Browsing Tag

darkwave

Darkwave danced with opium den chic in CHIRAL’s debut single and music video, I BRING CHAOS

Posted on 12 February 2024

Darkwave slipped into opium den chic in CHIRAL’s debut single and music video, I BRING CHAOS. After an opulently tribalistic intro which sees rhythms snake and shimmer with maximum seductive effect, CHIRAL starts to exhibit the shadow side of the Sunset Strip with their sleazy guitars and harbingering hard rock vox – but that is only the start of the ensnaring experimentalism with I BRING CHAOS, which more than lives up to its titular proclamation.

If it’s been a while since you locked sonic horns with a truly authentic darkwave band, the Irish conduits of alchemic fervour are the ultimate avant-garde antidote to the mundanity that has started to infiltrate and oversaturate the alternative music scene.

After founding in 2023, the fourpiece immediately surpassed their wide-spanning set of influences, which includes Therapy?, Faith No More, Deftones, and Tool. If I BRING CHAOS is a taste of what is to come, I already know I’m going to want to devour the broodingly carnivalesque glamour in the rest of their forthcoming discography.

Stream the official music video for I BRING CHAOS which premiered on January 26th on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fleisch – FIREFLY: Meet the New Icons of Industrial

Posted on 5 December 2023

Fleisch have dropped their latest viscerally augmented industrial earworm, FIREFLY, allowing the darkwave electronica genre to evolve around the pulsating euphoria that spills from the fierce interplay of influence from Rammstein and Depeche Mode.

With synth carved hooks that will latch onto your consciousness for days between the harsh ensnaring industrial metal rancour that riles your rhythmic pulses, FIREFLY pays ode to the three-piece’s inspiration while refusing to let it define their anthemic sound, which keeps the techno tempo upbeat and the tones dark to deliver the ultimate industrial floor-filler.

If Zeromancer, Combichrist, and Powerman 5000 feature heavily on your playlists, you’ll easily find space for Fleisch and their authentic take on the genre.

FIREFLY buzzed onto the airwaves on December 1st; stream it on Spotify.

Follow Fleisch on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Free yourself from end of days anxiety with Movment’s alt post-punk single, The Light Goes Out

Posted on 5 December 2023

The Light Goes Out is the fourth single to creep out of the darkness of the third album, REINVENTION, from the alt post-punk outfit, Movment. If you have been waiting for humanity’s final curtain to fall in a state of perpetual fear, slip into the enticing ethos of the release which compels you not to sit idly by waiting to surrender to our collective fate.

The engorging atmospherics, pulsating darkwave synths, sirening guitar lines and the commanding assertion in the gravelly post-punk-to-the-bone vocal lines make a compelling argument on why you should live your life undogged by end of days anxiety. Movment reached the pinnacle of cheerful nihilism with The Light Goes Out, which ties into the overarching theme of the LP, which came to life at End of Light Studios in Ireland, as a courtesy of Alex Borwick (mixing), and Jerome Schmitt (mastering).

The Light Goes Out was officially released on November 24; stream the official music video on YouTube.

The REINVENTION LP is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The ‘Reckoning’ is Here, in the Form of Dissolved Girl’s Darkly Dystopic Trip-Hop Debut

Posted on 27 November 2023

With the juxtaposing vocal samples setting the cinematically disquiet tone as efficaciously as the harbingeringly dark electronic synthetics, which delve far beyond the dark depths of PJ Harvey, Massive Attack, and Portishead, Dissolved Girl made one hell of an entrance with their debut single, Reckoning.

The haunting anthem for a world teetering on the brink of collapse is a dystopian masterpiece, which encapsulates the unease and turmoil of contemporary times with its perturbed tones and intricately layered instrumentals. We all knew a reckoning was coming, but who would have known it would be delivered by a London-based four-piece with a penchant for the alt-90s, alt-rock, and hip-hop? Dissolved Girl not only captures the essence of an impending societal storm but also delivers a sense of catharsis – a release that fans didn’t realise they needed until it was upon them.

Forward-thinking and accessible in equal measure, the debut is a stark testament to their ability to innovate within the modern music scene. We can’t wait to hear the debut LP, which has been four years in the crafting, with the help of producer Dani Castelar and mastering engineer Matt Colton. The attention to detail paid off immensely; each note and nuance served the song’s brooding atmosphere and intensified the listener’s experience to the nth degree.

In an industry saturated with fleeting trends and disposable hits, Dissolved Girl stands as a beacon for those who crave depth, complexity, and sincerity in their playlists.

Reckoning debuted on November 13th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Xther opened Pandora’s Box with the bloodlust in his experimental debut EP, A Disaster at Last

Posted on 8 November 2023

Pandora’s Box opened when Xther unveiled his seductively macabre standout single, Delicacy, taken from his debut release, which came in the form of his inaugural EP, A Disaster at the Least.

With bloodlust in place of the banality of lust, Xther, envisioned by the inventive Davin Casey, created the ultimate protest to the cultural quietude of Southwest Missouri; Davin’s musical metamorphosis stands as a vivid declaration of artistic tenacity and fervour.

