NINA - Carnival Night

Berlin-based synthwave icon and golden girl, Nina Boldt, or just simply NINA, pushes the envelop and takes us to the carnival witching hour with the fresh new single from her trilogy of summer releases, “Carnival Night.” Co-produced with fellow synth great and guitar hero Radio Wolf, Carnival Night is a very directional, conceptual synth track that explores juxtapositions of darker shades and haunting treatments with vibrant, bejeweled sonic soundscapes. Very rarely we see NINA take a slightly darker route, but this track is one of her most unique gems yet. “Carnival Night” starts with this striking kaleidoscope of augmented synth arpeggiated multi-variant patches that hauntingly deviate from scale at times. This somehow perfectly sets up the environment, which we envision to be retro VHS images of bejeweled lights in a carnival scene. NINA’s signature crystalline and angelic voice enters with her perfect harmonies over stylized lo-fi electronic kit and moody atmospheric guitars. The track moves into a dramatic breakdown where NINA arrests listeners with a spell-binding chant before crescendoing in powerful unison with Radiowolf’s sonic, prog-tinted, darkwave synth lead riff that seems to invoke The Cure and Robert Smith. The result is a real dark fantasy and a delightfully unique dark jewel which confirms that NINA’s creative growth and exploration with her artistic vision know no limits. NINA bravely pushes her own space and takes ownership of new directional concepts and sounds along with partner-in-crime, Radio Wolf.

We look forward to the rest of her Summer Trilogy!

For more NINA, visit her on Spotify

THE G - Wanderers

Review by Vero Kitsune

Los Angeles-based Synthwave artist G. Brown, also known as THE G, has recently joined in synthwave and retrowave stalwart New Retrowave Records (NRW) artist roster, which includes synth greats Ollie Wride, Michael Oakley, Jessie Frye, Futurecop! and Parallels. The G initially garnered attention with the release of his first two dynamite offerings - Cosmopolis (2017) and Concrete Island (2018) - and has since built a sonic brand evoking “daydreams, endless summer nights and the romance of the open road.” After four years in the making, The G unveils his latest full-length record, Wanderers under the NRW umbrella. The 11-track grand opus deviates from the usual confines of electronic music production by incorporating live drums and guitar performances into his signature neon-lit, retro soundscapes. Featuring a host of notable talents like Dimi Kaye, Michelle B., JJ Mist, Vandal Moon, Vampire Step-Dad, Wanderers carries a mix of 5 vocals and 6 instrumental tracks to create a seamless yet tonally and emotionally varied, introspective experience.

“There are a lot of great synthwave albums, but most give you ten tracks of the same vibe. I wanted to capture the wider range of feelings and moods that a person actually experiences. But most of all, Wanderers is about that yearning to explore, which we’ve been cut off from for the past year,” The G explains. “Most of my songs are about driving LA at night and being emo while doing it,” he humorously adds. We can definitely relate.

Wanderers starts off with “Starshine" - a very moody, dramatic intro composed of gently shimmering top lines over gradating warm, tubed synths pads reminiscent of classic lo-fi ‘80s movie scores. The track pushes and pulls in a soothing, calming lull, generating a meditative state which sets up the stage for the following track. In a bold, unexpected maneuver, “Memories of Ice” jumps right in and hits hard in full blazing thunder as one of the record’s highlights, immediately delivering an exhilarating, action-packed arpeggiated thrill. “Memories of Ice” features a riveting guitar performance by one of the very few “master shredders” in the synth scene, Dimi Kaye, layered with catchy synth hooks over the massive outrun dynamics that would make one want to jump into an F1 racing game. The record makes a swift return to dreamscapes with the title track and the record’s first single, “Wanderers,” showcasing an effervescent vocal performance by Michelle B. reminiscent of young Stevie Nicks. “Wanderers” contains reflective nostalgia vibes, starting with crystalline arps over Michelle B.’s honey-coated, perfectly loose, emotive melodic delivery. The record then takes a smooth turn, transitioning into a colder, moodier vibe in “Lights,” featuring The G’s effortlessly cool vocal delivery and catchy hooks. The track is remarkably low-key and uncomplicated with classic back-beats and simple top line melodies, yet it still drives with The G’s sensitive sound choices over the undulating undercurrents that seem to carry the track on a steady flowing freeway.

