Underoath – Erase Me


Underoath’s history has been a roller coaster of emotions and lineup changes. They were one of the most recognizable names in the Metalcore scene in the 2000s. Even without putting out new material, fans still showed up for the Florida natives who did reunion shows and tours in those eight barren years—indulging in the Christian Metalcore they are known for. Rumors have been roaming the web for a while about new material and in February the band teased a sample on their social media pages until unveiling the release of Erase Me (Fearless) Continue reading


Die So Fluid – One Bullet from Paradise


Starting out life as alternative rockers Feline in 1995, renaming as Ultraviolet after getting dropped by EMI in 1998, and finally forming as a heavier outfit in 2000, we have Die So Fluid. Fusing alternative rock and metal together towards one melancholic whole, Die So Fluid’s latest studio album One Bullet From Paradise (Strataville) is their fifth and comes after a traumatic time for the three-piece. Drummer Al Fletcher passed away two years ago after contracting pneumonia followed by sepsis, Georgina ‘Grog’ Lisee (vocals and bass) and Drew Richards (guitar) decided to soldier on with the help of Justin Bennett on drums. Continue reading


Terror Universal – Make Them Bleed


Before you listen to Terror Universal’s Make Them Bleed (Minus Head) make sure to take a good look at the album for a minute or two. Approach this experiment as a Heavy Metal Rorschach test. What do you see? How does it make you feel? I see four blokes that look like they walked off the set of Max Landis’ latest “masterwork” Bright. Then I hopped on the Wayback Machine and was transported to the wild west that was the nu-metal years. Continue reading


Sonic Syndicate – Sonic Syndicate


sonissyndicatecd2014

 

Firmly embedded in the melodic metal camp rubbing shoulders with the likes of All That Remains and Soilwork, Sonic Syndicate have built a career banging out derivative pap which callously lifts ideas from the leading lights of the genre. Opener ‘Day Of The Dead’ sum’s this up perfectly with its overly familiar heavy verse/melodic chorus approach. It’s that tried and tested “scream for the guys, sing for the girls” mantra which has allowed so much dross to masquerade as decent metal in the post-Killswitch Engage era.

 

Previous platter, 2010’s shambolic We Rule The Night was a step too far for many fans, abandoning the heavier elements for soulless sounds drenched in synthesisers and bad Nu Metal riffs. This fifth opus shows the Swedes trying desperately to claw back some credibility but they do so by aping their influences in so earnest a manner. Sonic Syndicate (Nuclear Blast) is at once a highly calculated release which is delivered in a lackadaisical “will this do?” fashion.

“I crave you but I fuckin’ hate you too” Nathan J. Biggs whines insincerely on the sickly sweet opener. Harking back to the “woe is me” self-pitying crap that should be left back in the 90s, such trite lyrics make Biggs sound like a frustrated school boy and only further diminish the quality of the songwriting.

 

An exception to this rule is ‘Before You Finally Break’ which greatly benefits from the appearance of Soilwork front man Björn “Speed” Strid although you have to wonder if he was tricked into thinking he was contributing to a session for his own band considering how much SS take from Strid’s crew.

 

Even more unpalatable is semi-ballad ‘So Addicted’, a dull as ditch-water slice of radio metal which begs to be accepted when a good clean headshot would put this lame duck out of its misery.

 

Failing miserably to recapture the aggression of their earlier works Sonic Syndicate is a cynical album full of weak, saccharine radio-rock which they attempt to bolster with generic Metalcore breakdowns and harsh vocals and is a deeply unsatisfying listening experience which will quickly be forgotten.

 

3.0/10.0

Sonic Syndicate on Facebook

 

ROSS BAKER