With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“Abraxas” – Palindrones November 15, 2025

Filed under: Review,Single — justwilliam1959 @ 9:12 pm
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Palindrones formed in 2020 during Covid lockdowns. Jamie and Karen used their songwriting to remain connected despite being on opposite sides of London. The newly released video to the song “Abraxas”, from their current album ‘Chapter Two: The Slender Blade’, is a dazzling spectacle that celebrates an outstanding song. The track goes from 0 to 100 in seconds and in the immense percussive moments it feels like dark drum and bass at warp speed. This is world class synthed up goth pop. It has a joyous melody that fights for space with some souped up dark sounds. The joy emerges triumphant as this song makes you dance and smile. The video features the duo and they are overlaid with a psychedelic kaleidoscopic cartoon projection that might have transported itself from Haight-Ashbury at the height of the first summer of love.

The word Abraxas has a number of meanings but in the context of this magnificent song from Palindrones it made me think of the symbolic concept in the psychological work of Carl Jung. In Jung’s theories Abraxas symbolizes the chaotic and unified totality of the Self, representing the individuation process. The journey to integrate both the conscious and unconscious parts of oneself to achieve a whole and true Self. This song is pure, beautiful, unified chaos and my true self loves it! The song will be released as a double A-side single called “Abraxas & The Brightling Star” on 5th December.

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‘Beneath The Surface’ EP – SINthetik Messiah August 20, 2025

Filed under: EP,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 2:46 pm
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The new EP from ace Louisiana based artist SINthetik Messiah is called ‘Beneath The Surface’ and it is a dark shrouded, deeply pertinent comment on the world today. Musically it evokes the Prodigy and Faithless, but with even more balls. The voice samples on opener “Maniacal Means” is apt and as scary as fuck. “Caught In The Grip Of The City” layers in a Stygian industrial sound that is cinematic classic horror film in its scope and ambition. I would love to hear a Trent Reznor remix of this one. The third track “Ideological Subversion”, for me. describes exactly what Putin has done to the USA via Trump. The track explains that demoralisation stage in the US is pretty much complete now over a dub style take of Faithless’ “Insomnia” that might have been driven musically by Gary Numan. The eastern style chanting is haunting and gorgeously disturbing. The increasing control of the rich elite is covered in EP closer “Life Hack”. The music here is poppy electro put through an anti-matter blender with the painful screams adding a further edgy layer.

SINTHETIK MESSIAH is the work of the Cajun songwriter and sound designer, Bug Gigabyte. Surely that’s not their real name, is it? The PR for the EP describes it as “a descent into the undercurrent — a raw, unfiltered excavation of the chaos, cruelty, and confusion that define the world we live in. Each track is a spade hitting the dirt, digging deeper into the systems, histories, traumas, and human instincts that keep everything so relentlessly messed up. It’s not about offering answers. It’s about refusing to look away.” It is impossible to deny that in my opinion. Give the EP a listen and maybe download it too, just click here!

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