10. Von Kaiser – Glossy

After they started releasing music late last year, 2019 saw Von Kaiser improve with each release. The balance between atmosphere, melody, and groove on the four songs on Glossy are stellar. The multiple vocalists work well together and the longer track lengths never wear out their welcome.

https://vonkaiser.bandcamp.com/album/glossy

9. MoTER – Last Train to Synthville

Don’t let the hokey EP title fool you. Last Train to Synthville is one of those releases where it is immediately apparent that an excessive amount of care and consideration was put into each note and each production technique. There’s pretty melodies throughout and enough production flourishes to make this one of the more unique EPs of 2019.

https://moter.bandcamp.com/album/last-train-to-synthville

8. Magic Sword – Awakening

Magic Sword are a pretty unique musical presence in the scene, and that’s to say nothing of their aesthetics. With compositions that show them working more as a band than a lone guy behind a laptop, Awakening sees the group bringing in a more lighthearted vibe, but one which stays true to the highly cinematic and often funky nature of their songs.

https://magic-sword.bandcamp.com/album/awakening

7. Megan McDuffee – Barely Covered

A quick glance at Megan McDuffee’s credits section of her website makes it immediately apparent that she is one of the busiest artists in the scene. The fact that she created an EP as cool as Barely Covered in the midst of that is an even more impressive feat. The Siouxsie Sioux-esque crooning over songs that pairs well with the upbeat grooves and catchy melodies and real sinister streak under its tracks.

https://meganmcduffee.bandcamp.com/album/barely-covered

6. Straplocked & Turbo Knight – Electric Angel

2019 was the year of incredible collaborations, and one of the best was the trans-Atlantic pairing of Straplocked and Turbo Knight. From a sound design standpoint, few releases could touch this one. The synths and the impeccable mixing throughout the EP are strong on their own, let alone when they’re used on songs teeming with these cool retro-future vibes and lush leads.

https://straplocked.bandcamp.com/album/electric-angel

5. Duett – Version II

In a way, Duett’s Version I and Version II EPs have a unique advantage in that these are songs that Duett has had in their backlog for a decent amount of time. On the other hand, those EPs, and in particular Version II, are just some unbelievably well-crafted and produced pop songs. The three “Night Version” tracks are particularly strong.

https://duett.bandcamp.com/album/version-ii

4. Danny Madigan & Alpha Chrome Yayo – Grangeweird

What can be said about Grangeweird that wasn’t said in our review? Well, months removed from Halloween, it still winds up being one of the EPs most warranting revisiting. It’s fun and catchy, and filled with well-constructed songs beginning to end.

https://alphachromeyayo.bandcamp.com/album/grangeweird

3. Hotel Pools – Pacific

This one is a later release of the year, but Pacific is an incredibly strong EP for Hotel Pools to end the year on. It’s synthwave-meets-chillwave approach which channels the likes of Com Truise and Tycho still creates something fresh and unique. This EP is hard to put down. You’ll find yourself listening to it on repeat.

https://hotelpoolsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/pacific

2. Moonraccoon & Gryff – Ride

What do you get when you combine one of the best melodic producers in the scene with one of the best vocalists in the scene? One of the definitive releases of 2019. With “Ride”, a high-energy instant classic, “Promises”, a new wave ballad, and a Rocky IV soundtrack cover song, this EP immediately sticks with you. Check out our full review here.

https://moonraccoon.bandcamp.com/album/ride

1. Power Glove – Throwback

Power Glove could just release the same EP and it would still be one of the best and freshest releases of the year. The Australian producers catalog shows evolution, and Throwback is their best work to date, and represents some of the best that the scene can offer. It’s cinematic and epic in a way that other releases aspire to, and is the kind of release that could kick-start someone’s desire to make music in this wonderful synthwave genre.

https://powergloveaudio.bandcamp.com/album/throwback

Music doesn’t have to take itself super seriously to be seriously good. Grangeweird, the latest split EP from Belfast synth warlocks Alpha Chrome Yayo and Danny Madigan is infectious for a multitude of reasons. While the melodies and production deserve mention, there is an undeniable sense that the artists involved had a blast making this release, and the listener is immediately transported to that space of something a little spooky, a little unusual, and a lot of fun. If ever there was a soundtrack for an Elvira revival, Grangeweird is it. Someone call the fine folks over at Shudder. 

Grangeweird sees Danny Madigan and Alpha Chrome Yayo trading tracks.

