PODCAST: August 2025 Episode

 

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

Welcome to the August 2025 episode of "Out ov the Coffin." This one has a bit of a theme -- several themes, to be exact. In addition to the usual stack of new dark music releases to check out and anniversaries to mark, this episode throws the spotlight on several upcoming tours by bands often featured on the show, AND takes some time to prepare us for DRAGON CON 2025, coming up this Labor Day Weekend in Atlanta!

To start the show (and tie in the episode's artwork), we celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Cure's 1985 'comeback' album, The Head on the Door, which saw the reunion of Robert Smith with the only still-remaining core member of the band, bassist Simon Gallup, forming -- along with Porl, Lol, and Boris -- the start of what would come to be known as the band's "classic" line-up. Two of my personal favorite songs are featured here, mostly for their unparalleled atmosphere on the record, "Kyoto Song" and "Sinking," which are stitched together with excerpts from two different 1985 interviews, in which Robert discusses the band's many variations up to that point. 

Diving into the first full set, the spotlight is thrown on Pink Turns Blue's upcoming US tour. We start with a new song from the original German post-punk act's 2025 album Black Swan, followed by one of their most beloved songs, taken from their 1988 LP, Meta. New York act Some Days Are Darker come next, with a deeper cut from their 2024 album TV-MA, followed by something new from Knoxville, Tennessee post-punk/wave act New Romantics. All three acts will perform together on September 10th at the East Room, marking Pink Turns Blue's first-ever Nashville show! 

 

Set one continues with the spotlight turned to Vision Video's upcoming US tour, with a deeper cut from last year's Modern Horror LP, followed by a brand new song from tour-mates Panic Priest, taken from the Chicago darkwave-crooner's just-released album, Once Wild. Fascination Street will also be bringing this tour through Nashville, on Saturday, September 27th at Eastside Bowl, where the two bands will share the stage with opening act Treasvre.

 

Set two shines the spotlight -- or in this case, a gigantic floodlight -- on Dragon Con 2025, which runs from August 27th - September 1st in Atlanta, GA. For the unfamiliar, Dragon Con is the southeast's largest multimedia convention, dedicated to Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Comics, Gaming, Horror, Music, Art, Film, Television, Cosplay, and anything else about which you can be a Nerd - including Goth, ov corpse! This will be my 20th year as the Assistant Director of the Horror Track, where I run the Goth-related programming, including the annual Goth Panel ("Goth: Release the Bats") and our on-site goth dance event, The Open Casket Party: Goth Night at Dragon Con!

There's a VAST amount to do at the convention, so I could do (and have done) an entire show on just what to see there, but I've boiled this single set down to highlights relating to bands that are playing the convention, bands that are appearing on the Goth Panel this year, and music and sounds related to goth-friendly topics that we're covering on the Dragon Con Horror Track. 

 

We begin with the brand new single from mainstays The Cruxshadows, available now as a pay-what-thou-wilt download on their site, followed by the theme from "Evil," in honor of having all three main cast members as guests on the track this year. Fellow mainstay Aurelio Voltaire flaps in next with another single from his forthcoming Summerween album, this time teaming up with Los Straightjackets. Sandwiched in between trailers for The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Fright Night (two anniversary panels we'll be holding this year) you will find a debut from Buffalo, NY ebm/darkwave act Third Realm, who will be making their first appearance at Dragon Con this year. And finally, the set closes with a pair of new releases from bands that will be speaking on our "Goth: Release the Bats" panel this year: Atlanta art-goths Entertainment, with the 4th entry in their newly-revamped singles collection, and Athens, GA deathrock/darkwave outfit Tears for the Dying, with a rarity just issued on their new compilation, Nothing 2 Say: 2003-2021 Demos & Rarities.

 

Here is a quick list of the Dragon Con panels and events I reference in the course of this episode. For the best and most up-to-date information on these events (and MANY more), please get the official Dragon Con App. Otherwise, I hope to see you at the con!
 