The G takes us back into dreamland in the instrumental track “Dreamtime,” featuring heraldic, celestial arps that seem to harken intergalactic rainbow roads and glittering neon-grid dimensions perpetuating in every ‘80s childhood memories. Similar to “Lights,” “Dreamtime” ebbs and flows more on the delicate, subdued side in its writing, yet the stylistic sound choices bring out the vibrant hues and inherent richness of its memorable, heart-felt dynamics. Michelle B.’s vocal prowess makes a return in “Away,” providing stunning cadences in her emotive delivery that first brings warmth and 70s-type of retro tenderness to the pastel-hued, pillowy track before climbing into pitch-perfect crescendoes that compel listeners to sing along. The record maintains its cool cruise with “Gardens of the Moon” - another track that discards superfluous embellishments and confidently utilizes steady-streaming, single variant arps and pared down melodic Eastern scales that turn into ear worms over time.

Darkwave artist Vandal Moon makes a dashing appearance in “Remember“ and delivers a very lush vocal performance reminiscent of Robert Smith, bringing unexpected dark jewel tones and a nice deep contrast to the record’s overall glistening neon and pastel palette. This track showcases The G’s ability to divert and explore darker realms outside of synthwave, yet still manages to maintain cohesive sonic qualities while creating a relevant bridge and intersection between two distinguished genres. Retrowave artist JJ Mist guest stars in the youthful hyper ballad “Can’t Wait,” invoking sand-blasted teenage dreams, shoulder pads, corkscrew hair and Lisa Frank perfumed stationery. The record eases into the smoke-filled, slow-build number “Out There” featuring Vampire Step-Dad. The track showcases gentle, tingling melodic top notes and star-lit glimmering arpeggios paving way for a grand guitar crescendo. Wanderers finishes its sonic journey with “Spiral,” an instrumental finale that retains the record’s overall minimalistic approach, but fills all the gaps with imagery of emotional, neon-lit bold strokes. The track harkens the spirit of a new dawn, fresh awakenings and gentle breeze brought by sun-kissed oceans to welcome summer, captivating listeners with hope and longing in blissful surrender.

If this were visual art, Wanderers could be easily described as a series of refined watercolor pieces - delicate and transparent with nothing superfluous or overdone that could easily mar a placid landscape. The record defiantly discards all the usual pretenses of musical bravado or over-the-top athleticism, but rather leverages understated and low-key dynamics in its own romantic way. Wanderers exemplifies The G’s sincere and unique approach and sensitivity to details established in his choice of wave forms, emotional cadences in compositional delivery, and how slight shifts in stylistic choices truly make a world of difference, giving color to dynamics and soundscapes. The perfect description for this record is “perfectly chill” with its own share of peaks and valleys that provide listeners with a beautiful, vast spectrum of hooks, dramatic moods and unexpected jewels to sink their teeth into and satiate the crave for cinematic nostalgia. Less is often truly more. Wanderers serves synthwave and retrowave lovers all the way through as a solid offering and an instant classic staple.

To keep updated with The G, visit newretrowave.bandcamp.com

CAT TEMPER - Kitty Hate Machine

Review by KIZUNAUT

Mike Langlie aka CAT TEMPER is a Boston-based musician, graphic designer, illustrator and the most puntastic feline in the synth-scene. Cat Temper has become known for his unique style of music that eludes precise definition but which draws influence from 80s industrial acts, synthpunk and electronic oddities like DEVO, Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Alien Sex Fiend. While mostly far removed from the typical fare of the genre, the synthwave community has eagerly adopted his unique music that might have been led astray in other times.

Starting from 2019, the extremely prolific musician has released eight albums, including an alternate soundtrack to the film Eraserhead. While the previous album More Than a Feline was an interesting but ultimately somewhat uneven experiment in blending Cat Temper's instrumentals with guest vocalists, the new album Kitty Hate Machine is a return to Cat Temper’s established form of instrumental music while offering an evolution of his sound.

As is fit for a tribute to Nine Inch Nails, Kitty Hate Machine sees Cat Temper at his most industrial. There are squirming basslines that recall 80s electronic body music, the occasional splashes of heavy, crunchy guitars and bursts of harsh FM synths. The style of composition and production is however unmistakably of Cat Temper's own, and the album is in my opinion better for it. It is truly a tribute and not a derivative.

