfortable, but on the other hand you made a lot of simple compromises. So we canceled this kind of working. Andy started his ‘career’ as a producer and I never felt so comfortably to make music before. Yes we needed ‘a little bit more’ time for the producing, but this was our one and only compromise for “Für Alle”. We did what we want and in the way we wanted. So for me, this album is the most important album I ever worked on.

Q: What does the title of the album “Für Alle” stands for and what can you tell us about the main lyrical themes of the album?

Edgar: First of all, each song stands alone. But all together they are reflecting our search and the process of the album. There are some songs like “Alles Auf Anfang”, telling the story about transience and the small part that is staying forever. We wrote this song in just a few hours, but it was a big surprise. Andy and I had worked on another song. I can’t remember on which one, but it doesn’t matter. Andy should start singing this song, but he told me, he would want to do this later and I should look for another song. I thought, it was just a trick because he didn’t want to sing it. I was not happy with it, but he convinced me. So I focused on the new one. A little bit later Andy interrupted me, because we needed something to eat and drink. So we left the studio and during the next two hours, Andy was shopping. I had found the first right words for the song. Back in studio I finished the text, showed it to Andy and he plugged in the microphone and started to sing.

We finished this song on this evening. We put it in a loop and drunk what we’ve bought until the early morning hours, pleased and deeply impressed of ourselves. At this point, we realized that it’s would be an album for us, and for everyone who loves our music. This is how the name was born. Other songs like “Willkommen” or “Dein Glück” accompanied us for a long time of the production.

Q: You just mentioned “Dein Glück”, which is the last song from the album and, which has something soundtrack-like. A lot of artists have this secret dream to compose soundtrack music so is it also one of your dreams or do you want to accomplish other ideas?

Edgar: It’s a very special song. I’d the idea of the lyrics really early. Andy tried a lot of sound dresses, but they didn’t fit. Most of them were really faster. Only when he plays the song on the piano, the lyrics can breathe. I don’t know, why we didn’t try that before, but in one of the last sessions we tried a slow version of the song and the result was, what you hear on “Für Alle”. We like this kind of music; it’s for feeling and dreaming.

You can use our songs for soundtracks, but we don’t produce songs exclusively for soundtracks. Our next goal is the next album and we are working on it. It will follow the dynamic of life.

Q: Melotron is now active for more than 20 years. What have been the main facts from your career that come directly into mind and how do you see yourselves today as musicians/artists compared to the period you were still involved with The Vermin?

Edgar: Friendship!!! As we started with The Vermin, the former name of Melotron, we were three guys with synthesizers, not more and not less. The years made us to become friends. It sounds easy but sometimes it was really hard. We were not aware of the fact that we were the pioneers of German-speaking synth-pop music. Other things were more important to us. We fought for our places in the band and gradually we found our places to work from. We built a platform for a trust-based relationship. Today it doesn’t matter who writes the lyrics or who is composing the music. If someone has a good idea, we try to realize it. Today MELOTRON is our beloved and relaxed life project until the end of our days…maybe.

Q: You’re actually preparing a live tour, which I think is something really important for bands today, but it also is a lot of work and efforts. Tell us a bit more about this aspect and what might we expect from the new live shows?

Edgar: Yeah, live shows are really important for us too. We love to stand on stage and hear our music really loud. The music then feels much more powerful than at home. You can feel the energy and we want to bring it to the audience.

What do you expect from the Melotron live shows? Everything you need for a wonderful evening with good music and a little bit more. Most of the times there are some surprises who no one expects. It’s live (lol).

Honestly, we love to play the new songs as much as the old ones. The mix is very important to us. Cause this is the open secret for a successful party with happy people at the end of the night. So if you get the chance to see us live, do it and you will have one nice evening more in your life. Come and see us at:

08.12.2018, Moskau, Theatr
09.12.2018, St.Petersburg, Mod Club
15.03.2019, Kopenhagen t.b.a.
16.03.2019, Göteborg, Musikens Hus
07.06.2019, Oberhausen, Kulttempel
10/11.08.2019, Hildesheim, Mera Luna Festival

Inferno Sound Diaries

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‘Click Interview’ with Funker Vogt: ‘Time Heals All Wounds’!

