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Artist:
NEON:SYNTHESIS
Album: Our Empty Rooms
Year: 2006
Despite the fact that Neon Synthesis only exists for two
years and they only released a three song promo before
this debut album, people all over the world were already
begging for this CD after the promise of this new
release with a clean sound. And, after about ten months
beeing busy recording all the stuff, they have finally
released ‘Our Empty Rooms’ upon mankind. This album
brings us seven new tracks and three re-recorded tracks,
ready to be discovered by the synthetic civilisation.
The basic lines are still the same. Neon Synthesis
manages to build more than decent indus metal songs on a
spine made of EBM with a catchy appearance. The diverse
vocals of Johnny Thyper (dark, deep clean vocals mixed
with raw screams and soft whisperings) and the different
influences of each bandmember give each song an own
identity. The album starts with more metal based songs.
‘Future plague’ and ‘The Last Dream’, perfectly mastered
to let them sound as one, are atmospheric and have a
certain amount of catchyness as well. Specially the
chorus of ‘The Last Dream’ (“My soul, is empty now. What
I was, is far away.”) gets stuck in your head. The
strong and powerful riffs at the end of this song are
worth mentioning as well. ‘Solitude and Fear’ is the
first re-recorded track, originally to be found on the
Promo004 release. The fact that this album is better
produced was definitely a blessing for this song and
turned it from a raw, dark demo song into an
atmospheric, kind of gothic metal song with a dreamable
sound and a catchy chorus. Be able to fly away when you
listen to this song. ‘Awakening’ is a song with a more
modern, danceable sound. People who used to love ‘The
Prophet’ on the Promo004 are definitely happy with this
song. But, other people must be as well. More than
decently build, this song is a good result of mixing
electro/EBM with dark rock. The many things they tell
with the lyrics, the less although the more things they
say with the music riffs in the next song. ‘Stolen by
the Wind’ is perfect for relaxing, no complexities in
the music, and the beauty of the vocals come forward
perfectly. But, when you take a closer listen you’ll
hear the little details that give words to the music
itself. And in my opinion, best lyrics of the album!
‘Rays of Mind’ and ‘The Prophet’ are two re-recorded
tracks again, with a few changes. The song haven’t lost
any quality or catchyness fortunately, and they even
improved some little samplings here and there (which are
even clearer hearable thanks to the clean sound). ‘Eden’
turns out to be my favourite track of the record, and
people who are familiar with it already know why.
Powerful, atmospheric sampling with dark keys and
guitars mixed with the whispers and the deep ‘normal’
vocals wrapped within a catchy package. Danceable but
brutal. Atmospheric but catchy. This song has it all.
‘Astral Coil’ brings you back to songs like ‘Rays of
Mind’ and ‘Solitude and Fear’, with a little touch of
synth pop. Same concept, though different. I even think
that people who like Moonspell will be very positively
surprised with these songs too. The album ends with the
title song, which happens to be an outro, but luckly I
have pushed the repeat all button already a few times so
the silence after the outro does not kill anything. This
band has definitely as much talent as the bigger bands
in it’s genre (Ensoph, Deathstars, Samael, ...) and
manages to give birth to an own identity already. I am
200% sure that this band, if they have the right
management and stuff, will make it in the future. And
not to forget that they confirmed their good live
reputation more than once, even abroad. This album was
worth the wait definitely, and this album gets even
better and better the more you’re listening to it!
Vote: 98 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. Future Plague
02. The Last Dream
03. Solitude And Fear
04. Awakening
05. Stolen By The Wind
06. Rays Of Mind
07. The Prophet
08. Eden
09. Astral Coil
10. Our Empty Rooms |
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