MASTER BOOT RECORD - Direct Memory Access (2018)

YouTube listening

Another masterpiece realeased by Blood Music Records. 

This time we're stepping outside the synthwave genre. We're going way heavier and more brutal. 

By listening we are hit with an avalanche of thick, fat metal riffs converted into electronic wave of dehumanization. Computer chip monosounds are adding the cyberpunk-depraved temper. The synthesized growling vocals of Laurent Lenoir (from Öxxö Xööx) make the sound extra dark and doomish. 

What do I need now? A fan. Why? Because my CPU is definitely overheated thanks MBR ;-)

Is this "music 2.0"? Hell yes. 

Tracklist:

1. DMA 0 DRAM REFRESH

2. DMA 1 SOUND CARD 8-BIT

3. DMA 2 FDD CONTROLLER

4. DMA 3 LPT1 ECP MODE

5. DMA 4 CASCADE

6. DMA 5 HARD DISK

7. DMA 6 SCSI HOST ADAPTER

8. DMA 7 SOUND CARD 16-BIT

Vague Scare - Classified (2017)

Listening on Bandcamp

In the middle of the summer and with gothic festivals taking place here and there, it is a perfect time to focus on some coldwave.

Vague Scare is indeed cold and dark. Turns out that synthesizer and vocals are all you need in order to get entirely frozen musically. Yet it is not just a regular sound of a synthesizer - more like a great worship of any frostiness there is in whichever new wave melody. The vocalist's small imperfections do not ruin this impression at all and make Classified even more obscure. The 80's spirit is very much alive. 

"And we walk to the sound
Of an unseen war
Worn-out uniforms
Invisible to the eye"

Tracklist: 

1. What Happened To You
2. War Walk
3. SDS
4. Cold Blood Warm Smile
5. Elegant Crime
6. So Human
7. Empty Your Heart
8. Can't Get It Bright

TriORE - Three Hours (2009)

Listen on YouTube

TriORE is a collaboration between Triarii and Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio. If you are familiar with these two already, then you know that you  have to get ready for a total music apocalypse.

What I have to highlight in the first place are lyrics, lyrics, lyrics. The best part of this album definitely. Lyrics about war times, failure, bloodshed, solitude,  miserable love, disbelief, pessimism and melancholy. Monumental job done there. 

The other aspect is the stabile and steady way they're being sang. It enhances the overall collossal speech of the words and underlines the military overtone of Three Hours.

When you combine all the above mentioned elements with epic instrumental parts creating the atmosphere of total doom, you get not only an excellent work of music art, but also a grand manifesto of denial and disorder.

Tracklist:

1. The First Three Hours

2. Victory Rising

3. After Summer We Fall

4. The Missing Hour

5. Another Love, Another Hate

6. No Tears Are Shed For You And Me

7. Pleasures & Tortures

8. Fires Burn, Like Fires Do

9. Let Us Meet In The Trenches

10. There's A Smell To Life That Dies

11. Europa's Dream

12. The Last Three Hours

Àrnica - Cabeza de Lobo (2017)

Listening on Bandcamp

This is the music I've been fighting for.

Deeply dark, ritual odes to iberian heathen gods. Loaded with fury praisals of death and desctuction. 

An opportunity to embrace the violent spirit of the atmospheric pagan hymns. Goosebumps from the start till the end. 

Don't let the steady and repetitive beginning fool you - mystic aura builds up with time. It is even difficult for me to write this post, I just want to dance - and so will you, while listening. The wolf from the album cover will enter your head and will refuse to leave. 

Tracklist:

1. ¡Leukade! ¡Leukade! ¡Leukade!

2. Gira La Rueca

3. Dioses Ocultos

4. Rueda Dextrógira

5. Nieve En Llamas

6. Eburos

7. Cabeza De Lobo

8. Rueda Levógira

9. La Tésera Se Ha Quebrado

10. Ataan

Hollywood Burns - Invaders (2018)

Listen on YouTube

If I was to explain Invaders to you in one sentence, I would put it like this: 

"Tim Burton and Harry Potter started a darksynth project and it is awesome, trust me." 

Hollywood Burns pays a tribute to your inner child - the symphonious parts sound like taken straight from WarnerBros movies, on which we've all grown up on. 

And even if you're not interested in the ways of the wizardry or you're not a fan of Beetlejuice, you should give it a listen. Why? Because it is basically a splendid orchestral cinema music mixed together with neat synthwave.

Listening to this album is  like a stroll in the dark night forest, full of scary shadows and werewolfs, witches flying over your head and epic synthwave music playing. Bazaar of the Damned is the most eminent example to this.

And it is worth noting that it is not Daniel Radcliffe (hehe) responsible for this project but it is Emeric Levardon, composer and producer.

Tracklist:

1. Opening Titles

2. Black Saucers

3. Scherzo No. 5 in Death Minor 

4. Carnal Encounters of the Third Kind

5. Girls with Guns

6. L'Era delle Ceneri

7. Bazaar of the Damned

8. Came to Annihilate

9. Revenge of the Black Saucers

10. Survivors

11. Closing Titles (Bonus)