A local band are hoping that the release of a new album will help to put the nightmare of 2020 behind them.

Goth synth-rock duo Mark E Moon, featuring singer and lyricist Mark Sayle and multi-instrumentalist Phil Reynolds, are set to release their new album ’Old Blood’ and, after having had their big plans and high hopes for last year dashed by the coronavirus, are planning to build on the success of their debut album, ’Refer’.

’Old Blood’ is released by the German record label Cold Transmission and features 10 ’euphorically dark’ tracks, described by the band as ’an angry record, for an angry time’.

From the title track, about fascism and the rise of the extreme right, to ’I, Robot’ and ’Salvation’, which tackles religion and the loss of faith and ’Animals’, the first single taken from the album, which looks at the best and worst aspects of humanity’s nature, ’Old Blood’ is a complete work, heavy in concept and thought as much as in the music and the duo feel it is a step forward from their debut album, which began as a series of demos.

They have welcomed a host of guest musicians, including guitarists Keiran Ball and Dan Ankers, drummer Steve Leach and singers Maria Reynolds and Leah Mousley to give the album a more complete and coherent record than their first.

On the acclaimed release of ’Refer’, Mark and Phil found themselves playing on festival stages across Europe.

However, the twin kicks of Covid-19 and the Brexit mean that they are yet to build on that success.

’We were booked to play at W Festival in Belgium, as well as Cold Transmission Festival in Germany later in the year,’ said Mark.

’We were hopeful we could secure some sort of mini-European tour before the Post-Brexit nightmare kicked in and made it financially problematic for us to travel.

’There was talk of gigs in Germany, Denmark and even Sweden being on the cards.

’Then in February or March, the world changed and so, obviously, our plans for gigging on the continent were thrown up in the air. ’The festivals were cancelled due to the coronavirus threat, and rightly so.’

However, they were able to use their time on fine-tuning ’Old Blood’.

’Once the demos were finished, Phil, along with studio soulmate Dan Ankers started working on turning them into a coherent collection of music - a proper record,’ said Mark.

’With more fantastic input from Kieran and with some amazing drumming from Steve, the album really found a voice of its own.

’Where "Refer" was essentially built around a collection of demo recordings, "Old Blood" was created from the start as a complete album, with a recognisable and interlinked set of themes, connected and driven by the anger and desperation we feel and which we’ve seen build up in the world around us over the last few years,’ he said.

’It’s an angry record, for an angry time and, thanks to Cold Transmission, we’ve been given a medium to express our anger.’

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers