BLOOD HANDSOME: 'NOSTALGIA HOLD' (STRICT TEMPO, RELEASED SEPT 5TH, DARKWAVE/SYNTH, REVIEW)

Bog was due to write about Blood Handsome later on the schedule, but it was moved forward to feature something different from other underground music.

Bog will be writing from the stance of what he hears, he doesn't know too much about this/or the particular style/scene, so disclaimer alert. Bog writes about what he hears, and how it makes him think/feel.

Blood Handsome opens with Abandon, which is an up tempo track with a beat that people can move/bounce too. Futuristic and feels ahead of its time, but also embodies the synth/goth influences, which Bog can hear. I guess dark synth with a little cyberpunk to a point that invokes the imagination to think of cyberpunk movies/novels, and generally space/planets, and all things in the not so distant future. Abandon has a sinister/dark vibe, leaving the impression of robots dancing on a space station.

Leaving imagination world for a moment, and turning attention to the music itself for a deeper dive, an attempted one, hopefully not a painful fall. 

The drums are syncing with the beats nicely and they aren't fading into the background, or overshadowing the main melody and vocals. Consistent pace that excites, infectious for the ears. Build is nice from the vocals to backing vocals appearing later in Abandon. Some interesting keys have been laced on the track, add injections of harmony to contrast the darker feel, but it's a catchy component that will draw in the ear.

Around 2.40 ish, a looping melody comes in that continues to the end of Abandon, and just like the forementioned keys it adds a little extra. Probably will be one to pop off the crowd live and persuade the robots to keeping dance on the space station, whilst 3I Atlas flies by.  

A worthy attention grabber to open up Nostalgia Hold, mixed and mastered very well.

Alone (Dancing) melancholy, down tempo, chill track, and also has good remix protentional concerning vocals, beats. Excellent keys, harmony, spacey dark feels but also urban city feels too. Nice combination. Didn't feel this one so much, but kinda trip hop ish too. 

Dreaming in Silver has a fast tempo, which sets the tone for Inside that follows. Kinda like Post Punk woke up a few centuries ahead. Feels like one of the non darker tracks, could be so far off with that, but a softer focus, but catchy rhythm. 

Inside is almost as if those robots mentioned earlier are hearing Bog's thoughts. BPM has increased and is one of the fastest paced tracks on Blood Handsome, only slowing a little as the track progresses. Faster than Tech House and the average EBM track. There are interesting elements, spacey kinda chime that disappears near the end, one to wake you up if you had been away in dream land. 

Awaken another we really liked. Think planets, stars, barren futuristic landscapes, or a city in Blade 1/2 era, or cyberpunk landscape. Good vocals, mid tempo, paced well, arranged/layered nicely. Beats, backing beats/synth? (Bog doesn't know the term/s, but it works well), and a haunting memorable melody. Very movie score like. Awaken is a track that grows on you, one to listen too late at night. Bog is enjoyed it a lot. Very dark. Outro had a nice fade out for the melody to strengthen the vocals.

Fear (itself), a track returning to shut up any claims of soft. Not sure it says something about our persona that we like something called Fear (itself), but digression aside, there are strong, harder beats with a good structure, synthy keys, sinister vibes, not so much on the harmony, but a dark focused track.

Dark Matter contains nice drums with a mid tempo, and the backing drums/sound are solid again. The vocals follow a slowerish, almost story telling approach. It's very sci-fi, just like the title, and yes Bog did think of the warp, black holes, cern, and more. Good key structure, outro, and harmonies.

Pout Balcony closes Nostalgia Hold with a mellow sombre tone with interesting beat effects, key notes, and harmonies. It wasn't one of Bog's favorites from the album, but it does remind the listener of the many elements contained within Nostalgia Hold, such as the sci-fi, futuristic, and dark atmosphere, but also notable memorable melodies, and harmonies. 

Bog's personal favorites were the darker tracks such as Awaken, Dark Matter, Fear (itself), but Nostalgia Hold is a well rounded album with varying styles that venture forward, but not forgetting its roots to serve as the source to inspire Blood Handsome's sound and future material. 

In closing: If you are looking for something different with a lot to offer the pallet, then Nostalgia Hold would be a good place to start, especially if interested in sci-fi and alternative underground music. A catchy memorable piece of music. 

Blood Handsome - Nostalgia Hold

https://bloodhandsome.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia-hold

Follow Blood Handsome

https://www.instagram.com/bloodhandsome/

https://www.youtube.com/@bloodhandsome








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