AGNIS - Slavic Witch

Written by C Z A R I N A

Upon entering Autumn Solstice, Polish mystical electropop artist AGNIS unveils her most breathtaking and haunting visuals yet, entitled Slavic Witch. Slavic Witch was inspired by the events that occurred around Halloween 2020, when thousands of women stood up for their rights. The visuals showcase 4 beautiful sorceress performing an incantation with a backdrop of stunning picturesque forest scenery. The music starts with gamelons and dark ambient drones, progressing into a very feral-like raw breathing and chants against a backdrop of meditative percussions. The song, all sung and chanted in Polish, is about the raw power of a woman. embodying the strength and magic of Wicca. The visuals and track feel like stepping into an occult dream in which one finds protection, reinforcement and hope.

The track is part of the upcoming AGNIS album ONENESS which will be released in 2022 thru darkTunes Music Group EU.

For more AGNIS, visit - agnisagalesna.bandcamp.com

NINA - Gold Heart

Review by Thorisson

As mentioned in our review of Carnival Night, Berlin-based NINA is not afraid of exploring new dimensions of her songwriting. As part of a trilogy of new releases, the synthwave queen has just dropped Gold Heart; an enchanting love ballad swimming in airy synths and shimmering guitars. From the very beginning, a harp sequence sets the tone for what is to come. NINA’s heartfelt vocal performance is beautifully accompanied by ethereal harmonies and an atmospheric soundscape. An unexpected, yet captivating key change appears in the middle of the song, paving way for the song´s pace to slowly pick up towards a crescendo bursting with emotion.

Joined by synth sensation Radio Wolf and legendary songwriter Ricky Wilde, it perhaps comes as no shock that the song’s arrangement is spectacular, to say the least. Gold Heart is the kind of song that compels you to stop everything you’re doing to focus solely on it. A 4 minute journey of euphoria and emotional warmth. Speaking of journeys, we are beyond excited to see where the final piece of NINA’s trilogy takes us!

VVOV - Pohja

Review by KIZUNAUT

VVOV is a Finnish band that explores the darker-than-black territories lying between darksynth, EBM extreme metal, calling their style “blackened darksynth”. The singular vision behind VVOV is a man going by the name The Vessel, and over the years this vision has grown to incorporate a bassist, a guitarist and a drummer. Time has also seen VVOV shift more towards extreme metal from darksynth while retaining harsh synth sounds associated with the genre. Darksynth has always had a love affair with extreme metal but few have gone as far to that direction as VVOV have gone, eschewing the cyberpunk and horror movie tropes for a more visceral, philosophic, misantrophic type of darkness. 

The very prolific band has since 2018 released four albums, two EPs and a heapful of singles. Besides their gradual stylistic evolution, time has also seen VVOV shift towards the Finnish language in track names and lyrics, a process that began with the 2020 album Marto. While Marto had some content in English, Pohja is all in the band’s native language. The new album’s name has a double meaning, translating to either “The Bottom” or “The North”, both of these meanings extremely fitting for the material found within. 

Thematically Pohja deals with misanthropy, suffering, anti-natalism and nihilism, with a poetic, somewhat archaic flavor that draws from Finnish poetry and literature. At times it gives the album a tone of an overburdened peasant cursing his miserable existence, at times the pain and hate are of more timeless nature. The album’s mixture of timeless agony mixed with cold, mechanical delivery feels like it taps from a dark, archaic undercurrent of Finnish history, a country that has suffered harsh conditions, famines, wars, only to move into industrialization and modernity at accelerated pace without dealing with the chains of generational trauma built over the centuries in any meaningful way. This character of the album probably does not get relayed to the people outside of Finland very well, which is a bit of a shame. Some cultural artifacts are really only possible to fully understand within their own cultural context, and I feel like this is one of such creations. 

What does get relayed to everyone is the utter wrath and power behind the album. The vocal delivery of The Vessel is black metal influenced screeching, the synthetic blast beats hammer the listener with inhuman fury and the mix of synths, guitars, wailing choirs and sheer noise hits with bone-rending force. The production is potent and punchy, if rather treble heavy, a production choice that puts the “blackened” into the “blackened darksynth”. It’s neighborhood-peace-disturbingly loud, while retaining enough air and dynamics for the melancholic and/or menacing choirs and pads that populate many of the album’s tracks. My biggest production critique is that I found it rather heavy on the ears. The extreme loudness and glacial amounts of treble frequencies makes for an tinnitus-inducing experience in the long run. Maybe fans of more black metal oriented material will enjoy this more, or perhaps this is like Jägermeister, best taken in smaller doses. 

