Alphamay – The Simulation Hypothesis

Alphamay - The Simulation Hypothesis

Album facts

Release: May 19th, 2017
Label: Timezone
Genre: ,
Discogs: Link

The final chapter of a trilogy

With the release of 'The Simulation Hypothesis' ends the 'Dazzle Trilogy' by 'Alphamay'. But don't worry, it's just the end of con­cep­tu­al storyline. We're sure that Cris and Henning will con­tin­ue mak­ing good Synth Pop albums like this one. It would be a great loss if this were really the last chapter of 'Alphamay'.

In con­sid­er­a­tion that we work a bit closer with 'Alphamay', through some Electrozombies trib­ute com­pil­a­tions ('Apop We Love You' and 'Prism'), we already had a chance to listen to 'The Simulation Hypothesis' around 8 weeks before the offi­cial release. So we'd enough time to listen, enjoy and leave an influ­ence to ourselves. Now the big ques­tion in this review is: "Will 'The Simulation Hypothesis' be the most suc­cess­ful part in the tri­logy?".

The first tunes to success

The open­er 'Missing Me' is an awe­some and power­ful start for a Synth Pop album. The first track should usu­ally show the dir­ec­tion and qual­ity of what can be expec­ted on the album. And in the case of 'The Simulation Hypothesis' this prin­ciple becomes true. I espe­cially like this medi­ev­al sound­ing piano in 'Missing Me', which has already inspired me on the last 'Project Pitchfork' album.

The 'Pet Shop Boys Effect'

The first single 'Decay Of A Dream' is a true flag­ship song. The sound of 'Decay Of A Dream' is a fun ride to listen. But in com­bin­a­tion with the pro­found lyr­ics you get a res­ult of what I called the 'Pet Shop Boys Effect'. Which is the defin­i­tion of a catchy and dance­able sound with ser­i­ous and thought­ful lyr­ics. And I love this kind of combination.

Twists and diversity is Alphamay's strength

Alphamay Press Photo 2017 2
Alphamay (Press photo 2017)

More dark and grimy feel­ings awaits you with the track 'Fractures Of Reality'. Early works of 'Beborn Beton' is def­in­itely the march dir­ec­tion. The song has a par­tic­u­larly high dynam­ic between verses and chor­us. This cre­ates a great ten­sion in this play.

'The Pilgrims Weep' also runs elec­tron­ic­ally a harder course. The typ­ic­al 90s influ­ence of the EBM club scene can be clearly heard. Nevertheless, the num­ber sounds won­der­fully har­mo­ni­ous and melod­ic.

A small but important point of criticism

The first meas­ur­able drop hap­pens in the track 'Flat Earth Flat Head'. Personally, I think it's a bit pity that 'Alphamay' has taken the infla­tion­ary used quotes of the SciFi movie 'Blade Runner'. Those quotes are so over­used in the scene that they sound nowadays only like a platitude.

I guess some fresh­er quotes about arti­fi­cial life, androids or real­ity versus illu­sion would fit bet­ter in this song. But over­all this doesn't make this song to a bad one. What I really like in this song is that the chor­us reminds me on some early works of 'Front 242'.

The tempo increases again

Almost euphor­ic comes 'Suspended Animation' on the album 'The Simulation Hypothesis'. Here we have a track in the uptempo sec­tion that should work per­fectly on live gigs and dance floors. We strongly recom­mend to listen also to this song if you need a son­ic­al overview.

The next high­light on the latest 'Alphamay' release is surely the song 'Serenity'. The song is mainly driv­en by a typ­ic­al early 90s bass line and drum beat. The chor­us is like a catch phrase in an advert­ise­ment and has the atti­tude of an hero­ic saga.

The last num­ber is called 'No Good Bye'. Maybe this is also the indic­a­tion that this is not the last work of 'Alphamay'. In the last act, a cold, mod­ern sound leads us into a dark romantic set­ting. I think it's one of the best songs on the album. The song clearly sets itself apart from all oth­ers. It's very crisp, clear and min­im­al­ist­ic. An attrib­ute that I find here par­tic­u­larly out­stand­ing and hope that 'Alphamay' fur­ther developed in this direction.

The verdict

First, I can say that 'The Simulation Hypothesis' is much stronger and more var­ied than its pre­de­cessor 'Twisted Lines'. If you're open-minded in Synth Pop music with new vibes than you should abso­lutely give this album a try.

Even though the album con­tains a few mediocre tracks, we're con­vinced of the latest release of 'Alphamay' and look­ing for­ward to a bright future of this awe­some band. Support 'Alphamay' by buy­ing the album and vis­it their gigs this year. We can def­in­itely recom­mend the album.

Track By Track Rating

Alphamay The Simulation Hypothesis
Alphamay – The Simulation Hypothesis
Missing Me
Decay Of A Dream
Fractures Of Reality
The Pilgrims Weep
Flat Earth Flat Head
Suspended Animation
Simulation Street
Bound To Dance
Counting Stars
Serenity
No Good Bye
Recommend
Decay Of A Dream
Suspended Animation
No Good Bye
Weak
(Nothing to report here)
3.6
Virtuous

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Missing Me
Decay Of A Dream
Fractures Of Reality
The Pilgrims Weep
Flat Earth Flat Head
Suspended Animation
Simulation Street
Bound To Dance
Counting Stars
Serenity
No Good Bye
Final Score