Static Ghost, “Breaching Flesh”

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Static Ghost
Breaching Flesh
Verboden Records

Olympia-based industrial act Static Ghost has become something of a regular live presence in the Pacific Northwest, bringing a stomping mixture of body music, rough-edged production and bracing energy to the stage. The ease with which audiences latch on to Static Ghost’s material is almost certainly thanks to its immediacy and lack of pretense, qualities that were matched by the one-man-project’s recorded output which has largely emphasized mid-tempo grooves and a healthy dose of the aggression for flavour. New release Breaching Flesh follows that same path, but with an added emphasis on atmosphere and arrangement, adding nuance to the sturm and drang that has defined the project up ’til this point.

Which is not to say that Static Ghost has mellowed out at all; songs like the album’s title track still hinge on tightly wound bass and discordant synthlines and samples, the uneasiness of the distorted vocals pairing well with the reconstituted screams and shouts embedded in the mix. Where things really start to take shape though is in the places where those same elements are tweaked to create different moods. “Virus” has a rhythm that feels very natural for the band, but makes a point of playing up the foreboding pads in the background and switching up the transitions between sections, with a resulting unease that suggests hostility more than it enacts it. Similarly, the stop-start progression and chirpy acid of “Burnt Evidence” and the minimalist hiss of “No Future” still have plenty of groove, but draw out their builds rather than barreling towards their conclusions, allowing more potent grooves to build.

Where the projects ambitions and Breaching Flesh‘s execution clash are in the production, which maintains its DIY-charm, but sometimes detract from the dynamics and textures being brought to the material. First proper song “Identity” could almost be mistaken for early period :Wumpscut: with its medium-tempo and the breathy synths behind its heavy drums, but certain details become lost in the mix, obscuring details in favour of impact. Elsewhere, the clacky bass sound of “Choked and Strained” and the eventual filter swept synthlead feel strangely anemic, as though their bodies have been hollowed out. It’s not an issue for every song on the record, and can probably be chalked up finding their way around the expanded toolset. When things all fit together as on closer “Seeing Self”, Static Ghost balances the forcefulness of their live show with plenty of mood and character.

Buy it.

BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

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Tracks: June 23rd, 2025

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And hey, second week back to regular schedule and The Senior Staff are just working through the backlog of albums, singles and EPs that came across our virtual desks during our Spring hiatus. Last week had us holding forth on some of our more anticipated 2025 releases from Youth Code, Pixel Grip and Bootblacks, and hopefully this week we’ll be getting to a few more of the records that have been getting us hype. Strong year so far at just about the halfway point, and plenty to come from the likes of ESA, Moon 17 and Sally Dige (to pick 3 names out of a hat) that we’re keen on. What have been your faves so far this year? Make sure to let us know in the comments! On to Tracks!

Dark Chisme

Ultra Sunn, “The Beast In You”
Ultra Sunn have come a long way since their earliest releases as part of the early 2020s electro-darkwave boom, finding their own strengths, namely in the vocals of Sam Huge and their own voice as songwriters. The first single and title track from the forthcoming The Beast In You shows still more growth, leaning into synthpop dramatics that recall And One’s more baroque moments amongst others. Check those organ and choral sounds, and how nicely they mesh with the band’s rubbery basslines, it’s a great match and is certainly one of the strongest songs from a band that has already been doing good things in that department.
The Beast In You by ULTRA SUNN

Static Ghost, “Identity”
We’ve been tracking Olympia’s Static Ghost for a number of years now, both through a slew of singles and EPs as well as a spate of sets up here in Vancouver which have cinched the producer as one of the most energetic and enjoyable EBM-related acts Cascadia can claim. Now with a first full LP out, tracks like this which blend modern TBM with classic dark electro iciness will hopefully begin to find Static Ghost a wider audience via Breached Flesh.
BREACHING FLESH (digital) by STATIC GHOST

Dark Chisme, “Breathe, Break It”
Speaking of acts reaching out beyond the Pacific Northwest, we’d certainly hope that you’re already clued into Dark Chisme after the heavy duty touring the Seattle duo embarked upon in support of their excellent self-titled debut over the past couple of years. The second new track to be released since that LP keeps the hot hand going, with plenty of drama being worked from Christine Gutierrez’s vocals weaving through a less-is-more arrangement and some big, futurepop-esque programming crashing through at exactly the right times. Dark Chisme have everything in place to keep on rising into the tier of North America’s strongest acts, full stop.
Breathe, Break it by Dark Chisme

