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Watch: Klimt 1918 – Dream Core

Posted: 17 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Amor, Dream Core, epic, Klimt 1918, majestic, Melancholy, Official music video, Post Rock, Prophecy Productions, Shoegaze, Single, Stream

The heat is on: Rome’s skygazers KLIMT 1918 reveal the sun-drenched music video ‘Dream Core’ as the first advance single taken from the forthcoming new full-length Àmor. The beloved Italians’ fifth album has been chalked up for release on June 12, 2026.

KLIMT 1918 comment: “The song ‘Dream Core’ revolves around resilience, strength, and the ability to overcome life’s adversities”, frontman Marco Soellner explains. “We dedicate this track to those who choose to love despite everything. To those who believe that a song can trigger the will to change. To those who feel like a storm about to break over a sun-scorched desert.”

The burning pulse of the sun’s nuclear fire scorching the desert. The smooth sliding of glistening skin over other skin in a throbbing rhythm. The swelling hum of motion in a mass of bodies. KLIMT 1918 capture many such fleeting moments in time and preserve them through cascading walls of sound and the elegant drone of guitars.

The Italian’s fifth album, Àmor, represents a climax of their acclaimed previous work into a most melancholic, sensual, and majestic collection of captivating music. Àmor was born out of silence, solitude and social distancing. Yet as a deliberate artistic counterpoint, KLIMT 1918 decided to have all their new songs revolve around carnality, ardour, physical contact between bodies, and the urgent, compelling feelings that keep people awake at night.

With Àmor, KLIMT 1918 also take another step in the steady evolution of their sound. The influences of avant-garde metal have been dwindling from the start while darkwave and alternative rock rapidly grew stronger in the music of the Italians. Post-rock plays a strong role in their latest development but instead of shyly narrowing their perspective down by gazing at their shoes, KLIMT 1918 dream with open eyes, looking up above the horizon and into the sky.

KLIMT 1918 emerged from the ashes of a metal band in 1999 when the brothers Marco and Paolo Soellner rather chose to take fresh inspiration from such acts as BAUHAUS, THE CURE, and JOY DIVISION. This was also indicated by their new band’s name, which alludes to the Austrian symbolist painter and Art Nouveau pioneer Gustav Klimt, who died in 1918 while the Great War was still raging. The debut album of the Romans, Undressed Momento, arrived in 2003 and its dark emotionality immediately garnered high praise from critics and fans alike all over Europe.

Watch: ‘Just Begun’ by Sinister Shadows

Posted: 16 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: death rock, goth, Just Begun, Ryan Michalski, Single, Sinister Shadows, Stream, The Doorway To, Video

Florida’s death rock/goth artist SINISTER SHADOWS has released a music video for the song ‘Just Begun,’ taken from the self-titled debut album out on March 26th via The Doorway To label.

It’s quite a shift in style from its predecessor, ‘No One Home But Me’. Watch the video for ‘Just Begun’ here:

Sinister Shadows was created out of the love of death rock and goth rock from the Eighties and Nineties – bands like Bauhaus, The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, and Nick Cave.

Sinister Shadows ‘ mastermind, Ryan Michalski (Idiot Robot, Ryan Cosmonaught), ran a video magazine called The Gothic Box in Tampa Florida years ago and went to such venues as The Orpheum and The Castle. Sinister Shadows wants to bring back the darkness, romance and flair that has been long missed of this sound and movement.

The album was recorded at Ryan’s RPM Studios in Tampa throughout 2025. The album sees the participation of Ryan’s longtime music partner Clint Listing (The Slumbering) for an intro and outro to the record.

Watch: ‘Mirrorings’ by Void of Light

Posted: 14 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: Asymmetries, epcic, Heavy, Intense, Mirrorings, posdt-metal, Ripcord Records, Shoegaze, Single, Sludge, Stream, Video, Void of Light

Glasgow-based post-metal collective Void of Light have unveiled the new video for ‘Mirrorings,’ the lead single from their forthcoming debut full-length album Asymmetries, set to be released on April 3 via Ripcord Records.

