The Post-Industrial scene in 2023 appears to be very much alive and not dying, as some listeners and music critics may say and write. New projects are appearing from famous and not known musicians in different genres and different sounds. Old, famous artists are releasing high-quality new material and their projects continue to perform at major and local festivals. Everything is going as usual. The only thing that catches eye is the absence both in the top and in the contenders for the top of new projects from new musicians, who have not been seen before in other more popular bands. This was lacking in 2023, but this trend has been noticeable for a long time, so everything is stable in the Post-Industrial music scene.Covered genres: EBM, Dark Electro, Anhalt EBM, Oldschool EBM, Aggro-Industrial, Electro-Industrial, Oldschool Dark Electro
10. Chaos Tamed - ‘Shock Waves’ (EBM, Electro-Industrial | Sweden, I/O Music)
The Swedish project CHAOS TAMED is a new name on the Post-Industrial music scene and the Swedes released their debut album on the I/O Music label. ‘Shock Waves’ presents the listener with a rather atmospheric EBM with a relatively dry sound and elements of Electro-Industrial, but without references to the old school. Evil distorted vocals are occasionally mixed with clean ones, but very rarely. In general, the album does not have any bright hits, but is smooth and coherent, easy to listen to and will be a good part of the collection of Post-Industrial music fans. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chaostamed
09. Degenerated Sequences - ‘Schism’ (EBM, Dark Electro | Greece, Advoxya Records)
The Greek project DEGENERATED SEQUENCES was created by Yiannis, keyboardist of the PREEMPTIVE STRIKE 0.1 formation, in the mid-10s and his debut album was released in 2016. The new work ‘Schism’ is also released on the Hungarian label Advoxya and is made in a combination of EBM and viscous Dark Electro, but is not similar in sound to the material of Yiannis’ main project. 10 melodic compositions with atmospheric keyboard parts and some use of Electro-Industrial sound high-quality and dark. Vocal tracks alternate with instrumental ones, which also gives a certain dystopian feel. Good solid work, which, however, does not pretend to be a masterpiece. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/degeneratedsequences
08. NoLongerHuman - ‘Marionette’ (Dark Electro, EBM | USA, COP International)
The project NOLONGERHUMAN was formed in the second half of the 2000s in the USA and already has three full-length albums to its discography, which managed to hit various alternative charts in Germany. The new American creation was released nine years after the previous one, so fans of the project have already missed the new products. On ‘Marionette’ the material is made in a combination of dance rhythmic Dark Electro and EBM with distorted vocals. There is nothing new or super innovative on the album, but high-quality arrangements, excellent material from a compositional point of view, catchy tracks and dance rhythms that can easily be heard on dancefloors make this album worthy of the top 10 of the Post-Industrial scene in 2023. Nice solid work. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nolongerhuman.official
07. Device Noize - ‘Mutemotions’ (Dark Electro | Mexico, Self-Released)
The Mexican Dark Electro scene is famous for its unique sound, which was pioneered by HOCICO, so the many projects in a similar direction from Mexico was predictable. There haven’t been many albums with high-quality classic Latin American sounds and hits in the last couple of years and dark electro has been pushed out of the scene by the revival and popularization of Electro-Industrial. The Mexican project DEVICE NOIZE created Latin American classics on previous albums, so its new album ‘Mutemotions’ cannot be called a breakthrough. DEVICE NOIZE was formed in 2010 and already has four full-length albums with a bunch of remix releases. The fifth work was released independently, is available for free download on the Bandcamp page and is performed in the classic rhythmic sound of Latin American dark electro with distorted vocals traditionally in Spanish with catchy melodies. Excellent material for dancefloors, which you can listen to at home also. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeviceNoize
06. Dague de Marbre - ‘Likeness of the Offender’ (Oldschool EBM, Electro-Industrial, New Beat | France, Trigger Warming)
The French project DAGUE DE MARBRE is the brainchild of Antoine, known for his vocals in the American project CHROME CORPSE. The Frenchman has many solo projects from the Metal scene in various experiments with Metal, Post-Industrial Electronics, Neofolk and other underground genres. DAGUE DE MARBRE, on the other hand, can hardly be called an experimental project, although, both for Antoine himself and for the Post-Industrial scene, the material stands out from the general scene direction. The first recordings appeared in 2020, but the first full-length album was released only in 2023. On ‘Likeness of the Offender’ the Frenchman presented nine compositions in a very non-standard combination of old school EBM, elements of Electro-Industrial and new beat. The vocals on the album are clean and melodic in most of the compositions, which is rare for post-industrial projects. There are no dance thrillers on the album and the general focus is mid-tempo compositions mainly with beats inherent in the new beat style. In general, this album is difficult to classify, because there are references to synthetic music and gothic components and the last composition on the album is generally made with bagpipes and medieval clue. A very non-standard work by a Frenchman, which may not appeal to fans of classic sound. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daguedemarbre
