As my recent reviews of Carpenter Brut or Final Light amply illustrate, I’m a bit of a nut for the current surge in left-field, sacrilegious synthwave projects that tickle both my ’80s childhood and ’90s industrial nostalgia buttons while still meshing neatly with my metalhead prime directive. Greek composer-slash-John Carpenter-worshipper Draven seems, on paper, to be the perfect match on all these counts with his first foray into the genre, Abyssal Arcana. He dubs his musical style ‘Horrorsynth,’ and it’s as good a label as any, describing to a bloodstained and rusted ‘T’ what he sets out to achieve across thirteen (probably not a coincidence) gory-but-groovy club bangers. While the whole record is undeniably a lot of fun, it lacks the finesse the previously mentioned artists demonstrate...