seven

I have been anxiously awaiting this album ever since I saw synapscape live. the band has gradually improved its sound from early muffled violence of "rage" to a better production and cleaner sound of "so what" and finally, the latest effort displays the sound that is a gradual progression for the band. it might be nothing new for the genre as a whole, but it definitely proves to be the next step for synapscape.

for those of you that expected bass-heavy high-speed distorted percussion attacks, "positive pop" has a good measure of that. starting with the second track ("thireteater"), it treats you with its raw energy, heavy corroded percussion that mixes noise and bouncy technoid tunes. as usual, the vocals is a welcome addition on each track, adding considerably to overall aggressive and twisted atmosphere of the album. strangely enough, it works out so well, a rare success in the genre.

while familiar aggressive tracks are a nice (and considerable) part of the album, they are noting new, and I often find myself remembering technoid and purely industrial excellence of last hypnoskull, or superb crunchiness of "distorted disco" by asche. compared with those, synapscape seems to be more primitive and quite "trendy" (funny, only a short while ago I would never imagined I would use that term relative to rhythm'n'noise). a few times ("skizzy biz"), I was ready to say that the band exchanged placed with early hypnoskull, and some times I would remember "death time" by converter.

I do like "raw" sound of the tracks like "the power of love" with their incredibly heavy rolling percussion, that was never intended to be high-tech polished crunchiness of asche or cleaned-up tension of hypnoskull. this seemingly "dirty" sound combined with vocals finally communicates what "rage" was trying to do, but failed due to the lack of production work. seemingly monotonous persistence of "charity" and "arbie flex" overlaid with multiple frequencies are probably the finest examples of aggressive, high-bpm rhythm&noise, a truly "industrial" music.

where the album does shine is slower, more diverse tracks like "face off" or "dubforce" that are a chaotic, layered mess of wonderful percussion, tangled frequencies, aggressive treated vocals, tweaked strings. no matter how complex and "messy" it gets, the sound still remains crisp. those tracks offer something that has not been done that well before.

the boxset comes with three 10" vinyl's. the first one has a four additional synpascape tracks that vary from minimal dark ambiance to crunchy bouncy percussion. two remaining vinyl's contain mixes of synapscape material.

the most impressive ones include a surprising melodic mix of "thirstealer" by savak that adds a melody and a number of strings to original track, the combination works out amazingly well. next is very impressive techstep mix of "notorious" by hell-g. there isn't that much left from the original track, but the result is catchy and fun. a little melody here and there, a lot of layered noises and bizarre acoustic sounds - and you have a mix by silk saw. converter remixes "the power of love" - a mix of heavy percussion, beautiful distant strings and raw energy - truly an outstanding track. remix of "skizzy" by asche is enjoyable, yet compared with the rest of mixes, does not offer anything new. imminent's mix of ammunition was a surprisingly minimal glitch track with quiet humming, cut-up noises and slowly developing rhythmic percussion - a very refreshing and unexpected version of the track. and finally somatic responses remixes "bielfriend" transforming it to a "classic" - sounding somatix piece with slightly more crunchiness than usual.

overall this album is a great rhythm&noise release. it's maddening heaviness, high-pitched noises and squeals, saturated percussion combined with excellent production deliver an album that synapscape has been working towards all these years. to get the most out of this album, I would recommend getting latest hypnoskull and asche - these three albums would complement each other perfectly. as for additional remixes - those are simply a must for anyone into rhythm&noise.