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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS:
Welcome to the December 2025 Episode, closing out the year with a mix of new music, a few holiday songs (look, there are 12 days of xmas, ok?), and a couple of long looks in the rear view as the year winds down. We begin, though, with another sad loss to this music community: Perry Bamonte, longtime member of The Cure, who died from an undisclosed illness over the Christmas holiday. Perry first served as a guitar tech for the band from 1984-1990, before being made an official member in 1990. He wore several hats in their live line-up, playing guitar, bass VI, keyboards, and percussion, and appeared on all of their albums from 1992's Wish, to the self-titled 2004 album, The Cure. He last returned to the fold as a surprise live member for their Lost World tours from 2022-2024, and I'm thankful we got to see that happen before he was gone. As a small tribute to his contributions to the greatest of all bands, this episode begins with two songs that felt right to me, "Want" from 1996, and "The Big Hand," a Wish-era b-side which former bandmate Pearl (Porl) Thompson used in his own tribute to Perry this week. Rest in peace, sir.
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| Perry Archangelo Bamonte (3 September 1960 – 24 December 2025) |
The first full set of the show begins with a debut from UK newcomers Mouth Ulcers, who have created a buzz for themselves by playing actual instruments while starting out in post-punk and goth music -- which should be a low bar, but the results are pleasing, and that bar is getting higher these days. We then dive deeper into the latest from French goth legends Corpus Delicti, before featuring another debut, this time from Spanish darkwave act Huir. Luxembourg's hardest working musician, ROME, comes in next with a song from one of his TWO new full-lengths albums, The Tower and The Hierophant, leaning more into the folk side of his neo-folk roots this time. Over to Australia next, from which we pluck a debut from Life Cult, before rounding out the set with another new '80s cover from modern darkwave champs Twin Tribes., who this time spotlight the influence of original French coldwave legends Asylum Party.
Set two turns our focus, briefly, to this holiday season -- so jump ahead about 20 minutes here if you wish to be spared, but otherwise, stick around for a few treats. We start with a musical explanation of the cover art for this month's episode, some music from the 1965 Ukrainian film, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors." The image you see depicts the result of the ancient Ukrainian custom of leaving offerings for wandering souls who may visit you during the nights of the Christmas season. Fitting for this time of year, and a nice way to mark the 60th anniversary of the film.
From there, the holiday set features a very traditional new Christmas single from The Cruxshadows (available as a pay-what-thou-wilt offering here), after which we visit Twin Peaks for a pair of lighthearted (goofy, even) holiday classics from 1990, before continuing with the mirth by playing the latest Venture Bros. holiday single, this time featuring the forced-duo of Dragoon and Red Mantle. Finally, the holiday set closes with 45 Grave, covering "The Snow Miser Song" (from the 1974 Rankin/Bass Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus). And, if you listen closely in the talk breaks before and after this set, you'll note that I even managed to sneak in some score music from "The Muppet Christmas Carol," (hah!), AND a 40th anniversary soundtrack salute to one of my all-time favorite movies, "Clue," which first saw the dark of stormy night in December of 1985.
Set three returns us to new, non-holiday music (but the holiday vibes didn't kill you, now, did they?), beginning with the latest single from Italian darkwave act This Eternal Decay. We then throw the spotlight on Knoxville, Tennessee's own The New Romantics, with a taste of their just-released full length No Life, before falling all the way down the Ukrainian music rabbit hole for an obscurity dating back to 1995. That was the year the Сховайся cassette-only compilation came out, highlighting the country's newly-free underground musicians, like the darkwave-esque Квітчала в Серпні (Bloomed in August). From there, we check out the latest entries from east-coasters Amulet and Swedish newcomers White Birches, before closing the darkwave doors with the latest from Lycia alumnus David Galas, who has turned in a full goth rock album this time with The Nihilist.