Perhaps the somewhat grating nature of the production is a deliberate artistic choice. The album is utterly savage and sounds like it wants to rip your face off, with little concern for the more club-oriented aspects of darksynth. That isn’t to say that the album is just a sheer barrage of noise. There is detail, variation and structure within this hailstorm of an album, and most of the songs have different enough sonic character to stand out from each other. It’s like watching 2000 years of misery play out through a filter of a snowstorm. 

The visual side of the album is spot on for the music found within, featuring a decaying skull at the bottom of the sea, with kelp, swords and human hands to be seen in the background, a rather literal translation of “The Bottom” aspect of the album. The rough, coarse style makes it look like an old woodcut print, emphasizing the more timeless, archaic aspects of the music and effectively communicating the more extreme metal aspect of this album. 

Vaiva starts the album with a shrill, icepick sharp guitar/synth noise and a barrage of blastbeats, setting the tone for what is to come. The Vessel screeches over the barrage of drums and lacerating saw synths about the misery of life while. Passages of what sound like tremolo-picked guitars or tormented synths pop in and out. The song alternates between slower and faster sections, with the choruses slowing things a bit for a while. The latter half of the relatively brief song sees the addition of choirs to the whirling mass of sound and an instrumental section that ends in four drum hits ends the song.

Unta begins with a sequence of rapid, sharp saw-synths and a fast drumbeat, carrying seamlessly into the rapid-fire first verse of the song. The chorus of the song is a bit more melodic than that of the last one, featuring a squirming, distorted indeterminate instrument and mellow pads and a slower beat. Lyrically, one of my favorites from the album: “all of this is a dream, senseless, grotesque, only you exist and you are only a thought”, the lyrics of the chorus go roughly translated. The transition between the last chorus and outro features a rather cool brief guitar countermelody. 

The next song, Rutto, borders on grindcore with it’s extreme speed and short length. VVOV crams a surprising amount of twists and turns into the one minute thirty nine second length of the song, opening with a synth riff reminiscent of hardcore punk, before moving into a different riff and a bit slower beat, only for the song to build into a wall of noise punctured by a brutalizing blastbeat, then moving into a melodic interlude, only for it all to repeat, except instead of an interlude we get a sample of someone coughing before the next track begins. 

Kuivakäymälä has the honor of having the most memorable song name of the album (meaning something to the effect of Dry Outhouse in Finnish). A bit slower, moodier offering, it opens with the familiar blast of drums and harsh saw synths, but soon melancholic choirs join the song and hover over the brutal beats. The first blast of screeched lyrics comes in, and then gives way for a lengthy instrumental section which sees a distorted synth playing melody joining the melancholic choirs. “Human society, a simulacra of civilization, a copy of a copy of a copy, fragile, useless and hollow”, The Vessel declares in Finnish. Another blast of screeched lyrics follows, before another brief interlude that leads to the last repeat of it’s lyrics, the song then dying away in a surprisingly gentle piano melody. One of my favorites from the album for it’s sound and lyrics. 

An extremely heavily effected scream that sounds like it’s rising from the bowels of hell opens up Mietteitä, a lyric-less interlude that really pushes the rapid-fire saw synths that are the band’s trademark sound to the forefront. Alternating between several different riffs and featuring a middle section with a neat synth arp pattern, the song is a cool slice of mostly instrumental synth-metal, featuring intermittent distant growls and screams. 

Rotat begins with a bizarre rattling noise before moving to a cool, chugging section that features a pretty catch riff backed up by atmospheric synths. The verses have a more march-like beat and extra visceral vocal performance from The Vessel. The second chorus features an extra synth lead and leads into a fast interlude, with the same synth playing another melody, before joining in as another doubling instrument for the last repeat of the chorus. A brief passage of plucky square synths serves as the outro. Another favorite from the album. 

Fateful organ pads herald the coming of Messias, another instrumental cut from the album. . A barrage of blast beats and spoken word samples advocating for voluntary extinction push the track into motion. If Mietteitä was very clearly drawing from metal, Messias is a bit more electronic influenced with it’s synth leads and choir pads. These sections alternate with more chaotic sections that draw more from extreme metal, featuring rolling blastbeats and chaotic, roiling synthlines. 

Synty slows things a bit, opening with a churning riff with a synth lead dancing over it. The Vessel barks out lyrics about the misery of being born, and the track takes a more somber turn, with melancholic choirs looming in the background. The beat occasionally picks up pace, but the rest of the elements stay in place, giving the track a certain sense of a futile struggle. An interlude comes, picking up the pace a bit, throwing a guitar lead over a chuggy synth riff and rapid blast beats, before a somber piano line leads to a more frantic repeat of the song’s chorus. 

