Aaimon - Flatliner

Aaimon - Flatliner (2012)
Artoffact

∆Aimon, Aaimon or maybe you want to call them Daimon? It doesn't really matter. It's another one of Artoffact Records great releases! And maybe the nicest artwork of 2012. This is the first Witch house record I actually bought. I have been dowloading a great bit of Witch house releases from Bandcamp, just to check out what the fuzz was about. I don't like most of them, but there surely is some hidden gems out there! The thing I like about Aaimon is that they have vocals. I'm not to keen on instrumental music, which most of the Witch house stuff I found has been. This CD is a re-release of a six song vinyl EP, now packed with ten bonus tracks. Great value for money! There's both Witch hous remixes like "Current (▲NDRΛS Remix)" and "Mirrors Fade (Ceremonal Dagger Remix)", and some remixes by industrial bands like "Black Cross (Dead When I Found Her Remix)", "Flatliner (Encephalon Remix)" and "Flatliner (Haujobb Remix)".

Legend - Fearless

Legend - Fearless (2012)
Artoffact

This album is supposed to be the best electronic newcomer of the year. It's definately the grower of the year for me. It's getting better and better by each listen. But I rank Continues - "Continues" as the best newcomer of the year. Standout tracks are "Benjamite Bloodline", "City", "Runaway Train", "Sudden Stop", "Devil In Me", "Lust" - heck, almost all of the songs on this album are worth a mention!

Patenbrigade:Wolff - Baustopp!

Patenbrigade:Wolff - Baustopp!
(2012) Zweieck

A bit of an odd release from Patenbrigade:Wolff. It's basically an instrumental ambient, chill out, lounge and/or downbeat album. There are some unreleased songs, some well-known songs as well as some instrumental versions. The CD is a mix-CD with all the songs mixed into one long smooth mix. The Unrelated Bandcamp Digital Download, on the other hand, has all the songs with as stand alone tracks!

Autodafeh - Hunt For Glory

Autodafeh - Hunt For Glory 2008
Sigsaly

Old school EBM is very popular these days, and some of the bands are really good. These Swedish Front 242-clones are one of my recent favourites. To be fair, they don't just sound like Front 242 - there's a part Nitzer Ebb to be heared as well!

System Syn - End

System Syn - End (2008)
Metropolis

I've been a big fan of System Syn's two latest releases "All Seasons pass" and "Strangers". I think I've maybe listened to much to those two releases and forgot about Clint's backcatalogue. "End" is a better record than it's two follow ups. The songs may not be better, but it has no fillers! Check it out - and don't forget to give the accompanying download EP "Like Every Insect". Great stuff!

SoundSequence ‎– Top Of The Mountain: 1997 - 2012

SoundSequence ‎– Top Of The Mountain: 1997 - 2012
(2012) Razgrom

Yes, finally I've recieved my Russian CD copy of SoundSequence's demos. This CD holds more songs than the digital release Progress Production put out in 2011, but note this; it doesn't contain all the songs from the download release! It also has 3 songs (I think?) with vocals from Martins sister Karin Rudefelt. Get this album now! It's a limited release, only 500 copies. So act fast!

Tiamat - The Scarred People

Tiamat - The Scarred People
(2012) Napalm

The new Tiamat album is, thankfully, a step back in style and sound. It's gothic rock again! Ok, I can hear boring guitar solos in some songs, but otherwise this sounds exactly like I want it to sound. If you hurry up and buy it you'll get the limited edition Digipak with four bonus tracks!

Grooving In Green - Stranglehold

Grooving In Green - Stranglehold DD
2012 afmusic

Album number two from Grooving In Green. The production is great on this record, the only thing I have to remark upon is the vocals. Don't get me wrong, the vocals are mostly great, but sometimes they can get kind of annoying. All in all a worthy follow up to the 2010 "Post Traumatic Stress" album. Goth is grooving again!

SoundSequence ‎– Climbing The Mountain (1997-2007)

SoundSequence ‎– Climbing The Mountain (1997-2007) DD
(2011) Progress

This is a compilation of Martin Rudefelt's work prior to Cryo. The songs may sound a bit more primitive than the Cryo releases, but they are just as good. In fact I think this album is a must have if you're into Cryo! The only bad thing with this digital release is that the Russian label Razgrom is releasing a superior version on CD, with many more songs. I've ordered it, but god knows how long I will have to wait until I can put my hands (and ears?) on it?

