Style: Synthwave
Primary Emotions/Themes: The soundtrack to an 80's movie forty years too late
Thoughts: This album came out of nowhere. All of the band's previous offerings did nothing for me. To my ears the sounded like generic and dull synthwave that did nothing redeeming. I tried several times to get into Volume 1 and every time it failed.
On an off chance I decided to give their new album (at the time) a listen, and needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. The opening track - Depths of Power - hooked me in right away with it's slow build and insanely infectious groove. It sounded like the very best of that 80's nostalgia that I craved from the genre. As the song went on these feelings only grew, I knew that something was fundamentally different about this album compared to what I had heard before.
I was a bit concerned though. Was this just a good opener, or had the band changed their sound for the better? Over the next few tracks I got my answer. Invincible caught me again off guard with it's slow and brooding atmosphere. Empress' slow yet epic melodies sweep me away into another dimension, this may very well be the best song the band has written. Prophecy has a distinct feeling of Daft Punk influence that is not seen elsewhere in the album.
Needless to say the quality seen in the first track was carried on throughout the remainder of the tracks. The band had found something that resonated with me infinitely more than anything they had done in the past. While not every band is worth a revisit, sometimes one will come out of no where and surprise you.
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