I'm not trying to separate every single genre I listen to into a separate list, but this year there were so many synthwave albums I wanted to give the genre some love. The whole synth/retro/chill/dark/etc. wave has exploded with so many more artists/albums than I can even imagine listening to.

In regards to the #10 spot, I kept swapping those two albums over and over and couldn't decide which gets #10, so I cheated shutup. 

For the album concept, I'm going to save myself some time from typing the same damn thing ~10 times. The concept for every synthwave album ever is as follows:

• Horror Themed
• Movie Soundtrack (for a fake movie)
• Not Too Distant Dystopian Future
• Sci-Fi 
• Robitts
• Any combination of the above

Here are my top 10 synthwave albums of the year.

10b) Danger - 太鼓

This is technically Danger's debut full length album, but he's been around for 10 years releasing EPs here and there.

太鼓 is Japanese for Taiko. It doesn't take long to see why as back half of the second track, 7:17, slowly builds with some intense drum sounds. While there are synthwave elements to 太鼓, Danger pulls in other EDM influences as well (some I can do without). Even though it's not pure synth and has some rough spots, there are enough strong tracks on here to make this list.

10a) Zeta - S/T

Zeta is Daniel Tompkins (Tesseract), Paul Ortiz (Chimp Spanner) and Katie Jackson (dunno who dat). One look at that lineup and it's hard not to have sky high expectations. After my first listen, I was disappointed and underwhelmed. There wasn’t anything wrong with the album in particular, I just set my expectations too high.

Now that the dust has settled, I have had a chance to listen to it a few more times. It has definitely grown on me, and I’ve learned to appreciate it for what it is. Tompkins and Ortiz are a bit underutilized, with only a few moments where they stretch their musical muscle. But they're going more for what works well with the song, rather than just showing off. If you give this a spin, try to forget about the members’ main projects, you’re not going to find that here. Instead, what you have is a solid chill synthpop album with great hooks.

9) Starcadian - Midnight Signals

I got duped into thinking this is a real soundtrack. Apparently Starcadian does write a script first and then writes the music to the script. I guess you can say it is a soundtrack for an unproduced screenplay, or ghost story. WHATEVER.

Starcadian out of New York sounds like a synthwave Daft Punk. The vocals are very vocoder heavy and layered, and there are a couple of tracks that incorporate some funk (The Gap Band specifically). Midnight Signals is irresistable and fun as hell. 

8) Retouch - Light Years

From Retouch’s bandcamp page: “The synthwave project of Artemy, sound producer and guitarist from Russia or the outer space?” I'm going to say THE outer space!

One look at the album cover and it really does explain it all. There are some tasteful guitar riffs and licks over this futurist spacey synthwave soundtrack. I would pair this with a retro futuristic racing videogame (F-Zero or Wipeout?).

7) Deadlife - Bionic Chrysalis

French dark synthwave producer Deadlife makes a very strong attempt to compete with the likes of Perturbator and Gost, hitting you hard with the sci-fi themed synthwave. While not quite up there with the two (yet), this lies comfortably within the same realm.

Bionic Chrysalis is littered with a bunch of talking sections which I assume is a robittt with the voice of a female Brit giving you pieces of the story. Deadlife also incorporates modem sounds and chiptune (pewpew). Now how about a Deadlife, Gost, Perturbator tour?!?! *HEAD ASPLODES*

6) VHS Glitch - Roborer

VHS Glitch hails from Japan, and came onto my radar with  2015’s excellent Halloween Strangers. A lot of synthwave is inspired by 80s horror film soundtracks, but VHS glitch sounds like it IS a horror film soundtrack.  

The album title though...whatever a Roboror is doesn't seem all that scary. The album cover is this Motorhead inspired looking thing. Watch out everyone, it's a Roborer! 

