Oslo sextet Gravel Peak released their debut album “What’s The Plot?” on 2 October 2026 through Winthersounds. Gravel Peak bring a rock sound that mixes jazz, britpop, prog and disco across eight tracks and 37 minutes, produced and mixed by Noah Winther Krogsholm and mastered by Steve Kitch. The eight songs are “What A Shame,” “Sunny,” “Homebound,” “Sound of You,” “Dead Ends,” “Judas,” “Father, Father” and “April.” A limited vinyl edition follows later in the year.

Gravel Peak recorded ‘What’s The Plot?’ where it all started

After a busy concert year in 2025, Gravel Peak disappeared from the stage. Hibernation? Quite the opposite, according to the band: they spent the time polishing the material and finishing the album. Recording began in autumn 2023, and the three-year road to release at times followed Murphy’s law: hard drives died, members came and went, and large parts of the album were recorded and mixed more than once.

The sextet recorded “What’s The Plot?” at the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo, where the band started. Krogsholm, who produced and engineered the sessions, founded Winthersounds in 2025 as an Oslo label and creative collective.

“Gravel Peak’s music is a completely insane mix of textures and creative ideas that shouldn’t make sense, but still manage to grab you and pull you into the universe they’ve created,” Krogsholm said.

The guitars nod to Queen, Frank Zappa, Motorpsycho and Steven Wilson, all named as influences, though the band coin their own adjective for the overall sound: “peaksk” (roughly “Peak-ish”). The songs use asymmetric time signatures and flexible intonation, and the band describe the lyrics as taking “a sharp and reflective look at society’s goods and life’s ills“. Gravel Peak describe themselves and the album as a reaction to artificial intelligence, aimed at keeping the human side of music in focus.

Guests from Gangar, Kyberia and Nils Petter Molvær’s band

For the guest list, Gravel Peak called on their network in the Norwegian music community. Saxophonist Oskar Lindberget of the folk band Gangar plays on “What A Shame”, “Dead Ends” and “Father, Father”. Violinist Victoria Johnson, one half of the duo Kyberia, plays on “Sunny” and “Judas”, alongside cellist Live Tønnesen Norberg. Erland Dahlen, who has played drums with Nils Petter Molvær, adds what the band call “a creative mix of percussion instruments, to put it mildly” to “Dead Ends”.

At 6:22, “Dead Ends” is the longest track and has the largest cast: a woodwind section arranged by guitarist Trond Hallvard Engeset Kverno, with Kristian Østensen Bøkseth (bassoon), Oline Grimstad (flute), Thea Hvesser (clarinet) and Daniel Nystad (oboe), plus Sander Slettebø Grøsfjell on piano. “Father, Father” adds a horn section arranged by drummer David Kristoffer Torp Hvesser, with Eckhard Baur (trumpet), Even Skatrud (trombone) and Lindberget. Stine Heitmann Kværnaa Johansen sings on “Homebound” and “April”.

“Since this is our debut album, we didn’t want to keep any powder dry,” said Hvesser, who also worked on the album as an additional engineer.

Singer Jørgen Berg Hansen wrote the lyrics for seven of the eight songs; Hvesser wrote the words for “April”. The music is credited to the band members, with Grøsfjell co-writing five tracks and arranging the strings on “Sunny” and “Judas”. Berg Hansen also designed the artwork, built around an archive photograph of actor Per Aabel from the National Library of Norway.

Quick interview

Side-Line spoke with lead vocalist Jørgen Berg Hansen a week after the release, once he had time to digest the feedback.

S-L: A few things delayed the album along the way. What was the worst of it?

Jørgen Berg Hansen: I think what delayed our album the most was the broken hard disk. We lost several of the already recorded tracks, including some overdubs which we were unable to recreate. In retrospect, some songs turned out even better after we re-recorded them, so it’s not like we’re still grieving the loss. But at the same time, we understood the importance of back-ups. Hopefully our next record will be more straightforward.

S-L: How has the response to the album been so far?

JBH: It’s funny, because people tend to like very different things on the album. Usually, you got one or two tracks which stands out, but with Gravel Peak, that isn’t the case. For me, personally, it’s the strongest compliment you could ever get, as the album is seen not only as a collection of songs, but as a consisting whole. When we headed into the studio, that was one of our main goals, so I’m very pleased we achieved it.

S-L: What are the band’s plans for the future?

JBH: First of all, we’re about to play a couple of shows, in Oslo 10th of October and Tønsberg 24th of October. These are both intimate gigs, thrown at smaller venues, which I think fits our music and crowd perfectly. Later this year, we’ll release a vinyl edition of “What’s The Plot?” – very limited of course, so be sure to grab that one. We’ve already started working on the next record, but these things take time. Hopefully, we’ll be able to cut it next summer, as well as playing more concerts.

Gravel Peak release concerts in Oslo and Tønsberg

Gravel Peak played the Oslo leg of the release run on 10 October and return to the stage in Tønsberg on 24 October. Live, the band promise driving riffs, mass sing-alongs and a frontman who extends the stage onto whatever fences, bar stools and tables happen to be nearby, and who is not afraid to stare the audience deep in the eyes.

• Saturday 10 October 2026 – Oslo, Belleville, Norway (release concert, 19:00)
• Saturday 24 October 2026 – Tønsberg, Apollon Platebar, Norway (with Everbloom Valley, 19:00)

Tickets for the Tønsberg show are on sale through Apollon Tønsberg.

About Gravel Peak

Gravel Peak are an Oslo rock sextet that started at the University of Oslo’s Department of Musicology. The lineup on “What’s The Plot?” is Jørgen Berg Hansen (vocals), Trond Hallvard Engeset Kverno and Aksel Bostad Randen (electric guitars), Maria Engeset Kverno (keyboards), Matias Rusten (bass) and David Kristoffer Torp Hvesser (drums). The band call themselves “the band nobody knew they were missing“. Their music is rooted in classic rock, with bossa nova, britpop and free jazz among the reference points.

The members have backgrounds in other projects, including Everbloom Valley, Beard Valley and Sequence of Genome; guitarist Aksel Bostad Randen is one half of the duo Sequence of Genome. Everbloom Valley, whose album “Decay of the Yesterdays” also came out on Winthersounds, share the Tønsberg bill. Berg Hansen, who grew up on Nøtterøy outside Tønsberg, has released solo music as Jørgen Berrig since 2017, including the album “En ny dag” in 2023.

Gravel Peak began recording their debut album in autumn 2023. They self-released the single “April” on 6 June 2025. In June 2026 the band played Parkteatret in Oslo. Their press release sums up the act in its own words: “Pompous? Absolutely! Pretentious? Without a doubt. Still, the seriousness lurks beneath the glitter and the trappings.” Winthersounds issued “What A Shame” on 28 August 2026 and “Homebound” on 25 September 2026.

“What’s The Plot?” is the band’s first full-length release, and its October concerts take Gravel Peak from Belleville in Oslo to Apollon Platebar in Berg Hansen’s home region.

Pittsburgh goth and industrial project ShadowMouth release their debut album, “Modern Alchemy”, on streaming platforms on 14 October 2026 through Death of the Party Records. Vinyl and CD editions follow on 16 October.

The eight-track album runs 31 minutes. Five of its songs came out as singles between May 2025 and August 2026, and three are new: “Trauma Bonds”, “Course Correction (End-to-End Encryption)” and “The Weight of the Algorithm is the Sum of Our Death”.

Who plays on ShadowMouth’s ‘Modern Alchemy’

Rick Polo sings and plays guitar, bass, Bass VI and keys, and handles the programming. Brooks Farris plays live and programmed drums, and he produced, engineered and mastered the album at Electric Fox Studios. Polo wrote the songs, with Farris as co-writer on “The Promise of Alchemy” and “Your Words, Not Mine”.

Two guest acts appear. Cleveland vocal trio The Elder Goths, made up of Cassandra Bishop, Gina Schultz and Lauren O’Janpa, sing on “The Promise of Alchemy” and “The Death of Chemistry”. Bishop wrote the lyrics for the first of those, and Schultz for the second. Sounds Pretty Grim sing on “Trauma Bonds”.

Rhiannon V. Williams-Bohac created the original cover art and its concept. Photography is by Amber Reskey.

The vinyl splits the tracklist into two sides of four songs:

1. We Are Sentient
2. DOOM SCROLLERS vs HOLY ROLLERS
3. The Promise of Alchemy (with The Elder Goths)
4. Trauma Bonds (feat. Sounds Pretty Grim)
5. Course Correction (End-to-End Encryption)
6. Your Words, Not Mine
7. The Death of Chemistry (with The Elder Goths)
8. The Weight of the Algorithm is the Sum of Our Death

“Modern Alchemy” is available on Spotify.

About ShadowMouth

Rick Polo started ShadowMouth in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2023. The lineup is Polo and Brooks Farris, who plays drums and produces the project’s records at Electric Fox Studios.

The first release was the double single “Poison Nostalgia/Twenty Four Hours” on 4 October 2024, issued by Death of the Party Records. Dombrowski sang on both tracks, and “Twenty Four Hours” is a Joy Division cover. Both songs reappeared on the six-track debut EP “Purification By Fire” on 22 November 2024, with Josh Thompson and Kennedy Conti as further guest vocalists.

Four singles came out over the next year: “False (Prophets) Profits” on 20 January 2025, “Your Words, Not Mine” on 21 May 2025, “We Are Sentient” on 1 August 2025 and “DOOM SCROLLERS vs HOLY ROLLERS” on 29 October 2025. On 12 August 2026, ShadowMouth and The Elder Goths issued the double single “The Promise of Alchemy/The Death of Chemistry”, the last preview before the album.

“Modern Alchemy” arrives two years after that first double single.

Berlin synthpop duo WHOLE released their third album, “THING”, on 9 October 2026 through Blackjack Illuminist Records. The nine tracks add industrial, darkwave, post-punk and EBM elements to the duo’s synthpop base. Bandcamp’s own release date for the album is 16 October 2026, a week later than the label’s announcement.

WHOLE are Alexander Leonard Donat, who also records as Vlimmer and with Fir Cone Children, and Thomas Schernikau.

How WHOLE wrote ‘THING’

Songwriting for the album fell into a stretch of touring and studio work. In a conversation about new songs, Schernikau suggested working “quick and dirty”. That approach broke with the duo’s habit of giving each song a long time to develop.

Both members wrote, performed and produced the record. Schernikau mixed and mastered it, and Donat made the artwork.

The lyrics centre on one theme, which the label’s press release states as two questions: “what actually makes a human being human? When does a person become a function, a profile, a pattern, a thing?”

The album opens with “Air Vent” and closes with “The Reckoning”, which runs close to seven minutes:

1. Air Vent
2. Cage
3. A Thing
4. Smithereens
5. [Nothing]
6. Flesh Worn
7. God Has A Break
8. Havoc To Wreak
9. The Reckoning

The CD comes in a cardboard gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet of artwork, photos and lyrics. A CD edition signed by both members is limited to 15 copies. The cassette edition is limited to 30 copies on transparent red shells, each with a unique drawing and the lyrics. “THING” is available on CD, cassette and as a digital album on Bandcamp.

About WHOLE

WHOLE is a Berlin duo of Alexander Leonard Donat and Thomas Schernikau, and Donat’s label Blackjack Illuminist Records has released all of its records. Outside the band, Schernikau plays in the Depeche Mode tribute act Forced To Mode and records with Christian Schottstädt as Forced Movement, whose album “Lost” came out on Last Recordings in 2023.

The duo released its debut album, “BIAS”, on 19 October 2018 on CD and cassette. Its nine tracks include “Berghain”, “Tongue To Machine” and “Amsterdam”. The CD “Tongue To Machine” followed on 4 December 2020, with remixes by Mandelbrot, Kid Atari, Kipul and Neocoma plus reworked versions of “Get Away”, “Bombs Will Drop” and “Amsterdam”.

Second album “HYDRA” arrived on 21 June 2024 on CD, cassette and digital, with ten tracks including “Ten Commandments”, “Dead Deer” and “I Am Your Shadow”. Schernikau mixed and mastered it. The “Ten Commandments” remix EP followed on CD on 6 December 2024, with versions by Rob Dust, Beyond Obsession, Mandelbrot, Kid Atari, Baskfield and Edri.

On 4 October 2025, WHOLE sold a 15-copy CDr titled “4 Oct 25 11°C” only at the merch stand after a concert. The title combines that date with the outdoor temperature after the show. Its three tracks, “Air Vent (Way In)”, a cover of Depeche Mode’s “New Life” and “I Am Your Shadow (Alternate)”, reached general release as the “Air Vent EP” on 20 February 2026. “New Life” also appears on the 80s Records compilation “In Your Memory 2 (A Tribute To Depeche Mode)”. The EP’s lead track shares a title with “Air Vent”, the opener of “THING”.

Gothic rock artist Leon Noir releases his second album, “Revelation,” in December 2026. The lead single, “Saint Marie”, came out on 1 August 2026 through his own imprint, Leon Noir Records.

At 6 minutes 46 seconds, “Saint Marie” is the longest track Leon Noir has released so far. None of the 12 songs on his debut album runs past 5 minutes 46 seconds.

His manager, Robert, sums up the sound in one line: “deep baritone over brooding guitars and a cinematic, cathedral-sized atmosphere”.

“Saint Marie” is available on Spotify and YouTube.

About Leon Noir

Leon Noir is a gothic rock and dark alternative artist who releases his recordings through his own Leon Noir Records imprint. He issued the single “3AM Devil Calls” on 15 May 2026.

Three weeks later, on 5 June 2026, he released his debut album, “Cathedral of Ashes”. The 12-track record runs just under an hour. It opens with the title track and includes “3AM Devil Calls,” “Tongues of Fire,” “The Iron Sermon,” “Magdalene in Red” and “Blood Didn’t Make You Family,” and ends with “King of the Damned.”

“Saint Marie,” his first release since that album, is the first track from “Revelation.”

Argentinian artist Carmen Burguess has released the single “El Mar” on 9 October 2026, and will follow it with her debut solo album, “Flores de Cuero,” digitally on 15 January 2027 through Mixta Music, with a vinyl edition to follow later in 2027.

“El Mar” is Burguess’ first new recorded music since the final album by Mueran Humanos, the Argentinian post-punk duo she split in February 2025 after a run of close to twenty years and four albums. The track pairs dance-floor-ready synths with a mid-song key change into a darker, distorted passage. “Flores de Cuero” was written and recorded between Buenos Aires and Berlin, the two cities where Burguess has been based. She plans live dates in Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Berlin following the album’s release.

About Carmen Burguess

Carmen Burguess is an Argentinian multimedia artist based between Buenos Aires and Berlin. She was a member of Mueran Humanos, an Argentinian post-punk duo active for close to two decades across four albums, including “Miseress,” reissued on vinyl in 2016. The duo split in February 2025.

“El Mar,” released 9 October 2026, marks Burguess’ first new recorded music since Mueran Humanos’ final album and the lead single from her upcoming debut solo album, “Flores de Cuero,” due digitally on 15 January 2027 through Mixta Music ahead of a vinyl edition later that year. Alongside music, Burguess has continued working across other media, including a newly launched website collecting her short stories, dream journals and drawings.

Dutch coldwave band Desinteresse has released a video for its new single, “Falling Faces,” and announced a new album, “A Picture,” due via Fabrika Records in late 2026. The video, filmed by Romy Janssen, premiered on 10 October 2026.

“Falling Faces” is the first single from “A Picture” and the band’s first released song with English-language lyrics.

Desinteresse formed in the Netherlands in late 2022 as a duo of Bart Vranken on bass and Sem van den Munckhof on vocals, guitar and synth. The pair released two cassette EPs, “Voor Altijd” and “Ik Wil Dood Als Ik Het Vergeet,” on their own Decadence label in 2023. Drummer Joppe de Swart joined in 2024, and the trio’s first release together was the single “Grijze Dromen.” The band signed to Fabrika Records and issued the single “Fantomen” before releasing its debut full-length album, “Onschuld,” digitally in September 2025. The album was recorded entirely on analogue equipment at The Lullabye Factory in Amsterdam and followed on vinyl through Fabrika Records.

