Sylosis – A Sign of Things to Come (Review)

This is the sixth album from UK metal band Sylosis.

Bringing together metalcore, thrash metal, melodic death metal, and a touch of progressive metal into their crunchy, punchy, modern metal framework, Sylosis have been doing good things with the style for many years now. A Sign of Things to Come provides us with a lean 43 minutes of new material, and finds the band on absolute fire.

At this point in their career Sylosis know how to write a good metal tune, but this new material is noticeably more song-focused. A Sign of Things to come is tight and refined in this regard, with abundant hooks and memorability. The songwriting is sharp and engaging, and A Sign of Things to Come is an easy album to enjoy.

The different influences mentioned above come together well into modern metal songs that are heavy, catchy, and well-crafted. Sylosis are adept at writing big, memorable riffs, vocal patterns – harsh and clean – that stick in the brain, and song structures and dynamics that make a mark. If you’re a fan of bands like Trivium, Pantera, Metallica, Lamb of God, Slipknot, etc. then this is a record for you.

A Sign of Things to Come is imbued with a vibrant energy that’s infectious. There’s no filler here, just ten songs of concise heavy music that should pack them in when played live. It’s an instantly appealing package that Sylosis have put together, but it’s enhanced by a depth of songwriting and delivery that’s very moreish. Sylosis have a charisma to them that’s disarming, and a good chunk of this is down to the band’s singer, who puts in a very strong performance across this record.

As far as contemporary heavy music goes, A Sign of Things to Come has a lot of positives to recommend itself. Ultimately it’s the sound of a revitalised band having fun writing stomping metal anthems that are damn good songs.

Very highly recommended.