I really didn’t like the last Sonic Syndicate album. I really tried when it arrived in suitably eye-popping artwork, but they were just too damned slick for my tastes. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt that way because former SS member Richard Sjunnesson left the band after claiming that they were unable to play decent music and the result (featuring another ex SS member, Roland Johansson on vocals as well as current SS guitarist Roger Sjunnesson) is The Unguided, who leap into action with this two-track EP of searing metal packaged in the most imaginative digi-pack I have ever seen.
Opening with the Machine-Head-duelling-with-Children-of -‘Green eyed demon’ certainly suggests that the Unguided are hell-bent on taking a more abrasive stance. Multiple vocals fly through the mix and if the brothers Sjunnesson can’t resist a melodic chorus, well it’s so well integrated that you can hardly blame them. As for the rest of the track it’s chugging guitars, maxxed out drums and a sense of vitality that Sonic Syndicate, to these ears, entirely lack. With production set to blistering and a melody that is memorable without feeling the need to grind itself against you, it’s a grand introduction to the band and promises great things of the full-length album promised later in the year.
Further informing those Children of Bodom comparisons the dancing keyboard of ‘Pathfinder’ only just sweetens the unrelenting violence of the verse without compromising the essential aggression and the vocals are, once again, top notch. Meanwhile the melodic chorus provides the sort of hook that could snare a whale yet manages to stay on the right side of what rocks and what sounds cheesy. It’s short, violent and utterly too the point and if the album turns out to be as focused then it will be a fine beast indeed.
The whole thing ends after a mere nine minutes, which makes it hard to accurately judge how good The unguided are likely to be, but on the strength of these two songs it’s certainly fair to say that they have potential to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with melodic metal titans in Flames without feeling like the smaller brother. Throw in the awesome pop-up packaging and the fact that the EP is a limited run and you have a desirable and hard-rocking EP that is well worth your time.
