Protokoll 19: Dark Electronic Duo Announces EP Following New Single

Protokoll 19, the dark electronic duo from Tampa, Florida, is preparing to release their latest single, ‘When Will It End,’ on March 28, 2025, through Danse Macabre Records. The track marks a new chapter in the band’s expanding discography, continuing their exploration of deeply emotional and existential themes. Serving as the lead release from their upcoming EP, ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell,’ the single sets the tone for what promises to be one of the group’s most conceptually ambitious and sonically immersive offerings to date.

Conceived during the global upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, Protokoll 19 emerged as a visceral response to collective uncertainty and personal unrest. Founded by composer and keyboardist Travis Hines and vocalist-lyricist Jayson Smith, the band named their project in direct reference to the era’s chaos. This context is central to their ethos: Protokoll 19 crafts music that channels psychological distress into electrified aggression.

Their aesthetic blends aggressive electronics with intricate, atmospheric textures. Onstage and in studio, the duo embraces sonic brutality as a means of expression, pairing dense synth layers and pounding rhythms with lyrical introspection. Their music is not merely performative—it seeks to confront, process, and connect. Audiences respond not only to the power of the beat but also to the emotional truths woven into each track.

Since their inception, the band has released a series of notable works, including the debut EP ‘Phase One’ (2021) and standalone singles such as ‘The Calling’ and ‘Entity’ (2021), followed by ‘Clairvoyance’ and ‘Made to Suffer’ in 2024. These early recordings trace a thematic trajectory rooted in self-examination, alienation, and catharsis.

Musical Style and Influences

Genre and Sound

Protokoll 19’s sound is rooted in the harsh, high-intensity aesthetics of aggrotech and dark electro. Their work fuses abrasive synth textures with relentless percussion and distorted vocals to create a soundscape that is both rhythmically punishing and emotionally evocative. Drawing from the lineage of acts such as Suicide Commando, Acylum, and Centhron, the duo shapes a signature style that is unmistakably their own—mechanical, yet fiercely human.

Each composition is meticulously layered to reflect a balance between chaos and control. There is a calculated intensity to their arrangements, often oscillating between rhythmic precision and sonic abrasion. This equilibrium is central to their identity: industrial strength welded to vulnerability.

Thematic Elements

Beyond its sonic aggression, Protokoll 19’s music engages deeply with the human psyche. Lyrically, they navigate the fraught terrains of anxiety, despair, spiritual dissonance, and trauma. Their songwriting does not merely express suffering—it confronts it head-on. Tracks are constructed not just as auditory experiences but as vehicles for catharsis.

The duo frequently invokes occult symbolism and existential imagery to frame their themes, offering a kind of mythologized reflection on psychological pain. In doing so, they invite listeners into a shared emotional space—one where private turmoil becomes a communal, and often danceable, ritual. This convergence of bodily motion and mental confrontation defines their immersive presence within the dark electronic scene.

Previous Works and Achievements

‘VVitch’ Single

Released in April 2024, ‘VVitch’ marked a turning point in Protokoll 19’s artistic direction. The track draws from folkloric and spiritual binaries, casting light and darkness not as moral opposites but as psychic states in perpetual tension. Inspired by the idea of willpower under siege, the song interrogates how internal forces—doubt, fear, desire—can distort perception and paralyze agency. Its production leans into cinematic atmospherics, juxtaposed with raw vocal delivery that heightens its ritualistic tone.

More than a standalone single, ‘VVitch’ acted as a conceptual precursor to what would become the ‘Mental Decay’ EP. It introduced a heightened lyrical focus and a more nuanced emotional palette that would define their next body of work.

‘Mental Decay’ EP

Released in June 2024, ‘Mental Decay’ is arguably Protokoll 19’s most cohesive and narratively driven release to date. The EP comprises seven original tracks, including ‘Solitude,’ ‘RIP (Me Apart),’ and ‘Spirit Board,’ along with remixes by C-Lekktor, Frontal Boundary, and Midnight Nightmare. The sequencing is intentionally cyclical, echoing the non-linear experience of mental illness: periods of despair, reprieve, reflection, and relapse are woven into the sonic structure.

Musically, the EP pushes deeper into the subgenre of Hell-Electro, defined by glacial textures, pounding rhythms, and guttural distortion. The vocals are unrelenting, at times bordering on incantatory, reinforcing the impression of a personal reckoning disguised as dance music. Thematically, the release stands as a chronicle of psychological warfare—between self-loathing and survival instinct, detachment and revelation.

Critical reception was notably positive. ReGen Magazine praised the album’s unflinching portrayal of mental health themes, noting how “sinister melodies and distortion-laden vocals mirror the torment they describe.” For listeners drawn to music that does not flinch from darkness, ‘Mental Decay’ served both as confrontation and release.

