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Sonic Syndicate - Eden Fire
Release: 2005Label: Pivotal Rockordings
By: Anders
Posted: Feb 19, 2006
A new Swedish band is on the rise, this time in the melodic death metal subgenre, Sonic Syndicate is quite a young band, with the youngest member at the age of 17 and the oldest at 22 years old, so there should be some years ahead of them. They were picked by Pivotal Rockordings, and now the band is ready with their first full length album, which consists of their 2 EPs, reworked and re-recorded and 3 new tracks. The album is divided into 3 parts, the first 'Helix Reign – Chronicles Of A Broken Covenant', which is the new songs. The second 'Extinction – A Sinwar Quadrilogy', which hides the band’s second EP "Extinction" and lastly 'Black Lotus – The Shadow Flora', which is the material from the band's first EP "Black Lotus".
Swedish melodic death metal, a genre that has been rehashed beyond recognition, so I always fear the worst, when I am going to listen to music labelled as that. Though Sonic Syndicate seems like a band that wants to move beyond the ordinary boundaries and create their own niche. The band does of course have a lot of the trademarks, the clean and nice melodic leads, the screamy growl, the clean vocals and heavy breakdowns. Though the band also includes progressive guitar parts, progressive keyboard parts, many breaks and pace-shifts, which works well and spices the music up. The vocals are also varied really well, both the male main vocal, and the backup vocals from the drummer and the female bassist, the last mentioned should in my opinion by allowed to sing some more, she does a really good job, when her voice breaks through the wall of music.
The members of the band seem like good musicians, they are delivering some good technical details and perform their ideas very well. The song-writing skills are also present and Sonic Syndicate can transform their ideas into well-sounding music. Of course we have the usual flaws, as a bit too many parts sounding the same and so forth, though that is quite natural for young bands, trying to find their stance, and it is only on the material from the 2 EPs, I experience that problem. The 3 new tracks are really good, especially 'Enhance My Nightmare', the track that has established itself, as my fave on the album.
Sonic Syndicate could become one of the leading lights of the future, the tendencies they show on this, their first album are very promising. Well performed and executed melodic death metal with progressive tendencies and a lot of good details, this band has the future ahead of them.
Swedish melodic death metal, a genre that has been rehashed beyond recognition, so I always fear the worst, when I am going to listen to music labelled as that. Though Sonic Syndicate seems like a band that wants to move beyond the ordinary boundaries and create their own niche. The band does of course have a lot of the trademarks, the clean and nice melodic leads, the screamy growl, the clean vocals and heavy breakdowns. Though the band also includes progressive guitar parts, progressive keyboard parts, many breaks and pace-shifts, which works well and spices the music up. The vocals are also varied really well, both the male main vocal, and the backup vocals from the drummer and the female bassist, the last mentioned should in my opinion by allowed to sing some more, she does a really good job, when her voice breaks through the wall of music.
The members of the band seem like good musicians, they are delivering some good technical details and perform their ideas very well. The song-writing skills are also present and Sonic Syndicate can transform their ideas into well-sounding music. Of course we have the usual flaws, as a bit too many parts sounding the same and so forth, though that is quite natural for young bands, trying to find their stance, and it is only on the material from the 2 EPs, I experience that problem. The 3 new tracks are really good, especially 'Enhance My Nightmare', the track that has established itself, as my fave on the album.
Sonic Syndicate could become one of the leading lights of the future, the tendencies they show on this, their first album are very promising. Well performed and executed melodic death metal with progressive tendencies and a lot of good details, this band has the future ahead of them.
Rating: 7½/10
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