taiban.live

I like how these guys are seemingly dedicated to eventually making a PV for every single one of their songs, lmao. Plus, this one's a live-limited track afaik, so bonus goodguy points to them for sharing it worldwide like this~

New look's dope! Looking forward to the single too~

This will be my last one for a while, as I don't have any more lives planned till early July (but who knows)... This time it's a double feature, so I'll try to keep it relatively short, lol.

Soft Vein / Nuovo Testamento @ 2026/05/20

Once again I'm back on the mighty A38 ship, this time the gig's on the rooftop terrace so there's a nice breeze. Opener Soft Vein is a one-man project, guy was playing in a sort of minimalistic coldwave style, with occasional ethereal guitar leads and lots of synth manipulation and some loop pedal (?) action. Pleasant enough, but doesn't really get the blood pumping. However, main act Nuovo Testamento really fired up the party with their infectiously catchy Italo-disco influenced synthpop (funny to think they started out as a darkwave band). The keyboardist and the drummer (who was pounding away on electronic drums, a rare sight!) gave it their all, as well as the hella cute vocalist gal who didn't stop moving while still delivering her melodies flawlessly. It was the perfect (pre)summer atmosphere.

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Crow Black Dream / Synthetic Destiny / Nulladik Változat / Fetish Section @ 2026/05/24

I'm back in my hometown, baby! And what better way to finish off the spring than a riverside open-air mini festival for goths and alternative types? The live is on a big ol' houseboat that was converted to a live venue a few years back. Not quite the A38, but it fits the chill lowkey vibe of the city excellently, and provides a neat opportunity for smallish artists to play live.

I think I've seen Crow Black Dream more than any other band in the past year or two, so I won't get into it much, they were solid as always, although the vibrant sunshine didn't do their brand of cold goth tunes any favors, haha.

Next up was Synthetic Destiny, an EBM-tinged dark synthpop trio with a captivating performance by the singer. By this time more and more people were getting into the groove in the audience too, elevating the mood.

As the sun was setting, it was time for Nulladik Változat to hit the stage, and they played wonderfully. They're one of the big names of the Hungarian dark/alternative underground, truckin' along since the early '90s. Extremely professional and still very down-to-earth, these old geezers brought some of their finest nostalgic post-punky numbers. Ecstatic dancing and swaying all around in the pit.

Finally, I caught local heroes Fetish Section, been a long time coming (somehow I'd never seen them live before). It was the highlight of the evening, actually kind of scary how great they were. Imagine a very "fuck off" punk attitude combined with the tightest rhythm section and just enough synth color to put the "post-" into their "punk". Literally from the first second, the better half of the crowd was going crazy, present company included. Such a joy, I hope to see them in the future many more times. There was still one more band to go, but it was getting chilly on the river, I was exhausted, and I saw them live not that long ago, so I went on home to collapse into bed. What a night!

Utolsó Hullám / Rosegarden Funeral Party @ 2026/05/17

The past few days' cold rainy weather didn't bode well for this night, but thankfully the streets miraculously remained dry, so I could take a healthy stroll up to the venue Instant, which is a small-ish part of a bigger building-complex (popular among tourists for partying mostly). I've had good experiences with the venue so far, and this time, too, the sound and the facilities were adequate.

Being a Sunday night, the turnout wasn't the biggest when I arrived during the last few songs of Lvcretia's DJ set warming up the crowd, but the vibe was nice so I happily danced away for the few minutes till local opener Utolsó Hullám took the stage. They're always a reliable presence in the goth underground, promising a good time with their nostalgic drum-machine dark rock, in the vein of The Sisters of Mercy (more on this later). Compared to when I last saw them 2 months ago, this time the difference was that they recently dropped a brand-new album, so they played almost all their new tracks, plus a handful of old favorites of course. I still have to get used to some of the new tunes but they sounded pretty solid live. After their eponymous closing hit song, they had a surprise for us: none other than Leah Lane from Rosegarden Funeral Party! Together they performed a cover of The Sisters of Mercy song "Nine While Nine" (you can check it here). A neat way to segue between the sets of the two bands.

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest listener of the headlining band, but last year I bought a ticket to see them on a whim and their live energy immediately blew me away, so naturally I had to see them again... and once again, they did not disappoint! Now, too, Rosegarden Funeral Party came as a duo with just Leah on vocals/guitar and Dean Adams on drums, but what a powerful stage presence. The delicately melodic, slightly new-wavey gothic rock of the recordings came alive in a much more impactful and dramatic way. A certain well-known band of Banshees would be an easy comparison of course, taking into account Leah's captivating performance and strong soulful vocals that cut through the whirlwind. They also treated us with three new songs from an upcoming album (to be released around autumn if I caught that correctly), which all sounded top-notch and brimming with atmosphere. It was a beautiful and genuine performance overall, I encourage everyone to check them out live.

