Alphamay - Conformity (Self Release) Review by Steve Thomas-Green The main downsides of ge�ng older are the body taking longer to recover, from almost everything… and the old brain slowing down. The upside of rapidly hi�ng my mid-50s, is that I was around when all of the early Synthpop bands exploded onto the scene. And the early 80s is s�ll my favourite era for music. Which is just as well, as the music on Alphamay’s 6th album definitely stems from back then. Now, I’m not sure where I read this, so I hope the informa�on is correct, apologies if I’mwrong, but I’m sure I read that this is the first �me that Alphamay have worked with professional producers. The albumwas produced with Hilger Tintel, who has worked with the likes of Blutengel in the past and the albumwas mastered by Krischan Wesenberg, who has credits for VNV Na�on and KMFDM, amongst others. And that �es in with my thoughts about Conformity. Whereas the music generally takes me back to the 80s, the vocals are much more modern in texture… although Death Is Kind has an 80s chorus and modern Gothic verses. I think my brain is telling me Tears For Fears meets very early Depeche Mode. The other standout track, for me, is Conform Us… which sounds like Andrew Eldritch fron�ng a more upbeat version of the Human League. It’s just a brilliant (dark) pop song. But to be honest, I genuinely like every song on the album. This album is huge step forward from their earlier work… which relied a bit too much on So� Cell influences, well, to these ears anyway. This �me around, the sound has a more general feel from 80s Synthpop, albeit with a crystal clear modern edge. As a rule, I do tend to shy away from the more commercial, catchy side of electronic music. But from the very first listen, I was hooked on this album and it was an album I was really looking forward to, a�er the single A�erglow came out a couple of months ago. And I’m very glad that my expecta�ons were richly rewarded. Conformity is out on June 20th . h�ps://www.facebook.com/electronicavantgarde h�ps://alphamay.bandcamp.com/album/conformity
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