Ultraboss - Seven Deadly Synths

(Rosso Corsa 2018)

You know Ultraboss, the reigning king of shred guitar in the synthwave scene. He is a featured collaborator for Rolly Rocket, Powernerd and many others, and released a well-received album on NRW last year. Seven Deadly Synths is his debut for Rosso Corsa, which to me is the best synthwave label. 




Seven Deadly Synths features a bevy of collaborators, from Rocket and Sebastian Gempl to Meteor, Isodor and Vincenzo Salvia. It's an exciting idea, but ultimately contributes to a lack of cohesion. The best tracks, in my opinion, are "Overture" (featuring Gempl), "Nostromo" (featuring Salvia), and the beautifully metal-tinged "Blinded by Darkness" (featuring Meteor). All of these create an appealing synth architecture around Ultraboss' fantastic shred guitar. But while the Gempl and Salvia tracks fit together fairly well, the Meteor track feels like it's from a different album.

So do the rest, which I generally found quite boring. Okay, I did like "Ultimate Horizon" (featuring Volt Age) but in that case I felt like the shred guitars overshadowed a song that doesn't really need them, whereas on the others they feel integral.

Bottom line: Ultraboss is a great guitarist, but I'd prefer if he picked a single collaborator next time and they did a full album together. Probably Meteor, as stylistically it's a perfect match.

Score: 6.5