Danny Madigan handles the first and third. He opens the EP with “Autumnal Equinox”, setting the stage for the horror-soundtrack-inspired tracks that follow. After getting comfortable with the march of the rhythm in the song, a voice over narrative kicks in. The concept of the album is laid out in simple terms and not relegated solely to Bandcamp description spaces. Classic chorus-drenched goth guitar and bass follow, and when they blend with the melodic synths of the opening the whole song crescendos spectacularly. “The Binding” is the other Danny Madigan solo track on Grangeweird. This is much more vocal-focused than the opener, and its lyrics strike a delicate balance of well-written and campy. The goth rock influences again fill the track and make it a highlight of the release.

Not to be outdone, Alpha Chrome Yayo delivers tracks 2 and 4 of Grangeweird. With the second track, “Mindlocked Messenger”, no time is wasted delivering the funky melodies and groove-laden rhythms that ACY is so synonymous with. Two minutes in he throws a rhythmic curveball and the whole song starts to feel different and more cinematic. “Leylines” shows Alpha Chrome Yayo unconventionally mixing some serene electronic piano sounds with some more abrasive lo-fi chiptune elements. There’s a lot going on in this song, with switching in and out of double time, its fidelity mixing, its haunting synths, and its endless supply of catchy keyboard passages, it’ll stick around in listener’s minds.

The album closes with Eleusinian Mysteries, a collaborative track between both artists that sees both of their idiosyncrasies share the spotlight. It’s filled with vocals, groovy synths, moody guitar, and evolving beats. 

Grangeweird is the perfect EP for the upcoming spooky season, but don’t be fooled. You’re going to be listening to this well after October 31. Two very unique artists collide on this EP and leave readers with an EP that doesn’t sound like anything else out there. And one which is a strong contender for the most memorable of the year. 

Grangeweird by Danny Madigan, Alpha Chrome Yayo

Danny Madigan’s Twitter

Alpha Chrome Yayo’s Twitter

Parallels opens with “Regulus”, a track that is distinct in the way that it tames the grit of the main synth into something melodic and beautiful. There is a tone that permeates the track, and to an extent the album as a whole, of the unknown. That mood is perhaps strongest in this opener. A little over a minute in the mood changes a little when the snare comes in like a bomb. Not long after, the entire track becomes more upbeat and that’s where the melody and grooves show the listener what they can expect from the rest of the album.

“I’m the Law” follows, with a unique opening that builds tension. Just when you expect something aggressive to come from it, it opts for something groovy instead. This is in stark contrast to “Between Good and Evil”, easily the most straightforwardly film-score esque track of the bunch. Earmake’s music has been featured on an HBO show previously, and it is hard to believe that will be the last time it pops up in other media. The dynamic tendency where songs don’t always end up where you expect and transform from the beginning is what makes Earmake so distinct, and this track is the best example of that.

The next track, “City Motion” the most unique on the album. Amid a bouncing bass synth is some minimal drum work and vaguely acoustic sounding keys. None of these elements conflict with each other. It would seem on paper that those disparate components wouldn’t work, but Earmake’s mixing and mastering make everything seamless.

The late-album stretch of “Omega”, “The Abyss”, and “Avalanche” is strikingly consistent in quality but varied in execution. “Omega” is similar to “City Motion” in terms of having very distinct drums, but it stands out with the excellent guitar work from Denis Cherryman from BlazerJacket. “The Abyss” clocks in at nearly 7 minutes and is the longest song on the album. It never overstays its welcome, as it spends every second building atmosphere. The entire song is heavy on the emotion despite the minimal composition. “Avalanche” again sees Earmake transforming a track throughout a few short minutes. The upbeat final minute or so of the song is the best part of the entire album.

The album concludes with the sprawling “Sensual (Vapor)”. It has a lot of the perks of “The Abyss”, but executed with less of a focus on minimalism. In its place is probably the moodiest, most atmosphere-heavy song since the opener. Overall, neither the album nor any individual track drags. There’s a real crispness throughout this, and a sense that nothing is wasted. Earmake was obviously on the rise prior to Parallels, but following an album this impressive, it’s hard to imagine that won’t continue.

If you like this album and would like to find out more about Earmake, check out our interview with him here!