• Thursday    10:00pm    120 Minutes Dance Party (2.5 hrs.)    Marriott A601-602
• Thursday    12:30am    Last Grasp (live)            Hyatt Centennial II-IV
  
  
• Friday        11:30am    A Not-so-evil Panel about "Evil"    Peachtree Ballroom (Westin)
• Friday        1:00pm    David Lynch: In Memoriam        Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Friday        4:00pm    Sinners: The Devil at the Door    Hyatt International South
• Friday        5:30pm    An Hour with the Cruxshadows    Hyatt International North
• Friday        5:30pm    Johnny the Homicidal Maniac    Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Friday        Midnight    Aurelio Voltaire (live)            Atrium Ballroom (Marriott)
  
  
• Saturday    1:00pm    Faith or Fear: The Cast of "Evil"    Peachtree Ballroom (Westin)
• Saturday    5:30pm    *Goth: Release the Bats!        Hyatt International North
• Saturday    7:00pm    Rocky Horror 50th Ann. Panel    Hyatt International South
• Saturday    8:30pm    Dressed to Kill: Horror Cosplay    Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Saturday    12:45am    The Rocky Horror Picture Show     Hyatt Centennial II-IV
  
  
• Sunday    1:00pm    Devil in the Details: Cast of "Evil"    Hyatt Centennial II-IV
• Sunday    1:00pm    Edward Gorey Centennial Panel    Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Sunday    2:30pm    Fright Night: 40th Anniversary    Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Sunday    4:00pm    Aurelio Voltaire Panel            Hilton Grand East
• Sunday    5:30pm    Dark Shadows Panel            Westin Peachtree 1-2
• Sunday    10:00pm    *The Open Casket Party (4 hrs)    Peachtree Ballroom (Westin)    
• Sunday    Midnight    Third Realm (live)            Hyatt Centennial II-IV
• Sunday    1:30am    The Cruxshadows (live)        Hyatt Centennial II-IV    
  
  
• Monday    1:00pm    Invader Zim Guests            Hilton Salon
  
  * = Events that I am moderating / DJing 

 

Moving on to set four, we return to this month's stack of new releases with the brand new single from New York City's Black Rose Burning, showcasing George Grant's powerful vocal delivery as he belts out a last dystopian theme for the times on "Into the Black." Next, we get our first taste of Ritual Howls' forthcoming Ruin album, once again not disappointing longtime fans with their unique hybrid of industrialized post-punk and wasteland-goth sounds. We then stop to mark the 20th anniversary of Once Beautiful -- the beloved, but still more underground than it ever should have been -- 2005 album from US goth/darkwave favorites The Last Dance. Speaking of beloved bands that still make our hearts twitch, you get a double shot from Switchblade Symphony's now-legendary 1995 debut Serpentine Gallery, in honor of its 30th anniversary this summer, complete with a brief '90s interview segment. Finally, set three concludes with another '90s goth legend, Corpus Delicti -- but with a brand new track, rather than a trip to the vaults. The hard-hitting "Room 36" promises great things from a forthcoming album somewhere in the near future. 

 

For the final full set of the show, we sink slowly into dark metal territory, beginning in the distant neo-folk/classical realms provided by ethereal New York cellist/vocalist Silver Rein's unique sonic presence. Watch for them at this year's Dark Castle Fest on Halloween in Louisville, KY, and prior to that in Nashville on October 29th at the East Room with Feyleux (who were featured on last month's show). With that for a starting point, we travel to the '90s to mark the 30th anniversary of The Gathering's Mandylion album, which created its own world of transcendent gothic doom. 

 

While we're looking back on the '90s, it felt like the right time to revisit Morgion's classic 1999 doom opus Solinari, before turning to the present, and to the black metal realms, for a deeper cut from Sargeist 's latest album, Flame Within Flame. The set concludes with two new Ukrainian black metal entries, in honor of Ukrainian Independence Day (August 24th), to close out the set: First is Sarnath Eternal with "Motherland," taken from their 2024 album Гірка доля безрідних (The bitter fate of rootless), and then a debut from Nathreism, from their new album Archaic Dreams -- all of which is followed by some new Ukrainian dungeon synth (in the final talk break of the show) from Cryptic Chorus, with whom this month's trident is complete.

