Synth Single Review: “Victims of Light” by Violentene

by Karl Magi

Violentene’s “Victims of Light” shivers with broken emotion and obsession. The song commences with rapidly charging drums and a distantly levitating sound trembling with waiting pain. Electric bass surges forward as the drums erupt, while delicate textures float and Mvrijo’s bittersweet voice carries a haunting melody steeped in shadow.

Her breathy delivery trails through the music with misty feelings, mingling pain and defiance. I enjoy Mvrijo’s range and emotional power as she captures the shattered feelings within the lyrics. Pattering drums add shape while Roland M’s synth contributes soft effulgence.

The low end drives on as the contrasting vocals drift like cobwebs on a midnight breeze. The chorus climbs with melancholy while the foundation charges forward. Moonlit notes pour through the music as Mvrijo pierces me with her emotive delivery and the song ends with gruff bass and softened, fading vocals.

As “something crawls inside me,” the narrator feels as though that thing is breathing down her throat. She adds, “The hole in my heart isn’t as deep as an arrow piercing through my flesh.” She says they have been there before, “longing for the night to fall,” growing in the dark, and wonders if the shadows will catch her fall as “we’re victims of the light.”

Our storyteller asks, “Did you have to betray me, acting like you didn’t care?” because it stripped her of sanity and “turned your bed into my grave.” She questions how the other person sleeps at night “with the fire in your eyes,” still victims of the light. She says that “heavy burdens disappear where shadowed dreams, consumed by fear, collide,” when she is about to lose everything again “from everything you ever took from me.”

To conclude, the narrator declares that she is “losing sight and born again, thicker skin breaking these chains.”

Synth Single Review: “Don’t Call Me” by Lyst & Neon Shards

by Karl Magi

Lyst & Neon Shards’ “Don’t Call Me” moves between remembrance and loss. The track begins as flaring notes rise over a hissing background and sweeping waves. The rhythm is towering and propulsive while flashing tones join a synth that exhales with peace, before woodwind-like notes add warm fullness.

Neon Shards’ guitar dances with plaintive emotion and yearning memory, crying out above the throbbing underpinnings. My emotions are stirred by the guitar’s touching, lonely quality as the track dissolves into a moment of floating calm. The guitar returns with pained, thoughtful sensations, like memories rising to haunt me.

As breathy notes shiver, Lyst’s rounded synth fills the music with a sweet, soothing melody and an expansive, polished synth carries a solo deep with affection and loss. The guitar emotes once more, skillfully played, carrying a melody full of care and quiet bereavement before the track ends.

Synth Single Review: “Mass Relay” by Coleurs & Anechoid

by Karl Magi

Coleurs & Anechoid’s “Mass Relay” intermingles dynamism and emotional depth. The track begins with brooding bass surging beneath a melody that levitates with ghostly melancholy, echoing into openness. Colossal drums collide as the main melody washes spectrally, gliding like mist above the guiding rhythm. 

The lead synth drifts with haunting smoothness, carrying a melody deep with loss and disconnection. As the percussion briefly fades, the melody floats in the void before a ticking percussive element creates shape. Wind exhales and the underpinnings rush forward with a steady heartbeat while glistening tones hover and brush past. The contrast between the music’s delicate melancholy and its heavy underlayer creates fascinating dynamics. 

As the percussion drops away, massive bass opens wide space while floating tones move past like tatters of fog. Ringing, string-light notes cry out with pained sensation before the drums burst back with widely vibrating force. The foundational throb feels unstoppable as the lead synth breathes out mournful emotion, full of contemplative hurt. Percussive underpinnings press forward while the fragile, tenuous melody leaves impressions of desolation and meditation.

Synth Single Review: “Into the Starfield” by Everdune

by Karl Magi

Everdune’s “Into the Starfield” blasts off for an intergalactic journey. The track opens as bass rumbles with planetary force while a more luminous synth glistens and the beat launches with kinetic energy. Orchestral hits burst as the melody spins out energetically, creating impressions of strength and boundless journeying. The lead synth twists upward with excitement and a sense of possibility. 

Orchestral accents punctuate the melody while broad tonal patterns in the distance glow with stellar brightness. I enjoy the feeling of acceleration and readiness for adventure. The main melody cries out again, exploding with thrill and a hint of danger as the rhythm bounces forward. Imagery of a drifting spacecraft fills my mind for a moment, gentler and more soothing, creating an impression of weightless floating. 

Once again, the melody surges like a spacecraft leaping into hyperdrive, guitar-like notes spilling through with excitement and power. Soaring, string-like synths erupt with incandescence as the main melody dances, telling a tale of anticipation for whatever comes next before the track ends.