Where Is My Mind?

     The humble beginnings of Nine Inch Nails sounds like a wild story: a young dude hanging around a recording studio doing whatever odd jobs he’s paid to do, working on his debut album during down time. He makes the right connections, sells millions of records, and becomes an iconic musician and producer. The rest, as they say, is history. Such is the story of a young Trent Reznor, who worked as a janitor at Right Track Studio in Cleveland. He used his down He used his and the studio’s down time, often the very late hours of the night, to work on his industrial project’s debut album Pretty Hate Machine , an album that would be an emblematic symbol of the EDM scene, and one that set the standard for industrial music to come.      Pretty Hate Machine was released through TVT Records on October 20, 1989. It was a hard-hitting, groove-filled, danceably dark effort, and it quickly gained traction. From the animalistic, demonic bassline of aggressive opener “Head Like A Hole” to the p

     If the American Gothic movement had a sound, Chelsea Wolfe perfectly captures it.            Wolfe’s latest album (and sixth overall), Birth of Violence , brings her back to her gloomy folk roots. It’s a goth-tinged acoustic album, a departure from her harder, heavier and sludgy doom-metal heard in her previous releases, Abyss and Hiss Spun , two albums that followed the more accessible Pain is Beauty , whose title sounds like an art school kid’s expressionist project.      Acoustic offerings are nothing new for Wolfe. Her catalogue features a few here and there, and Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs is as stated: a collection of acoustic songs from her earlier days.      Acoustic music has a tendency to be skipped over, but Wolfe’s should not. No matter how they’re performed, they are desolate, raw and impassioned. If her studio recordings can move you to the deepest bowels of a dark place, they are a whole other entity live with even more depth.    

     This past Wednesday, Texas metal ragers Portrayal of Guilt and Portland sad-rockers Soft Kill released an explosive split through Closed Casket Activities, and man, I’m all for it.      To start things off, Portrayal of Guilt’s song “Sacrificial Rite” is a blistering, vicious, brutal two-minute assault, just like in typical hardcore fashion. It’ll have you punching walls and banging your head on tables, and despite its short length, it has a beautiful dynamic that oddly carries you into the next song, Soft Kill’s ethereal “Tin Foil Drop”.      Soft Kill, dubbed by vocalist/guitarist Toby Grave as a “sad-rock” band (moody shit for all the goths out there), further expand on the descriptor with a spacey, shoegaze-y, atmospheric six-minute track that will leave you in tears. It carries bit of synth-pop and Disintegration-era Cure elements to it. It’s a melancholic, moving track that contrasts Portrayal of Guilt’s opener, but in essence, both tracks feature the same

     August 2 nd was a big day for Tool fans all over; the enigmatic prog-metal band’s catalogue was finally made available on all streaming platforms! That means no more listening to the band’s music on YouTube with commercial breaks in between songs if your car lacks a CD player, a major win for the rest of us.      This move comes ahead of the release of their very long-awaited fifth studio album, Fear Inoculum , due August 30. Pre-orders are now available on the band’s website. photo: Revolver      Maynard James Keenan, the band’s mercurial front man, commented on the band’s late arrival into the digital realm, stating: “Our obsession with, and dream of, a world where BetaMax and Laser Disc rule has ended. Time for us to move on. But never fear. There’s a brand new thing we think you’re really gonna dig. It’s called Digital Downloads and Streaming. Get ready for the future, folks!”      The release of Fear Inoculum closes a 13 year gap since their last rele

     Drab Majesty are undoubtedly excellent songwriters. Their third album, Modern Mirror , has an incredibly strong musical identity and is further proof of their solid songwriting abilities. It is massively 80s in a most delicious way, and in a saturated scene obsessed with analog synth revival, Modern Mirror is many miles apart from both the yesteryear and modern acts making the rounds today. The 80s, thanks to Drab Majesty, are definitely alive and here to stay. photo: Exclaim!      The androgynous, mannequin-like Drab Majesty are Deb Demure and Mona D., the alter egos of multi-instrumentalist Andrew Clinco and collaborator Alex Nicolaou. Collectively, they make nocturnal, somber and hypnotic new/darkwave complete with reverb and chorus-laden guitars and moody synths. The addition of Telefon Tel Aviv’s Josh Eustis on production duties amplifies Drab’s addictive sound even further, and holy shit IT. IS. FUCKING. GOOD. Modern Mirror, without question, is their best album