Great news! (2001-2004 era is best imo)

@SATAN-GOTH-ZONE Speaking of the music vid, I forgot to mention that it was directed by the same guy who did the REDEEMER PV (and who did most of the art direction on the band's old releases)... so no wonder! haha.

Sun-Rot / Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO @ 2026/05/14

Once again I'm at A38 for some quality time. I arrive just in time to browse through all the merch of Acid Mothers Temple (it's always neat to see the CDs they bring with their little descriptions tacked on), and then to settle comfortably in the middle by the time local young titans Sun-Rot hit the stage. They play mostly very laid-back groovy psychedelic rock with occasional stoner-ish and indie rock elements. I have to admit, this is not really my jam, after a few songs I feel kinda bored but try to be engaged till the end of the set. One of the guys onstage plays occasional tambourine, woodblock and shakers, but like 60% of the time he's just vibing and dancing away while fanning himself. Wanna be as confident as him.

Some music-nerd chatting with friends passes the time quickly and by the time Acid Mothers Temple materializes onstage I'm locked in, bring it on! It takes a while to get used to the annoyingly overdriven and loud bass guitar, but by the second track (their face-melting supercharged cover of Black Sabbath's "The Wizard") I don't even care, the good vibes take over. They more or less play the same set of songs as the previous time I saw them (I think), but of course with AMT there's always variations, different jams and freakout instrumental mayhem involved. It's so great when they lock into a groove and just ride it endlessly, the crowd is receptive too, everyone's bobbing, jumping and dancing around (at one point it felt like a moshpit was about to start too, but didn't, lol). A glorious noisy crescendo crowns the end of the evening. The Acid Mothers are always a good time.

New lynch. is always welcome!

This last demo track was kinda fun, in a cheesy way, hehe.

It's out~

Check out the streaming/digital links here

Guess not many of us goes to gigs much, huh... Well, anyway, gotta mention this one, happened a while ago now, but I forgot to write about it immediately afterwards.

Crow Black Dream / She Past Away @ 2026/04/29

Had some gig buddies over at my place to pass the time, then we hit the streets to head out to my favorite venue A38! For those who don't know, this is a ship anchored on the bank of the Danube, converted to a live venue with a main hall (in the belly of the ship), a smaller room, a half-open-air roof terrace and a bunch of other neat spaces for bands to play in. Thankfully tonight's attractions played in the main hall, which boasts the best sound system in the city (in my opinion).

Opening act Crow Black Dream are one of my favorite Hungarian underground post-punk / goth rock bands, so I was really glad to catch them live once again! They're a father & son duo by the way, with dad handling the vocals and guitars, and the son laying down the groovy bass. They took the stage to an abundance of hazy smoke and stark back-lighting, which didn't let up until the very end, so we could only see two dark silhouettes for most of the show, but it gave a fitting atmosphere to the already cool minimalistic music with its tight electronic drums and sparse percussive effects. They were really the perfect choice for tonight, as they presented a very similar style to the main band but still in their own voice.

According to schedule there was still over half an hour till the main act, so we went over to the small room which was converted into the merch and general lounging-around area for the night... until we heard some pretty loud sounds. Oh shit, She Past Away started 15 minutes earlier than expected. And it's a sold-out show. So you can imagine the struggle while we tried to worm our way into the crowd, haha. Nevertheless, we managed to find a somewhat comfy spot somewhere in the back third of the crowd. The band was of course fantastic, just how I imagined them (this was my first time seeing them live)! Both guys played their magical darkwavey post-punk totally committed with full serious concentration, but at times you could see they were really happy to be there and to see us have fun. They even threw some Hungarian sentences our way, with surprisingly beautiful pronunciation, heh. They played over an hour, which is just the right amount for me, I got pretty tired dancing along the night anyway. A wonderful show.

For my next gig, I will be returning to the A38 ship in a few days, this time to see a Japanese band I love and respect very much~

R - Red tail cat

I haven't even heard the current one, but YEAH BABYYYY LET'S GO~

@zeealous They should sell gummies as merch (or as exclusive privilege for CD preorders)

Petit Brabancon are releasing their new single "haunted house" on digital/streaming services on April 22. The song, which was composed by drummer Yukihiro (and lyrics by Kyo), was initially only available as a special perk for concert attendees, but now it will receive wider distribution.

Pre-save/listening link with multiple platforms

Looking forward to this new assortment of the familiar tropes from my consistent kings~

Oooh hi there~, nice of you to join!

Great news! I hope they'll resurrect themselves a few more times in the future too...

Good news, we don't have to wait long for the general release of the song either: the single "RAPTURE" will be released on CD on May 13th. It will only contain the title track, plus 4 different versions (vocalless, guitarless, bassless and drumless version).

Cover art:

Wow, all these former Loop Ash bands (MASK, ALiBi, SCISSOR, now Ziper) releasing their old stuff on streaming... I wonder who's next.