Style: Synthwave, darksynth, goth rock
Primary Emotions/Themes: Walking down dark city streets, clutching the gun in your inner pocket, hoping that one of the repliods doesn't try to kill you too
Thoughts: The mist rises from the sewage grates like serpents trying to catch a bird. They vanish as quickly as they came. The only sound is the echo of my footsteps as I walk down this dank alleyway. Rotten dumpsters and rusted walls are the only thing as far as the eye can see... maybe a rat the size of my forearm carrying god knows what down into the sewers with it.
It reeks of death here. The stench if pungent and it fills every pore on my being. I try holding my breath and I can still smell the shit. It's seeping in through whatever orifice it can get in... even my skin. Humans were not meant to be here.
Walking further in I end up clutching my chest. The .45 is still right where I left it, my anxiety fades just a little bit only to be immediately back on edge. I hear footsteps, not ones that a human would make. These are heavy and metallic. They are getting faster - they found me.
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I've started getting less records in the mail lately. One of my goals for this year is to focus on the records that I do have and revisit them. Some records I even forgot were in my collection, these are the one's that need to be pulled out and listened to the most. These are the orphans. Paramnisia was one of those records - no more.
Protector 101 has to be one of the most interesting artists in synthwave. Every album which I've heard form the project has been outstanding - that total being two. Even though the sample size is small both Killbots and this album are exceptional in a sea of mediocrity.
Where Killbots goes sharply into the industrial noise territory, Paramnisia feels solidly rooted in darksynth with a huge tinge of cyberpunk noir. The first ten minutes of the album are among my favorite in any synthwave album... pretty much ever.
It starts off with a low instrumental drone, much like the opening to a movie that is fading in. A slow build eventually leads to a deep and menacing darksynth pulse that reverberates throughout my entire room when it goes. It's not just menacing, this is visceral. It hits that primal brain and makes me want to commit violent acts.
Eventually the mood mellows out into what could only be called a goth rock song. Sure the synthwave is still there but this screams mid eighties goth rock ala Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephalim. It's a huge change from the driving opening, but it's done so naturally that there is no dissonance - only the joy that comes with a perfectly paced album.
After the first fifteen minutes Protector 101 has shown his hand. He's let the listener know what is going to happen during the near hour run time of Paramnisia. An expertly crafted combination of darksynth, synthwave, and goth rock. Even though it never strays too far from these three genres, the way that these songs are crafted is too good to ignore. One of the best I've heard in a long time.
Written February 23rd 2024
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