Clocking in at a towering ten minutes, ‘Mirrorings’ first premiered at Decibel Magazine, who praised the track saying: “Clocking in at 10 minutes, ‘Mirrorings’ offers a pretty solid introduction to these gloomy Glaswegians, a dynamic epic that shifts from pummeling sludge to melodic shoegaze-inspired dynamism.”

The band had this to say about the new album and new song: “Asymmetries is the culmination of two years of hard work and exploration. Across the album’s five tracks, we set out to shape our own sound within a well-established scene, creating something that genuinely feels like ours. The closing track, ‘Mirrorings,’ brings the album’s introspective themes into a final, defining moment and represents what we feel is our strongest offering so far.”

Void of Light are a six-piece post-metal force built on contrast. Brutal yet deeply atmospheric, their sound fuses crushing riffs and thunderous drumming with melodic leads and carefully layered arrangements. Rooted in post-metal’s foundations but shaped by a wider spectrum of influences, the band carve out a sound that feels vast and aggressive, yet intricate and finely balanced through a keen sense of dynamics.

Following the release of their self-titled EP in 2022 and the two-track EP Enshroud in 2023, Void of Light completed a short UK tour and quickly established themselves as a powerful live presence across local venues and festivals. Renowned for their formidable performances, the band deliver an imposing wall of sound that is both overwhelming and precisely measured, drawing audiences into an intense, captivating experience.

On Asymmetries, Void of Light turn inward. Exploring themes of perspective, reflection, and internal conflict, the album charts a journey of reconciliation between the masks of the past and the truths of the present.

To celebrate the release, Void of Light will perform their album release show on April 3rd at The Flying Duck in Glasgow with support coming from Codespeaker & Obsidian Sand.

alka / Andrew Brenza – My Old Man (A Meditation On Impermanence)

Posted: 13 March 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
Tags: alka / Andrew Brenza, Ambient, Archive, Found Sound, Impermanence Project, Mortality Tables, My Old Man (A Meditation On Impermanence), reflective, Spoken Word, wistful

Mortality Tables – 27th February 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

Mortality Tables’ Impermanence Project continues apace, this time with a nine-minute work by alka, with spoken word by Andrew Brenza. This piece uses a 1979 / 80 cassette recording of Mortality Tables founder Mat Smith singing Marie Lloyd’s music hall song ‘My Old Man (Said Follow The Van)’ with his late father, James.

As Bryan Michael (alka) writes, ‘I felt there was a parallel between the rent collector-avoiding moonlight flits that inspired ‘My Old Man (Said Follow The Van)’ and the fleeting, ever mutable nature of life. I also like the idea of moments being captured within magnetic fields – a cassette, in this instance – which can then be re-played. To me, they’re like ghosts of memories.

Given just how fragile those magnetic fields are – prone to deterioration and even erasure – while the very tape itself is liable to stretching, warping, being chewed in the heads and rendered unplayable, or even snapping, it feels as if the medium of the source material is, in itself, an encapsulation of impermanence. Even supposedly permanent records are always at risk of ceasing to be.

And, indeed, such a simple recording, likely made for fun in the moment without a view to posterity, absolutely captures the essence of impermanence; James is no longer with us, but his voice lives on here, while the voice of Mat as a child is a reminder that childhood, too, is but a stage, and one which is, in the scheme of life, but brief.

Initially, the sound is so quiet that one may even think there is nothing but silence, but gradually, soft, gently pulsating synth tones fade in. The instrumentation is sparse, ethereal, cloud-like, while the voices drift amidst a soft, dreamy haze, very much creating the effect of the ‘ghosts of memories’ of which alka speaks. It isn’t until the final three minutes that Brenza’s spoken word contribution begins, reflecting on impermanence and mortality, and ‘the way I started to dress like my father once, after his death, because it made me feel close..’

The different elements are drawn together in an almost alchemic fashion, to produce a work which is not lugubrious, but wistful and contemplative.

Watch: ‘This World’ by Mesh

Posted: 13 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: alternative electronics, dark, Dependent Records, electro, Mesh, Single, Stream, The Truth Doesn't Matter, This World, Video

MESH demonstrate their remarkable proficiency far beyond producing massive electronica hits by delivering a wide-angled mid-tempo advance single that amalgamates melancholia with relentless urgency in the shape of the music video ‘This World’. This is the final advance track before the iconic alternative electronic duo’s new album will be released on March 27, 2026.