Desinteresse plays dates across the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France between October and December 2026, including stops in Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris.

Desinteresse tour dates 2026

• 21 October: Trier, Germany (Mergener Hof)
• 24 October: Parma, Italy (Arcistella)
• 6 November: Venlo, Netherlands (Grenswerk)
• 8 November: Amsterdam, Netherlands (Paradiso)
• 26 November: Vigo, Spain (La Fábrica de Chocolate)
• 27 November: Porto, Portugal (Hard Club)
• 28 November: Madrid, Spain (Hangar 48)
• 29 November: Zaragoza, Spain (La Lata de Bombillas)
• 2 December: Marseille, France (L’Intermédiaire)
• 3 December: Lyon, France (Sonic)
• 4 December: Kusel, Germany (Kinnet)
• 6 December: Hamburg, Germany (MS Stubnitz)
• 8 December: Berlin, Germany (Kantine am Berghain)
• 11 December: Paris, France (Le Chinois)
• 19 December: Utrecht, Netherlands (DB’s)

About Desinteresse

Desinteresse is a coldwave band from the Netherlands, formed in late 2022 by Bart Vranken on bass and Sem van den Munckhof on vocals, guitar and synth. The pair released “Voor Altijd” and “Ik Wil Dood Als Ik Het Vergeet” on cassette in 2023 through their own Decadence label. Drummer Joppe de Swart joined in 2024, and the newly expanded trio released the single “Grijze Dromen” as its first recording together.

The band signed to Fabrika Records and released the single “Fantomen,” followed by its debut full-length album, “Onschuld,” digitally in September 2025 and later on vinyl. “Onschuld” was recorded entirely on analogue equipment at The Lullabye Factory in Amsterdam, continuing the band’s preference for vintage instruments, effects and amplifiers over digital production.

Desinteresse now returns with “Falling Faces,” the first single from its upcoming second album, “A Picture,” due via Fabrika Records in late 2026, and the band’s first song recorded with English lyrics. The single arrives alongside an extensive European tour running from October through December 2026.

Berlin-based experimental electronic artist VÍZ will release the album “Ég/Üres” on 20 November 2026 through Asadun Alay Records, on LP and digital download. VÍZ is the solo project of Hungarian-Transylvanian musician Réka Csiszér.

“Ég/Üres” follows “Le Révélateur,” a 2026 collaborative soundtrack album Csiszér made with label co-founder Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, of Jerusalem In My Heart. Moumneh returns on the new album playing rababa and bass and singing. “Ég/Üres” closes a trilogy that began with Csiszér’s first two VÍZ albums.

A double single, “Vörös Folyó” b/w “Amoutu,” came out on 8 October 2026. A second single, “Szerelem,” follows on 28 October 2026 with a video. On “Amoutu” (“I Die”), Moumneh and Csiszér duet lines from Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “The Impossible” (المستحيل).

Csiszér describes the album as built around “a sense of displacement,” drawing on Székely folk melodies she grew up hearing from her grandparents in Transylvania. “Ég/Üres embraces a sense of displacement, […] the sensation of having no fixed place to belong, exploring the possibilities that creates without disguising or hiding how unsettling a sense of dislocation is,” she states.

The album’s opening track features CECILIA, the performance name of Melissa Gagne, recorded singing on a New York rooftop and woven into strings and Csiszér’s own voice. The closing track opens with birdsong recorded in her grandmother’s garden in Transylvania, set against a new composition drawn from the folk songs she has archived there since 2020. Other sessions were recorded at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango studio and while Csiszér was touring Europe; the album took seven years to assemble, with the final two spent finishing it.

Csiszér sings throughout the record in Hungarian. “This record has my voice at the centre,” she explains. “I have come to terms with the imperfections I have when singing in my mother tongue. That’s my language, and it’s shaped by displacement.” The album also folds in fragments of earlier VÍZ recordings, stretched and recontextualized alongside the folk material. “You play with those archives and fragments and they tell you something about yourself,” she adds.

The album title combines two Hungarian words: “Ég,” which means either “sky” or “it burns,” and “Üres,” which means “empty.”

About VÍZ

VÍZ is the solo project of Réka Csiszér, a Berlin-based artist of Székely heritage, a Hungarian-speaking minority in Romania. Her parents, both professional cellists, moved from Transylvania to East Germany and later crossed into Vienna when Csiszér was a child. “They had to be more concerned with integrating me than preserving our heritage,” she recalls. “They felt a pressure common for people from their generation moving to a new culture.” VÍZ means “water” in Hungarian.

Her own biography describes VÍZ as exploring “Eastern European melancholy through post-industrial textures, glossolalia, dark folk, and audiovisual noir.” She released her debut album, “Veils,” through BlauBlau Records on 3 December 2021. The same biography calls the seven-track record “an elegiac body horror soundtrack in seven stages,” with tracks including “Veil 1 // source,” “Veil 2 // föld” and “Veil 7 // recall.”

Her second album, “Danse des Larmes,” followed on Heat Crimes in March 2025, on LP and digital. Its eight tracks include “Eden X,” the title track, “Hyperálom,” “Angel’s Throat” and “Vali 2,” a reinterpretation of a Mihály Víg composition from Béla Tarr’s 1987 film “Kárhozat.” The closing track, “Eternia Now,” runs more than 26 minutes.

In 2026, Csiszér recorded “Le Révélateur” with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh of Jerusalem In My Heart, who also runs Montreal’s Hotel2Tango studio and co-founded Asadun Alay Records with Amélie Malissard. The duo met in 2018 and first performed the work, a soundtrack to Philippe Garrel’s 1968 film of the same name, live in 2023. They recorded the eight-track album between November 2025 and February 2026 in Zurich and Montreal, and Asadun Alay Records released it on 3 July 2026.

Csiszér performs live as VÍZ internationally, with dates including Volksbühne Berlin, CTM Berlin, Berghain, Pop-Kultur Festival Berlin, Changeover Festival in Belgrade, New River Studios in London, Alice in Copenhagen, and festival and gallery dates in Switzerland (Gessnerallee Zürich, Dampfzentrale Bern, Festival de la Cité Lausanne, Kilbi Bad Bonn) and Italy (C3 Milano, Istituto Svizzero Rome). “Ég/Üres,” out 20 November 2026 on Asadun Alay Records, closes the trilogy she began with “Veils.”

UK sound artist CrAwE released the album “Torc Bound Ley Lines (Music For Flat Horizons And Celestial Shires)” on 8 October 2026 through French label Triple Moon Records. CrAwE is the solo project of Adam Colman, who works with guitars, effects and electronics to build fully instrumental dark ambient and drone pieces.

The nine-track album is built around processed guitar drones, with titles drawn from East Anglian landmarks and folklore: a Norfolk wormhole, the Iceni goddess Andraste, the A47 bypass and a Tesco in Downham Market sit alongside references to ley lines and equinox ritual. Triple Moon Records describes the project’s sound as moving “between deep audio, guitar drones and cinematic dark ambient music.”

1. A Slow Descent Into Warham Wormhole
2. The Hare Sign Of Andraste
3. An Even Lighter green Than The Sacred Grove
4. Equinox Ritual At Downham Market Tesco
5. Astral Projection Over The A47 Bypass
6. The Broken Torc And The Infinite Horizon
7. Requiem For A Tas Valley Ley Line
8. The Hum Of Fenland Oblivion
9. The Iceni Have Left The Atmosphere

“Torc Bound Ley Lines (Music For Flat Horizons And Celestial Shires)” is available as a digital album on Bandcamp.

About CrAwE

CrAwE is the sound art project of Adam Colman, based in Norwich, UK. Working alone with guitars, effects pedals and electronics, Colman builds long, instrumental drone pieces that combine processed guitar with field recordings and synthesizer textures. In a 2023 interview, he said he had released eight albums and an EP since starting the project.

CrAwE’s recent album history runs through Inner Demons Records: “AlgorithmicEthics,” a roughly 58-minute CD limited to 42 copies, and “PrimalStar,” a 3″ mini CD of about 20 minutes also limited to 42 copies, built in part around a radio pulse from the star Sirius A. “Torc Bound Ley Lines (Music For Flat Horizons And Celestial Shires)” moves the project to Triple Moon Records, the French label founded in 2014, and continues Colman’s recurring use of English place names and folklore as source material for the album’s nine tracks.

Cold Spring will release the “Driller Killer” O.S.T. on CD on 30 October 2026, the first CD edition of Joe Delia’s score for Abel Ferrara’s 1979 film “The Driller Killer.” The score mixes Delia’s synthesizer-and-tape cues with music credited to the film’s fictional punk band, Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters, and two J.S. Bach inventions.

“The Driller Killer” was shot on 16mm in 1977 and 1978 around Ferrara’s Union Square apartment in New York, written by Nicholas St. John and produced by Ferrara’s company Navaron Films on a low budget. Ferrara directed, edited and starred as Reno Miller under the pseudonym Jimmy Laine. The film was added to the UK’s video nasties list in 1983 and banned under the Video Recordings Act 1984. The BBFC approved a fully uncut release only in 2002.

The CD comes in a 6-panel, high-gloss digipak designed around Douglas Metro’s paintings from the film, with a booklet of liner notes from Delia and Ferrara and a folded poster reproducing the film’s original theatrical artwork. Cold Spring sourced the release from long-lost film master tapes, remastered with approval from Delia and Ferrara. The soundtrack first appeared in May 2026 as a vinyl LP through the label Recently Deceased, limited to 1,000 copies with the same artwork and liner notes. The Cold Spring CD is its first appearance on that format.

Delia describes the scoring sessions and the equipment they used at the time: “Driller Killer was a crash course in real time to scoring music to picture. We sat around the Steenbeck scoring directly to Jackie’s 2 track Tandberg deck. We had two synthesizers… an ARP odyssey and an ARP string ensemble.”

Ferrara, describing the sessions’ New York origins, commented: “Putting these tracks together is like field recordings but instead of the deep south it’s the cross roads of 18 St and Broadway, a loft building next to the firehouse with a lot of this music played in an abandoned floor where we weren’t squatting but were not far from it. Most of the people on this record are ghosts to me now, dead or just gone… but the ghost of Tony Coca Cola rides again with his head still on his shoulders and looking straight ahead with the sounds of 77/78 NYC all over the tracks.”

Tony Coca-Cola and the Roosters is the fictional band that performs in the film’s Max’s Kansas City scenes, reflected in the tracklist’s two “Driller Killer” cues named for that setting. The 17-track listing runs:

1. Man In The Church
2. Fool For You
3. Bach Invention #1
4. Ballad Of Nicky & Nadine
5. Driller Killer – Lobby
6. Pizza Pizza
7. Driller Killer – Max’s Kansas City
8. 27th Spirit
9. Nobody’s My Girlfriend
10. Baybi Daye Crying
11. Stromboli Shuffle
12. Driller Killer – Death Of The Art Dealer
13. Grand Street Stomp
14. Bach Invention #14
15. Driller Killer
16. Louie’s Murder
17. Abel Metro Mac Grand Street

About the ‘Driller Killer’ soundtrack

“The Driller Killer” was Abel Ferrara’s second feature, following his 1976 debut “9 Lives of a Wet Pussy.” Joe Delia, born in Brooklyn on 11 October 1948, had already worked as a session keyboardist and arranger for Dusty Springfield, Grace Slick, Janis Ian, Pat Benatar and Engelbert Humperdinck, and served as Composer in Residence at Sarah Lawrence College, before scoring two low-budget Ferrara features in the 1970s. Delia and Ferrara’s collaboration continued through “Ms. 45” (1980), “China Girl,” “King of New York,” “Dangerous Game,” “The Addiction,” “The Funeral,” “Subway Stories” and “The Blackout” (1997), ending during the production of “New Rose Hotel” (1998) before the two reunited for the 2017 documentary “Alive in France.”

Cold Spring has built a parallel catalog of film-soundtrack reissues and first-time physical releases: the label gave Kristian Eidnes Andersen’s “Antichrist” soundtrack its first physical release in 2019, revived the “Decoder” soundtrack in 2025, and issued the “Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom” soundtrack in February 2026. The “Driller Killer” O.S.T. CD extends that pattern to Delia and Ferrara’s own long-lost score, five months after its first release on vinyl.

The Chilean duo Vioflesh released their third album earlier this year. Following their previous album, “Nostalgia”, they continue with “Melancolia”, which features 12 tracks. Many of these songs had already been released as singles, but this third album brings them together in a fine collection.

Those familiar with the band won’t be surprised, as Vioflesh continues to explore their distinctive brand of Electro/Wave-Pop. The tracks have an ethereal yet danceable quality, and the sensual female vocals make a real impact. While the songs generally sound quite similar and—in my opinion—lack a real climax, the album still manages to captivate me. The second half of “Melancolia” contains the stronger tracks, including the fresh-sounding “Mistery,” which is, for me, one of their best songs to date. It is somewhat more elaborate and features some nice synth bleeps and string arrangements.

The band has since released another album, but “Melancolia” remains an enjoyable listen in the meantime. (Rating:7½).

Listen to “Mistery”:

About Vioflesh

Vioflesh is a synth-pop and coldwave duo from Santiago, Chile, founded in February 2017 by Vio Valenzuela and Flesh.

The project released its debut album, “Creer”, in 2019, followed by the “The Time” EP in 2022 and the album “Feeling You Don’t See” in 2023. The singles “Always” (2024) and “Close To Me” (2025) preceded “Nostalgia” later that year.

“Melancolia” followed in 2026, built around the singles “In The Depth”, “Intuition”, “Suffocating”, “Velvet”, “Your Blood” and “Call Me”. Vioflesh has since released a further album, “Dark Bellow”.

Argentine ambient artist Pabellon Sintetico released “Ephemeral Architecture” on 9 October 2026 through Cyclical Dreams, available on Bandcamp and other digital platforms. The eight-track album combines analog and digital synthesis in a cosmic ambient style indebted to the Berlin School.

The tracklist runs: “Temporality,” “Modul,” “Raster” (feat. Árstraumur), “Erode,” “Fuge,” “Element,” “Axis” and “Grid.”

About Pabellon Sintetico

Pabellon Sintetico is the solo project of Pablo Ariel Bilbao, a sound artist based in Santa Rosa, in Argentina’s La Pampa province. His work is built around a hardware synthesizer setup that includes a Moog Mother-32 and a Korg ARP Odyssey alongside other analog and digital instruments. His prior album, “Machine For Living,” also released through Cyclical Dreams, drew a review from Igloo Magazine describing it as “architectural fine electronic ambient.” “Ephemeral Architecture” is his latest full-length release for the label.

Colombian producer Filmmaker will release the “Slammer Weapons” EP on 23 October 2026 through the Spain-based label Bruto Industries, on 12″ vinyl and digital. It is the label’s third 12″ release, following an earlier release by fellow Colombian producer Damaged Clock.

The six-track EP was mixed and mastered by Dan Böhler, with artwork by Lucas Salinas. Side A runs “Swordmaster,” a syncopated, combative track; “Power Overturn,” built on dense synth lines over a binary rhythm; and “Leveling,” a downtempo cut with acid arpeggios. Side B opens with “Restoration Quest,” continues with the textured “Knighthood,” and closes with a remix of “Swordmaster” by Dob41, an Asturian producer and fellow Bruto Industries artist.

About Filmmaker

Filmmaker is the alias of Colombian producer Faunes Efe, who had released more than 20 records in five years by 2023. His breakthrough release, “Machinations,” a seven-track mini-album blending electroclash and minimal synth built around the Elektron Syntakt and processed guitar, came out through the Eindhoven, Netherlands label Wave Tension Records in October 2023, on two limited vinyl pressings. “Slammer Weapons” moves toward a harder, EBM-leaning register and is Filmmaker’s first release for Bruto Industries.