Moonraccoon and Gryff were both artists with strong showings in 2018, so seeing the two collaborate on Ride should be a delight to any fan of the genre. Swedish-based Moonraccoon’s style has always been a fine balance between the cinematic and the infectious, while Australia-based Gryff’s distinct and emotive songs have usually soared above more funk and nu-disco inspired tracks. Blending the two styles manages to highlight the best qualities of both, and this is obvious less than 60 seconds into the EP with opener “Ride”.

The titular track has such a sense of urgency that the EP quickly establishes itself as one which favors energy over subtlety, and that works in its favor. The chorus of the track could go toe-to-toe with any of The Midnight’s more mainstream crossover jams. The track’s production all leads towards and accents the energy of this chorus. The first chorus is preceded by a half time intro, while the second drops everything until a few exciting tom hits bring listeners back to the mesmerizing synth and powerful vocals.

Before going any further, it’s time to address the elephant in the room: Gryff is easily one of the strongest singers in the scene. This was obvious on 2018’s “Jessie” and “All Night”, but the fact that “Ride” shows that he has somehow gotten even better is absurd, and it more deeply solidifies the fact that, in 2019, if neither Gryff or Moonraccoon aren’t on your radar, what are you even doing?

“No Easy Way Out” follows and blends synthwave sensibilities with a more glam rock aesthetic and vibe. The inversion of the previous song’s synth-focuses composition with a guitar solo shows this song with a more guitar-oriented track that features a synth solo that behaves in much the same way, climbing throughout the scale of the song. The other strength of the track is in just how larger-than-life it sounds. This is an arena anthem.

The slower, more romantic track “Promises” rounds out the string of original tunes. Though the pace is less frantic than the two preceding tracks, it packs just as much of a punch. Sonically, the song makes absolutely no pretense about being something other than a love song, but still the melodies throughout it, both from the synths and the vocals, makes it something melancholy without necessarily evoking heartbreak. It ends with a massive multi-person refrain of the chorus that literally fades out to lyrics that beg to not “fade out”. This kind of musical mimesis makes me a happy boy.

The remixes of “Ride” complete the EP, with Aviators and Yoru each offering a different interpretation of what was probably the Ride’s best track. Both are fun in their own right and are a good bonus to fans of the release. This EP is one that won’t require a lot of spins to get into, but it is one which will probably compel you to go back to it throughout the year, or even longer. There’s gold here.

You can follow Moonraccoon on Twitter and Bandcamp.

You can follow Gryff on Facebook, Twitter, and Bandcamp.

Listen to Ride here!

Findland-based Turbo Knight’s January 2019 release has four new tracks and three remixes and each track has a real sense of space that lends itself to headphones and larger speakers.

The EP opens strongly, the Dimi Kaye collaboration “The Ascension”.  The track is over five minutes of mostly percussion-less synth soundscapes and ambient guitars that never overstays its welcome. The sounds weave in and out of the background allowing for various components of the track to take turns as the highlight. The guitar and Vangelis-esque brass synths trade off as they lure listeners deeper and deeper into the sounds that surrounds you. It ends on a cinematic and euphoric crescendo before the EP quite literally changes pace.

“Citadel”, featuring vocals from Sunesis, is the highlight of the release. Sunesis vocals in the first half of the track are an airy and breathy pad that the more upfront chiptune-esque leads bounce off of. The combination is a near transcendental sense of atmosphere as listeners again find themselves lost in the track. The song’s final moments pulse in a groove that is as dramatic as it is upbeat.

The feature-heavy release continues with the Dream Shore and Polemic Heart collaboration “Take You There”. The digital tenor of the vocals float over the pulsing arps of the instrumental. There’s also a cascading dreamy pluck filling everything out. Polemic Heart’s vocals are catchy throughout, and become chopped and manipulated by the song’s end to a really interesting effect.

And just as the album opened with “The Ascension”, it closes with “The Descent”. Sunesis comes back for this track and joins Starquake Synthmaster in another spacey and strange ethereal track. The shreddy guitars and dreamy vocals give the song a sense of finality. This gives the EP a sense of cohesion. With everything that the three throw at the track, it’s still hard to overlook how strong Turbo Knight’s production is and how the sound design of the synths gives everything a memorable quality. There isn’t a dull moment to be found.

The three “The Ascension” remixes on the EP are all vastly different enough from one another and from the original. Yoru gives the track a chilled yet dancey groove. Vosto makes the track’s already atmospheric elements even more spaced out and unusual. Inexdra melds synthwave with more house-oriented components to give the song a really funky rhythmic section.

