quête:dark m

ROTTEN, FOUL, DERANGED!

Around the end of the 1980s and the first years of the 1990s bands like PUNGENT STENCH, DISHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, DISASTROUS MURMUR or MIASMA made a name for themselves by putting out some classic albums. "Been Caught Buttering", "Changes" or "Expositionsprophylaxe" were records spawned by Austrian hordes which were globally hailed by devotees of Death Metal. As fertile a soil Austria once seemed to be, throughout the last 30 years not one single Death Metal album was put out that would match the quality of the pioneers.

Apparently, it took Brenton, an Australian settling in Vienna, to eventually put Austria on the map again. After having founded FESSUS with 3 other members in 2023, the quartet put out their first demo "Pilgrims of Morbidity" in the same year.

Now, two years after the very promising demo, FESSUS return with their first full-length. Cryptically entitled "Subcutaneous Tomb" the album's six lengthy songs stylistically continue where the demo left off. Whereas other bands focus on hyper-speed, over-technicality and brutality, FESSUS' brand of Death Metal is mostly played in moderate tempi with outbursts of speed and aggression scattered throughout the album. The songs are foremost characterized by memorable compositions and groove. Every song literally oozes with morbidity and conjures a dense macabre atmosphere. Brenton's vocals which are partly reminiscent of NECROPHAGIA's Killjoy are one of the highlights of the album. With his performance being equal parts versatile and deranged, Brenton spews vile bile and brimstone like not many lunatics before him. Although there are hints of other bands like AUTOPSY or PURTENANCE found on the album, FESSUS actually managed to come up with a sound that’s distinctly their own.

"Subcutaneous Tomb" is a perfectly produced album that those worshipping at the altar of morbid, rotten Death Metal can't afford to miss out on.

Recording, mixing, mastering: Thomas Taube (Five Lakes Studio)

Peach Discs’ last EP of 2025 comes from DJ & producer Leibniz. Hopefully you can hear why we chose to wait till club season is fully upon us to put this one out – "Corridor" is a deeply heads-down, groove-forward record that casts an enveloping atmosphere across its minimal, tunneling arrangements built for dark rooms and long nights.

Across the EP's four tracks, Leibniz (real name Moritz Paul) picks a vibe and runs with it – themes persist, the focus narrows and what we get is something approaching a mood. Drawing inspiration from early 2000s techno records from the likes of Archetype while combining the ambient warmth of Kompakt’s Pop Ambient compilations and GAS releases with the clarity and weight of early dubstep and 2-step, he dived into a process of self-sampling, resampling shorter demos and ideas into full arrangements, or "making in-between tracks that help make the tracks.”

The pair of tracks on the record's A-side are made up of little more than razor-sharp percussion, billowing, restless pads and an infectious bassline, but it's the way these carefully considered elements are put together that do the damage on the floor.

Flip it over and Ten Ten breaks the 4x4 spell for a moment, leaning into a heavily swung, garage-indebted sound inspired by the king of swing himself, El-B. "If my drums resemble just a bit of the ones of El-B, I‘m happy." We reckon he can be happy. Finally, TTL takes us back to the persistent, driving energy of the A-side, with just a hint of hardgroove flavour and the kind of wonked-out fx that always suits the B2 of a record.

Fronted by Dutch-born singer and songwriter Michelle Hindriks, the band evolved into a duo in the studio with the addition of drummer Tim Spencer. CIEL's sound is both atmospheric and urgent-- heavy guitars, pulsing basslines, and driving rhythms providing the backdrop for Hindriks' haunting yet intimate vocals.

Think of a sound that sits somewhere between the hazy allure of Slowdive, the urgency of Wolf Alice, and the brooding cool of The Cure-- ethereal yet punchy, nostalgic yet fresh, and leaving room for wonky sound experiments through the use of vintage synths and samples. Visual art has as much a place in the world of CIEL too, where paintings and images can show you a different place and make you wonder about the environment, the characters, what is their story? Such as the work of Tilo Baumgartel; sometimes beautiful and strangely dreamlike, sometimes dark and nightmarish, but always mysterious. Having toured extensively and gained strong support from platforms such as BBC Radio 6 Music (A- list rotation), BBC Radio 1, Clash, and DIY, the band continues to push their sound forward. After two EPs and having toured the EU with Blood Red Shoes, in December 2024, CIEL joined The Jesus and Mary Chain on their full UK tour, further cementing their place as one of Brighton's most exciting rising acts.

RAW, RUTHLESS AND CEREMONIALLY DARK!

