A new life sign by Miro, or rather, a signal, a final signal (hopefully not!). It's been 2 years since his last signal, as far as i can see, so this new sign of life was overdue. The aka Miro is slammed big and fat on this release, but, oh surprise, it's not just the Miro style like Purple Moon or Blue Sun. I feel he put inspiration from his akas Steve Shit or Billy the Kid into these tracks, too. So they are quite (quite!) dancefloor heavy. "10000 Freaks" could even be a new "bass machine", at least for me!
What sounds like a horror movie title, actually means that Toxic Sickness aired a mix in September that is purely made up of tracks from the new Darklords 2 compilation.
Read more about the compilation here:
The mix is 100% Doomcore Techno for start to finish. So, if you are planning to jog through a dark forest, and maybe are interested to take a haunted train ride, and need something to feed your mind through the ear buds, get this mix, turn it on, and off we go!
Tracklist:
1. Shadowfiend DN - Die Seance 2. Mental Fear Productions - Black Hole 3. Der Cherep - The Hundred-Hander Stairs 4. BadCarma - Das Fitzen Glockenspiel 5. Industrial Demon - Soul Reaver 2 6. Doom HK - Viking Ritual 7. Silent Humanity - Make Believe 8. Tonal Verges - Elagabal 9. The Slaughter - Into Our Doom 2 10. Joshua & Cyrilen - Yoggs Revenge (voix celeste doom remix) 11. Primitik - Fear 12. Succubus Helna - Prometheus 13. Fifth Era - EYDL 14. The Darkcreator - Synthetic World 15. Bdacid - Devil Of Darkness 16. Desolation & Frakass - Broken Memory 17. Low Entropy - Doomed For All Eternity 18. AnTraxid - Damien 19. James F - Teared The Flesh 20. The Antagonist - Lost Minds 21. Librarium - Dying Star
Glaring / Anna Nin is one of the most interesting Dark Ambient producers right now. Or is it really "just" Dark Ambient? Apart from Industrial and Harsh Noise elements, there has been more and more rhythmic sequences in here music lately... I dare to say "dance" elements! And it might be a coincidence, but I feel a throwback to the earliest days of Techno, Hardcore, Hard Acid, Doomcore Techno... when I listen to these tracks.
It's released using the aka CVSY. According to the info these were "Recorded live in summer 2026". Quite a feat, because it is still Summer, and it's a 17 track strong album after all, that she apparently finished in a very short amount of time!
I love these tunes very much, there is hardly any filler inbetween, the tracks, the concept are top... even if you are only remotely interested in the mentioned genres, please take a listen!
Are you a Doomcore Techno head? Would you agree that the scene became quite meagre in recent years (or recent decades)? Are you tired of all that crap that labels itself "Doomcore" this day - even mainstream hardcore or sometimes hardstyle gets the "doom!" label slammed on top of the release?
Then, rejoice, my friend! Here is the new Darklords 2 compilation, released on Demonic Wavs. And it's really Doomcore, through and through. It's like a who is who of the best producers in this genre. So there should be something for everyone with a darkened heart on this one...
Yup, it is exactly what is said in the title. One, whole track, and it runs seamlessly for 5 hours from start to finish. How did someone or something arrive at such a - please allow the pun - "titan of work" ?
Let's hear it by the artists themselves.
"One of the topical inspirations for this release is that we were surprised to learn that, within Greek mythology and religion, not all Titans were killed or imprisoned after the 'heavenly' uprising by Zeus & his boys. Some Titans became aligned with the new Gods of Mount Olympus, and were risen to heaven, so to say.
This makes us ponder on these "Titan deities". And a picture appeared within our minds. What if, when we gaze into the night sky, the heavens, at the celestial clockworks, there is not a black void between the stars, nor evil aliens, but what if the cosmos actually had a Titan patchwork woven within?
So, in this track, there are the "sound of the spheres", cosmic space sounds, but they sound metallic, "titanic". While on the other side, there is a sound close to giant hammers in a stellar steel forge. Maybe shaping the primordial structure of the universe. Heavy duty cosmic construction work. And one always fades into the other, and vice versa.