 

The show closes by marking the sad, if not sudden, death of Ozzy Osbourne. A more thorough tribute will be explored on this year's Halloween special, coming up in late October, but I couldn't let this show pass without at least one somber moment to reflect on what he gave us. Two selections from Black Sabbath's Paranoid album scatter the earth here: First the all-too-fitting "Electric Funeral," and for the final thought of this episode,  "Planet Caravan" takes us all into the ether. Rest well, sir. 

Ozzy Osbourne (1948-2025) RIP

All of that PLUS: New soundtrack work from Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, and Zach Cregger's "Weapons" and John Murphy's "Superman"; a visit to the cinematic and television vaults; and more!

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PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]

(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)

"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  June-July 2025 Episode
  Show recorded August 23rd-24th, 2025

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]

The Cure - Kyoto Song  [The Head on the Door, 1985] 
[SAMPLE] The Cure (Robert Smith) Interview clips, 1985


The Cure - Sinking  [The Head on the Door, 1985]
-
Ryan Holladay, Hays Holladay, Zach Cregger - Where Are You? / Main Theme (from Weapons) / Homesickness  ["Weapons" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Pink Turns Blue - Dancing with Ghosts  [Black Swan, 2025] 
Pink Turns Blue - Your Master is Calling [Meta, 1988]
Some Days Are Darker - Oblivion  [TV-MA, 2024]
New Romantics - Army Now (Futurisk)  [single, 2025]
Vision Video - Balaclava Kiss  [Modern Horror, 2024]
Panic Priest - Wait for Night  [Once Wild, 2025]
-
John Murphy - LuthorCorp  ["Superman" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
The Cruxshadows- A Dream Before Dying  [single, 2025]
Audiomachine - The Count  [Decadence, 2021] (“Evil” TV theme)
Aurelio Voltaire featuring Los Straightjackets - A Monster's Holiday [single, 2025]
[TRAILER] "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975)
Third Realm - Graveyard Serenade  [Her Name Was Melancholia, 2025] 
[TRAILER] "Fright Night" (1985)
Entertainment - New Joys (New Voice, Club Mix)  [single, 2025]
Tears for the Dying - Anchorheart (Death's Little Sister cover, 2013 demo)  [Nothing 2 Say: 2003-2021 Demos & Rarities, 2025]
-
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Slow Speed Orchestra 3 (Black Lodge Rumble)  [Twin Peaks Archive, 2011]
-
Black Rose Burning - Into the Black  [single, 2025]
Ritual Howls - Follow the Sun  [Ruin, 2025]
The Last Dance - Once Beautiful  [Once Beautiful, 2005] 
Switchblade Symphony - Mine Eyes  [Serpentine Gallery, 1995] 
[Sample] Switchblade Symphony Interview on Live 105
Switchblade Symphony - Dollhouse  [Serpentine Gallery, 1995]
Corpus Delicti - Room 36  [single, 2025]
-
Tangerine Dream - Goblins  ["Legend" (soundtrack) 1985] 

-
Silver Rein - The Grave (live version)  [Silver Rein, 2024]
The Gathering - In Motion #1  [Mandylion, 1995] 
Morgion - Canticle  [Solinari, 1999]
Sargeist - The Chant of Rotting Tongues  [Flame Within Flame, 2025]
Sarnath Eternal - Батьківщина  (Motherland)  [Гірка доля безрідних (The bitter fate of rootless) 2024]
Nathreism - When the Fire Fades  [Archaic Dreams, 2025]
-
Cryptic Chorus - The Stars Have Finally Aligned  [Secret Endless Journey, 2025]
-
Black Sabbath - Electric Funeral / Planet Caravan  [Paranoid, 1970] RIP, Ozzy

________________

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PODCAST: June-July 2025 Episode

[STREAM this episode right now on Mixcloud]  
Or, click the photo below to save the podcast file from Google Drive:

EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:

Welcome to the combination June/July 2025 episode of "Out ov the Coffin." In spite of my typical distaste for remix albums, this one begins with a brand new reworking of The Cure's "I Can Never Say Goodbye," the Cinematic Mix courtesy of Paul Oakenfold -- who'd probably be as surprised to be found on this playlist as I was to wind up featuring his work at the top of the show. But, we all make exceptions for the greatest band in the land, The Cure, and their Mixes of a Lost World collection does feature a few interpretations worth hearing. 

