Written by: Dave Cantrell

Here’s how I almost began this piece: ‘This will be the last year we do this.’ It’s a sentiment both Victor and I face every December as the quickly fading year falls behind us, taking with it such a glorious overload of darkwave wonder that you have to, well, wonder if it’s even possible – never mind wise – to select those full-lengths that had the most impact on us personally and, in most cases, on the scene itself. Now, don’t get us wrong, tracking the release schedule throughout the year and mining from it the host of gems below is simply an utter joy what with all that excitement, all that wow! that damn near makes us hyperventilate, which is a good thing since it’s also a compulsion that neither of us has any hope of ever being free of, which is also good because, y’know, why the fck would we? But, at the same time, it’s also true that, year in year out, there’s no escaping the basic predicament of distilling what’s been another 12-month-long donnybrook of greatness, the qualitative and the quantitative locked in a wrestling match that never ends and how one referees that isn’t just a challenge, it’s insanity. And yet, and yet, we plow forward regardless because one, it’s more or less our sworn duty to do so, and two, in the end, we’re always happy to relive what’s been another banner year in the land of Darkwave and all its many provinces. Oh, one last thing. We’re simply listing our twenty faves – and the bevy of honorable mentions that follow – in alphabetical order, as making judgment calls over which is better than all the rest, then the next best etc, is – and really has always been – absurd. Oh, and another last thing: SUPPORT THESE AND ALL THE OTHER ARTISTS WHOSE WORK YOU LOVE. See you next year (maybe).

VICTOR:

Body of Light – Bitter Reflection (Dais Records)

Brixx – Erotomania (Synthicide)

CHAIN OF FLOWERS – Never Ending Space (Alter)

Death Index – Civilized By A Lie (2Mondi Collective)

GLIXEN – She Only Said (Julia’s War Recordings)

Harsh Symmetry – Imitation (Fabrika Records)

HEALTH – RAT WARS (Loma Vista)

HOME FRONT – Games Of Power (La Vida Es Un Mus)

House of Harm – Playground (Avant!)

Korine – Tear (self-released)

Lathe of Heaven – Bound By Naked Skies (Sacred Bones)

LUSTER – Dopamine Loop (Funeral Party)

Mareux – Lovers From the Past (Warner Records)

Nuovo Testamento – Love Lines (Discoteca Italia)

Public Memory – Elegiac Beat (Felte)

Randolph & Mortimer – The Incomplete Truth (Surface Reality)

Ritual Howls – Virtue Falters (Felte)

Slowdive – everything is alive (Dead Oceans)

SOFT KILL Metta World Peace (Cercle Social)

Zanias – Chrysalis (Fleisch)

DAVE:

Ashes Fallen – Walk Through Fire (self-released)

Bedchamber – Capa City (La Munai Records)

Black Rose Burning – Ad Astra (self-released)

Cerulean Veins – Black (Cold Transmission)

Donzii – Fishbowl (Grey Market Records)

EVNTYD – Eventide (self-released)

gae vinci – Lonely Ballads (self-released)

Grey Gallows – Strangers (Cold Transmission)

Korinthians – A Major Walk (self-released)

Night Nail – Fates Explained (Metropolis)

Postlooperish – Fevers and Fits (self-released)

Rain to Rust – Martyrdom: Eight Exercises (self-released)

Saigon Blue Rain – Oko (Icy Cold Records)

SDH (Semiotic Department of Heteronyms) – Fake is Real (Avant!)

Sky Lions – Inside the Circle (self-released)

The Mystic Underground – Everyone Deserves A Stage (Re:Mission Entertainment)

The Noise Who Runs – Preteretrospective (self-released)

The Waning Moon – A Dream or A Vision (Danse Macabre; Hymen Optera)

thewalkingicon – We Are Memory (Negative Gain)

X Marks the Pedwalk – Superstition (Meshwork)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Antipole & Paris Alexander – Crystalline

Ariel Maniki & the Black Halos – Fractals

BARI HARI – Lesser Gods

Blaklight – tHE pADDED rOOM

Camlaan – Dismantle

Carla Onda – Euro89

Corbeau Hangs – Octograms

Dead Leaf Echo – The Mercy of Women

Decommissioned Forests –  Chemistry

HALLECK – Genesis

Lol Tolhurst, Budgie & Jacknife Lee – Los Angeles

NΛEON TEΛRDROPS – Testimony

Plague Pits – Creatures

Scenius – Life is A Thing

Scorpion Tea  – Scorpion Tea

Slighter – Futile Engine

Soft Vein – Pressed in Glass

Stranded – Velvet Trace

The Bellwether Syndicate – Vestige & Vigil

The Palace of Tears – Veiled Screen, Woven Dream

The Sea at Midnight – Too Close to the Sun

Selfhishadows – Everything Changes

The Silence Kit – It’s Not Too Late

Supernova 1006 – Chains

Sweeping Promises – Good Living is Coming For You

Tulipomania – Dreaming of Sleep

Twin Ritual – Allie

Vlimmer – Zerschöpfung

We Are Parasols – Body Horror

Whispering Sons – The Great Calm