Neoslave - From Womb To Doom

There are probably a ton of synthwave releases that I missed around the Halloween season thanks to our own curation Music For The Murdered as well as the other festivities I partook on the dark holiday. However, that does not mean Halloween can not be celebrated everyday as Ministry once so infamously put therefore I am backtracking to Neoslave's From Womb To Doom. Released and brought to my attention via the fine folks over at Lazerdiscs Records, Neoslave is a dark synthwave project that was founded in 2016 who has toured with the likes of GosT and Perturbator. 

Like most synthwave and dark synth albums From Womb To Doom is a concept album featuring a child of the apocalypse, Hellraiser like themes, and an approach from a otherworldly force requiring Neoslave to create and audio biography of this event and thus From Womb To Doom was born. You can read the full synopsis of this four paragraph ridiculously hilarious story via Bandcamp. While you're there, if you really appreciate this music, you might want to grab a cassette copy before that's sold out as the CD has already done so. 

After the spooky intro track 'Conception' sent chills throughout my spine and set me up for a thrill ride through Hell, I was sent through a dance riddled track with robotic vocoder vocals that could easily get a dancefloor full of 80's nerds such as myself flailing away with 'Soulreaper'. That and 'Overdrive Overture' make up the more upbeat sounding electronic dance rhythms on the album - but the rest get down and dirty and in your face.

Sludgy electronic riffs, synths reminiscing Halloween nights long forgotten where you hid under the covers from the slasher on screen, and an overall feeling as if some monster is about to chase you from where you stand took over my senses mentally and aurally as I passed through 'Droideka', 'Hypnotic Nightmare', and 'Disco of Doom'. Also, kudos to the amazing final track on the album 'Necrodancer' as the electronic guitar within the song was happily livid. 

Collaborators on the album included the 80's influenced electro band Absolute Valentine and Evi Broers - neither of which I've heard of before but both of which I shall be looking into after this. The power of Absolute Valentine's additional production and Evi Broers' vocals made the song a powerhouse. Vocalist Becca Starr of the progressive metal band Epsilon also lent her talent to 'Digisexdreams'. Just as fluent and astounding as I've ever heard, Starr once again boosts and already great album to new heights. 

From concept to execution, Neoslave has proved himself worthy to be a forerunner in the synthwave scene along the likes of those he has performed with. The production is precise and clean, his personal working pay tribute to the greats but slices his own brand, and the collaborations were fantastic. What more can I say? Go get it. 


Nov 14 2017