James Kent’s first couple forays into Nocturne City felt exploratory, still tethered to the synthwave pioneers who’d come before him. Dangerous Days claws out of its nutrient sac fully formed. This story of a half man-half machine’s struggle against the devil in the machine gets told almost entirely instrumentally, but the immersive layers of synthesizers and samplers on highlights like “Raw Power” and “She Is Young, She Is Beautiful, She Is Next” make words redundant. Even if you haven’t seen the cyberpunk movies and anime that influenced this, the menace comes through loud and clear, perfectly illustrating the perturbed protagonist’s frenzied flight through the shifting digital labyrinth. This and its follow-up, Uncanny Valley, represent the peak of darksynth as a form – they effortlessly transport you to a time and place inaccessible to most other genres.