SynthAttack – Damnation (Album – darkTunes Music Group)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro, Aggrotech.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: “Damnation” is the fifth album by Martin Schindler aka SynthAttack. We get twelve songs plus six remixes.
Content: I realize that SynthAttack isn’t really innovating, the sound and approach being comparable to the previous album. SynthAttack is once more mixing Dark-Electro elements with pure Dance music reminding me of the 90s. They already illustrated it on their previous albums and even dares to go a step further now. The ‘90s tribute’ “Call Me Insane” is a parody of Culture Beat’s “Mr. Vain”. I already thought to have heard a comparable connection to the previous album so they now simply covered this song into a very own, but recognizable style. “Damnation” also features a few heavenly female vocals next to the cavernous, pitched vocals of Martin Schindler.
Remixes have been accomplished by Basscalate, [X]-RX, C-Lekktor, Synapsyche, Reactor7x and Freaky Mind.
+ + + : This band remains a true challenge, but it clearly becomes a successful formula to conquer the dancefloors. So the title of the album is totally matching with the ongoing pandemic and its consequences for the music scene: closed clubs and no more dancefloors. SynthAttack sounds like food for dancefloors; the sound formula is a true challenge, but it has this terrific kind of dance elixir, which will make you dance. I personally like the tracks with male- & female duo vocals, “Dark Days” being one of my favorite cuts. It also sounds a little bit different from the rest, but the female vocals are adding an artistic and heavenly touch on top of the work. The list of remixers is an extra noticeable element of the album.
– – – : The work sometimes sounds like a copy-paste of its predecessor; no single innovation, but why changing a winning formula? The work becomes a bit predictable and that’s a pity as this band also shows a few ‘different’ ideas, which are more than promising. Despite the great list of remixers, none of them really add a bonus to the album and the original edits.
Conclusion: I would be not surprised to see SynthAttack once covering some of the greatest 90s Dance-hits and reworking them in their typical darker Dance style. God was a DJ and SynthAttack must be Judas…
Best songs: “Dark Days”, “We Are SynthAttack”, “Dirty Dark electro – Stomp Edition”, “Magic vs. Toal – Special Edit”.
Rate: 7½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/synthattack
Label: www.darktunes.com / www.facebook.com/darkTunesMusic
About SynthAttack
SynthAttack is a dark electro and aggrotech project from Hannover, Germany, driven by Martin Schindler, who handles production, lyrics and live vocals. Side-Line first covered the act in July 2017 with the Face The Beat profile piece Side-Line introduces SynthAttack – listen now to ‘Afterlife (Suppressor Remix)’ (Face The Beat profile series).
The debut album “To The Floor” appeared on darkTunes Music Group in 2015, followed by Synthattack – Club Takeover (CD Album – Dark Tunes Music Group) in 2016, SynthAttack – Harsh Is Back (CD Album – darkTunes Music Group) in 2017, the “Salvation In Hell” EP in 2018 and SynthAttack – Join Us (CD Album – darkTunes Music Group) in 2019. The single “Dirty Dark Electro” also appeared in 2019, and the EP SynthAttack – Harsh Will Never Die (EP – darkTunes Music Group) followed in 2020.
“Damnation” was released on 22 October 2021 by darkTunes Music Group as a digital download and on CD. It holds eighteen tracks, opening with “Into the Void (Intro)” and including “Magic (vs. TOAL) (Special Edit)”, a collaboration with Toal, followed by six remixes. The label states the album is about lockdown isolation, “the inner turmoil, the feeling of a never ending cycle to the long awaited redemption”. Schindler continued with the single “Circle Of Pain” in 2022 and announced the album “Immortal in Hell” for 11 September 2026 together with fall tour dates.
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.
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