The Axiom Divide released its debut album, “Halo Effect”, on 9 October 2026 through Re:Mission Entertainment. The 11-track record mixes gothic industrial rhythms with operatic and choral parts, continuing the futurepop and darkwave sound the duo introduced on last year’s singles.

The album compiles the project’s two prior Re:Mission singles, “Generations” and “The Halls of Amenti,” alongside eight new songs. The tracklist runs: “All for Nothing,” “The Halls of Amenti,” “Damon,” “The Flame,” “Martyr,” “Halo Effect,” “Event Horizon,” “Generations,” “Psychomanteum,” “Fortress Around Your Heart” and “Unrequited.”

About The Axiom Divide

The Axiom Divide began as a solo project of Jay Tye, founder, lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the darkwave project Soil & Eclipse, which formed in Hawaii and released five albums through COP International: “Necromancy” (1997), “Meridian” (1999), “Archetype” (2000), “Purity” (2002) and “The Mirror” (2008). Tye later invited synth producer Brent Heinze, who started his own project Probe 7 in 1992 in Palm Springs, California, into The Axiom Divide. Heinze has released Probe 7 albums including “Over & Out” (2016), “Strange Angels” (2019), “Parallel Universe 1” (2021) and “Transference” (2022), and has produced remixes for Information Society, The Cassandra Complex, Kirlian Camera, Gitane Demone and Dogtablet.

Under the Axiom Divide name, Tye and Heinze self-released their first single, “Generations,” on 30 March 2022. They signed to Re:Mission Entertainment, the Oklahoma City label that has released industrial and dark electronic music since 2005, for “The Halls of Amenti,” released as a single ahead of “Halo Effect” and followed by a remix EP in August 2026 featuring Razed In Black, Frontal Boundary, Pygmy Children, Fermion and dread risks. “Halo Effect” is the duo’s first full-length album.

Chicago-based electronic artist Sapphira Vee released “Unfvkening”, a 12-track album of seven original songs and five remixes, on 9 October 2026 via Distortion Productions. The release arrives 12 months after her “Unfolding” album.

The originals combine vocals, percussive beats and synths with a dark, trip-hop-inflected edge; highlights include “Something Better,” “Small” and “Enough.” The remix set features Sawtooth, Steven OLaf, DekaDance, Jane Jensen and J.Robot, including two separate mixes of “Evil in Numbers,” which features vocalist Jim Semonik.

The full tracklist runs: “Something Better,” “Myself Again,” “Four Days,” “Effort,” “Small,” “Enough,” “House of Cards,” “Small” (Jane Jensen’s SPHV Mix), “Something Better” (Steven Olaf Mix), “Evil in Numbers” (DekaDance Mix), “Small” (J.Robot B-Girl Abstract Mix) and “Evil in Numbers” (Sawtooth’s Pixelated Hell Mix). “Unfvkening” is available as a digital album on Bandcamp and Spotify, and as a limited-edition CD.

About Sapphira Vee

Sapphira Vee is an electronic artist who emerged in 2018 with a steady stream of releases blending vocals, beats and synths with a dark, industrial-tinged edge influenced by darkwave and trip hop. She has worked as a vocalist, remixer and programmer with Dogtablet, The Joy Thieves, Spanktheun and Melodywhore.

She signed to Distortion Productions in 2021, debuting for the label with the “Duets” EP that July, which paired collaborations with vocalists Mike Reidy, Chris Connelly and Jim Semonik with remixes by Caustic, Eva X, Melodywhore and Joy Thieves. She went on to release the “What It Was” video ahead of her “Fortune” album in 2023, the single “Stand Together” in January 2024, and contributed to COP International’s “Los Angeles – From The Ashes” charity compilation in March 2025, before “Unfolding” arrived that October. “Unfvkening” is her most recent full-length release.

German apocalyptic dark folk duo Mars will release its fourth studio album, “The Scorpion”, on 13 November 2026 through Dark Vinyl, as a digiCD in a 6-panel eco-digifile.

Mars is the duo of Marcus S., also known for his work as :Golgatha: and Vortex, and Oliver F., also known as Vinur and Serpentz. The pair’s sound combines acoustic guitars, heavy percussion, exotic instruments and noisy soundscapes with alternating lead vocals, drawing on Apocalyptic and Dark Folk songwriting alongside Dark Americana and shamanic ritual music.

The 12-track album runs: “Kali Yuga,” “Golden Light,” “The Scorpion,” “The Sea,” “Sacrifice III,” “Crows of the Cross,” “Whisper in the Wind,” “A Sad Song,” “Under the Pale Moon,” “Goodbye,” “Celestial Fire” and “How Must We Brave This Cruelty?”

About Mars

The duo formed in Germany in 2011 and has released three studio albums before “The Scorpion”: “Blood Is the Food of the Goods” (2014), “The Seeker” (2017) and “The Dark River” (January 2024), the last of which the duo promoted with the single “All Is One,” covered by Side-Line in January 2025.

Since 2012, the duo has played festivals including NCN Festival, Schwarzer Herbst and Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, and has shared stages with King Dude, Of the Wand & the Moon and Rome, establishing the project within the dark folk underground. “The Scorpion” is Mars’ second album for Dark Vinyl.

Italian neofolk act Corde Oblique will release its 10th studio album, “All’Ombra dei Fanciulli in Fiore”, on 27 November 2026 through Dark Vinyl, as a digiCD.

The title pays tribute to French writer Marcel Proust and centers on parenthood. Riccardo Prencipe wrote all 12 tracks’ music and lyrics, and the album was recorded partly at Naples’ Splash Studio, owned by singer Peppino di Capri, and partly at Abbey Road Studios in London. The CD comes in a 6-page eco-digifile with an 8-page booklet featuring unreleased 1980s photographs of Pozzuoli and the Phlegraean Fields.

Guest performers include singer-songwriter Andrea Chimenti, a figure of the Italian new wave scene, on the song “Senza Vento,” and actress Maddalena Crippa. Prencipe’s longtime collaborators Edo Notarloberti, Alessio Sica, Rita Saviano and Umberto Lepore also appear throughout.

The tracklist runs: “Senza Vento” (feat. Andrea Chimenti), “Emma,” “Flag in Mid Air,” “Vals Per Mio Padre,” “Il Tempo di Mezzo,” “A New Balance,” “Senza Ego,” “Prima di Sera,” “Alternating Bass Horizon,” “Infinite Waters,” “The Outburst” and “Gangi Studio N.3.” Side-Line covered the album’s first single, “Emma,” in September 2026.

About Corde Oblique

Corde Oblique is the project of composer Riccardo Prencipe, based in Naples, Italy, who began recording as Lupercalia in 1999 before launching Corde Oblique in 2005. The project’s neofolk and Mediterranean progressive sound has featured singers Caterina Pontrandolfo and Floriana Cangiano on vocals across its catalog, alongside pianist Luigi Rubino and violinist Edo Notarloberti, both also members of Ashram.

Corde Oblique’s album chronology runs “Respiri” (2005, ARK Records), “Volontà d’Arte” (2007), “The Stones of Naples” (2009), “A Hail of Bitter Almonds” (2011) and “Per le Strade Ripetute” (2013), the last three via Prikosnovenie. “I Maestri del Colore” followed in 2016 via Infinite Fog. The project moved to Dark Vinyl for “Back Through the Liquid Mirror – Live in the Studio” (2018) and “The Moon Is a Dry Bone” (2020), then released “Cries and Whispers” via TSON in 2025.

Over the years, Corde Oblique has drawn guest contributions from musicians including Duncan Patterson of Anathema, Spyros Giasafakis of Daemonia Nymphe, and singer Miro Sassolini, formerly of Diaframma. “All’Ombra dei Fanciulli in Fiore” is the project’s first album since “Cries and Whispers” and its second release through Dark Vinyl.

Canadian synth-pop duo Psyche will reissue “Unveiling the Secret” as a 40th anniversary edition on 23 October 2026 through Vuz Records. The album was originally released in 1986 on New Rose Records.

The reissue comes on two limited 180-gram vinyl pressings, each with a lyrics inlay: a white edition of 100 copies and a red galaxy edition of 200 copies.

This version is newly remastered and slightly re-edited from the original release, and it adds the track “The Crawler,” which first appeared on the 12″ single of “Unveiling the Secret + Screaming Machine.” It is the fourth time the album has been reissued: Synthetic Symphony/SPV put it out on CD in 1997 and again in 2003, and Artoffact Records reissued it on CD and vinyl in 2016 for the album’s 30th anniversary.

The tracklist runs: “Thundershowers,” “Caught in the Act,” “Lord Unleashed,” “The Crawler,” “Prisoner to Desire,” “The Saint Became a Lush,” “Black Panther,” “Taking Chances” and “Unveiling the Secret.”

About Psyche

Psyche was formed in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1982 by brothers Darrin and Stephen Huss; Dwayne Goettel contributed additional keyboards at the band’s debut performance that December. The duo built a dark, hypnotic synth-pop sound that Side-Line discussed with Darrin Huss around the 2016 reissue campaign for the band’s first three albums. “Insomnia Theatre” (1985) was followed by “Unveiling the Secret” (1986), which led to a deal with the Paris label New Rose Records and the band’s international breakthrough.

Further albums followed through the late 1980s and 1990s: “Mystery Hotel” (1988), “The Influence” (1989), “Daydream Avenue” (1991), “Intimacy” (1994) and “Strange Romance” (1996). Psyche signed to the Hamburg label StrangeWays for “Love Among the Ruined” (1998), then to Accession Records, which released the “Sanctuary” single in 2001 and the album “The Hiding Place” the same year. “Babylon Deluxe” followed in 2003, and “The 11th Hour” (2005) was co-released by Accession in Europe, Metropolis Records in North America and Irond Records in Russia. Darrin Huss remains the band’s constant member, with the group now based in Germany.

VUZ Records has become the band’s recent reissue partner, releasing the “Under the Radar” compilation series in 2018 and 2019 and the “Future Memories” CD compilation that Side-Line reported in June 2025. “Unveiling the Secret” is still available on CD alongside the earlier compilations “Future Memories” and “Under the Radar Vol. 2.”

Pittsburgh darkwave-shoegaze duo Lowsunday released “Call Silence Remixed,” a two-track single reworking their song “Call Silence,” on 9 October 2026 through Projekt Records.

Psychotribe, the alias of DEATĦ B¥ LØVE’s Peter Guellard, contributes the “Silent Tribe Remix,” pushing the song’s post-punk tension into EBM and electronic territory. Sam Rosenthal, founder of Projekt Records and the creative force behind Black Tape For A Blue Girl, provides the second remix, built on stark drones and spacious electronic layers. Both tracks are credited to lyricist and vocalist Shane Sahene, with bassist Bobby Spell co-writing each version alongside its respective remixer.

Guellard also filmed, produced and directed a video for the Silent Tribe Remix, shot at the University of Pittsburgh’s Posvar Hall and starring Sahene and Sereny Welsby. Guellard describes the shoot as drawing on his own history: “The architecture of Pittsburgh, the city where Shane and I first became part of the same musical community more than three decades ago. That connection between memory, friendship, architecture, and music became the foundation of this work.” Rosenthal’s remix, Sahene says, “captured a vulnerability we seldom show, bringing a completely different vision. The stark, droning layers and almost percussive reverbs create a palpable mood.”

“Call Silence Remixed” is out now on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music. Lowsunday played Pittsburgh’s Brillobox on release night, 9 October, with Choir Boy, Crash Davidian and DJ Krass Advert.

About Lowsunday

Shane Sahene and Bobby Spell formed Lowsunday in Pittsburgh in 1994 as Low Sunday Ghost Machine, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1996 and a follow-up, “Elesgiem,” in 1999. The project then went quiet for close to 25 years.

Lowsunday returned to music in 2025, marking the 30th and 25th anniversaries of those two albums with expanded reissues, and released its first new material since 1999 with the “White EP” and “Black EP” on Projekt Records. The “White EP” was ranked second in Post-Punk.com’s Best EPs of 2025. Sam Rosenthal, a longtime associate of the band, helped bring them back into the studio for that return. The band’s earlier song “She Follows Rain” also appears on Cherry Red Records’ four-CD boxset “We Are The Beautiful.”

“Call Silence Remixed,” paired with Guellard’s video, is Lowsunday’s latest release since the “White EP” and “Black EP,” both still available through Projekt Records’ store alongside the band’s two vinyl EPs and reissue albums.

Italian darkwave artist Lilinanna released the single “Agoniza” on 3 September 2026, her second release through Madrid label Polypiel Records after July’s “The Ghost.” The track pairs post-punk and 80s synth-wave production with a music video shot around Baroque church architecture, cemeteries and funerary iconography.

“Agoniza” follows two lovers through a night that moves past churches and abandoned buildings as they confront the idea that one of them will eventually have to live without the other. The lyrics alternate between English and Spanish. She sets that theme against a pulsing, dance-oriented rhythm, mixing post-punk basslines and darkwave synth lines with structural nods to Baroque composition.

“Agoniza” is available as a digital single on Bandcamp and Spotify. An official music video accompanies the release.

About Lilinanna

Lilinanna, the solo project of Italian artist Linda, is originally from Puglia and was raised in the Marche region. She began releasing music in 2021, including work with other bands, before starting to perform live under the Lilinanna name in 2023. Her debut album, “Underworld Shelter,” is a seven-song, self-produced record made in home studios and completed in 2025 with Gianluca Lo Presti. She performed at Casa Sanremo during Sanremo festival week in February 2026.

Lilinanna’s first release through Polypiel Records, the Madrid label that also issued Rule of Two’s “Afterlife” single in 2026, was “The Ghost” in July 2026. “Agoniza” is her second single for the label, continuing a project built around themes of memory, loss and death, staged through recurring imagery of candles, veils, roses and religious iconography.

Side-Line Magazine is supporting a GoFundMe campaign for Seattle-based DJ and producer Shane Aungst, a longtime collaborator who has produced remix megamixes for several Side-Line compilations. Aungst announced in September that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer and is starting radiation treatment.

Aungst describes the cancer as caught early, telling supporters it is “a very treatable type” with a good prognosis. The GoFundMe “Support Shane’s Cancer Recovery” is meant to cover medical bills, treatment costs and living expenses during radiation and recovery.

The campaign has a goal of $11,000; Side-Line has already contributed to give the campaign an extra boost, and we’re counting on readers and the wider scene to be just as generous.

A personal note from me: “I have got to know Shane as a wonderful person – always ready to join us for a good cause, never once asking for anything in return. This is our way of repaying him, not just for everything he has done for Side-Line over the years, but for the countless bands he has championed through his remixes along the way. Get well soon, Shane – we’re all rooting for you!”

A megamix maker for Side-Line since 2019

Aungst’s history with Side-Line goes back to 2019, when he produced the Face The Beat 5 megamix, a 23-track, 93-minute mix drawn from the “Face The Beat: Session 5” compilation, released free on Side-Line’s Bandcamp page. He returned for Face The Beat 6 in January 2021, a 100-minute, 24-track mix that became, in his own words, the largest compilation he had worked from.

In March 2022 Aungst produced The Zombietapes, a three-part megamix built from 38 tracks on “Face The Beat: Session 7.” That same year he also reworked Phil Stiles’ album “The Anchorhold” track by track into “The Anchorhold Dissolution,” released through Trepanation Recordings, after first catching Stiles’ attention through his Face The Beat remix work. Stiles later said of the project: “Shane had a masterplan, creating a new sequence.”

Aungst’s most recent megamix for Side-Line, Electronic Bodies – Nightside Sessions, came out in October 2023: a two-part, 23-track mix of the “Electronic Bodies” compilation, with intros by Viscera Drip, released as a free download with proceeds going to charity. Side-Line interviewed Aungst twice over the years, in 2019 and again in 2021, about his approach to building these megamixes.

About Shane Aungst

Shane Aungst is a DJ and producer based in Seattle, Washington. Alongside Jason Bangert of God Module, he has DJed a monthly fetish event at Kremwerk in Seattle, and has played shows outside the city, including in Brazil. He also releases original and remix material and posts regular mixes to his Mixcloud page.

