The Sanctuary Gazette

Austin electro-industrial band Dread Risks released the EP Hellhymn Remixes on 16 October on Re:Mission Entertainment. It is available digitally on Bandcamp.

The EP offers three reworkings of the single Hellhymn, by Antigen Shift, Frontal Boundary and The Proximity Assembly. The original came out on 1 August 2025, mastered by Ritch F. Napierkowski, who also mixed it with the band.

It is Dread Risks' third release of 2026, after the singles Where You Left in March and Invertebrate in April. These three tracks herald a full-length album, which will follow Automated Disappointment, released in 2022.

Toronto electro-industrial duo Kill Instinct, made up of Phil Gonzo and Lea Ashley, released the single Pretty Little Nightmare on Freak Power on 16 October 2026. The track runs a little over four minutes and is available digitally, including on Bandcamp at a pay-what-you-want price.

Kill Instinct wrote, produced and performed it. Alex Gonzales handled vocal co-production, Philip Halloran the recording and Mike Marra the mastering.

The single follows the duo's second album, kill.two//Behavioral Sink, released in August 2026. In July 2026, the Norwegian band Apoptygma Berzerk had delivered an official remix of their track Control.

PLATRONiC released The Emperor's New Clothes on 16 October, a maxi-single of three remixes of Fortress of Fools. It is available digitally on Bandcamp and on streaming platforms.

Swede Andreas Svensson, aka On Moral Ends, and Finnish producer Imppu contribute their dark electro and synthpop versions. The third is PLATRONiC's own, which accentuates the track's gothic and medieval atmospheres.

Fortress of Fools, released on 20 March, was composed and produced by Some-E (Sami) Jumppanen, with influences such as VNV Nation, Propaganda, Erasure and Anne Clark. Vocalist Kay Burden wrote the lyrics, inspired by Andersen's fairy tales, notably “The Emperor's New Clothes”. A video for the original version, shot and produced by the duo, with post-production effects by Asko Lintunen, accompanies the release.

Finnish musician Jumppanen and German musician Burden met on Instagram in 2019. They founded PLATRONiC on 24 February 2020, EBM day (242).

The German band LORNING has released a cover of The Cure's Primary, out on 16 October on Danse Macabre Records. The song was the only single from the album Faith (1981). The cover was premiered by Post-Punk.com.

LORNING offers a fuller version than the original: ominous synthesizers, a thick bassline that picks up the original movement, a forward snare, a blunt guitar riff and icy synthesizer pads. According to Post-Punk.com, Christopher Heinze's voice recalls Peter Murphy's high register.

Heinze is also a drummer, notably with Die Art, Beringsee, Goldeck and The Russian Doctors. The band is completed by Thomas Gumprecht (guitar), Rajko Gohlke (bass), Tobias Herrmann (synthesizer) and Konrad Ruda (samples and effects). Its album Other Void / Other Rooms came out on Danse Macabre Records in June 2025. Their music blends NDW, electro-punk, EBM and industrial influences.

Hollow Shift released the post-punk single Horror in the Disco on 16 October 2026. The release comes out on the label Mongoa Music.

The song Horror in the Disco gives the release its title, and it has been available since that release date.

Richie Filth released the darkwave single An Offering (Reappear) on 16 October 2026.

The release is issued by Richie Filth, LLC, the entity that bears the name of the artist. The title of the song and the title of the release are identical.

Swiss dark wave project Nachtschleife released the digital single Suizid on Echozone on 16 October 2026. It is the first release from the upcoming album Systemabfall. The track runs 4 minutes 14 and blends dark wave, dark electro and industrial textures with expressive vocals.

The song deals with psychological distress, despair and loneliness. It offers no easy answer: it shows the moment when a person no longer sees a way out. The band presents it as a call to pay attention to people in crisis, addressed to those affected as much as to those around them. Systemabfall centres on a society where people must keep functioning despite their mental limits. An official animated video is available on YouTube.

Based in Geuensee, Nachtschleife brings together Stephanie Abromeit (also known for Beffibelle), Bernd Abromeit (Tonschleifer) and Ulf Müller, previously active in Projekt Ich, The Grab Society, SMOTCH, M.U.N.T Connection, Tränenwelten and U.M. Fiedel. The trio came together by chance on 1 April 2026 out of collective remixes. Its first single, Microgram, came out on 17 July 2026 on Echozone.

Catalan trio Hostia Pedagógica, from Barcelona, is releasing its debut album, Homo Lamentáblis. The lineup is Xavier “Java” Javaloyas (guitar and vocals), Brian San Onofre (drums and backing vocals) and Jordi Iglesias (bass and backing vocals). In Spanish, the band's name refers to the educational slap once given to an unruly child.

The record takes aim at the “Homo lamentabilis”, those poorly informed internet users who clutter social networks, and the ballot boxes. It opens with Nativo de turno, which begins with a fake mic check before turning into a call to check the facts. Irony in the face of populist excesses and disinformation is the common thread, with sharp guitar riffs and a punk beat.

According to OndaRock, the proposition is not original: it recalls The Fall, The Damned, Idles and Viagra Boys, but the trio uses it effectively. The outlet also notes a resemblance to CCCP on Altas Capacidades. At home, Abajo con el trabajo and Estás roto are already minor punk classics, and Vendo manual is probably the track meant to set live shows on fire.

Pianist Stefano Guzzetti, from Cagliari, whose music falls under dark neoclassical, releases In A Strange Place. The album pays tribute to Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of This Mortal Coil, and to 4AD. It takes up the method of that project, which drew on the repertoire of other artists.

Guzzetti has surrounded himself with figures from the 4AD family: Emma Anderson (Lush), Dominic Appleton (Breathless, This Mortal Coil), Heidi Berry, Paula Frazer (Tarnation) and Ian Masters (Pale Saints). Anne Garner sings Northern Sky by Nick Drake, Appleton covers I Hear Only Silence Now by David J and Don't You Go by John Martyn, and Paula Frazer contributes What Is And Was.

The record sticks to piano, strings and a few electronic touches, in a register less gothic than its model and more intimate. It opens with Shelter, where children's voices give way to the sound of war, and closes with a traditional Maori chant recorded during Guzzetti's honeymoon. OndaRock sees in it one of the most evocative works of this end of the year.