IMHA TARIKAT premiere the intense new video clip ‘The Day I Died (Reborn into Flames)’ as the next single taken from the forthcoming album Confessing Darkness. The fourth full-length from the German black metal band has been slated for release on June 20, 2025.
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Imha Tarikat comment: “With the song ‘The Day I Died’ I am publicly sharing my past contemplation of suicide for the first time and reflect on a dark time in my life”, mastermind Kerem Yilmaz reveals. “At the time, I was clinically depressed and saw no hope in my future. Suddenly, something ignited inside of me, and I began fighting my way back into life. Through tears, violence, grief, and anxiety, I finally found my place by rising above the voices that tried to pull me down and by focusing upon that one whisper that told me to fight. That voice grew louder and louder. Since then, I have not looked back. Reborn into the flames, I set everything ablaze with passion upon the path that I walk now.”
Italian post-punk duo Kill Your Boyfriend has recently announced the release of their new EP Disco Kills on 9 May via Sister 9 Recordings.
Today they share new track ‘Discretion’. The song explores how the absence of truth can cause the downfall of a power structure that should be devoid of secrets. The sound captures the sense of a suffocating atmosphere through a series of echoes and reverberations. Right from the start, Kill Your Boyfriend immerses you in a vibrant, dark dance floor, creating a liberating universe.
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The video, shot by Alice Lorenzon, takes up the idea of a claustrophobic and frenetic dancefloor, where we can give vent to our most sincere ‘self’ free of secrets and that mask we are forced to wear in everyday life.
Disco Kills was created from the band’s desire to explore the hopes, obsessions, illusions, and disappointments of the many young people who frequent clubs and meeting places during the so-called ‘growth’ years, at a point when everyone is still searching for their true selves.
The EP sees Kill Your Boyfriend experimenting with new sounds that lean towards electronic music, creating a more rarefied space for the guitars while maintaining the dark atmospheres that distinguish them. It features 6 songs drawing inspiration from past greats such as Kraftwerk, Moroder, and New Order, while also keeping an eye on artists like the Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, and Paul Kalkbrenner.
Kill Your Boyfriend have confirmed a series of European live dates in May and September this year, with more to be announced soon.
Thu 08 May – Cemento – Cosenza, Italy
Fri 09 May – La Gramaccia – Macerata, Italy
Fri 30 May - PMK – Innsbruck, Austria w./ New Candys
Sat 31 May - Rockhaus – Salzburg, Austria w./ New Candys
Now based in Lisbon, PIRAMID SCHEME returns with a seductive new visual for their single ‘Stains in the Sofa’, released April 17. The music video, now available on YouTube, reimagines the classic 1963 film Charade, using precision editing cuts to transform the romantic thriller into a fragmented dreamscape.
The track appears on the band’s upcoming EP, Shockwave Syndrome, out April 25 on Tall Short Records. Co-produced by the band’s lead & songwriter Lisa Said and Brazilian sound engineer Lucas Mirovski, the EP blends glam, garage, and psych rock influences with urgent lyrics and layered textures.
‘Stains in the Sofa’ leans into the cinematic through a retro-tinted lens. The video repurposes Charade (dir. Stanley Donen), a film now in the public domain, stitching together moments of tension, cheekiness, and estrangement in rhythm with the track’s infectious pull.
Shockwave Syndrome marks PIRAMID SCHEME’s third release and a bold new chapter for the band, now fronted live by Valentina Presley—the glam-charged, rock royalty performance persona of Lisa Said.
‘Mars On A Half Moon Rising’ is the first video from The Sound, the solo debut of much-travelled musician / producer / arranger / painter Knox Chandler. This project is a musical / visual memoir depicting the shift in his surroundings from the urban to the rural, specifically the Connecticut shoreline off the Long Island Sound and the impact of this dramatic change of environment on his consciousness and the art-work that leads to.
At The Sound’s core is Chandler’s “Soundribbon” style of meditative, powerfully cinematic instrumental performance on guitar, accompanied by upright bass and percussion which comprises the audio component of the release. The visual portion is a book of paintings, photographs, sketches and written meditations, interpreting nature through technology. The blending of these mediums is Knox’s attempt to make the diaristic intent of his music explicit. The Sound is being released on Knox’s new label Blue Elastic on May 30. The album is available on digital download and on streaming platforms on its own, or the book comes with a download code. I hope you’ll consider covering Knox with an interview, feature, news story or album review.
Knox Chandler’s career has spanned for over four decades including long stints as a member of The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cyndi Lauper band, extraordinary experiences in recording and performing live around the world. Chandler’s also performed, recorded, arranged and produced, working with acts such as REM, Depeche Mode, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, Natalie Merchant, Tricky, The Creatures, Dave Gahan Paper Monsters and The Golden Palominos etc.
