PODCAST: March/April 2019 Episode

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*Quick housekeeping note: Due to travel on my part, separate episodes for March and April were not possible, so they were merged into this one podcast, and presented on the border of the two months. The next new episode will launch on mid-May.

This episode begins, as is the tradition every April, with a song in memory of Rozz Williams (November 6th, 1963 - April 1st, 1998) on this, the 21st anniversary of his death. Even now, two decades later, when I sit down to choose which music to play in his honor, I'm amazed at how my attachment to his work and his spirit has not faded in the slightest. For his iconic contributions to the worlds of goth, deathrock, and the darker arts in general, he's been given the first and last words of this episode. In this case, I've chosen a song from Christian Death's second full-length album, Catastrophe Ballet, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.

Before we even get to the first full set, you'll hear me introducing the show over the main title from one of my favorite film's, 1979's Phantasm, which celebrates its 40th aniversary this week(!), hence the film's iconic artwork adorning this episode's graphic. If you haven't watched it in a while, definitely check out the recent 4k restoration. And, stay tuned for a cover of Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave's classic theme later in this show...

The first full set begins with brand new music from one of current-deathrock's brightest hopes, Seattle's Nox Novacula. The band have just released their first piece of vinyl, a new 7-inch entitled Hitchhiker/Drug (grab that here). From there, we jump to Sweden, for a taste of the much-talked-about debut from newcomers Isolated Youth. The material on the Warfare EP has been compared to an early post-punk take on Placebo, merging two mutually appreciated, but separate, fields. We then get another taste of Virginia's Sonsombre, from their most recent full-length, A Funeral for the Sun, before diving deeper into Altar de Fey's latest deathrock ritual,The Insatiable Desire... For More. A visit to the vaults to extract an early-2000s electro-deathrock classic from Fear Cult is next, followed by another new track from Nuke York's Blu Anxxiety (ex Anasazi), which should probably be accompanied by their wild new video, available here.

Set two begins with fresh darkwave sounds, first from newcomers Pass/Ages, out of Florida, who present some pleasantly creeping dark synth atmosphere on their new album, Taken Underneath. This leads nicely into a further taste of Kælan Mikla's excellent new darkwave/post-punk journey, Nótt Eftir Nótt. We then ask for more from French darkwave/synth act Hante. (who I am excited to see live in Portland on April 25th), and receive the opening track from her new FIERCE album, which leads into a further taste of the latest from California's post-punk/synth act Creux Lies. I've already heaped a lot of praise of Belgium's Whispering Sons already, but I will continue, as I reach back into their catalogue, this time sharing the opening track from their first EP, Endless Party. Superb post-punk/goth/darkwave/etc. Finally, we close the set with new music from VR Sex, the new, and more-rock-ish alter-ego of Drab Majesty's Deb Demure, whose new EP Horseplay has just been released via Dais Records.

Set three heads back towards deathrock and post-punk territory, starting with the weirdly-western-goth vibes of Ritual Howls, who've built a sound all their own on their new Rendered Armor album. Long-awaited new music from Frank the Baptist's new Road Omen album comes next, with an ode to ditching Valentine's Day in favor of a "Second Halloween." Now, there's a ballot initiative I could get behind! Fellow Germans Diät are up next, with a taste of their Positive Disintegration LP, followed by non-German, but also umlaut-obssessed Ötzi, with a track from their new Part Time Punks session. Another long-awaited album, the foretold coming of Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows' take on a deathrock sound, has finally landed, so I've chosen a song that represents that take fairly well, although many tracks on  wind up landing in a zone somewhere between trad goth rock, almost doom-metal guitar work, and the signature Sopor Aeternus neo-classical sound infusion. Regardless, the result is one of the best SA&tEoS albums in a years. Finally, to close such a set, I revisited a classic from The Legendary Pink Dots, taken from their recently remastered and reissued 1988 classic, The Golden Age.

