My little pain, I wanna feel you inside
I wanna make you see my love has died
My little pain flows, never asking why
Always taking me down, it burns inside
Giovanni Santolla’s project, The Spoiled, crawls out of the shadows with Hole In A Chest, a jagged and unrelenting deep dive into the bitter void of tenebrous darkwave and post-punk despair. From the outset, the track gnashes at its chains, blending the cold metallic bite of industrial laced with downtrodden wails. Santolla’s voice—equal parts whisper and snarl—rumbles over layers of grinding guitars and mechanized percussion, dragging listeners through the muck of emotional decay.
There’s a bruised sensibility here, a rawness that echoes the sonic violence of Nine Inch Nails or The Soft Moon, but with a uniquely tortured undertone that’s as grimy as it is cathartic. The industrial dissonance hums like a broken machine, while ghostly melodies snake through the background, mirroring the bleak introspection of Alice in Chains or the gothic grandeur of Type O Negative. The result is a visceral sonic experience that revels in its own pain—a slow burn that never asks for forgiveness.
The accompanying video, directed by Stefania Carbonara, intensifies the single’s mood. A series of jarring, glitchy cuts thrust the viewer into a dreamscape that feels more like a nightmare—one in which nature’s slow, inevitable decay is played out against the backdrop of haunting, digitized surreality. Insects crawl over ancient bones, mountain goats stand stoically in a landscape drenched in blood-red hues, and the forests close in like a predator stalking its prey. It’s a grim meditation on the fragility of life, the constant push-pull between death and rebirth, leaving the viewer disoriented and unnerved.
Watch the video for “Hole In A Chest” below:
As The Spoiled ventures into 2024, they’ve also crafted their latest EP, Time, which serves as a snapshot of disillusionment and melancholy. Conceived as a collection of images and feelings inspired by the day-to-day grind, Time explores the end of love, suffering, and the inevitable passage of time that strips us of youthful idealism. The writing and recording of the EP began in the spring of 2024, following a period of profound reflection on life and death, channeling these experiences into somber, melancholic tracks. Each song, composed, recorded, and mixed by Santolla himself, pairs pulsating basslines with reverberated guitars, distorted synths, and cold, mechanical drum machines. The EP draws clear inspiration from darkwave contemporaries like The Soft Moon, Drab Majesty, and Twin Tribes, while also tipping its hat to genre legends The Cure, Joy Division, and Type O Negative. In a nod to the latter, the EP includes a reimagined post-punk rendition of Type O Negative’s iconic track “I Don’t Wanna Be Me,” a tribute woven with a distinct Spoiled twist.
Time, for The Spoiled, is an omnipresent specter—its passage marked by love lost, dreams broken, and the gradual erosion of hope. Each track is steeped in the melancholy of inevitability, lingering like the bitter aftertaste of a life misspent. With Hole In A Chest, they haven’t just made a song—they’ve crafted a dirge for our darkest hours.
Listen to the Time EP below:
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