Tag: Darkscene

New Music Reviews from the Dark Underground

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It’s Bandcamp Friday, darkness swirls around my head and Halloween fast approaches. What a great time for some quick hit music reviews from some of the best in underground darkscene artists. I’m working on another article for some of the bigger names in the scene with new releases. These bands are for experimental listeners looking to find new bands everyone doesn’t know about yet.

Wandering Whispers – Uneasy Listening – Amazing Detroit artist Lela Marionette with a brand new project she embarked on in 2023. Filthy soundscapes stumbling around a warehouse labyrinth of 90s Detroit rave culture. Pulsing slow heartbeat base. Music meant to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up while Lela whispers frightening poetry to the back of your ear. Love the liberal use of slutty muted horn synth effects.

This project is meant to feel very instrument heavy emotional resonance. I love these ghostly vocals from Lela and hope they come forward more in future releases. They really tie the haunt together.

▶︎ Uneasy Listening | Wandering Whispers (bandcamp.com)

The Bleak Assembly – until the world stops hurting – Newest release out of Denver from the collaboration between Kimberly of Bow Ever Down and Michael Smith of Fiction8. Additional shoutout for the wicked artwork by Greg Rolfes / eleven12design.com. TBA always conjures amazing visuals when I hear it. The perfect music for the most powerful moment in an anime. The mixing and mastering of this album are superb. The concepts here are so natural energy, so finding a perfect sonic balance is key to the message. Shoutout for giving Sounds and Shadows a Thank You in the liner notes 😉

The Powerful Sun: Gorgeous opening track with a slushy shoegaze guitar line. Kimberly has a gorgeous and distinctive voice that always sounds powerful without pushing itself. I picture her on a beach aquabending streams of water reflecting the sun. “What is it you’re fighting for”

Only Truth Remains: You can’t go wrong on this album, and the songs all maintain a consistent vibe. If I had to pick a favorite, this has such an amazing Til Tuesday darkpop sound with a chorus that lived in my head for days. Kimberly’s voice rises like warm air over the sand. The dueling guitar lines on the solo with such effortless precision create so much without grasping for a spotlight. This one got deep under my skin.

▶︎ until the world stops hurting | The Bleak Assembly (bandcamp.com)

Cyborg Amok – Cellophane Grind – Brand new single from the New Jersey father son electro rock duo of an August album Pin’s and Needles. Thick basslines and thundering 70’s darkrock tones. I love Brydon taking lead on the vocals here to conjure some Jim Morrison energy. Everything here feels big, spooky, and psychedelic. Doom rock like this is a bit of a lost art and I am loving this snapshot CA has captured.

▶︎ Pins & Needles | Cyborg Amok | Greg Bullock – Cyborg Amok (bandcamp.com)

Sierra Miffed – Demo – Kalamazoo MI’s own power punk trio including Jena, Leah, and Katy (Katy Needs A Life/Sounds and Shadows) with their debut release. A high-speed rollercoaster of emotional deliver and tight turns. Fan’s of 90’s indie edge like Muffs or Vaselines will love this clever spit in the face of convention.

Favorite Track: Untitled Banger – Normally a primarily instrumental punk thumper doesn’t get on my radar. What can I say, this cooks. It’s got energy, craft, and a devil may care attitude I can’t help smile and stomp my feet to. Can’t wait to get out and see this band live. I have a feeling the energy is next level when the wall of sound hits you in the face.

Demo | Sierra Miffed (bandcamp.com)

MORTAL REALM – Stab In The Dark –  Adam V. Jones, of Haex with a new project on Negative Gain coming like a charge into the breach. Prepare to be pummeled by a spiked gauntlet of sound. I really like how light on it’s feet this full plate dance beat bobs and weaves. There is a consistency of electronic bop, but the vocal style and emotional spectrum shows great range.

Death Debt– I didn’t know that Adam had a Martin Gore style in his bag of tricks, but I am loving it. Sassy and synthlacious this retro wall shaker hits all the notes.

Nostrum Nepenthe – What in the Industrial Ronnie James Dio is happening here? Gnashing teeth and stomping boots flinging out berserker bard tales of pain and destruction. This track is great for the club, or beating the piss out of rich boys in the dumpster out back.

Blood is my reward
The call of the void
The moment is gone
Blood is my reward
The call of the void
The moment is gone

Stab In The Dark | MORTAL REALM (bandcamp.com)

 BRIDES – Sundown – New three track EP from Adrian Borgia in Norway off Produkt 42. One of the most underappreciated expressionists of the modern scene. Track one Amour opens with swirling New Dawn Fades energy. A love ballad crooned by a broken demon. Adrian has mastered the art of being a single voice dragging a long cape of immense weight behind him.

Favorite Track: Apocalypse In Slow​-​Motion – This is a slow watching your heart burst from your chest, fall on the dirty ground, and get run over by a steam roller sound. Somehow that demonic growl still feels hopeful. An ending you long for, a rebirth to come. A difficult concept to describe, you know it when you hear it though. Adrian always leaves me memorized with the minimalist efficiency of his songs. An adventure of flavor with 5 simple ingredients.

