Fysisk Format proudly announce the signing of Fanatisme and the release of their debut album Tro, håp og kjærlighet, set to be released on December 12, 2025.
Emerging from the Norwegian underground, Fanatisme channel the lunatic, forest-worshipping spirit of Ulver and Darkthrone, merging it with the gothic pulse of Christian Death and The Cure. The result is a singular collision of black metal and post-punk, a dark and ecstatic celebration of life, death, and everything in between. Tro, håp og kjærlighet is both unrelenting and reflective, a debut that collapses the boundaries between black metal’s primal fury and post-punk’s spectral beauty.
‘Nordens eteriske sommer’ is the first cut to be aired from the album. It’s a belter, and you can hear it here:
Based in the Texan city of San Antonio, darkwave/synth punk artist Night Ritualz (aka Vincent Guerrero IV) weaves deep Latin influences into his songs, blending English and Spanish lyrics with music that combines atmospheric soundscapes suffused with pulse-pounding beats to tell stories that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. New single ‘Brown Skin’ is the first track to be teased from a new album out in early 2026. An unapologetic expression of identity, struggle and survival, the song blends personal storytelling with social commentary, confronting feelings of displacement, family separation and the weight of heritage. The song lyric is sharp and direct, carried by a vocal delivery that makes every word hit like a protest chant.
“This song is about resilience – working hard every day, facing systems that try to erase you and still standing strong with pride in where you come from,” explains Night Ritualz. “The repetition of the hook and the outro were designed to channel frustration into power, making it both deeply personal and universally relatable.”
Wounds is Cold in Berlin’s long-awaited and recently announced fifth album – their first in six years. As heavy as it is haunting, the record masterfully blends doom, post-punk, and driving krautrock in a dynamic, hypnotic maelstrom – pushing London’s most exciting cult band into intoxicating new territory.
“Wounds is a series of songs about the different ways people live with and process ‘the wounds’ of their lives,” explains vocalist Maya. “A strange celebration of that formative pain we have all experienced in some way. The loss and joy of survival – the celebration of finding others like us, the gift of knowing life comes after fire.”
New single ‘The Stranger’ is a song that is meant to allow for multiple interpretations. Vocalist Maya adds:
“Perhaps it is a song about addiction- the wound that doesn’t heal. The way the focus of an addiction sings to you, searching you out, twisting and flowing through the body- whispering beneath the skin until you answer the call and find home once more.
Perhaps it is a song about finding your place in the world- groups of people watching and experiencing something meaningful together- a way to heal and close old wounds. How live music can stay with you even as you are separated from it. How finding the strange songs, sang in dark places can actually bring you home to yourself.
Or perhaps it is a song about that sharp kind of love at first sight that can overwhelm, offering freedom and constraint all at once. When you are drawn to that person that you know can destroy you, but you cease to matter because they are somehow instantly your home and only resting place.
‘The Stranger’ can be all these things- a healer, a cage, an addiction, but it is most definitely a call into the darkness, reaching out to the listener to join us in the howl of life, to wake up the bones and the skin. Be with us in the noise and know that whatever it is that led you to us, we are grateful you are home.”
Canadian dark electro artist S1R1N has unveiled the new single and video, ‘Voodoo Doll’.
‘Voodoo Doll’ is, at its core, a song about self-destruction and destructive relationships. The lyrics describe an effigy, a doll that the protagonist has created. This doll is the most precious thing in their world, as they love it with abandon, but it also becomes the target of their anger and rage and destructive behavior. As it often is in life, people hurt those whom they love the most, and it is no different in the relationship with the self.
The story also serves as a metaphor for the artistic process, as the journey of creation involves placing one’s heart and soul into something, all of the love and positive emotions that one feels, as well as all of the suffering and pain . The sound palette used to create the song calls to mind a creepy yet melodic aesthetic reminiscent of horror film soundtracks.
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The music video for ‘Voodoo Doll’ was very much inspired by the surreal yet gritty aesthetic of the music videos of the late 90’s and early 00’s. It was filmed in several abandoned buildings including a Victorian Insane Asylum and a Tuberculosis Sanatorium. The symbolism of these places, as well as the imagery of dolls and the bloody white clothes worn by Morgan in the video call to mind themes of lost innocence, and the corruption of the inner child. This is especially exemplified by the scenes in the video where dolls are destroyed. Both the song and video are intended as a cathartic experience for both the artist and audience.
Bandcamp Friday or nay, September is always a busy month for releases, presumably in no small part due to the fact that the festival season is over, and artists can get to the job of plugging material to fans they may have picked up along the way, while music listeners are back home rather than in fields in front of stages, or on holiday, so are placed to listen to, and maybe purchase new music.
Sometimes, it can take a while to sift through it all, and there’s a real danger that some great stuff will slip through the cracks, especially from lesser-known artists. This, in many respects, is where the music press, such as it is these days, has not only a role, but a duty, an obligation, to seek out and highlight the acts who aren’t going to be pushed into the ears of the masses by algorithms, or by labels with hods of cash for promo (who aren’t necessarily averse to insidious campaigns claiming a ‘grass-roots’ story for an unknown group of middle-class posers who’ve barely played a gig or had more than a handful of streams / likes before landing airplay, huge support slots and going stratospheric overnight… and there are a fair few of these).
