YEARS OF DENIAL is the alter-face of French musician/DJ/producer Jerome Tcherneyan and Czech performance artist/DJ Barkosina Hanusova. Their music is known for its moody, atmospheric, and hypnotic soundscapes, driven by distorted, echoey vocals, pulsing beats, and brooding synth melodies.

The band’s lyrics often revolve around isolation, despair, addiction, and mental illness themes. YEARS OF DENIAL‘s music offers a unique blend of darkwave, post-punk, EDM, and techno influences, creating an unforgettable and mesmerizing sound that has gained them a devoted following in the underground music scene.

One of the most distinctive aspects of YEARS OF DENIAL‘s music is the use of distorted, processed vocals often buried deep within the mix. This creates a haunting and otherworldly vibe that is both melancholic and mesmerizing.

Another strength of the band’s music is the way they combine electronic beats and rhythms with moody synth melodies and atmospheric soundscapes. This creates a hypnotic and immersive listening experience perfect for late-night listening or dark dance clubs. Despite the heavy themes and dark subject matter of their music, YEARS OF DENIAL‘s sound is ultimately cathartic.

Widely known for their well-crafted sharp productions and electrifying live shows, their live shows are known for being immersive experiences, with the duo using a combination of live instruments and electronic equipment to create a mesmerizing, trance-like atmosphere.

Now, the band is back on Veyl with their second LP, “Suicide Disco Vol. 2.” In the follow-up to 2019’s “Suicide Disco,” the band makes a triumphant return, elevating their distinct sound, which fuses dark wave, goth, new-beat, post-punk, EBM, and techno.

The new LP picks up where the first one left off. Its title and theme reflect the dark and nihilistic tone of the music, which explores themes of death, despair, and decay. The tracks are driven by pounding beats and distorted synths, with sparse vocals and samples adding to the sense of unease. Dark yet beautiful, “Suicide Disco Vol. 2” is a timeless record of romantic and melancholic machine sounds and is a perfect follow-up to the high standards of “Suicide Disco.”

The LP features 12 tracks, all written and produced at Ark of Noise studio, located miles away from the polluted noise of social turbulences, immersed in isolation, creative indulgence, and poetic writing. The song ‘Art Break’ serves as the album’s opening track, and Barkosina’s vocals are constantly caught between the frozen and the thawed states, the wound, and the gauze surrounding it. Every word is important to us.

‘Art Break’ is the ideal warm-up, gently purifying the palette and reintroducing Barkosina’s lustful vocals with a slow-burning pace that only marks the beginning. ‘La Pendue’ picks up where ‘Wrong’ leaves off, injecting body music into the mix for an infectious piece that keeps the energy going.

On the other hand, ‘Mr. Guillotine’ has a razor-sharp edge that gives it a fresh post-punk feel. This leads to ‘Never Satisfied,’ which is a dark song. One of the album’s best tracks is ‘Lover’s Crime,’ the record’s halfway point. Evidently alluring with an inauspicious feel, the pair move this state of mind along with ‘City Lights’ and crush things open with ‘Dancing With Demons.’

‘City Lights’ has a more robotic electro-shuffle feel at first, but once the octave bassline and chord progression kick in, it loses its distinctiveness.

‘Dancing with Demons’ is a track the band expresses turning around our devils, standing up to, and embracing the dark pieces of ourselves to feel liberated from dread, the agony of the past, and inward misery.

Poetry is a noticeable element, beating, crying out, and bleeping throughout the record. This is not surprising because Barkosina’s influences include Jean-Paul Sartre, Anne Sexton, Franz Kafka, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

From start to end, from ‘Le Pendue’ to ‘Dancing with Demons’ to ‘Death of a Lover,’ or ‘Social Anxiety’ feat. Broken English Club, everything smells of a scene from organizing a homicide in Lou Reed’s horror-ish ventures in his fictional portrayal of Berlin with bloodstained fingertips and a memory longing to be eradicated.

‘Regarding The Pain Of Other’ climbs aboard a deformed, creaking machine; all tightly wound, heavy-breathing synths, hungry, hyperventilating keyboards, and smoking, scorching pinball melodies are present. Additionally, the voice of Barkosina directs us through the night’s sacred spaces.

‘Social Anxiety,’ the album’s final track, features vocals by Broken English Club, a longtime collaborator. The end product is an immersive excursion through the pair’s self-described Suicide Disco sound that expands on the form and legacy of YEARS OF DENIAL.

Overall, “Suicide Disco Vol. 2” is a powerful and immersive LP that showcases YEARS OF DENIAL‘s evolution and range as musicians. With a distinctive sound that blends genres and explores dark themes, the record is a must-listen for electronic and industrial music fans.

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Photos: (c) LarryJ

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Still can't tell exactly my origins because of my suspiciously ‘Chinese eyes’.