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 opene...

     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 d...

     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, ...

     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 o...

     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 ...

     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, ...

     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, Disk...

     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 f...

     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 v...

     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),...

     The Smashing Pumpkins have reunited and dropped a comeback album, except it’s not exactly a full reunion and it’s not quite the comeback we expected to hear. With ¾ of the original Pumpkins back in action (front man Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin being the only remnants of the band we all loved in the nineties) 18 years after they delivered their last original work together (2000’s Machina/The Machines of God is a hugely underrated album), their new deliverance, Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol.1/LP: No Past. No Future . No Sun. is an all too brief affair that has no direction and false promises. Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the eight tracks that make up Shiny and Oh So Bright offer almost nothing to be excited about, and while tracks like “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)”, “Solara” and “Marching On” are reminiscent of Pumpkins’ earlier grace and fiery angst and pretty much the album’s only true saviors, it all feels too vacant and life...

     Stephen Patrick Morrissey is good at many things, from the negatively notorious like canceling shows or entire tours without notice or spewing cringeworthy political and social commentary, and to the positive like giving us timeless music (solo or with The Smiths) that fill our personal soundtracks to releasing a damn good cover. Last Friday, the mercurial front man announced a vinyl reissue of 2017’s underperforming Low in High School , due December 7th, which will include a version of The Pretenders’s ageless classic “Back on the Chain Gang”, four unreleased original tracks, five live covers of some of his favorite artists, a limited-edition lithograph photo, and a portrait of the singer as a student. Optionally, the song will be released as a single on November 23rd and will feature Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “I Didn’t Know What to Do” on the flip side. Quite a cool deal for an otherwise sleeper of an album.      “Back on the Chain Gang” wa...

     When The Black Queen (Greg Puciato/The Dillinger Escape Plan, Josh Eustis/Telefon Tel Aviv, and Steven Young/Nine Inch Nails tech) emerged onto the scene in 2015 with their first single, the moody, dreamscape-esque "The End Where We Start", they were instantly on everyone's radar. The debut album that followed, Fever Daydream, propelled the Los Angeles-based synth-wave band to higher ground. They instantly sold out tickets to all their shows, released more than a handful of videos, and despite serious setbacks (discussed soon), they survived the first album "supergroup" curse and went on to triumphantly release their sophomore album, Infinite Games , last week to great acclaim. Their success, unsurprisingly, has grown even more. Tickets to their upcoming Australian tour with fellow gloom wavers Drab Majesty have all been snagged up by fervent fans and all recent stateside shows turned up the same results.      Blindsided by professional and persona...

      The Bay Area’s euphoric dream pop duo Them Are Us Too began in 2012 with schoolmates Kennedy Ashlyn and Cash Askew playing well balanced eighties inspired synth-pop shoegaze. In 2015, they released their debut album, Remain , a gloomy tour de force to incredible acclaim. They built up a dedicated cult following, and that success hyped the anticipation for the follow-up to their big debut. Tragically in 2016, a warehouse fire claimed Askew’s life at 22 years old, putting the band’s career in uncertainty. However, through the ashes of tragedy arose a new album, Amends , the band’s second and final as TAUT (as fans call them) and it is a beautifully haunting piece of work filled with ethereal elegance and atmospherics.      Amends , as Ashlyn describes, is “a collection of songs that would have been the second Them Are Us Too record, an amendment to our catalog cut short, a final gift to family, friends, and fans.” Amends is a celeb...

     (Ed's note: I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan, so my biases will be rather amplified in all Nails related posts. Thank you for understanding.)      Nine Inch Nails return with Bad Witch, the third in a trilogy of releases that began with 2016’s Not the Actual Events and continued in 2017 with Add Violence. A terse, dizzying, jarring and frenetic work, Bad Witch is partly inspired by Trump-era politics and social climates (band leader Trent Reznor has been openly vocal about his disgust toward The Don as he was with George W. Bush.) Clocking in at just 30 minutes, the six songs that make up the album (originally an EP but for practical marketing and artistic reasons is an LP) show signs of impending cultural collapse that began with 2007’s heavily electronic Year Zero, which was very much a commentary on Bush’s policies taking the country into a dystopian state if things continued as they did. In keeping with angsty political charge, Bad W...

     Depeche Mode brought their music to the masses and gave us a black celebration (whatever, sue me.) On the road promoting their 14 th studio album, Spirit , the iconic British electronic band presented their mega successful Global Spirit Tour May 27 one last time to American audiences with a sold-out appearance at the AT&T Center, flawlessly banging out their biggest hits and album-oriented material to an enthusiastic crowd of 15,000. The band, comprised of vocalist Dave Gahan, guitarist Martin Gore, keyboardists Andy Fletcher and Peter Gordeno and drummer Christian Eigner impeccably delivered song after song as they cataloged their entire career into an energetic two-hour set, proving why four decades after their debut they remain a vital presence. With deep running roots in San Antonio’s music scene, audiences excitedly sang and danced through the night. If their show and fan response was any strong indicator, they surely have another album and one final w...

     Industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails have released a new single: the eerie, saxophone heavy, electro-jazz charged “God Break Down the Door”. This comes ahead of their newly announced Cold and Black and Infinite Tour, in which 80’s alternative icons The Jesus and Mary Chain serve as special guests and in advance of Nails’ ninth studio album, Bad Witch, due out June 22 on Trent Reznor’s The Null Corporation label.      “God Break Down the Door” plays like a lost David Bowie track off his concept album Outside , and with Nine Inch Nails’ musical growth (2013’s Hesitation Marks had moments of delicious funk and groove), it’s clear that Trent Reznor has long established his legacy and takes his music in any direction he pleases. Vocally, there is an uncanny resemblance to Bowie at times throughout the four-minute tune, which adds an otherworldly feel to things. Whether the vicarious delivery is in fact an homage to Bowie or mere coincidence...

     Wes Borland, Limp Bizkit’s eccentric guitarist, returns with a new solo effort, the excellent Matadors and Daughters EP. Ahead of his Astral Hand full length, due out later this year, the 20-minute, two-song EP (or single, depending on how you slice it) offers a sampling of what to expect from Astral, which will surely be an entirely soundtrack-esque offering full of experimentation.      Borland, known for his onstage flamboyance and unconventional musicianship, has long shed Limp Bizkit’s douchebaggery and continues to explore his dynamic methods beautifully, having ventured into solo and collaborative territory with Black Light Burns, Big Dumb Face, The Damning Well, and was previously offered positions in Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle. Aside from the obvious pocket-filling to fund his other work, Borland mysteriously remains in Bizkit, a 90’s nu-metal frat-bro machine whose fans are forever adolescents with backwards Yankees...

     The sixth annual Bud Light River City Rockfest returns to San Antonio’s AT&T Center grounds September 22 with a largely dull lineup, save for Nine Inch Nails and few select others. One of the most important and influential industrial bands of the late 80’s to now, Nine Inch Nails is set to headline the awfully named festival alongside bores Stone Temple Pilots and Bush, two acts well past the “beat a dead horse to life” phase who should have bowed out gracefully at the peaks of their career, or at least when key members were still alive (Pilots).   The only other acts that can possibly save this massive disappointment are Suicidal Tendencies, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, and Primus.          This lineup is upsetting for many reasons, mainly because Nine Inch Nails will likely play to a number of crickets. See, these types of festivals are meant to showcase an eclectic variety for many to enjoy, but when paired up with H...