Cold In Berlin have been around for a while, but I was not introduced to the London, UK band until last year’s EP, The Body Is The Wound, which caught my attention with its dark, goth atmosphere, fuzzy, filthy guitar work, and great vocals. The band is now back with their fifth full length, Wounds, which is a great extension to their last EP and shows that Cold In Berlin is quite the dark force to be reckoned with.
The opening synths scream a band called Cold In Berlin, and shows that Wounds is going to be quite the goth party. You have no choice but to hear Siouxsie Sioux in Maya’s vocal delivery on the first track, Hangman’s Daughter, and that is fine by me. The synths play a big role here, and the drum work is next level. The dirty riffs arrive, but never to overtake all of the other goodness going on. There is a goth swing to the next one, 12 Crosses. I love when it gets to the bridge and it goes all frantic. Great stuff.
There is usually a polish in more modern goth leaning stuff that I come across, but Messiah Crawling is just filthy in all the best ways, which is why I think I dig Cold In Berlin so much. Maya’s voice is next level on this one. They Reign is bursting with 80s goth vibes, Bauhaus being what comes to mind first, and I am here for that with this slow burner. The synths start again on The Stranger, but this one has a tiny bit more of brightness to it, relatively speaking, and is a nice change up about midway through the record.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still dark stuff, this one just shines a bit more. CIB get a bit grungy for a moment on We Fall, which then moves into Gates Of Slumber territory, while the dark wave synths return on The Body, which is like a séance that conjures (the still alive) Siouxsie Sioux.
The record closes with two more great ones; I Will Wait, which has Maya’s voice on full display, while the closer, Wicked Wounds has some spoken word to start, killer dual vocals, and a killer meet-me-in-the-alley-by-the-dumpster-after-the-Fields-of-the-Nephilim-show vibes going on.
Yes, I am late to the party, but Cold In Berlin is a great band and their new record, Wounds, will scratch the stoner/doom/goth vibes you didn’t even know you had. The band sounds great, Maya’s voice is amazing, and there are just enough goth vibes and synths to keep Wounds very interesting. 8/10
Magic Wands – Cascades (Metropolis Records) [Spike]
Full disclosure here, this review was conducted via headphones on a packed train into London. This will become clear from the last sentence of what follows.
The sound of Magic Wands is less music and more an invitation to eternal damnation in the coolest possible gothic nightclub. Their album Cascades operates entirely in the twilight, delivering a brand of Dark Dream Pop so heavily layered and intoxicating that it functions as auditory poison. This isn't just listening. it's submitting to a gorgeous, synthetic ritual.
This duo knows that true terror is seductive. They blend gothic post-punk with deep, droning synths and guitars so textured they sound like they’ve been pulled directly from the soundtrack of a forgotten 80s vampire movie. The overall mood is mysticism and longing, the soundtrack to the eternal pursuit of an insatiable thirst. The minimal instrumentation is masked by a monumental sound design. every space is filled with reverbed dread.
The opener Across The Water immediately plunges the listener into this ethereal, yet menacing, soundscape. It uses hypnotic repetition and ethereal vocals that drift over the throbbing synth and heavy, fuzzed-out guitar work. It's the sound of a world receding as you give in to the night. The urgency of the rhythm section here, though subtle, keeps the movement propulsive, ensuring the dream is always moving forward, straight toward the edge.
The collaboration's strength is that it never lets the sonic beauty become comfortable. Tracks like Moonshadow use shimmering synths and heavy reverb to create a claustrophobic sense of dread. Where the album truly succeeds is in its duality. The vocals are clean, haunting, and utterly captivating, but they are constantly offset by guitars that buzz and drone with corrosive intent.
Yes, I am late to the party, but Cold In Berlin is a great band and their new record, Wounds, will scratch the stoner/doom/goth vibes you didn’t even know you had. The band sounds great, Maya’s voice is amazing, and there are just enough goth vibes and synths to keep Wounds very interesting. 8/10
Magic Wands – Cascades (Metropolis Records) [Spike]
Full disclosure here, this review was conducted via headphones on a packed train into London. This will become clear from the last sentence of what follows.
The sound of Magic Wands is less music and more an invitation to eternal damnation in the coolest possible gothic nightclub. Their album Cascades operates entirely in the twilight, delivering a brand of Dark Dream Pop so heavily layered and intoxicating that it functions as auditory poison. This isn't just listening. it's submitting to a gorgeous, synthetic ritual.
This duo knows that true terror is seductive. They blend gothic post-punk with deep, droning synths and guitars so textured they sound like they’ve been pulled directly from the soundtrack of a forgotten 80s vampire movie. The overall mood is mysticism and longing, the soundtrack to the eternal pursuit of an insatiable thirst. The minimal instrumentation is masked by a monumental sound design. every space is filled with reverbed dread.