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 23 Jul 2017 17:00:12 +0000

Funker Vogt was set up in 1995 and got instantly successful. Gerrit Thomas (composing) and Jens Kästel (vocals) progressively became one of the leading bands from the dark-electro & EBM scene. They released legendary work on Zoth Ommog, Bloodline, Synthetic Symphony while their previous full length got released on Out Of Line. When Jens Kästel left the band in 2013 the band had to search for a new vocalist. Sacha Korn (‘Sick Man’) joined in creating a real media storm. A new singer and a new label had to be found so Chris L. (Agonoize, The Sexorcits, Dance Or Die) joined in and Repo Records recently released the new album “Code Of Conduct”. I got in touch with Gerrit Thomas and Chris L. but started the interview with a question for label owners Kai Schmidt and Björn Böttcher (who both got involved with Funker Vogt as well) to know what they think about it all.

You can order the band’s newest album right here.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You (Repo Records) guys are quite familiar and pretty close to Funker Vogt so how did you perceive all what happened around the band during the past few years and what does it mean to you and Repo Records to have released this new album?

Repo Records: After our split in 2010, we have all kept a distance from each other. So we have certainly read about all this, but at that time it didn’t affect us that much. We all decided to go separate ways in 2010, without knowing if we ever will get together or not. And at that time, we managed this ‘divorce’ as harmonic as such a thing can happen.

As we have been personally involved in the old releases, we wanted to make them available again. So we approached Gerrit with this idea. After some negotiations we found an agreement.

Last year Gerrit told us that he wanted to restart Funker Vogt and if we were interested to release also new material. After so much time has passed, we thought that the time was right, to work together again. And it works very well so far.

For us this release really matters as Funker Vogt was a big part of our past. And from the label side it’s nice to have them on board for the very first time with a brand new release.

Q: Gerrit, after the departure of Jens Kästel, there was a lot of commotion around the new singer Sacha Korn who got rapidly replaced by Chris L. I can imagine it must have been a relief to release this new album “Code Of Conduct”?

Gerrit: We worked on some songs for about three years until they were sung by Chris and finally got released. It was a very hard time before Chris joined the band. So, the release of “Code Of Conduct” was a kind of start into a new era for us. And now, we’re so happy about all the good reactions.

Q: I can easily imagine all the commotion that happened must have been one of the darkest chapters in the band’s history. How did it feel for a musician to face all these events and what do you think about it right now?

Gerrit: Everything comes to an end -also hard times and dark chapters. Time heals all wounds! There had been lots of bad things against the band in itself, but also personally against René and me. Many things that were not justified. But I don’t want to rewind this by going into details here. We’re just happy to start again now.

Q: I should say “Code Of Conduct” sounds in the purest tradition of Funker Vogt, but with another singer instead of Jens Kästel. Tell us a bit more about the writing of the album and how did the integration of Chris L. happened?

Gerrit: The writing process remained exactly the same as before. I did the instrumental parts by always knowing where the vocal parts should later be. Then Chris got the instrumentals, wrote some fitting lyrics and sung them. Chris got that Funker Vogt-feeling from the very beginning, so we never had much to discuss or change a lot of his work. It simply fits!

Q: Chris, I can imagine it’s not an easy thing to become the new vocalist of such a famous band. What does it mean to you personally to have joined Funker Vogt and how did the collaboration happened with Gerrit?

Chris: We have been friends for a long time, I didn’t thought about it that much; we just did it, maybe because I never had in mind to replace Jens… I can live very well with the shitstorm…

Q: Funker Vogt has been always much more than simply hard electronic dance stuff, but still a band with a critical perception about society and our world. What about “Code Of Conduct” and tell us a bit more about the song “Brexshit”?