Amongst the gnarlier industrial elements there are plenty of lighter moments to be found on the album. Cat Temper has a talent for conjuring up unusual melodies and strange synth tones that have prowled unknown sonic territories between quirky, mysterious, geeky and witchy. Sandwiched between growling EBM-sections you can find plenty of his off-kilter synthpoppy, videogamey stylings. This gives the tracks at times an almost dialogue-like feeling. The overall vibe is hard to describe, sounding like some kind of a videogame rave in a cartoon bat cave with moments of pure 80s leather jackets and sunglasses cool thrown in. Coming from a background of enjoying both 80s industrial and videogame music greatly, I enjoy the vibe. There's something quite visual to the music and I'd imagine some kind of animated, narrative music videos could elevate the music to a wholly new level.

On the production side of things the album has a definitively retro sound mixed with very pristine production. For the most part the synths and drums sound like things that could have well existed in 1989 when Pretty Hate Machine came out. There's plenty of klangtastic FM-synths, heavy detuned square basslines, leads and arps with relatively simple tones and synthlines with a decidedly 80s feel. But there's also some more modern sounds to be found in the mix, too. Cat Temper apparently uses the Casio synths and primitive drum machines he started with along with more modern equipment. You can really hear it here. The mixing and production of the album is clean, discerning and airy, with the oldschool FM synths giving it a certain archaic digital rawness and fuzziness. It's a unique take. You can really hear every detail, every purr and hiss of every synth in it. My only complaint when it comes to the production side of things is that I found bass drums occasionally getting lost in the mix. It's a very synth-forward album.

Cat Temper has always had a very striking, unique visual aesthetic featuring plenty of bright colors and cats. Kitty Hate Machine is no different. Featuring a very colorful illustration of a goth/punk woman with a leather vest that has a Cat Temper logo on it, the artwork conjures the inspiration and aesthetic of the album wonderfully. There’s playfulness in it, the hot salmon pink background, the rad leopard sleeves, but also a bit of a threat as she is brandishing a heavy chain. While Cat Temper is also a visual artist, the album artwork was done by the Brazilian artist Foreigner, and the gritty death metal inspired logo was done by the Russian designer Misha Mono.

The album opens with The Meoward Spiral. It gets straight into the business with a mix of super gritty guitars that almost recall black metal that eventually give way to a more electronic section with deep kick drums and a constant bassline. Synth leads join in, casting a mysterious, waiting mood. The track switches into a part where bursts of heavy riffs alternate with quirky high pitched synths, followed by an interlude of ascending guitar riffs. Fast electronic beat joins in the track picks up energy, finishing off with a mix of guitar riffs and high-pitched synths that cast a kind of darkly playful vibe.

The Paw That Feeds kicks off with a super gnarly line of FM synths playing a repeating riff that recalls oldschool EBM. After a brief guitar-driven interlude this gives way to a section driven that opens with strange throaty synths and a synthetic breakbeat. Layers of synths are built upon this formula, eventually building to a dramatic sounding climax. Grinding detuned synths and beats follow, and they are soon joined by a curious sounding bright arpeggio. The gnarly EBM section repeats before the track moves to it's extended outro section, featuring a metallic bass synth arp and a buzzy synth lead that are eventually joined by another brighter lead and guitars.

Shed Like A Hole opens with a detuned bass arpeggio and distorted wormy synths, strongly recalling 80s synth punk and industrial. Sharp, rolling synthetic drums come in, as does a wet, resonant secondary synth arp. The track bursts into life with a bright synth melody that feels like a call to an adventure. The track alternates between this melody and more gnarly sections until the end where the melody repeats and is joined by a whistling synth that gives the track a very spacey vibe.

Metallic FM bassline that is pure classic EBM opens Pet You Like An Animal. Dramatic, metallic synth hits join the bassline and the beat. The synth hits drop, but the bassline is now doubled with a super gritty FM faux-electric guitar, which is joined by synths which cast a strange, witchy mood. The section with dramatic synth hits repeats. This section is followed by an interlude of a resonant, pulsing synth bass and heavily detuned quirky arps, giving a faster variant of the verse, one last repeat of the chorus and a quick outro featuring the quirky arps from the interlude. One of the more structurally conventional pieces on the album and a personal favorite for it's oldschool industrial sound.

