DRAVEN - Silver Casket

Foreword by C Z A R I N A. Review by KIZUNAUT.

Horror Synth has been growing more and more in popularity over the last couple of years as a subgenre of dark synth. Drawing inspiration from horror cinema, Horror Synth is informed by sounds and aesthetic of 80s slasher films and edgier, provocative visuals. Several artists in this genre have mentioned that part of their creative process is diving deep into horror cinema and reimagining a brand new score for films as they go about their composition. The visual component translating into a vast depth of dark, haunting soundscapes is what makes this genre so particularly appealing and fascinating. Despite of what the name and concept entail, a lot of Horror Synth is hyper dynamic with layers and layers of lush atmospheric sounds juxtaposed with gritty saw basses, rapid-firing dark arps and up-tempo dance beats. Notable names in the genre include Dance with The Dead, Perturbator, Carpenter Brut, GosT, and of course, the godfather of horror himself - John Carpenter. Greece-based synth artist, Draven is one of the latest to emerge in this genre.

DRAVEN is a video game and horror film composer and dark synth artist who loves to combine his love for horror cinema and metal. Just in time for Halloween, Draven's newest single Silver Casket offers horror-themed darksynth with a rather varied structure. It opens with deep bass and a piano line that sits halfway between sounding melancholic and creepy. Soon enough track quickly opens into a more traditional darksynth section, dominated by a rapid-fire gnarly bassline and punchy beats. The dark piano line hovers over the track, untill a brief pause comes in. The piano vanishes, leading to a brief section with just the darksynth bass and drums. Soon enough an additional sinister sounding synth pattern comes in, leading to an interlude featuring drums and a darkly mysterious piano line along with some ambient synths.

Following the interlude there is a section where the synth bass plays longer notes in a dark, ascending pattern, with a sinister, mysterious piano line dancing over it. The piano line gets doubled by lead synths and the bass plays a faster pattern, picking up the pace before going into another interlude featuring a vibrating, choir-like synth and sampled strings. The gnarly synthline from the start repeats, as does the creepy lead synths, leading to a new section featuring the sampled string prominently. The track climaxes in a section featuring a mix of choir-like synths and a wonderfully dark synth lead pattern, finishing off with a deep orchestral hit and a quick burst of deep bass.

Overall, the track is a very solid example of the horror synth style and an example in Draven's skill at composing high-quality dark melodies more than well-fit for a horror movie.

For more info on Draven, visit draven1980s.bandcamp.com

NEVERMANN - Giallo

Review by KIZUNAUT

NeverMann is an electronic musician from south Sweden. His musical ventures began at the early age of seven when he started playing the drums. Early 90s saw him taking up composing and producing, using FastTracker 2 to create scores for “no-budget movies”, mostly horror. During high school and beyond he played in various bands from ska, to rock to schlager. NeverMann started his current project with 2017’s The Tragedy of Mann EP, and has since released a slew of singles and the GentleMann (2020) and Vallmostigen 6 (2021) albums.

Giallo EP is NeverMann’s latest release, and it sees him paying tribute to the movie genre of the same name. Italy established itself as a horror and thriller superpower in the 60’s and 70’s with giallo all’italiana, gruesome murder-mystery movies offering a stirring mix of violence, paranoia, sexuality and alienation. Offering shockingly gory deaths, vivid colors and highly aesthetic camera works, giallo movies were like nothing before. The giallo craze left an everlasting impact on the film industry, serving as precursors to slasher films which took the masked killers from the Old World to American suburbs. 

Beyond their thematic and visual impact the giallo movies were notable for their soundtracks, frequently featuring heavy use of synthesizers, which was exceptional for the time. It is from these soundtracks made by Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, Roberto Donati, Stelvio Cipriani and many more that this EP finds its musical inspirations from. 

