The Slowdown’s Front Room was the setting for Starcrawler on October 7th, 2026, as the Los Angeles rockers brought their loud, reckless and unpredictable brand of rock ’n’ roll to Omaha.
Opening the night was Omaha’s own Ronda Civic. Lieu Hidalgo on bass, Cannon Dunwoody on guitar/vocals and Jordan Opere on drums wasted no time reminding the hometown crowd that great local music can hold its own against a national touring band. They came out with plenty of attitude and energy, setting the tone for what was to come. Released through Elan Vital Studios in February 2026, Ronda Civic’s self-titled album is available on Spotify and it deserves your attention. Not just one listen, either. Give it a couple dozen. Then, when the opportunity comes to see these guys live, don’t think twice. Do yourself a courtesy and get there. Ronda Civic is a band worth experiencing in person and they also want people to know “rock n roll all night, party EVERY day”!!!
Starcrawler came out and delivered a performance packed with volume, swagger and never-ending energy. The Los Angeles five-piece, fronted by the wildly charismatic Arrow de Wilde, turned the energy level up another notch. With Henri Cash, Bill Cash, Seth Carolina and Tim Franco rounding out the incredibly talented lineup. The Front Room quickly became a sweaty, bouncing mass of bodies, with Starcrawler feeding the crowd and the crowd gobbling up everything it was given. Everything Starcrawler can be found on their website, including their newest single, “ON 2 U.” You should also look for the song, “Kick Me,” which is scheduled to drop October 9th.
German grammar gives death a masculine identity, an administrative decision Die Tödin has taken the liberty of correcting. With an arresting voice, a fine ear for melody, and a sharp sense of the absurd, she has become one of darkwave’s most distinctive personalities. A microphone, a MIDI controller, and Ableton provide the tools; she supplies the morbid wit and conviction. There is an elegance to that economy, particularly in the way she makes the bleakest observation sound like a perfectly reasonable complaint. Her dark electronic beats keep the flesh moving, even when the lyrics have reservations about the whole business of being alive.
Die Tödin initially took shape in the West German city of Gelsenkirchen, where industrial surroundings, limited prospects, and the useful luxury of being left alone provided room to work. Although she has recently moved away from that bleak environment, her songs retain the resolve of someone carving out her own space when society has failed to offer any. Musically, the basslines and beats come first, followed by the words and vocals. Likewise, German and English share the microphone, sometimes for comic effect and sometimes to establish distance. That instinct extends across yet another language in the Spanish refrain of La Bruja / Die Geister, die ich rief. Even the designation “trve darkwave” borrows black metal’s spelling habits with a straight face, and whether anyone catches the joke is someone else’s problem.
Her wit is matched by equally formidable candor. For instance, her song “Angepasste Spießerschweine” takes aim at status-conscious conformity, while “Dissonanz des Lebens” speaks openly about mental illness and the pressure to keep it hidden. Meanwhile, “Die Tödin” distinguishes the project’s focus on lyrics and performance from the immediate emotional expression of her other work as Strobo.Lolita. Although both draw on deeply personal psychological states, she gives each experience a clear musical identity. Just as impressive is the self-possession with which she protects that identity when choosing collaborators.
Her forthcoming self-titled collection brings nine recordings from 2022–2025 to Heartworm Press, the label founded by Cold Cave’s Wesley Eisold. Due October 30, 2026, Die Tödin expands upon the earlier Selected Singles release on Minimalkombinat. She regards the collection as a way to bring closure to a difficult period in her life, and the recordings remain unchanged for this edition.
We spoke with Die Tödin about the mysterious woman behind the name, the usefulness of being left alone, her relationship with Heartworm Press, and the pleasure of leaving an audience uncertain whether she is joking. Listen to Angepasste Spießerschweine below, then read our conversation with Die Tödin.
Your very first song as Die Tödin, “Ich bin schon tot,” name-checks Einstürzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, Peter Murphy, Nosferatu, and Dracula. Which records, books, and films first gave Die Tödin her identity, and which of your formative influences would surprise listeners?
There aren’t really any surprises.
Die Tödin’s identity didn’t evolve so much through the influence of records, books, and films, rather, it is rooted in a personal history of mental suffering. Themes like suicidality and depression have played a major role in shaping the persona.
But to name someone anyway, I really adore artists like Beta Evers. Also, the track “Frustration” by Soft Cell from the Mutant Moments EP was kind of an influence on Die Tödin.
You have also worked as Strobo Lolita, drawing more directly from industrial music, no wave, noise, and performance art. What required Die Tödin to become a separate project, and do techniques or ideas ever pass between those two identities?
