Synth Single Review: "Return to Chinatown" by PantherWolfe

Review by Karl Magi

PantherWolfe’s "Return to Chinatown" evokes the adrenaline rush of an ‘80s action movie. The track opens with crystalline sparkles and an urgently tumbling bassline punctuated by massive drum beats. The dynamic, cascading melody adds urban grit as a shiny synth glistens like city lights. The snare drum is sharp as surging notes light up with all of the dynamism of a downtown night.

Hollow tom hits move with a surging synth that creates urgency and tension above the explosive rhythm. Lambent tones give the impression of a shining city skyline as the minor-key melody overflows with cinematic intensity. A twisting synth moves with the broken rhythm to create increased nervousness.

Adrenaline-pumping sensations pervade the track as it evokes narrow alleyways and continuous action. The underlayer launches the music forward as the background continues to shimmer like illuminated office towers at dusk. The main melody erupts with sheer excitement and wild action before more glowing notes flash. The beat charges again as wobbling, minor-key tones float past and create a sense of intense forward motion. The entire track exudes personality and thrilling action before silence falls.

Synth Single Review: "Into the Dark" by Minute Taker

Review by Karl Magi

Minute Taker’s "Into the Dark" explores love, society and human complexity. The song commences as mournfully drifting synth moves with a shadowy edge before the pop rhythm jumps along with a strummed guitar. A sliding synth joins Minute Taker’s bittersweet voice as it weaves a thread of gently dreamy melancholy, and the guitar strumming adds rhythmic warmth.

As the piano shines, the beat propels the music while the chorus rises with hurt, hopeful emotion as the guitar bounces. The way in which Minute Taker combines brokenness and aspiration touches me. Each of the vocal layers combines with the string-like synth as it creates luminosity like a candle flame in a shadowy room.

The organic nature of the guitar strumming contrasts with the synth sounds in a way that deepens the song’s richness. Glimmering notes dance like a lamp while Minute Taker exhales with luscious gentleness and the piano skips with an easy lightness as the chorus rings with heart-filling emotion. A hint of minor-key darkness touches the music before the chorus glows with affectionate encouragement as the rhythmic pulse below throbs. The song carries to an end with the vocals grasping emotion and delivering it to my ears.

“If you’re waiting for the veil to fall,” our storyteller reminds the song’s subject, be sure that “the darkness is inside us” and be certain that stars which burned out eons ago “sparkle all around us.” He adds that “all the wars are fought to keep us safe.” While political leaders preach freedom, “we are chained in caves just watching shadows dancing as the world circles the fire.”

Both the narrator and the song’s subject know that they aren’t on their own and “together we’ll fall into the dark.” He goes on to say that they’ll never let go as they fall into the dark together. As humanity spins through time, “we live in fear of one day being nothing with stars above just bright enough for us to find ourselves in darkness.”

Anyone who insists that they know the truth is “either lying or deluded,” sending prayers to their empty deities “for happy ever-afters as they slaughter for their cause.”

Synth Single Review: "Auretris" by Echo Wolf

Review by Karl Magi

Echo Wolf’s "Auretris" creates positive, encouraging moments as the track evolves. The track begins with a scintillating synth spinning out with positive brightness as wind sweeps. The beat is a smooth, pulsing flow as it forms an elastic rhythm with bass thick below. String-like synth shines with sunlight and a sense of release, carrying out above the strongly rhythmic underlayer as the bass rumbles.

The metallic notes twirl with encouragement, varying as they arc while the skipping rhythm continues. Drums drop away as the majestically flowing underpinnings support the melody as it rises with a sunlit sense of hope, spilling out around me and illuminating my world. The rumbling undercurrent flows before the rhythm returns with a bouncing sensation and the melody sings with all the brightness of a sunrise. Sparkling notes tumble in rapid succession, full of early-morning dynamism before the track ends.