MESH comment: “I lingered in front of a piano and my mind wandered into cinematic film score territory and continued into how these soundtracks or epic pieces of music set an emotional landscape for the film”, Richard explains. “This was my train of thought when I wrote what was to become ‘This World’. Then Mark added the underpinning modular lines which gave this uneasy dynamic.”

“This is a really beautiful song in my opinion”, Mark opines. “It came together by a huge group effort with Rich’s solid and emotional instrumentation, lyrics that just seemed to come together, and Olaf’s inspired production and arrangement changes. It turned out to be one of my favourites on this album.”

Photo: Guido Braun

The Sunken Land – worm moon sessions

Posted: 12 March 2026 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
Tags: bedsit doomgaze, Dense, Drone, Earth, EP Review, ethereal, Guitar, Shoegaze, Sunn O))), textures, The Sunken Land, worm moon sessions

6th March 2026

Christopher Nosnibor

My first encounter with The Sunken Land was at the York EMOM (that’s Electronic Music Open Mic) at the start of the month. There were looks and mumblings of surprise, confusion, and even consternation within my vicinity. These events attract makers of a broad spectrum of music, from those who dabble to the obsessives, from laptops to modular setups to self-made kit, and from pop to ambience to far more experimental stuff. Often, there’s much interest and conversation in the gear being used, particularly as a fair bit of the kit is rather novel. ‘What is that?’ began to be asked around as The Sunken Land’s set started. There was incredulity, amazement at the instrument being wielded on stage, something alien to these night. It was a guitar.

The man playing, it, one David Martin, was conjuring layered soundscapes, pleasant to the ear, but underpinned with a physical density. It was well executed, and powerful, and distinct.

worm moon sessions, released the following day, captures the sound of that live performance well.

While there’s apparently no scientific evidence, there is plenty of anecdotal indication that people feel different on and around full moon. Werewolf mythology is but one example of the way the power of the moon seems to affect us, and since this satellite planet drives the Earth’s tides, it’s hardly surprising we also feel that we sense its force. There’s also something compelling, mesmerising, hypnotic, about a large, bright moon, or a moon with an aura, or displaying an unusual hue. This year’s worm moon, on 3rd March, was particularly unusual, emerging a fiery red from a total lunar eclipse, and perhaps some of this rare power filtered into The Sunken Land’s recordings here. While worm moon sessions may not represent an immense leap from demos 2026, released in February, there’s most definitely evidence of a gradual honing of the ‘bedsit doomgaze’ form here.

‘worm moon’ brings the heavy drone of Sunn O))) but with elements of melody rising out of the dense sonic swamp. These melodic details, in context, evoke the form of later Earth. It’s the kind of slow, deliberate guitar work that compels the listener to really hone in on the textures and tonality, the way the notes of a struck chord – thick with distortion and expanded with reverb – interact with one another.

The shorter ‘almost true’ is altogether lighter, more graceful, emphasising the ‘gaze’ aspect of the self-made genre tag. It’s still dense and underpinned with slow, droning distortion, but there’s a soft, almost ethereal hue around it, and the experience is ultimately uplifting, like the first signs of spring.

Listen: ‘Rip the God’ by The Melvins and Napalm Death

Posted: 12 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: collaboration, Heavy, Ipecac Recordings, Rip the God, Savage Imperial Death March, Single, Stream, The Melvins and Napalm Death

The Melvins and Napalm Death share ‘Rip The God’, the latest in a chaotic alchemy conjured on their joint album, Savage Imperial Death March (10th April, Ipecac Recordings).

The album shares its name with the bands’ Savage Imperial Death March tours from 2016 and 2025, but marks their first full-length studio collaboration under the moniker.

About this next track, Shane says; “The opening Buzz riff begins with that classic timing – a hiccup right at the end of the riff cycle making the riff extra special! Simple yet tricky to remember… it had my head spinning when I played the bass to it – Multiply that head spin with the guitar pedal noise static we all added – God was ripped and drunk on joyful noise…”

The album was recorded at the Melvins’ Los Angeles studio, with Buzz Osborne (vocals/guitar) and Dale Crover (drums) joined by Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway (vocals), Shane Embury (bass), and John Cooke (guitar).