Strobo.Lolita prioritizes raw, immediate emotions, whereas Die Tödin focuses on lyrical content and performance.
The only thing the two projects actually have in common is that they represent profound expressions of a psychological state.
You describe the city you are from, Gelsenkirchen, through its lack of prospects, industrial nature, cemeteries, physical roughness, and sense of chosen isolation. Can you tell us more about your experience there, and if we can hear the city within the music itself, whether in the rhythms, synthesizer tones, repetition, lyrics, or empty space?
You can definitely hear that in the lyrics!
Gelsenkirchen is anti-social, and so is Die Tödin. What I liked most about the place was that people left me alone and I had my own space to make music. There are so many poor and unemployed people there, too. So no one noticed that I was in a similar situation, and it didn’t matter that I was just another person who didn’t fit into society.
By the way, I moved away recently, so no more Gelsenkirchen.
German ordinarily gives death a masculine form, der Tod, while Die Tödin turns that figure female. Why was that particular name important, and what can Die Tödin express that you might be unable or unwilling to express under your own name?
As I mentioned before, Die Tödin deals with suicide, death, and transience. Therefore, it makes the most sense to choose a name that embodies these themes. And since I am a woman and express my innermost self through music, Die Tödin had to be female as well.
“Trve Darkwave from Gelsenkirchen” began partly as a joke about “trve Norwegian black metal,” although you have also connected it to genuine pessimism and misanthropy. As the project reaches listeners outside the German underground, are you concerned that some of its self-irony may be lost in translation?
Sure, but I don’t think that’s a problem.
The music itself can create enough atmosphere to carry the emotions, even if people don’t understand the lyrics. That’s exactly the beauty of music.
By the way, even Germans sometimes don’t catch the irony. They find themselves asking, “Is she serious?”
How did your relationship with Heartworm Press begin? Who approached whom, which recording first caught the label’s attention, and what convinced you that Heartworm understood Die Tödin?
Wes reached out to me completely out of the blue, and it didn’t take long until I was convinced that Heartworm Press and Die Tödin were a perfect match.
They act in my best interests as a musician, are artists themselves, and I really like the work they have published.
I don’t know which song caught their attention first, but the first one they asked me about was “Ich bin schon tot.” We also didn’t know whether it was supposed to be just a single or a longer release.
Heartworm Press was founded by Cold Cave’s Wesley Eisold to release his own recordings and writing before expanding into an international home for singular underground voices. Why does it feel like the right label for Die Tödin, and what do you hope the partnership will make possible without compromising the project’s independence?
I have a very specific vision for what I create as Die Tödin, and I am very selective when it comes to collaborations. They worked closely with me, and it was important to them that everything was done in my best interest. They made me feel that they wanted to support me and truly valued the fact that I was working with them – and not the other way around.
The self-titled Heartworm Press release gathers nine recordings made between 2022 and 2025. Why did this particular moment call for a definitive collection, and why was Die Tödin the right title rather than something that identified it as an anthology or retrospective?
The last two years have been very difficult for me, so I want to draw a symbolic line under that period with this release.
It isn’t an album, but rather almost everything Die Tödin has released to date. For me, this collection marks the conclusion of this chapter. The original release on Minimalkombinat was titled Selected Singles, now a few more tracks have been added, and a self-titled release seemed the obvious choice for the international market.
How did you determine the sequence and final selection? Was there a reason the nine-minute “Nacht” remained outside the collection, and were any of the chosen tracks remastered, remixed, or otherwise altered for this edition?
The two songs that didn’t make it onto the record have no recognisable lyrics and aren’t played live. Consequently, they have something of a hidden track quality and aren’t quite typically tödish. The other songs remained unchanged.
Earlier editions became extraordinary physical objects, including a one-sided clear record with screen-printed henbane artwork and a special version involving black candles, roses, and petals pressed into the vinyl. The Heartworm pressing comes on Black Static or White vinyl with an 11-by-17-inch newsprint poster. How closely were you involved in shaping this edition, and what role does your continuing visual collaboration with Schwarze.Leere play in the identity of Die Tödin?
Schwarze.leere is closely connected with Die Tödin and understands the visual aesthetic.
The extras for the special editions were primarily ideas from Minimalkombinat.
For the current release, after we had discussed the visual concept together, Amy from Heartworm Press showed me her designs, and I was immediately on board.
Listen to Selected Singles below:
“Angepasste Spießerschweine” attacks a mindset governed by status, consumption, narrowness, and hostility toward alternative lives, including versions of that behavior found inside subcultures. As darkwave becomes increasingly fashionable and commercially visible, where do you currently see conformity reproducing itself within the scene?
