Enigmatic synth duo LOAD offer a soundtrack for our urban isolation

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Listen to LOAD’s evocative debut album, SuperEgo

LOAD promo pic 2020, by Benedikt Walther
(Image credit: Benedikt Walther)

Now that our city streets are deserted (sort of), we deserve a fitting soundtrack for our barren urban thoroughfares, one that provides both a romantic gloss and the lingering melancholy of our social estrangement. Thankfully, enigmatic Swiss duo, Zaffre & Cyan, aka LOAD, are on hand to provide just that.

Released today, the band’s debut album, SuperEgo, is a downtempo slice of 80s-inspired new wave and goth-funk that at times sounds Carpenter Brut on Valium, at others like recent Ulver getting restless for dawn to break, or Marilyn Manson wandering around a disco during the last song.

LOAD’s attention to detail, knack for a tune that slides insidiously under your skin and their understanding of the slick yet rueful contours of 80s alt-pop, create an immersive universe in their own right – all abandoned neon lights, 3am, rain-washed cityscapes and debonair, solitary protagonists on vain quests.

SuperEgo is awash in the kind of atmospheres that have long offered a deeply evocative detour for metalheads of all stripes, and we are offering an exclusive signpost in the form of a stream for the album in its entirety.

"After almost two years of hard work, we're hyped to finally release SuperEgo to the world,” say Zaffre & Cyan. “This is LOAD, we are here and we came to stay. Prepare to get synthesised!”

So without further ado, hunch up the shoulders of your trenchcoat, look up to the tower block-framed overcast skies and wander around the world of SuperEgo below!

Visit LOAD's Facebook page and order SuperEgo from LOAD's official merch page

Jonathan Selzer
Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.