She's Gone Astray opens with buzzy, shrill, rapidly panning synths before exploding into a gritty, driving section dominated by a heavy bassline. An aery section dominated by hollow square synths that cast a mood that wanders between melancholy and mystery comes next.This is followed by an interlude that is lighter in mood that I can't help but to describe as ”cartoon chase sequence” music. The section with hollow square synths repeats, this time with additional high-pitched pizzicato synths pinging around. After a quick interlude the heavy driving bassline from the start comes back, this time mixed in with atmospheric swooshes and gnarly noisy synths, before ending with shrill, menacing synths that play a dramatic melody.

A quick drum roll kicks off Starfluffers Inc, soon followed by a steady beat and a menacing metallic FM synthline. Dramatic, squirming distorted synths come in, followed by large, somewhat choir-like synths coming in, forming a chorus for the track. The verse comes in again, this time with some extra elements thrown in. The chorus repeats with a spidery arpeggio joining in. A more stripped down version of the verse follows, which is then followed by one last extended repeat of the chorus. Another favorite of mine for it's hyper-dramatic dark synthpop mood; sounds like being hunted by a Terminator in an abandoned church in Los Angeles.

Purest Feline begins with a mysterious, dramatic sound effect that is followed by a rather videogamey sounding mix of arpeggiated basses and an evolving mass of sharp synths that sounds like halfway between an arp and a pad, having a kind of a Commodore 64 vibe to it. Energetic section of more videogamey elements alternating with rocking guitars follows next, and after that comes a section that is pure synthpop with it's detuned retro saw synth melody and extra slap bass hits. A brief interlude leads into a section where mysterious, dramatic synth hits loom over the bassline, soon joined by an equally dramatic and mysterious saw lead, culminating in a section with a rather funky extra slap bass line dropping in. The track strips itself down, leaving an alternative version of the earlier synthpoppy section that eventually builds up and leads to a repeat of the part with rocking guitars before ending with one note repeating over and over, the track getting sucked into outer space in a swoosh of synth effects. Yet another highlight of the album in my opinion for it's cool mysterious mood and varied synthwork.

Hissitation Marks is the album's closing track, and it kicks off with menacing pitch, bending synths which are then joined by a resonant arp that casts a sinister mood. A slow, heavy synth bassline follows, joined by crunchy, distorted guitars. Rolling percussions and a pattern of detuned saw synths joins in, casting a sinister mood. An interlude with guitar leads and  sharp synths that play a minor key melody follows. This is followed by a section dominated by a synthetic blastbeat and equally fast and harsh guitar work before the track somewhat abruptly ends with a quick repeat of the pitch-bending synths that it opened with.

Overall, the album is yet another very solid offering from Cat Temper and a gradual evolution of his unique sound. It quickly established itself as my favorite from his catalogue as I found the overall style very appealing. Those who like the quirkier side of retro synth music will enjoy the album, especially if they like bit of a bite. Fans of oldschool industrial will also likely find the music here quite a catch.

Cat Temper seems to have established a solid following and is well on the way to become a future cult classic. And for those who have been hesitant to explore his music because they've found all the cat puns too much of a hairball to swallow, this is the perfect opportunity to dip their paws into Cat Temper's ever-expanding discography. After all, there is serious talent behind all the humor.

For more Cat Temper, visit cattemper.com

PERTURBATOR - Lustful Sacraments

Review by KIZUNAUT

James Kent aka Perturbator is an artist that has been both genre-defining and genre-defying. From 2012 onwards he helped to establish and popularize the darksynth sound, developing his own highly recognizable style within the genre. Offering a mix of driving rhythms, gnarly synth basses, dark futuristic ambience and flourishes of synth melodies wrapped in song structures that expertly work with tension and release, Perturbator has been perhaps the most musically accomplished of the darksynth artists. It's no wonder he is among the rare few synthwave-associated artists known to a larger audience.

Perturbator's early style peaked with 2016's The Uncanny Valley, a cyberpunk-tinted dark electronic masterpiece offering the perfect mix of energy, atmosphere, passion and songwriting sensibilities. A diverse yet coherent album rooted in an expert sense of aesthetics. A true hallmark record and the perfect crystallization of the themes explored by the darksynth genre.