I don’t really keep up with the scene anymore and prefer to spend my time on my own. That’s why I can’t give you an answer to that.
You have previously stated that your songs generally begin with a bassline and beat, with the words and vocals arriving last, and that the first vocal take is often the strongest. Which song departed most radically from that method, and how has your minimal setup of Ableton, microphone, and MIDI controller changed since the earliest recordings?
To be honest, work on every song begins exactly like that, and the setup hasn’t really changed either.
Your lyrics move freely between German and English, while “La Bruja / Die Geister, die ich rief” introduces a Spanish refrain. Do different languages create different degrees of intimacy, distance, humor, or severity, or are those choices guided primarily by rhythm and the physical sound of the words?
Yes, it has to do with humor and a sense of detachment. Most of it happens intuitively.
In German, many neologisms, especially from English, are already in use, so it felt quite natural.
The songs approach despair through very different forms: “Gift” (an interesting word with a double meaning in translation) places poisonous plants beside a ruined fairy tale, “Wild” turns catastrophe into dance music, “Verderben” reduces existence to repetition and vacancy, and “La Bruja” finds companionship among ghosts. How has your lyrical voice developed across those recordings, and what connects these different approaches in your mind?
I think it is still far too early in the story of Die Tödin to speak of anything having developed.
Listen to Verderben below:
“Dissonanz des Lebens” directly names psychiatric medication, therapy waiting lists, exhaustion, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. How do you decide what can be disclosed in a song and what must remain private? Has the response from listeners changed how you think about presenting these subjects without diminishing their severity?
It is about hiding nothing. In their daily lives, people with mental illness already have to hide so much. On stage, Die Tödin has to let everything out unfiltered, because it is the only way to endure that state of being.
People with mental illness are increasingly being pushed into a corner and left to fend for themselves. There are cutbacks everywhere, and help is no longer available. It is important to address this and deal with it openly.
As for the people who think this is sick or inappropriate – they haven’t understood the meaning of the lyrics, and Die Tödin simply isn’t the right artist for them.
Onstage, you use instrumental playback to give yourself complete freedom of voice and movement, surrounding the performance with corpsepaint, candles, incense, altars, and other carefully chosen elements. With the Heartworm release bringing Die Tödin to a larger international audience, how do you imagine the project developing from here through new music, expanded performances, or shows beyond Europe?
I don’t overthink it, nor do I make it my main focus. Making music is definitely the priority. Ultimately, however, Die Tödin should be present wherever she is needed.
Nevertheless, music is what I live for. So it would be great to bring tödish music to the whole world.§
Die Tödin has a knack for keeping interviews honest: a question may arrive dressed in their funeral best and leave with an answer that fits on a postage stamp. Her clarity is part of the appeal. She knows what her work needs, holds the terms of collaboration firmly in her own hands, and gives difficult experiences both musical precision and room to be spoken aloud. These nine recordings from her forthcoming self-titled release offer a fitting introduction to an artist whose melodic instinct is matched by the conviction behind it. She says Die Tödin should be present wherever she is needed. And for anyone tired of being told to put on a happy face, this Lady of Death makes surprisingly good company, especially in that she makes darkwave worth living for.
Die Tödin is due October 30, 2026, via Heartworm Press. The first pressing is offered on White vinyl and Black Static vinyl, with the latter limited to 200 copies. Both editions include an 11-by-17-inch newsprint poster. Preorder through Heartworm Press here, or visit the collection’s Bandcamp page.
Almost a year on from their debut Australian Tour BLVD OF EYES release 5D, the final single from their We Are Humans EP, a heavy and driven song that kicks you in the teeth. What if everything you’ve ever believed about reality is an illusion? 5D pulls you through the veil of what we think […]
We all want something better, bright and shiny dust.
Fake names to hide within, blind among the rust
Northeastern Pennsylvania has always seemed peculiarly suited to its own species of Gothic, where abandoned coal mines, crumbling factories, old churches, and stubborn little towns exist in uneasy communion with the American Dream. There is something metaphysically peculiar about a landscape whose prosperity was excavated from beneath its own feet, leaving the earth hollow and its inhabitants contemplating what remains. Here, the Gothic requires neither medieval castles nor European aristocrats. It grows naturally from industrial decay, Catholic guilt, Appalachian folklore, and the peculiar American talent for building civilizations atop buried disasters. Under such circumstances, making strange, sinister music seems less like an artistic decision than a perfectly reasonable response to one’s surroundings.