Set four takes us into the relams of dark metal, but don't let that stop you non-metal fans, as more non-metal is yet to come! Philadelphia is the star of the first few selections here, beginning with a double-dose of Zorn -- first from their aptly-titled Cemetery Man EP (chosen to help me mark the 25th anniversary of the classic film of the same name), then one from their latest, self-titled EP. And, speaking of the rising Philly black-metal/horror-punk crossover scene, the masters themselves, Devil Master, arrive next, with a further sip from the chalice that is their Satan Spits on the Children of Light LP.  A reach into second-wave black metal's earliest days comes next, with a track from Ulver's first demo, Vargnatt, followed by a second look at the new, slef-titled Barshasketh album. Italy's Selvans return on this episode, with a third taste of their Faunalia album, which leads us to a closing classic from Entombed's Left Hand Path. I normally don't dabble in the traditional death metal, but in light of the 40th anniversary of the orignal Phantasm movie's release this week, I couldn't resist their take on the main theme.

Last, but absolutely not least, we lay the show to rest with two tributes: First a small nod to Scott Walker -- a highly-influential, yet mostly-underappreciated artist until recent years -- who died this past week. Then, some final words from Rozz Williams on the way out, once again in honor of his memory, on the anniversary of his suicide on April 1st, 1998. Rest in Peace, both of you. 

Scott Walker, R.I.P.

Rozz Williams (photo by Edward Colver)

All of that PLUS: An unearthed dark ambient, experimental oddity from one of my favorites in the the field, Treha Sektori; More cult cinema anniversaries and current soundtrack atmosphere; 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
  Show recorded on: March 31st-April 1st, 2019

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

Christian Death - The Blue Hour  [Catastrophe Ballet, 1984]
-
Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave - Intro & Main Title ["Phantasm" (soundtrack) 1979]
- 
Nox Novacula - Hitchhiker [Hitchhiker/Drug EP, 2019]
Isolated Youth - Oath  [Warfare, 2019] 
Sonsombre - The Cursed  [A Funeral for the Sun, 2018] 
Altar de Fey - Crimson Sin  [The Insatiable Desire... For More, 2019]
Fear Cult - If You're Watching  [Visionary Complex, 2003] 
Blu Anxxiety - Cats Eye and Corpse  [digital single, 2019]
- 
Le Matos - Mackey's Trash / Mackey's Storage Unit  ["Summer of 84" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Pass/Ages - Starving Beasts & Fate  [Taken Underneath, 2019] 
Kælan Mikla ‎- Hvernig kemst ég upp?  [Nótt Eftir Nótt, 2018] 
Hante. - Tomorrow is a New Day  [FIERCE, 2019] 
Creux Lies - Silhouette  [The Hearth, 2018] 
Whispering Sons - Shadow  [Endless Party, 2015]
VR Sex - Landmine  [Horseplay, 2019]
-
Goblin - La Chiesa (Suite)  ["The Church" aka La Chiesa (soundtrack) 1989]
-
Ritual Howls - Thought Talk  [Rendered Armor, 2019]
Frank the Baptist - Second Halloween (You Better Run)  [Road Omen, 2019]
Diät - Only My Own  [Positive Disintegration, 2019]
Ötzi - Ballad Of Oiwa  [Part Time Punks Sessions, 2019]
Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows - Spell Bound  [Death and Flamingos, 2019]
The Legendary Pink Dots - Maniac  [The Golden Age, 1988/2018 remaster]
-
Manuel de Sica - The Death That Lives / The Moon on the Island of Death  ["Dellamorte Dellamore" aka Cemetery Man (Extended Soundtrack), 1994]
- 
Zorn - Cemetery Man  [Cemetery Man, 2016]
Zorn - My Master's Call  [Zorn, 2018] 
Devil Master - Listen, Sweet Demons / Nightmares in the Human Collapse  [Satan Spits on the Children of Light, 2019]
Ulver - Vargnatt  [Vargnatt (Demo), 1993]
Selvans - Notturno Peregrinar  [Faunalia, 2018]
Barshasketh - Resolve  [Barshasketh, 2019]
Entombed - Left Hand Path  [Left Hand Path, 1990]
-
Treha Sektori - Deh Semteh  [The Sense of Dust and Sheer, 2018]
-
Scott Walker - My Death  [Scott, 1967]
Rozz Williams - Dec. 30, 1334 (exc.)  [The Whorse's Mouth, 1996]
Rozz Williams & Gitane Demone - Flowers  [Dream Home Heartache, 1995]