Having reached the highest possible peak of the synthwave genre there was only one direction to go to: elsewhere. 2017's New Model took the retro out of the retrowave and offered a decidedly futuristic take on Perturbator's style, a hyper-synthetic ultra-dark slice of futurewave with crafty synthwork and occasional bursts of synthetic blastbeats recalling extreme metal more than anything else. The result was the musical equivalent of an AI-piloted stealth bomber.

Lustful Sacraments offers another evolution of Perturbator's sound. Influenced by post-punk and the gothic music of the 80s and 90s, Lustful Sacraments is decidedly more human and retro than New Model in it's sound. While Perturbator isn't the first artist to explore mixing synthwave influences with post-punk, he has managed to blend the chimy chorus-drenched guitars and deep vocals seamlessly into his style of production and composition seamlessly. The results are tremendous, sounding instantly recognizable as Perturbator yet breaking new ground for the artist. The album also contains the most sung parts of any Perturbator album, some of them delivered by guest artists, some of them by Perturbator himself for the first time. 

Pertubator has for a long time had a talent for crafting a kind of a background world for his albums. According to an interview with Metal Hammer, Lustful Sacraments is set in a fictional city called Xanadu where everything is free and nothing is forbidden. While there might be a fantastical backdrop to the album, it sounds and feels far more grounded in real life, real human concerns, in a style and culture that has actually existed. Indeed, in an another interview with the Daily Express Perturbator stated that the album is about ”...self-destruction, how humans tend to destroy themselves through addictions, through discontent...It's not like a message, there is no lesson...it's more of a look at myself and other people, maybe, to relate”. This gives the album a rare air of truthfulness and introspection in a genre preoccupied with fantasies. While not as explosive or straightforward in it's delivery, the album's theme of self-destruction through hedonism has shades of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral in it.

The post-punk and darkwave influences can also be heard in the production style of the album. There are sections of it which sound like they could have been made in 1989. While there are plenty of modern influences, sounds and production techniques to be found, it's in some ways the polar opposite of the inhuman ultra synthetic audio wizardry of New Model. The tracks have a more rounded, airier quality to them, a darkness that's more sensual, softer and gothic than that found in his previous works. The drums recall classic 80s sample-based drum machines, the synths mostly sound like things that could have existed 30-40 years ago, and when the classic post-punk guitars come in other elements make way for them. The album hits a wonderful sweet spot between sounding modern and retro. The beats are punchy, the basses move air with real force and the production is discerning and clear while retaining a certain twilight ambience. Perturbator has done a great job fusing musical influences with production choices.

On the visual side of things, Perturbator already took a clean break from the usual synthwave tropes with New Model's ultra stark black on white aesthetics. Lustful Sacraments is more colourful, featuring an illustration of people dancing in a ring inside a structure that recalls perhaps some kind of a futuristic cathedral. The impossibly thin supports, intricate details, unusual angle and long, spindly shadows make it extremely striking and uncanny. The deep amber orange background brings life and warmth. I am biased as orange on black is one of my favorite color combinations, but I find the cover to be one of the best album covers ever made, wonderfully reflecting the style and themes contained within the album while also standing out from usual gothic tropes. The long sold out colored vinyls are especially wonderful looking artefacts.

The album begins with Reaching Xanadu, a somber instrumental that opens with deep, resonant synth hits. Soon rolling, crips synthetic beats that recall the beats from New Model join in. Swirling synths loom in the background. The track soon builds towards a crescendo, with a soaring, weepy synth string topping off the track, eventually descending in a glissando towards unknown depths. The brief intro ends with sounds of glass shattering. Perhaps the way to Xanadu goes through a bottle or a pipe.

The intro is followed by the title track Lustful Sacraments. It opens with a reverb-drenched, melancholic guitar line looming over mid-tempo driving beats and a low, constant synth bass pad. Brief vocal passage comes in, and the very post-punk influenced soundscape gives way to a more synthetic section with throaty synth hits dominating the soundscape. Soon enough the song returns to as it began, only to quickly move into a very mechanical-sounding synth passage. Synth strings sweep in before the track starts to wind down, only to build itself back up into a mesmerising swirl of guitars and synth pads. The track has a deep air of melancholy, perhaps even regret to it all. The aversion to typical verse-chorus-verse structures and the blending of various different parts carries over to the rest of the album.