The opener Across The Water immediately plunges the listener into this ethereal, yet menacing, soundscape. It uses hypnotic repetition and ethereal vocals that drift over the throbbing synth and heavy, fuzzed-out guitar work. It's the sound of a world receding as you give in to the night. The urgency of the rhythm section here, though subtle, keeps the movement propulsive, ensuring the dream is always moving forward, straight toward the edge.
The collaboration's strength is that it never lets the sonic beauty become comfortable. Tracks like Moonshadow use shimmering synths and heavy reverb to create a claustrophobic sense of dread. Where the album truly succeeds is in its duality. The vocals are clean, haunting, and utterly captivating, but they are constantly offset by guitars that buzz and drone with corrosive intent.
This tension is the point. the softness is the illusion, and the decay is the reality. Tracks like Time To Dream manage to feel both desperately wistful and aggressively propulsive, like running at top speed through a gorgeous, suffocating hallucination.
This atmosphere of beautiful menace is sustained throughout the album's core. Albatross and Armour are exercises in layered sound, feeling heavy, not because they hit blast speeds, but because the weight of the emotion and the sheer density of the sound pushes you into the floor. The sonic layering is thick, meticulous, and rewards repeated listens, revealing new threads of sonic decay with every pass.
This atmosphere of beautiful menace is sustained throughout the album's core. Albatross and Armour are exercises in layered sound, feeling heavy, not because they hit blast speeds, but because the weight of the emotion and the sheer density of the sound pushes you into the floor. The sonic layering is thick, meticulous, and rewards repeated listens, revealing new threads of sonic decay with every pass.
The closing track, Riverbed, ends the session not with a triumphant chorus, but with a moody, melancholic collapse. It's a mourning song for everything you just let slip away, leaving you alone in the spectral silence.
If you need a soundtrack for the long, beautiful slide into ruin, this is it. 9/10
The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan (Cadmean Dawn Records) [Rich Piva]
John Darnielle is a huge metalhead and his band, The Mountain Goats, are an honorary metal band, even though on the surface they are an indie folk group. Besides being a huge metal guy, Darnielle’s writing is as heavy as anyone in any genre. No Children, from his perfect classic Tallahassee, is the heaviest and saddest song ever. You can find all sorts of stuff like this across his 40 or so releases, which is not quite Bob Pollard territory, but to say the Goats have been prolific would be an understatement.
The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan (Cadmean Dawn Records) [Rich Piva]
John Darnielle is a huge metalhead and his band, The Mountain Goats, are an honorary metal band, even though on the surface they are an indie folk group. Besides being a huge metal guy, Darnielle’s writing is as heavy as anyone in any genre. No Children, from his perfect classic Tallahassee, is the heaviest and saddest song ever. You can find all sorts of stuff like this across his 40 or so releases, which is not quite Bob Pollard territory, but to say the Goats have been prolific would be an understatement.
One thing is for sure, however; from his early solo, raw acoustic albums, to his more polished records, to the concept albums, to a mini-hit with This Year, and back again, The Mountain Goats are always, at the very least, really good, very interesting, and evolving. Now, Darnielle has decided to write his version of Tommy, with the rock opera Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan.
Once again JD never fails to engage his audience. Outsiders and casual fans may say all The Mountain Goats songs sound alike, but I completely disagree. Yeah, you can always tell it is him singing, just like you can tell it is Colin Meloy when you listen to The Decemberists. However, on Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan, the instrumentation and complexity across these compositions are next level for a band that has been so great for multiple decades. This record really stands out from the huge back catalog, for many, mostly positive, reasons.
Well, some of it is not that different. John’s voice and vocal patterns are what they are, and his songwriting and his storytelling abilities are always so great and are once again on full display on Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan. This is a full-on production, with string and woodwinds and synths, and harp and arrangements and even Lin-Manuel Miranda. Yes, you read that correctly. Don’t worry, we still have the cool factor as Tommy Stinson plays bass on two songs, but this is as close to an indie rock Broadway production as you can get.
Well, some of it is not that different. John’s voice and vocal patterns are what they are, and his songwriting and his storytelling abilities are always so great and are once again on full display on Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan. This is a full-on production, with string and woodwinds and synths, and harp and arrangements and even Lin-Manuel Miranda. Yes, you read that correctly. Don’t worry, we still have the cool factor as Tommy Stinson plays bass on two songs, but this is as close to an indie rock Broadway production as you can get.
The songs are great too, with tracks like Dawn Of Revelation, that is the closest Darnielle has ever come to The Who. Peru, which harkens to JD’s delicate singer/songwriter side, where he never fails to break the listener’s heart. Rocks In My Pocket, which reminds me of a better produced version of one of his early acoustic numbers. Some tracks may be a bit too Broadway production for some, Through This Fire for example, but the story he weaves makes it all make sense.