Grooving In Green ‎– Post Traumatic Stress

Grooving In Green ‎– Post Traumatic Stress
(2010) Inquisition

More goth this week, and I'm glad to say this is fairly new and very good. Grooving In Green is basically the classical UK goth band Children On Stun with a new name and improved sound. There's still hope of a goth revival! This is excellent stuff - get it now!

Rosetta Stone - The Tyranny Of Inaction.Revised Edition 1.1

Rosetta Stone ‎– The Tyranny Of Inaction.Revised Edition 1.1
(1995) Cleopatra

Continuing with my obsession of everything related to Porl King, this is an album I seriously don't know what to think about. Is it genious or is it just a badly produced and recorded demo that never should've been made available to the public? The latter might just be a more valid thought about the original album, which I don't like as much as this revised edition. The album contains remixes and re-recordings of the songs from the original album. There's also a companion album, called gENDER cONFUSION, available. It contains even more remixes and exclusives. Check this out if you think (American) industrial and gothic rock sounds like a marriage made in heaven. Otherwise avoid it!

Pride And Fall - Border DDEP

Pride And Fall - Border DDEP
(2005)  Dependent

This is not a particularly good release. It contains three really bland remixes of the title track plus the album version, which is good - but you already own the album, don't you? The two songs on this EP that makes it worth a mention here is the Club Edit of "Border" and the exclusive "Dissent". Both these tracks are worth going an extra mile for. I've been looking for this EP in decent quality since it was released in 2005. Last weekend I finally found it on Juno Download in wav. Yey!

Miserylab ‎– Documentary 2008 / 2012

Miserylab-Documentary 2008 / 2012 CD+7" (2012)
D-Monic

I briefly mentioned that this album was about to be released in this post. And now it's finally here. I don't necessarly find all the stuff Porl King is releasing to be of great quality, but I do like the sound of all his projects. And there's always some great songs worth checking out on all releases. On this album the stand-out tracks are "Making A Bomb" and "Five One One". I think the album is worth getting for the "Five One One" song alone! But hurry up, the album is limited to 500 copies.

Negative Format - Gradients

Negative Format - Gradients
(2008) Metropolis

Consider this a follow up, of sorts, to last weeks excellent Parallel Project release. Parallel Project was a project by trance/techno/EBM artist Alex Matheu, with different singers on each song. Negative Format is his main project, and it's usually much more trance sounding. This album has some guest vocals by DJ Devi as well as really good songs. If you liked the Parallel Project CD this should be your next buy!

The Parallel Project - Fusion

The Parallel Project - Fusion
(2004) Out Of Line

Parallel Project is, of course, a project. Negative Format main man
Alex Matheu has gathered a couple of singers and together they've recorded a really good future pop album. The best songs are "Explicit" featuring Tom Shear and "Motive" featuring DJ Devi. Both of these songs are also featured on the "Explicit" single, but there's a lot of other great songs on this album that is not to be missed. Check it out!

Gary Marx - Nineteen Ninety Five And Nowhere

Gary Marx - Nineteen Ninety Five And Nowhere (2007)
D-Monic

I've listened to post-goth this week as well. If you don't know who Gary Marx is then here's a question for you: Have you noticed the change in sound between Sisters Of Mercy's debute album "First And Last And Always" and the follow up "Floodland"? Yes, that's right - where are the guitars? Ok, I know the whole band exept for Andrew Eldrich left, but the only one that mattered to me was Gary Marx. This album consists of songs for a possible 1995 reuninion of Sisters Of Mercy that never happened. Great stuff!

Miserylab - Lab Samples

Miserylab - Lab Samples
(2009) Shadowplay

I'm eagerly awaiting the next Miserylab compilation album, but this russian 2009 sampler will have to do for now. Miserylab is Porl King's (ex. Rosetta Stone singer/guitarist) main gothic rock project.
Miserylab is constantly getting better and better, so I really think this is a band worth checking out.