Chris: Every single day is an inspiration; turning on the news and see all the shit that is going on gives more inspiration then I actually need. Europe is falling apart as a community; it’s a good idea but it doesn’t seem to work as long as people are only taking care of their own needs…

Q: What have been the main changes and evolution in the global production process from the very first album “Thanks for Nothing” towards “Code Of Conduct”?

Gerrit: Puh, the whole production has completely changed all over the years. 21 years ago I worked with real synths, drum computers and samplers and recorded all the stuff with DAT tapes. Now, it’s all made with hard drives on computers – from the first note through the vocal recording to the mastering. Therefore everything’s much easier and works faster than twenty years ago.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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Seven Trees – Trauma Toxicity (CD Mini album – Progress Productions)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sat, 27 May 2017 18:30:24 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark EBM, dark-electro.

Background/Info: With the Swedish duo Seven Trees I feel a bit like going back in time. Set up in 1994 by Henrik Karlsson and Johan Kronberg the band was active during the 90s. The absolute consecration was the full length album “Embracing The Unknown” which was released on the legendary leading label Zoth Ommog and next licensed to Energy Records (Sweden) and Metropolis (USA). Seven Trees wouldn’t release any new work after this successful debut till this mini album featuring 5 new cuts.

Content: “Trauma Toxicity” brings Seven Trees back to life exactly 20 years after their debut and single full length. The songs clearly reflects the spirit of the 90s dark-electro and EBM sound. I got the impression of hearing the offspring between Mortal Constraint (for the industrial approach) and Paracont (for the sophisticated writing). The songs are into some minimalism, definitely dark-minded and supported with beautiful, dark strings. The somewhat harsh, whispering style of singing matches with the sound.

+ + + : Seven Trees holds on to their very own and retro-like sound approach. The songs are well-crafted, somewhat minimal-like and accomplished with intelligence. The haunting atmospheres hanging over this work are essential. The songs have been composed with cool sound treatments. I like most of the songs, but have a preference for the minimalistic “You Slit My Soul”.

– – – : “Trauma Toxicity” is a cool work, but without an absolute hit. The retro-style is maybe not what DJ’s are going to play first in clubs so this release is maybe missing a ‘club-remix’. The final songs “Cold Waves Of Silence” sounds pretty different in influences, like a dark, melancholic electro-pop experiment. It’s not bad at all, but not exactly fitting with the rest of the work.

Conclusion: “Trauma Toxicity” marks the return of Seven Trees and the single fact that they were signed on Zoth Ommog is a real good reason to be curious about their new work. I can reassure you they haven’t lost their original dark seduction and I can only, but hope that we’ll get soon new work by Seven Trees.

Best songs: “You Slit My Soul”, “Black Ice”, “Azure”.

Rate: (7½).

Band: www .facebook .com /embracingtheunknown

Label: www .progress –productions .com / www .facebook .com /progresspro

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‘Click Interview’ with Atropine: ‘We Are For The Most Part A Non-Entity On Social Media Sites’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 19:15:16 +0000

Alexander Jarlev and Tomas Kulberg is an experienced Norwegian electronic duo. They already worked together in bands like Anstalt and Pogrom Synod. Atropine is another formation they set up during the late 90s and which got reactivated after a hiatus of several years. They recently released their newest opus “Assailant” on EK Product revealing an elaborated and sophisticated dark-electro sound, which still is one of the best albums in the genre of 2016.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: When did you get contaminated by the ‘electro-underground’ virus and what incited you to set up Atropine?

Atropine: In the late 80s discovering the Mute/PIAS/Zoth Ommog/Nettwerk/Volition labels (and countless others). After that there was no turning back. We’ve been a team since 1992, first as part of Anstalt, then from 1994/95 as Atropine.

