METAMORPH conjures 2025 with the new single & video, ‘Hiss Kiss,’ a celebration of the snake’s magic and the promise of rebirth. Dropping in time for Valentine’s Day, the witchy Imbolc celebration, and the Year of the Snake. Love strikes like venom, and ‘Hiss Kiss’ is the antidote—a gothic dance floor anthem that wraps you in its serpentine embrace.
Launching METAMORPH’s Wheel of the Year release ritual, ‘Hiss Kiss’ is the first single to drop for these witchy holidays. The ritual culminates with the release of the album on the harvest celebration, Mabon (September 22) and closes the year with haunting remixes to complete the spellbinding journey.
“’Hiss Kiss’ is serpentine spells set to sound—your fangs deep in my flesh, feel the world’s caress, new pardine, dance divine,” tempts Margot Day.
Dark, seductive, and dangerously divine, ‘Hiss Kiss’ is the ultimate goth dance floor banger to kick off the year.
Dark electronic & trans-atlantic duo, DEATH BY LOVE has just announced the release of their debut single & video, ‘Strong Inside’ courtesy of Distortion Productions.
‘Strong Inside’ is a song that deeply reflects the inner struggles of the human experience. The lyrics touch on universal themes of vulnerability, self-acceptance, the constant search for inner peace, and authentic connections. It’s a song about self-preservation and a yearning for closeness and connection and the aspiration for a balanced and authentic self. It’s the resilience of the human condition that makes us all “strong inside”.
DEATH BY LOVE is poised to captivate the goth-industrial music community. offering a compelling glimpse into the band’s artistry. The band is also finalizing their first full-length album, set for a summer release. It promises to deliver an immersive and richly-layered musical journey.
‘Strong Inside’ is available on most digital platforms including Bandcamp.
Whether they like to admit it or not everyone likes to have the opportunity to say ‘I told you’. And so Leeds feminist punk four piece Helle, who describe themselves as ‘a flurry of blistering riffs, unflinching lyrics and explosive live intensity’ and ‘an irresistible firestorm of grit and glamour that takes no prisoners’ drop their fifth single at the end of the longest month in history. And while revelling over witnessingone of their first gigs, supporting Weekend Recovery three years ago, and being blown away, leaving absolutely convinced – and rightly so – that this was a band to watch, I find myself wondering where the fuck has the time gone?
But there’s no time to wallow, and ‘Hyper Bitch’ goes a few steps beyond merely blowing away the cobwebs.
It starts with some dialogue, some chatter, it’s probably staged, but is the perfect representation of the superior music snob wanker who lectures at gigs, not only between bands, but talks over them because his opinion is so much more important. And yes, it’s always a him and it’s always some middle-class white twat who knows he knows best and could do far better. And then – BAM!
This is punk done proper: guitars, bass, drums all going all out – nothing fancy, just full-tilt, four-chord aggression, providing the perfect foil for vocals which bring that same, angry energy.
There’s some sass in the lyric department, too, constructing lines with a patchwork of movie titles in a fashion that we might have nodded to as an example of postmodern referencing and intertext not so long ago: the chorus hits with ‘I don’t wanna be a Mean Girl / I don’t wanna be Clueless like you’ as their tear into the object of antagonism.
It could be that I’m simply more aware now than before, but it seems that masculinity got even more toxic of late, that the shittiest, twattiest representations of the males of the species are pushing back against all of the progress made by feminism in preceding decades, presumably because the idea of strong women makes them feel somehow emasculated, or, put straight, scares them and wounds their pathetic egos and deflates their pathetic dicks. But what’s not necessarily worse, but harder to fathom, are women who are complicit in this, and who go out of their way to undermine others. I suppose this song is for them. But as a package – and a fiery one at that – Helle are part of a new wave of strong female bands who rock harder and rage harder than almost any of their male peers and are all about taking no shit, shouting up, and kicking ass.
Industrial glam kingpin Raymond Watts aka PIG will reissue a remastered and expanded version of his 1996 album Wrecked via Metropolis Records on 7th March. His fifth full-length record, the remastering has been made by Tom Hall at Abbey Road, while its reappearance coincides with UK live dates to promote the 2024 studio album ‘Red Room’. The PIG live band currently includes En Esch (ex-KMFDM, Pigface) and Jim Davies, formerly of Pitchshifter but best known for his acidic and acerbic guitar lines on several chart hits by The Prodigy. Davies co-wrote many of the songs on ‘Red Room’.
Whereas the recently reissued Sinsation (1995) had originally been released on Nothing Records (the label established by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails), its follow-up saw a switch to Wax Trax!, the leading ‘90s exponents of industrial rock.