His collaboration with Side-Line began in 2019 with the Face The Beat 5 megamix, followed by Face The Beat 6 in 2021 and the three-part Zombietapes megamix for Face The Beat 7 in 2022, the same year he reworked Phil Stiles’ “The Anchorhold” into “The Anchorhold Dissolution” for Trepanation Recordings. His most recent Side-Line megamix, Electronic Bodies – Nightside Sessions, was released in October 2023.

Goth and darkwave project La Chanson Noire released the official video for new single “Grand Mal” on 1 October, a month ahead of the track’s digital release on 1 November 2026 through Violeta Exótica.

Charles Sangnoir leads the project with a rotating cast of guest musicians, working across goth, darkwave and alternative rock with heavier moments folded in.

Sangnoir produced “Grand Mal” at Studio Vitruve in Paris. The video was filmed in Paris and features contributions from Vanda Spengler and Emile Gontard, on screen and behind the camera.

La Chanson Noire plays two shows around the release:

• 31 October 2026 – Noisy Pop Club, Paris, France (with special guests)
• 19 December 2026 – Cine Teatro G.C., Corroios, Portugal (with Trash Circus)

Recommend to fans of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Dresden Dolls, Einstürzende Neubauten, Diamanda Galás and Chelsea Wolfe.

About La Chanson Noire

Charles Sangnoir started La Chanson Noire in 2007, blending cabaret, punk, post-punk, rock and opera into a theatrical sound. The project’s debut EP, “Canções De Faca E Alguidar,” came out that year through Necrosymphonic Entertainment. A split release with Espelho Mau, “Gay Music For Straight People,” followed on the same label in 2008. The 7″ single “O Bordel De Lúcifer,” a limited black-vinyl pressing shared across Raging Planet, HelloOutro Enterprises and Chaosphere Recordings, arrived in 2009.

La Chanson Noire’s debut album, “Música Para Os Mortos,” arrived in 2010 as a limited CD. “Cabaret Portugal” followed in 2012, “Macumba Stereo” in 2013 and “Evergloom,” issued in a limited special edition, in 2016, all released through the same Raging Planet, Chaosphere Recordings, Raising Legends Records and Necrosymphonic Entertainment network. “Cruz Credo,” released in 2020, marked the project’s first work with Violeta Exótica, the label that also issued 2024’s “Missa Negra” alongside Larvae Records, Chaosphere Recordings and Raging Planet.

Current members are Sangnoir and Pedro Almeida, joined on record and on stage by rotating guest musicians. “Grand Mal,” due 1 November 2026 through Violeta Exótica, is the project’s first single since “Missa Negra.”

Swedish dark electronic duo Octolab release their new album, Waiting for a better ending, on 9 October 2026 through Rexius Records. The ten-track record is the duo’s first album for the label.

Octolab are Arielle Andersson and Fredrik Lundvall Kindsäter, based in Lysekil, on Sweden’s west coast. The duo melds darkwave, dark synthpop and cinematic electro, driven by heavy basslines and melodic, 1980s-influenced synth writing under controlled vocals. “Waiting for a better ending” follows a run of 2026 singles, “Flames,” “Beverly” and “Words from a Stranger,” gathered here into a full-length statement.

Rexius Records, which signed Octolab for this release, describes the result of that shift as “danceable darkness without losing emotional weight.”

Video, stage presence and photography have long run alongside Octolab’s music. Arielle Andersson writes and produces the band’s own videos, and director Jonas Wolcher has worked on several of them, including the “Caravan” clip that won an award at the 12 Months film festival. The same visual approach extends into the new album’s rollout.

“Waiting for a better ending” streams on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and TIDAL from 9 October 2026.

About Octolab

Arielle Andersson and Fredrik Lundvall Kindsäter first played together in the short-lived synthpop project Spektron before starting Octolab as a side venture that became their main one. The duo moved between Gothenburg and Lysekil, Arielle’s hometown, where they are now based. Andersson sings, writes songs and produces the band’s videos. Lundvall Kindsäter works on sound design, including for film.

Octolab released their debut album, “The Timeless Room,” in 2007, then the mini-album “To Be Continued…”, which included the track “Caravan.” The band paused for several years while its members studied and started families. During that time, Lundvall Kindsäter and Martin Bloom founded the project Göteborgselektronikerna, and Octolab worked on remixes for other acts. An invitation to play a festival in Lysekil brought the duo back together.

The EP “Petite Little People” arrived in 2019, issued on vinyl. In 2020, Octolab released the album “Mystery Park” on Electroshock Records and POPoNAUT!, with mixing and production from Martin Zeidner and Björn Marius Borg. The album’s single “Aim for His Head” paired with a video directed by Jonas Wolcher, who also directed “Caravan.” A remix collection, “Remixed,” came out in 2021, with reworks from Dead Eyes Open, Presto Fervant, Housemart and Yestergrey.

Octolab issued the singles “Afternoon Avenue” (2022), “Friend or Foe” and “Silence of the City” (2024), then “Flames,” “Beverly” and “Words from a Stranger” through 2026. “Waiting for a better ending” is the duo’s first full-length release for Rexius Records and gathers that recent single run.

Pyogenesis have revealed the title of their next studio album: “Adolescence”. The record is expected in early 2027 via Massacre Records and will be the German gothic/alternative metal veterans’ first full length since 2020’s “A Silent Soul Screams Loud”.

The album title arrives together with three special CD release shows scheduled for January 2027. Pyogenesis will play Hamburg, Bochum and Munich on three consecutive nights.

‘Adolescence’ CD Release Shows

• 14 January 2027 – Hamburg, Markthalle / Marx
• 15 January 2027 – Bochum, Matrix / Rockpalast
• 16 January 2027 – Munich, Backstage

Special Meet & Greet packages are also available for the release shows, including an acoustic set, signing session, Polaroid photo with the band, Q&A and early access to merchandise.

The road towards “Adolescence” has already produced several new songs. “All I Am Is Bleeding,” recorded with horror punk band The Other, marked the first new Pyogenesis material in five years. It was followed by “Uncontrolled” and “Nothing But My Heart,” with the latter described by the label as the first power metal song in the band’s 35 year history.

That stylistic spread should hardly surprise anyone who has followed Pyogenesis for long. Since the early 1990s, the band around Flo V. Schwarz has moved through death and gothic metal, alternative rock, punk influenced material and heavier melodic territory without staying in one corner for very long.

The current line up consists of Flo V. Schwarz on vocals and guitar, Gizz Butt on guitar, Malte Brauer on bass and Sebastian Michalski on drums.

Tickets and further information: pyogenesis.hamburgrecords.com/tickets.html

About Pyogenesis

Pyogenesis formed in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1991, growing out of the local band Immortal Hate around singer and guitarist Flo V. Schwarz. The band’s first releases, the 1991 demo “Ode to the Churning Seas of Nar-Mataru” and the 1992 EP “Ignis Creatio” (Osmose Productions/SPV), placed Pyogenesis in the death and doom metal scene of the time.

Through the mid and late 1990s, the band became one of the acts associated with the early German gothic metal movement, then moved toward alternative rock and pop-punk on “Unpop,” released in 1997 on Nuclear Blast/Warner Music. “Mono… or Will It Ever Be the Way It Used to Be” followed in 1998, and “She Makes Me Wish I Had a Gun” came out on Hamburg Records/Sony Music in 2002. The same years produced the EPs “Waves of Erotasia” in 1994, “Love Nation Sugarhead” in 1996 and “I Feel Sexy” in 2002, along with the video release “P… The Ultimate Home Video” and the remix album “P… or Different Songs in Different Sounds,” both issued in 2000.

Pyogenesis went quiet for over a decade before returning in 2014 with a line-up change that brought in guitarist Gizz Butt, known for his work with The Prodigy. The band’s heavier comeback era produced a trilogy of albums for AFM Records: “A Century in the Curse of Time” in 2015, “A Kingdom to Disappear” in 2017 and “A Silent Soul Screams Loud” in 2020, which closed the trilogy and reached No. 33 on the German album charts.

The current line-up, with Flo V. Schwarz on vocals and guitar, Gizz Butt on guitar, Malte Brauer on bass and Sebastian Michalski on drums, signed to Massacre Records for the band’s next studio album. The single “All I Am Is Bleeding,” recorded with horror punk band The Other, was the band’s first new material in five years, followed by “Uncontrolled” and “Nothing But My Heart.” That album, titled “Adolescence,” is expected in early 2027, and Pyogenesis will introduce it with three CD release shows in Hamburg, Bochum and Munich that January.

“Lash” is the third album from Dead Lights, the project driven by Dutchman Richard Van Kruysdijk, who has been involved in numerous other projects, most notably Palais Ideal and Phallus Dei. The concept behind “Lash” is rooted in the idea that every act of creation is, first and foremost, an act of destruction, serving as a metaphor for personal transformation.

This theme inspired Dead Lights to compose 12 tracks. The sound remains consistent with the previous albums: a subtle blend of genres and influences that can be broadly described as EBM, Dark Electro, and Electro-Pop. The overall mood is predominantly dark, with the production occasionally evoking a sense of menace. While the driving basslines certainly contribute to this ominous atmosphere, the album’s real strength lies in its club-oriented character. The quieter tracks offer occasional moments of respite before the music shifts back into harder-hitting passages.

While Dead Lights may not be considered groundbreaking, the project consistently delivers quality within the Dark-Electro and EBM scenes. Personally, I also consider this to be Richard Van Kruysdijk’s strongest project. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Never Take Me Alive”:

About Dead Lights

Dead Lights is an electronic duo based in London. The two producers, one working in the Netherlands and the other in England, started the project at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Richard van Kruysdijk, also active in Palais Ideal and Phallus Dei, is one of the two members. On Bandcamp the band describes its music as “Electronic glam goth with an industrial edge”.

The earliest entries in the band’s Bandcamp discography are “Hex Death Pop” and the self-titled “Dead Lights”. “Doom Doom Trash” followed on 11 March 2022 through Cold Transmission Music. The duo wrote and produced the EP and Uwe Teichert mastered it at Elektropolis in Brussels. The CD edition is a four-panel gatefold digisleeve with a lyric booklet and adds the bonus track “The Raven (video mix)”.

Later releases listed on the band’s Bandcamp page include “Receiver”, “I Am Electric”, “Into The Night”, “Let The Ugly Out”, “Glitterspit”, “Grind”, “Take The Algorithm”, “Gravity”, “Break Out” and “Killing Time”, followed by “Resonate” in January 2026 and “(The Edge Of) Dusk” in March 2026.

Dead Lights released “Lash” on 15 May 2026 through darkTunes Music Group, mastered by Pieter Kloos at The Void Studio, the duo’s third full-length album.

London-based, Australian-born electronic producer, songwriter and DJ HAAi released her third studio album “DIGITiSE” on October 9 via Mute, on vinyl, CD and digitally. The release arrived alongside a video for “Talking Walls,” a collaboration with producer Skybreak and the Colombian children’s choir Cantoalegre.

“DIGITiSE” runs to ten tracks: “RE-HUMANiSE” (feat. Kaiden Ford and ILA), “Printerlude,” “Ignition” (feat. Echonomist), “Depth Perception,” “DIGITiSE” (feat. Pat Alvarez), “Technology,” “HUMANiSE Radio,” “THANK U,” “I Wanna Feel Like Someone” (feat. James Massiah) and “HAAi x Skybreak ‘Talking Walls'” (feat. Cantoalegre). The album follows 2025’s “HUMANiSE,” reusing the same closing choir motif on its opening track, and brings in new collaborators Echonomist and Skybreak alongside returning contributors Pat Alvarez, ILA, James Massiah and Kaiden Ford. HAAi described “DIGITiSE” as “HUMANiSE’s” “bigger, ravey sibling,” adding: “DIGITiSE holds the hand of HUMANiSE and walks it to the club.”

‘Talking Walls’ brings in a children’s choir from Medellín

HAAi calls “Talking Walls” “one to hug your mates to at the festival.” Cantoalegre, a children’s choir founded in Medellín, Colombia, in 1984, supplies the vocals alongside Skybreak, the production project of New York and London-raised artist Jack Ramsay. HAAi traces the collaboration to a festival booking in Colombia earlier this year: “I’ve had the fortune of playing in Colombia, and more specifically Medellín, many times. It’s a place I hold very dear to my heart. I was there in January to play a festival and felt the urge to reach out about working with a local kids’ choir. Within two hours of having this thought, I was speaking with the principal of Cantoalegre about what I wanted to do. I’ve worked with different choirs across my last two albums, so it was really exciting to be working with new voices in a city I love so much. There was something about hearing the lyrics through the voices of the next generation that gave the words so much more hope and meaning. It’s an experience I will never forget, and I’m so proud of what we made.”

On the album as a whole, HAAi said: “I’ve spent so many hours in clubs – on the dance floor and in the booth – and I really wanted to put that into this new album.” Visuals for the campaign are led by Martin Falck, whose past credits include Fever Ray, The Knife and Icona Pop.

DJ dates and an Australian tour with The Avalanches

HAAi marks the release with an all-night, open-to-close set at EartH in London on October 31, staged with production and set design by Playbody, and a ten-hour marathon set at Refuge in New York on October 18. She has also announced an Australian tour with The Avalanches for March 2027. Confirmed dates:

• 9 Oct – Geneva (CH), Electron Festival
• 10 Oct – Manchester (UK), IPC, b2b with DJ Seinfeld, The Warehouse Project
• 16 Oct – San Francisco, CA (US), Dom Dolla support b2b DJ Seinfeld at Cow Palace
• 17 Oct – Miami, FL (US), iiiPoints Festival
• 18 Oct – New York, NY (US), Open to Close, Refuge
• 22 Oct – Manchester (UK), 20 Years of the Warehouse Project
• 23 Oct – Amsterdam (NL), b2b Adiel, Audio Obscura x Raw Factory
• 24 Oct – Galway (IE), Heineken Greenlight
• 25 Oct – Athens (GR), b2b Romy, Eden
• 31 Oct – London (UK), HAAi All Night at EartH
• 20 Nov – Brighton (UK), Concorde 2
• 21 Nov – Manchester (UK), Depot Mayfield
• 27 Nov – Los Angeles, CA (US), Time Warp
• 28 Nov – San Francisco, CA (US), The Great Northern
• 3 Dec – Miami (US), b2b Salute, Raw Cuts, The Ground
• 18 Dec – Bristol (UK), b2b Special Request, Mastery x Glade at Prospect
• 15 Jan 2027 – Johannesburg (ZA), Fabric at Truth Club
• 16 Jan 2027 – Cape Town (ZA), Castle of Good Hope
• 19 Feb 2027 – Paris (FR), Polari at FVTVR
• 5 March 2027 – Melbourne (AU), Royal Botanic Gardens, with The Avalanches
• 6 March 2027 – Brisbane (AU), On The Banks, with The Avalanches
• 7 March 2027 – Sydney (AU), Sydney Opera House, with The Avalanches

About HAAi

HAAi is the stage name of Teneil Throssell, a producer, songwriter and DJ who grew up in Karratha, Western Australia, before moving to the UK to play guitar in the psychedelic rock duo Dark Bells. She began DJing after that band split and held a two-year residency at the London club Phonox from late 2016.

Her debut EP, “Systems Up, Windows Down,” came out on Mute on November 14, 2019. The label released her debut album, “Baby, We’re Ascending,” on May 27, 2022, with guests including Jon Hopkins; Pitchfork wrote that the record was “something bigger, something that transcends the club without turning its back on it.” In 2023, HAAi compiled an edition of the “DJ-Kicks” series for !K7 and released “Lights Out,” a collaboration with Fred again.. and Romy.

Her second album, “HUMANiSE,” followed on Mute on October 10, 2025, preceded by the singles “Can’t Stand To Lose,” “Shapeshift” (with KAM-BU), “Satellite,” “Hey!” and “Stitches.” The album was named to the year-end lists of Rough Trade, Disco Pogo and Resident, and The Quietus described it as “transcendent.” An accompanying concert film, shot at London’s Drumsheds, featured album collaborators Jon Hopkins, Alexis Taylor, Obi Franky, KAM-BU and TRANS VOICES.