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PODCAST: February 2019 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS: 

This episode begins on a somber note, with a small tribute to Andy Anderson, former member of The Cure, who died this week, only days after announcing that he had terminal cancer. He was 68. Andy joined the band in the post-Pornography reconstruction era, following the departure of Simon Gallup, and Lol Tolhurst's move from drums to keyboards. Anderson was the drummer on parts of Japanese Whispers, the live album Concert, and the entirety of the band's underrated 1984 album, The Top. I've chosen the title track from the latter to serve as the opening song for this month's episode. Rest in peace, Andy. 

  

R.I.P. Andy Anderson
(January 30th, 1951 – February 26th, 2019)

The first full set begins with a deeper look at Whispering Sons new album Image, which scored high for me on last month's "Best ov 2018" show. It's the first of several late-2018 albums that gets deeper coverage this time around. Brand new to the table after that, all the way from Denmark, is the urgent first single from The Foreign Resort's forthcoming album, Outnumbered, due out in April. Another look at the Modern Cults album from Germany's Holygram arrives door next, followed by brand new music from ROME, whose new album La Ceneri Di Heliodoro seems to walk the line between reflecting on Europe's current difficulties and possibly taking a stance, but that is really for the artist to clarify. We then visit the vaults for a '90s goth classic from Subterfuge, before the rounding the set out in that same spirit with new music from Virginia's Sonsombre, taken from their 2018 full length, A Funeral for the Sun.

The second set begins with my sincere apologies to Horror Vacui for mistakenly leaving them out of the "Best ov 2018" episode, thinking that their New Wave of Fear album had come out in 2017, when it had not. Hence, this set starts with a banger from that album, followed by brand new music from Nuke York's much-talked-about Blu Anxxiety. The band features ex-members of Anasazi, and their sound can be seen as an extension of that band's legacy, if you like. Check out their new EPs here, and some of their even more recent (and really "out there") videos here and here. We then briefly visit the '90s goth vaults again with The Horatii, before delving into something that sounds older, but is actually new, from Belarusian act Nürnberg, who bring an '80s minimal post-punk sound on their latest album, Skryvaj.

Set two continues with an even deeper reach into the vaults, this time yielding some Spanish goth/deathrock from Euroshima's 1987 album Gala. We then check in with San Francisco's The Tunnel, whose latest release, The Blood EP, mixes even more noise rock into their deathrock sound (or is that vice versa?). Finally, the set concludes with welcome new music from fellow bay area deathrockers, Altar de Fey, whose new albumThe Insatiable Desire... For More has just seen digital release, with a vinyl version on the Occult Whispers label coming just around the corner. 

Set three slides from post-punk to darkwave territory, starting with a second taste of Kælan Mikla's great new album, Nótt Eftir Nótt. See the video for "Draumadís" here. Next up, appearing under the new name Is There Light, is Gopal Metro (founder of Bella Morte, Brighter Fires, and Gild the Mourn, to name a few), collaborating here with Willow Zember on a new song entitled "Hel." Gopal's current musical output can be tracked on his Patreon page. French darkwave/synth act Hante. returns next with a track from her new FIERCE album, out now (in the USA) on Metropolis Records, followed by fresh California darkwave from Death Loves Veronica, making their 'Coffin debut this month. Dipping back to 2017, I finally catch up with fellow Californian's Glaare, and a track from their album To Deaf and Day. Finally, in honor of this week's (fictional) 30th anniversary of Dale Cooper's arrival in Twin Peaks (aka "Twin Peaks Day"), I close the set with the alternate, dark synth version of Laura Palmer's immortal theme, by Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch. 