Droidglow - Neon Inferno

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

DroidGlow’s Neon Inferno strikes with a sense of monstrous dread. The album oozes eldritch shadow and hungry evil from every musical pore, filling me with shadowy foreboding. The way in which DroidGlow combines absolutely titanic basslines with fearsome percussion and guitar that towers and tears with sinister strength creates music that is unrelenting and absolutely fatal. The atmosphere that seeps from this music is full of malevolence and ever-present danger. In combination with the talented guests included on the album, the artist has forged a lethal musical blade with which to sever the listener from reality and transport us into a realm of apprehension and death.

At the heart of Neon Inferno is the malefic atmosphere exuded from every musical element. This is a realm of massive shadow and lurking, bloodthirsty creatures. The way in which each musical element combines to create a hellish sensation of doom is superbly considered and results in music that fills me with trepidation, drenching me in the sensation of truly awful things waiting for me in the darkness. As this album opens its fanged maw, I feel engulfed in delicious horror.

The way in which all of Neon Inferno’s musical elements, from the gritty and terrified synth sounds, to the guitar that tears its way through the music with indomitable might, to the locked-in weight of the bass maelstrom and the drums that attack like horrific weapons, mix together to create utter horror is something that impresses me deeply. The music here is perfectly pitched to generate uncomfortable and ghastly sensations as it unfolds. DroidGlow has a special talent for drawing me into the darkness and showing me what awful things lurk there.

I also want to acknowledge all of the guest artists on Neon Inferno. Each of them contributes a fresh sonic profile and new ideas to the overall tone. They bring skills to bear that deepen and intensify the emotional terror of the album while allowing us to experience other sides of the music through their own distinctive approaches to dark synth.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Neon Inferno” comes to life as raging drums and bass collide cataclysmically. The rhythm is relentless as the angry wall of guitar hacks into the music with eager fangs, uncompromising and full of murderous intent. The guitar charges forward with ferocity while the raised synth adds a stormy surge, galvanizing me with its wildness. The jumping beat smacks hard as the track drives on into silence.

Hissing sounds shift before a repeating mantra echoes with thunderous percussion to start “The Hunter.” The wild chanting rings with ancient power as the battering underpinnings rocket into speed. The guitar is a mad rush of destructive strength, tearing its way through the track with lethal power. The low end smashes as the guitar shreds with deep wrath. Now the chanted vocals move again, driving home the music’s emotional strength as the colliding beat shatters hard.

The shifting bass rumbles with a threatening weight while the vocalist grabs hold of me with his powerful performance, shaking me. Massively punching drums accelerate as the screamed lyrics are joined by the devouring guitar that snarls while the track breaks and subdivides with digital glitchiness. As the track moves to an end, the vocals ring with dramatic muscle before silence falls.

We are warned that the narrator is the hunter who “stalks these neon streets at night, looking for devils.” He talks about burning chrome for the song’s subject “under the killing moon.” He says that he’s the hunter and the other person is the hunted who he’ll pull under. He speaks of his immortality and being “ever eternal,” pointing out that he’s “what you see as you take your final breath.”

“TOTEM” begins with far-away static and lacerating bass that shreds with unbelievable speed and anger. The beat erupts with volcanic heat as brilliant notes dance like a hellish flame. A choir chants with fell resolve as the low end collides with it. Clapping percussion moves with the broken bass as it shatters with lethal impact.

Sounds burn like napalm as the clapping percussion continues to accelerate. I enjoy the music as it shears with unforgiving power and the choir calls out again, deepening the feeling of approaching demonic forces. The low end jumps with crushing speed before distant sounds echo and a fragmented drum beat hits hard again. A raised sound howls before thunder strikes and the heavy foundational pulse surges.

The entire track exudes the sensation of a truly horrible being approaching with unremitting dread. The beat is subdivided as the low end gashes its way through the track. The harsh percussion rattles and an awful feeling comes over the music as the guitar attacks and the choir calls out again before the song growls its way to a conclusion.

A rushing sonic wall strikes the track to commence “Revenant.” As the terrific underlying power surges, sharp-angled guitar makes its way into the track with ragged claws. A more peaceful sound ripples out through the music as a lushly unwinding synth contrasts with the low end’s explosive anger. Saw-toothed notes move with ever-growing while the percussion speeds on.

