SILICON EMPIRE - New Paradigm
Album Review By Kizunaut
Turkey is not a country usually associated with synthwave, but Silicon Empire's second album New Paradigm might just be enough to change this perception wth it's envelope-pushing mix of darksynth, breakbeats and Blade Runner inspired athmospherics.
The man behind Silicon Empire is one 19-year old Emirhan from Istanbul. Silicon Empire has previously released one album, A Journey into the Network, one EP, Umut, and one single, Wired, from 2020 onwards. Emirhan has been playing the guitar since he was 6 years old, but in this album the guitar takes second place to electronic instruments, serving variously as lead, rhythm and atmospheric elements.
Describing the album as being about struggles with dependence on technology, confines of urban life and depression and the desire to live a fulfilling life, Silicon Empire sees the album as being a kind of ”anti-retrofuturist manifesto”. Current technological and social paradigms are consuming us, he says, and thus we need the titular New Paradigm. The album might be instrumental, but the inspiration and thought behind it all does shine through in the eight tracks contained within.
Musically the album does indeed fall to the more future-oriented styles of synthwave. There is rather little anything retro here. The closest comparisons would be Perturbator's Uncanny Valley for the overall style and atmosphere and Dan Terminus' Last Call for All Passengers for the combination of synthwave with rhythms and beats not usually associated with the genre. When it comes to compositions the album is very competent and engaging. There is no dull moment here, no 16th note basslines idling away aimlessly and no filler. The style is extremely evocative of Perturbator, and if you enjoy his work and cannot wait to hear more of it, this album will more than well serve you in the meantime.
On the production side of things the album is loud, hard and futuristic but with enough room for atmospherics. It's all mostly competent, but there are occasionally muddy moments and few tracks could have done with a bit different mixing when it comes to drums. Two of the tracks also contain very digital sounding crackling in the background with sounds more like a DSP artifact than something the artist intended for atmosphere. The occasional production-side hiccups however were not severe enough for me to diminish my enjoyment.
Silicon Empire's desire for a new paradigm seems to have extended to the aesthetics of the album, too. The cover art is of schematics of network cables and a sliver of human face on grey background, with two dark cyan lines cutting through the middle, containing the names of the artist and album within them. It does not fall within the usual cyberpunk trappings and is a fresh and stylish aesthetic. I think it would look fantastic as a physical item printed with a more silver-toned background.
The album opens with the rapid-fire, resonant arps and synth strings of 202X Ad, which could be an intro to a typical darksynth track. However, when the hard and fast breakbeats crash in all preconceptions of this track or album being a generic fare are shattered. The track brims with futuristic energy and dark passion with soaring guitars adding flavor and human elements to the potent mix of cyberpunk electronics. An amazing opener that gets straight to the point and my personal favorite from the album.
Electric Hydra opens with a synth arp pattern before shifting into a mix of rolling synthetic breakbeats, chunky rhythm guitars and deep growling synth strings. After an atmospheric interlude the track builds its energy back up, this time accompanied by high-pitched, ethereal lead, perhaps a synth, perhaps a guitar.
Raised by Machines is another track propelled forward by powerful breakbeats, but is a bit more atmospheric than the 202X Ad. It opens with futuristic ambience over rapid beats and from there on moves to alternating between darksynth-inspired synthlines and more floaty ambient synths accompanying the beat. Guitar comes in, serving in a lead role. After a breakdown the latter half of the track features and extended synth lead solo and eventually the whole track fades out.
Global Nervous System opens with a slower kick-snare pattern accompanied by the occasional industrial-like clinging of metal. With a straight beat this could easily have been an early Perturbator track, with its mix of dark rhythm synths and futuristic pads. Guitar is featured somewhat more prominently here than on the previous tracks, serving in both rhythm and lead roles. Silicon Empire displays his soloing chops here, all done in a very tasteful way. The middle section features a solo with somewhat Middle Eastern flavor, perhaps the only hint to the country of origin of this album.
Rain and Concrete is a wholly atmospheric piece, with only a clicky snare and a bright cymbal serving as drums in this track. Reverb-drenched saxophone, piano chords synth strings conjure a very Blade Runner-esque atmosphere. I enjoyed the composition and atmosphere, but I found the cymbal too loud compared to rest of the instruments and the occasional production artifacts somewhat distracting.
Mechanized begins with deep, growling synths before shifting into darksynth inspired track with a thudding kick-snare rhythm. Guitars eventually swoop in, this time in a more atmospheric role. Chimy arpeggios bring flashes of brightness to the otherwise very dark track.
Godless Prayer is another more ambient-oriented track, this time using guitar and synth arps as the main elements. Deep bass hits and snippet of vocal-like synths add variety. After the halfway synth strings arrive. It's wonderfully atmospheric, somber and beautiful, but also contains some distracting crackling at times in the background.
Phoenix is the final track of the album. A resonant sweep and a hopeful-sounding passage of synth strings and twinkling arpeggios opens the track, leading into a chugging darksynth-inspired tune. Brighter elements hover over the bassline. Guitars join in, switching between lead and rhythm roles. The track builds up to a synthetic blastbeat with guitar shredding on top of it, and eventually brings itself back to a more slower pace, this time with new atmospheric elements and a brigh square lead arp joining in. The track ends with a brief atmospheric passage and the album comes to a close.
Overall, the album is highly recommended for fans of cyberpunk, darksynth and listeners who want to hear synthwave that is willing to break the mould. Fans of Perturbator and Dan Terminus' latest offering will surely enjoy this album. Despite the occasional production hiccups the album is extremely solid, both on the level of individual tracks and as a whole. Silicon Empire has proven himself an artist to keep your eyes and ears on.
For more Silicon Empire, visit siliconempire.bandcamp.com