Making a sharp turn into dark metal, because I know everybody loves that, the 4th set vacillates (puns ahead...) between new releases in the black metal vein and iconic releases that are all hitting their 25th anniversaries this month. UK traditionalists Barshasketh start things off, with a track (entitled "Vacillation". See?) from their new self-titled album, which leads us into the opening track from Samael's 1994 masterwork, Ceremony of Opposites. New music from Black Funeral, who coincidentally started in the mid-'90s themselves, comes next, followed by the title track from the first full length by the oft-maligned Cradle of Filth. Philadelphia's Devil Master storm in next, with a taste of their latest death-punk-infused black metal release, Satan Spits on the Children of Light. The opening piece from Emperor's absolutely essential masterpiece, In the Nightside Eclipse, finishes the set.

And, in closing, I leave you with one more new, and also traditional black metal, item, a song from the new Funereal Presence album, Achatius.

All of that PLUS: Fresh dungeon synth/black metal atmosphere from Denmark's Ærekær; Further new soundtrack work from Hereditary, Summer of '84, and Mandy; A peak into my personal sleep music vault; 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
  Show recorded on: February 27th, 2019

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

The Cure - The Top  [The Top, 1984]  {R.I.P. Andy Anderson, January 30th, 1951 – February 26th, 2019}
-
Le Matos - End of Summer  ["Summer of 84" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Whispering Sons - Hollow  [Image, 2018]
The Foreign Resort - Outnumbered  [Outnumbered, 2019]
Holygram - A Faction  [Modern Cults, 2018]
ROME - One Lion's Roar  [La Ceneri Di Heliodoro, 2019]
Subterfuge - Darkland Awakening  [Darkland Awakening, 1994]
Sonsombre - Nocturnal  [A Funeral for the Sun, 2018]
-
Haim Saban, Shuki Levy, and Erika Lane - Desolation ["He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" (soundtrack) 1983-1985/2015]
-
Horror Vacui - The Other Side  [New Wave of Fear, 2018]
Blu Anxxiety - Uninvited to the Funeral Home  [God's Exposure, 2019]
The Horatii - Eddie's Legs  [Riposte, 1995]
Nürnberg - Usio roŭna  [Skryvaj, 2018]
Euroshima - Ejército Del Odio [Gala, 1987]
The Tunnel - Unseen Sea  [The Blood EP, 2019]
Altar de Fey - Elisa Lam  [The Insatiable Desire... For More, 2019]
-
Colin Stetson - Séance Sleepwalking  ["Hereditary" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Kælan Mikla - Draumadís  [Nótt Eftir Nótt, 2018]
Is There Light - Hel (feat. Willow Zember)  [digital single, 2018]
Hante. - Waiting for a Hurricane  [FIERCE, 2019]
Death Loves Veronica - Strange Pictures  [Vampiros Electric, 2018]
Glaare - Ruins  [To Deaf and Day, 2017]
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch - Laura Palmer's Theme (Dark Synth)  [The Twin Peaks Music Archive (comp.) 2011]
-
Ærekær - III  [MMXVII, 2018]
-
Barshasketh - Vacillation  [Barshasketh, 2019]
Samael - Black Trip  [Ceremony of Opposites, 1994]
Black Funeral - Chemosh of the Dust and Darkness  [The Dust and Darkness, 2018]
Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh  [The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, 1994]
Devil Master - Black Flame Candle  [Satan Spits on the Children of Light, 2019]
Emperor - Into the Infinity of Thoughts  [In the Nightside Eclipse, 1994]
-
Johann Johannsson - Seeker of the Serpent's Eye  ["Mandy" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Funereal Presence - Wherein a Messenger of the Devil Appears  [Achatius, 2019]

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PODCAST: January 2019: The Best of 2018

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS: 

As is the tradition, the first episode of the year is a long and loving look back at the best music that the last year had to offer, as carefully selected from the realms of goth, post-punk, deathrock, darkwave, industrial/ebm, film scores, dark metal, and the regions between. Clocking in at well over 3 hours this time, it is clear that I had a hard time paring it all down, but that's a testament to all that 2018 had to offer. There is a lot to appreciate here, culled from a great deal of worthwhile sonic research. Even so, there will always be something I missed or didn't get into as deeply as others, so feel free to encourage me to have another look at something that you think should have been here.  

