Lazer Station - Time Blazer

Lazer Station is a synthwave, industrial, and techno hybrid project focusing on bringing danceable synth music and futuristic vibes to the same party. And, well, the project has been largely successful in committing to these acts. The Michigan based project has numerous singles, EPs, and albums under their belt with their only physical album (a collection of the EPs "Chaos of Hyperion", "Destination", and "Exit" with a bonus track) being sold out long ago. There is also a huge attention to story-telling and detail within their work; the Lazer Station is described as a dark vessel floating through space without a destination or origin who transmits sounds to those around it. And, well, these are the sounds from that object. Obviously, wherever it came from, they sure know how to party. 

Their latest and fifth studio album is "Time Blazer", an eleven track concept album. Lazer Station has described the album as a "soundtrack to an imagined movie / video game following the story of the Time Blazer and his battle through time with the cybernetic forces of The SNDR." I imagine that the titular Time Blazer is the woman up front dual wielding pistols with the man behind Lazer Station pictured menacingly in the background to the right. The evil forces of the SNDR are to the left, with the big bad guy in front and possibly their right hand man not too far behind them. Served on a base of a grid-like pattern with racing cars and what I assume to be Japanese text, the album cover leaves nothing in want. However, as I like to state in every review, the cover art does not affect the score of the review. It's just fun for me to explore. 



The album begins off with the song 'Directive', which contains a knocking like beat as an underlying synth-line out of a suspenseful scene in an 80s throwback film builds up tension. After about two-and-a-half minutes of this creative build-up and science fiction ambience, we are thrown head first into a track containing a wonderful and rustic beat that's not all too powerful but not weak in any sense either. This is not meant to be a song that's going to be destructive to your speaker system or be the most stompy bit you'll ever hear; it's meant to be a chilling and thoughtful piece to action on screen. 'Directive' is just the start of this journey, and throughout the album there is not a single bad song. There are some that I preferred over the others, however, and I would like to speak on those a bit. 

Prior to the album launching the single 'Locked In' was released. I won't talk about the cover art for the single this time around, but I will definitely be using the character as reference material for a tabletop RPG I am currently playing. Anyway, there was a reason this was chosen to be the single that teased the album: it's really fucking good. The ramped up beat and tension made me feel as if I were locked up with the menacing character depicted; it was as if the Time Blazer were in a building locked in, as the title states, with this person. The escape route was cut off and the only way out was to fight. And this is one of the reasons why I love Lazer Station; the imagery, music, and aesthetic all make for a thrilling story on their own without much thought. It's brilliant.

'Lipstick and Napalm' was another one of the standout songs on the album that I couldn't resist skipping to on subsequent plays of the album. The title alone has eighties cheese smeared all over it; it has the right blend of femme fatale and violence written all over it. I could see this being the title to an album in of itself. 'Lipstick and Napalm', then, is a song that takes its time with you. Like many of the other tracks found on "Time Blazer", it around five-minutes long but it never feels that way. The amount of variation on the track and pauses for subtle electronic queues is impressive to say the very least. 

"Time Blazer" is an all-in-one package. The themes are written on the cover art and what you see is what you can expect from within the album. An electronic album going through the loops of synthwave, industrial, and techno. I'm impressed by the fusion of all three; Lazer Station is able to deviate from the path of standard synthwave by utilizing the crunchy elements of industrial and the ramped up rhythmic beats of techno into a serious package. Take with it the amazing presentation and I'm once again blown away by what Lazer Station is able to achieve. The album is available in digital formats on Bandcamp. Go grab yourself a copy. 

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Jan 30 2021