Artist: Audiocall
Title: A Different World
Genre: Dark Electro / Industrial / Synth Pop
Release Date: 5th December 2025
Label: Scanner / Dark Dimensions
Album Review
“I Bring you a warning! Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are: Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.” Or perhaps keep a closer eye on the new releases offered by your preferred digital dealer or streaming service, and watch out for ‘A Different World’, the second studio album by AUDIOCALL. For those who prefer a physical format, the gentlemen have also had their new album pressed on a silver disc, which you can request directly from the band - gladly signed and with a sticker. Simply send a message to the band or to mastermind Axel Tasler.
You may now be wondering why you should do that. Well, because ‘A Different World’ is an album that builds atmospheres and creates spaces with electronic, almost soundtrack-like soundscapes, emotional depth and precise production - and then consistently darkens them. It is a journey through fear, isolation, anger, hope, closeness and loss - a view of a world falling apart, and of the inner struggles that arise as a consequence. Every sound layer is precisely placed, every word refined until it finds its perfect position. And yet ‘A Different World’ does not sound calculated, but urgent, intuitive, driven. Perhaps because the world the album speaks of has indeed become “different”.
With their debut album ‘Know your murderer’, the band founded in 2023 in Rastede by STERIL guitarist Axel Tasler already proved that they can skilfully combine Industrial, Wave, EBM and Post Punk with melodic, clear vocals and atmospheric synth surfaces, weave these with modern, powerful guitar riffs, and thus create their own dark style. With the single ‘Retailers!’, released on 31st October in collaboration with Arc Morten (MORPHOSE, CYTO), Axel Tasler (vocals, composition, production), Thorsten Lücht (bass) and Michael Rathje (guitar) announced the worthy successor.
The single contains, in addition to the title track in its single version, the slightly shorter album version of ‘Retailers!’ and another joint production with Arc Morten (‘Sparks’), as well as a STERIL remix of this track by Axel’s STERIL bandmate EvvilKing (Jan Wilking). We have already examined this release in detail; you can read it here. Unfortunately, ‘Sparks’ is not included on the album, which is why you should absolutely pick up the single as well. The track is far more than just a B-side. Simply give it a listen or watch the accompanying video on YouTube.
On 5th December, then, comes ‘A Different World’, a consistent further refinement of AUDIOCALL’s signature sound along familiar intersections of Industrial, Dark Electro and Synth Pop, complemented by modern guitar riffs and striking bass lines. The production by Axel Tasler and EvvilKing (STERIL) is spot on: sharply contoured synth surfaces, clearly separated beats and a mastering (responsible: Timo Hohnholz) that makes the aggression just as audible as the withdrawn, melancholic moments. The result is a compact, sonically sharp record that responds thematically and aesthetically to the conditions of our present.
Thematically, ‘A Different World’ is consistent: ten tracks linking observations and critique of political extremism, war, technological threats posed by AI, and the personal consequences of an unstable world. The lyrics are direct enough to take a stance without reducing their imagery to slogans; they work with repetition and insistent motifs that intertwine with the electronic arrangements.
The opener ‘Illusion’ begins with the sample quoted above from the sci-fi classic ‘The Thing from Another World’ (1951). A good thirty years later, director John Carpenter revisited the material from John W. Campbell Jr.’s story ‘Who Goes There?’. For me, ‘The Thing’ (1982) remains one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made, with an outstanding Kurt Russell in the lead role. The synthetic sound worlds that follow the sample could be taken directly from ‘The Thing’’s soundtrack.
Axel lets the synths rise like cold breath from the fog of 80s sci-fi, driven by a beat that prepares the ground for the existential weight of the lyrics. “Overdone, no delight. / Always looking for a fight. / Overload, it’s no illusion. / I pretend what no one feels.” Broad synth carpets and driving drums fuse nostalgia with unease. The lyrics describe psychological manipulation, political instrumentalization, and the refusal to submit to that logic. Media distortion, extremism, artificially fabricated threat scenarios - all just ‘Illusion’.
‘Holding Me’ shifts the perspective to the personal - emotional dependence, loss of control and the feeling of being held captive by a relationship or an inner conflict. The song warms despite speaking of pain. The bass guitar lies beneath the opening lines like a steadying hand; the vocal is soft and close before broad synth layers and guitar riffs open the track towards the chorus. The 80s glance discreetly through the door without intruding. The production maintains intimacy despite denser arrangements. The contrast between intimate verses and expansive choruses reflects the attempt to break free from emotional entanglement. The song triggers something hard to grasp at first and lingers long after - “So come on, come on - we are the passengers...”.
