Synthesizer Wrecks
Original Release Date: 11/30/4302
Synthesizer Wrecks was pissed. After the success of her 4300 album Comet At Ya!, it was clear that fame was arriving with all the subtlety of an asteroid. And with this newfound success would come the inevitable copycats. While some were easy to spot (such as misspelled abominations like Sintheesizer Rex or Sympathizer Tex), others went a bit under the radar. One such usage of her likeness did not come to light until a trip to an amusement park on Keeyo XIV, a pitstop on her 4302 Extinction Schmextinction Tour. For the last two years, Loop World (a subsidiary of the Keeyo Mining Corporation) had been using Synthesizer Wrecks' likeness and music for the adornments of their marquee roller coaster: The Queen of All Monsters. While the coaster itself had been in existence since the park opened over 100 years prior, the ride had seen significant upgrades after several nasty accidents had claimed parkgoers’ limbs and lives. Reborn without Synthesizer Wreck's permission, riders had came from far and wide to ride what they had imagined to be a sanctioned tie-in. Standing in the shadow of the blood-red coaster, watching a crude animatronic version of herself emerge from the waters, breathing fake smoke, her blood boiled. Screams from happy patrons echoed into the distance, but the scream that bellowed past her lips was one of retribution. She returned to the studio and her lawyer's office with purpose, the parallel lanes of sonic and judicial revenge buzzing in her brain. Queen of All Monsters, the album was the result of a rage-filled evening of self-reflection. Without her fame, these effigies, no matter how crude, would not exist, and, therefore, she would not exist. But, with her fame, the opportunities she had been afforded could not have come to fruition. The result of this existential crisis was not only sonic revenge but a reversal of standards. Rather than shut down the park and remove Loop World from the intergalactic map, Synthesizer Wrecks successfully argued that her likeness and music were solely responsible for the park's current success, and, therefore, she had a controlling stake in the usage of her likeness, and the park's interests. Because Loop World had illegally used her music and image, the courts agreed, and control of the entire park was transferred to Synthesizer Wrecks and her estate. Now, not only in control of her likeness but of her agency, she improved the park for the better. Lower ticket prices, cheaper food, and functioning rides were a genuine blow to the Keeyo Mining Corporation, which relied heavily on its revenue. Moreover, Queen of All Monsters became the theme music of Loop World (renamed Planet Coaster). The album itself was the same thumping mantras that Synthesizer Wrecks had become known for: an urgent mash of high-pitched loop-the-loops and stinging hi-hat over a thumping, ear-invading bass. The album's sad moments, especially tracks like Infringement, conjure the dizzying lows of her internal thoughts during the battle to protect her image. But these moments are not without merit as they are the literal roller coaster of emotions she experienced in Planet Coaster's takeover. Cemented now as a master musician and a legal eagle, there was little left to do than to raise her tiny arms and ride the big drop. For most, the bottom of that arc would be devastating, but Synthesizer Wrecks whirled into the future, a whole track of twists and turns still ahead.
Side A
Zero-G
Draining The Swamp
Suspended Feedback Loop
Potential Energy
Side B
Queen of All Monsters
Spike
Infringement
Out and Back