Cryptochroma – Ominous Clouds (Album – Red Maze Records)
Genre/Influences: EBM, Dark-Electro.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Cryptochroma is a Belgian solo-project driven by Jan Vinoelst -previously involved with projects like Cluster M13 and Messier 39.”Ominous Clouds” has been released by the Belgian label Red Maze Records and is the second one by this project.
Content: The songs are quite retro-like, awakening good-old EBM souvenirs from the late 80s and early 90s. The songs are recovered by dark strings and driven by danceable kicks. Jan’s deep timbre of voice creates a graveyard effect. One song features female vocals.
+ + + : Cryptochroma is a project striving for an own sound and that’s an aspect of the production I particularly like. The retro-analogue sound brings us back to great works of early 90s productions like Boris Mikulic. There’re a few songs featured with a true club potential.
– – – : Some passages of the vocals could be better produced.
Conclusion: Cryptochroma is a cool retro-EBM/Wave discovery made in Belgium.
Best songs: “Cosmic Rays”, “Drifting Vessel”, “Unconditional”, “Shadowgame – Dystopian Remix”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/cryptochromawave
Label: www.facebook.com/RedMazeRecords
About Cryptochroma
Cryptochroma is a one-man project from Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, run by Jan Vinoelst. Vinoelst started composing in the early 1990s and performed in the bands Cluster M13 and Messier 39 before working under the moniker Cape Sidereal. He started the cold analogue synth project Cryptochroma around 2018, releasing the album “Numb” in 2020 on Red Maze Records, the Brussels-based label specializing in wave, post-punk and minimal synth releases. “Ominous Clouds”, reviewed here, is Cryptochroma’s second album for the label.
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