Former Requiem In White/Mors Syphilitica vocalist, Lisa Hammer revives a ritual
Lisa Hammer (Requiem In White, Mors Syphilitica) has just unveiled her limited, expanded edition of her cult classic release, Dakini. Containing three previously unreleased tracks, Dakini finally sees its edition on coloured vinyl.
Dakini is music for ritual, introspection and awakening of the senses. It was designed to carry the listener away from the manifest world and into a deeper space. That ritual is re-visited and re-imagined in the form of three bonus unreleased tracks “Chant Nr. 5”, “Hurdy Gurdy Gavotte" & “Alte Clamat Epicurus”; a seven minute prelude where Lisa surpasses her best self by “spitting” spells and curses.
Dakini is a complete manifesto of inner search in which a lot of influences from different genres of music are presented harmoniously, creating a mystical atmosphere and giving the opportunity to emerge unprecedented vocals, sometimes angelic and sometimes damned as if they come from another period forgotten by the time.
More about the album:
The Indian ragas correspond with times of the day, so the album represents a condensed 24 hours, which is perfect for ritual, or any emotional and spiritual trip. The medieval songs are matched with Indian ragas and tribal drums, Appalachian folk music, Middle-Eastern drones and opera to bring the four directions together: North, South, East and West. It’s a cultural and spiritual mix, all blending together in one album. Each of the songs has its own meditational/trance-inducing quality, regardless of its origin.
Dark ambient project, Cucurbitophobia goes nostalgic with 'Autumnal Apparitions'
Cucurbitophobia, known for their dark ambient, horror-inspired masterpiece releases has just unveiled their latest release in time for the Halloween season.
Autumnal Apparitions is a collection of works inspired by the Autumn season. A rustic, nostalgic, melancholy ambiance is prevalent throughout the album, portraying an ebb and flow between dark, experimental dissonance and lighter, sadder, ambient minor-key driven moods.
Autumnal Apparitions treads more into atmospheric music territory. Unlike previous Cucurbitophobia releases, guitars take a backseat this time around and allow percussion and keyboard textures to be in the forefront. While plenty of delightfully eerie horror elements remain present, Autumnal Apparitions comes forth with more mournful, reflective sensibilities rather than harsh, startling bursts of fear.
Autumnal Apparitions is available NOW on all digital platforms including Bandcamp.
Darkwave Band The Bleak Assembly Explores The Dynamics Of Change With New EP
We Become Strangers is the debut EP from the new darkwave project The Bleak Assembly, a collaboration between Kimberly of Bow Ever Down and Michael Smith of Fiction8. While there are a few electronic textures here and there, We Become Strangers is straight-up post-punk and darkwave. Guitars, drums and songwriting, with hooks for days. This EP sits more comfortably alongside Siouxsie & the Banshees, ACTORS, and Bootblacks than it does VNV Nation or Covenant.
Regarding the nature of "change" that inspired the EP, Michael Smith states: "if there's a theme to this EP, it's in recognizing how we've changed as artists and as people. What if you met your younger self and your younger self didn't even recognize you? That's what "We Become Strangers" is about. Kimberly goes on to say: "It's "a strong feeling of being cut from the past". It's a little alienating but also very liberating."
We Become Strangers is available in digital format on all major platforms, including Bandcamp.
VampireFreaks, the team that brought you the Triton Festival and Dark Side of the Con, proudly present a brand new event called Dark Force Fest; a festival gathering featuring an explosive lineup of the most beloved international bands along with the newest trending artists from Gothic, Industrial, Darkwave and Post-Punk scenes.
Dark Force Fest - Three-Day Goth-Industrial Music Festival
31st March - 2nd April 2023
Dark Force Fest takes place in Parsippany, NJ (one hour from NYC), at the massive Sheraton Parsippany, an imposing castle styled hotel that features 44,000 square feet of event space with 370 hotel rooms. While the hotel rooms in the main venue sold out within days of announcing this festival, there are still overflow hotels in the surrounding area.
This stacked festival lineup includes:
HEALTH, Combichrist (doing a special old-school industrial set), Suicide Commando: (Rare U.S. show), ACTORS, Rabbit Junk, Video Vision, Empathy Test, Solar Fake, BILE, Psyclon Nine & Das Ich: (Rare U.S. show)
In addition to 30+ bands, Dark Force Fest will feature 100+ vendors, a costume contest, cosplay guests, sideshow performers, fun activities and informative panels.
Techno-Industrial band RetCon has just unveiled the release of their new EP, titled EP.01.
EP.01's overarching themes are reflection, conflict, resistance and redemption, with a dash of twisted romance. It possesses a loose set of narratives that imply a gestalt of resistance to that which would destroy you, with the implication that despite it all, you are worth the effort.
From the disposable capitalist consumerism, implied in such a cookie cutter title, to the apocalyptic themes and the implausible romance.
A track like "First Light" adds references to the struggle against imperialism and genocide in Ukraine over lyrics that were originally more applicable to the coming troubles here in the US, because they are coming.
Compressing all of human existence into a lens one impossible year across also pokes loving fun at the nostalgic nature of such obviously retro aesthetics. A cyberpunk junkyard Gomi-wizard patching together the discarded pieces of a decadent age into something that could actually save the protagonists, if only they could cooperate.
EP.01 is available now on all digital platforms, including Bandcamp.
