Ferus Melek - Dawn of the Dead

(Self-release 2017)

When you ask for music submissions from the public, of course you will get a lot of stuff that isn't very good, or has been released when it is still only half baked. You may also find a diamond in the rough, an artist laboring in obscurity who turns out to be very good. Ferus Melek is that artist. Dawn of the Dead, as it happens, is quite good. 



Melek describes his music as "post-apocalyptic synth pop with some 80s flavors on it." To that all I can say is, thank god someone is thinking outside of the normal boxes. And it's true, this isn't the kind of metal-obsessed darksynth that is the flavor of the moment, nor is it any of the other flavors of other moments. It's more like if Perturbator, FM Attack and Kavinsky made a supergroup together, because Dawn of the Dead pairs the energy and scale of darksynth with a pop sensibility and an clever dose of French touch.

I enjoyed all the tracks on Dawn of the Dead, but my favorite is "Shadows (schlagerbox edit)." It has a lovely groove, vocoder vocal melody and Blade Runner-style brass synth. "Cairo" is also neat from a compositional perspective. It does feel very progressive.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of production. Ferus Melek does a great job choosing sounds, as well as creating coherence across the whole release. In terms of the mix, everything is nicely balanced and clear. My only concern is that, like so many releases in synthwave Dawn of the Dead is too loud. It gets really hard to deal with at times, for example on "Raw Engine," which is otherwise a very good song. So this is a great sounding record that would benefit from a little more dynamic approach in the mastering. That aside, this is an excellent EP from a promising new artist.

Score: 9.0