Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Pachyderm from Brighton’s Belmondo is one of the most powerful Industrial Gothic tracks to bless my big ears this year. Epic and packed with surging guitars and ethereal vocals.
Belmondo is a unique fusion of industrial and grunge styles, with a gothic aesthetic, comprising members from Switzerland, France, and the UK. Jules Freiss, the drummer, scoured Brighton for the perfect fit and discovered Laurent Lesaffre, the guitarist, and two lead vocalists and songwriters, Carmen Mellino and Kelan Moore. The band, named after French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, had to deal with the pandemic-induced separation in 2020, and so they decided to bide their time and wait for the opportune moment to emerge. They made their live debut in early 2022, having spent their time honing their sound and style. In March of the same year, they released their debut single, "RTD," which showcased Moore's apocalyptic criticism of the internet culture's mob mentality.
Review by Thomas Imposter