As for the more direct musical inspirations, there is the Mascletà, a well-known Valencian "rhythmic firework". which is extremely loud, sounds quite hardcore on its own. if you listen to a recording of it, you will see similarities to this very release.
then there obviously is movie scores as an influence, especially horror or scifi, by the likes of angelo badalamenti.
and, obviously, as cosmic anarchists, a main influence is krautrock. the whole electronic "prog rock" experience from berlin and germany during the 1970s. they liked to do long-winding, over-sized albums too, after all.
in fact, we set ourselves the task to produce a track that could pass as krautrock, techno, and hardcore at the same time.
as for the name? we like to honor threefold goddesses of various kinds. especially those with a "dark" or titanic side, too. and the "rave on titan" refers to... well, we imagined this track to be the sounds that could possibly be played at a long, long rave party on another planet or one of its moons. raving in a giant amphitheatre, on the surreal landscape of another planet, while you look up at a crystal clear but changed night sky...
there is a special twist with the release. it's broken down into 3 and a half chapters, and we arranged them so that you could listen to the chapters in every possible order that you like, and it will still make a whole track!
but, yes, when it comes to it. it is one giant track that really runs for a complete length of 5 hours."
well said, cosmic anarchists, and i dont think there is anything i'd like to, or would need to add.
oh, maybe there is still one thing we should add: the audience should bring patience to this record. because there are literally beatless ambient passages that might last for an hour. before the action begins again.
Can a release by Ilsa Gold by an Under/Overdog? Yes, because of the following reason:
Many years ago, a friend told me a real bombshell of a story: he showed me some document (forgot what it was) which indicated that Planet Core Productions, when they were still around, had plans to release an EP by Ilsa Gold. I mean, how awesome would have been? Two of the most iconic hardcore / rave icons of the 90s... joined in a project! But, as we know, it never happened. What did become of the release? So my friend has this theory. The tracks on this EP called Gasometertrax actually grew out of the aborted pcp project! Could be a completely wild claim, or maybe there is some truth on it.
The tracks sound indeed very different to almost everything else by the ilsas. Very monotonic, "rave arena" sounds... slower. And no cheesy and corny samples like in other ilsa gold tracks. Or maybe these were just "inspired" by pcp. Either way, a unique and outstanding release!
If there ever was a release worthy of the "overdog" tag, it's this one. With "overdog" I don't just mean underdog releases, but releases that should have become big, would have become big, needed to become big, and there is really no reason why... it didn't happen.
So this one happened right when the big, big hardcore mania of the 90s had faded away. Despite the release date, it was actually produced a few years earlier.
The crazy gabber sound had splintered into many sub-genres... one of them was doomcore and "phuture rave" and Miro (also known as the Hypnotizer) was the big star there... Yet this release is even further down the road. It's hardcore, tech, doom, everything, yes yes... but it is also future pop, ebm, goth, synth pop... or at least very very close! I could rather see goths and wavers dance to this than gabbers... (and ravers).
So, I guess, with this dark pop appeal, it should have drawn in large crowds!
But there is more. I think it is the zenith of technical quality, on this release. The tracks are super loaded, complex... For example: "The light is leaving" has a minute long futuristic "audio play" as the intro alone... And when we listen closely, it almost feels like all "voice actors" are actually miro with a split personality.
So yeah. Great production, underground stuff, with mass appeal attached to it. Why did it not rock the charts? Not sure... we might never know!
Information:
Hypnotizer - Into Nowhere Label: Things To Come Records - TTC-006 Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM Country: US
A1 - The Light Is Leaving 5:22 A2 - Alone 2:29 A3 - Hypnotizing You 4:02 B1 - Within The Fog 2:19 B2 - Into Nowhere 3:42 B3 - My Shadow 4:41
The "Witchcraft Techno Circle" just has a new album out, and it comes with a kind of ebook. But let's hear it in the words by the Circle themselves:
"A while ago, or maybe aeons ego, we received and perceived the call of Hecate. We are too humble as servants to our Goddess of the Crossroads to claim that we can validate and specify what her exact messages and wishes are.
