Electric Dragon - Paranormalizer

I have seen a lot of musicians jump ship from one genre to the next, but normally it is in the same vein as to what they were doing previously. Noise to techno, metal to hard rock, industrial rock to industrial metal; they're definitely similar, but slightly different as well. However, seeing a former death metaller switch to synthwave is just an oddball occurrence. But, that's the roots of solo synthwave project Electric Dragon. 

Electric Dragon is a former member of the UK's death metal supergroup Vallenfyre. For one unexplained reason or another, the former metalhead decided to dive into synthwave as his next focus with a fitting title: Electric Dragon. Sounding like a power metal driven band from the start, ED began working in the synthwave field, and lo and behold he has released his debut album Paranormalizer via Werkstatt Recordings. This album, while not the most addicting synthwave release out there, is quite a shock for what ED used to be involved with. 

Both 'Vereor Nox'  and 'Lucid Dream' have a good EBM kick as all those synths that reminisce of neon lit city streets play off. 'Astral Projection' is fairly abstract and experimental, glitching electronic noises that almost sound like they want to speak to you. 'Ultraviolet' is a playful little song with loving electronic lines playing through it, and a very nice backing synth that give the song atmosphere. If funk is what you're looking for, then 'Silver Metal Lover' is the song for you. 'Neon Drive' is the song you need to play while taking your vehicle for a tour through the city at midnight. This song sounds like it could be menu music in an 8 bit video game. If the previous song is menu music, then 'drift64' is the song that plays as you make through the first level of the charming song. Putting a bit of bass to use, 'Night Kings' slowed the pace down and really hammered home a unique sound. This track shows potential. Lastly, 'Into the Light' wasn't the most invoking song on the album, but it did its job and closed out Paranormalizer.

Now, I can't express an extreme amount of enthusiasm for this album but I can say once more that it shows Electric Dragon's potential - Paranormalizer just doesn't reach the level that other veteran synthwave artists are able to crank out. The man is good with a synthesizer in his hands, and he has sure shown it. I would like to think that if he could pull off more songs such as 'Night Kings' then he would escalate quickly in the synthwave scene. But, for now, Paranormalizer will hopefully catch him an audience as he continues to grow and mature with his sound. 
Feb 24 2016