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3/5: Dusk
3/2: Ryan Scott
2/26: The Cucumbers
2/23: NTHNL
2/19: Church Burglars
2/16: Lucy Dreams
2/12: LAPÊCHE
2/9: Dave Miller
2/5: Otherworld Ensemble
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3/5/26:
The despair within

Dusk is exactly what it says it is, a Costa Rican industrial black metal outfit. The industrial touches can verge on the techno, and the black metal is often more slaved to the grind, but nonetheless that's as apt a description as is possible.



Dusk
Bunker
(self-released)


Your excitement will vary with your tolerance of extreme shifts of sonic feel. A lot of this album is largely electronic, punctuated by squalls of extreme sonic brutality. The beats never quite range into EDM territory, but at times they get close. Skinny Puppy and NIN comparisons are obvious, but ultimately those fail. This is both too "dancey" and too extreme to fit within that range.

And the intermittent violence means this only rarely hits Streetcleaner levels of brutality, though I think Godflesh (in all of its incarnations) is a better touchpoint. That said, Dusk sounds a lot more modern than all of those 80s and 90s influences.

It's a cold world out there, and Dusk is here to bring paranoia and pain. The journey is fraught and often interrupted by unimaginable sonic imagery. Whether your mind or your body succumbs first depends which has more fortitude. Either way, Dusk will crush your soul.


I'm a bit late, but here's a set of my favorite songs from 2025. I'm afraid only six languages are represented (including an invented one), but the heart wants what the heart wants. Here's to a better 2026 in every way. Cheers!