Belgian industrial act REALITY'S DESPAIR is proud to announce the release of their new full-length release, Melancholic Disposition.

While the lyrics deal with societal and human decline, the supernatural, the occult and aliens, musically REALITY'S DESPAIR can be categorised as ebm / dark electro with a strong 90's feel and with heavily-distorted vocals.

"The album consists of rhythmic tracks that take listeners away in the 90's, when EVIL’S TOY and the early works of the SOLITARY EXPERIMENTS clanked the scene. Elements of Old-school EBM add rhythm, so some tracks may fit Post-Industrial dancefloor. Good smooth album, which can be called a great return to the 90's. Again."

- Reflections of Darkness

BIO:

After releasing two demo cd’s and an EP between 1996 and 2000, it was long overdue to revive this dark electro/ebm solo project, REALITY'S DESPAIR back in 2017.

The one man project is based in Antwerp (Belgium). All lyrics and music are produced, mixed and mastered by Demarcation.

The revival of REALITY'S DESPAIR led to a first self-released album in April 2018, Societal Collapse, followed by Human Transitions in March 2019 and Melancholic Disposition in February 2020.

For fans of: Suicide Commando, Evil's Toy & Terminal Choice

www.facebook.com/realitysdespair

Today it’s exactly 35 years ago that The Sister of Mercy released their first studio album First and Last and Always. It was released on 11 March 1985 through Merciful Release and WEA, with Elektra Records handling the US release.

The album was recorded during the second half of 1984 and multiple recording sessions took place in various recording studios. It was mixed and produced by David M.Allen who also produced for the likes of The Cure, Depeche mode, Wire and The Human League.

Less then a month later, on 1 April, lead guitarist and band co-founder Gary Marx played his last concert with The Sisters of Mercy before deciding to leave the band. Later Eldritch would suggest the song ‘Walk Away’ was directed at Marx.

Although Wayne Hussey and Gary Marx wrote and sang some of the initial lyrics for some of the demo tracks, Eldritch eventually wrote all the final lyrics as they would appear on the finished album. Both Wayne and Marx re-used some of those lyrics later for their own projects The Mission and Ghost Dance.

Two (demo) songs that didn’t make the album, Serpents Kiss and Wake, would later be re-recorded and released by The Mission.

To represent Dr. Avalanche, The Sisters Of Mercy’s nickname for their drum machine, an Oberheim DMX drum machine was acquired for the recording of this album.

The album went silver (with 60,000 sold) in the UK on 30 October 1987 and gold (with 100,000 sold) on 8 May 1989. Its highest position in the UK album charts was no. 14. In Germany, the group's second largest market after the UK, the album went gold (with 250,000 sold) in 2011. Its highest position in the German album charts was no. 40.

Nevertheless, the production of the album left the band initially in enormous debt. According to Andrew Eldritch, the album recouped the production costs only by 1988.

First Last And Alway - Track listing

2006 CD re-issue Bonus Tracks

The Sisters Of Mercy - Personnel

• Andrew Eldritch – vocals, sleeve design, mixing
• Craig Adams – bass guitar
• Wayne Hussey – guitar, vocals
• Gary Marx – guitar
• Doktor Avalanche (drum machine) – drums

DISCOGS

Today it’s exactly 35 years ago that The Klinik (at that time called Absolute Controled Clinical Maniacs) performed at Xenon (10.03.1985, Aarschot, Belgium). Two tracks, Sick In Your Mind and Vietnam which were recorded during this live show, appeared later that same year on the first The Klinik album Sabotage.
After this release The Klinik soon made a name for themselves with their cold and harsh EBM sound and their live shows, where they performed with their heads wrapped in gauze, wearing long black leather coats.
Even today, Sabotage is still considered as one of the most influential electro-industrial-EBM albums and became a must have collector item.

Sabotage (Tracklist)

February 19, 2020 - San Antonio-based dark electronic band SHADOW FASHION are proud to announce the release of their new video and single, "Children Of The Night."

For fans of: Depeche Mode, The Cure and New Order

The theme of the song speaks of the loneliness and isolation we have all gone through at times. However, it is important to realize that we are never truly alone as we are surrounded by our friends, family, and loved ones.

As a scene we are fortunate to have clubs, DJ's, promoters and musicians who understand the importance of community. At the "end of the day," we are all "Children Of The Night."

“Shot in three locations, including San Antonio and also at the Houston Vampire Ball, we had an absolute blast filming this. The band wanted to capture the heart of the dark scene through the lens of vampire culture, and in general, showcase the Texas scene. I felt we were able to do that, while simultaneously making a sexy and fun-to-watch video that represents the band well.” - Erik Gustafson

Video Directed By ERIK GUSTAFSON (Grendel/Adoration Destroyed)

www.facebook.com/shadowfashionmusic

On this day, 32 years ago, Divine died at the age of 42 (19.10.1945 - 7.03.1988). Divine was an American actor, singer, and drag queen, born as Harris Glenn Milstead.

Closely associated with the independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions and adopted a female drag persona for his music career. Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women's hairdresser. By the mid-1960s he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and befriended Waters, who gave him the name "Divine" and the tagline "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost."

Divine joined Waters' acting troupe and adopted female roles for their experimental short films. Divine next starred in Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972), which became a cult classic and established Divine's fame within the American counterculture. Then Divine moved to theater, appearing in several avant-garde performances alongside San Francisco drag collective The Cockettes.

He starred in two more of Waters' films, Polyester (1981) and Hairspray (1988), the latter of which represented his breakthrough into mainstream cinema.

Meanwhile, in 1981, Divine embarked on a career in the disco industry by producing a number of Hi-NRG tracks, most of which were written by Bobby Orlando. He achieved international chart success with hits like ’Shoot Your Shot’ (1981), ‘You Think You're a Man’ (1984) and ‘Walk Like a Man’ (1985), all of which were performed in drag.

Having struggled with obesity throughout his life, he died from cardiomegaly, shortly after the release of Hairspray.

Described by People magazine as the "Drag Queen of the Century", Divine has remained a cult figure, particularly within the LGBT community, and has provided the inspiration for fictional characters, artworks and songs.

A worthwhile documentary film devoted to his life is I Am Divine (2013).

DISCOGS