“I have loved the Melvins forever and their outlook on music,” Embury explains. “A chance to make an album of eclectic musical madness with them was truly an honour and a whole lot of fun, which surely is the whole point! Let’s do another one soon.”

“Napalm Death are one of my favorite bands ever,” Osborne says. “It was an absolute pleasure and a dream come true to do this collaboration with them. We wrote songs together. I would write a riff and we would learn it and record it right there. They wrote stuff and we would learn it immediately as well. It was truly a 50/50 partnership.”

"Funny how life turns out sometimes… collecting hard-to-find Melvins 7-inches on Bleecker Street in 1989 and then touring twice and doing an album with them within the following 35 years,” Greenway adds. “Had a great time with it all, and nice to work with fellow travellers in the Melvins who also couldn’t care about pandering to ‘demographics’. I felt myself almost
babbling lyrically during the recording, and that alone made for very fun recording times."

Savage Imperial Death March pre-orders are available now. The eight-song album will be released on CD, digitally, and across four limited-edition vinyl variants: Black As Your Soul, Indie Exclusive Obnoxious Orchid, Ipecac Exclusive Absurd Aqua, and Revolver Exclusive Neon Coral. An abbreviated version of the album was released during the band’s 2025 tour as a hyper-limited vinyl/CD edition. This iteration features new Mackie Osborne-created artwork and two new tracks (‘Awful Handwriting’ and ‘Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy’).

Watch: ‘the ineptitude for mutual discernment’ by BIG|BRAVE

Posted: 11 March 2026 in Singles and EPs, Recommended Streams and Videos
Tags: Single, Stream, Tour Dates, BIG|BRAVE, Emotive, Official Video, Mat Ball, Thrill Jockey, Aicher, the ineptitude for mutual discernment, in grief or in hope, electro-acousic

The acclaimed trio BIG|BRAVE have announced their 10th full-length, in grief or in hope, out June 12th, 2026. in grief or in hope is an innovative vision of electro-acoustic sound and emotive storytelling, an endless bounty of overwhelming distortions and devastating beauty.

Along with the album’s announcement, the trio have shared first single & video ‘the ineptitude for mutual discernment,’ a powerful encapsulation of the ensembles’ singular approach to textural distortion and emotional complexity which contrasts tides of bristling guitars against guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie’s resolute voice. The video was created by guitarist Mat Ball with color correction by filmmaker Stacy Lee.

in grief or in hope marks a shift for BIG|BRAVE towards denser, guitar-oriented compositions. With longtime touring bassist Liam Andrews (MY DISCO, Aicher) joining guitarist/vocalist Robin Wattie and guitarist Mathieu Ball in the studio for the first time, the pieces are keenly layered with a rich tapestry of harmonics and tonal intricacies. Each piece is its own biome of distortions starkly contrasted with delicate, even tender, moments. The trio’s instinctual progressions are made more vivid through live recording, harnessing the gargantuan and storied sound of their performances. Within texturally maximalist loops and affected vocals, the pieces utilizes the aesthetics of drone, electronic, and heavy music within a foundation of pop song form.

Wattie writes: “I wanted to explore catchy, melodic phrasing weaved throughout the intensity of the instrumentation and droney chord changes. All that I could reflect on was grief and hope; death and life; cause and effect; shared experiences of being a human person.”

The tenth album for the ensemble, in grief or in hope pays homage to their past while looking into their future. Standout “the ineptitude for mutual discernment” expands on lyrical themes first explored on 2015’s Au De La where “verdure” echoes melodies from the title track of 2014’s Feral Verdure. These references to their past serve as potent reflection points on BIG|BRAVE’s evolution as artists. A sonic whirlpool of string instruments surrounds Wattie’s commanding vocals as she shifts from spectral undulations on pieces like ‘what may be the kindest way to leave’ to the direct, spare declarations of the title track. The ambiguity of mountainous chords on ‘an uttering of antipathy’ are coupled with autotuned phrases emphasizing isolation inside the fray.