After the stabbing piano keys tease a pop ballad, the throbbing synth lines send ravines of reverberance through the synthesis of dark electronic pop progressions and alt-rock manifestations of visceralism. If Deftones make you horny, I don’t even want to know what delicacy will do to you. The sultrily dark magnetism of She Wants Revenge creating friction against the future-ready production which highlights the dust on IAMX hits is a potent aural cocktail which will intoxicate you to Xther’s sonic reawakening which follows the dissolution of Davin Casey’s former hard-rock project, Story of a Ghost.

Stream Delicacy with the A Disaster at the Least EP via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Therum etherealised existentialism in his psychedelic darkwave score,  Mirror of Stars

Posted on 3 November 2023

Therum searched for identity in the cosmos in the standout single, Mirror of Stars, from his psychedelic darkwave album, Darklines Within Us; in the process, he added a new ethereal trajectory to the evolution of existentialism.

Through croons, which call out into the void of the alien soundscape that would be on a plateau beyond our perception if it weren’t for the huge bass adding weight to the release, are resolvingly efficacious in their interstellar mission of drawing you right into the melancholic soul of the art rock Tour De Force.

If you have ever struggled to make sense of the material and social reality we’re confined to and feel an even greater sense of alienation when you try and situate yourself in the context of the twisted tapestry of existence, Mirror of Stars is proliferated with apt consolation.

VNV Nation once declared that this world is just an illusion trying to change you. Therum’s more astute observation of disillusion, duality, and the mind being as unchartered as the galaxy feels far more nuanced.

Mirror of Stars will be released as part of Therum’s LP, Darklines Within Us, on November 3rd. Stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Movment made us pious to the post-punk rancour in their latest single, I Believe in Noise

Posted on 15 September 2023
https://soundcloud.com/movment/i-believe-in-noise-single

If you fell for the rancour of the Fall and Public Image Limited, prepare to be consumed by the latest darkwave post-punk hit, I Believe in Noise, from Ireland’s most ensnaring powerhouse, Movment.

With the manifesto-esque lyricism, the unfaltering conviction in the vocal lines and the sirening synth lines that effortlessly coalesce with the angular stings from the lead guitars, Movment bred a dark and murky atmosphere within I Believe in Noise. But as the track title would lead you to believe, there’s salvation oozing from every chord.

If you have a hard time believing what you hear and see in our post-truth reality, I Believe in Noise will give you a place to put your faith that resistance isn’t futile. Adam Curtis couldn’t have written the hit better himself.

I Believe in Noise follows two successful studio LPs and the Red Death Sessions EP and harbingers the disquietness to come in the third album, Reinvention, which will be released on the 24th of November via EPITRONIC.

I Believe in Noise will be released on September 15; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Subatlantic bled etherealism into indie post-punk with their latest single, Critic

Posted on 8 August 2023
Say It Again by Subatlantic

Illinois’ premier indie outfit, Subatlantic, is on scintillatingly atmospheric form in their single, Critic, taken from their hotly-anticipated LP, Say It Again.

With angular guitar lines that will reel you into the centre of their darkwave pop universe, vocal lines that could give Debbie Harry a run for her money and the coldly beguiling tones spilling from the reverb-heavy keys, if Dead Can Dance, they’d dance to Critic, which unravels as a revelation of ethereal ingenuity.

With Becca Rice at the helm of the fourpiece, which has been dropping the temperature on the airwaves since 2008, Subatlantic has established itself as a dynamic powerhouse to watch; with soundscapes to suit every conceivable mood, there is undoubtedly something for you lingering in their artfully textured discography.

Stream and download Critic via Bandcamp or snag yourself a limited-edition colour vinyl pressing of the LP, Say it Again.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hemlock for Socrates put purgatory on a higher plateau with ‘Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant’

Posted on 4 August 2023

Doom-disco, Industrial blues, math-wave, call it what you will, but words can scarcely capture the alchemic aural experience of the latest installation of experimentalism, Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant, by Hemlock for Socrates.

With vocal lines so phantasmal in their arcane magnetism they put Bjork in the same league as Dua Lipa and a soundscore that allows the cinematic alt-electronica progressions to carve out a cage of tormented motifs, the sonics plunge you to the murky depths of despair to bring you back up from it, using resonance and the frenetic polyphonic keys in the outro as an inexplicably ingenious knotted rope ladder.

Even with the dramatic touches to the score, nothing about Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant feels theatrical. Instead, Hemlock for Socrates turned the fabric of reality inside out to put purgatory on a higher plateau.

Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant will officially be released on August 4th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Forget Black Mirror, delve into the darkwave dystopia of Dr Void and the Skinjob’s latest single, Android’s and Polaroid’s

Posted on 21 July 2023

Darkwave and post-punk caustically collide in the latest single, Android’s and Polaroid’s, from the irreplicable powerhouse, Dr Void and the Skinjob’s.

With synth lines dark and reverberant enough they could have been stolen from an 80s horror OST and drum fills frenetic enough they leave the senses in a tailspin, the Glasgow-hailing three-piece surpass their influences from She Past Away, Gary Numan, The Damned, and Clan of Xymox by creating electrifying installations of sonic frenzy paired with dystopic lyrical themes.

Android’s and Polaroid’s follows a similar tale to the TV series Humans by depicting the story of an over-used sex droid that is seduced by freedom and wants to taste human morality after being subjugated to the worst facets of the human condition. It seems that Charlie Brooker isn’t the only one with a talent for portraying dystopic narratives that aren’t too far from the realm of possibility.

Android’s and Polaroid’s is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast