Review Summary: British hopefuls return only a year later with another stunning album but steering it in a slightly different direction.
So let’s get one thing out of the way to begin with, I’m a massive Sylosis fan they have proved to be a jewel in the British metal crown. I have a basic checklist for any good metal band first and foremost tasty riffs to head-bang to, secondly songs that you remember many years down the line and last on the list they need to be as good live as they are on the album. Now this band delivers them in spades and this is a massively clichéd saying but they have matured even more on album number three if that is even possible.
Upon first hearing ‘Conclusion of an age’ a few years ago I knew these guys were doing something different, mixing genres now I know some ocd type people aren’t too keen on this but these guys nailed it with their precise playing and original lyrics. The only thing I found that held their debut back was Jamie’s vocals in places sometimes they grated a bit but this is only a minor thing and not massively important. Second album blew me away I could go on forever about ‘Edge of the Earth’ but I’m not let’s just say I think I wore the CD down from so much playing.
With third album ‘Monolith’ the guys from Reading have a doom and gloom vibe throughout the 72 minutes runtime. Don’t get me wrong this is still most definitely a Sylosis album with tons of melodic moments to admire something they have always been great at. A perfect example of this would be the epic first song ‘Out From Below’ some may think at first that the band have lost their heavy side but then the thrash riffs and kick-ass drumming come into play in a similar vein to last year’s opener ‘Procession’ well played lads it definitely got my attention immediately even if the rest of the album took a while to grow on me.
I beg of you to stick at it because it’s well worth the listen and your hard earned cash. The rest of the album has a brilliant mix of thrash classics such as ‘Paradox’ and ‘A Dying Vine’ and some more progressive moments such as closing song ‘Enshrined’. As always the death metal style screams of front-man Josh Middleton are abundant but well suited to the style of music. There’s even some cleaner vocal moments perfectly spaced out and Josh does a great job at injecting all his emotion into these bits.
Overall this is a very satisfying and atmospheric piece of thrash/death metal with some of the most complex songs these boys have ever written. While it’s hard for me to say if this is their best album to date it’s certainly the most mature (sorry about the cliché) in the discography and the producer Romesh Dodangoda certainly needs a round of applause as the quality is brilliant. I can only hope that Sylosis keep going from strength to strength and this is one happy fan, catch them live as it’s an experience your not likely to forget anytime soon.
