Release Date: 22 May 2020
Song Count: 10
Rating: 7.7/10
Description:
Hailing from the United Kingdom is today's music group Empathy test with their third studio album Monsters, a synth-pop and coldwave project that builds up on their solidified musical niche by bringing an additional pinch of rawness and sentience to the table. Primarily led by vocalist and primary songwriter Isaac Howlett, producer, composer and secondary lyricist Adam Relf, and including the talents of drummer Christina Lopez and keyboard player Oliver Marson, this album came to be using an incredibly successful fundraiser and years of dedication and individual song releases prior to its official publication, and has enjoyed a modest amount of commercial success in the alternative electronic music scene.
The tracks, whilst naturally leaning heavily into the sounds of keys, synths and electric sound effects, they simultaneously showcase the remarkable talent of the live-performed percussioning and incredibly catchy switch-ups within some of the rhythms. Together with the vibrating reverberished singing of Howlett, Monsters puts the analogue experimentations layered within the otherwise synth-pop energy to their absolute test to give off a feel of a more live-like performance rather than a robotically perfect-sounding studio album, and they - for the most part - pay off greatly and hammer in the nail of coldwave into the wall that is the overall collection of songs in full swing.
While there are ebbs and flows of the inspiration, creativity and execution kicking in proper between all of the songs in the album, the end result is overall a success, as even the less stand-out parts of the full composition don't stand in the way from the real headliners for an overly long amount of time, nor do they tend to drag the listening experience down in any significant way, continuing to provide at the very least a serviceable level of quality even in spite of their decreased memorability.
"Empty Handed", "Holy Rivers" and closing track "Love Moves" step out as the most captivating songs Monsters has to offer in terms of their sonical innovations, song ambience and willingness to go the extra mile, with "Doubts" and "Fear of Disappearing" additionally serving as notably qualitative songs amongst the rest.
An incredibly well-executed synth album made by a strong force of talented artists that have a clear vision of the greats they wish to achieve next.