VARIOUS ARTISTS
‘Syntension Alpha'
SYNTHEMATIK

With the heavy dominance of western Europe and the USA it is often easy to forget other parts have a rich and thriving industrial scenes all of their own. And if you have never explored the rich pickings beyond the former Iron Curtain this new compilation series from Russian label Synthematik could be the best place to start.

It is apparent from the opening bars of ‘20-07-69' by Alien 2064 that this is a quality release in the vein of Alfa Matrix's always well received compilations. The mix of industrial, futurepop, EBM and trance from across the former Eastern Block is put together with the dance floor in mind. Though being an instrumental album it does have positives and negatives.
On the upside there is the fact that this is classic DJ fodder, with so many well constructed tracks all featuring catchy hooks and strong melodies there will no doubt be major club exposure to come. However, with such good song writing it is a shame there are no sing-a-long opportunities presented for the average listener to get into.

On the whole though this is a very strong offering with talent such as Alien 2064, Whitar, Fabious Corpus Act, Diversant:13 and Damien Poll showing themselves to have serious global potential. While a mix of instrumentals and vocals might be a better approach in the future, this compilation does achieve its goal in highlighting some real untapped talent.

[3/5]

Synthmatik Website