GOTHMINISTER – Tonight EP

The final part of Gothminister’s ‘Pandemonium’ song cycle/musical saga, the ‘Tonight’ EP plays brilliantly, whether you’re already a fan of the one man Norwegian goth machine, or approaching his music for the first time. These four tracks provide a truly effective showcase for a blend of 80s goth and 90s darkwave sounds, peppered with occasional black metal vocals and even a couple of industrial grooves.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #97

Featured at the Singles Bar this time around, you’ll find a couple of familiar names. You’ll also uncover a world of eclectic sounds ranging from jazz, to light country, to calypso. There’s also a really quirky piece of pop and an almost unrecognisable cover tune to be found amongst the eight picks. With submissions still coming in at a frightening rate, we’ve certainly not been short of musical choices, but we feel that these definitely represent some of the most interesting sounds to be found at present. As always, we hope you discover a new audio treat or two along the way.

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MORLOCKS – Amor, Monstra Et Horrore Profundi EP

In terms of musical interest, Morlocks’ 2023 LP ‘Praise The Iconoclast’ didn’t sell its listeners short. On the stand out track, ‘I’m The Payload’, the band managed to fuse orchestral sounding synths to a relentlessly mechanical rhythm, before loading the arrangement up further with alt-pop vocals, 80s keys and a few rock-edged guitars. The result sounded at times like an industrial band channelling early Oingo Boingo, with a couple of vocal phrases in the latter part of the number that hinted at a love of KMFDM. Rather fittingly, that legendary band’s Käpt’n K would also make an appearance on the record, and somewhat predictably, his presence throughout ‘Mean World Syndrome’ leant that number more of a KMFDM flavour. Elsewhere, ‘Instigation’ swamped vocal samples with a heavy groove and nods to classic Ministry, and taking another curveball, ‘Cold War Fusion’ melded soundtrack-like elements and darkwave melodies into an epic closer that more than suggested this most cult of bands still had musical ground to cover somewhere in the not too distant future.

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HISTORY OF GUNS – Little Miss Suicide (25) EP

At the tail end of 1999, round about the time conspiracy theorists thought the turn of the millennium would trigger the end of the world – or at the very least, stop everyone’s computers from working – an independent band from England masquerading under the provocative name History of Guns released their debut EP ‘Little Miss Suicide’. It presented some fairly rough around the edges alternative sounds, drawing from goth, industrial and rock, and would lay the foundations for future endeavours. For those keeping a close ear to the alternative underground, HOG would continue to make interesting musical waves. At their peak of the first part of their career, they were even invited to remix a track by ex-Marillion frontman Fish, bringing together two disparate musical words, proving that – at least to those with open minds – music knows no boundaries.

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THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #92

Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This week’s selection sees the return of a band who’ve been featured on our site a few times – and they’re sharing one of their best tracks to date. You’ll also find some cool downtempo electronica, some raw garage rock, a singer songwriter with a great mellow sound, and more… As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!

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