Only two years after its inception in 2023, the ominous entity hailing from Germany has come up with their first full-length. Consisting of 6 songs with the first one being an instrumental intro, "Fiery Paths" is a very convincing effort on all levels. Notwithstanding the fact INFERNAL PRESENCE has only been active for 2 years, their hybrid of Black and Death Metal sounds as if it had been composed by a seasoned band. Unlike many outfits whose songs consist of a salad of riffs randomly thrown together, INFERNAL PRESENCE are apt at cleverly composing their material by frequently alternating between different tempi and moods. Fast tremolo picked riffs akin to DISSECTION or MAYHEM are alternated with palm muted Thrash riffs or atmospheric slow-paced arpeggios reminding of WATAIN or ONDSKAPT.

In so doing the two-piece creates dynamic songs that succeed in truly capturing the listener's attention. Just listen to standout tracks like "Eternal Exodus" or the exceptional "Tomb Procession" with its slithering groove and you will see our point proven. Although, only sharing certain musical elements with said bands, the suffocating atmosphere of "Fiery Paths" reminds of NEGATIVE PLANE's first album or early SECRETS OF THE MOON. Fortunately, the production fits the material just splendidly, too. While being gritty and raw, thus emphasising the album’s ferociousness, it's still polished enough so that no detail gets buried in the mix.

INFERNAL PRESENCE unleashed a record suffused with unrelenting darkness! If you consider yourself a fan of some of the bands mentioned above, do yourself a favour and listen to this beast of an album!

The debut from Berlin's Misere is a new jewel in the modern post punk crown. Sit back, relax and let the darkness engulf you with their primitive and sparse sound. Standout "Prickelnd" starts with the pounding floor tom and snare and slightly flanged bass before the guitar kicks in and the song takes twists and turns. It’s like a minimal sounding Xmal Deutschland and Blood and Roses with a vocalist that sings with a deadpan delivery. Another standout "Dracula" has the sound and spirit of the first Kleenex single down to a tea, but adds a hint of classic early 80’s goth. Final track "Abrieb" sounds like it could fall apart at any moment, in all it’s glorious chaos. It’s the sound of what UK Decay would have sounded like, if they were women. A superb release that shows the sound of Berlin in 2025.

Sean Forbes, Rough Trade

"Shrinkwrapped", das sechste Studioalbum von Gang Of Four, feiert 2025 sein 30-jähriges Jubiläum mit seiner ersten Vinyl-Veröffentlichung - remastered. Das Album wurde von Andy Gill und Jon King geschrieben und von Andy produziert. Einige der elf Tracks sind auf dem Soundtrack zum Film "Delinquent" von Peter Hall zu finden, darunter der Gang Of Four-Live-Favorit "I Parade Myself" und die Single "Tattoo". Das Album markierte eine Rückkehr der Kultband zu alter Form.

PRESSE:
- "Eine atemberaubende Sammlung von Lärm und Leidenschaft." – NME
- "Die härtesten Agitpopper des Punks sind zurück … mit zusätzlicher Hook und ihren typischen funkigen Grooves." – Vox
- "Dass Shrinkwrapped ein Kracher ist und ein Kracher wäre, egal wer es gemacht hat, ist ein Grund zum Feiern. Dass Andy Gill wieder ein gefährlicher Gitarrist ist, ist ein besonderer 'Stoppt die Presse, der verlorene Sohn kehrt zurück'-Kick." – All Music

Nachdem Master's Hammer 2018 die letzte Show zur Unterstützung des Albums »Fascinator« gespielt hatten, schien es, als sei die Geschichte der tschechischen Legende endgültig zu Ende gegangen.

Aber glücklicherweise wurde die Band nicht begraben, sondern ging nur in den Winterschlaf und ist nun nach 7 Jahren mit einem neuen Album zurück! Master's Hammer, die sich nie darum gekümmert haben, sich anzupassen, weigern sich, sich auf bestimmte Genres festlegen zu lassen und nach den Regeln anderer zu spielen, was zu vielen höchst originellen Alben geführt hat, die sich jeder Kategorisierung entziehen. Obwohl »Maldorör Disco« unverkennbar Master's Hammer ist, ist es wahrscheinlich ihr bisher experimentellstes und am wenigsten nach Black Metal klingendes Album.

Just when you thought you'd heard the final word on Norwegian black metal's golden age, Sevan Mater erupts from the underground with a breathtaking reissue of TSJUDER 's Norwegian Apocalypse - now unleashed in a deluxe triple gatefold 2LP edition, pressed on stunning 500 Gold and 500 Red vinyl. Originally released as a live DVD in 2006, Norwegian Apocalypse captures TSJUDER at their most primal and ferocious. Recorded in Oslo and Sandnes in 2005, this live document is a raw testament to the unrelenting, chainsawing riffage and relentless blastbeats that made TSJUDER legends. From the first crackle of the needle, the remastering breathes new fire into tracks like "Sodomizing the Lamb" and "Helvete."