“DIGITiSE,” announced in June 2026 and preceded by the singles “Ignition” (feat. Echonomist) and “I Wanna Feel Like Someone” (feat. James Massiah), extends “HUMANiSE’s” themes into a dancefloor-oriented record built from HAAi’s own DJ sets. HAAi was named Beatport’s Artist of the Month over the summer of 2026 and performed a run of shows at London’s Courtyard Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall ahead of the album’s release. “DIGITiSE” is out now on Mute on vinyl, CD and digitally, with HAAi set to tour it through 2026 and into an Australian run with The Avalanches in March 2027.

EBM and synthpop duo Normal Bias released the single and video “Soft Power” on October 9, their first new material since 2024 debut album “Kingdom Come.” The track is the first glimpse of the band’s upcoming album “Ways of Keeping Clean,” due in 2027 via DKA Records.

“Soft Power” is built on hard basslines, layered synths and vocals singer Matt Weiner delivers in a style the band’s press materials describe as “Hutchence-meets-Gahan.” The video, directed by Logan Devlin, combines live performance and stop-motion animation set against 16-bit, painterly desert landscapes with VHS-glitch treatment. Weiner sings in the video while bandmate Chris C performs amid a landscape of melting clocks and de-faced eyes.

Normal Bias on the message behind ‘Soft Power’

The band described the song’s theme in a statement: “‘Soft Power’ confronts the numbing effects of propagandized multimedia addiction that looms over the modern world and enables the worst instincts of our leaders and institutions and leads us further into nowhere and nothing.”

Normal Bias describe their own sound as “equal parts techno synthpop and ruthless venture capital,” wryly calling the project “a pump and dump scheme, mining the most bloodthirsty pieces of decades of electronic music and stripping it for parts.” “Soft Power” is available to stream and watch now. “Ways of Keeping Clean” is expected via DKA Records in 2027.

About Normal Bias

Normal Bias is the duo of Matt Weiner and Chris C, based partly in New York and partly in Atlanta. The band released its debut album “Kingdom Come” in 2024 through DKA and Synthicide, drawing on EBM and synthpop. They have shared stages with Nitzer Ebb, Boy Harsher, Pixel Grip, Buzz Kull, Nuovo Testamento, High Functioning Flesh and Phase Fatale, and are currently touring alongside Spike Hellis.

“Soft Power” marks Normal Bias’ return after “Kingdom Come” and sets up “Ways of Keeping Clean,” the duo’s next full-length, slated for release via DKA Records in 2027.

THIEF, the Los Angeles-based dark electronic project of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Neal, released the single and video “Poison Drum” on October 8. The track follows lead single “Moon and Kill” and is taken from Neal’s new album “Sermons from the Pit,” due November 27 on Prophecy Productions.

“Poison Drum” is available to stream on all digital platforms. “Sermons from the Pit” will be released as a 48-page two-CD hardcover artbook with bonus tracks, as a limited gatefold splatter bone-colored vinyl LP pressed to 250 copies, and as a black vinyl LP.

Dylan Neal on the ‘cathedral clipping’ technique behind ‘Poison Drum’

Neal describes “Poison Drum” as “the ninth stratum of the pit,” drawing on the Sanskrit concept of nirveda, a term for detachment and disillusionment with worldly pursuits. He said: “Its voice is that of a prophet and its technique is a snare. […] Can you hear the sound of the poison drum? This track prominently features a technique used throughout the album that I call ‘cathedral clipping’, where a sound – in this case a synth – is pushed first through a short convolution reverb and then completely obliterated in gain and re-amping.”

Neal recorded and mixed “Sermons from the Pit” himself. Mastering was handled by John Greenham, whose credits include Death Grips and Billie Eilish. The album’s eleven tracks are “Violent Bloom,” “Moon and Kill,” “Axe Swung Ritual,” “Mirror Mirror,” “Sun Slasher,” “Year of the Leech,” “Sermons from the Pit,” “Comet Sorcery,” “Poison Drum,” “Anaphora” and “Closing Scene.”

THIEF announces West Coast tour dates

THIEF will tour the West Coast in support of “Sermons from the Pit,” opening January 14 in Vancouver. Tickets go on sale October 14. Confirmed dates:

January 14 – Vancouver, BC @ Astoria January 15 – Seattle, WA @ Mountain Room January 16 – Portland, OR @ Azoth January 17 – Eugene, OR @ John Henry’s January 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial January 22 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Crepe Place January 23 – Atascadero, CA @ No Quarter

About THIEF

THIEF is the solo studio project of Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist Dylan Neal, who was formerly the hammered dulcimer player in San Francisco experimental black metal band BOTANIST. Neal launched THIEF with “Thieves Hymn in D Minor” in 2016, followed by “Map of Lost Keys” in 2019 and “The 16 Deaths of My Master” in 2021. The same year, THIEF and BOTANIST released the split album “Cicatrix/Diamond Brush.”

Neal has described THIEF’s sound as “Dungeon Pop,” a fusion of trip-hop atmosphere, jungle and drum’n’bass rhythms, industrial textures, glitched choral samples and extreme distortion, built around a signature production approach he calls “cathedral clipping.” The project has been featured by Decibel and NOISEY, and its influences range from Portishead and Ulver to Tool and Nine Inch Nails.

THIEF’s 2024 album “Bleed, Memory” was a deeply personal record; “Sermons from the Pit” turns that introspection toward anger, grief, disillusionment, violence and spiritual questioning, arriving at what Neal describes as the possibility of empathy and release. While THIEF remains a solo studio project, Neal performs the material live with a full band, and will bring “Sermons from the Pit” to the West Coast in January.

Toronto-based producer Andrew Nolan released his new album “Black Dogs” on October 9 through GIVE/TAKE, in collaboration with Justin K Broadrick’s Avalanche Recordings. The ten-track record incorporates industrial dub, hip-hop, drum & bass and downtempo electronic, with contributions from JK FLESH, Metalheadz artist Gremlinz, and Sectra.

“Black Dogs” was mastered by Broadrick, who records as JK FLESH and also leads Godflesh and Jesu. Pre-orders opened on October 2 alongside the lead single “The Skriker of Yorkshire,” a collaboration between Nolan and JK FLESH. “Black Dogs” is available now on CD, cassette and digital through GIVE/TAKE and Avalanche Recordings.

‘Black Dogs’ draws on north English folklore

The album takes its name from the black dogs of English folklore, spectral hounds said to be the spirits of unbaptized babies. Nolan built its soundscapes from animal sounds, junk metal and feedback, citing Coil, Nurse With Wound, Meat Beat Manifesto, Radiophonic Workshop, Scientist and Depth Charge among his reference points, alongside the golden-era British hip-hop of Hijack, Gunshot and Hardnoise.

“The Skriker of Yorkshire” takes its title from a black dog faery hound in English folklore whose shriek announces death. On the collaboration with JK FLESH, Andrew Nolan said: “Despite appearing on multiple records together, Justin and I have only collaborated on one track previously. Much of the direction for ‘Skriker’ came from late night conversations about the UK breakbeat hardcore scene we were both avid followers of in the early 90s. The idea was to use hardware samplers to completely degrade Justin’s material, then rebuild it entirely, keeping the bass intact and chopping overdriven breaks for momentum.”

On the album as a whole, Nolan described it as “a reckless invocation of ill omen. All due respects paid to spectral hounds. Man is still the animal.”

GIVE/TAKE and Avalanche Recordings have been releasing music together as part of an ongoing collaborative series, of which “Black Dogs” is the latest entry. Nolan marked the release with an online Bandcamp listening party and artist chat on October 9.

About Andrew Nolan

Andrew Nolan is a Toronto-based producer who has worked in dark ambient, grindcore, industrial noise, hip-hop and death metal for more than three decades. He began in DIY and underground music as a pirate radio DJ in the north of England before relocating to Canada. Nolan has collaborated with Refused, Full of Hell, The Body, Homemade Weapons, Harms Way and Fatboi Sharif, and recently scored the feature film “Hangashore,” starring James Frecheville and Hera Hilmar.

In 2019, Nolan began merging tape loop, found sound and synth-collage techniques with the hip-hop production work he was also pursuing. “Black Dogs” pairs industrialized dub with the production approach of golden-era British hip-hop. The album is released on GIVE/TAKE in collaboration with Justin K Broadrick’s Avalanche Recordings and follows a run of recent solo work and collaborative releases that have kept Nolan active across multiple corners of underground electronic and metal music.

Side-Line Magazine has opened submissions for “Electronic Bodies 2,” the second volume in its electronic body music compilation series. Bands and artists making EBM and related electro-industrial styles can send in one track for consideration. The compilation will be released as a digital download via Side-Line’s Bandcamp page and promoted through Side-Line and its network of music media and DJs.

The call follows “Electronic Bodies – Session 1”, Side-Line’s first EBM compilation, which brought together established names and lesser-known acts, covering old-school EBM, electro-industrial and more contemporary EBM styles.

What Side-Line is looking for in ‘Electronic Bodies 2’

For this second installment, Side-Line is again looking for bands and artists making EBM, old-school industrial, electro-industrial and related electronic body music. Tracks built around pounding sequencers, aggressive basslines, mechanical rhythms or stripped-down electronic arrangements all fit the brief. New, unsigned and established acts are all welcome; selection is based on the music itself, not the size of an artist’s audience or the number of releases already out.

How to submit a track for ‘Electronic Bodies 2’

Side-Line has set a few rules for submitting material, to be followed closely:

• Send one mastered track in WAV format, selecting the strongest material available.
• Submit it via WeTransfer.com to info@side-line.com; audio files sent as direct email attachments will not be accepted.
• Name the file using the format “Artist – Track Title.wav”.
• Artists must not be affiliated with GEMA, SABAM or similar collecting societies, since their licensing requirements could interfere with the compilation’s release.
• Artists selected for the compilation will be contacted to complete the necessary paperwork.
• Sending a track does not automatically guarantee inclusion; Side-Line will make a selection based on musical direction and the overall balance of the compilation.
• Submission deadline: November 30, 2026.

The artwork accompanying this announcement is provisional and does not represent the final cover of “Electronic Bodies 2.” Side-Line will reveal the official artwork at a later stage.

About the Electronic Bodies series

Side-Line launched the Electronic Bodies series in January 2023, calling for submissions toward an old-school EBM compilation after a reader poll pointed the project at the early-1980s EBM sound of Belgium and its Scandinavian, Spanish and German counterparts, alongside New Beat tracks that fit the same mold. The project reached release on 1 September 2023 as “Electronic Bodies – Session 1,” an 88-track EBM charity compilation spanning EBM, New Beat and more contemporary offshoots, with all donations going to psychological support for Ukrainian soldiers and citizens affected by PTSD. Bernard Van Isacker, Side-Line’s chief editor, compiled the release and discussed the project in more detail with Side-Line ahead of its release. “Electronic Bodies 2” is the second volume in that series, with submissions open now.

German darkwave artist Die Tödin releases a self-titled compilation on 30 October through Heartworm Press, the label founded by Cold Cave’s Wesley Eisold. The collection gathers nine recordings made between 2022 and 2025 and expands on Die Tödin’s earlier “Selected Singles” release on Minimalkombinat.

Die Tödin said the compilation follows a difficult stretch of her life: “The last two years have been very difficult for me, so I want to draw a symbolic line under that period with this release.” She described the collection as a near-complete retrospective, calling it “almost everything Die Tödin has released to date.”

Die Tödin’s self-titled compilation on Heartworm Press

The release comes on white vinyl and on a Black Static vinyl edition limited to 200 copies. Both pressings include an 11-by-17-inch newsprint poster. The tracklist:

1. Ich bin schon tot
2. Angepasste Spießerschweine
3. Wild
4. Gift
5. living that DSBM life
6. Dissonanz des Lebens
7. Im Schatten
8. Verderben
9. La Bruja / Die Geister, die ich rief

About Die Tödin

Die Tödin records as a darkwave artist based in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Her back catalogue includes the “Selected Singles” release on Minimalkombinat, drawn together with other tracks from 2022 to 2025 into the self-titled compilation due 30 October on Cold Cave member Wesley Eisold’s Heartworm Press. The compilation, pressed on white and limited Black Static vinyl, becomes Die Tödin’s most complete release to date.

Zeu, the gothic rock and post-punk project of Matthew Zedolik, releases the singles “Blind Among the Rust” and “Beyond Life and Death” on 8 October through Everything Evaporated. Zedolik writes, plays, records and produces every part of Zeu himself.

Zedolik describes his own sound in cross-genre terms, calling it “’80s-era Springsteen meets Billy Idol, Depeche Mode, and Sisters of Mercy.” The two singles follow Zeu’s full-length album “Existor,” released 17 July 2026 on the same label.

About Zeu

Zeu is the solo project of Matthew Zedolik, based in Wilkes-Barre, in northeastern Pennsylvania. Zedolik started out in teenage metal bands before playing bass in The Ordinals and guitar in American Buffalo Ghost, and later studied recording in New York. As Zeu, he handles writing, performance, recording and production alone. His discography on Everything Evaporated includes the album “Existor” (17 July 2026), followed by the singles “Blind Among the Rust” and “Beyond Life and Death” on 8 October 2026.

XTR Human, the Berlin-based EBM project of Johannes Stabel, releases the single “Fake” on 9 October through Wie Ein Gott Records. The track opens a new series of releases on the label.

“Fake” was recorded at Infinite Power Studios in Los Angeles using an entirely analog signal chain. Matia Simovich produced and mixed the track, with Coleman Ketchem and Grover Greenberg as assistant engineers. Bonati Mastering handled the mastering. The cover photo is credited to Anni Porrasmäki.

XTR Human has a run of North American dates this month, including Denton, Austin, Spokane, Portland and Seattle, before returning to Europe for a show at Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin on 31 October as part of Unterwelt Festival. An appearance at the Belasco in Los Angeles on 24 October is billed as part of the “Substance” night.

About XTR Human

Johannes Stabel has run XTR Human as a solo Berlin project since 2012. Side-Line previously covered the project’s 2023 single “I Want More,” and in 2025 XTR Human contributed a remix to Massive Ego‘s single “Hit the Kerb Running.” Stabel’s catalogue under the XTR Human name includes the albums “G.O.L.D” (2021) and “Schrank” (2024), followed by the “Rave God” EP earlier in 2026, with a remix by Houses of Heaven.

Wie Ein Gott Records launched in Berlin in 2022 with the compilation “VA#01.” “Fake” is XTR Human’s first release on the label and opens a new release series there.

Last year, the Slovak band KIFOTH released their latest album, “Lost Territory”. In essence, it was more of an EP featuring four new tracks, followed by no fewer than nine remixes by other bands. This new album serves as a kind of addendum, revisiting those four tracks—along with an older song that originally appeared on their debut album, “Spectaclebreakers” (1999), and was also remixed on “Lost Territory”. What makes this release particularly interesting, however, is that the Slovak trio has taken on the task of remixing all the tracks themselves.

In total, we get ten remixes, although some could almost be described as completely reworked and reinvented songs. That is not to say they sound radically different; KIFOTH remains, first and foremost, an EBM act—albeit one with a knack for intricate compositions and meticulous attention to detail. This is an intelligent form of EBM with a touch of FLA. The tracks are rich in sounds and effects, with icy tones propelled by powerful rhythms, while the deep, haunting vocals fit the atmosphere perfectly. Naturally, a record like this leaves room for experimentation, which perhaps explains the inclusion of certain orchestral arrangements. The same applies to several remixes featuring female vocals. While this is a new direction for KIFOTH, it creates a delightful contrast with their established sound.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a highly successful experiment, as the album is certainly just as good as “Lost Territory”—if not better. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Cowards – Dark Factory”:

About KIFOTH

KIFOTH formed in Slovakia in 1993 as Kneel In Front Of The Hangman, later renamed Kneel In Front Of The Executioner, built around K-head on music and mirColon on vocals. The duo played its first show in the summer of 1994 at the “Young Apollo” festival. KIFOTH self-released its debut album, “Spectaclebreakers,” in 1999, then moved to Out Of Line for two albums and to Vendetta Music for two more. “Violence Corporation” followed in 2010; a seven-year hiatus preceded “Extensive Report” on EK Product in 2017. Aliens Production announced “Artificial Territory” in June 2026, following the label’s “Lost Territory” release earlier that year.

