Review by Greg on December 5, 2023.

A new millennium staple of UK thrash, Sylosis have however always eluded my radar, not least for their prominent metalcore/groovy tendencies. The band's latest effort, A Sign Of Things To Come, offers me another chance to evaluate their repertoire, and hopefully to see them join my personal pantheon of modern UK bands along with Evile, Shrapnel, possibly Acid Age, and the sadly short-lived Mutant, among others. Who knows?

Well, unsurprisingly enough, I still find their style missing something, in order to be truly impressive. I'm not even complaining about a lack of thrashing, mind you, since, as said before, it isn't Sylosis main genre first and foremost (even if, judging by a passing listen to the predecessor Cycle Of Suffering, it seems they somewhat slowed down and softened a bit if compared to the past). I wouldn't define opener 'Deadwood', to say, as bad, despite being almost totally groovy. It's because it embodies the part of the band's sound that strikes a chord with me the most – the visceral, almost unfiltered anger, where the modern (but massive, instead of sterile) production is a perfect match, and ditto for Josh Middleton's commanding vocals. 'Deadwood' is indeed a perfect, furious opener for this kind of album, and when the band happens to upgrade the recipe with some modern thrashing ('Pariahs', 'Poison For The Lost'), I think it's safe to say they find the best balance, especially when a rare melodic section ('A Godless Throne') shows up. Those tracks mentioned are extremely satisfying and a full album of this kind of stuff would really be appreciated by yours truly.

And so the problem arises, when comparing all of this to the more hollow, empty numbers like 'Descent' or 'Thorns'... the contrast is evident. This is where the least convincing metalcore elements shine, like the misplaced inoffensive refrains, or the unimaginative solo in the latter which might as well have been left out altogether. And don't even get me started on 'Absent'... I feared the worst when I heard it starting out as a ballad, and lo, they manage to ruin it in the worst way possible. I concede it wasn't even half bad, and I didn't even mind Middleton's David Draiman-like inflection in the clean parts, until they tried re-elaborating it with a heavier character in its second part, where the unpleasant, coarse vocals also stick out like a sore thumb. Easily the unfortunate nadir of the album.

Even then, A Sign Of Things To Come as a whole didn't manage to change my mind about Sylosis. After an overall solid first half, the band didn't give me the impression they nailed all the choices they've made throughout the tracklist. But I do not regret having listened to it either... well, save for the second half of 'Absent', that is.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Greg on December 5, 2023.

A new millennium staple of UK thrash, Sylosis have however always eluded my radar, not least for their prominent metalcore/groovy tendencies. The band's latest effort, A Sign Of Things To Come, offers me another chance to evaluate their repertoire, and hopefully to see them join my personal pantheon of modern UK bands along with Evile, Shrapnel, possibly Acid Age, and the sadly short-lived Mutant, among others. Who knows?

Well, unsurprisingly enough, I still find their style missing something, in order to be truly impressive. I'm not even complaining about a lack of thrashing, mind you, since, as said before, it isn't Sylosis main genre first and foremost (even if, judging by a passing listen to the predecessor Cycle Of Suffering, it seems they somewhat slowed down and softened a bit if compared to the past). I wouldn't define opener 'Deadwood', to say, as bad, despite being almost totally groovy. It's because it embodies the part of the band's sound that strikes a chord with me the most – the visceral, almost unfiltered anger, where the modern (but massive, instead of sterile) production is a perfect match, and ditto for Josh Middleton's commanding vocals. 'Deadwood' is indeed a perfect, furious opener for this kind of album, and when the band happens to upgrade the recipe with some modern thrashing ('Pariahs', 'Poison For The Lost'), I think it's safe to say they find the best balance, especially when a rare melodic section ('A Godless Throne') shows up. Those tracks mentioned are extremely satisfying and a full album of this kind of stuff would really be appreciated by yours truly.

