Mental Exile - Ride the Madness (2019)

Here comes the first full length album of MENTAL EXILE, the solo-effort of Damasius Venys - charismatic singer of the cult synth pop band MONDTRÄUME. The previously released and warmly received Exile Nights EP already revealed a very personal sonic identity and this new album confirms even more the Synthwave DNA of this project! Melancholic dark pop arrangements led by melodic vintage synth lines and beautifully brought to life by the unmatched and highly emotional voice of Damasius. Ride The Madness does not only reflect the artist's obvious passion for the 80's as well as for horror and sci-fi movies, but is literally conceived as a movie soundtrack scoring the insane story of Shadow, from his forced exile to his endless drift towards nowhere after having realized that his thirst for revenge against this brainwashing corrupted world was pointless since his previous existence had simply been deleted forever while his unique love, his sole reason of being had given up and committed suicide... A mad mad mad world full of hate, love and neon lights that gets depicted in Damasius' quite dark lyrics who sings about inner demons, human's selfish blindness and mankind's vain attempt to conquer an imaginary world made of its own fears and stupidities... The album was mixed and mastered by renowned Italian synthwave artist and producer Vincenzo Salvia and also features noticeable guest appearances by Marthe Borge-Lunde Pfirrmann (LIGHTSHIFTERS), adding her magical female voice and soul on two songs while charismatic Chris Young (MIDNIGHT DANGER) contributes with a stunning guitar solo creating a perfect fusion between his sleaze-synthwave style and Damasius' 80's-ish emotional work. A hurricane of emotions across 12 synth pop tunes which come highly recommended for true lovers of synthwave, 80's synthpop and other darkwave music.