Photo: Anni Porrasmäki
Berlin’s William Bleak dives headfirst into the murky depths of post-punk and cold wave with their ferocious blend of electronic rhythms, manic guitars, and guttural bass lines—a sound that thrums with a grotesque glee. Their latest single, Blood Red, is engineered for those unhinged hours, the soundtrack to late-night escapades and reckless abandon. The track straddles the line between brutalist EBM and industrial fervor, its analogue synths trembling with the influence of Nitzer Ebb and the scuzzy swagger of The Hacker. It’s a surge of energy, perfect for the smoke-choked air of a goth club, where the lights blur and the floor pulses with life.
Lyrically, Blood Red confronts the darkness head-on. It’s a confessional, a cry from the edge, soaked in self-doubt and twisted dependency. Echoing the brutal honesty of late-era Killing Joke, the words grapple with themes of inner torment and emotional disconnection. There’s a searing intensity to the verses, a rawness that digs into the psyche, exposing layers of pain and the perverse comfort found in chaos. The repeated line, “it keeps me alive,” clings like a mantra, hinting at the speaker’s grim reliance on the very forces that threaten to consume them.
“I aim to give back the energy that we’ve received from fans and audiences throughout the year while grinding it out as an underground DIY act and playing everything from bars to basements to clubs with legends like Traitrs and Clan of Xymox as well as future legends like Ductape and Ruhr,” says the artist.
Listen to the track below and order it here.
In 2024 the band released six singles, four accompanying music videos, embarked on a successful DIY US tour, and opened for Traitrs and Clan of Xymox. They’re hitting the road again in Europe this autumn, making stops in The Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. Dates are below.
Tour Dates:
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