Albums

Album Review: Sylosis

[Album: Conclusion Of An Age]
[Label: Nuclear Blast]

When I heard Sylosis had signed for Nuclear Blast so soon after releasing their mini-album ‘The Supreme Oppressor‘ (Feb 2008) on the In At The Deep End label I was expecting at least a 2009 release date to get their shit together. Consequently, I actually approached this new album, then, with some trepidation expecting to find corners cut and their music all too similar in its construction and delivery. I was wrong. They’ve taken things to the next level.

Sylosis have always been a progressive band, willing to incorporate many different sounds and genres into that old-school thrash template. There is something of everything in here. Machine-gun drumming, a whirlwind of shreds exploding out into escalating riffs, a deftness of touch with the sweeping melodics in progressive dropouts and intros, a sly spot of rocking out, and inevitably a deluge of aggression to outweigh everything else. What I didn’t expect to find is so much of the band’s softer, emotion-streaked vocal. It’s jarring in places but in others it really belongs.

The theme and, ergo, the lyrics tap into the hot topic of climate change and describe the ongoing battle between man and Mother nature. This is immediately apparent with the opening minute-long stormy wash of ‘Desolate Seas’. Some may argue that giving this “intro” it’s own space on the album is a little pedantic (a trick borrowed from their mini-album’s title-track) especially when the chords are mimicked on the following track, ‘After Lifeless Years’. Here, the rapido double-kick team up with fissioning guitar chords which rumble along before flowering out into top-end solos. Already, that “emo” vocal is off dominating it’s own section within the whole complex structure.

‘Transendence’ is definitely made weaker for it’s repeating and desperate whine of “it won’t be long“. All around it, the track buzzes and jumps like a wasp in a bottle but it’s just a bit too radio-friendly for this brute of an album and criminally slinks to a fade, left unfinished. Following that ‘Reflections Through Fire’ crushes out shredded sequences of singing strings like a bizarre Trivium-Amon Amarth hybrid. It all leads nicely into the hanging guitar spot and drum-dominated title-track monster.

Considering the album as a whole, Sylosis haven’t left much to chance. They will appeal across the board with so many different genres incorporated. They even do it all in one song, ‘Swallow The World’. You’ve got the soft rock intro, quality progressive elements, the crushing low-end thrash drive, the power metal sweeps and even a section of death vocal ear-battery. ‘Teras’ is one I shall never tire of with it’s Torture Squad-esque hammer-down thrash, whilst ‘Last Remaining Light’ is quite a contrast with it’s languid and melodic loping guitar parts. It’s here that their set-up on the solo becomes most noticably reminiscent of Metallica’s in that it has a clean tone with a slight delay applied, delivered in dancing sequences of rise and fall.

Sylosis are currently the band who their peers should be taking note of. They have been handed an opportunity to impress with the highly influential Nuclear Blast label and have done so on every level. There are, naturally, a few imperfections but ‘Conclusion Of An Age’ will certainly give them one hefty boot into the limelight. This is the final proof that they are one of the UK’s brightest and innovative metal talents today. Cherish them.

For Fans Of: Architects, Malefice, Torture Squad

Band Link:
Sylosis

Shop:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

HMV

Bookmark to:

Previous & Next