It’s not just the compositions of the album that reflect these inspirations. There are no gnarly darksynth basslines here, it’s all definitively more on the retro side of retrowave. A lot of the sounds are such that they could have plausibly been used in the early 80s. There is a certain dreamwavey airiness and softness to it all. The mixes are clear, but I found some of the choice of sounds perhaps a bit thin. It does capture the vibe of early 80s soundtrack music well though, which I believe to be the intention here. 

The cover art of the EP pays homage to the genre in a kind of abstract way, the yellow background being a reference to the word “giallo” simply meaning yellow in italian, a throwback to the genre’s root in pulp literature that frequently featured the color prominently in cover art. The blood spatters and the knife are of course a reference to the subject matter of the films and while the idea is good, the execution is perhaps a bit lacking. Since it all is mimicking a real physical object, I feel like it would have worked better if it was just a real object that had been photographed. Still, the inspirations come through more than well on the current cover art. 

The EP begins with the gnarly arps, sinister chants and synth bells that serve as the intro to Dr. Menard. From sinister chants the song moves to a section featuring an interplay of synth arps, resonant swells and Dimi Kaye’s guitarwork that casts a waiting atmosphere. A bit before the halfway mark the song burst into life, the beat and basslines picking up speed, Dimi’s guitarwork turning into fast rhythm guitar work with occasional melodic flourishes. Dimi also gets to show his solo skills on the latter half of the piece. Flourishes of dark synth melody cast a sort of triumphant, but dark atmosphere. The song eventually fades out to the mix of dark chants and bright bells that it began with. 

L’ascia Rossa begins with piano and airy synths that create a melancholic atmosphere. Soon, a dark, fast synth bassline comes in, and a knife stab sound effect leads to the main body of the track that offers a fast, dark fix of instrumental synthpop. The choruses are brighter yet have a tragic minor-key quality to them, while the verses feature the dark, intense bassline with additional layers of melodic synth work being built upon it after each repeat. 

Slowly fading percussive loop and low, dark strings and woodwinds serve as the intro to Voodoo. A powerful buildup featuring a drum roll and dark, mysterious arps follows. The main body of the track consists of a slow, moody bassline and a spare beat that keeps the tempo at a lurking pace. Atmospheric arps loom in the background, and every now and then the arp from the intro makes a comeback. The track builds up elements, adding a vibrating theremin-like lead towards the end. 

The EP ends with Il Commissario, which begins with sounds of thunder and sinister pads. A reverbing synth melody that casts an atmosphere of dark mystery comes in, followed by a slowly building up bassline and low, dark synth hits, then followed by a buildup featuring a moody synth arp that stays as the beat comes in. The walking-pace beat, arps that have an almost classical quality to them and the bright bells create a strong mental image of exploring some kind of old castle or mansion. Nevermann skillfully builds up and alternates between various elements until the track fades out into sounds of thunder. 

Overall, Giallo EP is a cinematic treat for the dark season. Nevermann skillfully pays tribute to his inspirations while also managing to sound like himself. The tracks are full of melodies that are appealing in a dark way, and Nevermann is talented at building up the various elements that make up the four tracks. Even those who are not fan of the movie genre may find enjoyment in the dark, cinematic compositions found within the EP.

For more NEVERMANN, visit nevermann.bandcamp.com

CORVYX - At The Stake

Written by C Z A R I N A

New York City - based alternative pop artist and YouTube star CORVYX burns “At The Stake” in this haunting new video. A self-proclaimed “Space Witch,” over the last several years, Corvyx has been enchanting audiences with his own brand of cinematic dark pop - an alchemical fusion of ethereal production, haunting power vocals that have no limits, and a sublime otherworldly aesthetic and visual feast that keeps viewers suspended and hungry for more.

Just in time for the dark season, "At the Stake" captures the anxiety and hysteria of the classic witch hunt, but this time reimagined in reverse. The song celebrates dark outcasts and sets ablaze those who damn the different. True to his artist mission, Corvyx serves once again as a shining, dark, powerful messenger and voice for the misunderstood. The visuals feature top-notch artistry in costuming, prosthetics and atmospheric cinematography that disturbs the calm, yet calms the disturbed.

