Synastry – Blind Eyes Bleed
Year of the Sun Records (05/13/08)
Death Metal
Urgency is the key word to describe Synastry’s latest offering. The band definitely has a firm foot in the death metal genre (most notably with the vocals and certain musical elements), but merges that core feel with a more ethereal overall sound. It sort of sounds like a blending of earlier Slipknot and Fear Factory material (circa mid- to late-’90s) fronted by a singer content on channeling the bowels of hell without completely blowing out the vocals (think Obituary on the World Demise album).
Not too many bands are attempting this type of music these days, so it has a nice, fresh feel to it. And being able to vary up the typical death metal attack with synths or sound effects (For example, there’s some nice use of alarms on “As the Dust Settles.”) gives the band this very subtle industrial edge to it’s sound and leads to this multi-layed attack which rarely bores the listener. The band itself has even referred to its music as a combination of the brutality of old-school metal with a futuristic edge.
Very rarely does the band offer up a switch from the down-tuned guitars, chugging riffs, double-bass drumming and monotonous-yet-inspired vocals. “In your Eyes” would be the one sole exception, with guest vocals from Alissa White Gluz (The Agonist) adding this new layer of melody, and the track just kills as a result. You wouldn’t want 13 tracks like this, but a couple more would have offered up a more total package and made “In Your Eyes” seem a little less out of place.
In the end you have a metal album that fills all the cliché adjectives. The songs are crushing and brutal and dark. But it’s also got this nice progressive edge, with the industrial hint and “futuristic” synth work. It might not be totally original, but Synastry is combining all of these elements with this air of urgency in a way few others are doing these days. And that leads to a pretty solid album.
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