In contrast to ‘Holding Me’, ‘Retailers!’ is a punch to the face. Hard, furious, compressed, the track forms a powerful counterpoint. The single already came across as an autonomous dystopian manifesto, but within the album it assumes the role of political accusation. Sharply formulated lines against manipulation and the commercialisation of violence. Mastering and mix deliver force. Arc Morten’s voice lends the denunciation a cutting gravity - “You’re retailing famine, death and fears” - and the song reminds us that manipulation does not take place in a vacuum but in everyday life, in the news, in decisions we have long since normalised.
‘Tokyo’ returns to personal darkness - a shift that works surprisingly smoothly. The track sounds like a nocturnal cityscape: blurred, neon-lit, melancholic. Axel’s warm voice glides through multilayered synth and guitar textures that give the song a cinematic, soundtrack-like atmosphere. The lyrics revolve around memories that become projections, and idealised places one never reaches. Tokyo as an unattainable longing - a place of emotional distance, escapism and cultural fascination.
‘Leave My World’ then casts a heavier, introspective patina over the album. The synth landscapes feel floating and oppressive at once. The bass lines are dark, Axel’s vocals clear and insistent. “If you ever set the earth on fire / you’ll have to leave my world” - a clear boundary drawn. The song addresses the need for distance, self-protection and emotional reclamation. ‘Leave My World’ is a refusal addressed to people or ideologies that overstep boundaries and destroy personal peace. The track binds emotional fatigue with a firm defensive stance.
With ‘In your Eyes’, the album picks up pace again. Broad sound layers, a lighter, slightly distorted vocal and a beat gaining momentum - here, the sound breathes a touch of light. The track builds gradually, increasing its intensity. An energetic moment that remains emotionally charged. The lyrics play with observation and projection. What is seen in the other’s eyes is often one’s own reflection: hope, doubt, expectation.
In ‘Discover’, rocky guitars, driving beats and sharp synth lines merge perfectly. Particularly striking are the sound effects that temporarily dampen the music, as if you’re being pulled underwater - like a feeling of fear that steals your breath. A song about uncertainty, self-doubt and the search for authenticity.
‘It Should Be Love’ is one of the emotional centres of the album. The synths radiate a clear 80s charm. The vocals are clear. The chorus opens wide, almost weightlessly, and stays in your mind. Then delicate guitar riffs appear, barely perceptible but essential to the arrangement. The sonic landscapes have a depth inviting exploration - simply beautiful. The track feels like a wistful pause. The text uses the simplicity of an idealistic sentence (“We should be lovers”) as a counterpoint to a world full of conflict. The lyrics express disappointed expectations and the sense that relationships are damaged by external circumstances. The Synth Pop elements enhance the bittersweet note: a song about what should be, but isn’t.
With ‘Island’, the mood darkens again - melancholic and dreamlike at once. The synths are cool, the guitars cutting, the drums precise. The deep vocals carry a painful weight. A dark, atmospherically powerful track. It creates a sense of isolation and resignation. The sound effects in the second chorus (thunder, falling rain) mirror the lyrics and intensify the impact. A world with no escape - “This world is an island / and we’re not free to escape”. The island - a metaphor for self-protection, loneliness and retreat from a hostile or incomprehensible world. A place of withdrawal, but without comfort. Lyrically a resigned inventory in which safety and imprisonment become indistinguishable.
The closing track ‘Always Perfect’ finally submerges the listener in a melancholic, playful sea of keyboards and wide synth surfaces. The vocals are insistent, almost whispered. The arrangement feels like a slow descent. “It’s always perfect” - an ambivalent phrase: perfection as escape, as illusion. ‘Always Perfect’ is a statement against pressure to perform, social expectations and the perpetual display of perfection. The track feels like a resigned commentary on a world that allows no mistakes - and thereby suppresses humanity. Meanwhile, the music envelops like gentle waves that carry you out to sea and slowly pull you underwater. And you let it happen, drifting away and in the end simply letting go.
‘A Different World’ proves to be a cohesive, carefully composed work that unites its stylistic range without fractures and consistently pursues its thematic arcs from personal vulnerability to political vigilance. AUDIOCALL combine electronic textures, organic guitar work and pointed lyrics into a soundscape that is both atmospheric and narrative. Each track sharpens the thematic overall picture of a world in upheaval, in which external disruptions inevitably expose internal conflicts. The result is an album that is emotionally demanding, aesthetically compelling, and long-lasting in its effect. ‘A Different World’ demonstrates impressively how confidently AUDIOCALL continue to evolve their unique and unmistakable sound.
Tracklist
01. Illusion
02. Holding Me
03. Retailers! (feat. Arc Morten)
04. Tokyo
05. Leave My World
06. In your Eyes
07. Discover
08. It Should Be Love
09. Island
10. Always Perfect
Line-up
Axel Tasler - Music, Vocals, Production
Thorsten Lücht - Live-Bass
Michael Rathje - Live-Guitar
Website
https://www.facebook.com/Audiocall.Music
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 10
Total: 9.5 / 10