That said, welcome to the "Out ov the Coffin: Best ov 2018" Edition (aka The January 2019 Episode). Consider this a sonic time-capsule, as I like to see it, or a themed mix-tape of the songs, artists, and albums that stood out, made the strongest impressions, were often stuck in my player, or were attached to the defining moments of the year that was 2018. Scattered throughout, you will hear music from some of my favorite darker films and television shows of the year, as well. Note: These songs/albums are not ranked like a lot of year-end lists, but played in an order that flows for the listener. The same goes for the accompanying graphic, which certainly includes a lot of my personal highlights, but acts as more of a collage. 

As always, mixed in with all the familiar songs heard on the show throughout the year, there are a few brand new entries that slipped in just under the wire -- which is why I prefer to do these "best ov" shows about a month into the new year. So, premiering on this episode, as well as landing in the "best ov" pile, is new music from The Awakening and Dead Can Dance, as well as the soundtracks to "Mandy," "Hereditary," and "Summer of 84."

 
So, I hope you enjoy this collection. If you like what you hear, please share the link online, or pass it along to pretty much everybody you know.

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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
  Show recorded on: January 29th, 2019

Opening Theme:
Elliot Goldenthal - Libera Me [from "Interview with the Vampire" (soundtrack), 1994]
Whispering Sons - Alone  [Image, 2018]
-
The Newton Brothers - Whatever Walked There, Walked Alone / Hill House  ["The Haunting of Hill House" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Them Are Us Too - Floor  [Amends, 2018]
Astari Nite - Sunday Queen  [Midnight Conversations, 2018] 
Creux Lies - Tsavo  [The Hearth, 2018] 
Twin Tribes - Shadows  [Shadows, 2018]
Bambara - Jose Tries to Leave  [Shadow on Everything, 2018]
ROME - Hawker  [Hall of Thatch, 2018] 
Holygram - Signals  [Modern Cults, 2018]
Naut - Disintegration  [Raise the Lights, 2018] 
Delphine Coma - Is This Forever  [Leaving the Scene, 2018]
-
Marco Beltrami - Water in the Basement  ["A Quiet Place" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Grave Society - Lilith In Nox  [Act I. Dictum Nyctophilia, 2018]
Nox Novacula - The Light Below  [Nox Novacula, 2018]
U.S. Grave - Stumble Off the Earth  [Voice of an Idiot Ghost, 2018]
Cruz De Navajas - Párasitos  [Dominación, 2018] 
Esses - Glorious Poison  [Offering, 2018]
Soft Kill - Dancing On Glass  [Savior, 2018]
Shadow Age - Volant  [Shadow Age, 2018]
The Awakening - Raphael Awake  [Chasm, 2018] 
La Procesión de lo Infinito - Memento Mori  [La Era Oscura, 2018]
-
Le Matos - Mackey's Theme Extended  ["Summer of 84"(soundtrack) 2018]
-
Dancing Plague - Slow Years  [Pure Desperation, 2018]
Eric Vain - Bow + Arrow  [Pedestals For The Broken, 2018]
Silent EM - The Hunt  [Foreign States, 2018] 
House of Harm - Always  [Coming of Age, 2018]
FEHM - Scarborough Warning  [Scarborough Warning/The Sea To Come (single) 2018]
Alex Reed - Famine of the Soul  [The Gothic, 2018] 
Wingtips - Relativity  [Relativity (single) 2018]
Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow - The Alien (exc.)  ["Annihilation" (soundtrack) 2018]
Kælan Mikla - Næturblóm  [Nótt Eftir Nótt, 2018]
Panic Priest - Sideways  [Panic Priest, 2018]
- 
Night Machine - Old Dust (The Crypt)  [Themes of the Undead, 2018] [N] 
-
Lycia - 25 Years  [In Flickers, 2018]
Aelter - Raven  [One, 2018]
Johann Johannsson - Sand  ["Mandy" (soundtrack) 2018]
Primordial - Upon Our Spiritual Deathbed  [Exile Amongst the Ruins, 2018]
Délétère - Cantus IX – Oratio Magna   [De Horae Leprae, 2018]
Colin Stetson - Hail, Paemon!  ["Hereditary" (soundtrack) 2018]
Tribulation - The World  [Down Below, 2018] 
Selvans - Phersu  [Faunalia, 2018]
Dead Can Dance - Act II: The Invocation [Dionysus, 2018]
Summoning - Silvertine  [With Doom We Come, 2018]
Drudkh - U Dakhiv Irzhavim Kolossyu…  [Їм Часто Сниться Капіж (They Often See Dreams About The Spring), 2018]
-
John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, Daniel Davies - Intro/Prison Montage  ["Halloween 2018" (soundtrack) 2018]
-
Isenordal - Eternal Winter of the Mind  [Isenordal/Void Omnia (split), 2018]

