Best Darksynth/Cybersynth Releases 2018 (Part 1)
I know I’m nearly 3 months late with this, but here are the (imo) best darksynth/dark synthwave/cybersynth releases of 2018. Last year was absolutely packed with big releases from the biggest names in synthwave, especially the first half of the year where titans GosT, Carpenter Brut, and MasterBootRecord all had major new releases. Here are releases most worthy of checking out, in particular order!
Deadlife - The Order of Chaos
Deadlife absolutely takes the cake with his second album, the Order of Chaos, released March 2018. TOOC is a spectacular followup to his first album, Bionic Chrysalis, and continues to build on that groovy, dancey, hard hitting cybersynth feel. Nearly every track is a banger, and with the inclusion of spoken word throughout it gives you a great story to follow along with- that of a time-traveling revenge-seeking android, haunted by the spirit (or memory) of his murdered human partner. Deadlife also released another album in 2018 (Variations on the Resolve), and is due to release his fourth on Feb 22 (Orphan), both of which have moved away from the darksynth sound of his first two albums. In less than a year, Deadlife released two album worthy of the must-listen darksynth and cybersynth guides, and is certainly worth blasting on repeat, even if his signature sound is evolving away to something new.
GosT has been one of the mainstay staples in the Blood Music catalog, making him also one of the staples of darksynth. With albums Behemoth and Non Paradisi bringing unique but exemplary sound to the genre, with Possessor GosT has gone the way of other major names like Perturbator, Deadlife, Surgeryhead and Carpenter Brut and began to expand out and deviate from the traditional formula. Possessor is as much an experimental extreme metal album as it is darksynth, not that this in any way diminishes it. Rather, the fusion brings a much needed breath of fresh air, not sacrificing the qualities listeners love in GosT or the genre generally. Metal has always had a strong influence on darksynth, particularly due to the influence of shared metal/synthwave label Blood Music, and GosT demonstrated that marriage is a good one. GosT has left the Blood Music label, and his newest single “She Lives in Red Light” on Century Media shows a divulgence from his typical work, focusing more on the vocal style found in Sigil on this album. Who knows what we’re yet to see from GosT, but he isn’t going away. If you need a fix of new, old-school sounding GhosT, the just-released game The Textorcist has a soundtrack entirely by him, which you can buy with the game.
MASTER BOOT RECORD - Direct Memory Access
Another Blood Music attache, this is MBR’s first release with Blood Music, having long been a solid and reliable name in the darksynth genre for a while beforehand. MBR has a unique sound not found with any other producers, something he calls chipwave. I’ve always described it to people as chiptune metal, which it more or less is. With his entrance to Blood Music’s catalog, DMA has introduced something new- vocals. Utilizing the talented singing of a constructed language by fellow Blood Music metal band Öxxö Xööx, this elevates MBR’s otherwise somewhat similar-sounding yet solid music to something distinguishable and thoroughly enjoyable. Not all tracks have Öxxö Xööx‘s additions, and instrumental versions exist for the tracks that do, so even if you’re not crazy about the unintelligible lyrics you can still enjoy MBR’s chippy riffs. MBR is scoring Blood Music’s (with Theta Division Games) first and likely only game release, cyberpunk point-and-click Virtuaverse. If you want more of what MBR has to offer, check out his side projects- Keygen Church and Victor Love.
Electric Dragon - Dark Water, Communion
Electric Dragon slipped under many people’s radar with his 2016 release Covenant, but became impossible to ignore with two absolute banger albums in 2018, sandwiching a year of great music between two core darksynth album built around pure evil. Communion, released in January, is a strong dancey, distorted album that bring head-bobbing power to the sounds of dark magic and evil cults. I enjoyed Communion, although I felt the sound was a little dated when compared to the powerhouses of this year. That is, Communion sounds like a 2015 or 2016 album, right at home with Perturbator’s Uncanny Valley. While damn good, it didn’t necessarily bring much new. ED absolutely rectified this with Dark Water, which has been on repeat for me since its November release. Fresh, powerful, and groovy, Dark Water continues the theme of dark magic but elevated ED’s sound. Each track brings a different feel, making use of new sounds and styles while still being solidly born from ED’s style. One of the last, best releases of 2018, Dark Water is definitely worth a listen.
LAZERPUNK - DEATH & GLORY
Lazerpunk wasn’t really a well-known artist until he dropped power-drenched Death & Glory, a aptly-named album that showcases a range of nontraditional darksynth unified by a singular thread: goddam beat-blasted heavy-hitting knock-you-down kickassery. Certainly not your typical darksynth, and a far cry from anything cyberpunk, Death & Glory catapulted Lazerpunk to well-known status in the community. With tracks titled like Power, Warmachine, Rampage, Anger, and Revenge, you know what kind of groove you’re about the experience. Other tracks, like Black Lambo, really steal the show as electronic, but only vaguely darksynth, bangers. This album features Quixotic and Daniel Deluxe on a couple tracks, and their influence can certainly be felt to no detriment of the album. A seriously awesome addition to the genre that brought Lazerpunk a well-deserved place among the top must-listen guides to darksynth.