Knox spent a decade residing in Berlin, Germany, while he explored sound-scaping. He developed a technique he calls “Soundribbons”, which he recorded and performed in its own right as well as applying it to different genres and mediums . He composed, recorded, toured, produced, and wrote string arrangements for Herbert Grönemeyer, Jesper Munk, Pure Reason Revolution,The Still, TAU, Miss Kenichi and the Sun, Mars William’s Albert Ayler Xmas, Rita Redshoes, Them There, The Night, etc. While living in Germany received a Post Graduate certification in education and was the head of the guitar department at BIMM College.
Plain Simple Honesty is the eighth solo album by Gothic Blues exponent Ledfoot (aka Tim Scott McConnell) and is exactly what its title suggests: a collection of brutally honest songs straight from the heart. They tell small yet powerful stories, guiding listeners through the darker corners of the human psyche where setbacks are constant, yet his characters endure despite it all.
The themes explored on the album feel especially relevant in the unpredictable and often dark present, with the title track and songs such as new single ‘Hard Times’ painting an unsettlingly accurate picture of everyday life for many in 2025. “About forty years ago, I wrote a song called ‘High Hopes’ about being working class and trying to stay optimistic despite hard times,” says Ledfoot. “The hard times haven’t diminished….but maybe some of the optimism has.”
‘High Hopes’ has a famous back story, first released on the Tim Scott McConnell solo album High Lonesome Sound (1987), and then again on the 1990 debut album by his band The Havalinas, before Bruce Springsteen later released several versions of it, most notably as the title track of a solo album issued in 2014.
LUX INTERNA reveal the music video for the lush and warm track ‘No Arrow’ as the final advance single taken from the American dark folk innovators’ forthcoming new album New Wilderness Gospel, which is chalked up for release on May 2, 2025.
LUX INTERNA comment: “In ‘No Arrow’, a tangle of voices and moments meet, intertwine, and transform each other”, guitarist and singer Joshua Levi Ian explains on behalf of the band. “Here, it’s always 4:00 am. You’re stepping out of the roadside bar as the desert winds gently stipple flickering red neon with grains of sand, while the lights from the town in the valley shimmer below like ghosts in the darkness. Or perhaps you’re waking up in the Mojave heat and lighting a cigarette in the motel bed as you watch your sleeping lover bathed in shadows and the shards of electric light that creep in through the holes in the curtains. Or maybe you’re still driving, tired but full of flame, as the car’s headlights are continuously humbled by the vastness of a great nocturnal kingdom. Either way, you feel a mix of calm resolve and wildlife surging up inside you. Your body is awake, a beautiful animal of flesh and fire. It feels like everything that came before has intentionally led you to this moment. But you know that he’s out there, waiting and watching. And there’s a cold and calculating malice in his eyes. This thought used to terrify you. You would have done anything to shake him off your trail. But not anymore. Now you’re ready. You welcome the encounter. Now he’s the one that best beware.”
DESERTED FEAR unleash the music video ‘At the End of Our Reign’ as the final advance single taken from their forthcoming new full-length Veins of Fire. The sixth studio album of Germany’s leading death metal act has been chalked up for release on April 25, 2025.
DESERTED FEAR comment: “The song ‘At the End of Our Reign’ describes a world that has reached the end of its existence through the failure of civilization”, guitarist Fabian Hildebrandt explains on behalf of the band. “It’s a final glance back before everything collapses and we are crushed by our own history – and we are all a part of this! We should ask ourselves, what do we want to leave behind?”
Today, celebrated electronic composer Loscil shares the video for ‘Candling’, taken from his forthcoming album release, Lake Fire (kranky, 2nd May).
‘Candling’ is one of Lake Fire‘s nine tracks offering ash-laden sonics that mine the tension within the cycle of destruction and rejuvenation.
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Loscil will perform the following live dates:
May 1, 2025, SFU – Vancouver, CA SOLD OUT Sep 4, 2025, Extreme Chill – Reykjavik, IS Sep 8, 2025, Silent Green, Berlin, DE tickets Sep 10, 2025, Botanique, Brussels, BE Sep 12, 2025, Casa Montjuic, Barcelona, ES tickets Sep 16, 2025, Rich Mix, London, UK tickets Sep 18, 2025, Ostre, Bergen, NO tickets Sep 20, 2025, OSA Festival, Gdansk, PL
Lake Fire is the result of a disjointed creative process. Originally conceived as a suite for electronics and ensemble, most of the original compositions were deserted, save for Ash Clouds, featuring James Meager on double bass. The remaining tracks were reshaped and remixed, built anew out of the remnants of the abandoned work. The result is a phoenix, an album burnt to the ground only to be reassembled out of its cinders. Fragments of the original lurk beneath a densely overpainted canvas of sound.
