Synapse - Audio/Visceral

Based in Denver, Colorado, Synapse is a three piece with Mark Sousa (Vocals/Programming), Patrick Hogan (Synths/Programming), Sara Chenoweth (Vocals/Synths) and in March 2013 they released their debut 'Audio/Visceral'. The album contains 10 original tracks and 2 remixes and runs at 65 minutes.

And a truly enjoyable 65 minutes it is too. As always, I listened to the album a couple times without finding more information about the them and the first thing that struck me was this band would probably be fans of Assemblage 23 and Rotersand.

I don't mean that they sound like those bands but you can hear the familiarities of song structure and vocal style. And it turns out they (the band) are interested in those bands and to add to the list Covenant, Neuroticfish, Edge of Dawn, [:SITD:] and it all makes sense.

'Audio/Visceral' is put together well as the flow from track to track feels right and proper. What I really liked about this album was the female vocals in most of the songs and used as part of the whole song and not just to "back up the chorus". It adds a dimension to Synapse that can be lacking in the male vocal dominated EBM scene and I think it is a part of what will make them noticeable within the genre.

The songs are well written and sound full without being messy and confused. There are some old school EBM kicks and basslines make themselves known, and in the same way that Covenant/Rotersand etc etc do, make it modern and relevant. Lyrically the songs have meaning, nothing tacky or wishy washy and I found myself during the second listening sort of singing along badly and using the wrong words, but I was having fun.

The "Memory" remix is given a harder edge as it is remixed by "Imperative Reaction" and has that IR feel to it without losing the original concept. My only grievance, and its a personal thing, is the remix of "Signal 2 Noise". While the music is fantastic, the autotune style treatment of Sara's and Mark's (if i may be so bold to call them so) vocals annoys me and I think is unnecessary for such good vocalists. But it's a small thing that probably doesn't worry anyone else in the world.

I don't have a favorite song on this album and there is a very good reason for that. They're all good and I think that Sara, Mark and Patrick (there I again go being familiar) should be damn proud of this record. I would (and no doubt will) use any of the tracks in my sets and the hardest decision would be, which one. Oct 16 2013