Rexx Arkana, the New York-based DJ, producer and vocalist best known for co-founding the harsh EBM duo FGFC820 and heading the benefit project Bruderschaft, died on 3 July 2026 aged 57, following a prolonged struggle with cancer. Rik Millhouse by birth, he had survived thyroid cancer in 2015, only for a new Stage 4 diagnosis to follow in summer 2025. He was discharged from hospital on 29 June, choosing to be with his family for the time remaining. Condolences go to his relatives, friends and collaborators.
Bruderschaft’s “Forever” is available on the Alfa Matrix store in its expanded 2CD form, with a CD edition listed as well, and the full “Forever (Bonus Tracks Version)” can be streamed on Bandcamp.
Two benefit releases on Alfa Matrix
Bruderschaft was Arkana’s charity project, and its best-known song had a personal origin. He wrote the lyrics to “Forever” after his own father had died of cancer in 1999, also at 57, and dedicated the release to him. Put out in Europe by Alfa Matrix in 2003, the single united guests from across the scene: Ronan Harris of VNV Nation sang, Sebastian Komor of Icon of Coil produced, Joakim Montelius of Covenant supplied samples and Stephan Groth of Apoptygma Berzerk added backing vocals. Remixes came from Front 242, Camouflage, Feindflug, Melotron and others. “Forever” topped the German Alternative Charts, and its proceeds went to cancer charities, with the project raising close to 50,000 dollars overall.
A decade later the project came back with the album “Return”, again on Alfa Matrix (22 November 2013) and again as a benefit record. Guest vocalists on its nine songs included Assemblage 23’s Tom Shear, Aesthetic Perfection’s Daniel Graves, Haujobb’s Daniel Myer and System Syn’s Clint Carney. The initial edition was housed in a carton box with a bonus remix disc. The store lists “Return” as a CD and a 2CD, alongside the “Falling” EP.
Hard-edged EBM with FGFC820
Arkana teamed up with fellow DJ Dräcos to found FGFC820 in New York in 2004. The sound was harsh EBM: bluntly delivered beats, hard-edged synthesizer lines and shouted vocals from Arkana. Records appeared mostly on Germany’s NoiTekk, with American editions via COP International. The discography begins with the 2005 EP “The Hanging Garden”, then goes on to the albums “Urban Audio Warfare” (2006), “Law & Ordnance” (2008) and “Homeland Insecurity” (2012), and in 2022 Haus Arkana issued the compilation “American History Vol. 1”. Festival appearances included Leipzig’s Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Montreal’s Kinetik, and the duo also took part in Alfa Matrix’s “Endzeit Bunkertracks” series.
About Rexx Arkana
Rexx Arkana spent nearly forty years at the heart of North America’s dark-electronic scene. His DJ career began in 1987 on the radio station of Syracuse University; from there he spun industrial, EBM and synth records throughout the States and abroad, adopting a stage name inspired by Ministry’s Al Jourgensen. Alongside the turntables he was a writer and editor, holding the post of managing editor at “Interface” magazine, and he built Statik Industrial Television, a video series chronicling dark-electronic events across the continent that got its own channel in 2018.
VampireFreaks and its Dark Force Fest were a constant in Arkana’s orbit, and he operated an imprint of his own, Haus Arkana. For Side-Line he contributed a 2013 column, 80sObscurities, whose roots lay in a Facebook group devoted to overlooked retro electronic tracks. More from the label can be heard on the Alfa Matrix Bandcamp.