Q: We clearly can speak about 2 periods in the band’s history: a first one around the late 90s till 2001 and second one, which saw you releasing the album “Recurring Nightmares” in 2014. How would you analyze both periods and do you see main changes/evolutions?

Atropine: During the first period from around 1996 to 2001 we recorded the tracks that became the “Master Raze”-album. Soon thereafter we went on an extended hiatus and didn’t really get back to recording as Atropine again until 2008. Most of the “Master Raze”-material was re-recorded from scratch to form “Recurring Nightmares”. A few years later EK Product approached us to release on their label. We thought the original album sounded very dated so we decided the best option was to just do it over with vastly improved gear. It was much more of a chore for us to record music early on when everything revolved around MIDI and a large degree of detailed programming was always required.

Things are a lot easier now and we have all, but abandoned the need for traditional sequencing after building a large modular synthesizer system.

Q: Late 2016, you released the album “Assailant”, which I consider as your most elaborated and best work to date. Tell us a bit more about the writing and sound of this album?

Atropine: “Assailant” is basically the result of around 20-25 studio sessions. Almost everything you hear was generated spontaneously within an eight hour time frame and subsequently edited as pure audio until we felt we could approve of it. There’s a strong element of improvisation permeating the whole album so bass-line tweaks, strings and percussion tracks were recorded live. Lyrics were typically written on the spot and the vocals recorded with minimal preparation. We do not go back and re-record stuff or do any sort of overdubbing.

Rather we accept the errors that creep in using this approach and use them as a challenge to improve our process and extend our range. Over the two year span after “Recurring Nightmares”, that has worked out rather well. We enjoy working under the added pressure. Things that are easy to do, usually merits nothing. But, most importantly we enjoy our recording sessions immensely. Copious amounts of beer and electronics – it can’t be beaten!

Q: “Assailant” reveals sophisticated sound treatments and a mix between haunting electro atmospheres and electro-industrial treatments, which remind me to bands like Skinny Puppy, Mortal Constraint ao. Do you feel related with the sound of other bands and what does it say about your sources of inspiration?

Atropine: We are not denying the fact that bands like Skinny Puppy are integral to what we do. But so are more than a thousand other artists. Around half-way through our sessions we stop screwing around and start building up for vocals and final assembly of the constituent parts of the track we’re working on. Our modular system is quite simply the most extreme tool an electronic musician can have. Anything else in the studio can be routed through it at any time. The options are quite frankly unlimited. You can have a complete track ready for mastering and less than ten tweaks on select controllers and you have a completely different track.

This would have taken several sessions to accomplish in the 90s but now can be done in under a minute. Our inspiration is drawn from so much music that it’s impossible to even begin listing it here. However, if you are truly interested in the vast number of artists that filter through Atropine you can begin by looking at this complete list of my listening habits since 2006:

http://www.last.fm/user/Cthulberg

Q: Next to the “Assailant”-album released on EK Product I noticed you also self-released the “Assailant::Remixed”-album on digital format. What have been your criteria to choose for these bands and do you have favorite remixes?

Atropine: Most of the artists on “Assailant::Remixed” are friends of ours going back years, while others are just really nice people we encountered along the way. We wanted a non-traditional remix album. Usually it’s a lot of beats and all remixes are of a couple of tracks from an album with more than ten individual tracks and quite often the remixers operate within roughly the same musical genre.

To counteract this, we gave our remixers complete access to everything we had recorded. It’s a lot of extra work, but it’s all about the end result. I (Cthulberg) have a couple of favorites, but I feel it unfair to name them because of the extreme variety in the remixes. For instance Kant Kino must have spent a considerable amount of time turning “Sewercide” into a pop-song, while Europ Europ latched on to the string on “See Through” and made a lo-fi funeral dirge. It’s impossible to rate these things, but we cherish every single contribution we received, but our reasons for that varied with the spirit in which it was recorded.

Q: What did you try to express in the clip of “Exterminism” and what’s the importance of a clip and a site like Youtube today?

