If you are looking for the most progressive and underground music in the Industrial scene, check out "Cyberage Radio" hosted by high energy Tommy T. There are several ways for the avid rivethead to tune in to the show. Of course, if you live in New Mexico you can tune into The University of New Mexico's station, KUNM 89.9 FM, during the wee hours of Saturday from 1:00a - 6:00a Mountain Time. For those outside of New Mexico, there are two options for listening. If you prefer to hear the show live, you can get a feed from the KUNM web site at http://kunm.unm.edu. Finally, if those hours are simply inconvenient for you, the Cyberage Radio website at http://www.cyberage.cx has an archive of shows in Real Audio format spanning from about 4 months back to the most current show.

At six hours long, Cyberage is the longest Industrial radio show with a real live DJ that I've encountered as of yet. Tommy T has no shortage of great Industrial tunes to fill up the time slot, though. Being deeply involved with DSBP, an Electro record label and distributor, as well as a member of the band Diverje, Tommy T fills the entirety of his time working with new and underground Electro Industrial acts. In fact, the main focus of the show is to support developing artists on the scene not only by exposing their music, but my providing as much information to listeners as they can regarding these artists.

Its those new and underground Electro acts that are the greatest point of the show, not to say that you won't hear the more familiar bands on Cyberage. Each show features one or two of the hottest and most talked about bands on the scene. In recent times some of these featured artists have included Beborn Beton, PAX, Gridlock, Covenant, Pulse Legion, and Razed in Black, and in each show Tommy will play several selections from the artist representing the best of their musical style.

With so much cram packed into a marathon 6 hours from introductions to fantastic new artists to the best of the favorites, this show is a must for those who need their fix of Electro music.

Cyberage Radio - http://www.cyberage.cx
with Tommy T (tommyt@dsbp.cx)
1:00a - 6:00a MDT Saturday nights
KUNM 89.9 FM New Mexico

KUNM-FM
http://kunm.unm.edu University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-1011, USA
For Promos and other show-specific correspondence: Cyberage Radio c/o Tommy T 237 Cagua NE Albuquerque, NM 87108

IN PERPETUAL MOTION
with DJs Mac, Chris, Mistress Cara, Miss Sara Krist, and Pfranck Internet Broadcast
~reviewed by ::CyBeRiNa FluX::

Just having celebrated their first anniversary, In Perpetual Motion, an Internet only weekly radio show, features music that is beautifully dark and aggressively dreadful. Broadcast at http://www.gothicindustrial.com, the listener has the option of tuning in via two different formats. You can listen via Real Audio and continue on your business about the web, but for the more attentive listener they have a unique web interface setup that will display a static playlist as the music rolls.

With five DJs, In Perpetual Motion can boast a level of musical diversity few Gothic and Industrial shows can even touch. In one show, you can listen to artists as varied as Sunshine Blind, La Floa Maldita, The Brickbats, Noxious Emotion, The Smiths, Kraftwerk, Nick Cave, Tear Garden, My Scarlet Life, and Machine in the Garden. Occasionally one can even pick out darker tunes by Prince or Madonna.

Completely non-profit and personally funded, these DJs are doing it simply for the music. With an attempt to give as much to attention to independent artists as possible, Mistress Carah is in charge of presenting an artist of the week of bludgeoning talent. These weekly featured bands are brought to listeners in conjunction with Legends Magazine so listeners have the ability to read background information about the bands they have fallen in love with from the show.

Kudos to the In Perpetual Motion staff for having the drive and dedication to bring a show to the world that truly represents the Gothic and Industrial genres as a whole!

In Perpetual Motion - http://www.gothicindustrial.com
With: DJ Mac - macross@gothicindustrial.com DJ Chris - chris_z@gothicindustrial.com Disc Mistress Cara - jumpsteady@gothicindustrial.com Miss Sara Krist - sara@gothicindustrial.com DJ Pfranck - Pfranck@gothicindustiral.com
In Perpetual Motion c/o Glen R. Perye III 401 E. Willard #1 Lansing, MI 48910 USA

Dead Voices On Air
Not Breathing
Powder French
Vampire Nation
Parvilus Infectus
Monday, December 13, 1999
Millvale Industrial Theatre
Pittsburgh, PA

Sometimes possessing a particular mindset can completely shape how you receive a live musical performance. More often than naught, you expect a lot from a show and your excitement sets the stage for disappointment. But often times due to the distractions of every day life, you arrive at a show and you have several heavy thoughts on your shoulders and your main concern is anything but the entertainment you are about to witness. The latter was my case. I will be honest and admit that I knew nothing about DVOA other than that Mark was a member of cEvin Key's project Download and that their music was quite eclectic though mostly dark experimental. Experimental Industrial or whatever is not exactly my highest passion, but it is definitely something I could and do appreciate. Thus I went, but nonetheless, I was in a bad mood. I was in quite a severely bitter mood actually, and I was not looking forward to the show. But something prompted me to attend, and let me stress above all that I have never been so soothed by a performance. All the bands that performed spirited me to a place where I couldn't for a moment reflect upon what was troubling me. I was utterly lost in the swirling electronics and the overall bleakness of the show. It just really hit the spot.