Moons in Retrogtrade is Kara Kuckoo, a German artist who does a nice line in dark alternative / gothic electronic rock, and who isn’t likely to be getting algorithmic / big label backing any time soon, not because her work isn’t good, but because, well, it’s a bit arty, and in the current climate of anti-intellectualism, it’s a hard sell to the mass market.
Take, for example, this, the lead single from her upcoming debut album The Third Side of the Coin. Released as a video single, the song is accompanied by highly stylised visuals, which feature an almost Tim Burton-esque ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ scene. It’s fitting that this shimmering dark pop gem should present images offering a twisted alternative reality, given the subject matter (again, a hard sell for commercial channels), as Kuckoo explains the concept behind the single:
“Carl Jung said, ‘Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.’ ‘Mirror Obscura’ is about facing one’s own darkness through the infinite mirrors of other people… The video portrays the perceived duality of black and white and the madness within us as we avoid our own darkness. The elements of color are glimpses into the spectrum of wholeness… I especially wanted to shoot at sunrise because those moments of dusk and dawn are the magical spaces between day/light and night/dark.”
On the project’s broader intent, she adds: “Moons in Retrograde is about digging up and reflecting on buried emotions… MIR weaves a soundscape which shines a light into the deepest corners of the mind and exposes the truth about the dark side of humanity while simultaneously discovering the core of the human soul.”
It’s one of those tracks which takes its time with a slow build (another thing which goes against the grain in our attention-deficient world, where intros and verses have got shorter and shorter to the point that most chart pop is seventy-five percent chorus), building atmosphere, Kuckoo’s vocals emerging through cavernous reverb and washing waves to arrive by stealth to an meet with an enticing beat and subtle instrumentation before a strong chorus that goes big on the final run, a burst of bold, even epic proportions.
Bandcamp Friday may be a regular occurrence, but it is an event, and one which surpasses Records Store Day in terms of its tangible benefits – namely, that artists get paid. Who would have thought that this should have become such a topic for discussion? The sad fact is, artists haven’t been receiving fair recompense for a long time, but the Internet was supposed to herald the arrival of a new age of egalitarianism. But then the corporatisation of the Internet put paid to that. While the world was focussed on vilifying Napster and Soulseek and the like, streaming machines like Apple and Spotify erupted like Godzilla from the depths and created a new model whereby artists got paid, but by nowhere near enough, and only of they were already raking it in.
I’ve digressed already, but the flipside of Bandcamp Friday is that there are more releases in a day than I could listen to in a month, and my inbox is battered and overloaded with updates. Sometimes, I feel inclined to simply go and lie down rather than approach their contents.
But some releases remind me why I do, and it’s worth quoting here:
After much teasing and anticipation, US goth rock veterans Sunshine Blind at last release their first new songs in over twenty years: two driving goth rock bangers, ‘Ghost of You’ and the especially rousing anthem, ‘Unsinkable’. The new tracks are released together as the Scarred but Fearless single for Bandcamp Friday, 5 September 2025.
Twenty years. Twenty years! Time does, indeed, fly. People my age struggle to accept that the 90s were thirty years ago, or that when they were 21 was anything other than the definitive bygone era. Then again, Sunshine Blind’s sound was always very much rooted in the sound of 90s goth / post punk revival, when The Sisters of Mercy unleashed the altogether more rock-orientated Vision Thing, and acts like Sunshot were taking drum-machine driven gothy goodness in new and invigorating directions. It’s not just Caroline Bland’s vocals which invite favourable comparisons to Sunshot: Sunshine Blind’s catalogue is bursting with effervescent energy, and this new brace of tunes make a most welcome addition.
The janglesome intro to ‘Ghost of You’ calls to mind The Psychedelic Furs during their 80s pop phase, and there’s certainly a melodic accessibility to the song. However, it’s countered by a thunderous, driving bass sound and screeding feedback filling out the sound at the back, and captures the vibe of The March Violets, another classic act newly invigorated. What goes around comes around, and with certain parallels between now and the early 80s, it very much feels like this is the time for a goth revival, including crimped hair and hats. ‘Ghost of You’ brings the vibe, and well as guts and hooks in equal measure.
‘Unsinkable’ ups the rock leanings still further, with a brittle guitar chiming through the verses before going full tube crunch on the bold chorus, propelled by some sturdy drumming and another solid bassline. The sentiment is the perfect analogy for the band here, too. You can’t keep talent down, or buried forever.
With both songs of a standard, this is very much an AA-side single, making Scarred but Fearless a triumphant return.
Wounds is the band’s long-awaited fifth album – their first in six years. As heavy as it is haunting, the record masterfully blends doom, post-punk, and driving krautrock in a dynamic, hypnotic maelstrom – pushing London’s most exciting cult band into intoxicating new territory.