New York-based musician Edley ODowd, formerly of Psychic TV, will release his second solo album, “Kowai-Yet,” on November 26, 2026 via the French label Arsenic Solaris. The ambient and experimental record follows his 2022 debut, “F(our)-Ward,” and arrives on vinyl and digital, with the Pink LP edition limited to 200 copies.

ODowd recorded “Kowai-Yet” over three years in multiple locations. The album brings together material he made with collaborators he has worked with since leaving New York City to live closer to nature five years ago. The seven-track record shifts from the sound-collage approach of “F(our)-Ward” toward a more emotional register. “Where F(our)-Ward was more about sound collage, Kowai-Yet is about emotion,” ODowd says. “It’s infused with joy as well as a heaping dose of sadness.”

The album’s title traces back to a single word. Describing a drive home on a summer night, ODowd recalls the sound of crickets against his car tires on humid pavement as both “sinister but compelling.” The Japanese word “kowai,” meaning “scary,” came to him first. At a stop sign, as the air went still, “quiet” followed, and the two merged into “Kowai-yet.”

Individual tracks trace separate origins. “Heat” took shape through an improvised studio session in Los Angeles with engineer Joo Joo Ashworth, built from a drum pattern and expanded with analog electronics set against ODowd’s backwards saxophone. “Again” began as a more traditional song ODowd wrote alone. British musician Gore Tech later added a sharper beat, two guitarists contributed parts, and singer Zoah, whom ODowd met at a coffee shop along the Delaware River, added vocals and lyrics. “Arbiter” reworks stems ODowd had originally recorded for an unfinished song about his friend Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. Its choruses use samples recorded during a 2000 trip to Nepal with Lady Jaye and Genesis P-Orridge, manipulated into the track. His Problem Addict collaborator Andrew Mann closes the song with guitar feedback.

“Kowai-Yet” tracklist: 1. “Jamesey” 2. “Arbiter” 3. “Again” 4. “(Bruce Was) Kicked Out Of The Band” 5. “Heat” 6. “Sunrise” 7. “You’ll Never Know”

Kowai-Yet release details

“Kowai-Yet” is out November 26, 2026 via Arsenic Solaris as a digital album and a Pink LP limited to 200 copies. Both are available to pre-order on Bandcamp, where the track “Heat” is streaming now. Photo credits: Trevor Gregory.

About Edley ODowd

Edley ODowd grew up in the suburbs outside New York City and moved to Manhattan in the late 1980s, shortly after finishing high school. He got his start on a secondhand drum kit his mother bought him at a garage sale when he was 13. During a semester abroad in London in 1991, he joined the shoegaze band The Butterflies. Back in New York, he played drums and DJed for Toilet Boys, a band that wound down after a major European tour supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In 2003, ODowd was instrumental in reviving Psychic TV, persuading Genesis P-Orridge to perform again. The reunited band’s first show took place at The Coral Room in New York City on December 5, 2003. ODowd founded the label Angry Love Productions after a self-funded Psychic TV EP sold out its 230 copies within two weeks. The “PTV3” lineup of Psychic TV played its final show on November 15, 2018.

Alongside music, ODowd has worked as a graphic designer for major labels since 1993, taught courses at several universities in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and worked as a mental health counselor, including as a front-line worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ODowd released his debut solo album, “F(our)-Ward,” as a self-released, ultra-limited cassette via Flesh Prison/DeathBed Tapes in 2022. Side-Line covered its expanded reissue, “F(our) ward,” released as a trifold-sleeved CD with three bonus tracks via the Italian label 13 on February 23, 2023. That same year, ODowd formed the death rock band Scorpion Tea with Christian Cruz, singer Anthony Diaz and bassist Fern Puma, signing to the label GIVE/TAKE. Side-Line covered the band’s debut single, “Scarlet Misquote,” in June 2023, ahead of the band’s self-titled debut album.

ODowd now lives about an hour’s drive from New York City, where he continues to split his time between graphic design clients, band rehearsals and recording. “Kowai-Yet,” his second solo album, is set for release on November 26, 2026 via Arsenic Solaris.

Israeli gothic metal band Fatum Aeternum has rebuilt “P.W.Y.P.” for a streaming release, bringing the track back from their 2012 EP “The Sermon.” The self-released single went out digitally on 25 September 2026.

The new version keeps the original ’80s glam-rooted guitar riff while adding aggressive male vocals, a female counter voice, cello and a full gospel choir. Where the 2012 recording leaned on social commentary, the rebuilt arrangement expands it into a more layered, theatrical gothic sound the band describes as a dark sermon.

“P.W.Y.P.” is the second single in Fatum Aeternum’s renewed run of releases, following the comeback single “As Above, So Below” on 25 August 2026. That single introduced a new six-piece lineup – Steve Gershin, Evelyn Shor Gershin, Dr. Joe, Victor Grassiano, Max Datskovsky and Mark Muzykant – which also plays on “P.W.Y.P.”

The track was recorded at Lodge Studios in Northampton, UK. Denis Saenko handled mixing and mastering, with additional mixing by Gershin; Tayo Olawepo arranged and recorded the choir. The band’s promotional materials cite Lacrimosa, Therion and Haggard as reference points.

“P.W.Y.P.” is available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, Deezer and SoundCloud.

About Fatum Aeternum

Fatum Aeternum formed in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2006, built around Steve Gershin on mandolin, bass and vocals, alongside Ze’ev Gut on fiddle and vocals and Olga Braverman on flute and vocals. The group’s first full lineup added Ilya Surnin on drums, Dan Yoffe on guitar and Rivka Aizenberg on viola, playing a self-described “renaissance metal” blend of folk and metal.

Braverman left in 2007 and Gut in 2008, staying on as a guest musician as the band shifted toward a heavier, more electrified sound. Gershin considered disbanding the group in 2009 and recorded a memorial album of earlier material instead; Evelyn Shor Gershin joined permanently around the same time, stabilising the lineup. The band re-recorded its debut album “This Dream Is Dead” several times before releasing it on CD in 2011.

On 24 September 2011, Fatum Aeternum played the 12th Children of the Night Gothic Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, its first show outside Israel, sharing the bill with Waves Under Water and Diary of Dreams. The video for “Apocalypse Now” followed on YouTube in April 2012 and aired on MTV Israel’s “Headbangers Ball” that June. The band self-released the EP “The Sermon” in September 2012, recorded at Lodge Studios in Northampton, UK, and opened for Apoptygma Berzerk the same month before going on hiatus in 2013.

Gershin and Evelyn Shor Gershin rebuilt the lineup with George Falk and Igor May in 2014, releasing the single “One Bastard” that April and the maxi-single “The Pain” later the same year. The EP “The Darkest Hour” followed in 2015, then “Mass Suicide of Human Race” in 2017 and “Singing Songs of Desperation” in 2020.

Fatum Aeternum returned in 2026 after a three-year gap, a pause the band’s own site attributes to health issues within the group. The comeback single “As Above, So Below” arrived on 25 August 2026 with a new six-piece lineup of Gershin, Evelyn Shor Gershin, Dr. Joe, Victor Grassiano, Max Datskovsky and Mark Muzykant. “P.W.Y.P.,” a rebuilt version of the 2012 “The Sermon” track, follows as the second single in that renewed run.

David J, a co-founder, bassist and co-songwriter of the post-punk bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, releases the single “Requiem for the Rose Garden” on 51 Recordings on 8 October 2026. The song is a protest aimed at the Trump administration, built around the White House Rose Garden as a target that is both symbolic and literal. It is the first track confirmed from J’s new album “Postcards from the Afterlife,” due 27 November on double LP, CD and digital formats.

David J on ‘Requiem for the Rose Garden’

J points to physical changes made at the White House since Donald Trump’s first term in office when he explains the song. “It’s basically a protest about Trump’s administration and the atrocities it has visited upon the USA,” he said. “In the context of the song, the Rose Garden at the White House can be seen as a symbolic metaphor, although it is also quite literal. I actually wrote it during Trump’s first term in office when he had that beautiful garden hacked up. Now, even more horror has been inflicted on it of course, and the elegant East Wing of the building completely decimated which is also highly symbolic.”

The backing band on the track is Duende, a Detroit-based group J has worked with extensively in the past. “Requiem for the Rose Garden” streams on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer and Pandora via davidjhaskins.com.

‘Postcards from the Afterlife’ due in November on 51 Recordings

“Postcards from the Afterlife” is a 14-song album featuring a revolving cast of musicians and numerous autobiographical references. J sums up its themes as circling the same idea from several angles: “essentially about the poignant persistence of connection, be it in life or in death. Schisms and transitions. Love found and love lost. Requiems, reflection and revelation.”

Several tracks carry string arrangements, including a finale recorded with members of the Prague Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras. The rest of the album moves between soulful material, hazy 1960s orchestral pop, European-style chanson and the alternative rock territory J is best known for. “Postcards from the Afterlife” is released on double LP, CD and digital on 27 November.

Tour dates for David J

David J tours the UK through December 2026, with additional shows in Portugal, Germany and Greece around the “Postcards from the Afterlife” release.

• 27 November – Porto, Portugal
• 28 November – Lisbon, Portugal
• 1 December – London, UK – Moth Club
• 2 December – Reading, UK – Face Bar
• 4 December – Hebden Bridge, UK – Trades Club
• 5 December – Liverpool, UK – Rough Trade
• 8 December – Edinburgh, UK – The Voodoo Rooms
• 9 December – Glasgow, UK – Stereo
• 10 December – Newcastle, UK – The Cluny
• 11 December – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
• 13 December – Brighton, UK – Daltons
• 15 December – Athens, Greece – Death Disco
• 17 December – Berlin, Germany – Frannz Club

About David J

David J, born David John Haskins on 24 April 1957 in Northampton, England, co-founded Bauhaus in 1978, playing bass and co-writing songs including the group’s debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” He sang lead vocals on “Who Killed Mr Moonlight?” Bauhaus split in 1983 and has reformed periodically since.

Before Love and Rockets, J spent two years as bassist and co-producer for The Jazz Butcher, led by Pat Fish, working on the albums “A Scandal in Bohemia” (1984) and “Sex and Travel” (1985). He formed Love and Rockets in 1985 with fellow former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash and his younger brother Kevin Haskins, playing bass and sharing vocals and songwriting across seven albums released between 1985 and 1998. Both bands have reformed at intervals since their original breakups.

J maintained a solo career alongside both bands. He released “Etiquette of Violence” in 1983, “Crocodile Tears and the Velvet Cosh” in 1985 and the singles compilation “On Glass” in 1986. His 1990 album “Songs from Another Season” produced the single “I’ll Be Your Chauffeur,” which reached number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. “Urban Urbane” followed in 1992, then “Estranged” in 2003, “Not Long for This World” in 2011 and “An Eclipse of Ships” in 2014. His memoir, “Who Killed Mister Moonlight? (Bauhaus, Black Magick and Benediction),” was published by Jawbone Press in 2014.

In 2019 J released the double LP “Missive to an Angel From the Halls of Infamy and Allure.” Side-Line covered the album’s single “I Only Hear Silence Now,” featuring Emily Jane White, alongside a run of 2020 tour dates that included Bauhaus shows at Primavera Sound and Release Athens Festival. “What The Patrons Heard,” a ten-track set of originals and covers recorded over 34 years and first issued to Patreon subscribers, followed on CD and digital on 25 March 2022, with a limited numbered vinyl edition.

J’s triple album of archival demos, “Tracks from the Attic,” was announced in February 2024 and released that year. He self-released the spoken-word album “The Mother Tree,” recorded with the band RAQIA, on 6 June 2025. He returned to the “Tracks from the Attic” material in March 2026 with a companion album, “Tracks From the Attic Revisited,” which Side-Line discussed with him the following month in the interview “David J Opens the Attic.”

This month’s single and the album that follows continue that run of archival and new recordings.

English musician Bruce Gilbert, a founding member of Wire, plays a solo live set at Café OTO in London on Friday 9 October 2026. The night is billed as “The Hotel presents…” and also features Rocheman and performance artist Finn Kennedy. Doors are at 7:30pm, with tickets priced from £13 for Café OTO members up to £20 on the door, available through the venue.

The show is The Hotel’s third evening at Café OTO in 2026. Gilbert’s set previews a new album due from The Hotel later this year. Test pressings of the as-yet-unannounced record will be sold at the merch table.

Finn Kennedy premieres a newly commissioned piece titled “Streams.” Rocheman closes the night with a full band set, performing as a quartet with Fred Lomas on lead guitar, Tom Powell on drums and Tom Wright on keyboards. Rocheman’s second album, “Basin,” was released on vinyl by The Hotel earlier in 2026, following the EPs “Angel Storm” and “Virtua Saint” on Mindseyerecords.xyz. The self-directed feature film “Taurus,” due in 2027, is among the artist’s forthcoming work.

Tickets for The Hotel at Café OTO

Tickets cost £13 for Café OTO members, £17 in advance and £20 on the door, available through the venue’s event page.

About Bruce Gilbert

Bruce Gilbert, born Bruce Clifford Gilbert on 18 May 1946 in Watford, England, co-founded Wire in London in 1976 alongside Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Gotobed, playing guitar in the band until he left in 2004, following the release of the album “Send.”

After Wire’s first breakup in 1980, Gilbert formed a series of projects with bassist Graham Lewis, including Cupol, Dome, P’o and Duet Emmo. Side-Line covered the 2022 remastered reissue of Duet Emmo’s sole album, “Or So It Seems,” Gilbert’s trio recording with Lewis and Daniel Miller. Gilbert also worked with A.C. Marias, producing the single “Drop/So” in 1980 for the group’s Dome label and co-producing the 1989 album “One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing),” sharing songwriting credit with Angela Conway.

Gilbert’s solo albums include “This Way” (1984), “The Shivering Man” (1987) and “Ab Ovo” (1996), all released on Mute, followed by “Ordier” (2004), “Oblivio Agitatum” (2009, Editions Mego) and “Diluvial” (2013, Touch), a collaboration with BAW. He also performs as a DJ under the name DJ Beekeeper.

Wire continued without Gilbert after his departure, releasing the mini-album “Nocturnal Koreans” in 2016. Gilbert now appears at Café OTO as part of The Hotel’s third London show of 2026, ahead of a new album the label is set to release later this year.

German-Finnish futurepop duo PLATRONiC will release the three-track EP “The Emperor’s New Clothes” on 16 October 2026, with three new takes on their March single “Fortress of Fools.”

The song started with a poem written by Kay Burden, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Kay originally had a storytelling ballad in mind. Then Sami Jumppanen presented her with a considerably more danceable instrumental, and “Fortress of Fools” became something else entirely.

PLATRONiC build three new versions of ‘Fortress of Fools’

For the new EP, they have gone back to the song and, appropriately enough, given it three new “dresses.”

The first, “The Dark Electro Country Dress,” is a collaboration with On Moral Ends, the Linköping-based electronic project of Swedish songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Andreas Svensson. His work moves through different electronic and alternative styles, making the collaboration a rather unusual match for PLATRONiC’s futurepop side.

For “The Synthpop Mashup Dress,” PLATRONiC worked with Finnish keyboardist, producer and remixer Imppu from Lahti. His work stretches from danceable synthpop to more cinematic electronic sounds, and he has also created remixes and reworks for former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür.

The third version stays with Kay and Sami themselves: “The Dark Medieval Gothic Dress.”

According to PLATRONiC, “Fortress of Fools” spent several weeks in the Top 10 of both the Klangwald Charts and GEWC following its release earlier this year. The track reached #8 in the Klangwald Charts.