 

The first full set begins with a deeper cut, and another type of reworked song, taken from Isolated Youth's new album Misrere Mei, on which they rerecorded their breakthrough single "Oath," with very satisfying results. We then move to a late debut from North Carolina's Feyleux, whose name was on my radar for a while, but I just finally spent some time appreciating their reverent blend of classic goth and darkwave sounds on their 2024 release, Midnight Hearts. Fom there, we enjoy a new single from the one and only Chameleons, on tour this week in the US with The Psychedelic Furs, who have returned to classic form on the very topical track "Saviours Are A Dangerous Thing." Following that acoustic guitar thread, we then go a track deeper into the latest ROME LP, Civitas Solis, before checking out the opening track from Australian post-punk act Body Maintenance's new album Far From Here. Finally, the set concludes with a new entry from Ostatnia Klatka, who reach back to the classic post-punk sounds of fellow Polish acts like Siekiera.

 

We begin set two in Italy, with a track from Edna Frau's new album "Slow, Be Gentle I Am Virgin," which manages to straddle the line between deathrock and modern post-punk well. We then dip down to Argentina for some new post-punk from Tensión, before making this episode's first visit to Ukraine for the latest single from post-punk act Small Depo. Georgia's Entertainment returns next with the third in their series of re-imagined older tracks, with new vocals and fresh mixes aimed at club play, which leads us to a debut from New Mexico's BLDDDLTTR, with a club friendly single "Hea(r)t Death." The set closes with a triple shot of 40th anniversary selections that are all VERY 'Summer of 1985.' First, we mark the anniversary of the self-titled debut from Darkwave icons Clan of Xymox, followed closely by what may be the surprising inclusion of A-ha, with a lesser-played song from their breakthrough album "Hunting High and Low." Not particularly darkwave, but in between the Xymox track and the talk-break selection from the soundtrack of 1985's "Day of the Dead," in felt right -- and it is one of the greatest of all the '80s new wave albums. Add these three to the music from "Lifeforce" that you heard in the last break, and it's a 4-part 1985 salute.

 

Set three finds us going in several unique directions, bookended by two different aspects of the same band. We start with the new surprise collaboration from Aurelio Voltaire and Calabrese! "Zombie Elvis Cannot Die" sees the two bands merging their interests on a tongue-in-cheek throwback sixties-ballad-turned-horror-punk anthem, which will eventually be included on Voltaire's forthcoming SummerWeen album. AND, if you're in the Nashville area, you can catch Aurelio Voltaire live on Saturday, July 5th at the East Room. 

 

The set continues with the new single from Detroit's own deathgazers Vazum, before I finally catch up with a song from Amulet's Katharsis. I had played a few singles from the DC-area band previously, but somehow missed their full release late last year, with its effective mix of darkwave, goth, and industrial sounds. After featuring Whispering Sons on the Best ov 2024 list, I figured that a deeper cut from their excellent The Great Calm was more than deserved, so we get that here, followed by a new entry from cabaret-darkwave act Hot Hail!, taken from their new 2025 full length All the Blood You Wanted. Finally, the set wraps up with the promised new material from horror rock's favorite sons, Calabrese, who have upped the ante with the closing track on their latest EP, No Return from Darkness. Chef's kisses all around for the inclusion of Latin chants and tolling bells on that one. 

We slide gradually into set four, beginning with a more tribal/ethereal new single from Sweden's Linnea Hjertén, before wading into the dark metal waters with new music from Polish/Italian black metal act Amalekim. Long-time Finnish black metal favorites Sargeist creep in next with the title track from their new Flame Within Flame album, followed by a deeper cut from Serbian black metal act CMPT's latest album, Na utrini. We then visit the vaults for a pair of '90s death/doom throwbacks -- first from Finland's As Serenity Fades, whose early work has been newly reissued on a split with August Moon, and then a classic track from one-time German goth-metal champs, Lacrimas Profundere.