“Wounds is a series of songs about the different ways people live with and process ‘the wounds’ of their lives,” explains vocalist Maya. “A strange celebration of that formative pain we have all experienced in some way. The loss and joy of survival – the celebration of finding others like us, the gift of knowing life comes after fire.”
First single ‘Hangman’s Daughter’ leads the charge and is available to stream and download from today. Opening with a hypnotic techno bassline, the song quickly gives way to post-punk guitars, huge choruses, and vocalist Maya’s magnetic storytelling.
“Hangman’s Daughter is an unrequited love song,” says Maya. “A woman was loved but could not love in return so she is drowned by the man who loves her. She is not lost though – she haunts the killer and he can’t escape her. The title hints at the past, but actually this is a very current issue for women today – how to literally survive when they can’t love a man who has decided he only wants her.”
Watch the video now:
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Wounds was recorded by Mike Bew, on location at Foel Studio. The band could be found working deep into the witching hours, experimenting with new sounds and filling the valleys with cantankerous wails of sound, bursting from amps borrowed from My Bloody Valentine.
"The Welsh countryside has a mystical quality to it," says guitarist Adam. "We recorded in a deep, dark valley; misty days and shooting stars at night. You could wander through nearby woods and stone circles during breaks. Foel Studios is woven into this setting with a transcendence of its own – its storied history includes sessions by Electric Wizard, Hawkwind and The Fall."
Synths on the album are arranged by Berlin-based Bow Church, an influential figure in the dark electronic scene and a long time collaborator of the band. His work weaves icy and atmospheric textures into the songs, layering complexity that demands repeat listens. The horns on 12 Crosses were recorded by a high profile jazz musician who appears anonymously due to label ties.
While meticulously crafted, Wounds captures the visceral energy of Cold In Berlin’s renowned live shows. The album’s arrangements and raucous sound remain true to the unrelenting intensity and atmosphere of their stage performances – every track retains the sweat, urgency, and immediacy of a band performing in the moment.
Wounds is the band’s first studio album since 2019’s Rituals Of Surrender, which Narc Magazine praised for its “crushing doom-laden riffs that assaulted the speakers with a steady pulse of noise”. It follows the 2024 EP The Body is The Wound, described by Metal Epidemic as featuring “hooky melodic songs” with a “swelling heavy intensity”.
Featuring free-jazz brass sections, off-beat structures, techno rhythms, and soaring synths, Wounds is the band’s most ambitious release yet.
SEXSOMNIA is a name which is both evocative and provocative. Sex certainly sells, but somnia is concerned with sleep-related conditions, including hypersomnia, insomnia, and apnoea, so the implication of combining the two is something to ponder while we pile into this EP from the Canadian darkwave / electro / post-punk hybrid act, joined here by special guest Marita Volodina of Poland’s Stridulum on vocals.
The title track kicks it off and does so in fine style, too, combining all the best elements of synth-oriented darkwave, brooding post punk, and goth, combining a shadowy atmosphere with a throbbing bass groove and pulsating beat that’s perfectly matched to the themes of seduction and desire, the dark allure of ‘forbidden love’. The instrumentation – and vocal delivery – on ‘Vapour’ is, fittingly, more ethereal, a piano snaking through the mix against a brush of an acoustic guitar, but the beats are straight-up stompers, and thoroughly relentless. The interplay between Philip Faith’s baritone croon and the sultry contributions of another guest vocalist, Isabelle Young, are key to the way it draws the listener in beyond the pounding dance percussion.
The ‘shadow mix’ of ‘Forbidden’, which they describe as ‘a deconstructed version of the original track, made for dancefloors’, was, in fact, released first, and it’s quite different. Fully twenty seconds longer, more overtly electronic, the vocals are louder and clearer in the mix, more lascivious-sounding, and paired with the rippling synths and pumping beats, it’s one to raise the pulse and work up a sweat to.
ATTRITION’s remix of ‘Nigrum Viduadm’, which featured on last year’s debut album, Transcendent is altogether sparser, darker, more ominous, more overtly gothic with what one might perhaps describe as vampiric overtones. It works well here because it showcases a very different side of the band, even if all of their sides are dark in intent.
This EP doesn’t break new ground, but does draw together the elements with a rare precision and panache, which sets SEXSOMNIA apart from their peers. As for the band’s name… there’s no danger of falling asleep while listening to their work, but you might just wake up feeling horny afterwards.
Constellation are releasing the second album from the Beirut-based avant-rock sextet, SANAM this fall – who merge psych/kraut, improv/skronk, electronics, goth, and jazz elements with traditional Egyptian song and modern Arabic poetry in a compelling brew of widescreen hybrid avant-rock.
The new album, Sametou Sawtan expands on the genre-bending exploration of sound, memory, and cultural identity from their acclaimed 2023 debut Aykathani Malakon on Mais Um Discos, and is already garnering accolades from Uncut, Songlines, and Loud and Quiet.
Today, they share the track and video ‘Habibon’, a slow-burning, autotune-doused freakout, which follows their previously arresting lead single ‘Harik’ - check out the new video below.
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In support of the new album, SANAM has announced headline dates in the EU and UK from October-December.
Aural Aggravation 