Gothtober - Perturbator : "Age of Aquarius"

 

The new album from these French masters of dark synth wave features some interesting guest vocalists, with Kristoffer Rygg from Ulver being the first to step up to the mic on the opening track "Apocalyspe Now," which finds him crooning about a war to end all wars, which is the kind of theme I look for in music. "Lunacy" takes you on the kind of 80s-themed space roller coaster you expect from these guys. The grooves on their instrumentals always help carry the songs. The dynamic shift it takes into heavier intentions also helps keep my attention; the arrangements this time around have really been fine-tuned. 

It flows really well into "Venus," which features Tristan from Author & Punisher. His voice works really well with what they are doing here. "Gass Staircase" almost feels more like an Author & Punisher song than the previous one, as it packs more of an industrial punch. "Hangover Square" is more atmospheric, whereas the beat from "The Art of War" is more in your face. Although the vibes begin to run together a little by the time we reach "12th House," it does pack more of a HEALTH-like punch.

Greta Link offers her voice to " Lady Moon," giving it the melody needed to add more depth to the synth and beats. "Swimming Poll" is pretty much just an interlude. "Mors Ultima Ratio"  takes off, racing down a neon cyber highway. Niege from Alccest appears on the title track to close out the album. It sounds cool, but it's more about cool sounds than having the groove of a song as it basks in epic atmosphere.I will give this album a 9.5. and see how it grows on me, the choice of vocialists certainly elevates over most projects like this. 

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Master Boot Record : "HARDWAREZ"

 11 full-lengths into this project, things are getting bigger and more polished. How could they not? The mastermind behind this project is producer Victor Love, who after playing with a live band on tour decided to use actual live guitars in the studio, rather than just over-driven synths. Sonically this album works off the themes that fans are familiar with, some of the songwriting feels more mature the second song "MOBO" being a noted example of more nuanced dynamics helping things groove more as it breaks down to drums and a bass line. There are almost neo-classical phrasings employed in some of the synth patterns. They still dig in and get crunchier breakdowns at times. 

Some of the more melodic synth melodies have a happy Dream Theater-like vibe, though thankfully without the Journey-like vocals, though this makes a song like "CPU" not feel as heavy as "GPU" despite that song having appropriate levels of ambiance to it. Some segments feel more synth-wave than others, though this could have been said about previous releases as well. Of the project's previous releases that we have reviewed here, I preferred their 2018 album "Direct Memory Access" as it received an 8.5 versus the 2022 album "Personal Computer" which scored an 8, still better than most commercial radio, but the novelty had worn off a little on my second run with these guys. I can feel a similar feeling coming on with "RAM' which is back to a more upbeat mood that does not resonate as strongly with me. 

The more synth-waving sounds lead into "FDD" before they recoil into a taunt palm-muted chugged groove. This provides a pretty solid base for them to arrange the other synth embellishments around. They crunch out of this into a Meshuggah-like heaviness, though not tuned as low. "HDD" works off another more traditional metal groove that proves to be effective even when draped and the blips of the synth sound. They are wise to return to the more Pantera-like crunch. I am sure some misguided souls will compare this to industrial, and it does not have that kind of stomp, nothing is done in the robotic syncopation. 

"PSU' is an example of the contrasting dynamics this album keeps in playing with rolling arpeggios to solid smacks of crunch hitting you. The drum programming feels more aggressive this time around. On the last song, the melody feels more like Vangelis playing "Final Countdown" with the heavy parts more of the expected chugs. I will give this one a 9 as it feels like an improvement when it comes to more dynamic songwriting, If you like aggressive synth wave this is for you, and fans are getting a more polished version of what they are already here for. It drops on October 11th on Metal Blade. 

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