Starbenders “The Beast Goes On” Album Review: Glam Rock Shifts to Synths

Beast Goes On finds Starbenders easing their glam rock into brighter synth choices, pacing the change across the tracklist while keeping the band’s core habits intact.

Album context and basic details

Starbenders, an Atlanta glam rock band, present The Beast Goes On as a record that keeps one foot in classic rock presentation while gradually introducing more prominent synthesizers. The album is set for release on February 27 via Sumerian Records.

A common retro-band problem, handled with routine practicality

Bands that build their identity around a specific vintage look and sound often treat that era like a sealed exhibit: the point is preservation, not renovation. The usual method is to lock in a period-correct palette and avoid anything that might break the spell, even if the spell is mostly hairspray and a familiar guitar tone.

The Beast Goes On behaves differently. Instead of staying parked in one decade, the album proceeds as if the band has simply walked forward in time—keeping the glam rock frame, then introducing an increasingly synthetic sheen that suggests a shift from a ’70s-leaning foundation toward an ’80s-adjacent finish. It’s not framed as a reinvention so much as an operational update: same band, slightly different lighting.

Tracklist sequencing that trains the ear

The record makes an interesting logistical choice in how it orders its material. The opening portion sits closer to Starbenders’ earlier glam-rock-identified approach—sonically consistent with what the band has done on Take Back The Night and Love Potions—and then, track by track, the synth presence becomes harder to ignore.

It functions like a gradual onboarding process. Rather than dropping the listener into a fully synth-forward environment from the start, the album adds electronic texture in measured increments, as if the band is letting the audience adjust in real time. The effect is subtle enough to pass as natural progression, and deliberate enough to register as planning.

The title track opens in familiar classic-rock posture

The opening title track, “The Beast Goes On,” arrives with a strong resemblance to Kansas in its general classic-rock posture. The resemblance doesn’t land as mimicry so much as a tidy salute: the song sets a celebratory tone that acknowledges the older bands in the room without needing to announce that it’s doing so.

That baseline—classic rock structure and glam presentation—sits underneath the entire album, even when the synths later become more prominent. The band’s interest in vintage reference points remains audible, and the record doesn’t act embarrassed about that. It simply proceeds as if this is normal behavior for a working rock band with a functioning record collection.

Where the influences stack up and still behave like songs

Across the tracklist, the album repeatedly shows how the band’s vintage fixation translates into practical decisions: certain chord movements, certain vocal shapes, certain textures that suggest older signposts without getting stuck there. The listening experience is less about pinpointing references and more about noticing how frequently the band blends them into something that still reads as Starbenders.

That merging is especially noticeable in tracks such as:

• “Nothing Ever Changes”
• “Chantily Boy”
• “Saturday”
• “Somebody Else”

On these songs, the influences don’t appear one at a time; they arrive layered, with the band treating them as usable parts rather than sacred artifacts. The lyrics and performance style keep pace with that approach, with vocals delivered cleanly and with enough control to make the bigger moments land as intended rather than accidental.

When the synths move forward, the band doesn’t step back

Once the album begins placing synths closer to the front of the mix, it doesn’t treat them as decoration. The more synth-prominent tracks are built to accommodate that shift, letting the electronics pull mood and edge into sharper focus without forcing the guitars to resign.

“Somebody Else,” for example, carries a darker edge that the synths emphasize. The atmosphere recalls the cooler, more shadowed end of post-punk—Siouxsie and the Banshees come to mind in the way the keyboards sharpen the silhouette—while the track still behaves like Starbenders in its vocal presence and rock-band insistence.

The result is not a separate “synth experiment” section of the record. It’s the same album continuing its day job with a new tool added to the desk.

The synth-heavy run: distinct tracks with clear separation

A cluster of songs leans further into the synth identity while keeping each track distinct enough to avoid blending into one continuous neon stripe. The record treats these songs as individual units—each with its own posture and pacing—rather than as a single aesthetic statement stretched across multiple titles.

The more synth-forward tracks include:

• “Summon My Heart”
• “Tokyo”
• “Cold Silver”
• “Forever Mine”

Each of these tracks maintains a strong, defiant stance in delivery. Even when they share a more electronic tilt, they differentiate themselves through tone and emphasis—sometimes leaning darker, sometimes cleaner, sometimes more forceful—without sounding like interchangeable variations of the same idea.

A noted lyrical misstep that the performance carries anyway

Not everything lands with perfect efficiency. “hello goodbye” contains a repeated rhyme—“goodbye” paired with “Valentine”—that shows up so often it becomes impossible not to notice. The repetition doesn’t feel like a clever constraint; it feels like a line that refused to leave the room.

Still, the track holds together on sound and performance. Kimi Shelter’s vocals remain a stabilizing force here, delivered with enough strength and clarity that the song’s weaker lyrical mechanics don’t derail the listening experience. The album moves on without making a formal apology, which is generally how these things go.

A new era without losing the band’s baseline identity

By the time the album reaches its more synth-committed moments, the shift feels integrated rather than bolted on. The record retains the band’s glam-rock mannerisms—presentation, energy, and vocal attitude—while allowing the instrumentation to modernize in a way that still reads as retro, just in a later decade.

The addition of synths is sometimes treated as controversial in certain rock-minded spaces, but The Beast Goes On treats that debate as background noise. The album uses the synths because they work for these songs, and the band’s underlying skill carries the transition without sounding like they’re trying to convince anyone.

A new drummer is also part of this record’s setup, and the album’s execution remains steady as it moves between its more guitar-driven opening stretch and its more electronic later passages. The sequencing helps the change feel intentional rather than abrupt.

Packaging the message without turning it into a speech

The album’s overall behavior suggests a band that enjoys vintage music—openly, consistently, and without pretending it’s a rare condition—while still wanting the songs to function as their own products rather than reenactments. The record doesn’t abandon the past; it simply stops treating it as the only available room in the house.

A printed rating appears alongside the album in the original presentation of this release: 9/10. On the page, it functions as a clear signal of approval, stated plainly and without complication.

Album artwork

Release and official band link

The Beast Goes On is set for release on February 27 via Sumerian Records.

Starbenders’ official Facebook presence is listed here: https://www.facebook.com/starbenders

Conclusion

The Beast Goes On documents Starbenders moving their glam rock framework into a more synth-present sound, using the track order to ease the transition and keeping the performances consistent across both approaches. The record’s few obvious stumbles are local rather than structural, and the album continues forward with the calm efficiency of a band treating evolution as ordinary maintenance.

Our verdict: focused, stylistically flexible, and very comfortable letting synthesizers do part of the lifting without holding a press conference about it.

FAQ

• When is The Beast Goes On being released?
  It is set for release on February 27.
• What label is releasing The Beast Goes On?
  The album is being released via Sumerian Records.
• How does the album introduce synths into Starbenders’ sound?
  The tracklist starts closer to the band’s earlier glam rock approach and gradually increases the synth presence as the album continues.
• Which songs are described as more synth-forward?
  The more synth-heavy titles noted are “Summon My Heart,” “Tokyo,” “Cold Silver,” and “Forever Mine.”
• Is there any specifically mentioned weak spot in the lyrics?
  Yes. “hello goodbye” repeatedly rhymes “goodbye” with “Valentine,” and the repetition is noticeable.

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