5) Master Boot Record - C:\> COPY *.* A: /V 

Master Boot Record’s “Copy all files in the current directory on the C: drive over to A: drive and verify that the new files are written correctly” is a brilliant mashup of synthwave and metal. It straight up sounds like a instruMETAL album fully synthesized with electronic sounds. It's heavy and moshable AF, but not really danceable as its synthwave cousins.

MBR has had a very busy year, computerizing another album in the same year (Interrupt Request) as well as computationering an album of video game covers (W A R E Z). As awesome as the latter is I can't bring myself to putting an album of covers on this list.

4) Dance with the Dead - B-Sides Vol. 1

The expectation I have for a b-sides album is a bunch of throwaway tracks cobbled together and released to make a quick buck. At best, they will tracks that just didn't make it on to the album for time or flow reasons. Even so, putting those tracks together doesn't normally equate to a cohesive album.

Then there's Dance with the Dead. If they weren't honest and didn't straight up tell me that this is an album of B-Sides I wouldn't have known. This collection of tracks somehow works  as an album.

However, it is a bit uneven at times as the songs go from speed metal / british heavy metal Iron Maiden galloping riffage, to some extremely glow stick danceable synthwave. For some context, this is essentially what their live show is like as well. One moment you're moshy mcheadbanger and the next you are in da club. 

3) Dan Terminus - Automated Refrains

One of the bigger names in synthwave is back with Automated Refrains. Dan Terminus (from France) makes you feel like you're floating through space, traveling from planet to planet visiting futuristic cities. It weaves beautifully between ethereal and heart pounding synth.

While I really enjoyed The Wrath of Code, Automated Refrains steps it up a few notches. This is such a welcome improvement, and if he keeps this up he will be among my favorite synthwave artists.

2) Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Caesar

Isn't Ulver a black metal band? Upon first listen I was fully expecting a black metal album, but was pleasantly surprised to get a darkwave synthpop album. Doing a little reading on the googlenets, it turns out that Ulver have black metal roots but have been fairly experimental over the years. I'm stretching the definition of synthwave a bit here, both with the sound and the themes on the album.

The Assassination of Julius Caesar sounds just like if Speed Strid of Soilwork went into a retrosynth direction. The obvious comparison is Depeche Mode, so if you're a fan of metal's favorite non-metal but metal adjacent band then check this one out. 

1) Priest - New Flesh

Priest is made up of former Ghost members (Nameless Ghouls). They both share the same love for the 70s/80s, they both are shrouded in mystery with anonymous band members, and the comparisons pretty much end there. 

Like Ulver, this isn't a purely synthwave album, but also treads that Depeche Mode darkwave synthpop sound. While not a perfect album, the majority of New Flesh is just filled with hook after addictive hook.

What I picture when I listen to New Flesh is that one scene in a movie where the protagonists are in some sort of underground night club and it borders on goth and sexytime S&M. The opening scene to Blade is the perfect example (that movie is 20 years old now GTFO). It's been in the metal news lately that former Nameless Ghouls have not been very happy with their stint in Ghost. The lyrical themes reflect that, and New Flesh tends to just throw a lot of shade at their former band. 

With a lean running time of 36 minutes, the album is over in a flash. By the end, I'm just clamoring for more. The songs constantly get stuck in my head, almost to the point of being as annoying as an overplayed radio hit. I'm doing my best not to burn out on New Flesh, but with such a short running time and insanely catchy hooks, I find myself coming back to this more often than I really should.   

Honorable Mentions:

Compilerbau - Trickster's Paradise - Synthwave, sci fi, spacey.

Occams Laser - Ascension - Satan themed synthwave, darkwave.

Scandroid - Dreams of Neo-Tokyo - A remix album, can't really count that.

Makeup and Vanity Set - Syncro - Not pure synthwave, but does have a retro vibe.

Mark Mothersbaugh - Thor: Ragnarok Soundtrack - A mix of orchestral and synthwave. 

The Shanghai Restoration Project - R.U.R. - Not synthwave at all really.