Album & EP Reviews

Neurostrike – Neon Uprising

Neurostrike – Neon Uprising
Self – Released 
Release Date: 07/02/25
Running Time: 21:24
Review by Dark Juan
Score: 7/10

Greetings, friends from around the world. It is I, Dark Juan, and I have returned from arguing about politics on Threads. Seriously though, I have had to remove myself from the cesspit of what passes for discussion in modern times, as it is now mainly a set of politically illiterate entrenched positions that people will staunchly defend even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong. Far better to preserve one’s own mental health by taking oneself away from it, mainly because you aren’t going to make any difference to the world by arguing with people who can’t find their own arse with both hands, let alone argue the finer points of just what constitutes Socialism. Hence, after disgracing myself by losing my temper with mainly American people from the flyover states who don’t know what Fascism is and think that King Charles III rules over the UK with a rod of iron, I have withdrawn from the field of combat and elected once more to expend my time in a more useful fashion. Which is why I am now speaking to you, good reader, instead of arguing with stupid people. Mainly because Dark Juan is an order of magnitude smarter than 95% of the denizens of the internet and it really is not sporting of Dark Juan to take them apart with such consummate ease. It is also because my mental health is precarious at the best of times and it probably is not a good idea to let loose the dogs of war in my head, lest we run into a bit of sanguinary action, and someone gets hurt. Let us instead release the Platter of Splatter™ from its confinement and sling a disc upon it. Today’s subjects are US-based Synthwave/ Cyberpunk band Neurostrike. Let us plunge headlong into their music. Care to join me?

First, an aside. Mrs Dark Juan has been feverishly making bats for an unsuspecting client in Canada (I know I keep mentioning Canadian clients of Mrs Dark Juan, but it is where a lot of her creations end up! I lie shamelessly about lots of things, but this is actually true. Honest, guv) and had forgotten what the back feet of animals were called. She referred to the back feet of bats as their downstairs feet, which to be fair is not wholly inaccurate. She was also watching something on TV about demons and was chortling merrily at one who appeared to be called Leonard, who was an orgy goat… Leonard the Orgy Goat is a fucking brilliant name for a band, by the way.

Let us drag ourselves back to what we are supposed to be doing.

More Epoch of Chirality than Gunship, Neurostrike (which is also a fucking brilliant name for a band) employer a harder edged, less Pop influenced sound than the likes of the aforementioned grandaddies of the scene and have enhanced this with a razor-sharp Cyberpunk influence which makes for some very aggressive electronics. Neurostrike are not interested in pink-hued reminiscing about 80s action flicks and John Carpenter soundtracks and Stallone and Schwarzenegger blowing away hundreds of enemies (and Al Leong, the man who henched harder than any other henchman) with weapons that a) were normally attached to fucking helicopters, b) never ran out of ammunition and c) appeared, even if it was a sub-machine gun, seemed to be able to use ammunition that could explode anything from vehicles to entire forests, and instead have opted for the full retro-futurist experience, telling tales about digitised souls getting lost in the data streams of software-operated supercomputers and the like. 

When I describe anything Synthwave, I normally make reference to neon lights, zaibatsu assassins and razorgirls with retractable scalpel blades beneath perfectly painted nails. Neurostrike are not like this. Neurostrike are rather dirtier. They set my imagination off and they are the Armoured Corps of a far-future army – covered in oil and stinking of smoke and diesel fuel and cordite charges and dressed in night black combat fatigues that mask their heat signatures, they wait in concrete lined tank laagers with their matt-black battlewagons as the spindly combat walkers of their enemies pick their careful way through the minefields and the shattered remains of a once glorious city – endless steel, glass and clean design reduced to grey, lethal and radioactive rubble after the low-yield tactical nuclear strikes. Life expectancy here is measured in mere hours…

Yes, Neurostrike are an altogether more violent proposition than your usual Synthwave band – their admixture of Cyberpunk and a much darker aesthetic makes their music much more aggressive than the usual kind of Synth stuff I normally listen to. The vocals are harsher and a lot more in your face and have (generally) no interest in making something melodic or whimsical. The vocals are barked or shouted or growled and there is not much in the way of truly clean singing here apart from the uncredited young lady on ‘Glitch in the Skyline’.

It is the same with the music – there’s a lot of electronic guitar and tempos that owe more to the anarchy of punk than they do to 80s New Romantic music, and this makes “Neon Uprising” much more aggressive than “just” Synthwave. Think more “Terminator” than “Blade Runner”. There’s less poetry and more firepower in the music of Neurostrike. I feel that this music would sit well with the likes of Mega Drive and Occams Laser, rather than with the stylings of Carpenter Brut and Gunship. It’s dirtier, grittier and more rough and ready. Neurostrike are not a polished band, the synths buzz and hum and hiss like the fluorescent lights in the backrooms, and then there’s occasional and unexpected bangs and crashes and pain-filled howling. It is these rough edges, deliberately left, that give Neurostrike their uniqueness – it would be a simple thing indeed for them to just tweak their writing and arrangements to cover off the Vaporwave or Outrun markets and be popular with young girls who like wearing pink furry clothes and carry cute little kawaii handbags shaped like bunny rabbits, but no. Neurostrike have chosen the path of righteousness and have written an album that a trve Metal fan could pick up and groove along to even though it is a Synth based album.

All snotty Punk attitude and Darkwave aesthetics, Neurostrike have delivered a debut album of some considerable promise. However, Dark Juan feels it could be even more violent, and the whole album feels like Neurostrike are holding themselves back a bit, and I am of the opinion that they should go absolutely fucking insane with the squelch control and the volume… “Neon Uprising” feels like it has been caged somehow, and that there’s just a metric fuckton of barely-repressed violence under the surface of the music that NEEDS to be expressed. Neurostrike have been too controlled on this album. Dark Juan expects that Neurostrike will release the monsters inside their head next time and absolutely explode with rage on their next release.

The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System awards Neurostrike 7/10 for a debut album with many good points, and which is a fun listen, but has somehow had its rage tempered, when it could have been an absolute blood-soaked classic, had the band let themselves go with absolute abandon.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Neon Rebellion
2. Steel and Smoke
3. Ghosts of the Software Nightmare
4. Glitch in the Skyline
5. Cyber Dawn
6. Rise of the Grid
7. Neon Afterglow

LINKS:

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Beth Morait and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.