The Citadel EP is a supremely enjoyable melding of different ideas held together by a strong sense of flow throughout the EP and a strong commitment to production. There’s always a handful of releases early in the year that set the bar high for the scene. It’s obvious that The Citadel EP is 2019’s early high benchmark.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=1424821776 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

The Citadel EP by Turbo Knight https://open.spotify.com/artist/7hsyLArBqyxYqQF2ODoT3c?si=Pw4d-03rQf2K6pd2KY9B9A

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIGyZEpogIK7b7RgHF6a2cQ

https://soundcloud.com/turboknight

https://www.facebook.com/turboknightsynthwave

https://turboknight.bandcamp.com/

https://twitter.com/turbo_knight

Opening track “The Future” opts for a slower and more cinematic opening, but the way it plays with filters on both synths and strange percussive sounds makes the song interesting, and by the time faster synths and guitars are introduced, the tension it builds is at a high point. The next track, “Target is a Machine” is an album high point with it’s buzzsaw of robotic sounding synths weaving in and out of a dreamy and upbeat mix. Fourth track “Dangerous Days (feat. Icarus)” is another standout, with it’s unique sounds building throughout the song and Icarus’ incredibly catchy vocal performance sitting effortlessly on Moonraccoon’s groovy and dance-oriented instrumentation.

“Neon Nights” might be the best track on the album and shows Moonraccoon fully embracing a side that was hinted at in previous work — how the melodies of these songs work so well in ethereal settings. The song has catchy synths at every corner, and at the half point turns up the uniqueness, but all along the synths and vocals meld to feel like one single instrument that just begs for spacing out with nice headphones. It’s haunting in the best way. The Straplocked-featuring “Three Laws” follows and sees the album turning from the serene to the sinister. The synths and guitar trade-off in an almost call and response as the track gains momentum amid Asimov’s laws of robotics. The track is the longest on the album, but never feels like it overstays its welcome.

While the next few songs aren’t weak — there really isn’t a bad song on the album — things lull until the “Sentience”, a track which features Turbo Knight. This is Moonraccoon at their most cinematic. The album clearly builds towards this and the other two songs which follow as album closers. This is the climax to Future Forces, and all three tracks nail that vibe. These songs all ooze a sense of drama that feels like the score for a final battle or boss fight, with the mixing on “One Hope” sounding particularly crisp. There is a lot going on in this song, but the mix and mastering allow everything to breathe, showing you just how much the song has to offer.

Like Sunset City, Future Forces is, incredibly, a name your price album as of writing. It is, beginning to end, a cinematic and strange and infectious album with a strong unifying theme of the cyberpunk. Unlike most cyberpunk inspired artists, Moonraccoon isn’t afraid to embrace lighter elements of the aesthetic, as evident by both the album art and the sonic choices throughout Future Forces.

You can pick up the album here on Bandcamp, and check out “Three Laws” on NRW’s YouTube channel below!

Be sure to subscribe to NewRetroWave and to follow Moonraccoon on Twitter and SoundCloud!

Ollie Wride has been working on his solo record for much of 2018, and if this song is a sample of what’s to come, it should be on your radar. Wride cites David Bowie, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Gabriel, and Roxy Music as major influences for his 80’s-infused pop bangers. While fans of the singer’s work with FM-84 will no doubt find a familiar root to his work, the Bowie and Gabriel influences are particularly strong throughout “Overcome”. As far as collaborators are concerned, we are told that you can expect Michael Oakley and Col, as well as other familiar artists, to make an appearance once the album drops.

It’s hard to not put this track on repeat while anxiously awaiting any other singles in anticipation of what is shaping up to be an incredible release.

NewRetroWave is proud to be streaming Ollie Wride’s “Overcome” here.

Be sure to support the artist by purchasing his music through Bandcamp. Subscribe to NewRetroWave on YouTube to receive the best that the synthwave, retrowave, and outrun scene has to offer, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news, retrospectives, reviews, and more!

The Midnight is the gift that keeps on giving this summer. Social media has been flooded the past two weeks with positive responses to the duo’s single “Lost Boy”, which we covered here. Tim McEwen and Tyler Lyle aren’t content to rest on their laurels, as their newest single, “America 2”, drops today.

