Escape From Warsaw here with Transit / The Specter of War (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 343-2), a very poignant title given the disastrous state of world affairs, and now in 2026 that “specter” is looming even closer in everyone’s hearts and minds. Karol Su/Ka proudly describes his hard-hitting music as “lo fi distorted electronic beat” on the cover; only the records of Kotra come close to delivering this degree of steely punch, landing with precision on chin of enemy wearing army boots. The record label are always looking for material that yokes together dance beats with the powerful surge of “dark industrial”, and here’s a record that aligns perfectly with that plan. The militant subtext of this album surfaces not only in the title, but in songs like ‘Panzerbrigadier’, the relentless forward-march mode of almost every track, and even the sound of gunfire represented as synthesised stabs. Drum machines have rarely seemed so ominous. (09/01/2025)

We’re still in the “war zone” with Bunker Musick (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 342-2), a heavy-going record credited to Düsseldorf…in fact it’s a German-Polish collaboration, conceived by Tom Axer of Düsseldorf and played by Elektrokraft, the German duo of Leander Rönick and Patrick Woitaschek who have been releasing their brand of “EBM” electronic music since 2017. I hope this record is not sailing too close to the sort of territory previously staked out by other industrial and “dark folk” players, and I worry the swastika may surface at any moment, but no – it seems Bunker Musick is intended as a story-telling piece that depicts a symbolic bunker of the mind, a “place from which there is no return”. It might refer to memories of past wars or to current conflicts in Europe, say the creators. Hmm. Not an easy listen, if you have no appetite for strident vocal chants set over equally strident electric music, and the samples of jubilant cheering crowds aren’t helping much. We heard Tom Axer in 2022 on the very melodramatic Amok, with his drummer Jacek Sokołowski. (09/01/2025)

Entering a mystical and unfathomable realm with the album by Galaktyka Mięsa, a band name which translates as “galaxy of flesh”…yes, there are still people in the world who worship at the altar of David Cronenberg and wish for nothing more than to recreate the themes of his 1980s movies such as Videodrome or Scanners, in audio terms. However, there’s a lot more going on in the strange groovular indentations of Lejek Bólu (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 341-2), evident even to non-Polish speakers. These songs are mostly intense, chaotic outbursts of strange screes of information, situated somewhere in a nightmarish version of experimental techno with added electronic noise-mayhem, plus the declamatory vocals which seem to be reaching us through a distorted telephone receiver with their urgent, cryptic messages. Quite untypical of the slow drone ambient-scapes which often feature on this label, this Galaktyka Mięsa item is packed with teeming life-forms. The incomprehensible press release suggests influences from shamans, apocalyptic imagery, and even Korean culture (which apparently is very close to Polish culture – perhaps they share a certain pessimistic frame of mind). This might be a duo of Jakub Knoll and Łukasz Bejnar from Wroclaw, and either they have composed soundtracks for troubling futuristic movies, or they have a strong desire to do so. (09/01/2025)

All from Zoharum Jan 2025

This worthy endeavour showed up on our antenna in 2024, but it must date back to 2022 at least, the exact same year when the Russian invasion began. If that implies, for you, a certain agility and urgency to this creator’s rapid responses, you’d be 100% correct since the same “don’t hesitate” ethos runs through every note of his powerful, no-prisoners approach to generating electronic hammer-thuds and emissions of stern-face grimmitude. To give you a further marker of his commitment to this “cultural-political” enterprise, as he calls it, there are also releases in the catalogue from Muslimgauze, whose seemingly never-ending stream of releases protested the situation in Israel with an unflagging energy, and Merzbow, adding one of his animal-rights audio statements to swell the general effort. Both artists have exhibited a “for-or-against” stance in their work which is fully aligned with the mission of I Shall Sing.

On today’s item we are as ever impressed – meaning overwhelmed – by the precision and clear-sighted determination that fuels every one of these stern, remorseless episodes, and the track titles don’t leave much room to maneuver for the casual listener, either. Nothing refers directly to the subject-matter at hand, but there’s an oblique subtext to these titles that leave us in little doubt as to the ideological commitment of this fellow. The artworks (also by Fedorenko) likewise seem to lead us forwards to a confrontation with certain hard and unignorable truths, even if they are very abstract. Interestingly, I see he put the original paintings for sale on his Bandcamp page (long sold out, of course). Exceptionally strong release. (19/11/2024)

Two or three members of Metgumbnerbone are here, along with the creative forces behind The New Blockaders. Both Mylotte and Breadin were recently “revealed” as part of the group that created the notorious Bladder Flask record from 1981, a time when most of the key players were still teenagers or 20-somethings; even a year ago this seemed quite interesting to me, after I’d so long assumed Bladder Flask was a Rupenus solo thing. Some two years after that, we find all the six players in Morden Tower in Newcastle Upon Type (home, I need hardly mention, to many notorious New Blockaders performances), where they recorded these pieces over two days in April 1983. There follows a murky story about lost recordings being found again, circulated between various interested parties, and in the steps leading up to this release there’s evidently been some fallings-out and bad feelings between the six former buddies. Although Coates has put out this version as a Citipati release with its Skullflower-esque cover and Tibetan artworks on the back, John Mylotte has also claimed it’s actually a Metgumbnerbone record, and he’s put it out as The Morden Tower Conjurations, with cover art of hideous dancing skeletal animals in a dark wood.