The guitar is a cry of endless hunger, rising from the grave while the bass interlocks with the beat below. Impressions of something unholy fill me as digital sounds trickle and the guitar forms a massive tide that cries out with pain and darkness. The grounding pulse shoves forward as the guitar evokes a bereft feeling and terrible danger. The entire track radiates the sense of something undead that is both hungry and hurting before it ends.

“WORSHIP” commences as drums erupt with tremendous potency and a warning sound cries out. The foundational weight growls before bursting out with relentless strength. Snapping, skittering percussion moves with high notes that undulate in a hellish cry while the screaming, string-like sound adds even more anxiety.

Hollow sounds vibrate with spectral sensations as the percussion clatters and surges hard. The low end tumbles and churns like a rip current as a ramping sound tightens the tension. As the broken percussion smashes against the walls of bass, I am compelled by the horror that washes in a deadly tide. Elevated notes scream with increased tension as the underlayer grunts and strings twist with a sense of growing apprehension. Elevated notes drop away as the bass thunders with true menace before the rhythm erupts again and punches the music hard. The hollow notes drift with disconnected delicacy in contrast to the crushing power below before the track ends.

Grinding bass moves with echoing vocals to open “LIFE.” They repeat, “Having the time of my life,” as the percussion collides with the drums in a ragged rush. The weight is staggering and the muscled power is tremendous as elevated notes howl in agony. The rhythm adds violent forward motion while wordless female vocals twist with a minor key melody full of ache and tenderness.

As the vocals speak of having the time of one’s life, the low end is full of terrible premonition as the percussion fades away before growing again with a towering bass fortress. Foreboding fills me as the broken pulse rips at my throat and the rushing sounds above twist. A demonic grunt moves below before the gritty, angry sounds are rejoined by the haunting vocals that levitate above them. The percussion trips as the low end urges forward again and silence falls.

Deep foreboding fills the creaking, tumbling synth to kick off “Lapsus.” The dark sounds grow in ferocity before leaping forward into a crushing, churning rhythm. The percussion slaps in between as the shadowy growling is touched by distant bells. The low end is an ominous pulsation that grows in strength along with lacerating sounds that slash the music before the hypnotic beat presses forward.

The massive grinding of the bass rumbles through my body, transmitting increasing danger. The tumbling notes fall again with twisted darkness, grunting and being joined by rushing beats that accelerate into the hammer blows of percussion that strike the music. The surge below is heavy and persistent, shoving it forward with enormous violence. The foundation is as heavy as the grave while the accelerating beat erupts again into a trance-inducing pattern as elevated notes trickle and the entire track slams to an end.

“Oscillator” opens with a soul-destroying beat that slices hard. The ritualistic drumming of the low end is joined by bass that pushes down with nearly irresistible weight as the guitar slices in sharp lines that draw blood. The foundational pulse is absolutely huge and has a metallic power that is intimidating beyond words.

The rhythm pounds with inexorable strength as the gnarled notes in the distance lacerate again. The drums strike body blows as the guitar reaches out to tear with unforgiving claws. The metallic sounds pass again as the endlessly throbbing underpinning is joined by percussion that ticks like a clock. The bass is full of formidable weight before silence falls.

Shadowy sounds loom and a growling tone moves beneath to start “Goodbye.” The thumping bass moves with razor-sharp guitar and a trumpeting sound that echoes with forbidding strength. After a voice whispers goodbye, the entire low end surges with unbelievable muscle and life-threatening intent.

The track heaves with enormous energy while the guitar screams a plea to the heavens, ragged edges slipping through. After a brief moment of silence, portentous sounds shift and dark growls are joined by the heavily churning underlayer.

As warning sounds howl like the damned, the guitar rips at the track with horrible hunger. The percussion shatters before dropping away into an unsettling sound, then returns with the slamming bass and a choir calling out with evil emotion while the guitar rises like a tortured soul, before strange, malevolent sounds move and the bass is joined by elevated tones that cry out into silence.

Conclusion

Neon Inferno is heavy with sinister force and creeping fright as it unfolds. The way in which each different element combines to form a tapestry of terror leads me to return to this music over and over again, discovering new elements that fill me with shadowed sensations and pleasurable horror.