Melbourne’s The Night Terrors offer a mind-melting mix of dark synth magic, thunderous dreamscapes and other-worldly electronica.
Featuring the haunting theremin melodies of Miles Brown (student of Russian theremin queen Lydia Kavina), hypnotic rhythms and vintage synthesisers, The Night Terrors have earned a reputation as one of Australia’s most unique and original acts.
Following the release of The Night Terrors EP (2001) and Lightless EP (2002) through Unstable Ape Records, The Night Terrors’ debut full length album Back To Zero was released in April 2009 through Australian label EXO Records. Back To Zero was reissued for release in Europe/USA/Japan through TRENDKILL Recordings (France) in September 2010, and reissued on double 12” coloured vinyl through Homeless Records (AU).
Released in June 2012 through OSCL Records (AUS) / Seed Records (UK), Monster / Lasers for Eyes was the first glimpse of The Night Terrors’ new material.
In March 2014 The Night Terrors unleashed their long awaited follow-up to Back To Zero with the release of Spiral Vortex through Homeless Records. An interstellar horror-synth fantasy featuring an orgy of vintage electronics, Spiral Vortex saw the band build upon their post-prog roots to explore a broader universe of warped psychedelia and analogue synth fetishism.
Following their 2012 performance supporting Italian Horror soundtrack legends Goblin, in May 2014 The Night Terrors were commissioned by the City of Melbourne to compose an album of music with the southern hemisphere’s largest Grand Pipe Organ. Recorded at the Melbourne Town Hall, Friday the 13th June 2014, and launched on Halloween 31st October 2014, Pavor Nocturnus – Composition for Grand Organ, theremin, electronics and percussion is an inferno of haunting theremin-led post prog and dark cosmic dance. The most frightening and beautiful Night Terrors recording to date, Pavor Nocturnus was released on limited edition coloured vinyl through Twisted Nerve Australia (a joint imprint between Dual Planet and Andy Votel’s Finders Keepers Records). A special edition of the album was also produced for cult horror soundtrack record label Death Waltz Recording Company in December 2014.
Following the success of ‘Pavor Nocturnus’ the band went on hiatus, with Brown releasing two solo albums on Death Waltz.
2023 sees The Night Terrors return in ethereal electro-goth mode with their fourth album ‘HYPNOTICA – Composition For Theremin And Electronic Music Synthesizer’.
For HYPNOTICA The Night Terrors are stripped back to an all-electronic duo. Brown is joined again by synth warrior Sarah Lim to deliver a deeply cinematic album of haunting emotional electronics.
HYPNOTICA spotlights the unique expressive capacities of the theremin, the world’s oldest and most mysterious electronic instrument. The eerie disembodied voice of Brown’s gesturally-controlled device takes centre stage here, materialising as a transfixing dramatic lead in an extraordinary otherworld of gothic operatics, mesmeric melody and euphoric spectral electro.
Heavy narcotic atmospheres bleed into a reverie of cosmic sedative bliss, while the soaring cry of Brown’s theremin evokes an exquisite romantic melancholy and a profound sense of psychic yearning.
HYPNOTICA will be released on November 3 2023 by Disdain Records in Australia.
The Night Terrors have toured with Hawkwind, Black Mountain, Melt-Banana, Serena Maneesh and performed with Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Goblin, Boris, Bardo Pond, Marc Ribot, HTRK, Pink Mountaintops and more.