These circumstances have led to much public vituperation and jealousy between some of the above personalities, which seems sad, but we won’t repeat it here. At least both parties seem to share some common ground, which is that these performance pieces should be perceived as “ritualistic” and “secret”, where the dark forces that were unleashed on the world in 1983 may now be bringing forth many forms of unwelcome chaos and mayhem. There’s even some doubt as to whether what we hear was indeed recorded at Morden Tower, but the very noticeable echo effects might have been added post-production by Coates. If all of that rumour and infighting has intrigued you, feel free to bend an ear to these unsettling recordings of percussion and metallic rattles, somehow transformed into something vaguely uncanny with a ghoulish hue. While not as outright aggressive as TNB would become, the roots of non-specific object-mauling and chain-clanking are already showing through. For some reason, the whole record feels like it was taking place in total darkness, and maybe it was; the cold, clammy cloak of night is very hard to shake off. (26/04/2024)

Today’s item Broken Allures (COLD SPRING RECORDS CSR339CD) follows their trusted pathway – all performances, voices and instruments subjected to twisted studio treatments and processes that induce maximal madness and distort all rebakes and rope ladders into nightmarish dimensions, in as much time as it takes a French chef to whip up a pink macaron inside a smoked trout. Fenech on guitars, bass, drums, sequencers…Epplay filling in on synths, samples, and diabolical tape recordings, sound effects and field recording captures…label is correct to hint at some form of “musique concrète” approach in the final mix, but even this clue doesn’t convey the unhinged genius found in these splicing touchettes, where spontaneity and crazed imaginative skills are privileged above the mode of academic pondering and deliberation of the IRCAM school. As such, Berrocal remains true to what I regard as his post-punk hero influences that have helped mould his jazz improvisations since the 1980s – and just check out that recent Catalogue record if you’re inclined to doubt this – and he still embodies the vocal loopery and zaned-out terrorthons that Stapleton evidently admired (and could never imitate successfully, try as he may).

Speaking of “that period” from English underground music, Cosey Fanni Tutti (of all people) is also here, adding chilling lyrics sung in equally unsettling voice on two tracks, and electric guitar on a third – ‘Viva La Hacienda’, as it happens, one of the stand-outs on the whole set and we’d like to think a nod in direction of Manchester and Joy Division. Speaking of Public Image Limited – which we weren’t exactly – Jah Wobble also surfaces from 20 fathoms to add his bass blorrks to the title track, and indeed it might be that element that so cheerfully drives this strong piece down its death-disco inflected dubby pathway back to the rocky beach. With Berrocal’s echoplexed trumpet writhing on top like three deep-sea fish about to be fried in the pan, we’ve got a harshoid-horror studio mash that Martin Rushent would only have dreamed about, and even the ghost of Teo Macero raises one toenail from his perch in paradise. To lock the case up tight, the opening track was inspired by ‘Warszawa’ by Bowie and Eno, and on ‘Coiffeur Pour Vince (Tu Sais La Mort)’ we have, wouldn’t it be fair to say, a deliberate throwback to Berrocal’s immortal ‘Rock’n’Roll Station’ from 1976, that surreal re-imagining of early American rock and roll – which this time around throws in an additional verbal salute to Johnny Burnette.

As with previous outings by the trio, the music seems (to me) to be taking place in near-darkness, and the poetic surrealist sound-poetry of this great man Berrocal both confuses and illuminates the mind like a green candle. Recommended! (10/10/2024)

Further horrifying industrial techo-power-electro combat-crunch from Poland on the split Grey Zone (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 328-2). Both Larmo and Nothing Has Changed hail from Silesia and also share common ground in their mission to split the skull of the human race, using beat-boxes from Hell and bludgeoning dynamos made in Warsaw. The title of the split might be implying some statement about global politics, or conflict, or something; certainly the music of these two cheerless fellows is aiming at constructing a dehumanising environment, where all who enter are enslaved to an agency that renders mankind powerless and lethargic. I think I’ve heard more Larmo records than I want to now; Nothing Has Changed (Michał Kiełbasa) has a few monstrous records on the Old Temple label, and is evolving towards embracing specific forms of “illbient” in his music, a genre which apparently emanates from Birmingham UK, perhaps including such champions as Khost. We endured his Hissing Guilt album in 2022, and some of his tracks here share the same titles. (25/10/2024)