I arrived halfway through Parvilus Infectus' set. These guys are local to the PGH area and are close friends of mine. They had mentioned earlier to me that the entire set was going to be entirely improvised. I cannot even begin to express the awe that I felt when I walked into the building, which by the way is the quintessential venue for such a show. Cold, dark, menacing though comfortable with many cozy chairs and couches, the warehouse like Millvale Industrial Theatre is the perfect place for rivetheads to gather. Parvilus struck me. They tapped into something very dark that evening, holding the crowd mesmerized with their Neubauten/Gristle inspired performance. A low humming synth buzzed in the speakers, creating a dense wall of sinister warmth. Ungodly sounds emitted from the heavily effected guitar, as Jason scraped whatever miscellaneous objects in the immediate area up and down his guitar neck. In a daze himself, Mike provided ritualistic percussion on some scrap metal with a wooden stick or two.

Sure, this sort of thing has been done before, but trust me, there was SOMETHING about this...it made your skin crawl. As the set drew to a powerful close, a close friend of the band took out some serious frustration on a helpless VCR that was flashing snow and distortion on an equally battered television set. All the while, Mike and Jason screamed their bloody brains out as keyboardist Kaiju grinned menacingly and proudly as he looked out upon the motionless and enthralled crowd. Simply superb set, and I was like, hell yeah, this might actually be a cool night.

Fredrik Von Hamilton's Vampire Nation followed. To regulars on the Pittsburgh G/I crowd, VN needs no introduction. Frankly, Fredrick Von Hamilton is not the most respected person in the local scene in many ways, which saddens me greatly. Granted, Fred is NOT a Goth or Industrial musician. For whatever reason, he lands supporting slots at many shows in this area and has for many years. There have been times when he has literally floored me with some of his music. Dark, hypnotic, and there were times when he really moved me deeply. The problem is that he never plays the same show twice. His style varies from performance to performance and it is hard to swallow sometimes. He incorporates all manners of influences into his instrumental work, from hip-hop, techno, experimental, ambient, and darkwave. Though he seems to really be leaning more in the hip-hop direction, as many of his samples and loops would suggest. My advice to Fred, who is a sincerely accomplished musician, is to get out of the PGH G/I scene. Not enough people appreciate or understand what he is doing and if he would just find his niche with the right audience, success will surely come. He is signed to Saint Thomas Records I believe, and he has his own label, Hexagon records as well. Regardless, his set regrettably disrupted the flow of the night.

Powder French took the stage next. Another solo electronic act, consisting of a lone middle-aged, eloquent gentlemen in black, almost timid and shy it seemed as he crept to the corner of the stage where his keyboard and computer awaited him. His work was at first pleasingly harsh, though very cool. Apocalyptic sounds spewed forth from the large speakers, with a wonderful trancey techno backdrop. Hard beats thudded and pounded over manipulated feedback, creepy samples, and chaotic distorted synthisizers. I loved it. Once he had us hooked, the disharmony faded a bit as some rainy-day, bleak piano worked its way in there. It was at this point that I was puffing away on my clove and sat enthralled with this man's malevolent orchestral wizardry. But before things got to pensively melancholic, Powder kicked as back in the teeth again with the brain-scrambling beats and drowned us yet again with ominous electronic tidal waves. A sigh of disappointment when he closed his set, but a roaring of applause erupted nonetheless.

Not Breathing followed. Similar to Powder French in many ways, the same thunderous techno beats behind a frightening curtain of dismal and mind-numbing noise to rattle our bones and cast its spell. Halfway through his set, he was joined by a live drummer. With a loud and modified electronic kit, he kept up perfectly with the frantic beats, accenting the intensity to about level 11, 10 being the highest. Visually, there was not much to offer, which for the most part is accepted within this particular circle of music lovers. You sometimes have the bizarre videos or projections behind the bands, but for the most part, this is the sort of thing that you just close your mind and frighten yourself with the various disturbing images that would riddle you with fear the most. I like to think of experimental industrial shows as a chance where you can go to explore your own mental creativity. I do remember a friend remarking to me during the course of Not Breathing's set that "This is what you would hear at the brink of madness, when nothing but blind rage is encompassing your thoughts.

That or what you would hear on a unsteady elevator's decent into Hell." I agreed.

