Martin's review: Retro Rangers by Fury Weekend

The unmistakable sound of synthwave coming in from Belarus

One of the very first suggestions that are often given to new listeners of synthwave is to check out "Retro Rangers", I hear this often and in this review I wanted to share in my input on this. Actually not only to agree with this statement, but also to provoke people who have listened to it before to grab the record for one more time. It's well worth it!

Sweet, sweet love for the Rangers

The unmistakable emotion for anyone listening for the first time this album will most certainly be "Wow, this must be it!". At least that was my first impression when I was introduced to “Retro Rangers” for the first time. The reason for this is because the album is actually composed to sound awesome. The first minute start off with a killer melody line that instantly got me hooked. Guitar solos, a great underlying throbbing bass and great beats are one of the essential elements.

I don’t know if Fury Weekend actually planned to have a story attached to the recording, but I can instantly visualize some old-school robot fights that can be set to this soundtrack. You can explore this concept quite clearly in “The Vanishing”, the second track of the album. If you put it on some cool speakers and bring up the volume you might start to dance – that’s just how enticing the melody can be.

However one of the cool elements that I find signature to the album is found in the beginning of the next track “Knightriders” – observe how a similar tempo song has some very cool chord changes in the bass section. Coupled with the energetic layers above I feel that this track can be easily integrated into basically every cool action computer game.

Transport Yourself Into a Game

I am writing this review on a Friday evening after a whole week of working hard and switching from some old-school black metal albums. This is important to note as I wanted to see how this quite big genre switch would impact me. I can say that it was a success – going back and forth from different music genres can be very daunting and tiring if good albums are not chosen. For the purpose of playing on a good synthwave record “Retro Rangers” completed the task.

The atmosphere and everything that you would expect from a quality composition is here. I can’t really fault the tracks, they don’t feel repetitive and boring. Actually I would like to say that I particularly liked the introductions of the individual tracks and how they blended in with the middle sections. Compression and equalization are all good from my listening experience which shows that the Fury Weekend is your amateur computer bedroom producer.

This album would be not just for anyone wanting to get away from a busy day or clean their thoughts, it is suited to introduce people to the genre and highlight some very good sounding musical ideas. Even though it lacks a more relaxed section or slower song, it keeps the beat tempo tight and you can dance to it. How cool is that? Enjoy!

Released October 25, 2017

Written by Ars Nikonov
Published by FiXT Entertainment
Produced by Ars Nikonov
Cover Art by Ars Nikonov