Astral Tales - Raytracers

(Self-release 2018)

As I love sci-fi themes, I was excited to hear the cinematic introduction to Raytracers, which sets up the album as a kind of dystopian rebel story, where the eponymous Raytracers fight against oppression. Synthwave could use more of this, as it is very creative and fun.



The music reminds me of synthwave before we had the style labels. It is by turns dark, dreamy and then veers into neon grid outrun. The production values are solid, though it suffers from the loudness obsession that currently plagues the genre My ears got very tired after a few tracks, which are heavily compressed and so un-dynamic.

The compositions, on the other hand, smartly avoid the cliches. "Turbo Club" is my favorite, as it has a lot of movement and drama. It is not one of those synthwave tracks where you know what is going to happen after 8 bars. "Are You Alive or Just Breathing" is also great. It has an FM-style slap bass and some alien invasion type synth sounds. It reminds me a bit of Makeup & Vanity Set's albums for Data Airlines. The arpeggio-heavy "Crepsucular Arrays" also reminds me of Makeup &Vanity Set. In fact I often wonder why more darksynth producers don't follow his lead, instead of Carpenter Brut or Perturbator. So it is nice to hear it on this album. 

The album is a bit weaker on the back end, but my overall impression is positive. There is a lot of originality and energy to this album. I look forward to hearing the next release from Astral Tales. I just hope they go for a more dynamic mix.

Score: 8.0