CD Reviews
The Midnight Computers - Anxious | Review
The Midnight Computers - Anxious
April 2020
Manic Depression Records / Swiss Dark Nights
The love for electronic music and EBM styles turns to a creative and unique, post-punk, act and album.
The Midnight Computers is a trio coming from France. With a background coming from the techno side of music, Jonathann Cast (vocals - programming) who has always been immersed in EBM and industrial music and Pascal Roeder (guitar - synthesizer) who draws his influences from 70s rock, formed a new post-punk band. They seemed to need a guy, that would complete the idea they had in mind, and the former punk guitarist, Alexandre Saintorant, joined the band. One thing they had in common... A passion for the dark and synthetic side of the 80s. The coldness of a drum machine was added and, The Midnight Computers, a few months after their birth, released one of the best debut albums of the year!
"Anxious" starts this interesting debut album. A song that will not make you feel anxious at all. A dark electro wave melody flowing strong emotions, making clear where The Midnight Computers would like to go, combining the history of the members in electronic music and the desire to make it go into darkness. "Succubus" could give you all the anxiety that the band is willing to share, or just make you dance like hell with an uptempo drum beat, some deep vocals and a sharp guitar.
"Laura" holds a post-punk feeling, beautifully electrified, with some "mechanical" vocals from Jonathann Cast. "Blinding Necesities" starts with a strong beat and turns to darkness with a powerful bass line and the deep, gothic vocals. Perhaps the strongest and gothiest moment of the album and my personal favorite. "Disgrace" comes next, to bring a lot more tense to the "Anxious" album. Almost raw punk rhythm combined with the synths of Pascal Roeder and the drum machiine.
"Murder Pain" touches some dark indie, shoegaze riffs giving an "alternative" melancholy. The 7 track debut album ends with a dark strength and the song "Tears". Post-punk, synth-punk, and a haunting ambience, coming out from the deep vocals.
"Anxious" includes two bonus tracks. "Our Most Beautiful Lies" and "Sportsman", both, have a slightly different sound than the rest of the album, with an amount of heavier guitars and more synths on front.
The Midnight Computers are a new band, that will, definitely, give a lot more with their post-punk melodies. Great combinations of the sharp guitar riffs and dark bass lines, with compact synths, that gives the electronic touch that the trio wants, and the vocals of Jonathann, that seems to be able to move from alternative, indie tones to deep dark and even gothic lines. "Anxious" is a really promising debut of three musicians that seemed thrilled to share their post-punk ideas, the sooner!
Info:
http://www.themidnightcomputers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/themidnightcomputers
https://manicdepressionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/md122-the-midnight-computers-anxious
https://swissdarknights.bandcamp.com/album/anxious
