“Maybe it's time to change.”
From the darkest corners of the underground: Strict Tempo: Volume One (Part 1) arrives as a retro-futuristic dispatch spanning EBM, coldwave, industrial, and Italo disco — a bold first statement from a new imprint with an eye on the future. Rare Kreature's Noises Beyond weaves '80s horror-inspired darkwave between morose and campy extremes, with AFI and Offspring covers alongside a politically charged "Otra Muerte" celebrating Mexican-American culture. Chalice Sect's Finis Initii closes the LA darkwave trio's first chapter with pulsating EBM-fueled post-punk and "dancefloor-insistent melodrama," while Dawn of Darkness Netlabel's WARLOCK conjures old-school witch house darkness through heavy industrial beats and a collaborative remix treatment of Belgium's innocent darkness.