Distortion Productions – 6th November 2026
Christopher Nosnibor
It’s a backstory I’ve recounted numerous times. I was goth from the age of about 14. My entry to the genre – being born in ‘75 – was ‘This Corrosion’, released in September ‘87, followed by ‘Dominion; and The Mission’s ‘Tower of Strength’, both of which landed in in February ’88. Despite my youth – and my late arrival to the scene compared to many at that point, I still made my entry at the point when goth was simply goth – none of this second wave, etc. ‘Trad’ goth wasn’t even a thing then, because, well, it was goth. As long as we sidestep the fact that most bands – and their fans – denied the tag, as the whole thing was, in reality, a press concoction which served solely to pigeonhole a certain strain of quite disparate post-punk acts in a way that would potentially help shift copies of magazines and papers. Did it? I neither know nor care.
Revisionist history has changed the linage of the genre, and while there is a clear difference – or calculated similarity – between the originating bands of the late 70s and early 80s – Bauhaus, Siouxsie, The Sisters, The March Violets, even Salvation in their early days – by 84/85, there were many more middle-of-the road, jangling indie-goth acts in existence, and 90s saw a new weave which aped the early 80s sound only with more synths, and by and large, they were fucking awful, with the exception perhaps of Susperia and a handful of others.
My sister, five years my junior, got into cybergoth club nights in the 90s and I had absolutely no fucking what it was all about. I still don’t. It seemed to me as if goth had jumped the shark, or something. Like, how did we get from black velvet and leather, to neon and latex? But 1995 was 31 years ago now (you should see the state of the forums where Sisters fans continually relive the Black October tour of ‘84 and so on), and the dancier end of the goth spectrum has become well-established. Enter Eva X.
TURBOPINK is the follow up to 2022 debut I Dream of a Reality, and from her first appearance in 2019, she had built a style based on being ‘a robot girl singing about human things’. But something changed. As her bio explains, ‘somewhere out on the road touring, Eva found that she didn’t really feel like a robot girl anymore. But then, what kind of artist was she? What kind of person? The album that was to become TURBOPINK grew with her, through travelling all over North America and growing the band to a four-piece. When she got home, she hit the studio, took her time, determined to create the colorful industrial metal album of her dreams.
From the album’s very title, to song titles and the cover art, it’s clear up-front what this album is about, and from the off, TURBOPINK offers a blast of Hi-NRG electro – but also something more evolved. Her vocal performance is commanding, balancing pop and electronic folk, and the same is true of the musical compositions, which find thumping beats and rumbling bass paired with some dynamic lead guitar work. But those synths… sometimes they’re solid. Other times… there are portions of TURBOPINK which sound uncomfortably like rejected Eurovision entries. ‘Dopamine Blind’ is dominated by a relentless industrial stomp of a beat, but it’s as much straight-up dance which seeks a higher level – of consciousness, perhaps, but does nothing to expand on its position, and ‘Cross My Heart’ is pure pop, bordering on Stock Aitken Waterman production, only with a darker synth bass pulsing beneath its glittery skin.
AA
But at its best, TURBOPINK is a powerful hybrid work, creating a cocktail of dance, pop, techno, and industrial. ‘Fiction’ is exemplary, landing somewhere between Evanescence and KMFDM. ‘I Remember Me’, too, is a more overtly rock-leaning slice of aural alchemy, with bold guitars driving things forward for its duration. Eva’s vocals are strong and melodic, and she delivers the hook – of which there is an abundance – with a natural panache. ‘Dance in Shadows’ goes all-out for the anthemic, with chugging guitar paired with a pumping beat and a stadium-sized chorus, and the final track, ‘Twisted Transistor’ nails that 90s electroindustrial vibe, and again boasts an earworm-worthy chorus.
As a whole, TURBOPINK marks a clear evolution for Eva X, and with some punchy tunes and strong choruses, it’s undeniably fun.
AA
