This year is flying by, I can’t believe October is already here. Time once again for our singles chart to highlight some of the best songs released in September voted on by our group of Artists/DJs/Reviewers/Promotors/and Super Fans. Hearing these tracks are a great way to keep your finger on the pulse as well as raise awareness of amazing new bands in the scene that don’t always show up in other charts. If you or someone you know has a single released in Oct in the broad Darkscene genre. Join the group and add it.
- Matt Hart – Deep Down City
- Black Rose Burning – Fight
- Stoneburner – The Great Filter
- GoFight – Machine Rock
- The Waning Moon – Shred My Wings
- Curse Mackey – Dead Fingers Talk
- Sapphiria Vee – What It Was
- Night Nail – Narcoleptic Dream Catcher
- Choke Chain – Mortality
- Gazelle Twin – Black Dog

- MATT HART – Deep Down City – London Industrial Metal artist Matt Hart is no stranger to the top of the S & S Darkscene chart. I love how every single has a cyberpunk back story. This track would be the perfect scene builder for one of my old ShadowRun Table Top games. A new neon world buried beneath the destruction of the past. Cybernetically enhanced 6 inch platform boot stomps. Designer drugs and laser cycles hugging the corners of plastic streets. Razor production and imaginative concepts.
We reached a place so deep that,
All the light has left the darkness,
We source a new found light a
Strength to fuel our journeys process
A new world built for us,
A city designed to survive,
Honour, pride, and sacrifice,
This is the way of the Deep Down City
Main chamber to the stairwells,
Entertainment and the sleep holes,
Trains and stations, living districts,
All together survival instinct.
Deep, down below
We see the glow
our home so far down
This is the way, survive the day,
Take it from me we’ve paved our way.
DEEP DOWN CITY | MATT HART (bandcamp.com)

2) Black Rose Burning – Fight – It’s so great to see awesome people get the recognition they have long deserved. George Grant from Brooklyn has been a fixture in this scene for decades and people are starting to come around to his top tier voice, immersive songwriting, and complex technique. A science fiction story set in this albums space age world. I love how this tale zooms in on a relationship. In this one a co-dependent one. I think it’s really relatable for most of us at some juncture in life. George’s voice is such a breath of fresh air for it’s unique flavor in a baritone post punk world. It’s funny, as I read the lyrics I built a story of an alien parasite which is both keeping a stranded spaceman alive, while slowly consuming him. A race against time for rescue.
t’s stranger still, to taste a bitter pill
And there’s no lines, it’s better to lie all of the time
Now I can’t feel you anymore
Cho:
Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change
Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame
Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves
Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
Verse 2
It’s your state of mind, that’s seems so unkind
Now there’s no love, just push and shove, off came the gloves
And I can’t heal you
Cho:
Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change
Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame
Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves
Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
Bridge:
I tried to make you happy
But the truth kept shining through
I tried to make it happen
Dead and Broken, words unspoken so where do we go to now?
Cho:
Sometimes – we try to forget it all and never make a change
Sometimes – we’d rather believe it, and just take the blame
Sometimes – we deceive, and we lie, to ourselves
Sometimes – it’s brutally painful to let it go – I know
Fight! | Black Rose Burning (bandcamp.com)

3) Stoneburner – The Great Filter – Title track from Baltimore sound sculpture and dear friend Steven Archer on COP International Records. I am adoring the emphasis on narrative focus for our top three songs this month. This album and song focused on a controversial theory by Robin Hanson. I love the slow walk 90s bass opening charged down by glitchy cyber rap. The tempo takes it’s time as layers of chaos and tension pile on to a white-hot barrel fire under a bridge.
The Great Filter | Stoneburner (bandcamp.com)

