What do you get when you cross a post-metal band with one of the most successful industrial metal groups of the 1990s? It sounds like a formulaic joke, but members of The Atlas Moth and Stabbing Westward come together in Black Cross Hotel for a project that started in the Covid lockdowns and now encompasses a higher level of ambition. Song for Switches is a metal/post-punk mashup that could teach today’s pretenders a few things about the industrial metal genre.
A thumping kick drum and distorted bass carry opener, ‘Eyes from Nowhere’, as a delay-drenched guitar lends a vertiginous hand. The aggression is like Ministry minus the thrash metal riffing. Here, vocalist, Dee DeEmme, enunciates their words with a bloodthirsty malice, often sounding as if the higher range of the head voice will crack. Only after two minutes do the crunchy guitars add a percussive dimension to the mix. Combining abstract post-punk melodies with head-banging drums is quite original on first listen. Likewise, the militant thrust of ‘Rot Together’ reminds you that the drums are the power behind industrial metal. Black Cross Hotel are quick to reach the chorus here, led by the growl of the bass. This song has an admirable muscular presence without relying on the guitar. You could even imagine it as an At the Drive In anthem fed through Marilyn Manson’s recording software.
Only at track three do we hear something resembling the spring of a 1980s synth bass (see ‘The House God Doesn’t Visit’). Dee DeEmme snarls through the first verse in a whisper before belting in the next part with bulging eyes. Here, the bass does the work while the six-strings plot the high-register frequencies with a determination to be unobtrusive. The former is just as important to punk-punk music as firework displays are to adolescent Japanese people wearing yukatas.
Industrial metal enjoys the spectacle of violence more than most genres – it’s hardwired into its DNA. Yet celestial keyboard motifs lead the way in the title-track as the irate vocals imagine Sid Vicious playing bass in the background. Musically, it’s not too far away from Paradise Lost’s late 1990s dalliance with industrial, only this is less sedate (that’s a positive) and lacks the same chorus clout (that’s a negative). You might even forget this style has groove until you reach ‘Typo’, where the funereal keyboards sail between the bass notes like the glow of a vampire coffin. Nonetheless, they show no sign of slowing down at ‘Blood Dance’, instead pouring gasoline on the fire. You can hear melody trying to sneak through the fog machine. The Atlas Moth would sound like this if they returned with a higher tempo and synthesisers to space out the guitars. Hark how this one goes berserk towards the end with circular riffs that threaten to land offtrack.
The best thing about a synth bass is how it seeps into your skin like a premonition of something ominous. It sends a shiver down your spine but makes you alert in ‘Church Basement’. Here, drum skins reverberate in imitation of cricket bats striking metal pipes as Dee DeEmme froths at the mouth with an eczema face. As with the previous track, this song waits until the end for a homage to the heavier part of the metal spectrum. By contrast, ‘Teeth’ has blunted fangs. Think of a hostile punk approach mechanised in perfect timing and coated in cobwebs and palm-muted riffs. Most artists do this when they’ve no clear idea how they want to meld metal with gothic pop. Fortunately, this effort moves away from the verse-chorus format and embraces a longer jam towards the end.
The gothic industrial vibes of closing track, ‘2AFPT’, are perfect for the nightclub dancefloor where damaged people can congregate. Listen to the weight of the bass as the snares strike thunder in each beat. The vocals sound like somebody escaping from the clutches of a ligature strangulation. Observe how the solemn keyboards make you sit up straight as the headbanging drums force you down. Surprises abound on this LP if you give Black Cross Hotel the time they deserve.
JVB
Verdict
Release Date: 31/10/2025
Record Label: Someoddpilot Records
Standout tracks: Rot Together; The House God Doesn’t Visit; Church Basement
Suggested Further Listening: No Names – I Surrender to the Void as of Now I Am the Void (2020), Ministry – Moral Hygiene (2021), Gost – Prophecy (2024)