The guitars slice sharper, the drums hit harder, and Nag's vocals tear through the speakers like a storm of razors. The live energy is palpable, preserved in glorious analog fidelity that towers over previous editions. But let's talk presentation - because Sevan Mater has outdone themselves. The triple gatefold cover is a work of dark art: blood- red visuals drenched in shadow, with exclusive liner notes and rare live photos from the original shows. This is not a reprint for casual listeners. It's a statement piece, a collector's treasure, and a monument to the uncompromising spirit of true black metal. Whether you're a longtime disciple of TSJUDER or just stepping into the abyss, this reissue of Norwegian Apocalypse is absolutely essential. It's not just an album. It's a summoning.

Just when you thought you'd heard the final word on Norwegian black metal's golden age, Sevan Mater erupts from the underground with a breathtaking reissue of TSJUDER 's Norwegian Apocalypse - now unleashed in a deluxe triple gatefold 2LP edition, pressed on stunning 500 Gold and 500 Red vinyl. Originally released as a live DVD in 2006, Norwegian Apocalypse captures TSJUDER at their most primal and ferocious. Recorded in Oslo and Sandnes in 2005, this live document is a raw testament to the unrelenting, chainsawing riffage and relentless blastbeats that made TSJUDER legends. From the first crackle of the needle, the remastering breathes new fire into tracks like "Sodomizing the Lamb" and "Helvete."

The guitars slice sharper, the drums hit harder, and Nag's vocals tear through the speakers like a storm of razors. The live energy is palpable, preserved in glorious analog fidelity that towers over previous editions. But let's talk presentation - because Sevan Mater has outdone themselves. The triple gatefold cover is a work of dark art: blood- red visuals drenched in shadow, with exclusive liner notes and rare live photos from the original shows. This is not a reprint for casual listeners. It's a statement piece, a collector's treasure, and a monument to the uncompromising spirit of true black metal. Whether you're a longtime disciple of TSJUDER or just stepping into the abyss, this reissue of Norwegian Apocalypse is absolutely essential. It's not just an album. It's a summoning.

Sugaring a Strawberry, the sophomore record from Julia, Julia, is a study in coming undone—on purpose. Recorded at COMA, Julia Kugel's home studio, and mixed through a custom Flickenger clone, the album drifts in and out of clarity like memory itself. It's emotionally retrospective, creatively unvarnished, and deeply human. You can hear it in the hiss, the warmth, in the vocals so raw they're like an open window. These songs weren't engineered for perfection. They were built to breathe. Her long-time collaborator and husband, Scott Montoya, mixes it all so loosely that you can hear the air between tracks— a space that makes the music feel inhabited rather than recorded.


"Bound" opens the album like a secret passed between sisters, solemn and unspeakably close. It begins with the softest of touches: hushed guitar, a near- whispered delivery that carries the intimacy of someone singing only for one other person. It's a love song, but not romantic, more ancestral in the way long bonds can be. All glow and undercurrent, "I Know," is like hearing someone hum through a wound. The track arrives as if it had been waiting, coiled and complete, to be sung. Its pulse is slow but insistent, anchored on a hypnotic loop and a vocal that's half-incantation, half-confession. One of the most outward-facing songs on the record, "Feeling Lucky," opens like a cigarette flicked in the dark– smoky and a little bit slick. Built on a skeletal beat and a nearly detached vocal, it leans into a sarcastic swagger that barely masks the ache beneath. The delivery is droll and glazed, the instrumentation is sparse and a little woozy, leaving space for her voice to sway—a shrug of a song, stylish in its sadness. "A Love That Hurts" drifts in on soft, fingerpicked guitar and a dry, close-mic vocal that feels both haunted and immediate. The mix is stripped down and analog-warm, letting tape hum and silence frame the emotion. Julia sings like she's remembering something she doesn't want to, each line a slight unraveling. Like the rest of the album, "A Love That Hurts" doesn't push toward resolution. It sits in the ache, sifts through it, makes it beautiful.

Sugaring a Strawberry doesn't seek catharsis so much as stumbles into it. There's a quiet volatility to these songs like they might fall apart if you press too hard. It moves in shadow and softness, asking questions it doesn't answer. It doesn’t end with closure. It ends with truth.