The Devil & The Universe, “Beelzebub Unchained”
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard new material from Austrian oddballs The Devil & The Universe, but they’ve resurfaced on Swiss Dark Nights with a pair of new singles. While “Primordial Temples” gets the smokey subtlety of their style across, this number’s far more bombastic, pushing their blend of darkwave and neo-classical to the maximalist limit with some help from Stockholm’s Aux Animaux.
Beelzebub Unchained by The Devil & The Universe

Ortrotasce, “Mirror Stitched to Static”
Just over a year since the release of Ortotrasce’s last LP of excellent classic synthpop comes a new missive from the US-based act. The project’s prolific 2024 release schedule maintained an excellent quality to quantity ration, and we’re pleased that the first song we’ve heard from them this calendar year doesn’t buck that trend; funky analogue bass, chirpy percussion and those low-key vocals and pleasing melodies that put us in mind of early 2000s electro from the likes of Soviet and Solvent. Great stuff from a band you should be keeping an eye on.
Mirror Stitched to Static by Ortrotasce

Die Sexual, “Magic Never Dies”
Hey, a new one from Los Angeles sexlectro duo Die Sexual, who have put out more than a couple dancefloor heaters in recent years (check “Need to Sin” and “Darkest Hour” for a couple of our faves). “Magic Never Dies” plays up the band’s strengths, namely disaffected but still insistent vocals, solid rhythm programming and minimal but propulsive synth programming. Also really feeling that post-chorus vocal break and bridge, just a nicely produced and structured addition to the track that separates from other comparable electro-darkwave.
Magic Never Dies by Die Sexual

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Bootblacks, “Paradise”

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Bootblacks - Paradise

Bootblacks
Paradise
Artoffact Records

Paradise is the record that New York’s post-punk trio Bootblacks have been threatening to make for a few years now, lit from the smooth melodics and studio sheen of its predecessor Thin Skies and stoked by extensive touring and the band’s own unique appeal. While those who have seen vocalist Panther Almqvist, synthesist Barrett Hiatt and recently added guitarist Kalle Fagerberg play live will attest to the band’s considerable charms, this is the first time that the band have fully captured that on record, via a considered mix of songwriting, excellent production provided by Xavier Paradis, and the band’s lively delivery.

From its very first moments, when a warbling staccato synth chirp is immediately encased within a sweeping, warm vista of pads and ambience on “Forbidden Flames”, it’s clear that Paradise is a record with a specific musical vision. As opposed to the sprawling, everything and the kitchen sink reach of Thin Skies which seemed to hot-swap genres mid-track at times, there’s no mistaking any of the numbers on Paradise as stemming from anywhere other than this iteration of Bootblacks. Some credit is no doubt due to producer Paradis whose own work as Automelodi presages the album’s glossy mixture of italo disco, darkwave, and art pop.

It’s a natural fit for the band, whose work has always strained against the accepted boundaries of the post-punk sound they were corralled into. The record’s warm and often euphoric disposition works in every configuration, allowing for the groovy mid-tempo bounce (partially contributed by Chris Vrenna) of “Only You” with its smooth sax solo to share space with the wormy disco pulse of “Can You Feel It? (Anymore)”, whose summery, spacey pads give the track’s verses a “From Here To Eternity”-styled sense of intrigue. Even darker or more lowkey moments, such as the Siouxsie-connoting, smoky downward guitar lines of “Wilderness” or the increasingly discordant directions closer “Melt” sprawls out towards, are swaddled in Paradise‘s larger package and aesthetic, maintaining that holistically bright mood.

The secret of Paradise‘s balance of easy-going vibes and rapturous, sneakily-intense climaxes (see “Leipzig” where a steady pace begets some of the most insistent new wave thrills this side of prime-era Duran Duran) is in how it’s a perfect reflection of the strengths Bootblacks have always had. Almqvist has never lacked for vocal presence on stage, and hearing his laconic charm captured so perfectly here is one the LP’s great pleasures. Similarly, sharp programming and chorused-out guitars have always been part of the band’s identity, but their configuration in these these songs is fresh and impressive; listen to the shimmery delays on the lead of the title track, or the way the octave bass of “When You Want” lands around the percussion.