Shrill, menacing leads, dark choirs and a drum roll kick off Sadisti, with a gut-wrenching screech leading to the main body of the track. A very menacing sounding song even among the material of the album, with a mix of rapid saw synths, choir pads and machinegun pace blast beats serving as the meat of the track. The Vessel barks about how humans are filled with hate for each other; “what could kill the evil, what kind of hell would take us in, the earth fills with the human scourge, proof of God’s sadism”. Straightforward, leaning heavily on the extreme metal and it would be right at home as a pure black metal track. 

Tukahduta opens with a medium pace synth line that slowly opens up into one of the more melodic songs from the album while retaining the bone withering aggression displayed on  the rest of the album. A fateful sounding mix of sharp saw basses, synth strings and powerful beats serve as the chorus of the song, with The Vessel screaming what constitute among the more abstract lyrics of the album: “Isolate, anchor, deceive, sublimate, put the pain into words, kill the time, blinded, forget”, they would be, roughly translated. The instrumental verses feature a very cool guitar melody and some neat rhythmic tricks. Structurally, it follows perhaps surprisingly a kind of inverted pop formula, with the chorus coming first, then the verse, then the chorus again, and through an interlude one last repeat of the chorus. The most memorable track of the album for me. 

Reverb-drenched melancholic guitars like shattered glass open Pohja, the titular track and the last song of the album. Synths and beats join the guitars, only for a brief pause to follow, before the track explodes into furious life with a mix of pulverizing blast beats, chugging synth lines and distant choirs and melancholic guitars. The Vessel screams about the inevitability of humanity sinking in the metaphorical bottom. The lyrical expression soon gives way into just sheer screeching, which gives way to an interlude with mournful pads and choirs. Soon enough the track returns to life, and the section with lyrics follows, then the section with screaming, leading into an extended outro which sees new synth leads joining the frantic, roiling tidal wave of a song. One last bout of screamed lyrics leads into an outro featuring melancholic, atmospheric guitars before the song finishes and the album comes to a close.  

Pohja is certainly not an album for everybody, but fans of extreme darksynth and metal will find music they’d enjoy within. The inspirations behind the album give it substance and sincerity that does perhaps not get perfectly translated across cultures, but it makes the album feel that at no point it is just edginess or extremeness for the sake of itself, but rather a powerful statement about the more miserable side of the human condition. 

If nothing else, the album shows that you can elevate your music by taking a hard, honest look at your roots, a lesson that applies to genres far beyond the extreme metal flavored darksynth that VVOV serves us. Overall, VVOV is shaping up to be one of those bands with very unique inspirations and a style that stands out from the rest and one to follow if their style and substance interests you. 

For more VVOV, visit vvov.bandcamp.com

SONIC GAP - Colonizer

Review by Mike Templar

Swedish electronic musician and music producer SONIC GAP presents his first real concept album Colonizer, also the first instrumental (except spoken words and vocoder) and was released on all major platforms on 3 September. He's a guitarist first and foremost, but this album can do without and it survives perfectly without. He has been around the synthwave/retrowave scene for a while and often shines with cinematic, funky and vocal elements and seems to be one of the musicians who can serve a wide field of genres and styles. In addition, he has been making music since the 1990s and has played guitar in jazz/rock bands, sung classical music (in various choirs) and made music on his computer, everything from chip-tune and tracker music to what you hear today. It is a logical consequence that his compositions are always very well thought out - a main characteristic I first stumbled upon when I heard his song "Shadow Man" or his EP "Coffee".

But now I would like to turn to his latest work. Sonic Gap describes the story behind his concept album as follows:

"The year is 2121 and Selene has settled on the moon with the other colonisers and started a new life as an AI specialist in the iron mining industry. She now lives in the lunar city of Cynthia near Shackleton Crater. Relocating to the moon was a dream come true for her. The dream of escaping her life on Earth. A new start in a new direction gave her independence and freedom for the first time in her life. But the moon has a dark side."

As an avid science fiction fan and writer, I naturally want to know more about Selene and this story! This would be an excellent starting point for a great scifi novella - I took the bait! Sonic Gap has shared his own thoughts on each song and I don't want to withhold them and add my own thoughts and conclusion afterwards.

1. Colonizer

“The first track is the overture to the entire concept album about a colonizer called Selene who moves to the Moon in 2121. The song spans several different styles that could be heard later on the album. From a more cinematic cyberpunk vibe to a more funky feel. The story here is narrated by Kaarin Zoe Lee (editor's note: American synthwave influencer, Nightride.FM DJ and Editor In Chief at RetroSynthMusic).”

2. Machine Learning

“A modern subject about AI and Machine Learning here, but in a retro cyberpunk Bladerunner-ish 1982 style. The filtered rhythmic pattern in the background is played "live" throughout the track via my modular (hardware) synth system.”

