An interview with Peter Bjärgö from Sweden, mastermind of the heavenly Arcana and the more powerful Sophia. This interview deals mainly with Sophia, which has recently released the album “Deconstruction of the world”.

One of the more interesting groups to have come from Germany in recent years must be Sonne Hagal. They gained my support with some convincing live performances. Their releases have been quite varied, from traditional folk music to electronic experiments. Sonne Hagal’s singer tells us more about the band…

An interview with Cynthia Mansourian of the promising new American gothrock formation Swann Danger…

Magnus Sundström from Sweden is a freelance composer/remixer/producer. His first industrial project was third EYE. Magnus really impressed me with his neo-classical project The Protagonist and the strong album “A Rebours”. Lately he has made some heavy industrial releases as Des Esseintes, like the excellent split mcd with Diskrepant, on his own label Fin de […]

Dawn & Dusk Entwined comes from France, with David Sabre as the sole bandmember. In his own words he makes music which varies from ‘dark-symphonic, industrial-ambient works to martial-epic moods’ . After two albums on World Serpent, D&DE recently delived a new album on the Athanor label, his best and most mature piece of work […]

Dream into Dust is an act from New York which is hard to describe. The project, which releases music on their own label Chthonic Streams, fuses neo-folk, industrial, classical and more elements into an orginal mixture, which is experimental and accessible at the same time. Their latest album “The Lathe of Heaven” is their most […]

Once a Barge is an upcoming neo-folk project from Germany. After a debut on the Reaping Horde label from Portugal, the second album “Conditio Humana” came out recently on Once a Barge’s own label Holzr?na. The album showed various influences, but still was original enough attract my attention. Sole bandmember Antonius was so kind to […]

Marina Sirtis surprised me very positively with their debut album “Delay and Depression”. I’m generally not very fond of synthpops group from Sweden, but I find the music of Marina Sirtis very pleasant to listen to. No one-dimensional clubhits, but good songs with a lot of atmosphere and feeling… Martin Löfgren (vocal, programming) tells us […]

This band from Jena rapidly achieved a good reputation in the neo-folk scene, despite having only one limited release (Jenzig 10″) on the Eis & Licht label. One explanation for that must be the convincing concerts of Forseti at various festivals. The first full-length album “Windzeit” fully lived up to the high expectations. Time to […]

A relatively new act from Houston, Texas. They intrigued me with their variety of styles, to be found on their album “Wolf Age”. Asmodeus X says to be influenced by Joy Division, Laibach, Kraftwerk, Death in June and KLF. Despite a somewhat grim image they have a few very poppy synth tunes on their repertoire… […]

One of my favourite albums of this year must be “Definition of raw moments from a different perspective” by Mago, released by Ad Noiseam. Beautiful, relaxed music with a warm feeling. I was rather surprised to hear that the Swedes behind Mago are the same people who are involved in Sanctum and Azure Skies. Jan […]

Tony Wakeford is of course known as the frontman of Sol Invictus. Recently the compilation “The Giddy Whirls of Centuries” was released, which gives an overview of the 15 years that this apocalyptic folkband is active now. Not that a reason was really necessary to ask Tony for some reactions…