Delta-S - Coven

Did anyone notice late last year that Delta-S put out a new EP? The EDM and industrial mainstay known as Delta-S, brainchild of producer and instrumentalist Lyte, has been producing diverse and different music for over 20 years. Now seen as a collective with Lyte at the helm it seems with the Coven EP, released December 22 with a deluxe edition also available, Delta-S has outgrown any current genre or subgenre of electronic music. The solution? Create a new tag, and a very accurate one at that.

With the new sub-subgenre of “dark fantasy electronica”, Coven draws on sci-fi, fantasy books and movies and 20 years’ worth of electronic music influence and experience to create a highly diverse sonic journey. Definitely still grounded in industrial and IDM, Lyte and his collaborators utilize elements of almost every electronic genre possible. Drum and bass and other bass music can clearly be heard in the sound design and some of the beats, while many synths and melodies are more progressive house or trance-driven.




Album opener "Letters to the Lost" has quite a rock vibe, almost progressive which might surprise long-time fans of Delta-S. It's a combination of cinematic industrial, IDM and nu-metal style guitars and vocals. There are, in fact, a lot of metal-inspired guitars on Coven, but the base beat structure varies and gives each track its own distinct feel. With "Rage Into Blindness", Lyte is back in solid industrial territory as with "Omen" but "Death at Dawn" is more of a synth-driven, 80s-influenced melodic tune. This track is a highlight of the album and very beautifully composed, again showing Lyte’s sound design and production chops. Another highlight is "Deceived (Odyssey Mix)", which also has the sort of 80s synth industrial style, but with a fun, hidden trap beat. The album is truly all over the board style-wise, and it’s great to see so many periods and styles of electronic music come together with a common thread of industrial music and metal.

Coven shows Lyte's diversity when composing to Delta-S and his ability to put his 20 years of experience to use but it also re-invents the wheel of all its requisite parts, so to speak. So many genres and styles, both musically and thematically, are covered here that it was definitely prudent for the term “dark fantasy electronica” to be born. It’s truly an apotheosis of Delta-S’s sound, and long-time fans will likely enjoy the deluxe edition on Bandcamp, which also includes a special CD of the track “Chasm” and an art print for the single “Omen”.

Mar 02 2018