Agent Side Grinder - Hardware

Agent Side Grinder - Hardware
(2012) Klangarkivet

As you can see this album isn't the nicest looking CD in my collection. Luckily I don't judge a CD by it's cover. I don't really know what to call this music, though. Maybe some sort of electronic postpunk, but a lot less melodic than last weeks The Present Moment, and much more leaning towards EBM. It's a nice album with a couple of stand out tracks, most noticeable "Wolf Hour" with vocals from Henric De La Cour.

The Present Moment - Loyal To A Fault

Present Moment, The - Loyal To A Fault DD (2012)
Not On Label

This is yet another outstanding band I found thanks to the Violent Playground forum and the most well-written and interesting among  blogs I Die: You Die. You can download this album for free from the bands Bandcamp site (have I mentioned that I love Bandcamp before? Oh, I have? Well, I really do love Bandcamp!). But I suggest you pay at least 10 bucks for this album, even though it's free! It's easily worth it! Their other two releases are also worth downloading, but they're not nearly as good as this one! So hurry now and give the band your money! Oh btw, the music is some sort of electronic post punk with an outstanding bass sound!

Christian Gabel - Krater

Christian Gabel - Krater
(2012) Fatshark

This is a really expensive fake soundtrack to a film never made. The reason it's so expensive is that you cannot buy just the music, you have to buy the computer game Krater to get the audio CD. I don't mind, because the packaging is great. Cool conceptual artwork of my hometown, Karlstad, after the apocalypse. The music is some sort of laidback instrumental electronics. Really atmospheric, and you can't mistake it for something other than a soundtrack. Thumbs up!

Derniere Volonte ‎– Mon Meilleur Ennemi

Derniere Volonte ‎– Mon Meilleur
Ennemi (2012)
Hau Ruck!

And now something completely different. French neofolk with a melancholy synthpop sound. I've enjoyed the last couple of albums from Derniere Volonte, especially the 2006 album "Devant Le Miroir" and the 2010 album "Immortel". They all had a couple of really good tracks, but they weren't anywhere near the quality of this record. If you like your neofolk electronic and with melodies, this album should be an instant buy!

Grand Magus - The Hunt

Grand Magus - The Hunt (2012)
Nuclear Blast

Grand Magus released this album earlier this summer, but I almost forgot about it because of the similar release date on Candlemass' last album. But here it is. I'm sorry to say that they can't live up to my high expectations. Both this and 2010's "Hammer Of The North" is a step down from their two best albums, the 2005 "Wolf's Return" and the 2008 "Iron Will". But they still make great heavy metal. It's a good album, but I expected better. If you buy the limited edition you get three bonus demo tracks with their old drummer and a patch.

Cryo - XO^OA

Cryo - XO^OA (2012)
Razgrom Music

This is a compilation album released solely for the Russian market. I think it's a bit early in Cryo's career to release a best of compilation, but I guess this is made as presentation of a new artist to the Russian market? Anyway, there's a couple of exclusive mixes on this album, therefore I went ahead and bought it. And I'm not disappointed. This is a great collection of songs.

Espermachine - Dying Life

Espermachine - Dying Life (2012)
23db

This is a great new release on Tom Shear's 23db records. The music is part Assemblage 23 (it's produced by Tom Shear, so that's no surprise), part Covenant and very much own sounding. Great dark vocals, minimalistic and rhythmic music topped with really special melodies. I love this album, it has been on my playlist constantly the last couple of weeks.

Ikon - Azkadelia

Ikon - Azkadelia 7"/CDM (2012)
Nile

Yes! Ikon is back on track again. This is their best single since the "League Of Nations" EP back in 2007. I love everything about this great new tune. The guitars, the melody and the production. The only negative I can think of is that Ikon has decided not to include more than one new B-side on their singles since last years "Where Do I Go From Here" CDM. Instead we get a couple of remixes. I love the EP format, but I understand that they want to save the new songs for the next album. In my world Ikon's best releases are EP's. Both the earlier mentioned "League Of Nations" and the 1999 "Lifeless" EP are incredible!

