Out of the Ashes | Doppelgengar | Self-released on Bandcamp
Doppelgengar’s genre-hopping November 2025 release Out of the Ashes spans a range of influences from hardcore, math rock, prog, art rock, and indie, but is tied together by the through-line of a political journey from demoralization to revolutionary optimism. The singer reflects on his place in the revolution: moving from despair in the current one and longing for a new society, to fury at the ruling class, and eventually to seeing the inevitable bright future and rejoicing in the force of the proletarian revolution.
“Greed Cathedral” opens the album with meandering rubato guitar framed by flute-y synths, “A pining ache for a world I’ll never see / dying for a way of life yet to be,” before diving into a shifting series of hypnotic rhythms and raging metaphors. The lyric turn of the album is summed up in this song, as the singer identifies the enemy as the imperialists, timed with the rising energy of the instrumentals. Listeners will enjoy experiencing the album straight through, rather than hopping around, as the tracks are thoughtfully ordered.
Out of the Ashes is a musical study in contradiction, with marked shifts in energy between sections and across tracks. “Moon Bloom”, an easy favorite of the album, floats through a hazy soundscape reminiscent of Brian Eno or Boards of Canada, depicting a world of disillusionment and escapism. We are left with a lyrical glimmer of hope to face the world: “Confronted by my shadow / I choose to fight.” The lyric turn brings up a question of Marxist doctrine, with consuming alcohol in the face of despair posed as chasing in a circle, while “in spirals / the night goes”. By what mechanism is society producing revolutionaries, turning from drinking the night away into dedication to becoming an instrument of necessity? The answer is given by the ideology of the international proletariat.
Noisy guitars and tortured vocals take the lead in “Forged In Flames,” the heaviest track of the record. In a surprising twist, a dreamy transition spins into indie-pop vibes that carry us into perhaps the most touching moment of the record. The lyrics mark a cathartic turning point where the singer emerges from darkness and asserts his full commitment to the revolution. The lyrics are memorable and perhaps relatable to many in the movement who have been buoyed in hard times by the support of comrades to be tempered in the class struggle: “I won’t betray the / comrades that gave me / resolve when I’d lost hope” […] “you can’t break me / forged in flames / I’m iron not bone.”
Closing out the album, “The World Reborn” leaves us with synths that chime and twinkle and a Thom Yorke-esque vocal that foretells the trying but victorious battles to come, also tellingly switching from the lyric “I” to the “we” of collective action: “the river burst through / the decrepit dam / the people unleashed / their fury at hand,” without forgetting the final goal of a society free of exploitation of man by man—Communism: “a wondrous life / bereft of exploitation // the longest night / carries the brightest dawn // the fiercest fight / will soon be won.” The track acts as an anthem to close the album, a song to listen to on the bus to work—something Doppelgengar sings about in “Dead in the Ground”, preparing for the revolutionary work to begin once he punches out.
Doppelgengar’s lyrics are strongest when they bridge the metaphor between mythological labels of imperialists as vampires to be slain, for instance, and persisting through the grind of proletarian life, choosing to fight rather than submit. It’s important to put working life into the elevating chamber of art.
It is no small feat to craft overtly political lyrics while avoiding heavy-handedness and remaining relatable for the listener, but Doppelgengar takes on this tall task, interweaving narrative lyrics with metaphor and revolutionary quotes and slogans that appear naturally as the album progresses. We hope this will inspire other musicians and artists to follow suit—of applying art to the question of maintaining one’s post in the revolution.
Stream the album now on Bandcamp, where you can also purchase digital downloads to support the creator.
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