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan is a great listen. I love how Darnielle continues to evolve and create with the Mountain Goats. You will always know that a song is a Darnielle composition, but you will never know what the Mountain Goats will do next. This is the beauty of Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan. 8/10
Vandampire – Hope Scars (Ripcord Records) [Spike]
This album is a masterclass in emotional brutality. When Vandampire decided to title their debut Hope Scars, they weren't being subtle. They were giving you a concise, clinical explanation of their entire sonic philosophy. This is the sound of dragging yourself through tar, hoping for sunlight, and realizing that the only thing you have to show for it is the wreckage. This is Post Metal that keeps the Sludge engine running hard, ensuring every inch of forward progress is earned through friction and pain.
The sound here is enormous. It's built on a crushing, corrosive tone that feels like being buried alive in slow-moving concrete. The bass is a seismic threat, the drums are heavy, measured artillery fire, and the guitar work oscillates between abrasive, grating distortion and moments of soaring, agonizing melody. That melody isn't there for comfort. it's there to show you exactly what you lost.
The descent begins with the short precursor Only Truth, which is less an intro and more a final, frantic gasp before the crushing reality of the title track sets in. Hope Scars is the main event: a five-minute monolith that immediately establishes the album's suffocating, doomy core. It’s here that the crushing tone is most evident, hitting with the density of a collapsed star.
Vandampire excels at controlling the pace. Tracks like Ultralow and Eaves are grinding, mid-tempo monsters that move with the inevitability of a force of nature. This is the sound of acknowledging your damage, the vocals a raw, desperate howl delivered over a rhythm that feels utterly inescapable. They use subtle interludes to devastating effect. The acoustic space of In Ascension and I Will Miss Everything I Forgot acts as a chilling, sparse breath, the moment you catch air only to reload the aggression. These quiet passages are short and unsettling, simply serving to emphasize the chaos that surrounds them.
The journey culminates with the colossal, twelve-minute closer, Let Ruin End Here. This is the album's most ambitious statement, a sprawling, narrative-driven epic where the thunderous musical cascades give way to distant, clean guitars and whispering, ethereal vocals. It’s the band's final, furious testament that ensures the only thing left in the end is the dirt and the noise. Hope Scars is a phenomenal achievement in atmospheric violence. It refuses to be easy, demanding full engagement as it maps the brutal, interior landscape of endurance and self-wounding. This is necessary, high-calibre sludge. 9/10
Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan is a great listen. I love how Darnielle continues to evolve and create with the Mountain Goats. You will always know that a song is a Darnielle composition, but you will never know what the Mountain Goats will do next. This is the beauty of Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan. 8/10
Vandampire – Hope Scars (Ripcord Records) [Spike]
This album is a masterclass in emotional brutality. When Vandampire decided to title their debut Hope Scars, they weren't being subtle. They were giving you a concise, clinical explanation of their entire sonic philosophy. This is the sound of dragging yourself through tar, hoping for sunlight, and realizing that the only thing you have to show for it is the wreckage. This is Post Metal that keeps the Sludge engine running hard, ensuring every inch of forward progress is earned through friction and pain.
The sound here is enormous. It's built on a crushing, corrosive tone that feels like being buried alive in slow-moving concrete. The bass is a seismic threat, the drums are heavy, measured artillery fire, and the guitar work oscillates between abrasive, grating distortion and moments of soaring, agonizing melody. That melody isn't there for comfort. it's there to show you exactly what you lost.
The descent begins with the short precursor Only Truth, which is less an intro and more a final, frantic gasp before the crushing reality of the title track sets in. Hope Scars is the main event: a five-minute monolith that immediately establishes the album's suffocating, doomy core. It’s here that the crushing tone is most evident, hitting with the density of a collapsed star.
Vandampire excels at controlling the pace. Tracks like Ultralow and Eaves are grinding, mid-tempo monsters that move with the inevitability of a force of nature. This is the sound of acknowledging your damage, the vocals a raw, desperate howl delivered over a rhythm that feels utterly inescapable. They use subtle interludes to devastating effect. The acoustic space of In Ascension and I Will Miss Everything I Forgot acts as a chilling, sparse breath, the moment you catch air only to reload the aggression. These quiet passages are short and unsettling, simply serving to emphasize the chaos that surrounds them.
The journey culminates with the colossal, twelve-minute closer, Let Ruin End Here. This is the album's most ambitious statement, a sprawling, narrative-driven epic where the thunderous musical cascades give way to distant, clean guitars and whispering, ethereal vocals. It’s the band's final, furious testament that ensures the only thing left in the end is the dirt and the noise. Hope Scars is a phenomenal achievement in atmospheric violence. It refuses to be easy, demanding full engagement as it maps the brutal, interior landscape of endurance and self-wounding. This is necessary, high-calibre sludge. 9/10
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