Perturbator : "Lustful Sacraments"

Things have changed for this French synth wave project. It has been a logical progression from album to album. But this marks the first time I have thought now this is a cool song. Much like a great deal of the current crop of synth wave the largely instrumental sub genre tended to focus on capturing synth sounds of yester year and melding them into something not unlike the " Blade Runner" soundtrack . This time around we are getting something much more song focused. The vocals on the title track , were low and largely another sonic layer as the murmur was under other layers of sound. The beats hit more like industrial and have pretty much solidified this project becoming goth. No surprise as they were headed there this is just more of a commitment to the darkness. 

Guest vocalists litter the album. The third track "Excess' is more upbeat and features the voice of Maniac 2121. True Body makes "Secret Devotion" something much more likely to pack the dance floor on goth night. Production wise there is a great balance of murky bat cave ambiance and the synth wave pulse. When synth wave is done right it hits you with an unrelenting groove. This is what is delivered on "Death of the Soul". There is also a similar vibe to "the Other Place" though the guitar on this song makes it feel a little more about the song and less about the sound. The ambiance levels up on "Dethroned Under a Funeral Haze". Maniac 2121 returns to contribute vocals. This leading it to sounding like a more dismal take of Depeche Mode.  I support a more dismal Depeche Mode 100 percent. 

"Messalina, Messalina" tries to decide if it wants you to dance at goth night , or wallow in the guitar tones summoned. It settles on dancing at goth night. The lingering moments of darkness here are pretty cool. The last song was what I was looking forward to as Hangman's Chair puts in an appearance. It makes sense as they are both from France. The vocals com in very soft and sitting back into layers of synth. It is not to far removed from what Hangman's Chair normally does. The vocals do not cut through the mix as much as I would like them to. I8f it was not for the last two minutes where he voice cuts through and it comes across more like the kind of emotional outpouring that I know to expect from them to I feel vindicated. I will go ahead and round this album up to a 10 as I feel it pretty much delivers in a big way and marries synth wave with goth for good .