Synth EP Review: “Victims Of Light” by Violentene

by Karl Magi

Violentene’s “Victims Of Light" is a journey through refracted light and voids of shadow, anchored by Mvrijo's vocal performance and given texture and shape by Roland M’s approach to the sound. The EP moves across shattered emotional terrain and variegated feelings as it evolves. 

“Beginnings” comes into being as threatening weight swells with shadowy import and gigantic, drifting sounds mingle nobility with danger and a hint of melancholy. Towering drums burst and fade while the dramatic orchestral synth vibrates with swelling serenity and pain. The slow rhythmic pulse of the drums adds to the drama, setting the stage for the emotional experience coming next. A sense of anticipatory emotion touches the music before it fades.

Portentous notes hover with a feeling of impending danger as a thumping drum launches an angular melody to start “Savage City.” The melody has a technological sharpness as it moves above the exploding drums and giant bass, while Mvrijo’s voice is caressing and shadowed, mixing seduction with fear. Illuminating notes reverberate with Mvrijo’s full and expressive vocals, haunting and full of feeling.

The drum beat rushes with slicing energy before the threatening underpinnings rumble. Mvrijo captures me as she conveys the feelings of disconnection and discomfort in the lyrics. The vocals whisper and slide while rounded chords add depth. The rhythm is relentless and Mvrijo has a ghostly tinge to her voice as computerized notes descend with digital precision. The vocals skim through the music with a misty sensation above the irresistibly throbbing drums before the song comes to an end.

As floating silence sinks deeper “in the echoes of your mind,” our narrator says that at night “you pray that you will keep up the fight,” because beneath your skin you can no longer breathe or feel.

In the savage city, the narrator is “at a standstill, holding on to nothing.” From lovers to strangers, through all the peaks and troughs, “you had it all but you can’t trust no more.”

Our storyteller concludes that you “might still get there as air is running low,” with no more hiding, longing for something real.

“Other Side of Eternity” opens with haunting bells vibrating into open space beneath a galactically levitating melody. The drums and bass interlock into a charging foundation as the synth drifts with cosmic elegance, wheeling like the stars.

As Mvrijo’s whisper-soft vocals slip with dreaming smoothness, the bass architecture supports warming notes that swell with embracing tenderness. The strongly throbbing low end moves with Roland M’s guitar as it hovers like a nocturnal cloud drifting across the moon. The dreamy sensation Roland M creates within the music compels me as the solidly propulsive undergirding presses forward.

String-like notes intertwine with caressing touches as the music flows. Mvrijo’s sweetly gossamer voice floats free, like a night breeze, as bells convey starry delicacy. The chorus glides past, permeated by loving expression, while the steadily shaping bass weight intermingles with the low end. The song ends with the vocals sailing like silk before dropping away, the ethereal melody falling quiet.

The narrator will “scream so loud, just to feel the void,” as her soul is fed by chaos. Lost in a haze, she can’t deny anything, so she’ll “embrace the cold that’s seeping through my mind.” She’s set free by the cold as she continues to pretend, “down on my knees, begging for mercy.” She goes on to say that she’ll see the song’s subject on the “other side of eternity.”

“Where do you hide when you close your eyes?” our storyteller asks the song’s subject as they raise up walls. She speaks of everything they left behind now seeming out of sight “as we said our goodbyes.” She’s finished with pretending and says that she’ll “roll asunder.” There are no hiding places left and it’s hard to fight when “blindness leaves the light.”

Rapidly charging drums and a distantly levitating sound trembling with waiting pain commence “Victims of Light”. 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,” Our storyteller 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.”

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

“Overcome” starts with wandering, bending notes and a razor-edged bass sweep. The computerized lead synth carries a melody which skips with easygoing lightness above a gliding drum beat. Mvrijo’s voice is like silk and breezy air, capturing feelings of aspiration and yearning. The chorus leaps with encouragement and a hint of remembrance while the athletic beat moves with a technological-sounding synth.

Drums and bass slide away as serene waves float and twisting sounds roam. The slicing bass continues to pulse with the solid drums while Mvrijo catches me with her hushed feeling and deep expression. Computerized notes frolic with uplifting sensations as the energizing beat rockets on. The chorus cascades, and the tonal pattern that emerges is tinged with darkness as it flows while the drum beat continues forcefully rushing.

Bass rumbles as the drums fall away and the song drifts for a moment before the lively chorus flies out again before the song ends.

While her thoughts keep running, “feeling lost, can’t overcome, stepping closer to the edge,” but now they don’t have to be afraid. 