Infused into the resulting rearrangements are impressions from a road trip into the mountains marking a personal half-century milestone, surrounded by the ominous proximity of wildfires and dense smoke; celebrating life while the world burns. The album’s title comes from the striking irony that forest fires are often named after regional lakes – perhaps subconsciously referencing ancient lore. The cover photos were taken from this same trip, while sitting in a rowboat staring into the grey abyss of an opposing mountainside outside of Revelstoke, BC, obfuscated by smoke from a nearby lake fire.
The second advance single taken from the forthcoming MER Redux Series release Marc Urselli’s Ramones Redux features a stylish collaboration with a creeping groove of Icelandic artist Daníel Hjálmtýsson and Norwegian dungeon synth pioneer Mortiis. These Nordic musicians have taken on the track ‘Beat on the Brat’ and truly made it their own, with the punk-worshipping new Redux Series installment scheduled for release on June 6, 2025.
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Daníel Hjálmtýsson comments: “Ramones made me love making music the way I wanted to make music", the Icelander writes. "No excuses. No rules. Taking chances and learning to love the imperfections. Just straight up. Fearless. With this track being a personal favorite, I really wanted to do a kind of 180 spin on it and take a lot of chances. The theme of the song is very dark and hits home for me in many ways, and I wanted to explore the disturbing themes in a darker, moodier way. I’m so grateful to be a part of Marc Urselli’s group of incredible artists on this one!”
Mortiis states: “Needless to say, when you’re asked to work on something as legendary as a Ramones song, even if it’s just a cover, it can be pretty nerve-wracking stuff", the Norwegian muses. “I just rolled with what came natural to me, and hopefully I won’t be lynched by the masses. Marc has always been awesome to work with, and so far he hasn’t tried to kill me, which I think is a good sign.”
It has been said about Icelandic artist Daníel Hjálmtýsson that he “embodies a sonic fusion reminiscent of the likes of Nick Cave, Mark Lanegan, and Depeche Mode, set against a Leonard Cohen afterworld”. With his debut single ‘Birds’, Daníel introduced his dark, neo-goth and atmospheric approach to alternative rock music in early 2020. The late Mark Lanegan wrote: “Daníel makes icy neo-goth music that brings to mind the forbidden landscapes of his native Iceland”, the legendary US-musician stated. “One can envision him on a stage of a church-turned-dungeon, somewhere in the Reykjavik underbelly.”
Iconic Norwegian musician Mortiis has just signed a deal with Magnetic Eye sister label Prophecy Productions. After parting ways with the Norwegian black metal pioneers EMPEROR, Mortiis embarked on a solo career, the so called ‘Era I’, that lasted from 1993 until 1999. In this highly creative period, the Norwegian released six full-length albums (including the “The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost” demo and “Crypt of the Wizard"). His music during this phase was entirely composed on synthesizers. In the next decade, Mortiis evolved into a band that marked the beginning of the short-lived ‘Era II’, which only consists of the rather electropop oriented 2001-album "The Smell of Rain”. When ‘The Grudge’ came out in 2004, the album had a hard impact of the scene and started ‘Era III’. The Norwegian and his band had turned to heavy industrial rock and as a result made many new friends. This was followed by a factual hiatus between 2011 and 2015, although it was never officially announced. In 2016, the next full-length "The Great Deceiver" surprised global followers of the band that had long hoped for a new release. Although the style of the previous phase is largely continued, it is named ‘Era 0’. On the gargantuan remix album The Great Corrupter, Mortiis again teamed up with a host of exciting artists including musicians from GODFLESH, FRONTLINE ASSEMBLY, DIE KRUPPS, MERZBOW, and APOPTYGMA BERZERK among a multitude of others. Currently, the Norwegian is preparing to release a new album.
Brooklyn bruisers Cash Bribe are back with their third EP, Demonomics, dropping June 13, 2025, via Futureless. This marks their first release on the label, and they’ve never sounded louder, sharper, or more furious.
Leading the charge is the blistering first single, ‘Death Tax,’ now streaming everywhere.
Listen now:
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Of the single vocalist Joe Dahlstrom: says, “’Death Tax’ comes from thinking about entropy and decay. Nature can be cruel, violent, and indifferent — the suffering seems pointless — but accepting and understanding the terms of our existence comes with a certain viriditas, an empowering vitality to approach it head-on.”
Guitarist Kirk McGirk adds, “This one made it into our live sets pretty quickly – people would respond to it pretty well, and we like when we do something that makes people move.”
Aural Aggravation 