But our magical intuition made us feel and whisper the following:
As we are musicians and songwrights, Our Deity of the Liminal suggests us to enchant our art and music with magic of the benevolent kind.
In order to help, heal and benefit troubled, lost, and hurting souls. And this help might indeed involve a release and freeing of painful, infernal energies, or a short visit to darkened realms.
And this is mirrored in our compositions, which, too, involved light, darkness, pain, pleasure.
Unlike other spiritual music, that only involves light and kind emotions.
We hope that listening, dancing, and meditating to this music has a helping and healing effect.
Yet we want to add more chapters to our spiritual efforts, that go beyond music. Thus, included with this release are 14 short texts. These texts deal with magic and spiritual topics.
Maybe most importantly, there are texts that explain how to create magical art and magic music oneself. There are also texts about spells, about personal experiences. And about Hecate of course.
We hope that all of this may be useful, and helpful!"
The Hardcore Overdogs return, with a brand new anthem for their magazine.
And the last one was quite furious and fast, am i right? the next one is almost the total opposite, a real slowcore banger, with very low bass frequencies. 99 bpm, to be exact. can you still dig it?
it's almost goth / ambient / industrial sounding.... but the rave vitamins are plainly audible, too! a true, dark, heavy ritual for all raving aspirants...
just like you would expect from the overdogs. and 1 faster remix and 2 different tracks are included as well.
Info and Tracklisting:
The Hardcore Overdogs - Anthem VI - Ritual of Rave
1. Ritual of Rave (One 2 Three) 03:51 2. Low Entropy - Festival Riot 02:35 3. Ritual of Rave (Good Dog - Part 1) 08:45 4. Ritual of Rave (Good Dog - Part 2) 07:51 5. Meta-Morph - Musical Stairs (Ambient) 03:45 6. Ritual of Rave (Bad Dog - Part 1) 04:07 7. Ritual of Rave (Bad Dog - Part 2) 03:51 8. Ritual of Rave (Bad Dog - Part 3) 07:15
Omnicore Records 79 Doomcore Records 234 Slowcore Records 68
The Hardcore Overdogs presents a special guest feature by Doomcore Records
Hello Sinners, As you (might) know I run a DIY label (Doomcore Records and its subs). I wrote a lot about it in the past, also about some releases, the artists... I often get questions by fans or people who want to start a project or label themselves. "How do I set up a label?" "How do I promote my music?" "Should I put butter or jelly on my toast?"
So, in response to this, I decided to give a few rare sneaks peaks... into the inner workings and mojo of a DIY underground label. I plan to write a few tutorials and doing some visual visualizer vids, too. Here is the first one in this series. A (very) short video. It shows the path of a gloomy industrial doomcore techno release, from start to finish.
Tutorial: How to run a DIY Techno Label
Chapter 1: From demo 2 release
Step 1: an artist sends me a demo by mail Step 2: i check the tracks Step 3: i acknowledge the artwork Step 4: i mail them back Step 5: i write a promo blurb Step 6: i upload the tracks Step 7: i release them Step 8: release is out Step 9: success
we are doing various features to honor 13 years of doomcore records... and for this one, the label guy sent us a description of the first 11 releases... !
Emerald Planet was a "hit" on Black Monolith. This one exchange the more "trance" like drums of the original with industrial-doomcore stuff. there are also more mellow, and more hardcore remixes.
aliocha from france popped out this release, then seemingly disappeared. very emotional, heart-felt sounds... almost like a gothic ep instead of doomcore. i am very happy we put this one out.
this was done by one of the owners of the "planet core productions" website, forum, and discography database. using not one, but multiple akas. obviously inspired by pcp, but he made it his own. there are kotzaak, de 2001, no mercy type tracks... one of the best release on the label, in my opinion.