     Detroit trio Ritual Howls are an interesting band that creates filmic western industrial rock that feels right at home in a barren, post-apocalyptic world. Complete with twangy guitars, dance floor rhythms and a sense of dystopia and decay, their music sounds like the Motor City’s dying breath. On Rendered Armor , the band’s fourth release, vocalist/guitarist Paul Bancell, keyboardist/sampler Chris Samuels and bassist Ben Saginaw continue on their path with rolling, masterfully crafted arrangements and production, and with Detroit's untimely agonizing death, Rendered Armor is the soundtrack for it. photo: floodmagazine.com      To say that Ritual Howls have a bit of a basic blueprint to their music is an understatement. Sure, we’ve heard it all before, but the band has a true gift in their interpretation of what goth rock is thought to be. Bancell’s vocals are a cavernous baritone mixed with twangy, reverb-y Spaghetti Western-style guitars, Samuels’ synthesizers are

     Turkish goths She Past Away are back with their third and long-awaited new album, Disko Anksiyete , a masterfully crafted blend of post-punk, dark wave and gothic rock (obviously). On Disko Anksiyete (Anxiety Disco in English), the duo comprised of guitarist/vocalist Volkan Caner and producer/keyboardist Doruk Ozturkan switch gears a bit and go into more pop structured/disco-y territory, but the band doesn’t completely abandon their typical sound. Easily their more accessible album, Disko is full of 80s cold wave/post-punk influence, alluding to the classic sounds of Joy Division and New Order. Caner displays unique musicianship and his singing is reminiscent of the Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch, while Ozturkan’s keyboard washes and production are crisp, polished and solid. photo: rockallphotography.com      In comparison to their previous releases, debut Belirdi Gece and the sophomoric Narin Yalnızlık , both phenomenal albums, Disko is certainly the standout

     Stephen Patrick Morrissey is no stranger to controversy. Whether it be notoriously cancelling performances over the smallest diva-like complaints or sharing insensitive commentary, the English crooner certainly knows how to make headlines. Recently during a televised performance on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night talk show, the former Smiths front man caused a big stir by sporting a pin from the far-right political party, For Britain. The backlash has had some negative effect for Morrissey and has shaken fans, but given his history of not so PC behaviour, are we really all that surprised? photo: nme.com            For Britain is a minor far-right political party in the United Kingdom formed in 2017 by anti-Muslim activist Anne Marie Waters and defected members of the UKIP (UK Independence Party). It runs on a platform of reducing Muslim immigration to the UK to near zero, to “bring the entire EU project down” and being the “voice for forgotten people”. It has had in its rank

     It’s been ten years since the Germanic industrial-metal machine Rammstein released a new album, and their latest untitled work is proof that ten years in between releases hasn’t mellowed them one bit. Being the undisputed champions of Neue Deutsche Härte ("New German Hardness"), Rammstein have never faltered and have made consistently rock-solid music throughout their decades-long career. Known for blistering riffs, militant beats, epically executed synth lines, and bombastic (often anthemic) choruses, the “Matchstick Album”, as we’ll call it, is a continuation of the sound that made us fall in love with Rammstein.      Opening the album is lead single "Deutschland", and it’s a welcome return to their own spectacular fashion. It is a crisp and razor-sharp number, with lyrics expressing patriotic difficulties toward the band’s homeland, once a diplomatic powerhouse. The video for the single isn’t short of controversial, either: it is a concept video that

     Iconic goth-rock band The Cure are having a very big 2019. Not only were they inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by none other than industrial-goth symbol Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, their emblematic masterpiece, Disintegration , turned 30 years old and they are celebrating by touring the world and playing the album in its entirety. What a wow!      Disintegration is one of those albums that has grown bigger and better over time since its release. It is the pinnacle of the band’s growth over the previous decade, a milestone in their career, and, most importantly, the record that beautifully captures the band’s creative powers at its peak. It is inarguably THE quintessential goth-rock album of all time ( Pornography , another bleak Cure release, is number two). Characterized by a significant use of synthesizers and keyboards, slow and droning guitar progressions awash with chorus and flange effects (a signature sound for the band), and some of front man Robert