Edictum - Athena

One thing that I love about the synthwave scene is how cheese can meet any genre, namely sci-fi and horror, yet somehow make it work. Take Turbo Knight and Edictum’s latest collaboration “Athena” as an example. Through the power of Greek gods and spacefaring adventures did they write their brand-new EP “Athena”. The cover art, done by Atom Cyber, attests to this cheese but also makes it look epic; the giant warrior Goddess Athena floats through space and time, making planets look small, with a fleet of spaceships at her command. It’s impressive, to say the very least. But what’s more impressive is the music found on “Athena”. 

It starts with the uplifting title track ‘Athena’, which is a space-age throwback filled with samples that sound perfect for the time period. Static filled messages saying, “And…Lift off!” are sampled throughout the track. This bouncy and fun beat is decorated with bright synths, a groovy bassline, and plenty of 8bit goodness to go around. From start-to-end I had a blast. The party continues with ‘Apollo’. Warm synths come in with retro vibes, going from lo-fi sound until it builds into a well-produced track that would make Giorgio Moroder proud. Keeping Miami nights alive, ‘Apollo’ features guest vocalist Dualarity. While I do think his voice needed to be a bit louder to fit with the mix during verse, it nonetheless compliments the song well.

‘Triton’ brings along fellow synthwave enthusiast Dimi Kaye, who proceeds to rock us with smooth electronic guitar. The song is best described as a glistening reflection of the sun, complete with what I believe is the flute (or some other wind instrument) lending the song an air of beauty. The final collaboration on the album comes in the form of ‘Artemis’. Featuring Magnus on vocals, the track is smooth, cool, and perfect for a club night. The last two tracks on the album, ‘Eleos’ and ‘Thanatos’, are sibling tracks in my opinion. An easy transition blend could’ve worked on track right into the next. These two songs simply show off both Turbo Knight and Edictum’s ability to jam out together and create wicked synthwave beats. 

So, sure, “Athena” is a cheesy concept. Giant space gods with fleets of spaceships. But, then again, what’s not to love? Add in that the music is glorious and that there’s an additional two instrumental versions of ‘Apollo’ and ‘Artemis’, and I fall in love with it even more. A solid eight out of ten.