Together the trio deliver emotional momentum that vividly describes the complex and deep feelings of struggle, pain, and transcendence. in grief or in hope transmits that sense of humanity with every gesture.

Photo credit: Stacy Lee

ON TOUR IN MAY AND JUNE

24 May – Utrecht, NL – EKKO
25 May – Amsterdam, NL – OCCII
27 May – Saint-Imier, CH – Toxoplasmose Festival
28 May – Basel, CH – Kuppel
29 May – Torino, IT – Jazz is Dead
30 May – Piacenza, IT – Desert Fox Festival
31 May – Ljubljana, SI – Channel Zero
2 Jun. – Poznan, PL – Pawilon
3 Jun. – Berlin, DE – Berghain

Watch: ‘as a dad’ by mclusky

Posted: 10 March 2026 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
Tags: as a dad, Future of the Left, i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley, Ipecac Recordings, McLusky, mini album, Peaky Blinders, remy lamont, Single, Stream, Video

mclusky have returned with new music (and some not-so-new music) in the form of a mini album called i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley, which ipecac recordings will release on 20th march (digital) and 1st may (vinyl). it will be released in the following formats: digital, black vinyl, ipecac/band translucent red vinyl and the rough trade exclusive variant, crystal fuchsia. today, they share the track ‘as a dad’.

‘as a dad’ is a song about several things.

the first of these several things are men who begin sentences / clauses with ‘as a dad…’. which is fine as long as the sentence / clause bears no relevance to the actual experience of being a dad. occasionally though, the prefix is appropriate (about 1/7). society must bend to this.

the second of the several things is a modern child’s wonder at how much it must despise its male progenitor in the early stages of life. the mother is all. the father can fall down the stairs and die in a puddle of his own slippers, and that’s okay.

the third, and last i can be arsed to list, of the several things, is something to do with the pride of being replaced by your offspring. i look forward to gradually fading into the background (unless i die suddenly in an avalanche) and becoming a grey footnote set against a sofa. when i stop breathing i hope nobody notices for at least an hour – this means that whatever board game is being played at this family gathering i’ve just fantasised is at least competitive (and wasn’t an expensive waste of time and money).

if you happened to catch the new peaky blinders movie this past weekend, you might have heard ‘people person’ on the big screen along side music from nick cave and fontaines d.c. the song is from the band’s 2025 release, the world is still here and so are we. the movie is in cinemas now and on netflix 20th march, and the soundtrack is out now.

Watch: ‘Tosca’s Kiss’ by PIG

Posted: 9 March 2026 in Singles and EPs, Recommended Streams and Videos
Tags: glam, Hurt People Hurt, Industrial, KMFDM, Metropolis Records, PIG, Pitchshifter, Prodigy, Raymond Watts, Single, Stream, Tosca's Kiss, Video

Industrial glam kingpin Raymond Watts and his chief songwriting partner in swine Jim Davies (ex-Prodigy and Pitchshifter) are proud to announce that PIG has given birth to a healthy new album, ‘Hurt People Hurt’. Weighing in at 10 tracks, this latest addition to the PIG bloodline will be released into the wild on 22nd May 2026.

‘Tosca’s Kiss’ is out today as the album’s first single. Inspired by Watts’ well-known love of opera, it’s a song for the strong of stomach but not the faint of heart.

The album follows the dirt directly to the dustcart where misfits and reprobates can both lose and find themselves in this full fat emporium of ecstasy, naked words and momentous music. Plucked and sucked on the fruits of pain and bliss, this prime slice of PIG provides a light space for dark spirits. Enter bruised, leave changed.

Raymond Watts has an impressive resumé. Aside from fourteen albums as PIG, he has worked with stalwarts of the global industrial scene such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Foetus and Psychic TV, in Japan with the bands Schwein and Schaft, and was a founder member of electronic rock band KMFDM with a key writing and vocal role on their best known songs of the ‘80s/’90s.

Watts has also written music for film, TV, advertising and fashion shows in Europe, Japan and America. His work in fashion includes ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’ (Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York) and ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ for the late fashion icon Alexander McQueen, which was reprised as ‘Savage Beauty’ (MMOA and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London).

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