Two years ago we ventured into the forbidden doomed forest of Hamburg...
and did we return? well, maybe not really...
so it's even more significant to return. this is the video footage that the forest spat out again... and this time it's quite different to our first two (halves of) movies...
it's no longer one long, big, circular walk... we ascend and descend stairs... we branch off... we explore clearings... or planes..? fewer large trees cloud our vision... and we can see the blue sky and its clouds more often... but does that make the descent... down to the ground, to earth, even more bitter? or better? there is little time to rest... a bench makes an appearance... but the emergence of a bicycle reminds us to move on.
there is really no motion or direction perceptible at times... or at least it becomes obscured, again and again... or do we eventually regain lucidity? maybe in small steps.
also the soundtrack to this movie project has changed. not just doomcore and slowcore techno stompers this time, no no. while there is no straight motion in the visuals (or in the physical steps), there is a clear progression in sounds, and circular once more. we start at dark drones and brooding ambient, industrial and techno beats come in, things get more noisy, more restless, fiery... until we return to silence... for now!
hope you enjoy this little movie project of ours.
let us recap the key concept of these movies again:
it's not just a surreal and abstract visual movie, but the soundtrack is intertwined with the graphic aspects. both fuse into a melange, a mixture. something new and interconnected!
1. Back during the Covid pandemic in 2019-2020 we discovered Doomcore Records. We were searching for a place to release music under the first alias of Librarium (Zornus Maximus) which resulted in 4 releases under that alias. And also for new music styles for Bohemian to dj with. It was a great fit.
2. Our 10 favorite releases on Doomcore records and sublabels are the following:
Naos - 07 - June 2013 - Doomcore Records Murmuur - 43 - March 2017 - Doomcore Records Maël - The Night Eternal - September 2021 - Doomcore Records Bazer - The Giant - January 2022 - Doomcore Records Voldo - Nordmyt - August 2022 - Doomcore Records Undercurrent (aka Li-Z) -Method to my Madness - August 2025 - Omnicore Records Lunar Node - Opium EP - March 2024 - Slowcore Records Mekronikal - Alone In The Dark - October 2023 - Doomcore Records Lkpas - Sunlight Bar Lover - March 2022 - Slowcore Records MIRVcore - We Are The Ones That Dwell Within - October 2020 - Doomcore Records
3. Just keep on doing what Doomcore Records does best. Being a great platform and label showcasing new talent as well as veterans of dark electronic sounds.
4. What can you tell us about your releases on the label? (Motivation, background, production...)
It all started with the Zornus Maximus releases. 3 Doomcore-ish releases and a Dark ambient album. Which led to the birth of Holmur. Librarium’s ambient/drone & experimental Project. And also the first official Librarium & Bohemian projects. Whether it is solo releases or collaboration projects, We are both almost always very intertwined in our work and projects. We love doing music together. We are brothers in Music and by blood.
Schirin
1. When did you first hear about Doomcore Records? How did you get to know the label?
it was ten years ago, i don't have much memories left, but i looked it up in my files and i think the story was that i played at a party and a friend of a friend said you have to know low entropy and that's how it started
2. What is one of your favorite releases, artists, or tracks of Doomcore Records? And why?
AnTraxid - Akira that i found on "Shatterdoom - Oldschool Style Doomcore Compilation" it has the power to shift me out of dark disturbances thank you :-)
3. What "wish" / idea / suggestion do you have for the future of Doomcore Records?
never stop your path is the most diverse and authentic it makes so much sense to me
kaworu2801
1. I discovered the label thanks to James F and Pardonax. 2. I’m particularly a fan of the Speedcore and Terror releases! 3. For the future, I think more regular activity on your Facebook page would be great to help the label gain more visibility. Happy 13th anniversary!
Plinn1518
1 : I discovered Doomcore records around release number 8 ( points artwork ) I was searching Doomcore on the internet elsewhere than youtube for making dj sets in this style
2 : slowcore comp 01 ! Because it's like the birth of slowcore in real life haha
3 : wish :v/a vinyl (not dubplate )
Sigma8 / Gnosvled
I think around 2018 i listened to some releases for the first time, when i looked for doomcore at RYM. I found out about it again during 2021 with the "Rave Disciples" release, the tittle caught my attention.
Artifact by Ryuroido at the best of 2023 releases. Awesome track, it's intense and beautiful.