Mj Lenderman is the project of Asheville native, Jake Lenderman, whose 'Boat Songs' was released to wide acclaim on Dear Life Records in 2022. Now Dear Life is proud to offer a vinyl reissue of MJ's 2021 label debut, 'Ghost of Your Guitar Solo,' a collection of nine songs recorded and performed entirely by
Lenderman, and one live band track. The record was written and recorded quickly, songs often being fully constructed and recorded within frenzied single day sessions. Songs were born out of freewheeling jam sessions with his roommates, with Lenderman often freestyling lyrics that would later become the
foundations of the finished songs. Lenderman would write 20 disconnected lines a day, scrapping most of them but preserving a few to be used later. This process aided in what became an extremely prolific writing period for the artist in the spring of 2020. The record sounds like country music being played by a noisy punk band, unkempt and imperfect like the characters in his songs. Here, Lenderman broadened his lyrical scope beyond solemn introspection, adding humor to scenes larger than his own life. He points to authors Harry Crews and Larry Brown as inspirations, both of whom were southern, self-taught writers who balanced empathy, humor, and darkness. This leads to the erosion of the line that separates humor and sadness. The resulting songs are about over-
indulgence and drug/alcohol abuse, full of self-loathing and pity while celebrating the absurdity of it all.

Following three acclaimed albums, a string of sought-after 45s, and collaborations with vocalists including Yurika and Sophia Solompon, championed by esteemed tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, and Jeremy Sole, "Nadir" finds Sababa 5 at their enigmatic and irresistible. Sababa 5"s latest album, "Nadir", delves into a darker, more sophisticated, and cinematic fusion of psychedelic soul and Middle Eastern rock. The title, Nadir, is an astronomical term referring to the point on the celestial sphere directly beneath an observer, diametrically opposite the zenith. Metaphorically, it signifies the lowest point or a moment of adversity. This duality resonates with the band"s exploration of contrasting musical themes-melding the cosmic and the terrestrial, the ethereal and the grounded. The name encapsulates the album"s essence, reflecting a journey through deep, introspective soundscapes that are both otherworldly and rooted in raw, earthly grooves.

Footwork pioneer Traxman presents "Tekvision Volume 4," the highly anticipated new album set to drop this November on Teklife. A defining force in Chicago’s House, Ghetto House, Juke, and Footwork scenes for over 30 years, Traxman continues to innovate with a cutting-edge release that builds on decades of influence and expertise, featuring tracks that pay homage to Chicago’s West Side roots.

With "Tekvision Volume 4," Traxman reaffirms his legendary status as one of electronic music’s most influential figures, delivering an album designed for both footwork veterans and a new generation of listeners ready to experience the genre’s next evolution.

2026 Repress

In our era of post-truth & questioned realities, tin foil hatted folk project their insecurities onto the puppet masters, those holding the strings to us all, the endless psy-op at play. For those opting for psychedelic enlightenment over psychological terror, we find solace in the dance, especially when the music is from heads such as Jeku.

‘Peyote Trance’ follows the Helsinki based artists journey into the “trip”, where mother nature instead pulls the strings. A sound of trance often not followed, continuing the work of forebearers such as eXquisite CORpsE; where the zap of the synapses in the brain connect with the bubble & squeak of electronics. Creating a sound advanced by nature, yet resonating within the concrete walls us ravers know and love. All 4 tracks harness a kinetic energy that nudges you to ascendance, not desperately reaching for it like the heavy handed aesthetics of the genre can. Instead, the heads down motion of the music can take you there, and well, a little bit of Peyote might just help, as mother nature intended.

Slip is Paul Abbott’s response to his 3 day residency at OTO in 2023. It’s a continued exploration of the acoustic-digital hybrid drum setup Abbott has been developing for some time, which involves drum kit and synthetic sounds combined closely—through an entanglement of limbs and cables—in an intimate but strange relationship with each other.

Paul Abbott hasn’t had any formal musical training, but has a long history of making music, having collaborated for years with Seymour Wright, Pat Thomas, Michael Speers, Cara Tolmie, Anne Gillis and many others. Eventually, led by a profound suspicion of what is fixed or limited, Abbott began finding other ways to organise sound - or what he calls ‘material’:

“I wanted a way to 'persuade' or guide the possibility of something happening - my activity or the events of an algorithmic composition - for example, but without certainty or formalism. It felt to me, during playing, that certain ideas had a particular sort of shape, but more than the form of a line. I began to write alongside (before/after) playing the drums, and ‘characters’ began to enter the scene as a more wobbly, and therefore appropriate option to notation. Working with these characters allowed me to simultaneously approach body, imagination, language and music: without dividing things up or separating these aspects from each other. It allowed me to leave things messy and entangled, whilst trying to deal with form and specificity: wanting to have some things feel or respond differently to other things at other times.”