3. Weightless

“A more positive vibe about freedom and independence. You feel happy and weightless. Early 80's synthpop sound.”

4. Coming Home

“A warm funky ballad with retro elements from both the 70's and the 80's. I blend the slick Yamaha DX7 FM e.piano sound (80's) with a more dirty Rhodes piano (70's). It also gives the track a bit more edge and removes some of the buttery/sugary slick 80's ballad sound.”

5. Moonbase Treadmill

“A spacey workout track with a French touch. I have always wanted to make a track that includes French café accordion music (like Libertango by Grace Jones). Here I blend it in with a Daft-Punk-ish uptempo running track. I love those kinds of transitions.”

6. Late Night In Space

“Lofi night piano track with a chill trip-hop vibe. On a vinyl or cassette this track would be the ending of side A.”

7. Artemis

“Chill synth vibe with a bouncy beat. On a vinyl or cassette this track would be the start of side B. Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, the wilderness and the Moon. Artemis is also the name of a NASA program to return humans to the moon in the mid-2020s. About 100 years before this story.”

8. Rocket

“A positive uptempo dance track with a quite strong melody. This was the first single released from this album.”

9. Amazing

“It's based on a sequenced pattern I made on my modular synth system. Then it is further developed into something between Daft Punk and Alphaville. The vocoder sings "You are amazing". It could be the Moon, Selene or maybe you.”

10. Lunar Cruise

“Here I try to blend 90's AcidJazz with Synthwave. I wanted a jazzy, cosmic and chill space-funk groove. Something to listen to while cruising around in the Moon vehicle.”

11. Shackleton Crater

“A Trip-Hop inspired track that reminds me of the 90's Portishead and Massive Attack vibe. I tried to imagine the suggestive feel of an iron mine near the Shackleton Crater on the Moon.”

12. Explorer 2121

“An adventurous track with both chip-tune arps and Moroder-Scarface chorus elements.

A grand ending of the whole album.”

From the short descriptions of the songs, you quickly realize that this is not just a space-wave album. Sonic Gap serves a variety of styles, such as uptempo, acid jazz, trip-hop, chip-tune, funk and what I would define as French cinema music of the 70s; I can't explain it more precisely, either you understand it or you don't. He skillfully blends these styles together in such a way that the whole album is a harmonious cast. I personally think that this is a special genius and even a trademark of Sonic Gap. For example, in the song "Moonbase Treadmill" an accordion plays chords that could have come from a French 70s drama film, which he then seamlessly transitions into synthesiser chords. This passage is accompanied by a female voice counting from one to four: "Un, deux, trois, quatre...".

Basically every song on the album is a beautiful composition and journey on Sonic Gap's space odyssey, but my absolute favorite song is "Weightless": It starts with a catchy, dragging and repetitive melody mixed with a strong beat. Add to that a dreamy pad and a really great solo melody with a meowing and air-cutting synthesizer and the song serves all the classic song parts to perfection. Towards the end of the song he pitches the melodies and this results in a great build-up at the end of the song.

Also worth mentioning are: "Coming Home" is a beautiful synth ballad with a Rhodes piano and playing with a fragmented vocoder that gives the song a 70s retro feel. "Late Night in Space" is a really cool lo-fi song with a trip-hop beat with a dull snare that echoes and a great chirping synth with a sophisticated delay. "Artemis" is a danceable chill-synth song that could best represent the space-wave genre and shines with atmospheric sounds in the background and a key change. "Lunar Cruise" is a jazzy space-funk track that offers so much that is a treat for a jazz musician's ears. If we had a time machine, I would travel back to the year 1985 with Sonic Gap and suggest to German TV to use this track for the German soundtrack adaptation of Captain Future or at least add it to Christian Bruhn's soundtrack.

For me, it's always interesting to hear what percussion and drum kits are used - I find that Sonic Gap has also achieved a desirable variety here, using different rhythms and beats, which I really like and value.

I can say without a doubt that all the other tracks also have their specialities and are also well worth listening to. Sonic Gap has succeeded in creating an excellent album in every aspect. I enjoyed this album very much and will listen to it many times in the future. For me, this album belongs at the top of the genres it serves and Sonic Gap proves once again that he is an outstanding artist.

Some additional production notes from Sonic Gap: “Most of the sounds are made with software instruments but in some tracks there are also hardware used. For those of you who are interested in synths you can probably hear sounds from the Roland Juno 60, Roland Juno 106, Korg Polysix, Yamaha DX7, Polymoog, Roland D-50 and the Rhodes electric piano. Some sounds are also totally unique and made with my modular (Eurorack) synth system.”

For more Sonic Gap, visit sonicgap.com