I would like to listen to more occultish stuff and maybe more experimentation with old sounds, lofi stabs and samples, that gives the vibes of something arcane.
I have released stuff that may not be as polished as more professional or experienced producers, but always with the aim of bringing something unique and/or forgotten to the table, within the realm of hardcore and related intense music styles.
GabberGirl
1. When did you first hear about Doomcore Records? How did you get to know the label?
I found out about Doomcore in the summer of 2023, when I was asked to make a mix for the Doomcore Records podcast. I didn’t know about doomcore as a genre, but was adding Doomcore Records releases to my DJ sets within a few months of the discovery.
2. What is one of your favorite releases, artists, or tracks of Doomcore Records? And why?
This is a tricky question as I don’t know the entire discography of Doomcore Records. I mostly know the releases since I discovered the label, 2023 and beyond. But I can confidently say that within the releases I know, my favorite album is “Stygian” by Origin of Styx. It’s beautifully haunting melodies, catchy beat patterns, and massive kicks define doomcore to me. I can relate to this music, and it is such an extensive album, with 24 tracks, there is something for everyone’s tastes. Additionally, the track titles are very amusing.
3. What "wish" / idea / suggestion do you have for the future of Doomcore Records?
What I would like to see for Doomcore Records and its subs is a continued pushing of boundaries and genre lines, as they are already leaders in that now. I am happy they don’t hide behind strict genre boundaries, and are willing to try new stuff. Taking on the experimental artist Disrrr and finding a home for that intensely mad music, for one good example. The world needs to hear Disrrr’s music, but how to present it as it doesn’t cleanly fit into any one category or genre.
1/ I heard about Doomcore Records through Soundcloud, don't really remember the year but i was by a track of Low Entropy posted on Soundcloud. At that time, like today, i was looking for some new artists in Doomcore, Hardcore ... and i found his track. So i looked at his page and the link for Doomcore Records and it was the discovery of this huge label , already with several albums in Free Download and new artists also to discover.
2/ The 11 by Ylion, that i released 2 tracks off on my label, on the vinyls Doomland and Doomland 2 with his alias Verminous Skumm I really like his style of Doomcore. But there are so many albums that i haven't had time to listen to everything yet so maybe i missed other good artists / tracks ?
3/ I don't really have ideas, just the suggestion to produce vinyls in limited edition maybe like 30 vinyls or 50
4/ I released 2 albums : The Lost Souls in 2020, that was the period when i was producing a lot of Hardcore / Doomcore / Darkcore tracks. So i 'm happy that Low Entropy gave me the chance to appear on his label, and Darkness Is Your Candle in 2021
Doomcore Records, what a huge motivation when i discovered it, a label who gave a chance to a lot of artists contrary to a lot of labels who accepted only artists with a solid background / experience.
And i 'm also a small label who refused some artists , because most of the time the albums are released on vinyls so i can't produce everybody - i don't have the money.
For me, it is important to give small artists like myself the chance to share my music on a renowned label and to be heard by enthusiasts who would never have heard it without the Doomcore Records label.
After that, I released other tracks on compilations/albums from the label, which I also enjoy, being alongside other talented artists. I have a lot of tracks never released in different styles because they are unfinished, that i keep some for my label and some for Doomcore Records and his sublabels. So i will be back, like the Terminator says.
A few weeks ago, I met up with doomcore and dark ambient producer Origin of Styx at a hardcore rave, and asked to interview him for the Hardcore Techno Overdogs online magazine. He agreed, but only if the driving energy of hardcore kicks could be audible, background beats to the recorded interview. I suggest you listen to the eleven-minute audio, but if you would rather read the transcript, see it below. Cheers! GabberGirl
GabberGirl: Okay! I’m here with Origin of Styx, at a hardcore party in Phoenix, Arizona, put on by the AZ Hardcore Junkies. I’m here to ask him a few questions. Origin of Styx, just to let you know, if you haven’t heard his music, its deep and atmospheric. I would say it’s beautiful and accessible and it’s probably, in my mind, the definition of doomcore. So, here he is. Why don’t you introduce yourself and say hello.