Even accounting for the shifting focus between atmosphere and hooks, the impressive unity of ambition and execution, and its compulsive listenability, this record’s greatest feat is in how it captures the band in the extended, joyous moment in which they’ve fully come into their own. Weird as it is to say for a band of their tenure, Paradise sounds like Bootblacks speaking their native language for the very first time. Highly recommended.

Buy it.

Paradise by Bootblacks

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We Have a Technical 563: Khan and Hammer

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Sixth June

Sixth June

We’re catching up with a whole slew of news and live show business off the top of this episode as your regularly scheduled ID:UD programming resumes, and we’re returning to the ever-popular Pick Five format. From powernoise to goth rock we’re each picking some especially long tracks and talking about how that length has shaped our impressions of them. As always, you can rate and subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or listen through the widget down below.

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Pixel Grip, “Percepticide: The Death of Reality”

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Pixel Grip
Percepticide: The Death of Reality
self-released

It’s been a little over four years since Pixel Grip’s breakthrough sophomore album Arena was released, a perfect record for that exact moment in time. The Chicago based-trio’s genre-bending mix of EBM, darkwave, and club music, all served with audacious confidence was the ideal soundtrack for a world just emerging from pandemic restrictions and returning to dancefloors en masse. The lengthy wait for a follow-up record and the band’s growing rep as a live act, mean that 2025’s Percepticide: The Death of Reality has some significant expectations attached to it on arrival.

Perhaps as an acknowledgement of, or in direct defiance of those expectations, the record opens with a track that couldn’t be more different from the buzzing, acerbic posture of Pixel Grip’s signature hits “ALPHAPUSSY” or “Demon Chaser”. Where those songs got over on the basis of attitude and whipsmart rhythm programming, “Crow’s Feast” is a soft, reflective cut that finds vocalist Rita Lukea at her most open, likening heartache and disappointment to being eaten alive, while a tasteful and minimal arrangement of synths plays out behind her. It’s hard not to see it as something of a power move and a statement of purpose in one; we already knew that Lukea and bandmates Tyler Ommen and Jonathon Freund can heat up dancefloors, but opening with an exploration of the emotions behind their sexually-empowered anthems changes up the context for the album significantly. Hence why the already familiar single “I Bet You Do” (originally released in 2023) feels different here, its fuckboy-kiss-off lyrics coloured by the vulnerability that preceded it, but without taking the cutting edge off of its chittering synthlines and snappy drums.

That dichotomy, although not as pronounced in its opening tracks, is at the heart of the record. For every sweaty, bass-forward dancefloor burner like “Stamina” (whose “Daddy come over/Fuck me over and over” hook is as memorable as any PG have ever recorded), there’s a slowburn joint like “Noise” where the band dial it back and rely more on atmospherics and melody as conveyed by ghostly synths and trappy cymbal programming. Most intriguing are the moments where Pixel Grip split the difference between grinding it out and confessional soul-baring; “A Moment With God” is as close to pure synthpunk as the band have ever gotten, its drums and bass guitar rolling along while Lukea flips between a wounded croon and dismissive shout.

Percepticide shows more of Pixel Grip than anticipated, and in ways that fit nicely with the bratty, sexually-liberated, nightlife image they’ve been cultivating up ’til this point. It’s got the bangers you’d expect certainly, supplemented with some emotional sincerity and some of their most developed songwriting to date; a record that explores club life, and the emotional fallout of what happens on and off the dancefloor.

Buy it.

Percepticide: The Death of Reality by Pixel Grip

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Youth Code, “Yours, With Malice”

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Youth Code - Yours, With Malice

Youth Code
Yours, With Malice
Sumerian Records

Even leaving the general state of the world at large at the door, dark music has undergone a couple of sea changes since the last time we had a proper stand-alone release from LA industrial dynamos Youth Code. Since 2015’s Commitment To Complications Berlin-styled TBM and pop/dancefloor focused darkwave have taken up a massive amount of oxygen in clubs and online (this site included), pushing the sort of abrasive hybrid of EBM and electro-industrial which has always been Youth Code’s sound back to the margins. Perhaps their 2021 collaboration with post-hardcore noise merchant King Yosef makes even more sense in that light, as do their tours with the likes of Code Orange – crowds hardwired for punk and metal are more likely to be on Sara Taylor and Ryan George’s wavelength than those drawn in by Mareaux or Boy Harsher.