The New Single: ‘When Will It End’

Release Details

Scheduled for release on March 28, 2025, ‘When Will It End’ arrives as the latest sonic chapter in Protokoll 19’s evolving narrative. Distributed through Danse Macabre Records, the single serves as a formal introduction to their forthcoming EP, ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell.’ Teased across the band’s social media channels, including Instagram and Facebook, short audio previews have already sparked curiosity within fan communities and industrial music circles alike.

Though unreleased, the single has been positioned by the band as both a thematic and stylistic fulcrum—bridging the raw, personal confrontations of ‘Mental Decay’ with a broader, perhaps more spiritual or metaphysical inquiry into the nature of suffering and existential repetition.

Musical Composition and Themes

While full production details remain under wraps, early glimpses suggest ‘When Will It End’ retains the signature sonic architecture that defines Protokoll 19: relentless percussive assault, warping synth textures, and a vocal performance delivered with barely restrained ferocity. Yet beneath the aggression, the title alone evokes a question that is as temporal as it is philosophical. It gestures not only at personal despair but at a universal exhaustion—a world caught in cycles of dread with no visible reprieve.

Given the band’s history of integrating thematic depth with physical intensity, ‘When Will It End’ is likely to function as both anthem and inquiry: a cry for emotional release disguised as a club-ready track. If prior work is any indication, the song will not provide easy answers, but instead push listeners to sit with discomfort, question their own thresholds, and perhaps find clarity in the distortion.

Upcoming EP: ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell’

Release Information

Set for release on March 28, 2025, ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell’ marks the next evolution in Protokoll 19’s creative vision. Issued under the German label Danse Macabre Records—a platform known for championing experimental and genre-defiant acts—the EP continues the duo’s partnership with European audiences while reinforcing their position within the global industrial circuit.

Anticipated Content and Themes

Though the band has yet to reveal the EP’s full tracklist, the title alone offers a potent thematic framework. Drawing on the metaphysical concept of purgatory as a liminal zone—a waiting room between redemption and damnation—the EP promises to explore psychological states suspended in uncertainty. If ‘Mental Decay’ was an inward reckoning with mental instability, ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell’ suggests a broader inquiry into systems of belief, cosmic injustice, and the blurred boundary between suffering and transcendence.

The record’s conceptual ambition is matched by heightened anticipation from fans and critics. With a track record for crafting emotionally immersive releases rooted in precise production and brutal honesty, Protokoll 19 is expected to deliver an EP that not only expands their sonic palette but deepens the intellectual and emotional stakes of their work. Early promotional material hints at a denser, perhaps more cinematic sound, indicating a departure from club-centric formatting in favor of layered storytelling and immersive sound design.

Reception and Expectations

Fan and Critical Anticipation

With the forthcoming release of ‘When Will It End’ and the EP ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell,’ Protokoll 19 finds itself at a critical juncture—creatively sharpened by its past and increasingly scrutinized by an attentive audience. The response to 2024’s ‘Mental Decay’ signaled more than just appreciation for sonic aggression; it revealed a listener base drawn to the band’s unflinching portrayal of internal collapse and hard-earned resilience. Critics noted the EP’s structural sophistication, while fans connected with its raw vulnerability—a rare balance in a genre often dominated by mechanical detachment.

Anticipation for the upcoming releases has been fueled by the group’s strategic use of social media and by their consistency in delivering emotionally grounded content across formats. From live performance teasers to curated visual aesthetics, Protokoll 19 has crafted a sense of narrative continuity that goes beyond isolated singles or EPs. For fans of aggrotech and industrial music more broadly, the band represents a new model: sonically abrasive yet thematically intimate.

The looming question, however, is how far they are willing to push the boundaries—both musically and conceptually. Will ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell’ offer spiritual release, or further descent? Will their expanding audience reshape their underground roots, or reaffirm them? These tensions are part of the excitement, and part of the promise.

Conclusion

As they prepare to unveil ‘Somewhere Between Purgatory and Hell,’ Protokoll 19 stands at the edge of a new artistic threshold. Their work continues to mine emotional unease not for spectacle, but for understanding—approaching despair as a language rather than a condition. In doing so, they have forged a sonic identity that is as confrontational as it is cathartic.

The forthcoming EP is not merely a follow-up to ‘Mental Decay,’ but an expansion of intent—a deeper excavation into the forces that fracture the self and the rituals we construct to survive it. With every release, the duo seems less interested in genre orthodoxy and more compelled by narrative cohesion, emotional depth, and the intimacy of shared suffering.

In an era increasingly defined by noise—digital, political, psychological—Protokoll 19 offers something rare: a signal within the static. Their music does not soothe, but it does speak. And more importantly, it listens back.