‘Sup pals? Busy couple of weeks around here, what with Réal Cardinal dropping by to visit for a few days (and guesting on We Have a Technical last week in the process) and various other sundry activities we’ve been busying ourselves with. Speaking of which, we’re embarking on a pretty cool new thing soon that we can’t really talk about yet, except to say it involves a collaboration with a few artists we really love and should be available in a couple of months? It, like so many of the cool projects we’ve been able to undertake over the last few years are possible thanks to your support, via Patreon, and just plain old sharing what we do. Thanks and we’ll have some details for you soon.

Trepaneringsritualen

Trepaneringsritualen

Cubanate, “Missing Persons”
What’s that you say? New Cubanate? Well that certainly is cause for celebration. We’ve had a generous number of opportunities to catch the reunited 90s industrial rock legends Marc Heal and Phil Barry on stage over the last few years, and the key takeaway from every show was how vital and energized they seemed. Far from your typical old bastard cash-in, Cubanate seemed exactly as angry and powerful as they ever had. Will the new material set to appear on Kollosus next month bear that out? First track we’re hearing “Missing Persons” points to a firm yes.

Grooving In Green, “A Little Soul”
It’s been a turbulent ride for second-wave goth purists Grooving In Green of late. After the departure (and subsequent passing) of founding member Simon Manning, there was a revolving door of members coming and going in the wake of their admirable second LP, Stranglehold. Things seem to have settled down, or at least enough to record a new album. First single “A Little Soul” may not be a Pulp cover, but it has a charming earth-worn weariness stuck to the sort of propulsive melodies which made Grooving In Green standard-bearers for the tradition they continue to uphold.

God Module, “Cross My Heart”
Shout out to long-running US industrialists God Module, an act who have always stayed true, steadily producing new music for more than 20 years now. In preparation for the June release of their new album The Unsound, project mastermind Jasyn Bangert has prepped up three separate single releases, the first of which Cross My Heart you can get right now via Bandcamp. It’s a vintage GM-type sound on the track, speaking to the project’s 90’s industrial and dark electro-roots, but also bearing some of the spooky aesthetics and little darkwave touches that have informed their catalogue.

Proem, “Until Here Robot”
Richard Bailey’s long-running IDM work as Proem has been released by a handful of labels over the past twenty years, but there’s something about Proem that just feels at home on n5MD. The warm and enveloping bass tones and well-timed clicks and pulses Bailey doles out across new LP Until Here For Years feel very much sympatico with the aesthetic Mike Cadoo’s established with his label (let alone his own work), and speaks well for the styles of composition both men have been honing for decades.

Trepaneringsritualen & Nordvargr, “Salve Tergamon”
The unholy alliance between Swedish death industrialists Nordvargr and Trepaneringsritualen continues, and no eardrums or peaceful sleeps are safe. On the heels of their Alpha Ænigma collaboration, the pair have elected to release a classic each-covers-each style 7″. The results are, as expected, unrestrained, but also find both artists changing up their pitches: Trepaneringsritualen sounds almost groovy for the first time, churning up a bass-heavy version of “Salve Teragmon” from Nordvargr’s excellent 2018 LP Metempsychosis.

Black Lung, “Roth”
The last new music we heard from David Thrussell’s Black Lung was 2015′ s Muzak From the Hivemind on Ant-Zen, a record that found the long-running instrumental project exploring drone and ambient soundscapes, with an appropriately satirical corporate-art framework. New single “Roth” via Metropolis Records dials back the abstraction somewhat, and instead builds up a groovy arrangement of ticky electro drums, Vangelis-sized synth leads and grindy electronic bass. It’s a very Thrussell sort of track, speaking to both his broader catalogue and his desire to keep moving to new and unexpected musical locales.