4) Go Fight – Machine Rock (MekaBeat) – The top of this chart has been full of dear friends and all around awesome folk. So I am excited to see Chicago Industrial Legend Jim Marcus picked near the top. This remix album which features a ton of top talent doing remixes of the June single. This one has a fun 70s shock rock inside a 3d video pinball game flavor. Gyration and hip checks encouraged for this dance floor banger. There is something special about Jim’s “Industrial” voice that takes me there every time.
1. | Machine Rock (MekaBeat) 04:15 video | |||
2. | Machine Rock (SØLVED) 05:22 | |||
3. | Machine Rock (Bass Machine) 04:07 | |||
4. | Machine Rock (Interface Release) 06:01 | |||
5. | Machine Rock (SpankTheNun) 03:50 | |||
6. | Machine Rock (Household Percussion) 04:22 | |||
7. | Machine Rock (Derision Cult) 04:10 | |||
8. | Machine Rock (Sapphira Vee) 03:59 | |||
9. | Machine Rock (MelodyWhore) 04:22 | |||
10. | Little Beautiful Strings 05:10 | buy track | ||
11. | Little Beautiful Strings (Jane Jensen) 03:16 |
Machine Rock (MekaBeat) | Go Fight (bandcamp.com)

5) The Waning Moon – Shred My Wings – A newer band comprised of two veterans Ariel Maniki (Ariel Maniki and The Black Halos) and Zac Campbell (The Kentucky Vampires). The combination explores more electronic ground for each of the goth-rock artists. You are still getting a heavy dose of classic Zach early batcave riffs. Ariel croons like a creature risen from the depths dripping with pageantry. This project really reminds you why goth was so cool in the first place. Before the word got so big you forgot what it meant.
Shred My Wings | The Waning Moon (bandcamp.com)

6) Curse Mackey – Dead Fingers Talk (Electric Heresy Remix by A Cloud of Ravens) – Currently out on tour Austin TX Industrowave beat poet Curse Mackey is remixed by shooting star Brooklyn post punk band A Cloud Of Ravens. The stairslide bass walk lays a thick path for Curse to fling a barrage of venom from. The idea of creeping zombified flesh swarming towards you was really taken to hear for this reimagining.

Catch Curse out on tour now 🙂

7) Sapphira Vee – What it Was – This months chart is so full of amazing artists I love dearly, so it is fitting Sapphira has found her way into this list. The Rochester NY electro sorceress is swirling energies above her head and surrounded by a coven of top tier remixers on the Distortion Records release. I really love the confidence and cadence of this track. Soulful Missy Elliot energy fired over a cool spinning disc. Loving the way she has harnessed her voice and leaned into her truth.
What it Was | Sapphira Vee (bandcamp.com)

8) NIGHT NAIL – Narcoleptic Dream Catcher – Berlin based atmospheric obtenebrationwave band with the first single on their upcoming Metropolis release featuring everyone’s favorite euro darkscene producer Pete Burns. This opening bass riff is sleek, wet, and captivating. Brandon shows his range and dynamic with these vocals. I love the clarity of his dipping baritone that leaves the overwash reverb in the 80’s and pairs perfectly with what I assume are Valentina backup vocals. A smooth retrospective with newfound complexity.
Narcoleptic Dream Catcher | NIGHT NAIL

9) Choke Chain – Mortality – One of the most fiercely honest voices in modern electro-hardcore. This new single is a visceral dive into self confrontation and the horror of depression. It’s a nice build and texture on the music, but Mark’s voice cuts through everything to stand an inch from your face forcing you into his raw reality.
I can’t take it anymore
posessed by death
destroying my life
every second gets worse
it keeps getting worse
dying in your sleep
or dying in pain
most likely in pain
most likely in pain
why do I have to die?
im just trying to live
why can’t I just die?
it hurts me to live
each minute that passes
theres so many who die
and at some point that will be you
gone forever
cast into nothingness
no way to know you existed
every thought every memory
all for nothing
when will I be free?
when can I just live?
Mortality | Choke Chain (bandcamp.com)

10) Gazelle Twin – Black Dog – I knew very little about this UK band but I was instantly blown away. A quirky shadow pop with whispered menace and electronic hand drums. True abstract nightmare fuel lit by the glow of analog synths. At 2 minutes 53 seconds it explodes as the dog breaks it’s chain to charge you with frothing chaos. I genuinely regret this was the last song I listened to before bed. Pray for me.
Black Dog (Single) | Gazelle Twin (bandcamp.com)
As always, if you or someone you know is releasing a single in October in the broad darkscene genre. Feel free to post it on my Patreon or in the Facebook group. We are always looking to discover the best in new dark music.
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