Sylosis – Dormant Heart (2015)

Helping us ring the New Year, Josh Middleton and Sylosis return with their very interesting blend of Melodic Death Metal with Thrash elements on “Dormant Heart”. Featuring 12 songs that have a darker edge than the band’s previous works, this UK outfit delivers one of their finest releases to date.

Opening with the melodic “Where the wolves Come to Die”, the band really steps its game with the crushing “Victims and Pawn”. Both initial tracks are filled with the traditional Sylosis-styled barrage of riffs and harsh vocals. The band’s signature sound is further developed with a mellower tempo and a certain darker vibe in tracks like the imposing “Dormant Heart” and the breakout single “Leech”.

Headbanging anthems “To Build A Tomb” and “Overthrown” have some slight Deathcore/Modern Death Metal influences making them quite engaging and interesting to hear coming from Sylosis. Other pieces perfectly move from crunchy Death Metal riffs to more Death-esque technical passages like on the excellent “Servitude”. Our favorite passage of this album is the trio of epic tunes: “Indoctrinated”, “Harm” and “Mercy”, where the band delivers pummeling melodic sections.

As we come to a close with the melancholic “Quiescent”, we can easily hear how Sylosis has been evolving over the years and that they are not afraid to keep experimenting with their sound. The band has a very unique and punishing sound that only keeps getting more refined and intricate over the years, of you like the band’s previous efforts with “Monolith” and “Edge of The Earth”, you will love “Dormant Heart” and its nearly 60 minutes of crushing music.

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: January 13th, 2015

Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal

Country: UK