Negative Gain Productions artists, Total Chroma have just unveiled their new full length release, Lapland. From the frost kissed expanse of the North, the synth punk inspired album emerges from Total Chroma's creative sanctum, an exploration of his Sami lineage.

The Sami, for those unacquainted, are the indigenous denizens of the Arctic, a people whose song has echoed across the icy plains, fjords and tundras of Scandinavia and Russia for millennia, and whose history, like the labyrinthine forests of the North, is both rich and shadowed.

With every note, Total Chroma's main architect, Isku Katerwol, delves deeper, and as he descends, the narrative grows increasingly somber. We're led on an odyssey, not just of a people's extermination of culture but a reflection of Katerwol's own metamorphosis.

The track "Such Filth", for example, becomes an anthem of cyclical birth, echoing the ethos that from the murk and mire, radiant beauty can ascend. It's a chant, a hymn to origins and the phoenix-like rise from desolation. On the subject of "Starvation", Katerwol muses: This song, though cloaked in fiction, unveils a tale of a love once effervescent, now dulled post the 'honeymoon phase'. Both souls, parched for each other's touch, find themselves trapped in a vortex of unsaid emotions and suppressed needs.

Sonically, Lapland’s auditory palette is rich, coloured with the gritty hues of post-punk, the electric vibrancy of synth pop, the pulsating rhythms of EBM, and the melancholic undertones of minimal wave. It's an alchemy that Katerwol has mastered, creating tracks that resonate deeply, echoing both the icy vastness of the North and the warmth of human emotion. Each song becomes a journey through time and self, a testament to Katerwol's prowess as an artist and the timeless resonance of the genres he so deftly melds.

Lapland is available on vinyl LP format and digitally on all major platforms including Bandcamp via Negative Gain Records.

open.spotify.com/artist/16pXvpAM5yKkKtSXi6QiTh

On this day, exactly 34 years ago, Nitzer Ebb released ‘Control I’m Here’ (MUTE71). It was the first single taken from their second and upcoming studio album ‘Belief’ (STUMM 61- release date: 09.01.1989).

It reached position 100 in the UK Single Chart and position 14 the US Dance chart.

Control I’m Here (CD) - Tracklist

Control Im Here (Zero Option Mix)
Control Im Here (Instrumental Club Mix)
K.I.A.
Control Im Here (Hardcore Mix)

Control i'm Here - Lyrics

we close our eyes
close them in your dreams
close them in your home
i'm here to stay
i won't go away

you don't need me i'll slip away
you can there me i'm not to say

you'll hopin that i'll buy you
i'll slip into your open mouth
shut the door

control i'm here

Songwriters: McCarthy / Halford

DISCOGS

The Czech gothic rock band, Cathedral In Flames unleashed their version of Billy Idol's legendary song, "Rebel Yell" on Friday 13th October.

In their version of the iconic song, Cathedral In Flames toyed with tempos, added strings and flirted with blast-beats for the first time in their history. Produced by the legendary John Freyer, the song retains the anthemic fast-paced chorus, which is further supported by a stylized comic book video.

Singer Phil Lee Fall says, "The songs were basically made to order. And we had a lot of arguments over it. We couldn't figure it out for a long time, but when Gatsby threw in the tempo changes, everything clicked. And John added the blast beats symbolically at the very end."

And Gatsby adds, "I've never liked this song, so I approached it in the end in the style of seeing if something interesting could be made out of a thousand times stale little ditty. How it turned out, judge for yourself. I'm washing my hands!"

open.spotify.com/artist/34Cm7Z6i8Ih7t5K12aZ4kZ

On this day, 43 ago (23 October 1980), UK industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle released simultaneously two 7” singles, Adrenalin/Distant Dreams (Part Two) and Subhuman/Something Came Over Me. They were both sold in camouflage printed plastic bags.

‘Adrenalin’ and‘ Distant Dreams' might well be some of Throbbing Gristle's more accessible songs but still feature weird tape loops and odd lyrics by Genesis P. Orridge’. So in the musical context of 1980, these songs were still a long way off from mainstream music.

Worth noting, the 7" version of "Distant Dreams (pt. II)" has a different mix comparing it to the one made available as bonus on later Grey Area CD editions of "Mission Of Dead Souls”.

The Subhuman/Something Came Over Me single was everything but accessible for the mainstream music lovers with Subhuman being more of a soundscape of scraping metalics while Genesis screams and shouts his lyrics over them. However ‘Something Came Over Me’ definitely has the most pop/rock song elements and melodies, however they are countered by Genesis P. Orridge undisguised ode to a white sticky substance.

The artwork features the painting Apotheosis of War by Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin on the front cover and a canal bridge underpass.

Both singles entered the UK indie charts peaking at 23rd (Subhuman/Something Came Over Me) and 26th (Adrenalin/Distant Dreams) (Part Two)) position.

Subhuman/Something Came Over Me ( 7" IR 13)

A:Subhuman" – 2:53
B: Something Came Over Me" – 3:43

Adrenalin/Distant Dreams (Part Two) (7" - IR 15)

A: Adrenalin" – 3:59
B: Distant Dreams (Part Two)" – 5:30

Gothic rock duo, The Palace Of Tears has just unveiled their bewitching new single & video; the title track from the upcoming sophomore album Veiled Screen, Woven Dream.

“Veiled Screen, Woven Dream” is the title track from the upcoming full length sophomore album. This version of the single is a more synth heavy ambient mix, a shortened and condensed version adapted for the accompanying self-produced music video. Its release date (15th Oct) is memorializing the anniversary of vocalist L.V.’s brother who died suddenly in 2022.

"Veiled Screen, Woven Dream" was originally a romantic song: On the mundane level, it is about reuniting after prolonged separation and isolation, and the intensity that accompanies the experience, sometimes as a blissful revelry, while at other times it is almost painfully sweet. So sweet that it hurts, as if your heart were going to burst. On the arcane level, it speaks to those who have passed on, and our desire to commune with those we love and miss beyond the veil, and when you might meet again in another form."

"Veiled Screen, Woven Dream" is available on all major digital outlets including Bandcamp.

open.spotify.com/artist/5RoDeddm74vemOzovkITlA