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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