The video for “Fortress of Fools” was filmed in Savonlinna, Finland, and Alicante, Spain, and was created and produced by PLATRONiC.

PLATRONiC formed in 2020 and consists of German singer-songwriter and co-producer Kay Burden and Finnish composer and producer Sami Jumppanen. Side-Line readers may also know the duo from “How To Ride The Wave,” which appeared earlier this year on Side-Line’s The Freya Files Ukraine benefit compilation.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” tracklist: 1. “Fortress of Fools – The Dark Electro Country Dress” (PLATRONiC & On Moral Ends) 2. “Fortress of Fools – The Synthpop Mashup Dress” (PLATRONiC & Imppu) 3. “Fortress of Fools – The Dark Medieval Gothic Dress” (PLATRONiC)

Before the three new “dresses” arrive, “Fortress of Fools” already has its own visual counterpart.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes” is available to pre-save via DistroKid ahead of its 16 October release.

About PLATRONiC

PLATRONiC released the single “Now!” in June 2022, followed by the EP “The Healing” in April 2023 and a cover of Depeche Mode’s “The Things You Said” that August. A reworked version of their debut single “Pride” followed in June 2024, then the winter single “Winter Stores” that December. In March 2025, they released the teaser video for “How to Ride the Wave,” and in December 2025 contributed a cover of Depeche Mode’s “But Not Tonight” to the “In Your Memory 2” tribute compilation.

“Fortress of Fools” followed in March 2026 as the duo’s most recent original single, ahead of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” EP arriving on 16 October.

Cleopatra Records will issue “Drink the New Wine”, the last studio recording by post-punk and goth rock band Bauhaus, as a 12-inch vinyl single on 30 October 2026. The pressing comes in three hand-numbered, etched color variants – white, silver and red – capped at 150 copies each, for a total of 450.

Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins recorded the track separately during COVID-19 lockdown. The four traded audio files using the surrealist “exquisite corpse” method the band had used before. Bauhaus released it digitally in March 2022, its first new song since the 2008 album “Go Away White.”

No Bauhaus recording has followed. Ash confirmed in April 2023 that the band’s reunion had ended, with the surviving members reforming Love and Rockets.

‘Drink the New Wine’: a lockdown recording now on hand-numbered vinyl

Ash describes the track as typical of the band’s more playful side. “I always loved it when Bauhaus would go into art fart mode. Truly liberating and FUN!” he said.

Cleopatra Records calls the release “a music artifact […] created for the most dedicated Bauhaus fans and collectors.”

Side A of the single holds “Drink the New Wine.” Side B is etched with a reproduction of the Bauhaus logo and carries no audio.

Each copy is individually hand-numbered, one color per customer, with no repressing planned once the 450 copies sell out. The single is available for pre-order through Cleopatra Records ahead of the 30 October release.

About Bauhaus

Small Wonder Records released Bauhaus’s debut single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” in August 1979, a year after Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J (David John Haskins) and his younger brother Kevin Haskins formed the band in Northampton, England. The single arrived before goth existed as a named scene.

Four studio albums followed in four years on 4AD and Beggars Banquet: “In the Flat Field” (1980), “Mask” (1981), “The Sky’s Gone Out” (1982) and “Burning from the Inside” (1983). Bauhaus split on 5 July 1983, a week before “Burning from the Inside” reached shops.

The pioneering band reunited for a 1998 tour and again from 2005 to 2008, a run that produced a fifth album, “Go Away White” (2008, Cooking Vinyl), released without a supporting tour. Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins had already carried their partnership into Love and Rockets, formed in 1985, and into separate solo careers. David J’s catalog includes the albums “Etiquette of Violence” and “Songs from Another Season,” plus a 2014 memoir, “Who Killed Mister Moonlight?”

The four original members reunited again in 2019, announcing Peter Murphy’s first live date with Bauhaus after a heart attack ahead of shows at the Hollywood Palladium that November. A further reunion tour followed in 2022, covering Europe and the US West Coast.

Months after the band released “Drink the New Wine,” Murphy’s rehab admission forced it to cancel the rest of its North American tour that August. Ash ended the reunion in April 2023, and the surviving trio returned to Love and Rockets.

David J has stayed active since. He revisited his own archive on the album ‘Tracks From the Attic Revisited’ and discussed the project earlier this year in a Side-Line interview.

This is the first time “Drink the New Wine” has been pressed to a physical format.

Finnish electropunk duo I Think I Broke Something releases the single “Decadence” on 7 October 2026. The track is the third single from the duo’s upcoming EP “Another Escape,” due November 5, and the release will be marked with a show at Semifinal in Helsinki the same day.

The band calls “Decadence” one of its most accessible tracks to date: “In our world, Decadence is a fairly straightforward electro-industrial punk track. You could describe it as a collision between Viagra Boys and The Prodigy, while still doing its own weird thing in its own universe. It’s probably one of the most radio-friendly tracks we’ve ever made.”

“Decadence” follows “Illegal,” released August 6, and “Heads Up,” released September 9, as the third single from “Another Escape” ahead of the EP’s November 5 release. “Decadence” is available as a digital single on Bandcamp and Spotify.

About I Think I Broke Something

I Think I Broke Something, also known as ITIBS, is a Helsinki-based duo made up of Jouni and Miika, active since 2014. The project debuted with the EP “Superman Sabotage Clan” and has since released three full-length albums, including “Still Not Going To,” announced for an October 26, 2022 release as the duo’s third LP, alongside numerous singles and remixes through various labels.

That album cycle included the singles “Astral,” released September 2022, “Corpse,” released April 2023, and “Raw,” released July 2023. ITIBS describes its sound as a distorted electronic hybrid that draws on The Prodigy, 3TEETH and Nine Inch Nails and mixes explosive electronics with metal-heavy weight. The duo lists collaborations with The Prodigy’s Maxim, DJ Hyper and Zardonic.

“Decadence,” released October 7, follows “Illegal” and “Heads Up” as the third single from the EP “Another Escape,” due November 5 alongside the band’s release show at Semifinal in Helsinki.

Town & Towers Records releases Purwien & Kowa‘s new single “Italo-disco in San Francisco” on 9 October 2026, ahead of the German synth-pop duo’s sixth studio album, “Sechs,” due 23 October on the same label.

The digital single carries four tracks: German and English versions of “Italo-disco in San Francisco,” an extended “Irgendwas ist immer (12″ Mix)” and a combined “German English Mashup 12″ mix” of the title track. Both language versions of the lyrics string together a run of 1980s references, naming figures including Lady Diana, Mikhail Gorbachev, Blondie, Phil Collins, Falco and Michael Jackson alongside songs such as “Blue Monday,” “Tainted Love,” “Like a Virgin,” “Take On Me,” “99 Luftballons,” “Forever Young” and “The Final Countdown.”

“Italo-disco in San Francisco” mixes Italo disco, synthpop, New Wave and EBM, and follows the singles “Concorde” and “Hinter Glas” as the third preview of “Sechs.”

About Purwien & Kowa

Purwien & Kowa is a German synth-pop duo based in Dortmund formed by Christian Purwien and Thomas Kowa. Purwien co-founded the electronic/darkwave act Second Decay in 1987, initially under the name Blue Velvet, together with Andreas Michael Sippel. Second Decay released the tape “Monochromes” in 1988 and the 12-inch “Killing Desire” in 1989, followed by “La Décadence Électronique” on CD in 1992, the “Hinter Glas” maxi-CD in 1993 and the album “Taste” in 1994. The band continued with “Der Nerv” in 1995, “Familiar” in 1997, “The Hunt” and “De Luxe” in 1998, “Hotels” in 1999 and “Kaltes, weißes Licht” in 2001, before pausing new material after the 2002 live release “Zwischenfall 1999.”

Thomas Kowa, born Thomas Kowalzik in 1969 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, joined the German synth-pop band No Comment in 1989 and has lived in Switzerland since 2007. He founded the label Nanopop in 2001, closing it in 2007 to focus on writing. Since 2012 he has published a series of crime novels and thrillers. His other current music projects include Nine Seconds and Emily Kinski’s dead.

Purwien and Kowa began recording together as Purwien & Kowa, releasing the three-EP digital set “Drei” via Zwei Records in October 2018. The duo also co-hosts the Disko 80 podcast, which covers 1980s music and has featured more than 100 episodes with guests including Joachim Witt, Bernhard Lloyd of Alphaville and Marcus Meyn of Camouflage. Kowa separately co-hosts the “Krimi Schweiz” podcast on Swiss crime fiction. Purwien and Kowa also record together as Heldautomat, whose own single “Liebe ist endlich” reached Town & Towers Records on the same day as “Italo-disco in San Francisco.” The duo performed at the 18th Elektrisch Festival in 2026. Purwien & Kowa returned this year with the singles “Concorde,” “Hinter Glas” and “Italo-disco in San Francisco,” ahead of their sixth studio album, “Sechs,” produced by Olaf Wollschläger and due 23 October 2026 via Town & Towers Records.

Town & Towers Records releases Heldautomat‘s new single “Liebe ist endlich” on October 9, 2026. It is the third single from the Dortmund, Germany duo’s debut album “Zwischen den Lichtern”, due October 23 on the same label.

“Liebe ist endlich” (“Love is finite”) opens with a slow synthesizer introduction before settling into a synth-pop arrangement, with Christian Purwien’s vocals staying restrained throughout. The refrain states its theme directly: “Liebe ist endlich / Sie ist leider vergänglich” (“Love is finite / Unfortunately, it is transient”). Heldautomat describe the track on Bandcamp as a song with “no metaphors, no way out, no redemption. Just the quiet realisation that things come to an end.”

Purwien writes the lyrics and sings. Kowa plays the synthesizers. Olaf Wollschläger produced the single.

Club mix and video for ‘Liebe ist endlich’

The digital release also includes a “Videomix” of the duo’s first single, “Am ersten Tag”, and a club mix of “Liebe ist endlich” produced by Purwien & Kowa, Purwien and Kowa’s other recording project. Heldautomat also posted an official video for “Liebe ist endlich” on YouTube. “Liebe ist endlich” is open for digital pre-order on Bandcamp.

About Heldautomat

Heldautomat is the Dortmund, Germany duo of Christian Purwien and Thomas Kowa, working with analogue synthesizers, piano and a drum machine alongside Purwien’s vocals. Purwien co-founded Second Decay in Witten in 1987 with Andreas Michael Sippel, after the pair had performed as Blue Velvet from 1985. Second Decay recorded entirely on analogue synthesizers and released albums including “Taste” (1994) and “The Hunt” (1998) before going quiet after 2002.

Emmo.Biz Records has since reissued “The Hunt” on green double vinyl and “Taste” on a second double-LP edition.

Purwien and Kowa also record together as Purwien & Kowa, a project with five albums behind it and a sixth, “Sechs”, in the works. The duo played the 18th Elektrisch Festival on February 27, 2026, in a set drawn 70 percent from Second Decay material.

Heldautomat released its debut single, “Am ersten Tag“, on May 15, 2026. “Anders Sein” followed on August 14, reworking a song Sippel and Purwien wrote for Second Decay’s “Taste” in 1994. “Liebe ist endlich” is the third single, and precedes the October 23 album “Zwischen den Lichtern”, produced throughout by Olaf Wollschläger and including a cover of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Hurt”. A vinyl edition of the album, limited to 100 hand-signed copies, is available alongside the digital release.

Marilyn Manson’s second studio album, “Antichrist Superstar,” turns 30 this year. The band released the record on 8 October 1996 through Nothing and Interscope Records. A rock opera and concept album, it followed 1994’s “Portrait of an American Family” and the 1995 EP “Smells Like Children,” and was recorded over roughly eight months at Nothing Studios in New Orleans.

The album was produced by Marilyn Manson together with Trent Reznor, Dave Ogilvie and Sean Beavan, with Ogilvie departing partway through the sessions and Beavan brought in to finish the record with the band. Guitarist Daisy Berkowitz left the group during recording and was replaced by Zim Zum shortly after the album’s completion, with bassist Twiggy Ramirez performing the majority of the guitar parts. The 16-track CD, split into three sections titled “The Heirophant,” “Inauguration of the Worm” and “Disintegrator Rising,” runs “Irresponsible Hate Anthem,” “The Beautiful People,” “Dried Up, Tied and Dead to the World,” “Tourniquet,” “Little Horn,” “Cryptorchid,” “Deformography,” “Wormboy,” “Mister Superstar,” “Angel with the Scabbed Wings,” “Kinderfeld,” “Antichrist Superstar,” “1996,” “Minute of Decay,” “The Reflecting God” and “Man That You Fear,” followed by a hidden track, “Empty Sounds of Hate.” Album artwork was designed by P. R. Brown using photography by Dean Karr.

“Antichrist Superstar” debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and has sold close to two million copies in the United States. Lead single “The Beautiful People” preceded the album on 22 September 1996 and reached number 26 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, followed by second single “Tourniquet” on 8 September 1997, which peaked at number 28 in the UK. The album is the first installment of a trilogy the band completed with “Mechanical Animals” (1998) and “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” (2000), and was supported by the year-long Dead to the World Tour.

About Marilyn Manson

Marilyn Manson formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1989, when singer Brian Warner – who took the stage name Marilyn Manson – paired with guitarist Scott Putesky, known as Daisy Berkowitz. Performing initially as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, the group built a South Florida following through theatrical live shows, with a lineup that came to include bassist Brad Stewart (Gidget Gein), keyboardist Stephen Bier (Madonna Wayne Gacy) and drummer Fred Streithorst (Sara Lee Lucas). In 1993, Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor signed the band as the first act on his Nothing Records label and produced their debut album, “Portrait of an American Family,” released on 19 July 1994. The “Smells Like Children” EP followed in 1995, featuring a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”; Jeordie White, performing as Twiggy Ramirez, had by then replaced Gein on bass.

“Antichrist Superstar” followed on 8 October 1996, co-produced by Reznor, Marilyn Manson, Dave Ogilvie and Sean Beavan, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 behind lead single “The Beautiful People.” The album’s success coincided with the departure of founding guitarist Daisy Berkowitz and the arrival of Zim Zum, and the band supported the record with the Dead to the World Tour. The group’s next album, “Mechanical Animals,” arrived on 15 September 1998, followed by “Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)” in 2000, closing out the self-described triptych that “Antichrist Superstar” opened. Thirty years after its release, the album remains the first chapter of that trilogy.

Front Line Assembly’s “Epitaph” turns 25 this year. Metropolis Records released the electro-industrial and EBM album on 8 October 2001, the eleventh full-length studio album by the Vancouver band led by Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson. The record marked Front Line Assembly‘s return to Metropolis Records after the band left the label in October 1999.

“Epitaph” runs ten tracks and 54:57, recorded at Cryogenic Studio and produced by Leeb and Peterson. Greg Reely handled mixing and engineering, Brian Gardner mastered the album, and Dave McKean supplied the artwork and design. The tracklist runs “Haloed”, “Dead Planet”, “Backlash”, “Epitaph”, “Everything Must Perish”, “Conscience”, “Decoy”, “Insolence”, “Krank It Up” and “Existance”, the last of which folds in the hidden track “Submerged” after a minute of silence. Metropolis also issued a digipak edition limited to 25,000 copies carrying that bonus track. “Everything Must Perish”, released 11 September 2001, was the only single taken from the album. Bill Leeb told Side-Line at the time that “Epitaph” broke with the band’s earlier reliance on film dialogue samples: “This is the first time we quit using movie samples.” He added: “Sampling is an artform which was criticised in the beginning, but now it’s a respected artform with big money in it. It’s a big business where I don’t feel at ease any longer.” Artoffact Records re-released ‘Epitaph’ on limited edition vinyl in 2015.

About Front Line Assembly

Bill Leeb founded Front Line Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy, where he had performed under the stage name Wilhelm Schroeder. Rhys Fulber worked with Leeb from the same period as an early, unofficial collaborator, and Michael Balch became an official member on keyboards and programming in 1988. The band’s debut album, “The Initial Command”, came out on the Belgian label KK at the end of 1987, followed by “State of Mind” on the German label Dossier in January 1988 and “Corrosion” the same year, licensed to Wax Trax! for North America. Balch left after the Gashed Senses & Crossfire tour in 1989 to join Ministry and Revolting Cocks, and Fulber stepped in as an official member. “Gashed Senses & Crossfire” (1989) gave the band its first chart entry, with “Digital Tension Dementia” reaching No. 45 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs.