Excess offers a mix of straightforward, catchy post-punk parts spliced with more synthetic sections featuring Perturbator's hallmark guttural bass synth strings mixed with airier pads. The track kicks off with a squirming bassline and metallic synth hits that recall oldschool EBM. Somber, low-key vocals about taking too much today as was taken yesterday come in before the track bursts into a jangly, catchy, instrumental post-punk section. The guitars give way to a sparse passage with shouts of ”Excess!” floating over rapid bass arps, surrounded by gliding, voice-like synthlines. A burst of guttural bass pads leads into another post-punk section, only for the rhythm to be stripped away. Shouts of ”Excess!” ringing over deep bass pads that jawn like some kind of subterranean abyss. The track evolves into a dreamy, even narcotic, hazy guitar solo, followed by a brief buildup and one last burst of energetic, driving post-punk. The track ends with an extended synth outro featuring fluttering synth arps, noisy swooshes and hollow synth sequences.There is a wonderful mix of melancholy and dark passion to be found in this very varied track, and it is my personal favorite from the album.

Secret Devotion opens with clicky, zippy synthetic beats and raw saw synths that somewhat recall Nitzer Ebb. It soon evolves into a more post-punk influenced fare. Dissonant bell synths clang over a pulsing beat, and deep vocals paint an atmosphere of gothic passion. The track builds up into an brighter-sounding passage that leads into a section that sounds almost Depeche Mode influenced. A change in rhythm leads to a somewhat sparser section with spoken vocals, synth pads and atmospheric guitars looming in the background. Another synthpop-influenced section comes in, this time featuring twinkly square wave synths and the clangy bells from earlier of the track. The track oozes with dark romance. Building into a crescendo with airy synth pads, the track starts stripping itself down only to quickly shift into end with a sinister, energetic section that recalls Perturbator's classic darksynth sound more than anything else in the album so far.

Low, bending synth pads bridge Secret Devotion straight to Death of the Soul. A squirming, sinister bass arp comes in, recalling oldschool EBM somewhat. Pained, ghostly synthlines float over the track. The beat kicks in, the bassline builds in intensity and vague vocals in russian loom in the background. The bassline mutates and ominous synth strings make a brief passage. Another vocal section comes in, followed by a very percussive part that leads into a section dominated by a swirling mass of synth pads in Perturbator's instantly recognizable style. The squirming bass returns, as do the sporadic vocals, this time with more synths added to the mix. A more percussive section once again builds to the track into it's climax, a repeat of the swirly synths strings, this time featuring brief passages of melancholic guitars before ending with a brief synth outro that descends into nothingness. The track has a very energetic, sinister atmosphere and its structure is deceptively simple compared to some of the other pieces on the album. It's easy to see why it was chosen as the lead single.

The Other Place kicks off with clacky percussions and extremely modulated synths that somewhat recall certain moments of The Downward Spiral. Soon enough they are replaced by a bit slower section that offers a mix of airy synth strings, melancholic post-punk guitars and resonant synth melodies. The track picks up energy and moves into a wonderful passage with reverb-drenched guitars casting a mysterious atmosphere. A more sinister-sounding synth passage gives way into another more post-punk flavored section with a different guitar melody that eventually leads into a repeat of the earlier section with resonant synths. The drums drop out and the heavily modulated synths make another appearance, joined in by various synth pads and a low-key, deep bassline, slowly dying down. The track explodes into life once again, and the mysterious-sounding guitar line makes a reappearance. Another personal favorite from the album.

A brief vocal sample bridges The Other Place into Dethroned Under a Funeral Haze. Opening with a mix of slow beats, melancholic guitars and high-pitched squarewave synths casting an uncanny atmosphere, vocals eventually come in, speaking of death and decay. There is a brief rhythmic and tonal shift that soon leads to a repeat of the beginning, this time with low-ley synth pads fluttering in the background instead of the square synths. An interlude follows that dances between sounding melancholic and ominous, eventually leading into an extended outro ultra-deep bass pads and clangy, noisy, rhythmic synths that give way to sad synth strings. A mournful atmosphere permeates the whole track. Eventually, the whole track fades into almost imperceptible noise.

