Tag Archives: Sonic Syndicate

Death Valley High Line Up West Coast, European Tour Dates

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Death Valley High, the Bay Area band combining influences from Rock, to New Wave, hardcore punk, and Goth metal have announced a spate of warmup gigs on the West Coast of the US supporting Limnus. The band is usingthese dates as a launching pad for their October tour of Central and Western Europe with Sonic Syndicate, followed by UK dates with Trapt. The band was recently seen opening a tour for Crosses (†††). The band continues to tour behind their Positive Euth album (Minus Head).

 

 

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From The Press Release:

Bay Area alt rockers Death Valley High will be doing a brief warm up run of West Coast dates supporting Limnus in early October, prior to their upcoming tours supporting Sonic Syndicate (in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Czech Republic) in October, and UK tour supporting Trapt in November.

The tour dates are as follows:

With Limnus:

Oct 04: Kremwerk – Seattle, WA

Oct 05: Club 66 – Ashland, OR

Oct 06: Leo’s – Oakland, CA

Oct 07: Blue Lamp – Sacramento, CA

Supporting Sonic Syndicate:

October 11: Sputnikhalle – Munster (Germany)

October 12: Underground – Koln (Germany)

October 14: Colos-Saal – Aschaffenburg (Germany)

October 15: Hirsch – Nurnburg (Germany)

October 16: Pontem – Herisau (Switzerland)

October 17: Backstage – Munich (Germany)

October 18: Live Factory – Adelshelm (Germany)

October 20: Viper Room – Wien (Austria)

October 21: Nova Chmelnice – Prague (Czech Republic)

October 22: SO36 – Berlin (Germany)

October 23: Universum – Stuttgart (Germany)

October 24: Matrix – Bochum (Germany)

October 25: Pumpe – Kiel (Germany)

Supporting Trapt:

Nov 16: Cavern – Exeter, UK

Nov 17: Static Bar – Swansea, UK

Nov 18: The Borderline – London, UK

Nov 19: The Live Rooms – Chester, UK

Nov 20: Audio – Glasgow, UK

Nov 21: Queens Hall – Nuneaton, UK

Nov 22: Rafters – Maidstone, UK

Nov 23: The Exchange – Bristol, UK

Positive Euth was co-produced and recorded by band vocalist/guitarist Reyka Osburn and Jesse Nichols (The Stoogs, Ty Segall) at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA, mixed by Eric Stenman (Deftones, Thrice, AWOLNATION) at Red Bull Studios in Los Angeles, CA, and mastered by Brian Gardner (Queens of the Stone Age, Dr. Dre) at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Los Angeles, CA.

Watch the video for ‘How2Kill’ – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7ECK7L6FJ0

 

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Sonic Syndicate – Sonic Syndicate

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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

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ROSS BAKER

 


Mercenary – Through Our Darkest Days

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Mercenary 1In recent years, Danish metallers Mercenary have gone through the all too common challenge of pulling through a vast and significant change in the ranks, changing half of their line-up and following with a slight shift in their sound, with 2011’s Metamorphosis sounding significantly upbeat than previously. Away from the Century Media label they resided with for a long time, their latest album sees them now with Prosthetic Records, and surely hoping for an album to rebuild their momentum. Continue reading →