Synthetic

"A.D.S.R." (Album, 2002)

Unpopular Culture

Distinctive hooklines, a mixture of influences, and definitely some promise, Synthetic's debut is hampered by some cheap sounds and predictable song structures. Survival Instinct begins things with a good synth lead line, but the weak programming lets it down. There's a great song to be based around that main hookline but this isn't it. The up front vocals only expose the mundane lyrics. And so the remainder of the album follows suit.

Some strong 'pop' sensibilities are occasionally joined by a Goth vibe - a characteristic of the UK darkwave scene into which this neatly slots. Shutdown gets the sequencer and guitar combination about right but whimps out instead of exploding into what could have been an almost Hydra-esque piece of aggression. Midway through and the predictable nature of the tracks begins to drain. More variety would have helped immensely. Synthetic need to refine their style and tease out and more fully exploit their good ideas, until they do they'll just be another also ran. Good sleeve though. 5/10

Rob Dyer

Official Synthetic website: http://www.syntheticdomain.com