Origin of Styx: Hey ya, this is Ethan from Origin of Styx. I’m at the AZ Hardcore Junkies 30th Anniversary party right now. It’s a really great rave, probably one of the best raves I have been to in a long time. It’s got three stages, main stage with a lot of big name hardcore DJs, even coming in from Europe. We’ve got two techno buses here, one playing hardcore, and then the other strictly playing techno, from the Techno Snobs.
GG: So, do you want me to call you Ethan, or Origin?
OOS: Ethan.
GG: Okay, Ethan. I would like to understand how you came to doomcore, and like what your roots are with the specific kind of music you play these days, that you produce. Like how did you find doomcore, and what draws you to it?
OOS: Well, I first started listening to electronic music when I was around 12. I was first exposed to house, dubstep, with artists like Deadmau5 and Skrillex, which were really huge at the time. And then I went deeper down the rabbit hole of electronic music. Probably around like 2014, I started listening to more hardcore, eventually speedcore, and I just kept branching out and learning more about different genres.
You know, when I was in high school, I started having more health-related problems, actually, it got me more prone to feeling fatigued, feeling depressed, struggling with brain fog. So, I started listening to more darker styles of music. I found more comfort in darker styles. Previously, I had just listened to more mainstream house and techno, until the time I started listening to a lot of dark ambient.
I first started producing dark ambient when a rapper from Poland named Biniolynx messaged me on Soundcloud and said he wanted me to make the intro and the outro for one of his albums. So I said I wanted to do that for him but I didn’t have a name to release this kind of dark ambient music under so he recommended Origin of Styx, and that was where the name came from.
GG: Oh!
OOS: And around that time, I started listening to more hardcore, and I was exposed to doomcore when I realized that it’s pretty much the synthesis to techno, hardcore techno, and dark ambient.
GG: Thank you. So you’ve started a doomcore label yourself with your friend who I believe is in LA, and I believe it’s the first doomcore label in the United States of America. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Like the name of it, and how I could find it?
OOS: Yeah, we are the first US-based doomcore label. We have a Bandcamp page, I think its morosrecordings.bandcamp.com, or if you just search Moros on Bandcamp, you should find it.
It was created with my friend Hecatonchirus, a bit of a mouth full but if you search the label, you can find his music, my music, and we wanted an outlet for doomcore that was from the United States because we’re really, at the time, pretty much the only artists in the United States that were producing doomcore.
GG: Right on. So, tell me a little bit about your production style. Are you using actual instruments or are you focusing on a DAW, a D-A-W, or do you use both?
OOS: When I first started producing, when I was like 14, 15 years old, I made all my music digitally with a digital audio workstation (DAW). I started with a cracked copy of FL Studio 10, that was my first DAW. Then I started using Ableton, mostly like the Intro, or the “light” version, and at the time there was all digital, other than maybe some midi controllers that I would use to play the digital synths.
But then probably about two or three years ago, I started having more writer’s block with the DAW. I ended up expanding, I got a lot more DAWS. I started experimenting with Logic, Reason, Ableton more, Persona Studio One, and so I tried all these different DAWs, but I was still having a lot of writer’s block.
I started investing in buying electronic instruments. Synthesizers, drum machines, music sampler, mixers, stuff like that, and I found out that its a lot more enjoyable to actually be able to put my hand on a piece of hardware; be able to hear how turning a knob actually changes the sound, the way the synthesizer sounds. I found that to be a lot more interesting and I stuck with it, and it’s become somewhat of an addiction now, collecting all these synthesizers and collecting all these drum machines, and I’m recording them now into my DAW. So it’s a little bit of both, mostly analog but also a little digital.
GG: Right on. Do you have goals for your studio? Do you have any other synthesizers you are trying to get or do you think you have a complete studio at this point?
OOS: I have most of the things I need to make the kind of music I want to make. I recently got a music sampler, that was a key part of my studio. I also got a Drone synthesizer, like its my first semi-modular synthesizer. I think it might be cool to get a second modular synthesizer, and sync those two together, or also, there are kits online; one is called Microrack. (Search microrack.org online.) Its basically a build-it-yourself DIY analog modular synthesizer kit. I want to get that, learn more about modular synthesis.
