Autregis, by Autregis

Artist: Autregis

Album: s/t EP
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Genre: Industrial Rock, Synth-Grunge, Performance Rave

RIFYL: New Order, Depeche Mode, NIN, Devo, Liars 

Recommended Track(s): Button, Don

So a lot of the music I've reviewed so far on here has been pretty straight forward indie rock, lo-fi, or emo. However, Autregis is somewhat of an oddity, bringing back synth-heavy grunge. Credit for this project goes to solo artist Dan Alpher, who struggled to form a band in the scene, and decided to mess around using the recording program Ableton. 

The genre that Alpher is going for is what he dubs "Performance Rave" which takes influences from artists like Nine Inch Nails or Depeche Mode, emphasizing heavy synths and bombastic vocals. The synth work on here is pretty great, and very interesting, but at sometimes a little too chaotic or in your face. A lot of heavy bass is used here, as well as a heavy amount of drum machine here. Most of the songs are very slow, and take advantage of flange and other heavy synth effects, except for the track Don, which is very similar to works off of Freedom Of Choice by Devo. 

The vocals can be a little off putting, as Alpher takes a lot cues from Trent Reznor's singing. His voice is very floaty, and has a sense of "all over the place-ness." When he screams in the background on the track Button, Alpher invokes a very similar feeling to early Pretty Hate Machine style Nine Inch Nails. Alpher also uses a heavy amount of distortion on his voice, and it makes it a little difficult to hear what exactly he's saying in his higher register.

I really don't know what else to say about Autregis, except that even if it's not your cup of tea, I suggest giving him a listen. This EP is a good start, but it's definitely not perfect. I think if Alpher refined his voice a bit more, and focused more on incorporating physical instruments in besides digital instruments, he could have something way more interesting on his hands than what he has now.

Autregis s/t: 6.5/10
bandcamp: https://autregis.bandcamp.com/