REVIEWS

System Syn
Postscript

Metropolis Records

Posted: Thursday, March 30, 2006
By: Ilker Yucel
Editor

Having System Syn and Fake under his belt, as well as touring as a live keyboardist for Imperative Reaction, it’s fair to say that Clint Carney knows what he’s doing. The latest album under the System Syn moniker, Postscript, is chock full of sparse but somewhat clever synthesizer arrangements and throbbing beats, topped off with Clint’s sense of dark melody and emotionally-charged lyricism. It doesn’t push past any boundaries or break any preconceptions about the current electro genre; rather, it strengthens those elements by presenting a collection of relatively catchy songs that are if not original very enjoyable.

Most of the songs are standard fare for the club circuit, with straightforward bass lines and beats that will be sure to get you moving, yet also with those catchy choruses that will get stuck in your head. Songs like “Burning Out,” “All the Human Things,” and “Through This” kick off with some hard-hitting synth loops that lean towards a slightly industrial edge, before leading off into the percolating bass arpeggios and trance-like pads that give way to Clint’s raspy vocals, not dissimilar to Project Pitchfork vocalist Peter Spilles’ voice. “I Never Was” is one of the best tracks on the album, kicking off with an infectious progression and beats that are irresistible to dance to. There are a couple of slower songs on Postscript as well, such as “Into My Veins” and “The Saddest Sound Was You;” with dirge-like rhythms and melodies befitting a requiem, combined with the overall nihilistic lyrics, System Syn can be appealing as much to the goth crowd as the electro club-goers. The album ends on a happier note with “Somewhere” and “Judas Kiss,” with some upbeat melodies reminiscent of ‘80s synthpop.

The primary weakness of System Syn’s music is the lack of anything to really distinguish it from anything you’d hear from the likes of Project Pitchfork or Razed in Black. To look at the band in their photos in the album liner notes, one could easily mistake them for a goth version of Covenant, wearing swanky suits and too much eye shadow. With so many bands looking and sounding similar to each other in today’s electro and club music climate, this can be forgiven for the fact that Postscript has some damn good songs going for it. It has a little of everything, from the quintessential dance beats to the pulsating synthesizers, with melodies that are as dark as they are appealing. It’s arguably not the best album to come out in the genre, but it is certainly one of the better ones.