A self-made, diligent, independent success story and musical force, Corvyx rose to popularity by reinventing popular songs in his macabre aesthetic, amassing 10+ million YouTube views, and a digital audience of nearly 200k followers. Yet above all, the most striking aspect about Corvyx is that to those who know him well, this artist carries a sincere authenticity not just in his work, but in the tender and humble consciousness that he shares with his adoring fans and peers alike.

The perfect package and inspiring epitome of a modern artist today.

For more info on CORVYX, visit his YouTube

BUNNY X - Young & In Love

Written by Thorisson with excerpts from our latest video podcast

Exquisite. Spectacular. Breathtakingly addictive. These are just a few words that don’t do Young & in Love justice; it is no doubt one of my favourite albums of the year. I could sit here and write a full-blown essay on why this album is so damn good, but I won’t. Instead, this article will explore a bit of Bunny X’s history—their Italo disco roots and how they got into making synthwave music. What I will say, however, is that Young & in Love is a must-have for everyone. If you’re a vinyl collector, pick it up. If you like digital downloads, get it. And if you’re into streaming, put every single song on your personal playlists, because I guarantee that they are all worthy of a spot.

Despite being pre-dominantly synthwave artists today, your roots lie in Italo disco. Can you tell us a bit about that genre?

Italo disco came about in Europe in the late 70s as a jump-off from disco music. They had all these different synthesizers coming out at the time that a lot of artists and producers were getting into. Which synthesizer they were able to get their hands on depended on what country they were from, so you had all these different sounds coming out from each region of the world. But a lot of what made Italo disco happened through experimentation. We like to describe it as happy-sad music, with a combination of big major chords and sad lyrics. It’s very earnest. It’s very simple, yet very emotional and beautiful music. You had a lot of German, Italian and British artists at the beginning so it was predominantly based in Europe. Eventually it spread to other parts of the world, but it didn’t really reach the USA—apart from a few crossover artists like Baltimora and Laura Brannigan.

Walk us through a bit of your history - how did you first get into Italo disco?

We’ve known each other since 2005 and had always been having talks about doing something musical. Then one night at a party, we met Conrad Kaneshiro who became our producer. I (Abigail) got into Italo disco as a kid because my older brother had tons of records growing up but Mary got into it a littler later. Our first song was If You Say Yes; from there it kind of moved on and come 2015 we were invited to this huge Italo disco Festival in Mexico City, called Patrick Miller Fest. There, we got to perform with some Italo legends like Frank Ventura and Patrick Miller himself. It was an insane moment looking into the audience of around 12,000 people, with half of them singing the lyrics to our songs.

Is it on the agenda to perform at Patrick Miller fest again?

We’d love to! We really need to put pen to paper and get another “banger” out there and see if that connects with the audience in the same way as If You Say Yes.

When did you start shifting towards synthwave music?

We had been listening to synthwave artists like Parallels and FM Attack for years without even knowing that it was its own category. But as for making it ourselves, we just realised that we wanted to try something fresh. We didn’t want to pigeonhole ourselves. We love Italo disco and will definitely continue doing that, but synthwave just felt like such a fresh and active scene. It’s funny to say that though since it is a throwback to the 80s in itself! But the community is young, active and engaging so we wanted to get into that. It was around 2017 that we started to shift in that direction, and in 2018 we released Stay which was our very first synthwave based track.

We also asked Bunny X some quickfire questions.

Favourite musician?

Abigail: Madonna | Mary: Madonna

Guitar or piano?

Abigail: Piano | Mary: Guitar

Would you rather be a cat or a penguin?

Abigail: cat | Mary: cat

How old were you when you first fell in love?

Abigail: 15 | Mary: 17

So there you have it; they were truly young and in love! All these things—and so much more—were discussed in our latest Absynth Video Podcast episode. We recommend taking a look at it for some more crucial information, like exciting things to discover, in New York, the “new“  influencer, and whether Mary and Abigail would rather drink a gallon of hot dog water or eat 6 raw eggs.