Thyx - The Way Home

Thyx - The Way Home (2012)
Metropolis

There's no surprise here. First solo album by Mind.In.A.Box mastermind Stefan Poiss, and it sounds just like Mind.In.A.Box. Only the lyrics differ, here Poiss can write about whatever he feels like, instead of sticking to the story about Black. There's also, sadly, less processed vocals than on his main project. If you love Mind.In.A.Box, and I know you do, you will love this album too.

Assemblage 23 - Bruise

Assemblage 23 - Bruise 2CD
(2012) Metropolis

This is easily the album I've been having the highest hopes for so far in 2012. And it does not disappoint. There are no songs as good as the best ones from the previous albums "Meta" and "Compass", but there are no bad songs either. On the bonus disc is all the extra material Tom Shear recorded as extra tracks for singles - three exclusive tracks and seven remixes. Sadly, because of this, there won't be any single released from the album. But hey, this 2CD is great value for money!

In Death It Ends - Forgotten Knowledge

In Death It Ends -
Forgotten Knowledge DD (2012) 
aufnahme + wiedergabe

I'm not a big fan of instrumental music, but this album is really special. It's sounds like a hybrid of gothic rock and dub. I really love the sound. My only criticism is that sometimes songs tend to be a bit too long. But what the heck, it's supposed to be atmospheric and atmosphere usually takes time!
In Death It Ends is a project by Miserylab's main man, and former Rosetta Stone singer, Porl King. Miserlab is one of the most interesting current goth bands. Check them out. And this too!

Candlemass - Psalms For The Dead

Candlemass - Psalms For The
Dead (2012) Napalm

I'm both glad and a bit sad about this, Candlemass' last album. I always loved Candlemass. They've had a couple of different line-ups and singers throughout the years. I think I like the current line-up the best, though. Robert Lowe is an incredible singer, and the music on the last three albums have been more varied and interesting than the older ones. Sure, I love all the classic albums, too, but for me they are just that - classics. Not that interesting anymore... I hope that Leif Edling realises what a big mistake it is to let this great band die.

VA - Gastarbeit: A Finest Selection Of Delicious Remixes By Patenbrigade: Wolff

VA - Gastarbeit: A Finest Selection
Of Delicious Remixes By
Patenbrigade: Wolff 2CD (2012)
Zweieck

30 tracks, all remixed and mashed up by Sven Wolff between 1995 and 2010. There's some well-known electronic artists like In Strict Confidence, Sas Ich, Sara Noxx, Glis and The Eternal Afflict featured. But I was mostly interested in the supposedly exclusive Behind The Scenes track "Behind The Scenes (Remix By Essexx)". I'd never even heared of this track, and that was no surprise. It was not an exclusive song, the song is "Nearer (Remix By Essexx)" with wrong name.

Woven Hand - Black Of The Ink Book+CD

Woven Hand - Black Of The Ink
Book+CD (2011) Glitterhouse

A bit odd release this. It's basically a book with all the Woven Hand lyrics and some art drawn by David Eugen Edwards himself. The CD features 6 exclusive newly re-recorded songs, one song from each of the previous Woven Hand albums. This is a really neat collector's item. A bit expensive, but well worth it if you're into David Eugen Edwards work.

Continues - Continues

Continues - Continues (2012)
Mattress

Thanks to Storming The Base mailorder, the I Die: You Die blog and the excellent Violent Playground forum I found this gem. I haven't read a bad word about this album. Continues is the former Babyland singer Dan Gatto's new project. It's synthpop, but not in a "pop" way. No big choruses and simple melodies. Absolutely not aimed for the charts. Check this album out. It's definately among the best synthpop albums I've heard.

VNV Nation - Crossing The Divide EP

VNV Nation - Crossing The Divide
DDEP (2012) Not On Label

Seriously, have I really been waiting two and a half years for this?
These remixes are far worse than expected, but as a VNV fan I will start with listing the good things about this release: It's a free download from VNV Nation's Soundcloud page. It's lossless, wav even (I really didn't expect it to be lossless. Cheers to Ronan and Mark for this!). It's an EP. Yes, I love EP's:-) The three first remixes are actually quite good, I especially like the Nomenklatur remix of "Ghost". But I don't care much for the latter three remixes. I think I would've been really disappointed if I had to pay for this EP. But as it's free it's worth cheching out!

