It’s been a long time since we last covered Sylosis. Not through any loss of interest on our part, you understand but rather because the site is so inundated, things slip through the cracks. It is, however, fortuitous that this is the moment we have reconnected with Sylosis for, put simply, The New Flesh is an absolute monster of an album.
The album, their seventh, opens with the pummelling Beneath The Surface, which lands with all the force of a sledgehammer to the cranium. With nods to the likes of Pantera, Lamb of God, and Machine Head, it finds the Sylosis boys on fine form and, for those seeking an instantly engaging blast of metal with a strong, neck-snapping groove to it, Beneath the Surface is just the thing. The band hardly let up on Erased, which finds Sylosis quickening the pace as Josh Middleton informs us, “if you think this is overwhelming, wait and see what’s to come”, which, in this context, emerges more as a promise than a threat.
If the opening one-two punch is all about grabbing the listener by the throat, the ferocious All Glory, No Valour is all about beating them into submission, the band delivering an unhinged outpouring worthy of New American Gospel. With its gang chant chorus and seriously chunky riffs, All Glory, No Valour is a sinus cleansing dose of punk-infused metal that will absolutely slay when the band play it live. It’s followed by the atmospheric Lacerations, which finds the band introducing a little light amidst the shade. Don’t be fooled, however. The eerie opening soon gives way to a riff of monolithic proportions and Sylosis are off again, Ali Richardson’s drums reducing the listener to so much pulp. With a welcome touch of melody on the chorus, it’s a nuanced track that only serves to make the ferocious cuts that surround it all the more effective at rearranging the listener’s nerve endings.
Shifting gears once again, Mirror Mirror has a nu-metal pulse that nods to mid-period Fear Factory, the hefty groove custom designed to get heads banging from the very front of the pit to the very back. It’s a cool track but it pales in comparison to Spared From The Guillotine. With Ali’s drums pounding the ground ahead of the guitar driven advance, it combines elements of Sepultura and Pantera to devastating effect.
Its cinematic introduction notwithstanding, Adorn My Throne sees Sylosis slipping into melo-death territory, nodding to more recent offerings by In Flames and their ilk. It’s another sign of the diversity of Sylosis’ influences that they can roam, seemingly at will, across the vast realm of heavy metal, without any element sounding out of place. As if to prove the point, the title track finds the band dabbling in industrial tinged metal, the swingeing riff initially set at a walking pace (a technique beloved of Rammstein), before Ali drives the band into thrashier pastures. Given its predecessor’s palpable fury, Everywhere At Once comes as all the greater surprise. An emotionally charged power-balled with acoustic guitars, clean vocals, and a powerful central melody that haunts long after the track has concluded, it’s the necessary moment of heartfelt calm at the heart of this metallic storm.
Built around a riff so potent it draws blood, Circle Of Swords provides the emotional release after Everywhere At Once’s slow-burning tension. A dark, sludgy monster of a track, it paves the way for the tightly coiled, multifaceted album closer, Seeds In The River. With savage riffs, brief moments of calm, and unyielding melodies, it wraps things up nicely, leaving the listener in no doubt that they have spent the past hour in the presence of greatness.
A brilliantly diverse modern metal album, The New Flesh finds a reinvigorated Sylosis roaming roughshod over metal’s sonic terrain and turning up trumps time and again. From the face-melting riffs of the opening numbers to the moments of beauty found on tracks like Everywhere at Once and Seeds In The River, Sylosis never once put a foot wrong and the resulting album is a testament to the band’s enduring passion for the genre. Very likely one of the records of the year, The New Flesh is an absolute monster. 9/10
