Announced as being his most personal effort to date, Origins is a steadfast set of tracks that stays true to the artist’s name brand whilst raising the stakes to new cinematic heights.

Dynatron’s third comes off fully conscious of the time past and aims to take us that extra step further from where we’d expect a 2021 release to land. Origins is a contemplative album dreamed up with a grand scope in mind, brought to life by dreamy synth soundscapes. The producer’s affinity for the hard and heavy transpire through key tracks such as ‘Close Encounter’ and ‘Tumbling Upwards’, adding a rougher edge and a heightened sense of grandeur to the album’s starlit melancholy. As on previous efforts, Jarre’s influence shines across the album’s majestic production whilst also leaving room for some sharp Carpenter-Esque timbres and tenser melodies.

On the whole, Origins is a very cohesive next step in the Dynatron saga. Hasseriis’ roomy snare-driven beats are still as efficient as ever at getting your head swaying like a headbanging space-traveller vibing out in zero-G. Every track plays out like a long lost diary log from a lone journey into the grand unknown, an introspective voyage along trails of stardust and galactic wilderness. Getting lost hasn’t sounded this good in a long, long time.

Favorite tracks: Close Encounter, Uncertain Destiny, The Machine

Dynatron’s Origins is out now via Blood Music.

Rites of Love and Reverence marks the sixth full-length release by Michigan-based producer Gost. Having established his moniker amongst the most successful in Synthwave with Behemoth, Gost has since broken free from the stylistic confines of the genre, starting with Possessor, an album still unmatched in its sheer sonic brutality.

With this sixth album, Gost keeps the ball rolling with some hard-hitting, cavernous subterranean club bangers. After a spellbinding introductory sequence, the record blows up right in your face with a face-melting barrage of distortion and pummeling drums. The album keeps a great balance between dance-friendly, industrial post-punk sequences and blood-pumping thrillrides through the nine circles of hell. Listeners best be warned, however, for Rites of Love and Reverence offers very little respite for the uninitiated and locks you into its cavernous, club nocturnal decadence with a compressed, loud mix sustained nearly all throughout its 44-minute runtime. On tracks like ‘We are the Crypt’, ‘Coven’ and ‘Burning Thyme’, Gost delivers some of his best vocal performances to date. More than the mere add-ons you hear on all too many Darksynth album, the raspy, filtered vocal melodies complements the sonic aggression with a sensual yet harrowing edge. Bold as the album may be, Rites of Love and Reverence is an album built on a solid foundation of darksynth. What sets the album apart is how seamlessly it incorporates its coldwave and extreme metal influences… and how unapologetic it is about it.

Overwhelmed as some listeners will undoubtedly be after listening to this album, one can’t help but praise the sheer boldness of Gost’s output. Rites of Love and Reverence may not be the album some of you wanted to hear, but every second of it sounds like an album its creator was dying to make.

In an age where commodity trumps personality, Rites of Love and Reverence is an album that forces you to meet the artist on his own terms in order to deliver nothing short of a masterpiece.

Gost ‘Rites of Love and Reverence’ is out now via Century Media.

Arriving at the sci-fi not by way of futuristic cyberpunk sounds, but instead through ominous orchestral tones and  theremin influenced early 1950’s sci fi. What are you waiting for? Go grab a listen to “Invaders” now!

Bandcamp link

A lucky few of you may have grabbed the vinyl when it debuted for limited release, but now Blood Music has released GosT’s “Behemoth” album for digital download. It’s “name your price,” but I’ll save you the thought involved: go ahead and give a little, because this album is priceless.

As many of you know, I am a rabid fan of GosT, ever since his early work in 2013. I still remember finding the EPs “Radio Macabre” and “The Night Prowler” and being impressed… then being astounded at “Nocturnal Shift” and quite honestly blown out of the water by “Skull.” In 2014, GosT followed up with “S/T,” a further refinement of a style that is not only unique but extremely powerful. GosT’s music invokes both dark menace and semi-religious rapture; I have been a devoted follower ever since I discovered this artist and his work. It is definitely on the edge (fringe, even) of retrowave, but it is incredibly significant to the genre, and in many ways, undeniably groundbreaking.

“Beyond” starts off this album with a nice, atmospheric intro. It is kept brief before exploding angrily into “Genesee Avenue,” a blistering track with a drum set that hits like a hail of stones. Next comes a retooling of the track “Night Crawler,” with superior instrumentation and embellishment. “Master” is another brutal track, and it’s here that we find the signature distorted and rough tones we’ve come to associate with GosT. This track does not let up. It refuses to let you go. “Reign In Hell” is a short but effective track with some cool bendy tones evocative of a broken, possessed machine. Frantic piano arpeggios lead us into “Tongue,” a brilliantly arranged piece of music that builds on itself in a classical-music way and would be at home on any decent horror film’s soundtrack. “Without A Trace” features haunting, beautiful vocals by Hayley Stewart and carries an almost romantic undertone. It is definitely slow and soft for GosT, but it is great and definitely belongs here. “Ripper” begins to build the listener up again, and is both sinister and uplifting. GosT has a sort of gift for mixing those emotions together in his music; it is always so evocative! Things continue to pick up with “Bathory Bitch,” a track as dark and sensual as the vampire countess herself. Uptempo and busy, it still pulls visions of dark red velvet to mind. “Sacrament” is another short interlude track, drumless and fairly minimalist, but it makes a good lead-in to the title track. Speaking of the title track, it is a spectacle in itself. It needs to be heard to be believed; in the span of two years, GosT has gone nuclear and it has resulted in something of a ghastly masterstroke. “Behemoth” the track is a wonderful pin on which to hang “Behemoth” the album; richly dripping with both murder and glory, brutal and beautiful to behold. The album includes two remixes by Dance With The Dead and Perturbator, two of GosT’s peers in the dark cave on the outskirts of retrowave. They are both wonderful remixes that both alter and add to their parent tracks.

All in all, I was blown to Hell the moment I pressed “play.” I grant “Behemoth” nine out of ten. I would give it a ten, but I’ll wait for a darkwave album by The Devil Himself before handing out that laurel. My guess is, GosT would give His Dark Majesty a run for his money.

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