Before I could really recover from Not Breathing's set, DVOA was beginning their set. Again, I must apologize to hardcore fans who want a setlist because I do not know the names of any of their songs, nor do I know the band's extensive history. Though I do not find it necessary because I enjoyed them nonetheless. I had an unbiased and fresh approach and honestly, it was so cool to have such an introduction to them. They completely kicked my ass. Consisting of Mark on vocals, keys/samples, and miscellaneous toys, a second keyboardist, and the same talented drummer that accompanied Not Breathing, DVOA made a fan of me instantly. The opening track reminded me of what would happen if an ambient techno DJ decided to mess with the music of Leonard Cohen. Spoken word atop spooky keys and whispers. DVOA played one of the longest sets I have witnessed since I saw The Cure on the "Mood Swings" tour 3 years ago where they played for almost two hours. It was indeed a special treat for us, though I have to admit there were moments where the ambient tracks dragged a bit and the restlessness of the audience was too apparent. I was distracted by miscellaneous conversation when I wanted to be lost again in the bleak sea of sound that is DVOA. The music seemed to fit into one of three general categories. There were songs that reminded me of Lycia on crack. A very pissed off Lycia but the same reverberated drum sound though damn harder, whispered vocals, and swirling synths. These songs were absolutely amazing.

A significant amount of time will pass before I hear such quality darkwave music live again. One track in particular was absolutely phenomenal and I do not even believe it is available on a disc, but I haven't really dug too deep. Mark shouted through a thickly distorted mic and the drums just pounded, driving nails into my heart and soul. I loved it. Very cool. The second classification of the music I would say was similar to the other music offered by Not Breathing and Powder French, with techno break beats and wire synths bouncing all over the place. These songs had the crowd moving around a bit and nodding their wide eyed, drooping heads in passionate approval. A vast majority of the set consisted of long, trancey ethereal pieces that bewitched the crowd and numbed us to the core. Mark had many toys, which he used all night, ranging from a mechanical wind-up turtle, which filtered through some effects sounded quite unfriendly and dangerous for little tots to be playing with. Some authentic Indian instruments were used, as well as a chime, which Mark sampled and manipulated in various ways to pan from speaker to speaker. Truly a hypnotic effect paired with the lush keys and sensual drumming offered by his band mates, DVOA succeeded in creating an atmosphere I did not want to leave, and one I wished to recreate over and over again for days after the show.

I must say that the DVOA show was one of the most therapeutic and enjoyable shows I have been to all year. I hope that many of you were fortunate enough to catch them and if not, you will when they come around next time.

It takes a lot for a show to completely soothe your soul and drown your worries, even if it is only for one evening, it will forever be etched in my memory.
~photos and review by Matt Heilman

In Flames
Moonspell
Sanctorum
Somnus

November 12, 1999
The Flying Machine
Cleveland, OH

Rarely does a show satisfy on every level possible. There is always at least some aspect about it that may irritate or disappoint. Usually, as you anxiously anticipate the headlining act to take the stage, there is always some local supporting act that you just wish would get the hell off the stage so things can move on. But this was not the case.

I was already pleased with opening act Somnus even before they played a single note. I am a romantic male, thus, when I beheld the strawberry blonde cherub setting up a keyboard and microphone, I was smiling in eager happiness. The lights at last dimmed and the haunting keys began, as Rhiannon shyly began to play. Suddenly crushing guitars assaulted my ears, ringing out over slow thudding doom metal beats. This, mind you, courtesy of a band that is local to Cleveland? I honestly accepted years ago that Gothic/Doom metal majesty was strictly a European only phenomenon. But I was without regrets quite wrong. When vocalist/guitarist Scott let out an anguished black metal cry and the drums cascaded into a fury of blast beats, I was so delighted. Somnus wonderfully master the art of musical darkness, wedding epic Gothic Doom with the current popular ambient black metal style.

Brilliant, I must say. Though there weren't too many moments where the lovely Rhiannon sang, but when she did, it was truly awesome. Her sweet soprano voice perfectly contrasts with Scott's raspy shrieks and death metal growls. Somnus weave some truly beautiful Gothic parts between the intense metallic storms, using piano, harpsichords, violin, church organs, and choirs. However, they blend the ambience very well with galloping rhythmic aggression, and I couldn't help but blush and yearn when Rhiannon thrashed her golden red locks about. Think of medieval dressed Tori Amos utterly enthused and delighted at a Slayer show. These guys will go far, and I will travel far to see them. I pray they don't break up. They have a demo available and a full-length CD due this year.

Sanctorum, also local to Cleveland, followed. Though more traditionally rooted in metal, they created an avant garde atmosphere with the dueling, twin guitar work rather than with Gothic influenced keyboards. Tearing things up with a dose of traditional power metal, very much similar in style to headliner's In Flames and other highly revered European metal acts, Sanctorum too were a treat. Again, I really never thought I would witness such styles of metal from bands native to these shores. They have much promise, and I enjoyed their set immensely. I considered moshing a bit, but felt ridiculous considering I was wearing a black suit jacket and the wretched fear of losing Goth points. But then the bastards covered Slayer's "Die By The Sword" and my arms were soon flailing and my Doc's were stomping. Sanctorum had me moshing, need I say more?

