“This has to be the best album, certainly one of his most accessible, from Syndromeda in years”
1 No Fear of Failure 8:11 2 Purity 11:59 3 Nothingness 9:04 4 Moving In 14:23 5 The Core 15:22 6 Here and There 12:09 SynGate CD-R SS25
(CD-r/DDL 71:11) (V.F.) (Berlin School a la Syndromeda)
Sequences imbued of rubbery tones initiate the sharp galloping of No Fear of Failure. Layers of chthonic choruses are growing as this unbridled rhythm moves away from our ears and returns with force. Plumper arpeggios are grafted on this virulent movement of the sequencer that never stops questioning the meaning of our listening with different tonal colors. Static and furiously stimulating for our neurons, the rhythm continues its approach of acid rock under the flagellations of synth lines whose long gurgles flirt with a psychedelic approach as a post-apocalyptic one. No Fear of Failure starts this 31st solo album of Syndromeda, and its 25th on SynGate, with strength and fury. Danny Budts doesn't waste time by instantly capturing the listener's attention with a vivid rhythm, rich in dislocated sequences, and a setting still so close to Dark Ambient's evil roots. Without doubt his best album, and certainly one of the most accessible to me, ETERNAL DESTINATION brings the listener in this world of very specific tones of Syndromeda where the sequences dance like feet of young deer on a frozen pond, or in a delicious incoherence, under the bites and/or the caresses of a synthesist in his clothes of Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll.
And Purity reminds it to us with its introduction sewn into mysticism. Multiple synth lines of are waving and expand circles dominated by darkness and dominate a pulsation whose glaucous tones end up generating these sneaky rhythms of the Syndromeda universe. A clearer sequence hops upstream, awakening this dormant synth which now launches slow anesthetic solos. This is pure Syndromeda flowing here with a heavy intensity of its tonal richness and in its sedentary rhythmic structure where this imprint of John Carpenter's Halloween still can be hear here. Nothingness is cast in the same mold, but with a more aphasic slowness. Each Danny Budts' album opens its window into the universe of atmospheres and of esoteric meditation. The long introduction of Moving In reminds it to us with its anesthetic organ pads where tries to resist a mute movement from the sequencer. But unlike The Core which is just of dark atmospheres, even if a sequence swims to survive, an ambient rhythm where two movements of the sequencer progress against the current leads us to a finale filled with harmonious jingles. For the rest, the soundscape is always of dark vibes with reverberating waves and dusty breezes which float in a dull thud from the underworld. Here and There ends this album with a livelier approach. Less violent than in No Fear of Failure, the rhythm puts down a vegetative approach in a sound pool filled of star dusts. The resonances of a bass sequence jump in with more energy, drawing these zigzagging rhythms of Berlin School. Syndromeda deploys the arsenal of his synthesizer with multi-lines with reverberation arches and solos as melodious as a song of nightingale engulfed in the interstices of this synth. It's very Edgar Froese, in the clothes of Syndromeda! Here and There progresses in these visions of Danny Budts where everything is frozen in eclecticism, both in terms of rhythms and soundscapes.
Available in HQ CD-r, from the SynGate factory, or in downloadable edition, ETERNAL DESTINATION offers over 71 minutes of captivating and intriguing EM that could certainly expand the audience of Syndromeda. The range is wide, and the rhythms dominate more than those soundscapes conceived in the mysticism or this art that Dany Budts possesses to raise the horizons of dark ambient music of a notch. Some very good Syndromeda!
Sylvain Lupari (October 19th, 2018) *****
Available at SynGate Bandcamp