Industrial music legends Tim Skold (Marilyn Manson, KMFDM, Motionless In White, Skold) and Nero Bellum (Psyclon Nine) have combined forces for a second time as Not My God, their much praised duo project. Not that the pair were exactly strangers beforehand, having served as live band members for each other’s groups (Skold as the guitarist for Psyclon Nine and Bellum as the keyboardist for Skold). However, 2020’s self-titled outing as Not My God marked a true artistic collaboration, as they wrote and recorded together on a studio album for the very first time.
Via its successful singles ‘Fiction’ and ‘Sowing Discord’, that debut was received with acclaim by fans and critics worldwide and made a number of international alternative music charts that included Germany’s prestigious DAC. Stateside, Revolver magazine featured ‘Fiction’ in its recurring ‘Best 10 Songs Right Now’ column.
‘Fiction’ video: youtu.be/3ZdSFH94MeQ
‘Sowing Discord’ video: youtu.be/EilusjOsfME
Their brand new follow-up album, ‘Simulacra’, answers the bellowing calls from fans for more music, its ten songs showcasing the full range of Skold’s confident voice paired with the raw, cinematic soundscapes and modular synth riffs laid down by Bellum. At once atmospheric and ominous, it is a modern masterpiece in the genre.
The first single from the album is ‘Ashes’, of which Bellum states that “we wanted to take a step away from contemporary methods of songwriting and assemble an artificial world from fractured pieces in which the bruised and broken would give rise to something resembling beauty.” An accompanying video directed by Vicente Cordero of Industrialism Films is also available now.
Other new songs such as ‘In Service Of The Wolf’, ‘Mirage Mirage’ and ‘Crisis’ take similar bold steps into uncharted territory, while ‘We Don’t Leave Our Dead Behind’ slows things down to a sombre march through an apocalyptic wasteland.
pre-order links
notmygodofficial.bandcamp.com/album/simulacra
Metropolis Mail Order
LP: metropolis-records.com/product/11817/simulacra-ltd-ed-red-vinyl
CD: metropolis-records.com/product/11816/simulacra
EU pre-order
LP: deejaydead.de/de/not-my-god-simulacra-limited-lp-red-vinyl-2021-psyclon-nine-skold-voe-16-07
CD: deejaydead.de/de/not-my-god-simulacra-cd-2021-psyclon-nine-skold-voe-16-07
SIMULACRA
TRACKLISTING
1 In Service Of The Wolf
2 Crisis
3 Ashes
4 The Underneath
5 Mirage Mirage
6 Abyssus
7 21 Grams
8 Rebis
9 Salt
10 We Don’t Leave Our Dead Behind