Messalina, Messalina begins with a rapid beat that is soon joined with dramatic synth strings and low-key vocals that talk of ends justifying means. The vocals drift away and a different type of string melody comes in, only to make way for reverbing guitars that cast a very sinister atmosphere. A shout is followed by rapid-fire bass drums and dissonant ambient noises, leading into a repeat of the beginning section with dramatic strings and vocals. The variation of the string melody is this time joined by guitars, and eventually the strings drop, leading to the return of the sinister guitar line from earlier. The almost verse-chorus-verse structure gives way to an extended interlude featuring sparse, almost dissonant synth strings, airy guitars, deep synth hits and slow rhythms that dies down into nothingness, only for the track to explode into an extended outro with dark, gnarly bass pads and rapid beats that recalls a more gothic version of certain tracks from New Model. The sinister guitar line comes in one last time as an outro. The almost metal-like rhythms and majestic synth strings give the track a curious mix of dark passion and regality. 

God Says ends the album and it begins with an extended intro section featuring metallic, distorted atmospheric synths. A bright synth arpeggio and remote bass hits eventually join in, followed by dark bass pads and synth strings. After a brief pause cymbals come in, followed by melancholic guitars and soft vocals. The track is sparse and somber. The cymbal builds up a pace a bit, joined in by bending, swirling synth leads. The vocals make a return, as do the metallic atmospheric synths, and soon only the synths remain. The cymbals return and the track bursts into life, turning into an almost doom metal-like dirge, with constant buzzing bass synths serving as the backbone. Melancholic guitars glisten over the darkness, and vocals come back again, this time more passionate in their delivery, telling us that ”God says he's away”. There is almost a post-rock vibe to it all. Heavily reverbed snares roll in and the track abruptly ends, ending the album with it.

Lustful Sacraments is Perturbator at perhaps his most progressive, offering complex song structures that frequently feature sudden turns, changes and building up and stripping down of elements. There are dynamics and subtlety to be found within the music. The album is far less in your face and aggressive than his previous works while retaining a healthy degree of energy and drive. The listener's enjoyment will heavily depend on their taste for the decidedly more human, more post-punk approach presented within. Those who were looking for hard cyberpunk dancefloor bangers are probably gonna walk away disappointed.

My initial impression was that while I enjoyed the album tremendously, I found the songwriting not to quite reach the highest peaks of Uncanny Valley. But upon repeated listening and revisiting Uncanny Valley I wasn't sure anymore. The songwriting isn't perhaps as instantly memorable as it was on Uncanny Valley or New Model, but the album rewards analytical listening more than anything Perturbator has put out before. It's a wonderfully unique prog-synth-goth experience that's executed masterfully. There really is nothing like it out there, and even if it were to spawn a wave of imitators I doubt few will ever approach Perturbator's craftsmanship.

My only real complaint is that I would have prefered the vocals to be a bit more intelligible. The style itself is fine and I'm not sure if it's a mixing issue or English being my second language, but I often had a hard time hearing what was being sung. Perhaps the choice of having the vocals be more of background tapestry or instrument amongst others was a deliberate artistic one, but I found it diminishing my enjoyment ever so slightly.

Overall, Lustful Sacraments is a wonderful triumph of artistry, craftsmanship and good taste. It is also likely a polarizing album. Not only is it a major stylistic shift, the album was preceded by a scene uproar over the Metal Hammer interview which had ”SYNTHWAVE IS DEAD” as the header. While Perturbator never said so, he stated that after Uncanny Valley he felt that the scene was reaching a saturation point and that he doesn't consider himself involved in it anymore. In some ways I find it understandable and it reminds me of Trent Reznor drifting away from industrial rock, a genre he helped to popularize to seek new inspirations. True artists are able to transcend boundaries and grow, and perhaps this is simply the direction that James Kent has chosen to grow to.

At the same time I am saddened, as I believe and hope that the scene could and should incorporate a diversity of sounds and styles. In a scene filled with ”fan” groups chock full of inane and tedious ”debates” over whether synthwave can have vocals or guitars or piano or sax in it and ”curators” procuring playlists full of samewave bass arps hammering away as background noise for gaming sessions, Lustful Sacraments should serve as an inspiration to aim higher, a lighthouse burning with dark light, a promise that limits can be transcended and true artistry can be reached.

For more Perturbator, visit: perturbator.bandcamp.com