Aural Aggravation

Distortion Productions – 20 February 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Life is full of surprises: Peter Guellard’s band, Dichro, looked to be on the brink of a breakthrough, when, out of the blue, singer Charmaine unexpectedly announced her departure.

As Peter recounts, ‘Around the same time, I was remixing a track called ‘Hide’ for the Polish electronica band NUN Electro. That remix pulled me into the deepest, darkest corners of my imagination, and it sparked something unexpected. Inga Habiba, the band’s incredible vocalist, reached out to collaborate further on her solo project, CallMe. One thing led to another, and soon we were dreaming up the idea of starting a new band together. It felt only natural for us to vibe within the goth, industrial, darkwave, and trip-hop realm’.

Fast forward not all that far and here we are, arriving at the release of Death By Love’s debut album – a truly international collaboration, facilitated by the power of the Internet between Poland and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two of their three previous singles – debut ‘Sellenno’, and follow-up ‘Strong Inside’ (both released in January 2025) feature here, and it’s that debut which opens the album with drive and energy, immediately grabbing the attention with its driving beat and technoindustrial / goth crossover vibes. It sets the tone and the level for the album, which is bold on beats and big on darkness.

‘I Don’t’ stands out as bringing a tension and sense of drama, as well as some esoteric Eastern flavours, and ‘Strong Inside’ is also tinged with Eastern influences, hints of The Cure circa The Top and The Head on the Door, melded with the driving electronic throb of, but KMFDM, but with a strong focus on vocal melody. Elsewhere, ‘Lost and Found’ goes large with an epic, cinematic sound that would comfortably fill a large venue, and the slow, brooding, string-laced ‘symphonic mix’ of ‘Temros’ – the original mix of which is yet to surface – stirs the same primal power as Wardruna. It’s potent, powerful stuff.

For its throbbing bass and more laid-back beats, ‘God’ – which sees Guellard step up to taker the mic – is more mellow and casts nods to David Bowie, and ‘Cosmic Power’ showcases a very different aspect of their form, spinning elements of trip-hop and country into a New Age electro cocoon – and without sounding naff – and the eight-minute ‘reprise’ of ‘Sellenno’ which concludes the album is a radical reworking, built around a weighty organ drone and breathy, breathless spoken word offers another unexpected stylistic switch.

AA

And so it is that with 444, Death by Love deliver an album which slots neatly within the bracket of electro with an industrial / goth edge, but at the same time proves they’re no slaves to genre tropes, with some stylistic outliers which alter the listening experience and perception of the band in subtle but significant ways. Already, they’re evolving their own style: 444 is a strong and solid debut, and the directions in which they will develop this will be interesting.

AA