“Revisiting Wrecked for remastering was a sobering experience that left me shaken,” states Watts. “I recalled a period when I was stirred to a creative frenzy of crisis and desperation while searching for beauty. Although I can still hear glimpses of it, the bonfire of my hope was more an expression that was savage and twisted.” Following the desperate burning that had resulted in Sinsation, Watts considers it more “a yearning, grinding plea for liberation that manifested in ‘Wrecked’, a tomb I had built for myself and my troubles that only the very bravest would dare enter.”
The original press release for Wrecked had described the album as “a nihilistic slash and burn, a scrapbook of manifestos and suicide notes written in dried blood.” In the cold light of day almost three decades later that description still holds true.
Wrecked features contributions from former KMFDM members Günter Schulz and Steve White, as well as Julian Beeston (ex-Nitzer Ebb, Cubanate).
Ahead of the expanded remastered reissue, they’ve released a video for ‘Everything’, which you can see here:
I suppose I lost track of ‘new goth’ bands at the end of the 90s, and am still a way behind even now I’m a bit more back on it, and so History Of Guns, described by Mick Mercer – the authority on all things goth, who’s Gothic Rock Black Book was a bible for be when I was 13 and discovering the scene, as “By far, the most inventive UK band to have got their hands caught in the Industrial threshing machine” – bypassed me.
As the parenthetical numerals in the title suggests, this is a remixed version of their debut single, released twenty-five years ago, and it’s accompanied by a brace of new songs by way of B-sides, in the way things used to be done back then, when you had 12” and CD singles – and while I don’t get nostalgic for much, there was something special about these formats. Then there’s the fact a 12” single used to cost about £3.50 and a CD single a couple of quid – which probably sounds as incredible as a £1 pint or 3p tin of beans (Kwik-Save, No-Frills, c1995) to anyone under 35 – meant they were affordable, accessible.
But while we’re talking nostalgia and the passage of time, the accompanying video uses footage, originally filmed by Danni Cutmore on a VHS camera, of the band writing and performing the song at Earthworks studio in Barnet in 1998. It’s grainy, fuzzy, saturated, and looks like it could just have easily have bene shot in 1988, or even 1978. On the one hand, digital technology means the quality of video footage, even when shot on a cheapy mobile phone, is usually crisper, and isn’t prone to deterioration – but on the other, it’s so commonplace, it has less currency and less buzz about it, somehow.
The music itself… yes, it’s got that vintage post-punk feel to it, spun with an industrial edge, and pitching the band alongside Alien Sex Fiend, Cabaret Voltaire, Nitzer Ebb, Coil, Nine Inch Nails, Deathboy, The Prodigy, and LCD Soundsystem is all quite fair enough.
The classic spindly goth guitar sound spins spidery webs across a thumping drum machine, and there’s that quintessential low-slung bass groove… not to mention Del Gilbert’s theatrical baritone which looms powerfully over all of it. But then there are shuddering laser synth blasts which bubble up from nowhere, fizzes and whizzing and bleeps create the sensation of listening to two songs at the same time. Perversely, it somehow works, not least of all because there are strong hooks and the beat hits just right.
First B-side, ‘i am defective’ shows how they’ve evolved: it’s a dubby instrumental which leans far more into the electronic territory which only coloured their debut single. It’s also harder-edged and more overtly industrial, too, not just with the electronics, but the crunching, serrated guitars which cut in and threaten speaker damage. ‘LMS (Deep Mix)’ – a radical reworking of ‘Little Miss Suicide’ is in the vein of Rosetta Stone circa The Tyranny of Inaction – at least to begin with, but then swerves hard into the kind of electronica that qualified as technogoth or even cybergoth and reminding me why I drifted from the goth scene at the time. Now, I’m a bit more open to these things, and as an example of hard-edged industrial goth, it’s solid.
This release presents a neat straddling of the band’s formative years and their current sound: a clear win for fans, and a neat introduction for the unfamiliar.
Dilettante return with their second album Life of the Party, Pidgeon’s first totally self-produced record and her most personal one yet. Made in the confines of a converted freight container, the album is an outpouring of frustration towards societal pressures and the acceptance of realising she sees the world differently to others. “I went to see Poor Things and I really felt like Emma Stone’s character made sense to me,” explains Francesca. “She’s really literal and sort of just looks at the way polite society always does things and says, ‘why are we doing that? That doesn’t make sense, let’s do it this way’.”
Life Of The Party covers a range of topics, from turning thirty and feeling the pressure to start a family, to feeling constrained within monogamous relationships as well as the more weighty matter of speaking out about sexual assault and dealing with the associated repercussions.
Sonically, the album maintains Dilettante’s signature art pop sound and impressive loop pedal skills whilst also diving into a more synth heavy realm. In parts, the record also sees Pidgeon exploring a gentler sound, reverting back to a more traditional and raw songwriting “I’d been listening to Andy Shauf and Harry Nilsson a lot and I was trying to actually write from the piano”. Life of the Party sees Dilettante continue to push boundaries, “This record is, at times, the weirdest stuff I’ve ever put out and at times the poppiest,” she adds.