Last heard some years ago with the suffocating Buried Steel album, where Andy Swan and Damian Bennett came forward as the main perpetrators of this sonic violence, whereas today the presentation is more anonymous, apart from the named guest contributors. Jo Quail’s cello on ‘The Fifth Book of Agrippa’ is admittedly pretty outstanding, and the combined effects of this harrowing track are considerable. Elsewhere we find Terence Hannum from Locrian, Manuel Liebeskind from Berlin adding vocals, and even a sample handed in by Iron Fist Of The Sun. While at least 50% of these guests are tainted with one extreme metal genre or another, the inclusion of Quail is almost worthy of a Sunn O))) extravagance.

According to the press, the band aimed to produce the most “disorienting” production possible, feeding on their own live shows and soundchecks to reap further ideas for this unholy mix of deathly-doom poundage, nasty electric noise, and industrial-inspired moves. Even remix culture is in their sights; Adrian Stainburner and Bereneces have been roped in to remix two tracks on the CD, and apparently the vinyl pressing offers a different mix, made by the band, instead of the Martin Bowes production. Grim fare, but occasionally exhilarating, and bonus marks for the stylistic mix of flavours and styles thrown into the basin. (10/10/2024)

Królówczana Smuga “presents” as a band from Biłgoraj in Poland, but might turn out to be one person Adam Piętak doing everything in a very confident and talented way. Many musical approaches and styles found on his Konwulsanki (ZOHAR 324-2) album, including heavy industrial beats, mutant metal guitar, and a very eccentric form of rapping and growling; when these “weighty” tracks overwhelm the senses, then his quieter mode – a strange species of acoustic neofolk – kicks in. Current 93 might cast a long shadow in this part of the world. Enjoying the dark and menacing subtext of Konwulsanki, which is all to do with repressed inner demons that bubble up like “night dreams…appearing at inappropriate times”. Królówczana Smuga doesn’t flee his demons, but engages with them in all possible ways – including wrestling, verbal argument, and chilli-eating contests.

Heard Larmo’s debut cassette in 2024, now they’re here with a full-length item called Alarm (ZOHAR 322-2). Slightly more approachable than that previous item, but Mirosław Matyasik continues to pile on pounding beats and punchy bass, using them like weapons to assault society, and drives home their messages with shrieks, shouts, and pained groans. Shorter tracks like ‘Separator’ indicate a real talent for more subtle and surprising experiments with electronics and edits, but such moments are uncharacteristic of the brutal whole; seems that Alarm wants to plough us into the cold earth, one citizen at a time. With guests Gosia, IHS, Paula and Pachu, plus remixes by Monya. Cover image is brilliantly executed, in service of an ancient “man-machine” trope.

From the reissue wing of this label comes Conjecture’s 2019 album V, reissued here as V (ext. edit.) (ZOHAR 321-2). This is the Greek musician Vasilis Angelopoulos active since 2013, accomplished in visual arts as well as his chosen mode of audio expression, i.e. a horrific form of electronic-industrial slow-moving gloom that saps the will to live. I like the idea that he collects spirits and ghosts from old buildings with his tape recorders, but he can’t wait to jump ahead to grisly matters, such as ceremonial death and body mutilation. This ultra-depressing sojourn in the land of the swaddled mummified creatures was originally released on vinyl in Bulgaria by Amek; today’s rebake includes many remix forays, by Antechamber, Talos, Flint Glass, and others.

The Xenos (ZOHAR 323-2) album by Złe Oko might do something to restore gender balance to the catalogue of this male-dominated label, although she too occupies a similar region of the industrio-beat-electro-menace genres that are constantly in mutation. Pretty good actually; she sings (or rather chants) in the Polish language, indifferent to the possibility of an imminent slot on Channel Four News, and claims a feminist anti-stereotyping dimension to her stern, implacable raps. We’re also told she’s absorbed a certain “illbient” strain in her musical DNA, which I’m prepared to believe – the whole tone of the album somehow passes on instant discomfort, and the no-nonsense attitude clearly expressed in her voice is the audio equivalent of a withering glance from an unimpressed female who clearly isn’t taken in by any of your masculinist posturing.

