XYNTEC - FORM AND VOID

After so many bands have banged up and perused various analog synths and retro sounds under the guise of synthwave, projects still producing within the genre need to understand that it takes more than a letterman jacket and a cool pair of sunglasses to stand out within the 80s inspired scene. While many artists understand this and take their game to the next level by upping production values and putting forth valiant effort in their art direction, many others fail to understand that the niche genre is oversaturated with standard acts. DJ and producer XYNTEC falls under the category of projects who understand the necessity to evolve synthwave into something more, henceforth the creation of his debut EP "Heavy Body Synthwave". A culmination of various influences from the likes of heavy metal and EBM, XYNTEC stuck to the roots of the genre while giving it a mechanical injection of steel and fire alike. 



2018 saw a period of output from XYNTEC whereupon he continued to storm the synthwave barriers. Following the release of "Heavy Body Synthwave", he took his cover of :wumpscut:'s 'Embryodead' and gave it a DJ cut on the single release. Shortly thereafter, XYNTEC put out a six track EP "Koexistenz" which featured a bunch of tracks that were made under the XYNTEC name, but didn't quite fit within the boundaries of his debut EP. After that, XYNTEC fell off the face of Bandcamp to quietly produce and create their next magnum opus. Three years and some months later, "FORM AND VOID" is finally here.

The album starts with the track 'Automata', which has a very slow build featuring a creepy tone. Around the thirty-five second mark the bassline kicks in, as if whatever horror is out there finally makes a solid appearance. Not too long after, another percussive element steadily beats in rhythmically. The song is made complete by a backing synth and some short-burst guitar riffs. It is a wonderfully atmospheric intro track that had cinematic horror vibes written all over it. But this was just the beginning of my journey as next I headed into the title track, 'Form and Void'.

This six-minute and eighteen-second beast allows synth lines to mix and mingle with an extremely stompy, industrial like beat. At times, such as around the three-minute and fiftteen-second mark, the song goes full on electro-industrial. The song structure is also powerful in that it has several change-ups throughout its course without ever moving away from the canon sound. The following song, 'Resistance', is a darksynth monster. Obviously influenced by the likes of Perturbator, 'Resistance' has grimy and clubby dance beats fluent throughout the entire song. These darksynth vibes come back on the fifth track 'Violent Streets', although in a much quicker and rampant fashion. Both 'The Storm' and 'Restart' are slower tracks, allowing a bit more atmosphere to breathe through. I wasn't quite as impressed with these two as I was with the previous songs, as I felt as if the structure of the songs weren't quite as complex or interesting as the other original four. But they still made for decent listens. 

At the tail end of the album are two remixes from fellow retro-heads CRYSEHD and SPACEINVADER. CRYSEHD's version of 'Resistance' is, well, superior to the original in my opinion. It's a solid dark synth dance piece focusing on incredibly well produced beats and silky smooth rhythms. The remix is much shorter than the original song by a little more than a minute-and-a-half, but that's not a huge con considering how well the remix came out. That being said, while SPACEINVADER's remix of 'Form and Void' was swell, I still prefer the original mix to this one. I really enjoyed the original mix's variation of synthwave and industrial mechanics combined, so it is hard to beat. 

XYNTEC's "Form and Void", then, is a decent slice of synthwave, industrial, and EBM or - as XYNTEC put on his debut EP - heavy body synthwave. I enjoyed most of the tracks on the album and can easily see myself jamming out to the remixes, 'Automata', 'Form and Void', 'Resistance', and 'Violent Streets' all over again. However, after giving the album a couple of spins I began to dull of 'The Storm' and 'Restart'; I would much rather skip those to get to the next song in line. In any event, I'm still left with six phenomenal songs that kick ass. Seven-and-a-half out of ten. Go check it out. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Apr 04 2021