Fresh Cut: ‘Control’ by Komrads 

• PHOTO BY EAR 2 EYE / COURTESY KOMRADS
• Komrads releases its new album, "Resistor," on May 25.

Komrads

“Control”

Self-released

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Industrial darkwave duo Komrads is planning to release a new record from its mechanical grip on May 25. "Control" — the first single off of the new album, "Resistor" — is a sonic rollercoaster ride that will leave you clutching the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Vocalist and synthesist Zach Burnett and bassist and vocalist Jesse Hellsteed formed Komrads in 2014 and released their first EP, "Hail," the next year. Since then, Komrads has performed regionally and toured the Midwest; it spent the last year writing and recording its new album.

“Control” takes off with kinetic authority, using an upbeat drum synth and a catchy bass melody by Hellsteed. Burnett probes the verse with a dark, Gothic voice that resembles Depeche Mode’s David Gahan, weaving the topic of love through the lyrics as a metaphor for the indestructible machine of human emotion. And just as Burnett uses the chorus to scream "Everything is under control," the music feels like it's unraveling.

Watch for the atmospheric bridge, which comes on unexpected, quietly beginning and intensifying while heart-pulsing, analog frequencies work out the cogs of this love machine. “Control” is an industrious warehouse that electrifies and shocks all that dare step inside.