SYNTHESSIAH punches you a ticket to the ‘Carnival of Death’ [Track Write-Up]

Nashville’s SYNTHESSIAH unveils new midtempo song ‘Carnival Of Death’ just in time for the start of spooky season.

A few weeks back, I was perusing the internet for music to write about. I found several, but talked myself out of all of them – “this track is too generic”, “there’s not enough background on this artist to fill a page” – whatever it was, I was turning up fuck-all.

Then, down from the heavens and into my SoundCloud “Daily Drops” playlist came Seance Antiquitus from SYNTHESSIAH.

Finally, I’d found a truly magnificent track. Chock-full of formant-like goodness showcasing exemplary sound design, it lives up to the promise of “Dark Fantasy Bass” that SYNTHESSIAH makes in their SoundCloud bio section.

It was a track that demanded my attention, so I went into information-gathering mode. Quite without planning on it, I found myself listening to all of the uploads they had (and discovering that this whole project only dates back about a year, which greatly surprised me) and finding zero duds.

**SYNTHESSIAH** | **CARNIVAL OF DEATH | OUT NOW**

Clicked through from there to their socials and found they’re releasing regular, quality producing, and DJing content, and have built up respectable TikTok and Instagram followings in doing so. It was a genuine instance of discovering a new artist that immediately thoroughly impressed me.

After that, however, my Seance Antiquitus write-up found itself delayed, and, truth be told, had regrettably gotten away from me.

Until today, September 23rd, when SoundCloud once again delivered unto me: “Be not afraid, for Lo, Synthessiah hath postedeth a new track, be one of the first to hear it” (or something like that). I wanted to do exactly that.

I find myself landing on a fresh riddim, or, as they described in an Instagram reel, “ridtempo,” with the piece taking additional inspiration from a midtempo track called Carnival of Death.

The whole song opens on a strong, SNAILS-esque solo synth bassline that almost seems to chant an adamant “Look At Me”. For me, it was gold out of the gate. The massive ‘four on the floor’ kick pattern that, oh so briefly, appears ahead of the churning, bassy buildup is so evocative of classic techno that I could have been convinced that I’d walked into the blood rave scene from Blade.

This song is in constant evolution: sections rarely recur, and each features its own mark, yet never strays from cohesion with the overall tone of the track. If you’re a listener put off by formulaic, predictable structures and style, then this is what you’re looking for.

The variety of sounds and influences are very successful in giving the feeling of walking attraction to attraction at the single’s titular macabre mummery.

It would be a poor EDM track write-up that didn’t highlight the drop, so I will, but, first, I do want to give my most sincere approbation to a song that describes itself as riddim and still has highlights outside of the drop at all (I’m preparing for very polite emails about that remark).

With that being said, the push/pull, heavy sidechain punch that this drop delivers demands to be headbanged to. The expansive, deep, almost percussive bass has a ‘grudge-kid clicking’ quality that, while I clearly struggle to describe, can safely say that you want, and you want a lot of.

With this release, SYNTHESSIAH solidified their place as one of my favorite up-and-coming new artists. If you’re interested in supporting a hard-working, passionate, and incredibly skilled new producer, then I heartily recommend that you find your way to SYNTHESSIAH‘s pages.

To them, I say simply, “keep up the good work!”

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