Which brings us to ZEU, pronounced “zoo,” the musical alter ego of Matthew Zedolik of Wilkes-Barre, who has apparently decided that the region’s accumulated ghosts could use a backing band. There are few things more dangerous to public decency than a man left alone in a recording studio with a guitar, a head full of questionable ideas, and absolutely nobody around to tell him when to stop. Sometimes the result is genius. Zedolik writes, plays, records, and produces everything himself, an arrangement capable of yielding either magnificent obsession or twelve tracks of a man arguing with his presets. Fortunately, he seems to have made peace with his machinery, although his relationship with the rest of civilization remains questionable.
Zedolik describes his approach as “’80s-era Springsteen meets Billy Idol, Depeche Mode, and Sisters of Mercy.” Which sounds like a barroom dare issued after somebody fed the jukebox three dollars and locked all the exits. Imagine the Boss borrowing Andrew Eldritch’s wardrobe, Billy Idol stealing the getaway car, and Martin Gore sitting in the back seat contemplating several regrettable romantic decisions.
On Blind Among The Rust and Beyond Life and Death, ZEU takes that peculiar family reunion somewhere considerably less respectable. The songs inhabit the cracked asphalt between Tom Waits and The Gun Club, with the skeletal guitar menace of Rowland S. Howard and the diseased theatrical instincts of Foetus lurking nearby. There is something wonderfully disreputable about the combination, a species of surf goth that sounds as though somebody dragged a rockabilly band through a cemetery and subsequently denied them access to decent amplifiers.
Zedolik’s growling vocals come crawling out of the arrangements with the nicotine-stained authority of a man who has seen the bottom of several bottles and found the conversation there surprisingly agreeable. Echoing guitars suggest desert highways, abandoned dance halls, and the occasional questionable roadside establishment, while atmospheric synthesizers introduce an industrial chill. Beneath the Gothic furnishings sits a garage-rock impulse, loose enough to suggest spontaneous combustion and sufficiently disciplined to keep the songs from collapsing into glorious nonsense.
His musical education explains some of this strange chemistry. Teenage metal bands supplied the muscle; The Ordinals taught him bass discipline; American Buffalo Ghost gave him considerable guitar mileage. Recording studies in New York subsequently sharpened his understanding of arrangement and spatial dynamics. The accumulated experience gives these recordings their peculiar sense of purpose, even when the music appears headed toward some spectacularly unpleasant destination.
Listen below:
Following July’s full-length Existor, these two singles, released through Everything Evaporated, suggest an artist increasingly comfortable inhabiting his own peculiar corner of Pennsylvania Gothic. Somewhere between the last call at a roadside tavern and the first light over a neglected graveyard, ZEU has found a promising place to conduct his business. The neighbours may have complaints.
NOAPOLOGY are a modern alternative metal band led by vocalist Daria Zaritskaya. With their heavy sound and melodic side, the band have been building a musical identity of their own. In this interview, Daria talks about the ideas behind their single “Test Me Now,” the creative process behind NOAPOLOGY, and what we can expect from their upcoming album.
Reuel
Hello Daria! It’s a pleasure to chat with you. How are you and the other members of NOAPOLOGY doing?
Daria
Hi! We’re doing well, thank you, and getting ready for a very busy autumn. Between new music, videos and preparing for the tour, there’s plenty to keep us occupied. Sergey and I do a lot ourselves, so there’s quite a bit of time in front of a computer involved in all this rock and roll! But I’m really looking forward to getting out there and playing. After spending so much time making something, you want to share it with people in the same room.
Reuel
This sounds exciting! Congratulations on the wonderful new single! “Test Me Now” came out earlier in September, and from the comments on YouTube, your fans seem very happy with it. What does it mean to you to see your fans connecting with the new music like this?
Daria
Thank you! It means a lot, especially because so many people first discovered us through our covers. When someone connects with a song we’ve written, they’re connecting with something much more personal. You spend so long with a song that it becomes difficult to hear it with fresh ears, so releasing it is always a slightly vulnerable moment. The video brought another dimension to ‘Test Me Now’, and seeing people respond to both the music and the atmosphere is really encouraging. It makes me want to keep going and take more chances with the next songs.
Reuel
“Test Me Now” explores how pressure can strip away fear and change the way you see yourself. Was there a specific challenge or setback the band went through that inspired the idea behind this song?
Daria
For me, the song captures that point where being afraid becomes more exhausting than facing whatever is in front of you. You can spend so much energy trying to avoid pain, failure or other people’s judgement. Then something shifts, and the thing that used to intimidate you loses some of its power. That’s the feeling I wanted to put into ‘Test Me Now’. There’s anger in it, but also relief. I’d rather let listeners connect it to their own experiences than explain it through one particular story. Whatever someone is facing, I hope they can borrow a little of that defiance from the song.