To coincide with the release, Dilettante have released a video for the title track. Watch it here:
Dark electronic trio, PAWN PAWN has just unveiled their latest EP, Halloween. The EP delivers a darkly electrifying journey through a spectrum of synth-driven styles, each track a study in emotional and sonic extremes. The Halloween EP is both a love letter to synthpop’s past and a step into its future. While inspired by film director, John Carpenter, the EP is named in honor of a holiday many dark hearts celebrate every day, Halloween’s trajectory goes through the brooding, pulsing opening track, ‘Trick Or Treat’ to the seductive, shadowy anthem, ‘Tell You With My Eyes’, then closing with ‘Jealousy Looks Good On Me’, a high-octane fusion of ’90s industrial-pop that balances chaotic aggression with razor-sharp melodic hooks.
They’ve produced a video to accompany the closer, which you can watch here:
The EP’s themes, like Halloween, are about embracing darkness and emotional extremes: vengeance, obsessive attraction & jealousy. They also represent tales of liminal spaces; the spaces between thinking about revenge and actively seeking it, or the space between obsessing over someone and actually making a move.
The EP also addresses the lines between passion and destruction, the idea being that an emotion like jealousy can theoretically make us more passionate and wanting to be the very best version of ourselves. Meanwhile that eternal desire competes in a battle that can never be won and is ultimately self-destructive.
Says vocalist, Liz Owens Boltz, the music on the EP is “about exploring synthpop and industrial-pop…this is really our first official foray into these genres. So our creative journey has brought us here, trying on a darker and more aggressive sound, and having fun with it.”
We’ve been bigging up York’s mighty riffmongers JUKU since their debut gig in the summer of 2023, because they’re simply fucking awesome, a real force to be reckoned with. Punky, new-wavey, but noisy, full-on, a sonic powerhouse.
Now, you don’t just have to take our word for it if you can’t see them live, as they’ve unveiled a video for ‘What?’ It encapsulates the band, and their sound, perfectly.
They write, ‘As a band, we sit in the place where creativity meets raw chaos. In our world, noise is harnessed as a form of expression. We channel frustration into sound. We take our discontent and transform it into energy. We outright challenge the notion of what it means to be seen and heard in the music industry, which often silences dissent… This track is a prime example of the things that motivate us to do what we do. Question everything and everyone, and do not allow your voice to be pushed into the obscurity of the background.’
Leatherette are back with brand new single ‘Itchy’ to mark the start of their recently announced EU/UK tour. The tour includes a show at London’s The Shacklewell Arms on 13th February.
After testing the song live during their second album Small Talk tour last year, they decided to record it themselves at home in a completely spontaneous manner, in messy rooms and using cheap instruments (including unlikely ones such as mandolin and bouzouki).”Being eternally dissatisfied, but also tireless explorers, we decided to return to our origins, seeking the expressive freedom that can be found in DIY”. The result was then entrusted for mixing to the usual collaborator Chris Fullard (Idles, Boris), and for mastering to Maurizio Baggio (The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher).
‘Itchy’ is a cathartic breakup song, blending the raw energy of post-punk with the angular charm of new wave. Written from the perspective of an inept and creepy protagonist, the track navigates the emotional chaos of a crumbling relationship, where frustration, anger, and reluctant self-realization collide. The song channels a blend of influences—from The Smiths’ melancholy to the frenzied urgency of The Pixies and the romantic nihilism of Tears for Fears. It’s a feverish exploration of love’s end, wrapped in an infectious, almost grotesque sonic landscape. Finally, it all resolves with a delicate, haunting arpeggio—like the quiet after the storm, offering a fleeting sense of clarity amid the wreckage.
Cool.
AA
EU/UK TOUR – FEBRUARY 2025
Thu 06 – Radio Rasa – Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Fri 07 – Le Rockerill – Charleroi, Beglium
Sat 08 – Zero Degree Est – Les Roches-L’Eveque, France
UK Progressive Rock group Frost* is pleased to share a new stand-alone single titled ‘Western Atmosphere.’ This song was originally featured as a Japanese-only bonus track on the album ‘Life in the Wires,’ and sees band leader Jem Godfrey joined by Randy McStine (Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree – live guitarist), Mike Keneally (Devin Townsend) & Nick D’Virgilio (Big Big Train).
Godfrey says this about the track: “I sometimes wonder what would have happened had I stayed in bed 10 minutes longer than I did on Monday 11th of January 2010. Perhaps my life would have gone in a completely different direction and Frost* would have ended up with the lineup of myself on keys, vocals and bass, Mike Keneally on guitar, Nick D’Virgilio on drums and Randy McStine on guitar and vocals. We’ll never know, I guess.”
Aural Aggravation 