“Caustic Grip” followed in 1990, the album that began Front Line Assembly’s long-running partnership with mixer and engineer Greg Reely and introduced more guitar-driven material. Chris Peterson debuted as a live percussionist on the accompanying tour before later becoming a full-time member. “Tactical Neural Implant” (1992) brought a more melodic, sample-heavy direction, and “Millennium” (1994) became the band’s first industrial metal record, featuring session guitar from Devin Townsend, who also played on “Hard Wired” (1995). Fulber left in 1997 to concentrate on producing Fear Factory, and Peterson took over his role as the band moved toward the electronica and big-beat leanings of “[FLA]vour of the Weak” (1997) and “Implode” (1999). In October 1999 the band left Metropolis Records; “Epitaph”, produced by Leeb and Peterson and issued on 8 October 2001, marked its return to that label. Peterson departed after finishing work on the album, and Fulber rejoined in 2003 for “Civilization” (2004).

Beyond the main discography, Leeb has led the side project Delerium since 1987, and members have worked on Noise Unit, Conjure One (Fulber), Cyberaktif (Leeb with Skinny Puppy’s cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel) and other spin-offs. Front Line Assembly went on to release “Artificial Soldier” (2006), “Improvised Electronic Device” (2010), “Echogenetic” (2013), “Wake Up the Coma” (2019) and “Mechanical Soul” (2021), the last featuring guest appearances from Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front 242 and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory. The band caught up with Side-Line on the state of the group in 2024, with Leeb and Fulber both still in the current lineup. “Epitaph” remains the band’s eleventh studio album and, twenty-five years on, the record that reopened its relationship with Metropolis Records.

Three years after its 2023 singles “Purgatory” and “Lifeline,” Los Angeles futurepop act State Of The Union has released a new single, When Daylight Dies, out October 5, 2026 on Bandcamp.

State Of The Union is the solo project of Johann Sebastian. On the new single, he said he hopes it “connects with you, and we look forward to sharing more music with you soon.”

“When Daylight Dies” is available as a digital single on Bandcamp.

About State Of The Union

State Of The Union is a Los Angeles electronic industrial and futurepop project fronted by Johann Sebastian, with drummer Jimmy Nimra contributing to past studio releases. The project’s prior full-length, “Impendum,” came out in 2004. State Of The Union signed to Infacted Recordings and released the digital EP “Mindless” in November 2018, followed by the CD album “Indupop” and the digital EP “Industrial Slither / Remixes” in early 2019, and the EP “Bad Flower” in 2020, all on Infacted Recordings.

The project went quiet for three years before returning with the singles “Purgatory” in August 2023 and “Lifeline” in October 2023. With “When Daylight Dies,” State Of The Union returns for the first time since that pair of 2023 singles, and Johann Sebastian has signaled more music to come.

Berkeley, California spoken word industrial artist Ms Xxan released the two-track single shaper of decrepitude. on October 5, 2026, through her own Bandcamp page. The single pairs its title track with “ghosted.” and follows her spoken word dark ambient album “Make Yourself the Lie” by less than a month.

Ms Xxan wrote, performed, composed and produced both tracks herself. The release pairs spoken-word vocals with doom-paced, noise-industrial production in the death-industrial and harsh-noise register that runs through her catalogue. She flags the single with a content warning for lyrics that may affect mental health sensitivities.

“shaper of decrepitude.” is available as a digital single on Bandcamp.

About Ms Xxan

Ms Xxan writes, performs and produces spoken word and industrial noise music from Berkeley, California. She released the nine-track spoken word dark ambient album “Make Yourself the Lie” on September 8, 2026, as a free, name-your-price download via VūMantra Records, the Berlin label founded in 2019 by Vince Gagliardi, who also records as The Nent and LAGÁN. That album carried a content warning for explicit lyrics addressing depression, and the same material also circulates as a podcast on Apple Podcasts and Audiomack. Ms Xxan handles writing, performance, composition and production on her own across both releases. With “shaper of decrepitude.”, she returned to self-releasing directly on Bandcamp, pairing the title track with “ghosted.” as a quick follow-up to the VūMantra album.

This third album from the mysterious Swiss duo Blackbook was released just before the summer and brings us a total of 12 new tracks.

I have always been somewhat intrigued by this act. While their music sounds superb, it is invariably driven by massive clichés and often seems almost literally ‘lifted’ from existing songs. With “Different”, they remain true to their 80s Electro-Wave/Pop influences, yet the tracks sound somewhat more personal this time around. It may be a cliché, but the way they develop their sound—consistently delivering strong choruses—is remarkable. Every single track sounds danceable and powerful, possessing the essential catchiness this genre demands. The songs also appear to have been deliberately kept short—not a single one reaches the four-minute mark.

Blackbook remains a true mystery, yet one that consistently returns with great music—clichéd or not! (Rating:8½).

Listen to “Nobody Loves You”:

About Blackbook

Blackbook is a Swiss duo who perform under masks and withhold their surnames, going only by their first names, Matthias and Albert. Both had previously played in other Swiss and German acts before forming Blackbook, citing 80s and 90s music as a shared influence. The duo discussed their approach and anonymity in a Side-Line interview in 2023.

The project released a series of singles before compiling them into its official debut album, “Confessions Of The Innocent” (2023), followed by “Radio Strange” (2024) and, issued just before the summer of 2026, the duo’s third album “Different”, all released through darkTunes Music Group.

Simple Minds released their twelfth studio album, “Neon Lights”, on 8 October 2001 through Eagle Records. The Scottish post-punk and new wave band’s collection of cover versions turns 25 this year, arriving as the group’s first release after a period away from active recording.

“Neon Lights” was conceived as a warm-up ahead of the following year’s “Cry” and gathers Simple Minds’ versions of songs by artists including Them, David Bowie, Pete Shelley, the Patti Smith Group, Kraftwerk, the Doors, Echo and the Bunnymen, Neil Young, Roxy Music and the Velvet Underground. Frontman Jim Kerr set out the thinking behind the project at the time of release: “Neon Lights is the first time Simple Minds have put together a collection of non-original material. We thought it was appropriate at a period of looking back that we go to the very foundations of Simple Minds, which of course is the music and the bands who influenced us.”

The album followed a difficult stretch for the band. Their prior record, “Our Secrets Are the Same”, had been delivered to Chrysalis but was caught up in the label’s merger with EMI, remained unreleased, and was then leaked on the internet in 2000. Discouraged by the lost momentum, band members Eddie Duffy, Mark Taylor and Mark Kerr moved on to other projects, and Jim Kerr relocated to Sicily to work part-time as a hotelier. In 2001, Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill began working with multi-instrumentalist Gordon “Gordy” Goudie, a former member of the Primevals, on new material intended for “Cry”. Recorded in parallel with those sessions in Glasgow, Dublin and Taormina, Sicily, “Neon Lights” was completed and released first.

Simple Minds’ ‘Neon Lights’ tracklist and credits

The UK edition ran ten tracks: “Gloria” (Them), “The Man Who Sold the World” (David Bowie), “Homosapien” (Pete Shelley), “Dancing Barefoot” (Patti Smith Group), “Neon Lights” (Kraftwerk), “Hello, I Love You” (the Doors), “Bring on the Dancing Horses” (Echo and the Bunnymen), “The Needle and the Damage Done” (Neil Young), “For Your Pleasure” (Roxy Music) and “All Tomorrow’s Parties” (the Velvet Underground). A US release added two further covers, “Being Boiled” (the Human League) and “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Joy Division). The album was produced by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill with Gordy Goudie, except for “Gloria”, which was produced by Phunk Investigation, Daniele Tignino and Emiliano Patrik Legato; Simon Heyworth handled mastering. Two singles followed the album: the “Dancing Barefoot” EP and a series of “Homosapien” remixes.

The full album is available via Spotify.

About Simple Minds

Simple Minds trace back to Johnny and the Self-Abusers, a Glasgow punk band formed in early 1977 by Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Tony Donald and Brian McGee. That group released a single, “Saints and Sinners”, on Chiswick Records in November 1977 and split the same day. The remaining members regrouped under the name Simple Minds, drawn from a lyric in David Bowie’s “The Jean Genie”, and played their first show on 17 January 1978 in Glasgow. Duncan Barnwell joined on second guitar that January, Mick MacNeil added keyboards in March, and Derek Forbes replaced Donald on bass in April; Barnwell left by November, leaving a settled quintet of Kerr, Burchill, MacNeil, Forbes and McGee.

Manager Bruce Findlay signed the band to Zoom Records, licensed to Arista, for a 1979 debut, “Life in a Day”, which reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. Further albums followed in quick succession: “Real to Real Cacophony” (1979), “Empires and Dance” (1980) and the double release “Sons and Fascination” / “Sister Feelings Call” (1981). Brian McGee left after those sessions and was eventually replaced by Mel Gaynor, recruited by producer Peter Walsh in 1982 and later the band’s longest-standing drummer. Released from Arista in early 1981, Simple Minds signed to Virgin Records, and “New Gold Dream” (1982) gave the band its first Billboard 200 entry and a number 3 UK placing.

“Sparkle in the Rain” (1984) debuted at number 1 in the UK and was later certified Platinum, and “Once Upon a Time” (1985) reached number 1 in the UK and the Netherlands and was certified triple Platinum in Britain, driven by the US number 1 single “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from the film “The Breakfast Club”. Bassist Derek Forbes was dismissed in the mid-1980s and replaced by John Giblin, who debuted at Live Aid in 1985. “Street Fighting Years” (1989) topped the UK chart despite Gaynor and Giblin leaving mid-session, and keyboardist Mick MacNeil quit at the close of the subsequent tour. “Real Life” (1991) and “Good News from the Next World” (1995) followed as the band’s lineup narrowed to the core of Kerr and Burchill, with Forbes and Gaynor rejoining in 1996 and 1997 respectively. “Neapolis” (1998) was the band’s only album released through Chrysalis Records.

By the time of “Neon Lights” (2001), the band had regrouped around Kerr, Burchill and new recruit Gordy Goudie, who remains in the lineup today. “Cry” followed in 2002, backed by the band’s first North American tour in seven years. Simple Minds went on to release “Black & White 050505” (2005), “Graffiti Soul” (2009), which gave the band its first UK top 10 album in 14 years, “Big Music” (2014), “Acoustic” (2016), “Walk Between Worlds” (2018) and “Direction of the Heart” (2022) through BMG. The band’s catalogue has topped 60 million albums sold worldwide, and its accolades include the 2016 Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection and the 2014 Q Inspiration Award. The current lineup pairs founders Kerr and Burchill with Goudie, Sarah Brown, Ged Grimes, Cherisse Osei and Erik Ljunggren; in September 2026 the band announced a new studio album, “Sacrosanct”, due for release on 29 January 2027. Twenty-five years after “Neon Lights”, the covers album remains the clearest record of the influences, from Kraftwerk to Joy Division, that shaped the band’s own sound.

New England goth and post-punk band Ghost Painted Sky released the maxi-single “Kissing Lions” on October 6, 2026. The release previews the band’s upcoming second full-length album, “Failure Blooms.”

The maxi-single carries three tracks: the title song, a “Kissing Lions (Effervescent Remix),” and “My Words Are Not My Own,” a new track that leans toward the band’s synthpop influences. Lisa Wood wrote the lyrics and sings. David Strong plays guitar, bass, ebow, drums and programming, and synths, and co-wrote the lyrics.

Michael Boudreau contributes additional guitar and Aurora Grabill plays violin on both versions of “Kissing Lions.” William Faith of Faith and the Muse mixed and mastered the title track at his own 13 Studio.

The remix and “My Words Are Not My Own” were mixed by Strong and mastered by Faith at the same studio. Strong also made the cover art, a stylized still from the “Kissing Lions” video.

Ghost Painted Sky described “Kissing Lions” in the release’s Bandcamp notes: “those mostly vain attempts to seize on anything that creates a fleeting feeling of being alive for a moment amid relentless waves of the humdrum, doldrums, and failure […] bad decisions that bite back and create further downward spirals.”

Ghost Painted Sky also put out an official video for “Kissing Lions.”

“Kissing Lions” is available now as a digital download and via streaming on Bandcamp.

About Ghost Painted Sky

Ghost Painted Sky began in 2014 as the solo studio project of David Strong, who released a self-titled debut EP that year. A second short EP, “The Shadows Breath,” followed in 2015, alongside the band’s first live shows.

Lisa Wood joined on vocals in 2018, starting with the “Scars” EP and continuing on the group’s debut full-length album, “Flightless”. Wood has since become the band’s primary vocalist.

The band appeared on several compilations through the early 2020s, including “The Unquiet Grave 2020” (Cleopatra Records, 2020), “33 Gothic Bands You Should Know, Volume 8” (Post-Gothic, 2021), “You Are Still Not Alone” (Darkness Calling, 2021) and “Goths For Sanctuaries – The Album!!!” (2023). It released the “Ephemeral Wake” EP in 2021, followed by the singles “Corridors” in 2022 and “Insomnia” in 2024.

Ghost Painted Sky is now finishing its second full-length album, “Failure Blooms,” with new studio contributions from guitarist Michael Boudreau and longtime live keyboardist and violinist Aurora Grabill. “Sound and Fury,” the album’s first single, came out in late March 2026, also mixed and mastered by Faith at 13 Studio. “Kissing Lions” is the second single, with “Failure Blooms” expected later in 2026.

Montreal dark-alternative artist Martin Saint released the single “Endless Bridge” on October 6, 2026, as a standalone digital track on Bandcamp.

Martin Saint wrote and arranged “Endless Bridge” himself and handled vocals and guitars. Julie Abel plays piano, Frank Bones plays drums and Jack Vignavong plays bass. The track was recorded at Martini Lounge, Indica Studio 24 and Studio Pacifique in Montreal by Frank Bones and Martin Saint, with assistance from Olivier René de Cotret. Frank Bones mixed and mastered the track and co-produced it with Martin Saint. Ursa Minor handled the sleeve photography and design.

In the track’s Bandcamp notes, Martin Saint described the song as a love story told through departures and returns. “Endless Bridge is about as close to a love song as I’ll ever get, but there’s a bittersweetness to it. Beginnings, endings, renewals. It expresses faith in the future and letting go of forces holding us back, even if this may take a lifetime.” He pointed to two specific reference points for the track’s sound: “Musically, I wanted something that’d sound as epic as The Killing Moon or With or Without You, for example. Melancholy, foggy, but uplifting and catchy.”

“Endless Bridge” is available now as a name-your-price digital download on Bandcamp, with a minimum price of $1.50.

About Martin Saint

Martin Saint is a solo artist based in Montreal, Québec. Before launching the project under his own name, he was the lead singer and second guitarist of the city’s indie-rock quartet The Ember Glows, active between 2019 and 2024. His solo material moves into darker, more atmospheric territory, with baritone, emotionally-charged vocals and poetic lyrics that he has linked to Bauhaus, The Mission, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and The Doors.

“Endless Bridge” follows “Seekers,” Martin Saint’s fifth release under the solo name, out April 18, 2025. The ten-track album was recorded and mixed in Montreal at the Martini Lounge and Orange Studio by Martin Saint and Frank Bones, who also mastered it, with guest contributions from Julie Abel on piano, Delphine Dupont on lead guitar and backing vocals, Kevin Hills on bass, Hugo Joyal on pedal steel and Ursa Minor on backing vocals and artwork. His catalog also includes the albums “One Word Away,” “Fly Tales” and “Radio Murmurs,” along with the singles “Last Lights,” “The Law” and “I’ll Be Your Stranger,” featuring Ursa Minor. “Endless Bridge” carries the same core production team as “Seekers” into a new standalone single.