At last, after four years of following this band, I was finally going to see them live. My heart was skipping and my mind was still reeling from a fresh listen of their latest offering "The Butterfly Effect." Moonspell took the stage and Cleveland offered them a sincere and warm welcome, as they set foot on American shores for the first time in their six-year career. The Portuguese Goth metallers opened with the title track off their latest CD and I was bouncing around like a madman, stopping only to take pictures.

Paying homage to the Nephilim in a way I suppose, the quintet emerged from the shadows covered with gray dust that accented their ashen complexions and black wardrobes. Vocalist Fernando Ribeiro is quite the enigmatic frontman. It was apparent from the start that he really puts is heart into his performance. He is very animated and energetic, though his face contorts with agonized emotion, as if he is in the thralls of some surreal opium or absinthe haze, which fans know could be a possibility. His voice was very strong live, his death growls deep and foreboding, his sensual Gothic whispers riveting, and his black metal shrieks ear piercing. His band mates thrashed along behind him, as Mike Gaspar beat the hell out of his drum set, and Pedro Paixio took on duel rules as guitarist and keyboardist. The dust clad bassist Sergio Crestana and full time guitarist Ricardo Amorim swung their heads along and poured their souls out through their instruments, producing an alluring backdrop for Fernando's theatrics.

They tore through the absolute best songs from the new album, from the upbeat crowd pleasers such as "Lustmord" and the dark techno tinged "I Am the Eternal Spectator." To my delight, they performed the track "Tired," my favourite track from the new album and also the darkest. I really didn't expect them to perform it but alas they did and I was so utterly content.

Though they left their debut CD "Under The Moonspell" unexplored for the performance, they did play the classic cuts "Wolfshade" and "Alma Matter" from the "Wolfheart" CD. And of course, their big 'hit' of sorts "Opium" from the highly acclaimed "Irreligious" album. They ripped through intense versions of "Mephisto," "Raven Claws," and "Ruin & Misery" from the same album as well. They really seemed to squeeze a lot of tracks into their hour-long performace, though "SecondSkin" was the only cut from last year's "Sin/Pecado" CD. They returned for an encore with "SoulSick" and closed their truly awe-inspiring performace with "Full Moon Madness." It was well worth the wait to see them live after all these years, and now having seen Moonspell, Cradle Of Filth, and The Gathering, I shout to the gods to please give me My Dying Bride and Tiamat!!!

In Flames headlined in Cleveland. From what I understand, Moonspell and In Flames alternated headlining positions each night. They were given equal time slots and were a perfect pair to make a hell of a great tour.

(Irrelevant tidbit: both Moonspell and In Flames covered Depeche Mode...though neither performed their tributes.) In Flames are one of, if not the best, melodic/power metal bands in the scene today, and seeing them was like an added bonus for me, as I am obviously a bigger fan of Moonspell.

But alas, they kicked ass. Characterized by twin guitar harmonics that make Iron Maiden look as old as they truly are, I love this band. Vocalist Anders Friden showcased his varied vocal talents by alternating between sandpaper rasps to epic clean baritone vocals. The drums were phenomenal, technical and innovative, with blast beats that made me drool and double bass fills that shook my insides loose. What more, the band looked like they were having a blast in front of the receptive audience that were going nuts to In Flames brand of upbeat and intense art. They played several tracks from their latest Nuclear Blast Records offering, "Colony," which is rightfully heralded as one of the best metal albums of the year. They jumped back to their debut "The Jester Race" with an explosive version of the title track, but I was delighted with their choices from the "Whoracle" CD which happened to be the first In Flames CD I ever heard. Blistering versions of "Jotun" and "Food For The Gods" had the crowd in a frenzy and when they finally reached the close of their set, they performed "Episode 666," which prompted a crowd sing-along and the largest and most enjoyable circle pit I have been involved in since I saw the Subhumans last year!

Absolutely KILLER show. It is sincerely a treat for such bands to come over here and I was proud of Cleveland's metal scene for the enthusiastic and warm support given to these bands. Hopefully, there will be many more European Gothic/Black Metal tours in the future, and I know without a doubt I will be there to enjoy them!
~photos and review by Matt Heilman

To obtain a copy of Somnus' demo cassette, contact Scott: Raveng0d@aol.com
Sanctorum: http://members.xoom.com/Sanctorum/index.html
Moonspell:www.butterfly-fx.comwww.moonspell.com
Century Media Records www.centurymedia.com
In Flames: www.inflames.com
Nuclear Blast Records: www.nuclearblast-usa.com