“America 2” has the same incredible sense of melody, hint of melancholy, and sleek production values that have come to define the Midnight’s releases to date. When the vocal line references pawning a guitar to drive through the night to “look for America”, there’s a sense of chasing something abstract at best and illusory at worst. It’s a strong emotional force in the song and one which grabs listeners even if they aren’t paying attention to the lyrics. In a lot of ways, “America 2” complements “Lost Boy”, as they feel like tracks that lead into one another thematically.

At this rate, it’s hard to imagine the next major release from the Midnight not claiming a spot on NewRetroWave’s end-of-year lists. The dreamy synths, exciting guitars that drive the song, and catchy vocal hooks make this one of the perfect tracks to get your friends into synthwave.

Be sure to support the band by purchasing their music, including “America 2” through their Bandcamp or streaming on Spotify. Subscribe to NewRetroWave on YouTube to receive the best that the synthwave, retrowave, and outrun scene has to offer and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news, retrospectives, reviews, and more!

Check out “America 2” here!

And that’s without taking the video into account.

The music video is totally radical, and if taken as a measure of the kind of quality Mihaszna Film can produce, it’s hard to not look forward to more outrun outrageousness from everyone involved. We tried keeping count of the references throughout the music video’s 4-minute 14-second runtime and quickly racked up ten. Some of the most obvious are some clear Knight Rider references and obvious Kung Fury inspiration. Beyond that, a full-blown “Take On Me” homage midway through steals the show.

Beyond those three that we mentioned, what references can you spot in the music video? Let us know in the comments! Watch the video below.

While this is first and foremost a synthwave record, the way that it blends those familiar nostalgic sounds with the darkness and atmosphere of a group like Purity Ring and the ethereal pop sensibilities of an artist like How to Dress Well or Banks makes for a haunting pop album. Mad But Soft’s opening track “Cold Hard Ground” wastes no time in orienting listeners to Stewart’s sound. For reference, you don’t hear a single non-pad synth for nearly a minute. You don’t hear drums for nearly two. Instead, you are enveloped by the texture of vocals and pads blending, with the delay and reverb-laden vocals forming a similar sonic texture to the droning, washed out synth that lays beneath it. This is an atmospheric track welcoming listeners to an atmospheric album.

Follow-up track “Electric Heat” is noticeably more upbeat, but doesn’t shy away from the brooding and emotionally vulnerable tone that has been established, all while the catchy refrain of “Can you feel my heartbeat?” echoes. The tone of this album is unique. In some respects it has the kind of emotional rawness exhibited on such classics as Trevor Something Does Not Exist, but with a humbler and less cynical perspective. At the heart of both is the sound of heartache. In a lot of ways, the title Mad But Soft is the perfect name for it. This is an emotionally driven record that doesn’t shy away from its own playful spirit. The titular track follows suit by being musically high energy and dance-oriented while the vocals stay melancholy and dreamy.

“Cold”, with its Dana Jean Phoenix feature, is the closest the album gets to standard synthwave, but the strong sense of melody in the chorus keeps it from sounding stale. “Bike Night” slows things back down and serves as one of the best “headphones songs” on the album. It just envelopes the listener in a way that exemplifies the parts of this album that so effectively inspire chills. Closing out the album is the back to back to back creative and experimental wave of songs “Contract”, “False Memories”, and “Auto Fire”, with “Auto Fire” being the best song on the album. In these tracks, the album opts for its strangest synths and its most spaced-out atmospheres, and on “Auto Fire”, the emotional strike of the album is at its high point, and only rivaled by how endlessly catchy the vocal melodies at the center are.  

If you are an exclusive fan of darker or more concept-oriented synthwave, this might be hard to get into. The same goes for people who tend to avoid artists that really drench themselves in delay and reverb. For everyone else, and especially for people who like distinctive synthwave that opts to be something different and something authentic, this is going to be a melancholic, catchy, and unique album that will deserve multiple spins. There is a lot to love on nearly every track and it would be shocking if this didn’t wind up on an end-of-year list.

Darksynth has been in vogue through much of 2016 and 2017 as many synthheads’ sub-sub-genre of choice. In a lot of ways that makes sense. After an exhausting 2016, I doubt many of us were as prepared for how emotionally taxing 2017 has been, and I think it’s safe to say that sentiment is on a global scale. Dark synth started feeling a lot less like the soundtrack to a sci-fi dystopia and more like the soundtrack to our own collective societal nervous breakdown. The caveat that plagues dark synth is that it can veer towards redundancy. A lot of the sounds and song structures can get recycled, and some of the lesser dark synth producers wind up feeling like part of a crowd.