Atropine: This is an impossible question for us to answer as we are for the most part a non-entity on social media sites. The concept in the video has only an extremely tenuous link to the concept behind the track itself and is based on an idea developed by director Christian Ryder which he had mulled over for a long time going back to his school days. We had little or nothing to do with its production and feature only very briefly at the start of the video. Our take on “Exterminism” is outlined in the cover artwork where it replaces the lyrics this time. Mainly this is because most of “Assailant” consists of songs that deal with humanity at its lowest, basest form and so reading that text will sum it up pretty well. The whole thing is too convoluted to try and explain here I think.

Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

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Leæther Strip – Spæctator (CD Album – Rustblade)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 19:00:25 +0000

Genre/Influences: Dark-electro, EBM, dark body-pop.

Background/Info: Claus Larsen is back on track unleashing his newest full length and the first album released on Rustblade. Leæther Strip remains one of the absolute leading 90s EBM formations, but remains very hot since his comeback in 2006. “Spæctator” has been introduced as a very special album, which took 2-3 years to achieve and meant as a mental exorcise after the loss of Claus’ mother and severe health problems of his husband.

Content: “Spæctator” reveals 10 new songs plus 2 remixes. The opening song reveals a typical EBM bass line, which reminds me a bit to Front 242, but rapidly moves into the typical Leæther Strip sound formula. The sound remains carried by hard, danceable kicks and these typical dark and bombastic bass lines. All Leæther Strip albums since the comeback of the band don’t feature the aggressive taste of the Zoth Ommog years although it remains a dark and exciting experience in sound. It’s quite similar for the vocals, which are no longer enraged, but definitely charismatic and spooky-like.

You’ll notice some songs with a kind of melodic and even dark-pop flavor on top while other passages are pure vintage-like. Claus Larsen also knows the right formula to compose carrying choruses, which remains an essential element in his work.

You’ll also feel some drama running through the work, which finally ends with a crazy song entitled “Luc Van Acker” featuring explicit samplings.

Next to the regular edition of this new opus there also is a box featuring a vinyl, an extra disc entitled “Yes I’m Limited VIII” plus the regular CD with 2 extra remixes by Retrogramme and Digital Anodyne.

+ + + : What I’ve always liked in Leæther Strip is the very own and recognizable sound-DNA created by Claus Larsen. You directly recognize the bass lines and the kicks while there also is this kind of unique arrangements on top plus Larsen’s very unique timbre of voice.

“Spæctator” sounds like a successful return revealing an elaborate album mixing different dark electro elements. There are a few potential hits featured, but I’ve a little preference for “Luc Van Acker” and the dirty samplings running through the song.

– – – : I can’t say that Leæther Strip innovates, but just holds on a successful sound formula that has been improved all over the years. Both remixes don’t exactly add a bonus to the album.

Conclusion: Claus Larsen is an EBM veteran who hasn’t lost his initial magic. The work became less aggressive and in a way somewhat inspired by 80s pops elements, but it still has this irresistible power to make people dance!

Best songs: “Luc Van Acker”, “Same Old Shit”, “So Beautiful”, “Obligate”, “Victorious”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www .leaether –strip .com / www .facebook .com /LeaetherStrip

Label: www .rustblade .com / www .facebook .com /rustbladerecords

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Orange Sector – Im Stahlwerk (CD EP – Infacted Recordings)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 19:44:41 +0000

Genre/Influences: EBM.

Background/Info: Set up in 1992 Orange Sector received instant success during their first 90s period where they got signed to the legendary Zoth Ommog label. After a hiatus of a few years they struck back and progressively moved towards a successful second period, which has been characterized by solid and old-school minded EBM. This new records reveals 4 new songs and 4 remixes.

Content: Orange Sector remains faithful to their old-school EBM, which on “Im Stahlwerk” again illustrates the great skills of the band. It all sounds that simple and easy, but the songs are driven by this typical power emerging from the bass lines and the typical heavy cadence.

