Reality’s Despair – Normative Conformity (Album – Insane Records)

Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, EBM.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: This is album number seven for the Belgian solo-project “Normative Conformity”. It also is the second work released by Russian label Insane Records.
Content: If you’re already familiar with the sound of this artist you’ll be pleased to discover a new dark and haunted production. The songs are switching between EBM and Dark-Electro. Imagine the bass lines of Leather Strip together with the darkness of Vomito Negro and the icy leads of Suicide Commando and you’ll get an idea about this work.
+ + + : Reality’s Despair is progressively growing in writing and global sound production. I like this album for its wider range of influences which are moving in between EBM and Dark-Electro. I noticed great bass lines and overwhelming, cold, melodic leads. The sound perfectly matches with the spooky production of the vocals. I’ll mention “The Other Side” and “A Great Resist” as absolute attention grabbers.
– – – : I’m sometimes missing a bit innovation with this kind of productions, but at the other side Reality’s Despair is simply improving itself in its beloved Dark-Electro & EBM style.
Conclusion: Reality’s Despair remains one of the most underrated bands from the Belgian Dark-Electro scene.
Best songs: “The Other Side”, “A Great Resist”, “Strahlenflught”, “Gulf Breeze”.
Rate: 8.
Artist: www.facebook.com/realitysdespair
Label: www.insane-records.com / www.facebook.com/InsaneRecordsEU Read the news on ‘Normative Conformity’.
Listen to “Normative Conformity”:
About Reality’s Despair
Reality’s Despair is a Belgian one-man EBM and dark electro project run by Tom. It was formed in 1997 and independently released several titles over the following three years, after which the project was put on hold for eighteen years.
Tom picked the project back up in 2018 and self-released three further albums and a single. Insane Records signed him in 2021 and issued the label debut Perfidious Depopulation on 17 April 2021, an eleven-track album with three reworked versions, on CD and download.
“Normative Conformity” followed on 31 May 2022 as the project’s seventh album and its second for Insane Records. The CD edition was limited to 100 copies, with a digital release on the usual platforms. The album holds eleven new dark electro tracks plus three alternate versions of “Gulf Breeze”, “Conformity” and “When Your Eyes Are Closed”.
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I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