Regardless of the recent past, Youth Code’s new EP Yours, With Malice is exactly the sort of reintroduction the broader industrial world needs to Youth Code and the sort of distillation of their strengths long-term fans would hope for. The stuttering, stabbing bass which falls in and out of sync with the drums of opener “No Consequence” is classic Youth Code going right back to their demo days, and “Wishing Well” (not a Terrence Trent D’Arby cover, for what it’s worth) gets over via the sort of subtle swing and funk vintage electro-industrial camouflages within its bricolage.

The changes, such as they are, that Yours, With Malice shows are generally minor production and arrangement tweaks which bring all of the density you’d expect in Youth Code’s most cacophonic and dense tracks into clarity. The whiplash shifts between glitchy beats and more propulsive and straightforward kicks on “In Search Of Tomorrow” feels seamless, and the details in the distorted textures of “Wishing Well” (and really the entire EP) feel more clearly parsable than they might have in the past without sacrificing grit. That consideration’s carried over thematically, too, with “Make Sense” knowing when to have the shuddering drums to drop out and leave the icy disaffection of the programming to match Taylor’s exhausted desperation, or in how the slightly less aggressive, dark electro styled synths which emerge in the second half of closer “I’m Sorry” underscore Taylor seeming to aim her vitriol inward in the EP’s final minutes.

Youth Code’s arrival in 2013 crystalized a sense of dissatisfaction with stale North American legacy acts and the diminishing returns of a club and remix-focused European ecosystem and heralded a new wave of rough and uncompromising EBM and industrial. While the landscape of 2025 is quite different, Yours, With Malice feels like an equally welcome disruption. Times change, Youth Code don’t, and thank fuck for that. Recommended.

Buy it.

Yours, With Malice by Youth Code

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Tracks: June 16th, 2025

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Tributes to and thoughts about Douglas McCarthy continue to pour out in the wake of the legendary Nitzer Ebb frontman’s passing. In particular, if you haven’t already done so we’d suggest taking a look at friend of the site Ned Ragget‘s thoughts as well as a very informative Quietus pieces looking at the role McCarthy’s upbringing in Essex played in Ebb’s early days. If you’re like us, you’ve been listening to a lot of Ebb and the other music Douglas had a hand in over the past few days; we hope it’s provided you the same comfort and energy it’s always given us.

Black Magnet

Black Magnet rolling their way into the semis.

Seeming, “Grindshow”
We are unabashed fans of Alex Reed’s Seeming; since we first heard “The Burial” the post-everything (thematically and musically) project has been close to our hearts, and a salve in uncertain times. So a new Seeming single obviously comes with a lot of expectations for us, so when we say “Grindshow” is unexpected, please understand we mean that in the best possible way: that chopped sample, that funky guitar lick, Alex half-singing, half-speaking in bizarre rhythmic cadence, that wild brass-infused climax, we couldn’t have expected any of it, and we love it.
Grindshow by Seeming

Rotersand, “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)”
Hey, there’s a new Rotersand LP coming this Summer, and we’re very interested by what we’re hearing in debut taste “Private Firmament (I Fell For You)”. The German trio have always had a pleasing way of threading the needle between European electro, synthpop and EBM, and on this single they even bring in some big beat and techno sounds to the table, making it club-worthy and musically interesting. Definitely more focused on rhythm than melody (check that funky clip-clop percussion on the outro), it’ll be real interesting to hear what the rest of the record has to offer come August.
Don't Become The Thing You Hated by Rotersand

Hypnoskull, “Underqualified Enemies”
As was detailed on this site in an analysis of Hypnoskull’s 2019 Maschinenfest performance, there can be a surprising amount of conceptual depth beneath the surface of the veteran Belgian producer’s brand of powernoise. New EP Ich Nicht is no exception, digging not just into the current horrific state of things but the hurdles and inertia those trying to fight against it are often hampered by, as well as the general shoddiness of the supervillains currently fucking our collective shit up in the case of this track. Icy and simultaneously disciplined and utterly chaotic in its rhythms, it’s just what you’d hope for out of Hypnoskull.
Ich Nicht by Hypnoskull