Otherwise, there’s also a noise box. Kind of like an acoustic instrument, where you could pluck it and make different weird ambient noises.
Those are the only other instruments, really, otherwise I have everything I need to make the kinds of styles and genres I want to make.
GG: I feel like you already have all that just with your DAW because your album from, what was it, 2018, on Doomcore, was it from 2018?
OOS: The first record I put out on Doomcore Records was 2017.
GG: Oh, 2017. And what is it called?
OOS: I think its just 53, like the catalog number of the label.
GG: Well, what about the album that came out in 2023?
OOS: 2023 was Stygian, I believe.
GG: But you made that with a DAW, didn’t you?
OOS: I made all my music with a DAW up until July of 2024. Pretty much switched and made my music now, pretty much like 80 or 90% analog.
GG: Okay, so you grew up in the Phoenix area, correct?
OOS: [nods yes]
GG: Okay, so this is your rave scene. When did you join this scene? As a raver. I understand when you started making music and stuff. But were you already going to parties, when you were 14, 16?
OOS: I started learning about styles of dancing when I was 14, 15, actually earlier, when I was probably like 12 or 13, I learned first about Jumpstyle, and Shuffle. I’m really good now at Jumpstyle, but I can’t Shuffle at all, but I also kind of have my own kind of style, where I incorporate like Brisbane Stomp and Drum n Bass Step. So I started dancing when I was 14, 15, and then after finishing high school, when I was 18, I started attending more local hardcore techno raves which were mostly either in warehouses, or they were in deserts; underground desert raves.
GG: Oh wow.
OOS: The reason I started doing it that way was because at the time I couldn’t get into venues that served alcohol.
GG: Right.
OOS: Mostly bars, clubs, more things I started going to later, after I turned 21, I started attending a lot more Techno Snobs shows at the club, and I also started going to a lot more goth dance nights because there is a very active goth dance night scene here in Phoenix, with lots of bars, lots of clubs, hosting exclusively goth music, industrial music, and catering more to that kind of audience.
GG: Okay, how do you think the scene has changed or progressed in the past 15, 20 years?
OOS: It could be just because I am going to a lot more clubs, but I don’t think the desert rave scene is as active, but again, it could be just because I’m not looking for those anymore?
GG: Or maybe its cuz of Covid?
OOS: Yeah that was… Covid definitely… a lot of the desert raves have been happening less frequently when the Covid pandemic started. Because I was going pretty much every weekend or at least every other weekend, 2 or 3 times a month, back in like 2018 and 2019, before the Covid started.
GG: Okay. So you started raving in like the 2010’s?
OOS: I started raving, the first rave I went to was in 2018.
GG: Okay. Well, that concludes my questions at this point. Do you have anything to add, to this interview? Anything you want to let this audience know, about your music, your scene, or your goals?
OOS: I would say, just keep following my music, keep following my projects, look up originofstyx.com. and also shout out to the Techno Snobs, and shout out to the Arizona Hardcore Junkies for putting on such a great show tonight.
Black Blood is a Techno veteran from Germany who is deeply embedded within the history of Doomcore. Part of the early generation - only PCP was earlier.
After the millennium, not much had been heard of him. But he now returns with a bang.
There will be new releases of old (unreleased) material. There will be new... videos! And who knows what's still coming?
While we wait on the stuff to pop up... check here for a recent interview:
Hello Dogs, The main head of Doomcore Records relayed this message and statement to us:
I can't believe it - Doomcore Records turned 13 years old a while ago, and is still going strong. It started as a quite and small label in the wintry days of December, in Hamburg, Germany. It was intended as a label by and for freaks into Doomcore Techno music, horror movies, shutting themselves in and not going out anymore, having the blinds closed all day, and angrily or melancholically gleaming at the world outside.
There was no promo, no meaning, no message, no purpose, no goal, no sense, no rationaly. The releases appeared "black on black", with the infamous "three moons waning" illustration on each release. The releases did not even have a title! They appeared quietly, and I thought they would disappear quietly again. Because nothing seemed to matter in these days of social and cultural chaos.
