Review Summary: Bursting with energy, a bit cheesy and overwhelmingly fun trip to the 80s nostalgia retro future SF/horror lane.
Synthwave infused with heavy metal never sounded this focused and consistent.
While there are other great strictly instrumental projects such as Dynatron, DWTD has most instrumental and rhythmical variations that are most prominent on this album. It was supposed consist of outtakes and unreleased works but I find it hard to believe because there are not many bad or even sub average songs here. So why were they holding on to them on previous albums is beyond me.
There is a lot of rock and metal in solos that are playful and well-thought-out and the rhythm guitar that makes the whole thing punchier and tighter. The overall atmosphere is like a soundtrack for 80s SF/horror movies (skeletons going out of the movie theater on the cover might be a hint). Car chases and action scenes, training cuts where the protagonist is prepping for the big match under brightly flashing colored neon all mashed up to be as lively and exciting as possible. The whole aesthetic is pleasing and well-balanced when looked into that light since the whole vibe is 80s every time, all the time, but with a modern twist. Well maybe a bit sterile since separation of instruments a bit much (dirty it up a bit) and miss the authentic reverb that made everything from the area sound like it was played live on a stadium. It’s still there, but not as gargantuan and hall like. This is really nitpicking and one of the few points one should hope they would improve on the next album, because this time they nailed almost everything.
Fortunately there was no reason to be skeptical about the 65min length because inspiration does not linger and even after 10 of 15 songs the album doesn't become stale. It keeps picking things up with slick guitar/synth intertwining making the whole thing very melodic and well...danceable. Listening to B-sides in a club would be a blast.
Their older stuff was fine but this is on a whole new level and a very nice surprise. When I tried picking stand out tracks I found out I was listing mostly the whole album.
https://dancewiththedead.bandcamp.com/album/b-sides-volume-1