In approaching his residency, Abbott developed a fixed cast of characters - crystal, lleaf, reiy.F, reiy.C, strike, nee, qosel, sphu and aahn. They each communicate using different kinds of movement and drum kit/s, and Abbott choreographed them as ‘dances’ based on different feelings, or outlines of behaviours suggestive of ways of moving (body, drums, sounds). He then arranged these characters into ‘compositions’: one for each performance day, with each composition featuring multi-layered activity - options for behaviours, ways to move around the rooms, play drums, develop synthetic sounds, change the lights or re-distribute the sound in the space.

After the performances, Abbott took home 9 hours of recordings split into up to 28 multitrack channels for each day, and re-organised his cast once more into a performance for 2LP, CD and digital. It’s an enormous amount of work - but Abbott is activated by the process. For him, the pleasure of unstable edges, possibilities, slippages, is the vital attraction. Like all living organisms, Abbott’s characters have malleability and responsivity. They stimulate a bundle of possible behaviours, a tendency to act a certain way, a temperament, a boundary of respective limits or affordances.

It’s an affective way of working, inclusive of Roscoe Mitchell, Sun Ra, Nathaniel Mackey and Milford Graves. In ‘Pulseology’(2022), Milford Graves reminds us, ‘Breath varies, so cardiac rhythm never has that (metronomic) tempo. It’s always changing. All the alignments of the heart are determined based on the needs of the cells, specifically tissues and organs. The heart knows if it needs to speed up.’ In Slip, to slip, in a heartbeat, is to descend not into the grid of the even metre accorded to the heartbeat, but into a play of mutability and modality. To change is the condition of the heart.

Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (cello) and Philipp Sutter (piano) pose this question as the title for their new project. Whereas Bill Evans made a demand in 1981, the two Cologne-based musicians believe that in times of uncertainty, crisis, and environmental destruction, it is ok to set a questin mark here. But politics and world events aside: Do you believe in spring? Of course! It's never too late to start something new, get creative, and test your own limits. Simon Wangen is a classically trained cellist, Philipp Sutter a trained jazz pianist. Their different musical roots merge on this instrumental album into a lively mix of neoclassical, new jazz, and Cinéma Nordique. Ten pieces come across as sometimes dark, sometimes wild, sometimes delicate, always focusing on the dialogue between the two instruments that harmonize so well. The subtle use of electronic effects constantly opens up new perspectives and builds a bridge to contemporary sound aesthetics. Cello and piano—this combination has been established for centuries, but can still add new facets today. Do you believe in spring? begins stormily and turbulently, oscillating between romantic, sad, and beautiful moments, and leads from a rather dark beginning to the final and eponymous piece in C major, which leaves the listener with a glimmer of hope. Do you believe in spring? From October 24, 2025!


Do you believe in spring? Simon Wangen (Cello) und Philipp Sutter (Klavier) werfen den Titel für ihr neues Projekt als Frage in den Raum. Wo Bill Evans 1981 eine Forderung formulierte, sind die beiden Kölner Musiker der Ansicht, in Zeiten der Unsicherheit, der Krisen und Umweltzerstörung durchaus ein Fragezeichen setzen zu können. Aber abgesehen von Politik und Weltgeschehen: Do you believe in spring? Natürlich! Es ist nie zu spät, etwas Neues zu beginnen, kreativ zu werden und die eigenen Grenzen zu testen. Simon Wangen ist klassisch ausgebildeter Cellist, Philipp Sutter studierter Jazzpianist. Die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Wurzeln verschmelzen auf diesem Instrumentalalbum zu einer lebendigen Mischung aus Neoklassik, New Jazz und Cinéma Nordique. Zehn Stücke kommen mal düster, mal wild, mal zart daher, stets die Zwiesprache der beiden so gut harmonierenden Instrumente im Fokus. Der dezente Einsatz elektronischer Effekte öffnet immer wieder neue Perspektiven und schlägt eine Brücke zur zeitgenössischen Klangästhetik. Cello und Klavier - diese Besetzung ist seit Jahrhunderten etabliert, aber kann auch aktuell immer wieder neue Facetten hinzubekommen. Do you believe in spring? beginnt stürmisch und aufgewühlt, changiert zwischen romantisch - traurig - schönen Momenten und führt von einem eher düsteren Beginn hin zum letzten und namensgebenden Stück in C-Dur, das die Zuhörenden mit einem Hoffnungsschimmer entlässt. Do you believe in spring? Ab 24.10.2025!