During the past decade, industrial and metal have converged with synthpop to form darkwave, dungeon synth, and related genres, and from the middle of this wave comes Master Boot Record, a desktop-based project that mixes synthesized metal riffs with progressive-style lead rhythm keyboards.

Songs consist of digital beats with synthesized guitars over them playing basic riffs which mutate slightly over the course of the song but stay true to basic pattern, over which keyboards play furious arpeggios and long runs in harmonic minor scales, producing a huge amount of activity which distracts from how many classic speed metal riff patterns and industrial beats hide in this album.

In my view, the constant keyboards detract from the power of this release somewhat and make its songs too similar, but the basic formula for sound provides a new genre with many more possibilities than could be touched on here. Where synthetic and organic join, expect violent but submersive music.

Tags: darkwave, master boot record