Perhaps the narrator doesn’t want to be how she is as she pleads, “don’t shoot me down for my mistakes,” and asks if she’s falling into place, leaving “yet another scar I should embrace.”

 “Looking at what we’ve become, fears through ups and downs,” she wonders if she’ll ever find peace. She concludes, “no one should take their hopes away, don’t take our hopes away.”

Synth Single Review: “My Last Mistake” by AC83

by Karl Magi

AC83’s “My Last Mistake” encapsulates loneliness, a plea for help and hope. The song begins with a desolate note pattern drifting as dense electric bass creates a far-off pulse. The floating notes are disconnected and aching before a drum beat snaps forward and thick bass entangles. The main melody is hurting and ghostly as the broadly exploding drums move with a fierce guitar tide.

AC83’s voice is trembling and full of pain, capturing the bereavement and brokenness of the words. The drums press on while the vocals radiate intense emotion. A guitar storm rages as the vocals reach out for anyone who might pull him from the void. The guitar is angry while AC83 stabs me in the heart with vocal expression. Bass growls as the vocals burn and touching strings levitate.

The guitar solo is ripping and angry while the strings contrast with brokenhearted sensation. The drum beat continues to slam as the track closes with the plea for help.

As “thoughts of cold metal swell my taste buds, looking for my final place to rest,” the storyteller craves to give in to his dark side as “the pain runs through my blood.” He adds that he can’t stop the hurt and asks, “why can’t I put the gun down and just forget?” adding that getting there was easy but “living with it is messed up.”

Our narrator asks, “can anybody hear me? can anybody tell me? can anybody help me?” as he pleads to be told to put the gun down. He points out that he’s been there before with suicidal thoughts and “people blaming me, pointing fingers.” He wonders if there’s anyone out there who cares. He questions if anyone can hear him and asks, “is this my last mistake?”

A clear moment gets him to take his finger off the trigger as “life grips hold of me.” He realizes that it’s not worth it because of those who will be left behind. “I have this feeling but it passes until the next time I need someone to say: baby, put the gun down.”

Synth Single Review: “Sunder” by Lyst & Jetfire Prime

by Karl Magi

Lyst & Jetfire Prime’s “Sunder” explores emerging from destruction into possibility.  The track starts as crushing sounds move along with prismatic chimes flowing into gigantic space. The bass pattern rebounds with celestial weight as orbiting notes are joined by a nervously twisting synth, creating tension as the higher sounds drift with eerie smoothness. The drum beat comes in to propel while the sparkling notes refract starlight and the main melody has a speeding, leaping quality.

Arpeggios tremble with unsettled sensations as huge bass slashes. A spectral choir haunts the background before a cascading melody captures me with a sense of journeying and eternal strength. Arpeggios spiral outward while the lead synth transmits hope tinged with danger. As the percussion and bass fade, breathy sounds float while a lurking arpeggio begins to spin up.

Leaping drums and dense bass create forward motion while the tonal pattern above emanates growing resolve against the darkness and the track soars forward. As the music comes to an end, nobility flows into silence.

Synth Single Review: “Never Lie To You” by Mayah Camara & JJ Mist

by Karl Magi

Mayah Camara & JJ Mist’s “Never Lie To You” explores passionate attachment and romance. The song begins with a swirling note pattern moving with urgency above a hard-hitting retro beat. Chimes flicker with cut-glass brilliance and Mayah Camara captures the absolute intensity and burning need within the lyrics. The performance is full of blazing life and both singers harmonize richly in the chorus above the solid rhythmic pulse.

JJ Mist’s sensually unfolding voice drifts as Mayah Camara adds her own emotive sound. The chorus is explosive and leaps with crystalline coruscation as the two singers create fiery feeling. The music catches the pure 1980s vibes and soulful positivity, driving them home to me before the song closes out.

The song’s subject tells the narrator that, in his deepest fantasy, he pictured her and “found a way to make it reality.” Every man has a strategy and “you found a way to knock me off my feet ‘cause your words were so sweet.” He asks her to look into his eyes and realize that he will never lie to her.

“You can see the signs if you really try,” he insists, promising “I’ll fight for you, babe,” as he speaks of making his way in the world and searching for a “special girl.” She responds that he wants to change his circumstances, to feel as though they’re in a dance, adding, “I’m gonna have to give you a chance, I want a life of romance.”

The narrator tells the song’s subject that he has to know she won’t let go, because he’s the only one for her. She continues, “everyone can see you were made for me ‘cause you’re my baby,” before concluding, “no, I’ve never felt this way about anyone else! Give me a chance, I’ll be the perfect girl.”