Various Artists - Syntension Alpha

This is Volume Alpha of a new series of compilations from Synthematik, under the name Sytension which focus on the instrumental side of the dark electronic music. Volume Alpha offers 13 instrumental tracks ranging from electro-industrial and aggrotech to futurepop and trance.

The first offering is "20-07-69 by Alien 2064 (Arrival Version by Alpha Point)". We are off to a great start, Alpha Point from Moldova deliver a classic industrial/trance type melodic anthem. Not sure about the "Arrival version" as it feels more like we are starting a journey. This is a smooth, well produced trance classic and must surely be in the hands of many DJ's already.

Personal Space also from Russia, offer an instrumental version of "Blackout". More upbeat synth music, classic "spacesynth" material for DJ's and the dance-floor. Whitar from Belarus continue our sci-fi journey with "Keep Breathing". Again a catchy beat/dance-focused winner.

Fabious Corpus Act of Belarus with their, "Corruption" track bring a change with a more electro-industrial sound. I like the track and it still contains some of sci-fi/trance element, but it still seems somewhat out of place after what has gone before. Thus, halting our journey a little. [CYBER: FLESH] from Russia brings us the Synthematik Dub Voice version of its "Voice of the Universe." This also has more of the electro-industrial sound but more pounding and more trance like. This continues our formerly seamless dancing journey through space.

"Panikdanceshockforever" from the Belarusian band Diversant:13, further continues our trance like state but this time with a more dark-electro feel. An Alien Vampires sounding dance-floor filler, and the best so far for me. Next we have Perfect Symmetry also from Belarus with their track "The Anthem". This I describe as TBM meets drum and bass, the combination is interesting and works well.

Next we go 'techno/electro-industrial' with "Lock And Load" from the Russian Energoblock, also featuring an aggressive aggrotech beat. The track "Absolute" from the Russian musician DJ GOLUB, contains trance, futurepop and industrial elements, and this time some samples. Another superb dance track, with a noticeable Jean Michael Jarre influence amongst many more I think.

"Every Planet We Reach Is Dead", from the Ukrainian electro band Dirty Bird 13, is a dark-electro dance track. An all round excellent powerful instrumental track. "Kill Emotions" by the one man Russian project Mental Discipline, delivers a superb futurepop/synthpop, dance track but with much more.

Damien Poll from Russia brings us the dark-electro/futurepop sound of "New Invasion", with a good heavy dance beat, making it different from what has gone previously. The final track is "Nothing" by the Russian band Systemshock, a trance track with some dubstep bass. Very different to anything previous and a suitable way to bring us back to earth.

Conclusion:
I liked this album from the beginning but it just seemed to get better and better, culminating for me in the Dirty Bird 13 and Mental Discipline tracks. Ideal alternative music for the club scene and still just hard enough to digest for people from the outside world. But it also has all those elements necessary to keep a good party going. A wide range of musical styles including Trance, Industrial, Futurepop, Dark-Electro, and more. The latter half especially contains a lot of creativity and different ways of making music. Apr 27 2012