But that’s not Nightcrawler.

The Spanish producer’s latest album, Beware of the Humans, delivers ten tracks gunning to set a standard in the scene, with each track having a wealth of strange and hypnotic sounds supplemented by generally punchy and danceable beats. Opening track “Arrival” is a great introduction to the atmospheres Nightcrawler creates through his songs, and despite the lack of a driving beat, effectively builds tension for the release of follow-up “Hell-On Earth”, which has the kind of groove and menace of a DyE song, but with a more analog aesthetic.

Mid-album highlight “Secret Society” shows Nightcrawler at his most cinematic. The first half of the track is eerie and beautiful, but very dreamy. There’s a lightness to the sounds as higher frequencies are explored and densities of reverb are varied. Midway through the track the pulsing bass and kick start up and what was dreamy and soft becomes darker and dancier. The titular track, featuring Celine from Dead Astronauts and Italy’s strangest synthwave producer Vincenzo Salvia, is an easy contender for the best of the album, with the pulsing musical track emphasizing the desperation in Celine’s voice.

The album ends on a strange note, as “Sixth Extinction” might be the weirdest track on the album. Nightcrawler eschews something sprawling or bombastic in favor of something thematically relevant to the dystopia that he sets out to paint. For fans of individual tracks or throwing all of their synth tracks on shuffle, it might be disarming, but for those that prefer the full album experience or who read the brief narrative blurbs on Bandcamp as a mental context in which they can listen to the album, the track is a natural conclusion. The constantly changing sounds and deliberate pace remind us that dystopias don’t usually get better all at once. They get worse or they fall apart.

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Scandroid – MonochromeDetroit based Scandroid is back with his much anticipated sophomore album, “Monochrome.” This album follows close (less than a year) on the heels of his lauded breakout self-titled album, “Scandroid.”

Scandroid is the brainchild of the multi-genre multi-instrumentalist Klayton. Outside of Scandroid, he has produced under a wide variety of names, the most successful of which has been the unique genre bending industrial-electronic-alt-metal “Celldweller.”

“Monochrome” shares many similarities with Klayton’s debut album – relentless, chugging synth basslines mix well with major to minor melodies, friendly, sometimes fiendish guitar riffs and vivaciously vocoded vocals.

However, “Monochrome” does not rehash the original album. Klayton has managed to update this particular sound with more layered synths, a touch better production and an overall darker cyberpunk-not-quite-darkwave feel that suits the Scandroid sound well. He also merges Newwave and synth into a fantastic blend that somehow works well with the cyberpunk feel.

The intro and hooks to “Afterglow” and “Rendezvous” are insanely catchy and the interlude and bassline in “On the Face of The Deep” (Biblical reference, anyone? Genesis 1:2) makes for some fantastically dark synth. Because it was produced primarily on vintage gear, each track on “Monochrome” is intricately layered and definitely worth a few listens – as each listen will uncover previously unheard synthesizer intonations – it truly a brilliant work.

However, the album’s composition and flow does seem to have suffered a bit from the quick turnaround. Although the sound is on-point, this album comes in at a short thirteen tracks – especially when you realize two of them are remakes (one released all the way back in May) and one fantastic remix from Pylot. That makes the number of original tracks under ten!

In addition, although the remakes of “Thriller” and “The Force Theme” are solid tracks on their own – they seem to really break up the feel of “Monochrome,” jarring the album out of the cyberpunk soundscape just as it was beginning to really get into a flow. This tends to make the album feel more like a collection of singles than a cohesive whole.

The vocals also present another problem. In the synthwave genre many fans despise vocals and I often count myself among them – the “Woah oh oh oh” on “A Thousand Years” is just comically campy….Many fans who enjoy vocals might not like the particular alt-metal 00’s style either.

BUT – just as with his last album, Klayton well aware of this genre’s purist tendencies and has released an instrumental version alongside the main album – bravo Klayton! I’m happy to report the instrumental doesn’t lose any of the appeal of the original, and makes for a wholly unique listening experience.

All in all, the production and mastering on “Monochrome” is better than his debut. The Scandroid sound is updated, darker, deeper – but this success is short-lived and leaves us wanting more.  Top Tracks: “Monochrome,” “On The Face of The Deep,” “The Veil,” “Afterglow.”

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