And so the problem arises, when comparing all of this to the more hollow, empty numbers like 'Descent' or 'Thorns'... the contrast is evident. This is where the least convincing metalcore elements shine, like the misplaced inoffensive refrains, or the unimaginative solo in the latter which might as well have been left out altogether. And don't even get me started on 'Absent'... I feared the worst when I heard it starting out as a ballad, and lo, they manage to ruin it in the worst way possible. I concede it wasn't even half bad, and I didn't even mind Middleton's David Draiman-like inflection in the clean parts, until they tried re-elaborating it with a heavier character in its second part, where the unpleasant, coarse vocals also stick out like a sore thumb. Easily the unfortunate nadir of the album.

Even then, A Sign Of Things To Come as a whole didn't manage to change my mind about Sylosis. After an overall solid first half, the band didn't give me the impression they nailed all the choices they've made throughout the tracklist. But I do not regret having listened to it either... well, save for the second half of 'Absent', that is.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on November 10, 2024.

Really? More grinding noise from the Czech Republic, you say? No surprise, really, it seems that around the turn of the century, the country had a veritable infestation of death/grind bands going, so let's see what this particular group of ruffians has to shovel onto our plate.

Musically, this isn't exactly easy listening. You can situate Perversist somewhere on the crossroads of brutal death metal and grindcore, borrowing elements of both styles to create a vicious form of death/grind, with an added technical edge to it. Imagine the sounds of bands like Sinister, Defiled, old Cryptopsy, and Deranged, but spliced up with a few handfuls of crude grindcore in the vein of Agathocles, Blood, and Assück. The band goes at it in a pretty rabid fashion, simply bombarding the listener with busy riffing, fortified with that already mentioned technical edge, delivered with intricate execution and a generous helping of tempo changes, served up with heaving amounts of speed and stomp. It's a brutal package indeed, and also one that will take some spins to get to the bottom of it all. Throughout, the band shoves a rough mix of the usuals through our throats, dishing out burping grunts and deliciously heavy guitar work all around, but that's not all. When that 'heard it before' feeling starts creeping up, the band throws in some twangy, undistorted surf guitars into the mixture, and not once or twice, but quite regularly. It's an odd combo that does alleviate the thundering death/grind somewhat, it certainly adds some form of variation to the mix. That towards the end of the album there is a cover of the surf classic "Misirlou" which makes it abundantly clear that those surf influences are no coincidence either. Does this work in the total picture? Let's just say that the jury may still be out on that one. It's original, I'll give them that, but am I really holding my breath for surf-inspired death/grind? Not really.

Something I'm also not holding any breath for but that gets plowed into my ears anyway, is a drummer that sounds like he's recording his parts using plastic buckets for toms and a cookie tin for a snare. This does not only sound shit, the percussion also picks up a very messy and sloppy edge because of it. And to add the final insult, this rubbery-sounding drum mix also pushes the guitars into the background in the more velocitous sections, and there are a lot of those, so it's not difficult to imagine that the production gets pretty chaotic and messy throughout. Damn sure that this is a bloody shame, because some of this album's strongest points are the meaty guitars and roaring vocals, and it is exactly these elements that get undercut most by the half-assed drum sound, so a big chunk of Perversist's power just goes out of the window because of it. Good thing that the music and execution are still very much on point, something that definitely spares the album from becoming a total disaster.

Had the production been more attentive to the percussion and its overall sound, then "Machine Grind Surgery" would've been a total hammer, but because of this huge flaw, it gets severely undercut. More attention to the final mix would've worked wonders here, because Perversist certainly has the chops and the material to pull off this style of technically inclined grinding death metal, even despite the odd surf guitar that pops up during the runtime of this album. Musically, this is no bad effort for the most part, but because the finishing touch is so severely lacking, Perversist's second album gets bogged down in the murk, without much hope for a reprieve from obscurity.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on November 10, 2024.

Really? More grinding noise from the Czech Republic, you say? No surprise, really, it seems that around the turn of the century, the country had a veritable infestation of death/grind bands going, so let's see what this particular group of ruffians has to shovel onto our plate.