05. Arise-X - ‘Dogma’ (Dark Electro, Gothic Electro | Germany, Electric Frog Factory Records)
The project ARISE-X was formed in Germany in 2003 and, despite its long history, had only three full-length albums until 2023. The fourth work was released in 2023 and is called ‘Dogma’. Since the first full-length album, the project has been creating Dark Electro using Gothic Electronics. There were more of a Gothic component in the early works, but on the latest album there is more Dark Electro, although female vocals and clean male vocals are still present, but the hard beats and rhythms are still in the Dark Electro style. The result was high-quality work, somewhat similar to the sound of CENTHRON, but with a Gothic-Electro twist. Female operatic vocals are also an infrequent guest on the Post-Industrial scene, but there is plenty of it here. Good work with hits, maybe a little too long (not everyone can handle 17 songs at once). In any case the project pleased me again and again made it to the top. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.AriseX
04. Intent:Outtake - ‘Der Stille Tod’ (EBM, Dark Electro, Gothic Electro | Germany, Scanner)
INTENT:OUTTAKE is a project that constantly appears in different lists of contenders for the top 10 of the year with each album, maxi-single and EP. I don’t know how musicians manage to make essentially the same music from album to album of such high quality and interesting without changing the sound, trying to wedge in currently popular genres and at the same time release such a holistic material with hits. The unique project INTENT:OUTTAKE once again releases a high-quality powerful album combining EBM with Dark Electro and Gothic Electronics. The album contains two CDs, the first of which presents the original main material of the album and the second includes three other original tracks and three remixes. One more excellent performance by the Germans and another place in the top 10. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/INTENTOUTTAKE
03. Signal Aout 42 - ‘Ex+Voto’ (EBM | Belgium, Out of Line)
The ancient Belgian project SIGNAL AOUT 42 is one of the pioneers of the EBM scene not only in Belgium, but generally in the world. His works have inspired many modern musicians to create music not only in Post-Industrial genres, but also in the field of new beat and techno. The project does not release new albums often, so each material of Jacky Meurisse, the author behind the project, is created carefully for a long time and, I am almost sure, is remade and improved more than once during composing, so the listener always gets high-quality work as the result. The new album is called ‘Ex+Voto’ and is made in the standard SIGNAL AOUT 42 style, for which the “oldschool” prefix in the phrase oldschool EBM can be removed. As expected, amazing professional work with excellent material, which fully corresponds to the original meaning of the phrase “electronic body music”. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackymeurisse
02. ITCN - ‘Survivor’ (Oldschool EBM | Spain, Self-Released)
The ITCN project from Spain was formed in 2008 and already has several full-length albums in its discography. The new work is called ‘Survivor’ and contains 15 compositions that are marked by a year or period of history with the name of the event that the authors wanted to highlight in their work. These events are mostly negative and the musicians express their thoughts in lyrics about these significant events in history. Musically the Spaniards make quality old-school rhythmic EBM with male vocals and mostly English-language lyrics. Cool work with hits, good arrangement and harmonious combinations of sounds. I was personally pleased with the cover of RAMMSTEIN. Perhaps it would be possible to make the sound more saturated with mechanical sounds, but then it would no longer be ITCN, but probably some kind of the Austrians NZ version or another old-school EBM project. Great stuff. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ITCN.BAND
01. Bagger 258 - ‘Ode an die Arbeit’ (Oldschool EBM | Germany, Self-Released)
It’s been a long time since there have been good quality young old-school projects on the EBM scene. The German duo BAGGER 258 just made such a breakthrough and immediately took first place. Only this is not exactly the musicians’ debut. Nico and Tim from Augsburg are known for their work in the PROJEKT 26 and as part of BAGGER 258 they made old-school EBM with a hint of anhalt according to the canons of the genre in the best possible way. The lyrics in German also fit perfectly into the concept and general direction of not only the project itself, but also the genre. BAGGER 258 may become an excellent representative of the Electric Tremor community. The debut was definitely a success and will be on par with the classics of the genre from both the 90s and 2000s. The album ends with two remixes from the Finns OLDSCHOOL UNION and another project of the duo PROJEKT 26. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bagger.258
Other honorable mentions: CENTHRON, CONTAINER 90, FHTH, G.H.T
Comments powered by CComment