VA - Dependence 2012

VA - Dependence 2012
(2012) Dependent

Now it's time for the 4th Dependent records label sampler. It's packed with unreleased or hard to get tracks from most of the active bands on their rooster. On top of that they introduce an exclusive song by the new act Radioaktivists. The album also features the first tracks in a very long while from both Seabound and Pride And Fall. This album gives me hope that there's still a lot of great upcoming releases from Dependent!

Faderhead - The World Of Faderhead

Faderhead - The World Of Faderhead
(2012) L-Tracks

It's been a couple of years since I last wrote about Faderhead. And there's been a couple of releases from his side too. I didn't like the rather bleak 2010 "Black Friday" album but the 2009 EP of ballads "Horizon Born" was a rather good and unexpected release. Buy it on Faderhead's Bandcamp Store as the awesome club version of "Horizon Born" is only available there! Anyway "The World Of Faderhead" is a varied (for Faderhead, anyway) release. The stand out track here has to be "Watching Over You", featuring the talents of Daniel Myer. It has a whole new sound which I really hope Faderhead will continue working on. By the way, there's an even better demo version of "Watching Over You" available if you buy the 2011 download EP "The Way To Fuck Clubs" at Faderhead's Bandcamp Store. Yes, I love Bandcamp!

Chrom - Synthetic Movement

Chrom - Synthetic Movement (2012)
Out Of Line

This is one of my latest discoveries thanks to the awesome Violent Playground forum. Chrom might just be the future of futurepop! Or at least a band to look out for, I think they're going to be huge within the scene real soon. "Synthetic Movement" is their second CD, the first one "Electroscope" is really nice too. Right now I'm trying to locate their self released debute EP "Manufactured". I hope it's worth the effort!

VA - Electronic Saviors Volume II 8CD

VA - Electronic Saviors
Industrial Music To Cure Cancer
Volume II - Recurrence
(Premium Edition) 8CD (2012)
Metropolis

This massive 6CD (regular edition) + 2CD (premium edition) box, the second incarnation of the Electronic Saviors series, compiled by Jim Semonik is truly fabolous. I think that maybe 8CD's is a bit over the top, but why the hell not?
The two bonus discs in the premium edition consists mainly of

artists new to the scene.
Otherwise the box features, just like the first installment of the series, a varied who's who tracklist of the electronic world. The bands of most interest for me are: Tenek, Edge Of Dawn, Solitary Experiments, System Syn, Binary Park, Aesthetic Perfection, Ashbury Heights, God Module, Bella Morte, Alter Der Ruine, Ghost & Writer, iVardensphere, Spetsnaz, Mesh, Caustic, Everything Goes Cold, Espermachine, Covenant Feat. Necro Facility, Neuroactive, Syrian, Decoded Feedback, Hocico, FGFC820.
There's 141 tracks in total, so I'm pretty sure everyone's gonna find something they really like!

Solar Fake - Frontiers

Solar Fake - Frontiers (2011)
Synthetic Symphony


The former singer of  Dreadful Shadows and Zeraphine, Sven Friedrich, is now making electronc music. That's quite a surprise. It's not too common to go from goth rock to (almost) futurepop. But I like it. This is his second release under the Solar Fake moniker. Check it out!

Goldfrapp - The Singles

Goldfrapp - The Singles (2012)
Mute

This is a nice collection of Goldfrapp's singles, plus two previously unreleased bonus tracks. I would've preferred a best of collection instead of a singles sampler. But at least this CD features some of the best Goldfrapp songs. The album shows a great deal of variation, from the spaced out sounds of their 2000 debute "Felt Mountain" via the electroclash (btw, what happened to that genre?) inspired "Black Cherry" (2003) and "Supernature" (2005) and the almost hippie-esque "Seventh Tree" (2008) to the 80'ies sounding "Head First" from 2010.

