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
ROSS BAKER