Sundown | BRIDES (bandcamp.com)

Sword Tongue – Diamonds To Rust – Power Trio Jennifer Wilde, Gaetano Maleki, and Dan Milligan with a dreamy 4AD mystical Siouxsie “Superstition” feel. Jennifer floats like mist on top of the rotating toms and vibrating bass. Amazing to see how in synch this project has become. I think the first few releases were still asking themselves who they wanted to be. Diamonds to Dust definitively shows they have found the answer. This single shines with a complexity and sense of purpose that has been lacking in the scene. I love this clarity of direction.

Diamonds To Rust | Sword Tongue (bandcamp.com)

Camlann – Numb and Hollow – Immensely talented young folk from Jakarta, Indonesia who are creating darkscene music on a level I couldn’t have conceived of at their age. Sophisticated and exotic with a sharp foil of capitalist excess. The way this hits a pop anthem chorus while existing in the same track as the darkest imaginable David Lynch surrealism is an incredible artistic achievement. A sensational contradiction that casts a spotlight on the hypocrisy of the world. Another impressive evolution. No one is making music like this.

Vocals and Guitar: Ony Godfrey
Synth, Analog Bass, and Drum Machine: Fauzan Pratama
Produced, Mixed, and Mastered by David Novotny

Numb and Hollow | Camlann (bandcamp.com)

Song of the Day Gloom Wizard “Firelight”

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Newest release from the spooktastic goth rock sound of Gloom Wizard from Mexico. I speak often of my current occasion with the Mexican “Darkscene” and this one is special as led by our Sounds and Shadows group admin Anibal.

https://gloomwizard.bandcamp.com/

From the opening bell I love the smooth sliding bass line mixed with the frantic feel of the video. The character is twitching like a possession victim. The suited demons are tormenting them and the piercing guitars make pin prick marks upon us. The vocals are a rhythmic chant, almost spell work to bind us and centralize the ritual. As the music builds in intensity and the distorted guitars slash away at our sanity the tormenting demons whisper promises and threats. The organic rock feel has a real Nick Cave energy in the gentle ballad full of murder and menace. A powerful narrative that leaves me hungry for this rising star.

Lineup:

Ani voice and programming and keys, Rich, guitars, programming, keys. Aurelio played bass

Interview:

Tell me where the name Gloom Wizard came from?

It would be fantastic to say that the name Gloom Wizard is a precisely crafted nomastic sigil created with precise attention to the Gematria of the words, much the way Crowley changed Alexander to Aleister because of the numerological value, but that would be a lie. In reality, my friend Jessica came up with the name during a trip down here to Guadalajara. I (Ani, vocals) tend to dwell on the more morose and dreary aspects of life as well as the more esoteric, so in conversation she described me as a “gloom wizard” and that really stuck with me. I formed the band about four months later and used the name.

When did you obsession with the Macabre begin?

In my case, it’s definitely always been there, even since I was a little child. I’ve always had a predilection for the more creepy, weird aspects of life and I was always the weirdo at school checking out books about aliens, magic, ghosts, and true strangeness. Kids would definitely look at my funny a lot. Furthermore, I’ve always been really into shows about these things like ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, and THE X-FILES. The older I got, the more I got into actually studying ritual magick and more comparative theology. Similarly, Rich has always been really into Medieval and Tolkienesque things, which usually go hand in hand with the macabre in some way. Therefore we often talk about those things during lulls in making music.

La Fiera (Famous Luchador Father)

Your father was an entertainer as well correct? Do you think this played a part in being drawn to pageantry?

My father was a rather famous and well-known Mexican wrestler from the eighties and early nineties. He’s pretty legendary in that sport; people will occasionally still ask me if I’m related to him when I give out my name. His whole thing was rocking a mullet and a rocker look with a leather jacket and the more I think about it, the more I think maybe I’m channelling him! I’m not particularly sure this aspect played a huge part in being drawn into the pageantry of rock, but I’ve certainly always been a sucker for all of the pomp and circumstance of the show, whether it be in movies or on stage or in the ring. My mom frequently took my brother and I to a lot of my dad’s events, so we were exposed to that early on and loved the rush of seeing these veritable deities playing out vast epics before our very eyes.

What was your inspiration for this video?

Well, I always knew the video would have to do with a person plagued by their secret darkside, but the video actually is quite different than the first treatment. Initially, the main character was going to be a monstrous looking man who went about his day in a really normal way, as if no one really perceived that he was a hideous abomination, only he could see that about himself and it really troubled him. The big problem with this was the variety of locations and extras and general logistics needed, which really blew up the budget. Ultimately, one late night at around 2am I got the idea to pare down the first draft and then reshape it into what it became. We filmed the video at my mom’s house in one of her spare rooms. Working within that really limited setting helped us hone the storyline to something we could record in a matter of three hours one Saturday afternoon.

What is your hope for the future with Gloom Wizard?

Just the usual hopes of a fledgling, small time goth band: Sex, drugs, rock and roll, crashing luxury cars, a couple overdoses, destroying hotel rooms, getting to make ridiculous riders, for the guy from BEHIND THE MUSIC to narrate our ordeals. Apart from this, we really just want people to listen to our music, watch our videos, and find a space for themselves in what we create. More than anything, we love playing live shows just because we get to see people get lost in the music, in the moment. We’re really looking forward to things opening up again so we can maybe plan some tours and big shows in the very near future.