Syntet – Hjärtats Slag (Album – TZW Produktion)
Genre/Influences: EBM.
Format: Digital, Vinyl, Cassette.
Background/Info: Tomas Zackarias Westberg is a Swedish artist who has been involved with numerous projects. During the past few years he mainly focused on his EBM project Syntet, releasing multiple singles. “Hjärtats Slag” was released by the end of 2020 and is the project’s debut album featuring ten songs.
Content: While the front cover of the album looks clearly inspired by a Throbbing Gristle album, the sound is into pure EBM. Syntet deals with a somewhat minimal-like EBM sound, which reminds me of DAF. The songs have been sung in Swedish and are featuring some backing guest vocalists; Leif Viklund isn’t exactly a familiar name, but one of the songs is featuring J3 from à Grumh… (and that’s maybe not totally surprising as one of Westberg projects, Queer, was influenced by à Grumh…).
+ + + : Syntet took me by surprise. This project deals with pretty cool retro/minimal-driven EBM. There’s something to say about nearly every single song although I have a preference for “Ungdomens Hus” and “Som Du”. All songs excel in great minimalism, like reminding us that a good song doesn’t need to be complex. It’s just the power and efficiency of the sound treatments and structures.
– – – : The songs are pretty short and that’s a pity; before you really realize it the album is already coming to its end.
Conclusion: If you like retro-EBM and you don’t know Syntet yet, just buy this work without hesitation!
Best songs: “Ungdomens Hus”, “Som Du”, “Brinner Ut”, “Lova Mig Allt Blir Bra”, “Genom Natt Och Dag”.
Rate: 8.
Artist & Label: www.facebook.com/syntetmusik
About Syntet
Syntet is the old-school EBM project of Swedish musician Tomas Zackarias Westberg, founded in 2018 and released through his own TZW Produktion. The 12″ EP “Kroppsförnimmelser” came out on 14 April 2018, followed by the digital singles “Brinner ut” (2018), “När jag mår som bäst” and “Som du” (2019) and “Genom natt och dag” (2020). Westberg also runs the electro-wave project Svaj., whose EP Rewind was reviewed on Side-Line in May 2022.
“Hjärtats Slag” was released by TZW Produktion on 1 December 2020 on LP and as a download; a limited, numbered CDr edition appeared through the German label Minimalkombinat the same year and a cassette edition followed in 2021. According to the Bandcamp notes the album holds remixed versions of the eight songs issued as singles between 2018 and 2020 plus two exclusives, “Ungdomens hus” and “Enkla begär (Estás desnudo)”, the latter with backing vocals by à;GRUMH… singer JΔ3. The ten tracks are “Genom natt och dag”, “Lova mig allt blir bra”, “Ungdomens hus”, “Brinner ut”, “Om jag kan”, “Som du”, “Dummare och dummare”, “Enkla begär (Estás desnudo)”, “När jag mår som bäst” and “Monotoni”. Westberg wrote and performed all songs, Leif Viklund sang backing vocals and Daniel Kaufeldt mastered the album for vinyl.
Syntet also appears on the download compilation 2011-2021 Swedish Electro Scene the compilation, covered on Side-Line in March 2021. “Hjärtats Slag” is the project’s debut album.
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