Singer Martin Bodewell is once more singing like a possessed soul while he also and clearly expresses some personal feelings about the dramatic terrorist assaults in Paris. I can’t say that Orange Sector is getting back to basics, but “Im Stahlkwerk” again is a solid piece of EBM that will appeal for the fans of D.A.F. The EP does not feature a single potential hit, but all the tracks have a real huge potential to find their place on the dancefloor.

Among the remixes there are 3 versions of the title song; one has been made by Nordarr while I personally like the “Clubstahl Mix”.

+ + + : Orange Sector knows the secret of how to make efficient EBM. The key to success is all in the power of the bass lines and cadence plus the charisma of the singer. You next can add a few great samplings (like on “Terroristen”) and some words during the chorus, which are easy to remember. Next you need a great mixing and global production and that’s precisely what this EP has been made of!

– – – : The remixes can’t really convince me in the same way. It just proves that the new songs are absolutely great!

Conclusion: Orange Sector holds on to their successful EBM sound formula; there’s no reason to change or innovate when you still can bring EBM heads to dance. This is the power of “Stahlwerk”!

Best songs: “Terroristen”, “Tanz In Den Frieden”, “Im Stahlwerk”, “Im Stahlwerk – Clubstahl Mix”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www .orange –sector .de / www .facebook .com /OrangeSector

Label: www .infacted –recordings .de / www .facebook .com /pages /Infacted –Recordings /124099254321690

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Sacrificial System – D.N.A. (CD Album – Sacrificial System)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 20:13:37 +0000

Genre/Influences: Industrial EBM.

Background/Info: Sacrificial System is a one-man project set up by Keith Kosmopolis. This American artist based in Chicago has released an album featuring 7 songs.

Content: “D.N.A.” is an interesting piece of music, which clearly deals with a kind of industrial EBM. I get the impression of hearing influences from early NIN mixed with 90s EBM bands reminding me of 1 AM, Armageddon Dildos and Birmingham 6. The work reveals a cool fusion between industrial guitar riffs and electronics with some powerful vocals on top.

The debut part of the work sounds promising while the last cuts are less inspired. The final cut, which is a kind of ‘outro’ reveals a delicate sound approach and a different sound than the harder beginning cuts.

+ + + : The first four songs are pretty exciting. I like this powerful merge of guitar playing and somewhat 90s-like EBM reminding me of Zoth Ommog bands. You clearly can recognize harder industrial elements in the percussion and impressive electronic treatments.

– – – : The 2^nd part of the work sounds a bit like the artist has lost his influences from the beginning, which is a pity. With some extra experience and production skills this band could really catch a wider audience.

Conclusion: From this album I’ll keep an exciting industrial-EBM exposure in mind. With some extra technical- and studio help and tools (maybe a producer) Sacrificial System could be able to break through.

Best songs: “The Crusher”, “Mirror”, “Forgiveness”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www .facebook .com /SacrificialSystem

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‘Click Interview’ with Lights Of Euphoria: ‘We Are All ’Traumatized’ Somehow And So Is Our Earth’