For those with a taste for the raw uncut flavour of death and doom, here are two CDs which compile a number of stray tracks from his catalogue – be they cassette contributions, split LPs, digital-only emanations or unreleased items. This format is a real winner for people like Clay Ruby or Maeror Tri, or indeed any such prolific noisesters who seem to leave a trail of dead scales wherever they go, like so many reptiles. Today’s CDs are both called The Totality of Death, except one is subtitled Alpha (COLD SPRING RECORDS CSR335CD) and the other Omega (CSR336CD), and the artworks are near-symmetrical mirrors of each other printed in different colours (created under Thomas’ Nullvoid alias); and for those who savour the esoteric gesture, there are plenty of runic inscriptions to convey the idea of “ritual” that seems so important in this context. Naturally, collectors and devotees will need to own both volumes, assuming they can endure this much nihilistic desolation in one sitting.

Besides the hideous groaning and churning sounds, the titles are laced with imagery sure to induce horror among the unwary – pagan rites, esoteric and supernatural symbols, anti-Christian sentiments, violence (those ‘Nine Glistening Daggers’ aren’t designed for use by a manicurist, lemme tell ya), and even hinting at a possible “lost” Tarot card with ‘Two Crescent Moons Embrace The Sun’. Of the two, you might find the Alpha set slightly more approachable as it has a few quiet passages, but that slow intoning voice – wrenched from the backwaters of Hades – is far from comforting. The Omega set is the one to pick if you want to spend 40 mins encased in a nightmarish coma; you can virtually feel your own body slowly decaying into corruption, as you listen.

As usual, my “strong meat” warning applies; approach with caution. On the other hand, there’s a lot to be said for Ekelund purging himself of these negative tendencies in an artistic way; perhaps it’s arguably healthier than enforcing the suppressions of an Online Safety Act, as our government is currently doing here in the UK. (29/07/2024)

Today’s material was apparently recorded in 2023 and 2024, but might be attempting to hark back to 1990s drum’n’bass genres, including Jungle, illbient, and ambient breakcore. You might say the music splices up all that rich Polish gloom and pessimism with stainless-steel industrial music, and then propels it all on wheels driven by intense beats. Even I, who remain ignorant of most of these genres, can discern the ingenious layers and dynamics at play in all of these shortish (3-4 mins) tracks, and admire the way Optimal pushes so much information – none of it particularly pleasant – into such cramped spaces. His themes, if any, allude to many unwelcome developments in urban life of the 20th and 21st centuries, including industrial pollution, paranoia, surveillance, excessive mechanisation, drugs, and the laying waste of the landscape. No wonder the plea of the beleaguered modern human being is ‘Please Let Me Sleep’, as stated by a pathetic wretch on track 5 here.

An exhausting listen, but if you can survive the hammering beats of the opening cuts you’ll find the record settles down into less insufferable areas and the 13 tracks, taken together, amount to a convincing but depressing portrait of modern life. The sampled voice recits which pop up occasionally are perhaps an old trope, but they do instil a sense of alarm. (09/07/2024)

For those who want the juicy details of process, he made this one with electromagnetic transducers, possibly home-made at that (weaving coils of wire around the spine of a steel rod while wearing night vision goggles), and waved them wildly when standing near to various power sources, a list of which is helpfully included inside. Some of these sources are domestic and commonplace, others are outdoors and scary. I’m lying about the scary part, but on the other hand I’d hate to be the one running after a commuter train or urban bus holding one of these weird cancerous sticks in each flaky mitt. It’s when you take your art out into the wild like this that the rubber really hits the fan. I mean the public actions of an artist can be mistaken and misunderstood, and perhaps even lead to jail time, but if you have the courage of your convictions then you must leap out of the doghouse and go for gold.

I have no real concept of what a transducer actually does – useless to lecture a ninny like me about “energy conversion”, as I can’t even turn on an electric kettle without poisoning half the neighbourhood and causing fish to leap out of the pond in my direction. Alex Keller, conversely, has supreme control and mastery of his thrusting, erect rods, freely brandishing those rigid weapons in many an unexpected milieu as he slides them in and out of their vice-like sheaths. I say all of this to try and convey something of the untamed, impolite, and occasionally startling nature of these audio jolts – something which the label press is keen for us to savour, besides pointing out the dramatic stereo pans that are going down on this hunky beast, and noting the puzzling sleeve photos also provided by Keller (yes, I agree he is a maverick who presents every aspect of his statements with utmost care, and quite forcefully too). These images of tiles, shading into gold and with strange flakes or particles clustering in unfamiliar corners, might portray a physics experiment going horribly wrong in the lab. Or maybe a failed heist of gold bullion, since anti-theft techniques are growing more advanced in the crime-stricken regions of certain American states.

As for the title Sleep Room, it’s fair to say this album does for the bedroom what the movie Panic Room did for leather-bound sofas and plastic wallets. Tune in now to enjoy the juice from this maverick electrician; play it alongside the Scott Walker song of the same name, and soon you too will learn the true meaning of “oh you mambos!” (03/06/2024)