Set four, of corpse, delivers us to the dark metal zone, where we open our now-burnt hymnals to the book of Abysmal Grief, who give us a lesson in Italian Horror Doom with a cut from their new album Taetra Philosophia. ("disgusting philosophy," heh). We then explore some new Finnish black metal from Victimarum, followed by some US black metal that sounds highly Scandinavian, courtesy of Virginia's Skaldr. The set wraps up with a dual 30th anniversary salute to two formative Euro black metal acts, first Naglfar's Vittra LP, and then the perennial, thorned snow-flower that is Summoning's Minas Morgul, both of which came out near the end of 1995's banner year for black metal.
We then let the third point in this month's Ukrainian trident guide us to the end of the show, where we find the unlikely pairing of WWI-themed Ukrainian act 1914 and ROME's Jerome Reuter, who provides guest vocals on a solemn track from the band's new Viribus Unitis album. It's a sad reminder that although you may have had a happy Christmas, war is certainly not over.
All of that PLUS: New soundtrack work from Edo Van Breemen's "Keeper" and "IT: Welcome to Derry" part 2 by Benjamin Wallfisch; a new ambient xmas track from The Legendary Pink Dots; 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)
(sets and talk breaks separated by dashes)
"Out ov the Coffin" w/ Ichabod
December 2025 Episode
Show recorded December 29th-30th, 2025
Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me ["Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack) 1994]
The Cure - Want [Wild Mood Swings, 1996] RIP Perry Bamonte
The Cure - The Big Hand [A Letter to Elise (single), 1992] RIP Perry Bamonte
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The Legendary Pink Dots - Carol Singers [The Legendary Pink Dots Xmas Special 2025]
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Mouth Ulcers - A Perfect End [single, 2025]
Corpus Delicti - It All Belongs To You [Liminal, 2025]
Huir - Storm [single, 2025]
ROME - The Gods Are Slow to Forgive [The Hierophant, 2025]
Life Cult - Death Bell [Death Bell / Life is Love, 2025]
Twin Tribes - Play Alone [single, 2025]
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Miles Goodman - Ghost of Christmas Future ["The Muppet Christmas Carol" (soundtrack) 1992]
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Miroslav Skorik - untitled ["Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (soundtrack) 1965]
The Cruxshadows - The First Noel [single, 2025]
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Christmas Greeting ["The Twin Peaks Music Archive" (comp.) 2011]
Cast of Twin Peaks - The Twelve Days of Christmas ["Feel The Warmth Of Kevin & Bean’s Wonderful World Of Christmas (The White Album)" (comp.) 1990]
Dragoon and Red Mantle - I Like Life [Venture Bros. Holiday Album 14, 2025]
45 Grave - The Snow Miser Song ["Punk Rock Christmas" (comp.) 2015]
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John Morris - Mr. Boddy / Ending B / Mrs. White ["Clue" (soundtrack) 1985]
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This Eternal Decay - Kiss Me I'm Dying [single, 2025]
The New Romantics - Low Stakes [No Life, 2025]
Квітчала в Серпні (Bloomed in August) - Untitled [Сховайся (Hide) (comp.) 1995]
Amulet - So Cold (Frozen Phoenix) [Purification, 2025]
White Birches - Primal [A New Reign, 2025]
David Galas - The Nihilist [The Nihilist, 2025]
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Edo Van Breemen - Lure / Trespass / Eons ["Keeper" (soundtrack) 2025]
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Abysmal Grief - Taetra Philosophia [Taetra Philosophia, 2025]
Victimarum - Alkusoitto / Hovissa yön ruhtinaan [Seitsemän soihdun valossa, 2025]
Skaldr - Storms Collide [Saṃsṛ, 2025]
Naglfar - Enslave the Astral Fortress [Vittra, 1995]
Summoning - Marching Homewards [Minas Morgul, 1995]
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Benjamin Wallfisch - Ceremony ["IT: Welcome to Derry" Part 2 (soundtrack) 2025]
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1914 - 1919 (The Home Where I Died) (feat. Jerome Reuter) [Viribus Unitis, 2025]
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