INVA//ID, “Messiah”
Los Angeles’ INVA//ID has been making some good moves in 2025: the release of the dark-electro project led by Christopher Rivera’s LP The Agony Index has been supported by a steady stream of singles, remixes and b-sides, brings us to “Messiah”. Included on the digital single for “Sinner”, it’s a collab between Rivera and industrial metal flamekeepers Black Magnet’s James Hammontree that splits the difference between their sounds and delivers a roiling, crushing heater of a track that recalls Ministry’s “You Know What You Are?” and Pitchshifter circa Industrial. Do a whole album of this and we wouldn’t be mad at all.
Sinner by INVA//ID

Black Magnet, “Better Than Love”
Hey, speaking of Black Magnet the Oklahoma-based outfit has their third salvo of grinding industrial metal on deck. While the cover design of Megamantra and first teaser “Endless” underline the debt the band owes to Godflesh, this new track is something altogether different. Bringing some seriously cocky strut and swagger to industrial metal chugging, it gets the sort of personality Black Magnet have been able to conjure at will right out front in stark contrast to so many of the turgid industrial metal acts still roaming the wastes who can’t shred half as hard as this to boot.
Megamantra by Black Magnet

Zack Zack Zack, “Duvar”
The first new original material we’ve had in a couple of years from Viennese duo Zack Zack Zack has one foot in the steady rockin’ mix of EBM-touched darkwave they’ve been trading in since the beginning, but this number eschews the cool, sultry grooves we normally associate with ZZZ for a much more frenetic and claustrophobic palette which perhaps brings the little hint of Neue Deutsche Welle in their style to the fore with clattering abandon.
Duvar by Zack Zack Zack

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Gallows’ Eve, “For The Black Birds”

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Gallows' Eve - For The Black Birds

Gallows’ Eve
For The Black Birds
M&A Musicart

By the time their first LP, a compilation of existing singles and new material, was released Swedish trio Gallows’ Eve had their particular read on goth on lock. Stormy, anthemic, and decidedly rock, 13 Thorns was as tight and strong a debut as a band could hope for. Follow up record For The Black Birds arrives a little over a year later and doesn’t deviate from the formula it’s predecessor set forth, apart from perhaps blending its different components into a more unified and regulated sound.

Gallows’ Eve’s sturm und drang style lifts from the long tradition of continental, metal-adjacent goth rock, but is much more flexible and, frankly, memorable and hooky than nearly all of the gloom merchants in that vein one might name dating back to the Nephilim. Tunes like “The Damage”, with its seething and measured verses building to a wind-whipped half-time chorus adorned with squalling leads and Andreas Lundberg’s wounded bellow exemplify how much movement and drama Gallows’ Eve can pack into tight four-minute structures. Even when they tilt a bit more towards the Leeds style of goth on opener “Ars Corax” or straight-up butt rock on “We Chase The Dark”, the well-blended instrumentation and slick production leaves no doubt about who’s playing.

Much of the above could certainly be taken as an accurate accounting of 13 Thorns, and really it’s the fact that most of the nine tracks here contain a little bit of each of those core elements, rather than casting out into more specifically thrashing or chamber-goth directions, which distinguishes For The Black Birds from it. The epic (read: slow) balladeering of closer “The Hunger” and “Let The Storm In”, with its lithe synth-string focus, are perhaps the tracks lying the farthest afield from that core sound. Hell, even the degree to which the album’s titular corvids are repeatedly mentioned in the lyrics makes for a consistent thread. Thankfully, a fairly tight run-time and the band’s already established talent for immediate hooks keeps that sense of unity from ever feeling homogenous.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t exactly the most compelling pitch for a record, but it’s a strategy that works for Gallows’ Eve. The audience drawn to them by their previous work was likely drawn in by their talent for a style which simply isn’t executed well very often these days, and are likely hoping they keep the hot hand going. Luckily for them, For The Black Birds sits ably beside its predecessor and helps to clarify both Gallows’ Eve’s style and their place as one of the strongest trad goth bands going today. Recommended.

Buy it.

For The Black Birds by Gallows' Eve

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