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 20:29:44 +0000

It all started somewhere in the 90s. Torben Schmidt was running the fan club of Leæther Strip and decided to compose a song on his own. It was meant as a one-shot project featuring Claus Larsen on vocals. The song entitled “Subjection” was originally released at one of the famous Zoth Ommog compilations. Because of this successful song, Lights Of Euphoria went on and released numerous albums and EP’s. The band was later on joined by Jimmy Machon from Godheads. A lot of guest singers like Ronan Harris (VNV Nation), Stephan Groth (Apoptygma Berzerk), Vasi Vallis (Frozen Plasma/Reaper) Johan van Roy (Suicide Commando), Kay Härtle (Supreme Court) contributed to some songs. The band finally went through a long break and is actually fighting back with their first full length in twelve years! The duo got joined by Thomas Gaarn and became a real band. The new opus “Traumatized” released on Infacted Recordings is for sure an astonishing return of this band. I got in touch with Jimmy Machon. (by Inferno Sound Diaries) Q: Twelve years have passed since your previous full length album “Gegen Den Strom”. What have you been doing in the meantime and how did you finally come to reactivate Lights Of Euphoria? Jimmy: We both got a daughter, Torben has been busy with running Infacted Recordings and playing with Suicide Commando. So a lot of work and private matters. Q: What kind of album is “Traumatized” all about and what have been your main sources of inspiration? Jimmy: I Jimmy Machon write most of the lyrics usually, and on this album I wrote them all. I write from experience or about subjects that I somehow have an opinion about. There is everything from lyrics about sex, fetishes, anti-religious texts, about love, about hate, about loosing or about being isolated somehow. We are all ’Traumatized’ somehow and so is our earth. Q: I experienced “Traumatized” as your ‘hardest’ work today, but how do you analyze the evolution in sound from the early work till the new work? Jimmy: Lights Of Euphoria have always been this strange project, where a lot of guest musicians, and guest vocalists, have been involved. So we have made pretty much everything from harsh-noise, to pretty synth-pop. This is probably the first real album where there is a red thread connecting all the songs musically or lyrically. Q: What has been the input of each member on “Traumatized” and tell us a bit more about the production process? Jimmy: Well Torben has been very busy, so I, and our new full-blown member Thomas Gaarn, have made most of the album. I wrote the melodies and lyrics, and Thomas is a very skilled keyboard player and is very good adding interesting elements to the production or very good at coming up with great baselines or synth parts. I did the artwork as well. Q: Lights On Euphoria are now back on track, but what brings the future? Jimmy: More albums, more concerts and more songs. We have already started writing new material, and hopefully it wont take another 12 years to finish another studioalbum. Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries

Read the review of ‘Traumatized’.

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Orange Sector to launch new EP ‘Stahlwerk’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Tue, 17 May 2016 17:57:08 +0000

After their “Monoton” EP, the Hannover, Germany based act Orange Sector now return with the 2nd part of their trilogy: “Stahlwerk”.

The EP holds 8 tracks including the title track plus the tracks “Terroristen”, “Der Clown und das kleine Mädchen” and “Tanz in den Frieden” next to remix versions by Martin Bodewell and Nordarr as well as a Clubstahl mix of “Im Stahlwerk” and an uptempo version of “Der Clown”, called “Der Clown und das kleine Mädchen (125 BPM Mädchen mix)”.

The EP can be bought right here on CD.

Orange Sector consists of the duo Lars Felker and Martin Bodewell. The band first launched on the EBM scene with their self-released “The War Comes Home” cassette holding the tracks “Lost In Blood”, “Open Your Eyes”, “Die Zukunft”, “Arbeit Ist Not”, “Body Smashing” and “Schmerz”. It got them a spot on the famous Zoth Ommog label. The rest is history.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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X-Marks The Pedwalk’s Sevren Ni-Arb starts own electronic music label: Meshwork Music

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 04 May 2016 16:31:47 +0000

Sevren Ni-Arb, who you will know as brain behind X-Marks The Pedwalk, has started an own electronic music label, Meshwork Music. Meshwork Music will focus on projects by Sevren Ni-Arb first. New works by X-Marks The Pedwalk and also his instrumental project SN-A are already ‘under construction’.

Since 1988 Sevren Ni-Arb has been active as a musician and a producer and over the years he gained a reputation especially thanks to his X-Marks The Pedwalk project. His influence in the industrial and electronic music scene was considerable during the 1990s including releases on the former label of DJ Talla2XLC, ZothOmmog.