Reuel
It’s a great idea I think everyone connects to! I’ve been following you since the days of Sershen & Zaritskaya, and even back then, your covers always had your own twist and personality rather than simply sticking to the originals. What elements of that style have stayed with you as you’ve developed NOAPOLOGY’s original music?
Daria
That instinct to make a song feel like ours has definitely stayed. Some of my favourite covers were ‘Come Together’ and ‘Stayin’ Alive’, because we changed the mood so much. I enjoyed finding a different character inside a song people already knew. We still care about a strong melody, a vocal with personality and an arrangement that has some surprises. With original music, we can take that much further, because we’re choosing the words and creating the whole song ourselves. There’s more freedom, and also more responsibility: you can’t rely on everybody already loving the chorus!
Reuel
Your debut album, Uncovered, was a huge success. What can fans expect to hear on the upcoming album that feels familiar to Uncovered, and what will be different?
Daria
The strong melodies, the guitar energy and the character of my voice will still be there. I want someone who loved ‘Uncovered’ to hear a new song and recognise us straight away. But I’m also interested in taking the heavier, darker side of our sound further, with more electronic textures and more space for atmosphere. I like a melody that could almost belong to a pop song sitting against something much more aggressive underneath. ‘Test Me Now’ gives a sense of that direction. The challenge is to make all those elements work together while keeping the song itself memorable.
Reuel
You’ve been involved in almost every part of the new single and music video, from behind the microphone to in front of the camera and behind it as well. Which part of the creative process do you enjoy most besides performing the music?
Daria
I really enjoy developing the visual concept: the mood, the styling, the colours, and how all of that connects to the music. A song can suggest an image before you even know how you’re going to make it happen. Then you have to work out how to turn that image into something you can actually shoot. Sergey and I made this video ourselves, so we were involved from the idea through to the finished result. That’s a lot of work, but I love being able to carry an idea all the way through and see the music take on a visual form.
Reuel
Which musicians would you say have inspired you personally throughout your life and career?
Daria
Lzzy Hale is definitely someone I admire. There’s so much power and personality in her voice, and I love how she can keep that raw edge while still delivering a great melody. Halestorm are a band we really love. I also love David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath; that whole world of heavy music has such a strong character and atmosphere. More generally, I’m drawn to singers whose voices you recognise immediately. Technique matters, of course, but it’s the personality that makes me want to listen again. That’s something I care about in my own singing too.
Reuel
Is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming album that you’re especially excited for fans to hear?
Daria
I’m especially excited about exploring more sides of my voice. I love a big, powerful chorus, but a quieter delivery can make a lyric feel very close and uncomfortable in a good way. I want room for both. I’m also interested in how the electronics and the guitars can interact, so that the atmosphere is part of the song from the beginning. What excites me most is finding combinations that still feel natural to us but make us curious about where we can go next. Hopefully, ‘Test Me Now’ has made people curious too.
Reuel
You’re heading out on tour across Europe in October and November. Is there a city you’re especially looking forward to visiting and seeing your fans there?
Daria
It doesn’t really matter to us which city or country we’re playing in. What matters is the people who come to hear us. Wherever we are, we’re excited to meet the audience and share our music with them. We’ve connected with so many people online, and getting to be in the same room together is what makes touring special. For me, that connection is much more important than the name of the city.
Reuel
Thank you for your time, Daria! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Daria
Thank you for having me! And thank you to everyone who’s stayed with us as we’ve developed NOAPOLOGY, as well as everyone discovering the band now. We put a lot of ourselves into this music, so every listen, share and person who comes to a show matters to us. If you haven’t checked out ‘Test Me Now’ yet, give the video a watch. And if we’re coming to your city this autumn, come and make some noise with us!
Dellacoma have released their brilliant version of the Goo Goo Dolls classic, Iris. Frontman Dellacoma Rio says of the track, “Iris is a song about longing and about wanting to be understood. Its a feeling I resonate with and I think most of us have resonated with at some point in our lives. I still […]
Almost a year on from their debut Australian Tour BLVD OF EYES release 5D, the final single from their We Are Humans EP, a heavy and driven song that kicks you in the teeth. What if everything you’ve ever believed about reality is an illusion? 5D pulls you through the veil of what we think […]
Dellacoma have released their brilliant version of the Goo Goo Dolls classic, Iris. Frontman Dellacoma Rio says of the track, “Iris is a song about longing and about wanting to be understood. Its a feeling I resonate with and I think most of us have resonated with at some point in our lives. I still […]