A number of Chain D.L.K. reviewers are also musicians/sound producers with their own musical projects, myself included (Chemistry Set, Serious Black, Malaysian Pale). Germany's Marc Tater is another with his Synaptic Defect project, which has had several releases since 2004, but Marc's foray into the world of dark EBM goes all the way back to 1994 and a project called Evil Sermon. Shortly after that project folded in 1997 Tater started Synaptic Defect and never looked back. Synaptic Defect's style is old-school EBM/dark electro with hoarse, half-whispered vocals, which I find to be the best for the genre. While many newbies go wrong and try and reinvent the wheel in EBM, Synaptic Defect stays within confines and doesn't color outside of the lines being that much better for it.
'Initializing Insanity' has a certain mood and feel to it that portends a certain apocalyptic doom. Thematically, the album covers a number of serious topics - climate change and toxic environments (“The Pollution Generation” and “Lethal Radiation”); personal issues (“Get Out”, “Fit for Flogging”, “The Inner Demons”, “Tacky Games” and “Scared Eyes Wide Open”); substance abuse and the pandemic ("Morphine" and "The Lack of Empathy"); fascist oppression ("In the Streets", "Strike Back!"); the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea (“Killing Tides”); and who in their right mind could ignore the insanity of war (“From Dusk Till Dawn”, "Sniper" and “Combat War”), be it in the Ukraine, Gaza or elsewhere.
While some EBM is only good for the dancefloor, not so here in Synaptic Defect's world. The tracks on 'Initializing Insanity' are intensely atmospheric, along the lines of Gridlock, Wumpscut, and Psyclon Nine (sans screamo), with a dash of Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy. However, if you're looking for great club tracks with a compelling beat, look no further than “From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Combat War”, "Time Bomb" and "Tacky Games". The album is laced with dialogue samples, but not overly so (which can be really annoying) and they seemed relevant and mostly brief.
I have to remind you this is a massive double-album of 32 tracks, the 'Restoring Sanity' portion available for prevue only on a different Bandcamp page. Eleven of the 17 tracks on that portion of the double album are remixes by Pyrroline, Second Disease, tEaR!doWn, Sleepwalk, SERPENTS, Plastic Noise Experience, T.A.N.K. Terminal State, Trilogy and R010R. The second CD seems harder-edged, and reminding me of FLA, especially on a track like "Man is Machine". It has that kind of compelling electro-industrial riff'n'rhythm that Bill Leeb is famous for. When it comes to the remixes though, I may not be the best guy to ask; I generally hate them most of the time, although there can be pleasantly unexpected exceptions. The Second Disease remix of "We Are Not Alone" was better than the original. The Plastic Noise Experience remix of "Combat War" turns it into a dancefloor killer. The Pyrroline remix of "From Dusk Till Dawn" puts even more punch into the beat than it had originally and cleans up some of the sonic effluvia. The SERPENTS remix of "Strike Back!" removes the effects from the dialogue samples making it perfectly clear this track is about the Holocaust. R010R re-energizes "The Lack of Empathy" into something much more compelling. The original "Sniper" sounds a bit dull in comparison to Trilogy's remix, which kicks the threat assessment up a notch or three and tEaR!doWn's Data Control Remix of "Reset the System" makes it a more potent and powerful piece than it was in the original version.
All things considered, this is a great double album by Synaptic Defect, bring together the best of old school and modern techniques. My only real criticism is that the vocals could have been a bit more prominent, but overall, an excellent job by Tater. Purchase recommended, and not because he reviews for Chain D.L.K., but because it's that damn good.