Knarly Knob Takes Synths Into Deep Space on “Mordax”

Italy’s Knarly Knob is back, reaching for even greater heights on his upcoming Mordax EP. The title track—a vision quest, both in experience and production—is a perfect deep-end tech house number that revels in spacious yet driving, hypnotic power.

Gently strolling in with an unassuming beat, “Mordax” slowly unfurls its true and complicated colors, picking up layers here and there to grow the soundscape toward a swell. Brightly somber synths soon fill the air, and with the softest of gritted edges, they cut through the mix, arpeggiating like a swarm of insects. Rising and falling with the shifts in gravity, the sounds weave in and out of its rolling dynamic.

Knarly Knob has laid down an updated take on the wildly popular “afters” techno from just a few short years ago—galaxy-size, synthwave- and electro-influenced, spiritually somber and mysterious. “Mordax” will undoubtedly haunt many a soul from the deepest regions of the universe.

“I called this track ‘Mordax’ because in Latin, it means ‘biting’—a bit like synths that chase each other at some point, in a corrosive and acid melody,” he tells Insomniac. “I’ve created this track thinking about the great festivals, the crowd under the stage, and about the powerful and soft sounds combined.”

Available May 29 via Knarly Knob Records.
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