 

The show draws to a somber, atmospheric close with a new song from Ukrainian dark-ambient project некрохолод (Necroholod), who take us out with the nearly-12-minute piece "More terrifying than the fear of death is the absence of fear before it." 

 

All of that PLUS: New Swedish neo-classical/folk work from Thomas von Wachenfeldt; New Ukrainian dark ambient from Shadowsun; New soundtrack work from Young Fathers for the film "28 Years Later"; and more!

Ready to hear the show?
Stream it or grab the podcast file?
Here you go...

Click the photo to save this podcast
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Now stored on GoogleDrive!

[STREAM this episode (on Mixcloud)]
(scroll down to stream it from this page)

<<< Or grab the file to the left <<<




 

 
PLAYLIST BEGINS HERE
Format: Band Name - Song Title [Album Title, Year]

(each band name is also a website link)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)

"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
  June-July 2025 Episode
  Show recorded July 4th, 2025

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]

The Cure - I Can Never Say Goodbye (Paul Oakenfold Cinematic Mix)  [Mixes of a Lost World, 2025]
-
Thomas von Wachenfeldt - Suite no 2 in C Minor (Wiktor Öst)  III. En Spelmans Jordafärd (Sorrow March)  [Estradörerna: Hall- och Östlåtar, 2025]
-
Isolated Youth - Oath  [Miserere Mei, 2025]
Feyleux - The Empress  [Midnight Hearts, 2024]
Chameleons - Saviours Are A Dangerous Thing (radio edit)  [single, 2025]
ROME - In Brightest Black  [Civitas Solis, 2025]
Body Maintenance - The Surface  [Far From Here, 2025]
Ostatnia Klatka - Sen ofiary  [single, 2025]
-
Michael Kamen - After Autopsy / Hypnosis  ["Lifeforce" (soundtrack) 1985]
-
Edna Frau - The Laundry of Sins  [Slow, Be Gentle I Am Virgin, 2025]
Tensión - Nuevas formas de belleza  [Nuevo Movimiento, 2025]
Small Depo - Вікна  [single, 2025]
Entertainment - Patroness (New Voice, Club Mix)  [single, 2025]
BLDDDLTTR - Hea(r)t Death  [DD6, 2025]
Clan of Xymox - Cry in the Wind  [Clan of Xymox, 1985]
A-ha - Here I Stand and Face the Rain  [Hunting High and Low, 1985]
-
Modern Man - The Dead Walk  ["Day of the Dead" (soundtrack) 1985] 
-
Aurelio Voltaire feat. Calabrese - Zombie Elvis Cannot Die [single, 2025]
Vazum - Arise  [single, 2025]
Amulet - The Hope That Kills You  [Katharsis, 2024]
Whispering Sons - Dragging  [The Great Calm, 2024]
Hot Hail! - Into the Dark  [All the Blood You Wanted, 2025]
Calabrese - I Was a Teenage Deathstalker  [No Return from Darkness, 2025]
-
Young Fathers - Alpha Intro / Alpha Tunnel I / Slow Low I / Slow Low II  ["28 Years Later" (soundtrack) 2025]
-
Linnea Hjertén - I aska  [single, 2025]
Amalekim - Chant VI: Tisha Daltot  [Shir Hashirim, 2025]
Sargeist - Flame Within Flame  [Flame Within Flame, 2025]
CMPT - Kao srp u noći  [Na utrini, 2024]
As Serenity Fades - Yearning  [Earthborn, 1993]
Lacrimas Profundere - The Embrace and the Eclipse  [Memorandum, 1999]
-
Shadowsun - In a sleepless night  [Sumtok, 2025] 
-
некрохолод (Necroholod) - More terrifying than the fear of death is the absence of fear before it. [single, 2025] 

 

________________

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