But despite of this - or maybe *because* of this. The label started to make waves very soon. Music magazines like The Wire started to feature and review the releases. Pitchfork, Faze, Crack Magazine, Groove, all mentioned our efforts in one way or the other.
And instead of the Doomed Hardcore underground, the label suddenly became a darling to the indie rock and indie pop crowds. Who described us as being at the center of the ongoing 90s Hardcore / Techno revival. Was that the truth, or did the journalists exaggerate a bit? I won't judge on this. But I knew that the amount of feedback and listeners became colossal. People also wrote me and told me about Doomcore Records tracks that they had dropped at this or that club, essentially in all continents, all around the world.
To run a Doomcore-Hardcore Techno label with the main listeners being people into alt rock or indietronics was a very bizarre and surreal experience arc (or "aargh!") Yet it also encourages me to sever the last notion of feeling the necessity to cling to "traditionalism" when it comes to Doomcore Techno mechanics.
So the label started to diversify well. There were chiptune-like tracks, dark ambient, ebm... weird "folk" sounds on top of beats... even small-scale techno-opera conceptual releases.
But yeah, in the end it was inevitable to push things further. Because, were we not leaving the "doom" frame behind with the releases?
The first spin off got titled "Slowcore Records". It was influenced by the novel appearance of very low bpms in Hardcore and Techno tracks. Below 130 bpm, below 100 bpm, even below 60 bpm (one of the slowest tracks on that sub is a meagre 1 bpm).
We later got a lucky strike here, as an East European country banned all "Techno" and dance music within a certain bpm range. And Slowcore Records was below that range! I don't think our tunes were actually popular there, but theoretically, we evaded that radar sweep and could have still been played. So at least on the internet, a sudden spike of interest towards our music was felt.
And the next branching-off happened with the birth of Omnicore Records. Now this, finally, was a label for *all* styles of music. And I mean it. Yodeling on top of a sizzling frying pan, making field recordings of vintage neon lights buzzing? We would welcome it, if the quality is good enough.
But, more realistically, the majority of releases is centered on Hardcore and Techno sub-styles, especially early Gabber and Speedcore.
This also gave us the opportunity to fulfill a bit of an archivist's duty. As Omnicore did some releases of unreleased tracks by well-known 90s hardcore producers.
Doomcore Records is still going on, and one of last year's highlights to me was the release of a new vinyl record (which ended up being featured by The Wire again).
As we look back, the main label, together with its two subs, had put out over 350 releases in total.
And in order to celebrate this, and the 13 years the label existed, we are going to do a special set of events and releases.
This is a very eerie, special, and notable release. I noted elsewhere that the pre-cursor genres to Techno - like New Beat or EBM - were often quite bleak and nihilistic. Techno itself, on the other hand, was more hippie and fluffy cloud oriented - or directly dance tunes.
This is a release of 1991, it is deeply rooted in Techno and Electro. Yet it already foreshadows the apocalypse and merciless nihilism of styles-to-come; Hardcore, Gabber, and Doomcore.
The main track is build around a long intro (I guess it is one of the longest intros ever). Vocals and samples from Cronenberg's movie "Dead Zone" appear in this intro. This is a movie from 1983, and based on a book by Stephen King. If you don't want to get spoiled, cover your hands now:
The movie is about an american businessman who, despite his rampant insanity, runs for president, and manages to win the election. And then tries to launch a global thermonuclear war.
I think this description is enough to "feel" the doom and gloom which is interwoven in these tracks. And it's funny how one tiny change of "setting" can turn a whole record.
As the instrumentation itself is not that different from normal 90s techno. And with more "cutesy" and bubbly vocalization it might have slipped into a more uplifting dance / trance tune.
But, the gloom is here, and deserves its place as the top layer of these tracks.
As far as I can tell, this release is one of the earliest pre-cursors of the doomcore / darkcore genre. The beats aren't exactly Gabber, but could pass as "Hardcore" back in 1991. And the rest fits the bill.
So don't let this historic tune pass by your ears!
