Synapscape – A Journey Through Concern (Album – Ant-Zen)
Genre/Influences: Industrial, Minimal-Electronics, EBM, Technoid.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Philipp Münch and Tim Kniep are back on track unleashing a new album. The German duo is now active for more than twenty five years and became a true reference at the wider fields of Industrial music.
Content: Synapscape has already experimented with multiple influences. Therefore you can’t say they belong to one specific genre rather than being a sonic hybrid. This new work is the ultimate confirmation; taking off with pure Acid sequences to move on with harsh Electro-Industrial sound treatments to next walk at Experimental paths to some EBM to Techno-driven passages to pure Electronic minimalism and finally getting back to Acid.
The album features 9 songs plus 4 remixes by Cervello Elettronico, Imperial Black Unit, Hypnoskull and Orphx.
+ + + : The previous album “Still” on, which Synapscape reworked earlier songs into a refreshing and modern approach already was a great surprise, revealing the band’s diversity and eclecticism. This totally new work moves a step further, the influences becoming hard to tell, but the result left me breathless. There’s no stop on this project’s creativity. They’re mixing influences together like a master cook preparing a meal with the finest spices. There’s not one single song to throw away, but I’ve a preference for the minimal-sounding “Uprise” and the somewhat EBM-driven “It Ain’t Right”. The songs stand for a great sound production. A great band can be only remixed by great names and the list is impressive! My favorite remix is the one by Cervello Elettronico, which sounds like a sonic climax between Minimalism and Techno.
– – – : I can’t say there’s a true minus with this work, but I just will mention the more experimental driven “Confessions”, which is the single track that left me unmoved.
Conclusion: Synapscape moves on exploring new sonic grounds and mixing genres together. This band is constantly reinventing its sound and yet holding on a very proper and easily recognizable sound DNA.
Best songs: “Uprise”, “It Ain’t Right”, “A Crack”, “Dirty Deal”, “Triturate”, “The Claw – Cervello Elettronico Remix”, “Uprising Confessions – Orphx Remix”.
Rate: (8½).
Artist: www.synapscape.org / www.facebook.com/synapscape
Label: www.ant-zen.com / www.facebook.com/antzen.official
About Synapscape
Synapscape is the German duo of Tim Kniep and Philipp Münch, active for more than twenty-five years across the wider fields of industrial and rhythmic noise.
“A Journey Through Concern” was released in September 2020 on Ant-Zen (catalog act387), the follow-up to “Still”, an album on which the band reworked its own earlier material. It includes remixes by Cervello Elettronico, Imperial Black Unit, Hypnoskull and Orphx.
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