Giallo Prog Duo Dressel Amorosi Return With ‘House of Dolls’, Out 10/24; Listen To “Octagon Tower”

My first experience with the Giallo/Prog duo Dressel Amorosi was 2018s excellent DeathMetha, a hypnotic and bloody slab of sleazy disco and late night panic. I didn’t hear the album proper till it was re-released on limited edition cassette via Spun Out Of Control in 2020. It touched on classic Giallo grooves and panic-laden tension […]

Assassun Returns 9/19 with New LP ‘Retrofate’; Listen To Latest Single “off The Globe”

Alexander Donat is an artist that does not rest. Besides running Germany’s Blackjack Illuminist Records, Donat is the man behind bands like Vlimmer, Fir Cone Children, Feverdreamt, and Assassun. The latter project takes the post-punk of Vlimmer and gives it a Gothic makeover. Rich in melody and jagged industrial rhythms; a pulsating heart running through […]

Dream Divison Gets Reimagined with ‘Una Rosa nel Giardino d’Inverno: Il Ritorno (A Rose in the Garden of Winter: The Return)’; Listen To “Black Rose(Sean Wolcott Version)”

If ever there was an album that screamed “remix version” it would be Dream Division’s excellent 2024 long player A Rose In The Garden Of Winter. Opening up Dream Division’s sound from just Tom McDowell working alone like a mad scientist, he brought in a who’s who of incredible musicians to create Dream Division & […]

Fir Cone Children Returns With ‘Gearshifting’, Out 4/18; Listen To Dreamy New Single “Perfect Trade”

It is always reason to celebrate when a new Fir Cone Children album is imminent. The dreampunk/shoegaze/post-punk project from Vlimmer mastermind and Blackjack Illuminist Records founder Alexander Donat has all the bite and angst of his main gig in Darkwave Vlimmer, but there’s a palpable joy in Fir Cone Children. Even the fastest, heaviest songs […]

Dream Division Returns Larger Than Life With ‘A Rose in the Garden of Winter’, Out 8/23; Listen To The Giallo Funk Of “Midnight Visions”

Tom Mcdowell has been making music as Dream Division for quite some time now. Starting out as a solo heavy synth project he’s allowed the project to evolve and mutate into something far more than its humble beginnings. From sci-fi synth dread to imagined soundtracks to classic horror literature to baroque ghost tales to 60s/70s […]

Shameless Self Promotion Time

For the most part these hallowed pages here at Complex Distractions are meant to highlight musicians and bands that I find interesting. Artists that inspire me enough to talk about them and spread their word across these internet wastelands. As well as talking about music, movies, books, and other art-related stuff, I talk about me. […]

Witchboard Readies New Album ‘Incidental Goth Club Music For Television and Film’, out 7/12; Listen To “Get Anxious”

Witchboard is the musical project of writer, producer, and director Glenn McQuaid. Known most notably for his debut film, 2008s I Sell The Dead, as well as his audio series Tales From Beyond The Pale(both with Larry Fessenden and Fessenden’s production company Glass Eye Pix.) McQuaid also directed a segment of the original anthology film […]

Fir Cone Children Return With Tenth Album ‘Jig Of Glee’, Out 7/12; Listen To Single “Malin”

Alexander Donat is a man creatively in bloom. With so many musical ideas he needs to spread them out amongst many different projects; Vlimmer, Fir Cone Children, Assassun, Feverdreamt, as well as music released under his own name all build a discography rich in sound, mood, intent, and with a through line that is Donat’s […]

Modified Magic Release Self-Titled Debut May 3rd With Library of the Occult; Listen To “Curse of the Inverted Pyramid”

Coming out of the Garden State, New Jersey’s Modified Magic conjure images of fireside incantations and doom-heavy drives into the long, long night. Towing the line between Gothic rock, chugging metal, and the swirling psychedelia of artists like Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, as well as modern purveyors of horror score moods like Wolfmen of Mars, Brass […]

Feverdreamt Returns With New Album ‘Decay Is Present’, Out 4/12; Listen To New Single “The Wallowing(Die Another Time)”

Musician, label runner, and all around musical force Alexander Donat seems to always be in a creative cycle. Whether he’s releasing music under the monkier Vlimmer, Fir Cone Children, Assassun, or Feverdreamt; releasing music from other artists as label head for Blackjack Illuminist Records, or brainstorming unique and conceptual ways of releasing music in physical […]