KEY:

[N] = Nashville artist
(exc.) = excerpt

________________

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PODCAST: December 2018 Episode

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EPISODE NOTES & HIGHLIGHTS: 

December is upon us already, and with it, that jolly red holiday that some of us love, and some of us love to hate. I fall somewhere in the middle, personally, so while this will not be a full-blown Christmas special, you will find some stocking stuffers along the way. And if that's not your cup of egg nog, please enjoy an especially large amount of new music for you to check out this month, because there's a lengthy list.

The show begins with new music from a Belgian group that came to me at random and managed to have just the right sound at just the right time to reach through my veil. Whispering Sons, on their new album Image, manage to make their discomfort alluring for the listener, utilizing familiar influences to create a direct and unsettling approach to post-punk that is both murky and immediate, somber and desperate.

The first full set begins with music from one of many talked-about new post-punk bands that are finally emerging on this episode: Sacramento's Creux Lies wear their love for early Cure material on their sleeve, but add modern, full-bodied post-punk production on their new album The Hearth. Venturing next to Colombia, we catch up with La Procesión de lo Infinito, whose current album La Era Oscura shows a lot of welcome '90s goth influence, which plays nicely into a modern classic from The Machine in the Garden's 2005 Shadow Puppets album.

Germany's highly-praised new export Holygram arrives at the door next, with the standout track (and video) "Signals," from their new Modern Cults album, which no doubt offered some highly-accessible post-punk to fresh ears on their recent tour with VNV Nation. Next up, France's Varsovie return with another collection of driving post-punk/rock attitude on Coups Et Blessures, which is followed by an overdue track from this summer's Offering EP by Oakland's Esses, who have yet to let me down. They already have a new one in the works, too, so look forward to that. 

Set two starts with a spotlight on two current tours, which will converge in Nashville (where this show is based) this Sunday, December 23rd. Chicago dreampop/darkwavers Wingtips begin the set, with their latest digital single, Relativity, (video here) followed by buzzworthy Texas post-punk/goth duo Twin Tribes, with another track from their best-of list-charming Shadows LP. Nashville's own Night Machine creep in next with another taste of their Themes of the Dead album, the horror-synth sounds of which will kick off the concert that all three bands above are playing at The East Room this weekend.

Not content to end the set there, two more new arrivals round out the set: Italy's Ash Code give you a taste of their latest darkwave collection, Perspektive, followed by new music from North Carolina's Delphine Coma. Their sound at the start of their new album Leaving the Scene reminded me (quite pleasantly), at times, of cult '90s goth band The Wake -- with other influences and modern updates, of course. 

Set three is where we get a little festive, if you will, if not entirely serious. On the most-assuredly serious side of the fence, we start with the brand new holiday single from The Cruxshadows, an updated version of the traditional Coventry Carol entitled Carol of the Innocents. It is available here as a pay-what-you-will single. We then jump to the ridiculous side of the fence with a short-but-plucky song from the 2002 Invader Zim Xmas special, which then yields a new tongue-in-cheek ode to the season from The Legendary Pink Dots. Sliding gently down the tree on the way out of Christmas-ville, we mark this month's 35th anniversary of The Cure's Japanese Whispers collection with the very loosely holiday-themed classic, "Let's Go To Bed." 

