SYLOSIS

Three years ago, SYLOSIS released the most radical album of their careers to date. 2023's "A Sign Of Things To Come" did not deviate too wildly from the modern thrash formula that had served the band so well until that point, but it did herald one significant change. Where previous albums had occasionally become bogged down by a surfeit of riffs, this one was structurally ruthless. Shorter, snappier songs were the order of the day, and SYLOSIS mastermind Josh Middleton met the moment by writing his most effective and impactful tunes yet. With a renewed passion for his main band, following his departure from the arena-bothering ARCHITECTS, he had clearly fallen back in love with balls-out, aggressive metal, and "A Sign Of Things To Come" was a new manifesto: lean, mean and meticulous. The following year's "The Path" EP cemented the directional shift, but it is "The New Flesh" that will truly consolidate Middleton's refreshed perspective. Monstrously heavy and stuffed to the gills with pit-ready anthems, the seventh SYLOSIS album is almost embarrassingly good.

There was a time when SYLOSIS records were endurance tests, albeit with plenty of their own charm. 2011's "Edge of the Earth" was 72 minutes long, and even though Middleton kept a degree of quality control over his songwriting, there was little doubt that some judicious editing could have made the end result a lot more potent. 15 years have since passed, and "The New Flesh" confirms that lessons have been learned. Aside from the obvious fact that these songs are all manifestly superior to anything on earlier releases, this is an album with a beginning, middle and end, with no self-indulgent riff marathons to bulk out the material. 48 minutes of ferocious modern metal should be more than enough to keep most people happy, and SYLOSIS have taken to their amended task with laudable intensity, writing songs that deliver brutality, melody and technical excellence in equal amounts. A magnificently precise and punchy production ensures that every one of these riot-starting singalongs hits the target with maximum bite, and as with its predecessor, SYLOSIS waste precisely zero seconds on needless complexity. This record is streamlined, forceful, brimming with confidence, and disarmingly accessible too.

It starts with a bang. "Beneath The Surface" is a monstrous opener that takes off at blistering speed, grooves with immense authority, and delivers a chorus that detonates like a grenade. The riffs are uniformly great, the hooks are low-key but lethal, and Middleton's voice — which has grown in strength and stature over the last few years — is more commanding than ever before. On a primitive, knucklehead level, this is as close to modern metal perfection as it gets, while also demonstrating the wisdom and sophistication of this band's songwriting. There is no flab, no unnecessary stockpiling of riffs, and no compromise. SYLOSIS sound dangerous and destructive, and the only sane response is to smash your way into the pit and lose your fucking mind.

Almost every other song here hits the same sweet spot between snarling savagery and razor-sharp penmanship. "Erased" offers a brooding, mid-paced upgrade for metalcore's latent pop sensibilities with all of that genre's flaws neatly excised and replaced with muscularity and grit; "All Glory, No Valour" is spiteful, steroidal thrash with a lust for violence; "Lacerations" is darkly melodic but imbued with a death metal-like sense of gnarly grandeur; and "Mirror Mirror" marries huge, chunky riffs with eerie, quasi-futuristic atmospheres and the faint sound of Middleton's temple veins bursting in fury. Halfway through "The New Flesh", SYLOSIS have already delivered five of their best ever songs, and the momentum driving the whole thing is unmistakable and impossible to resist.

Satisfyingly, it continues. Another vicious elbow to the eye socket, "Spared From The Guillotine" is borderline psychotic and up to its neck in riffs 'n' shred; "Adorn My Throne" is woozily cinematic and pointedly melo-death-adjacent, but thrillingly direct and catchy, with riffs that will dislodge teeth and shatter spines; and "The New Flesh" itself is a runaway bulldozer with strong Bay Area undercurrents and a miraculous performance from drummer Ali Richardson. The album ends with "Circle Of Swords" and "Seeds In The River" — two more utterly ripping songs that bolster the claim that this is the best SYLOSIS record to date — and a lingering sense that Middleton is maturing into a musician and songwriter of great distinction. And yes, there is a big, overblown ballad, "Everywhere At Once", which may prove to be controversial among the unimaginative, but which is arguably the defining moment that hammers home the unstoppable efficacy of this lineup. A genuinely touching study of how a musician's life brings its own emotional trials, it strikes the perfect balance between softness and severity, and Middleton's show-stopping vocal is a humble, heartfelt triumph.

SYLOSIS have been one of the UK's finest metal bands for a long time, but it is only in recent times that they have begun to demonstrate how far ahead of their peers they are. "The New Flesh" is the pinnacle of their story so far, and an impressive raising of the stakes for anyone brave enough to follow in their wake.