Interview by Stephen Pedicino
Intertwining aggressiveness and melody, Conclusion of an Age (Nuclear Blast) by the UK's Sylosis is solid thrash metal album debut. Guitarist Josh Middleton elaborates on the band's evolution and upcoming plans.
Stephen: Sylosis formed in the UK in 2000, but it wasn’t until 2006 that your first EP was distributed. How have you evolved over time and what has allowed you to get to where you are today?
Josh: In the first 5 or 6 years of being a band we were really young, there wasn't much of an underground scene in the UK so we rarely played and never toured, but we still practiced every week. I guess we'd do like one or two shows a month on average, but probably less. Musically we've progressed loads and tried mixing in elements of bands we're into and we've only finally started to hone it down. We're into so many metal bands that if we literally tried to sound like all of them it'd be an in-cohesive mess. Now we've figured out how to disguise some of our diverse influences a bit more.
Stephen: How did your deal with Nuclear Blast come about?
Josh: We were on a headline tour around November 2007 and we randomly got an email from them just saying they'd like to work with us. It was very direct and we ended up signing with them soon after.
Stephen: Does the name Sylosis have any particular meaning?
Josh: No, the band name was just something we randomly came up with when we were kids and it doesn't carry any significance. We changed the spelling and adapted a different word ourselves so no-ones found out what it means yet. We don't see band names as important though, take Metallica for instance.
Stephen: I understand the main concept of Conclusion of an Age deals with the end of humanity. How much longer do you think the human race has? What is the main thing we can do to preserve life as much as possible?
Josh: That's mainly just the theme for the title track but the album does have an apocalyptic theme going throughout it. I think something is bound to happen to the human race at some point. Another ice age or a nuclear war or something. Who knows, ha.
Stephen: Looking at your list of influences, I noticed that it was predominantly comprised of North American bands. In general, would you guys claim to prefer the American or European metal scene? And what would you say is the biggest difference between the two?
Josh: I guess we're mostly inspired by American bands. All the classic bay area thrash bands or some of the floridian early death metal stuff...or even Sepultura from Brazil.
I don't really see the UK as being part of the European scene as we've not really got much of a big metal output I guess - aside from the old classic NWOBHM stuff. I guess European metal compared to the US stuff is more melodic and epic which I think is an influence on us.
Stephen: If you had to choose a genre or subgenre to describe Sylosis, what would it be?
Josh: Thrash metal. We don't claim to be strictly thrash but as I said we're influenced by all types of metal. Magazines and websites need ways to label a band to give their readers an easier description and I think thrash is what we're mostly inspired by.
Stephen: Can you see Sylosis expanding the use of the keyboard for future albums?
Josh: No, I don't think so. We didn't use any keyboards on any of our stuff. Most of the ambience you hear in our stuff is made from guitar effects. I think one song has some programmed orchestra strings and one song has a piano part at the end but neither used keyboards. We like more organic sounds really so it's not really our thing.
Stephen: I couldn’t help but notice the Dragonforce-like solos on “After Lifeless Years.” Is the resemblance incidental or do you take a slight influence from the guitar work of Herman Li or Totman?
Josh: No, not at all. My favorite guitarists are players like Dimebag, James Murphy, Peter Wichers, Erik Rutan, Ron Jarzombek and Tony Macalpine etc. We're only really inspired by late 80's or early 90's metal - I don't tend to listen to much modern music at all haha. I guess people into mainstream metal wouldn't have heard of some of the bands we're inspired by with technical guitar playing like Atheist, Necrophagist or Testament so I guess it will be any obvious comparison but I wouldn't say we sounded like them, personally.
Stephen: Are there any touring plans in the near future?
Josh: Yeh, we're gonna try and tour as much as possible. We've just finished a month long European tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, Cephalic Carnage and Psycroptic which was awesome - the best tour we've done. We've got a bunch of festivals lined up for summer and hopefully we'll get out to the states a few times before the end of the year. We've got a show with Testament next week which should be awesome.
Stephen: The U.S. is in the midst of an economic crisis right now. Has this affected you in the UK and around Europe? How do you think it may affect touring and merchandise sales in the U.S. and beyond?
Josh: I think the UK is the same as the US in terms of the credit crunch hitting everywhere really. It hasn't really affected us directly and on the European tour we sold more merch at shows than we ever have. It could be pretty hard for us touring the US I guess - we've not been out there yet so hopefully we can find out soon.
Stephen: Is there anything else you would like to talk about?
Josh: Erm not really. Thanks for the interview. I guess we'd just like people to pick up a copy of the album. If you're into metal in general there's bound to be something on there you'll dig. We've already got started writing the second album so we can't wait to get back in the studio after touring.
Stephen: Thank you very much for your time and keep up the good work!
Josh: Thank you! Really appreciate it. Take care.