But don't go to bed yet! New music from Boston darkwavers House of Harm arrives next, taken from their new Coming of Age EP, which turns the airwaves over to a new one from Austin, Texas outfit Temple of Angels, taken from their latest EP, Foiled. Finally, the set settles in for a nice winter's nap with a subdued selection from Lycia's new, and somehow remarkably consistent, LP, In Flickers. 

The final full set does not simply crash into dark metal, as usual, but rather, it starts with something that was, I would venture to say, inevitable: The combination of the ever-trending synthwave style (think: the "Stranger Things" score) and the equally popular path of blackgaze (itself a combination of black metal influences and shoegaze). You with me? Maybe/maybe not, but you're curious, so I begin with a track from an anonymous project called Abstract Void, whose new album is entitled Back to Reality. After that, we go a track further into the avant-garde metal of A Forest of Stars's Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes, and while we're in that mood, a taste of Italy's Selvans, from their Faunalia album, which shows draws its sound from not only folk, doom metal, and prog, but also cult Horror soundtracks. Nice. And since it is that time of the year, I wrap up the metal section with two doses of classic holiday jeer, first from Type O Negative, and then from King Diamond, who gets the final word on the subject, as well he should.

All of that PLUS: Fresh dark ambient/soundscapes from Velvet Dream and Apparition; Selections from the 'Santa Slasher Soundtrack' vault; News, trivia, 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
  Show recorded on: December 21st, 2018

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

Whispering Sons - Waste  [Image, 2018]
-
Velvet Dream - Winter im Gebirg  [Darkened Mysteria, 2018]
-
Creux Lies - Virginity  [The Hearth, 2018]
La Procesión de lo Infinito - La Tumba de los Dioses  [La Era Oscura, 2018]
The Machine in the Garden - Suspend  [Shadow Puppets, 2005]
Holygram - Signals  [Modern Cults, 2018]
Varsovie - Va Dire À Sparte  [Coups Et Blessures, 2018]
Esses - Mercury  [Offering, 2018]
-
Apparition - The Grave Robbers  [The Ravenous Dusk, 2018]
-
Wingtips - Relativity  [Relativity (single), 2018]
Twin Tribes - Portal to the Void  [Shadows, 2018]
Night Machine - Chapel District (The Ripper)  [Themes of the Dead, 2018] [N]
Ash Code - Icy Cold  [Perspektive, 2018]
Delphine Coma - We Never Sleep  [Leaving the Scene, 2018]
-
The Legendary Pink Dots - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Decade  [Festive (comp.), 2015]
-
The Cruxshadows - Carol of the Innocents  [Carol of the Innocents (single) 2018]
Kevin Manthei - Jolly Boots of Doom  ["Invader Zim: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" (soundtrack) 2002]
The Legendary Pink Dots - Government Heath Warning  [The 9th Day of Christmas, 2018]
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed  [Japanese Whispers, 1983]
House of Harm - Always  [Coming of Age, 2018]
Temple of Angels - Star-Shaped Eyes  [Foiled, 2018]
Lycia - Late Night Solitude  [In Flickers, 2018]
-
Steven Soles - End Title  ["Silent Night Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out" (soundtrack) 1987]
-
Abstract Void - Disconnected  [Back to Reality, 2018]
A Forest of Stars - Decomposing Deity Dancehall  [Grave Mounds and Grave Mistakes, 2018]
Selvans - Anna Perenna  [Faunalia, 2018]
Type O Negative - Red Water (Christmas Mourning)  [October Rust, 1996]
-
Carl Zittrer - Silent Night (exc.)  ["Black Christmas" (soundtrack) 1974]
-
King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas  [No Presents for Christmas, 1985]

KEY:

[N] = Nashville artist

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