On September 18, the Austrian music project mind.in.a.box will release their ninth studio album, Retaliation. Unlike any other band in electronic music and beyond, mind.in.a.box is unique in that their albums form part of a cohesive narrative that unfolds continuously from album to album. Retaliation will continue the band’s long-running cyberpunk saga that began in 2004 with their first album, Lost Alone. Before it arrives, I’m revisiting the story so far, including Black and White, the most recent chapter. Let’s get caught up.
Key characters & concepts
Black – The protagonist of the story and one of the top agents at the Agency. He was sent to eliminate the Friend, but his mission failed so the Agency erased his memory. He eventually rebuilt his identity and joined the rebels he once hunted.
White – Black’s former boss and head of the Agency. He controls the System, relentlessly pursues the rebels, and wants to gain access to the Dreamweb.
Night – A mysterious women who is a member of the rebellion. She introduces Black to the Dreamweb and the rebel movement.
The Friend – A quantum physicist who created the System for the Agency. He later turns against them after realizing the harm his creation caused. He escaped the Agency and became one of the leaders of the resistance.
The Rebels – A resistance movement fighting the Agency. A group of Rebels known as Sleepwalkers helped Black recover from his amnesia. They can access the Dreamweb.
The Agency – An authoritarian organization that controls society using surveillance, propaganda, technology, and and a device called the System. White is its leader. Black was formerly an agent of the Agency.
The System – A global device used to control society. It was created for the Agency by the Friend before he came to regret his creation and turned against it.
The Dreamweb – A mysterious alternate world that can be accessed via technology and the music of a band called mind.in.a.box. It is beyond the Agency’s control. Only those with a free mind can enter the Dreamweb.
The MIND.IN.A.BOX story so far
Need a refresher of the full story? Start here. These recaps trace the mind.in.a.box saga from Lost Alone through Broken Legacies.
Lost Alone (2004) – The saga begins with an unnamed man who awakens alone and without any memories. He’s being watched by mysterious figures who track him to a bar where they discover a body on the floor. Read the full recap →
Dreamweb (2005) – The still unnamed protagonist experiences unsettling dreams that may be related to a mysterious world called the Dreamweb. He searches for a woman he believes can help him. A character named White hunts them all. Read the full recap →
Crossroads (2007) – The protagonist starts to rebuild his memory with the help of mysterious figures called the Sleepwalkers. He learns that White erased his identity, and he finally remembers his name: Black. He decides to join the Sleepwalkers. Read the full recap →
Revelations (2010) – As Black searches for the Sleepwalkers, he discovers that music is the key to accessing the Dreamweb. He learns that he was a former agent at the Agency and White was his boss. The rebels tell him to meet them in the Dreamweb and they will fight the Agency together. Read the full recap →
Memories (2015) – Black reunites with the Rebels in the Dreamweb and finally remembers his past. They battle White and the Agency’s men on a rooftop, where the Friend uses the power of the Dreamweb to fight White. Back in his lab, White runs experiments trying to find access to the Dreamweb. Read the full recap →
Broken Legacies (2017) – A prequel that takes us back 20 years reveals that the Friend created the System, but turned against the Agency after he realized the harm he’d done. The Friend escapes the Agency and helps build the resistance while Black hunts him. Read the full recap →
Background behind Black and White
In 2023, mind.in.a.box released their eighth studio album, Black and White. At 16 tracks and 74 minutes, it was the project’s longest and most ambitious release yet. The album furthered the adventures of mysterious figures named Black and White in an ongoing cyberpunk storyline that began way back in 2004.
It had been six years since the previous mind.in.a.box album, Broken Legacies, and the world had changed considerably. In an interview, Stefan Poiss described those years as turbulent and distracting. No kidding. Most obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic killed millions of people worldwide and led to massive global shutdowns and individual quarantines. Lifesaving vaccines substantially reduced severe illness and death, and the world eventually recovered from a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
That context matters because Black and White, more than any other mind.in.a.box album, offers real-world connotations that might surprise—and, let’s be honest, disappoint—some listeners. The album is full of references to government propaganda, injections, mandatory medication, conspiracy theories, social resets, compliance, and an “insurrection.” Yes, they use that phrase. In 2023, “insurrection” carried extraordinary political baggage in the United States following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. And before anyone scoffs at my suggestion that an Austrian music project might be alluding to American politics, here’s a gentle reminder that Josh Kreger, who wrote the lyrics for Black and White, is an American writer and college professor in Pennsylvania.
