Covenant - live DVD + a new side-project

It seems quite fitting that now Covenant is back home, the Swedish trio would now be in the midst of compiling together a live DVD. Over their American tour, they plead for fans to help them out with footage, and thus come In Transit, their first live recording since the Synergy VHS/CD box set. No word on a release date at this point, but I would hazard a guess and say sometime this year.

In the meantime, Covenant vocalist Eskil Simonnson debuted his new side-project at the Schlagstrom even in Berlin on January 20th. The name of this new project is CEMENT. Currently, there is a bare-bones Myspace page dedicated to the project, but despite Eskil's description of "noise and neon", not much else is known at this time.

Catching up with VNV Nation...

In case you've been sleeping under a rock, the futurepop heavyweights VNV Nation have quite a few plans for this year. First off, there is thei new album Judgement, which hits the shelves here in North America on April 10th. From all accounts (or possibly just their own), it is their most diverse release yet, veering from guitar-synth indie-rock influenced matierial to their usual, bass-heavy four-on-the-floor, DJ request list smashers. There is also word of an internet single appearing online sometime this March, and an EP of remixes from their last effort (Matter + Form) called Reformation to be released sometime this year as well. Soon after Judgement comes out, it is also quite noteworthy that VNV has the chance to make some headway into the U.S. mainstream via appearances at both the Coachella festival in California and South by Southwest in Texas.
On the side, both Mark Jackson and Ronan Harris have kept busy. Mark will be making a vocal appearance of the upcoming Reaper album, Hell Starts with an H - a debut disc that also features vocals from Johan Von Roy of Suicide Commando. As for Ronan, he has been steadily plugging away at his electro-dance analog synth side-project, Modcom...although there still is no word when that debut will come out.

"Blood Lush" by Anders Manga out now!

While it technically came out yesterday, it's overall color scheme seems quite apropos considering today is Valentine's Day. Blood Lush is the fourth studio album by North Carolina's premiere 'gothtronic' act, Anders Manga. Four albums in two years is quite a feat, especially consdering his work is gowing with leaps and bounds come every release. With Europe already getting clued in to his skills, not to mention a tour of the U.S. about to launch, this would be a good time to acquaint yourself with his 'Numanesque, goth meets futurepop' sound.

Edge of Dawn debut on the way

Before Dependent Records shuts its doors later this year, they have a slew of final releases to help sate their rabid fan-base. One of those is the debut full-length by Edge of Dawn. Titled Enjoy The Fall, this follows up their previous (and only) release, the The Flight [lux] EP.
Who are these guys? Well, one of them you might recognize - their vocalist, Frank Spinath also sings for the band Seabound.

Here's a free mp3, hosted by their label, Dependent:

- Elegance