Musically, this isn't exactly easy listening. You can situate Perversist somewhere on the crossroads of brutal death metal and grindcore, borrowing elements of both styles to create a vicious form of death/grind, with an added technical edge to it. Imagine the sounds of bands like Sinister, Defiled, old Cryptopsy, and Deranged, but spliced up with a few handfuls of crude grindcore in the vein of Agathocles, Blood, and Assück. The band goes at it in a pretty rabid fashion, simply bombarding the listener with busy riffing, fortified with that already mentioned technical edge, delivered with intricate execution and a generous helping of tempo changes, served up with heaving amounts of speed and stomp. It's a brutal package indeed, and also one that will take some spins to get to the bottom of it all. Throughout, the band shoves a rough mix of the usuals through our throats, dishing out burping grunts and deliciously heavy guitar work all around, but that's not all. When that 'heard it before' feeling starts creeping up, the band throws in some twangy, undistorted surf guitars into the mixture, and not once or twice, but quite regularly. It's an odd combo that does alleviate the thundering death/grind somewhat, it certainly adds some form of variation to the mix. That towards the end of the album there is a cover of the surf classic "Misirlou" which makes it abundantly clear that those surf influences are no coincidence either. Does this work in the total picture? Let's just say that the jury may still be out on that one. It's original, I'll give them that, but am I really holding my breath for surf-inspired death/grind? Not really.

Something I'm also not holding any breath for but that gets plowed into my ears anyway, is a drummer that sounds like he's recording his parts using plastic buckets for toms and a cookie tin for a snare. This does not only sound shit, the percussion also picks up a very messy and sloppy edge because of it. And to add the final insult, this rubbery-sounding drum mix also pushes the guitars into the background in the more velocitous sections, and there are a lot of those, so it's not difficult to imagine that the production gets pretty chaotic and messy throughout. Damn sure that this is a bloody shame, because some of this album's strongest points are the meaty guitars and roaring vocals, and it is exactly these elements that get undercut most by the half-assed drum sound, so a big chunk of Perversist's power just goes out of the window because of it. Good thing that the music and execution are still very much on point, something that definitely spares the album from becoming a total disaster.

Had the production been more attentive to the percussion and its overall sound, then "Machine Grind Surgery" would've been a total hammer, but because of this huge flaw, it gets severely undercut. More attention to the final mix would've worked wonders here, because Perversist certainly has the chops and the material to pull off this style of technically inclined grinding death metal, even despite the odd surf guitar that pops up during the runtime of this album. Musically, this is no bad effort for the most part, but because the finishing touch is so severely lacking, Perversist's second album gets bogged down in the murk, without much hope for a reprieve from obscurity.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Emma on October 6, 2009.

All right you black metal intellectuals, put down your Cliffs Notes on Nietzsche and listen up. If you added Immortal, Mayhem, Dark Funeral, Dissection, Satyricon, and Gorgoroth and divided by 6 what would you get? Take a moment here. Think about it…it’s Thornium!
"Mushroom Clouds and Dusk" is the second album released by Thornium, the long over due follow up to their debut album "Dominions of the Eclipse", which was unleashed on the world in 1995. This latest release has so far found its way into my personal vocabulary as ‘the golden (blackened?) mean’ of what is most commonly considered the black metal sound today. This album is not bad, it’s pretty good actually; but there is absolutely positively nothing new happening here. And that is my one big complaint for "Mushroom Clouds and Dusk", because everything else is good about it! The musicianship is up to par, the whole album is Solid, there are no ‘what was that?’ moments. Not to mention a few good solos. Good job Thornium! But I can go back through my personal metal collection and pick out the albums and then songs this and that riff is from, and that’s a problem. Some cheesy audio clips would’ve padded the fall of "Mushroom Clouds and Dusk" into becoming the collage of familiarity it is. Even the production sounds exactly like innumerable black metal albums already produced. Maybe I should lighten up on this problem here, I mean, the guy (Thypheus) who started Thornium back in ’93 apparently spent a good chunk of time in the cooler before bringing the band back to life. He may not have processed the time that has past, writing this album for days when this material would have been fresher. However, the world did keep turning. I could give a more detailed description of what exactly they sound like and what is going on, but if you’ve listened to any second wave black metal albums before worth noting, you already know.
Big points for a well-done and solid release, massive deduction for total lack of creativity. If you’re not picky about your black metal selection (a bit of an oxy moron) or want to play it safe in buying some more black metal, this album is worth checking out.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 7.5
Originality: 3
Overall: 6.66

Rating: 6.9 out of 10