Titans - For The Long Gone

Titans - For The Long Gone 2CD
(2012) Progress

I have been longing for Titans debute album since their first digital teaser single "All There Is" was released on Christmas Eve 2010. That song, together with album opener "It's Dark" and the previously released (on the compilation Born///Evolve///Progress///3) "Dried Out" are the highlights here. Too bad they couldn't keep the quality constant throughout the whole album. There's also a limited second CD available if you're among the 200 first customers. That CD includes some remixes but no improvements.

Mind.In.A.Box - Revelations Club.Mixes EP

Mind.In.A.Box -
Revelations Club.Mixes EP
(2012) Dreamweb

I've been waiting for this one since the "Rvelations" album was released earlier this year. I strongly felt that the songs of the album needed a boost, and it seems like Mind.In.A.Box agrees. The only song that isn't better in it's club version is "Cause And Effect". The four remaining songs "Control", "Remember", "Unknown" and "Sanctuary" are all much better in their new somewhat club friendly versions.

Lost Signal - Apparition DDEP

Lost Signal - Apparition DDEP (2010)
23db

This forgotten EP is only available as download. I suggest you visit the bands Bandcamp site and buy it immediately. It's only $5.00!
Lost Signal can best be described as Assemblage 23's little brother. Hell, they're even on Tom Shear's 23db Records label.

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell CD/DVD

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell
CD/DVD (1997/2006)
Epic

This is a classic record, as you all should be aware of. Jim Steinman's songwriting, Meat Loaf's voice and the super gifted back up musicians makes this one of the greatest rock albums of all time. This CD/DVD combo is worth getting even if you already own the regular album. The DVD is, in fact, the previously released "Hits Out Of Hell", packed with cheesy promo videos from Meat's first two albums. Great stuff!

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre

The Devil's Blood -
The Thousandfold Epicentre (2011)
Ván

I really dig this kind of retro metal. Ghost are my absolute favourites, but The Devil's Blood are also quite good. I didn't have any high hopes about this record, though. I thought that the "Fire Burning" single, released prior to this album, wasn't sounding promising at all. I find that the song fits the album concept much better. I am even beginning to like this track now! Maybe it shouldn't have gotten a single release?

Emmon - Nomme

Emmon - Nomme (2011)
Wonderland

This album has been growing on me ever since it was released last summer. I didn't like the new sound at the beginning, but now I do. I think it was the right thing to do for Emma, because it get's kinda boring to listen to songs sounding the same release after release. Now she has released a fresh sounding album and I'm really curious what will come next time!

Krux - Krux III He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars

Krux - Krux III He Who Sleeps Amongst The Stars
(2011) GMR

Now it's time for some doom metal. I've listed mostly electronic music for some time, but I enjoy many other genres. This is kind of  an all star project with Candlemass' main man Leif Edling at the wheel. If you liked Candlemass' Last album, the 2009 "Death Magic Doom", you will most likely love this album. It's not pure doom metal, but the songs are real heavy.

Spark! - Hela Din Värld

Spark! - Hela Din Värld 2CD (2012)
Progress

Pop and EBM, is that even possible? Yes, Spark! show us how it's supposed to be done. The entire "Hela Din Värld" album is sung in Swedish, but don't let that put you away from this great release. I listen alot to bands singing in German, but that doesn't bother me. It should be the same for you with this album, just ignore the strange language and enjoy the music! If you're among the 200 lucky first orders you'll get the limited 2CD edition. The second disc includes both the 2007 album "65 Ton Stål" and the 2008 EP "Epos". Great value for money. Now I'm just waiting for a re-release of the 2009 album "Ett Lejon I Dig". Hopefully it's coming soon, because I missed it when it was available on CD.

VA - Septic X

VA - Septic X (2012)
Dependent

It's already time for part ten of this classical industrial compilation series. This CD is maybe among the weakest ones, but it's still a recommended purchase. You get exclusive tracks from Dependent artists like Acretongue, Edge Of Dawn and Ghost & Writer. There's also some new and interesting artists to discover such as Volt 9000 and Radical G. There's even a piano ballad of Legacy Of Music Feat. Mesh. The best song is possibly "Mauerradio (Extended Version)" by Patenbrigade: Wolff, and this is a bit sad because the track is five years old. I thought the Septic series was all about getting new songs to be recognized, and maybe get some playtime at clubs?