Tracks: August 25th, 2025

Welp, August is officially on the way out, which means we’re close to the final third of the year for new releases and the inevitable Year End contemplation the Fall brings. Plenty of good records still to come this year, but given how stacked the end of the Summer was for strong LPs (check last week’s reviews for a couple stormers), it’s never certain how things will shape up til we actually sit down to start hashing it all out. New Tear Garden is still en route, as is some other records from some of our faves like Zanias and Seeming, with any luck we’ll get a few curveballs to boot. On to this week’s Tracks!

Bill Leeb, “Neuromotive (Sehr Geil One Mix by Rhys Fulber)”
Absolutely gobsmacked by this remix of “Neuromotive”, taken from Bill Leeb’s 2024 solo album Model Kollapse by none other than his longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber. Why you may ask? In our humble opinion, this is one of the best updates of the duo’s classic Front Line sound in quite some years, taking a bassline and dense sound design that could have comes from any of their classic 90s records and adding a sleek layer of modern studio shine. More modern FLA should sound like this, but we’ll take this, and the rest of the mixes on the recently released Machine Vision while we wait to see what they’re cooking up next.

Test Dept, “Information Scare (Imperial Black Unit Remix)”
Speaking of remixes from industrial legends, that’s just one part of the multi-pronged attack coming from East London true-schoolers Test Dept. A new album plus multiple (!) archival box sets are all in the works as part of a new deal with Artoffact, and to prime the pump a pair of remix singles featuring reworkings of tunes from 2019’s Disturbance. Modern TBM stylists Imperial Black Unit play things savvy and close to the chest with this mix, which perhaps somewhat hearkens back to the band’s experimentation with techno in decades past while still keeping the clatter and growl up front.

Athamay, “Under Your Voice”
We were discussing the fetish-themed turn of the millennium darkwave of Athamay earlier this year as part of our Nightbreed commentary podcast, but colour us surprised to learn of a full rebooting of the project with a full length LP in the works. The teaser (pun intended) tracks from The Crucifixion And The Resurrection pick up more or less where the act left off, with bubbly and chewy throwback synth programming and suitably depraved thematics.

Patriarchy, “Pain Is Power”
Patriarchy, the enfants terribles of current dark alt music have a new one, and it goes into a largely unexplored area for them: tweaky hyperpop influenced electropop. Friend of the site DJ Gilly Woo likened it to Alice Glass’ solo material, and we’re also hearing a healthy dose of TR/ST in the thick synths and snappy drums. Of course it all hinges on the ever-charismatic vocals of Actually Huizenga, whose bigger than life persona on stage shines through on record. The LA based band has shored up a pretty healthy fanbase via their live shows, it’ll be interesting to see where the momentum takes them when the next record drops.

Altar De Fey, “Tower Of Deceit”
The rebooted incarnation of California deathrock outfit Altar De Fey has been earning plaudits for its records and live shows for a full decade now, both from younger listeners keen to tap into a pure and undiluted stream of deathrock as well as those old enough to remember their original (but undocumented) run. The single from the forthcoming Under A Waxing Moon LP should keep both camps satisfied; there’s enough drama and flourish in the arrangement and delivery of this one without deviating from the act’s roots instrumentation and style.

Paradox Obscur, “Vulgar Sequence”
Greek synth project Paradox Obscur would seem to be in a pretty varied place for their new record IKONA, due September 12th from Metropolis in North America. While the duo has done their share of genre-hopping in their day, usually between minimal synth, darkwave and related styles, what we’re hearing from the album shows some interesting touches of synthpop (like their anthemic take on Armin Van Buuren’s “Lose this Feeling”) and the track embedded below, a gnarly lo-fi bit of body music that puts some good snarl behind vocalist 𝙆𝙧𝙞𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙣𝙣’s quavery whisper.