The label name refers back to the 1995 album “Meshwork” which was the fourth album by X-Marks The Pedwalk. It was released by Zoth Ommog in Europe and Cleopatra Records in North America, both in CD format. This album expanded on the stylistic change that had begun with X Marks The Pedwalk’s previous stand-alone single, “Facer”. In an issue of Side-Line magazine, Sevren Ni-Arb commented: “Many fans were not happy with my new style! But on the other hand many listeners also rated the new stuff as the best XMTP work ever… For us the most important thing is to do the music we wanted to do and secondly that the “normal” audience can approach XMTP…”

You can find more on www.meshwork-music.com.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Decoded Feedback returns with ‘Dark Passenger’ album – listen to the first single!

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:18:47 +0000

“Dark Passenger” is the ninth album from the electro-industrial duo Decoded Feedback. The album can now be pre-ordered right here. “Dark Passenger” is the follow-up to their 2012 released “disKonnekt” album. Below you can already listen to a first single, “Waiting for the Storm” which they performed live in Mexico City in 2015. It was the very first live video of the band’s new song performed in Mexico City at Plaza Condessa at a show with Front Line Assembly and Hocico on November 6, 2015. “Dark Passenger” will be released in April 2016. The Canadian project was originally founded by the Italian Marco Biagiotti and the Hungarian Yone Dudas, who both live in Canada now. After the release of their “Decoded Feedback” demo tape and a subsequent review by Side-Line, they were signed to the European label, Hard Records, which released their first full-length CD, “Overdosing”. That gained them the attention of another European record label, Zoth Ommog. The rest is history of course.

Read the review of ‘Dark Passenger’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Orange Sector – Monoton (CD EP – Infacted Recordings)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 16:50:59 +0000

Genre/Influences: EBM.

Content: Orange Sector is an EBM ‘veteran’ band, which does not need a big introduction. Back in the 90s they’ve been one of the hottest bands in the genre during their Zoth Ommog period. They next went into hibernation but reactivated again after the new millennium.

They have released several albums since then, but the earlier this year released “Nigth. Terrors” revealed Orange Sector to be in a great and inspiriting mood. It all remains pure old-school EBM, but it simply sounds irresistible.

“Monoton” is the 2nd EP taken from the new album and I have to warn you this will be a pure sonic shock! The German body masters remain faithful to their merciless and uncompromised body format, but they simply left me breathless by such impressive energy and higher level of EBM.

“Monoton” sounds like pure EBM and still was one of the funniest cuts of the album for its lyrical content, which was a wink to several earlier successful songs of the band.

The title song was remixed by 3 different artists and I have to say these remixes are absolutely phenomenal. NZ is one of the latest EBM sensations, which also is one of the best Nitzer Ebb emulations I’ve ever heard. They remixed “Monoton” with efficiency and extreme EBM-power.

Agrezzior is another great EBM band from the ‘newest’ generation and, which is finally back on track, having released a new album. They also did a wonderful job.

Celluloide is not exactly what I should call an EBM formation, but the French synth-pop combo simply added their Kraftwerk-ian, space bleeps to the power of “Monoton”, which in my opinion resulted in an outstanding remix.

The EP also features 3 new cuts and I here again have to warn you to put on your seatbelts. Orange Sector here excels as EBM architects and are even revealing new elements on “Es Ist So Wie Es Ist”. They here have used a pure EBM bass line, but, which is a not much different in sound that what we’ve been used to hear from this band. However, it creates a new dimension, which is accomplished by some extra great sound sculptures and studio effects. This is one of their best songs in years!

Two more great new songs are “Alles Ist Falsch”, which clearly sounds like early DAF and “Ich Bin Keine Maschine”, which is the softest song of the EP although still a great EBM cut with some extra effects on top of the vocal parts.

Conclusion: This EP took me by surprise and will be for sure hot stuff for DJ’s and clubbers.

Best songs: “Es Ist So Wie Es Ist”, “Alles Ist Falsch”, “Monoton – Celluloide Remix”, “Monoton – Agrezzior Remix”.

Rate: (DP:9)DP.

Band: www.orange-sector.de / www.facebook.com/OrangeSector

Label: www.infacted-recordings.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Infacted-Recordings/124099254321690

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