Then there’s this. In 2021, Stefan submitted a public statement to the Austrian Parliament opposing compulsory COVID vaccination. His statement questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines, compared COVID mortality to the flu, and called mandatory vaccination scientifically unjustified and unconstitutional. Yikes. It’s hard to dismiss Black and White’s references to injections, compulsory medication, and loss of rights as mere coincidence.
While I strongly disagree with Stefan’s views on COVID vaccination, I’m still deeply invested in the world he created. The Dreamweb continues to fascinate me, as does the music, the characters, the incredible robot voices, and the nearly two decades of mythology. I am approaching the next album, Retaliation, with both wonder and caution.
How Black and White advances the storyline
After the prequel album Broken Legacies took us 20 years into the past, Black and White returns to the present with this iconic line: “It’s so good to see you again.”
Our protagonist Black watches Night and the Friend reunite on a beach. The Friend reveals that a traitor has given the Agency his designs for a device that can open the Dreamweb. He reassures Night that only someone with a free mind can enter the Dreamweb.
We get a clearer picture of how the Agency maintains control. Propaganda, surveillance, mandatory medication, and pressure to conform are part of everyday life. Citizens are told to trust the Agency and integrate into the System.
Black infiltrates the Agency. He moves through its corridors armed with guns, high-tech equipment, and a spider-like automaton. He kills several security officers and fights his way toward White’s laboratory.
Black eventually reaches White. Rather than simply kill his former boss, he tells White that he is giving him a chance. Their confrontation forces White to reckon with the choices he has made, the people he has lost, and the world he helped create.
I previously assumed that the album ends with White’s death, largely because one track is literally titled “The Death of White.” On closer listen, I’m no longer convinced that happens. Black later encounters White inside the Dreamweb—a startling development given that the Friend told us earlier that only someone with a free mind can enter it.
The album closes without fully explaining how White reached the Dreamweb or what happens next. Instead, final track “Activate” returns to the saga’s recurring imagery of frequencies, coding, transfer, and transcendence. Whatever happened between Black and White, their story clearly isn’t over.
What the critics said about Black and White
IDie:YouDie: “One subject which must be taken up with regards to Black And White‘s lyrics and story is how eerily its depiction of the Agency’s authoritarian dystopia dovetails with far-right and anti-vax conspiracies concerning ‘The Great Reset,’ microchipped vaccines, and all of the other horseshit we’ve all had to endure in recent years, despite pretty much all governments agreeing to return to business as usual as if COVID had never happened well over a year ago. On the one hand, it’s easy to see how those various conspiracies have tapped into the same heroic narrative of fighting against unjust authority which science fiction narratives have been using since day one (see The Matrix films or Deus Ex games for similar deployments) and to chalk up Black And White‘s resonances with said conspiracies to that shared lineage. However, lines like ‘medication is mandatory…refusal may result in the loss of your rights’ within the context of ‘the reset of society’ are bound to raise some eyebrows.” (Full review)
Medienkonverter: “Black and White features more catchy tracks like ‘Activate’ (whose grainy sounds are reminiscent of the R.E.T.R.O. release) and ‘Integrate.’ These two songs alone are worth the price of the album. But the album’s narrative is further developed with meticulous attention to detail. The vocals have been refined, and the songs offer so many surprises that it takes several listens to fully appreciate this extended album… Black And White is the absolute MIAB masterpiece.” (Full review)
Black and White’s standout track
“Drowning in the Fire” is Black and White at its best because it steps away from the dense exposition and lets the emotion take over. The song captures the turmoil at the heart of the story with dramatic synths, a strong chorus, and memorable lyrical turns about tranquil seals, catching dreams, and the age of Arcadia. I’ve always thought mind.in.a.box is strongest when the characters stop explaining the plot and start wrestling with what it has done to them, and “Drowning in the Fire” does exactly that.
