| Sylosis | |
|---|---|
Sylosis live at Sonisphere 2010. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Reading, Berkshire, England |
| Genres | Thrash metal,[1] metalcore,[2] death metal[1] |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Labels | Nuclear Blast, In at the Deep End, |
| Associated acts | Viatrophy, Exit Ten, Heart Of A Coward |
| Website | www.myspace.com/sylosis |
| Members | |
| Josh Middleton Alex Bailey Carl Parnell Rob Callard |
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| Past members | |
| Jamie Graham Ben Hollyer Gurneet Ahluwalia Adam Mayes Dan Peirce Glen Chamberlain Richard Zananiri Dave Anderson Jay Colossus Chris Steele |
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Sylosis is a British metal band from Reading, Berkshire. In 2008 the band released their debut full-length studio album, the critically acclaimed Conclusion of an Age. Their second studio album, entitled Edge of the Earth, was released on March 11, 2011.
Contents |
Sylosis was formed in 2000 by original member Josh Middleton when they were back in school, as a bunch of kids who just wanted to play metal, mainly old school thrash and death metal.[3] Over the years they went through various lineup changes, playing only a few gigs due to the members being unable to drive and being in school and also due to the fact that there was no underground metal scene at the time. Sylosis released a couple of EPs in the UK on a small indie label, In at the Deep End Records. In November, 2007 Sylosis got an email from Nuclear Blast saying they'd love to work with the band and signed to them a month later, in which their debut album was released on October 24 2008.
Lead guitarist Josh Middleton was quoted as saying on an interview with About.com:
"The foundation of our sound is old school Bay Area thrash. We don't downtune and we don't play breakdowns. We do like to incorporate lots of different metal styles and textures into our music. We like make all of our songs really epic. We like progressive stuff, brutal stuff and melodic stuff."[4]
Their debut album Conclusion of an Age has a lot of themes, but is generally not a concept album. Lyrically, the album deals with the end of the human race, in how nature reclaims the earth again. The artwork shows a world living with the human race. There are no religious beliefs behind the writings however.[5] After recording their debut album, guitarist Gurneet Ahluwalia was replaced by ex-Viatrophy guitarist Alex Bailey, ready for the early 2009 European tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, Cephalic Carnage and Psycroptic.[6]
Sylosis were one of the opening acts on the Tuborg (third) stage at Download Festival held at Castle Donington, along with appearances at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, and an opening slot on the Bohemia stage at Sonisphere Festival. A UK headline tour has been announced for October/November 2009, but was cancelled as the band were offered an opening slot on the Dragonforce UK tour in November/December 2009.
On May 19th, 2010, Sylosis revealed through their Myspace blog that they had parted ways with vocalist Jamie Graham.[7] Instead of replacing the vocalist, Josh Middleton (lead guitar) took up vocal duties as well as playing lead.
At the beginning of 2010, Sylosis were announced as the main support for Fear Factory's European comeback tour. The October File also took part in this tour. The tour ran through the middle of February taking in several stops before finishing with a show at The Camden Town Electric Ballroom in London.[8] The band are following up the Fear Factory tour with a headlining tour across the UK throughout late February and early March playing venues all across the country. Sylosis guitarist Josh Middleton also stated in an interview with rocksins.com just before Christmas 2009 that the band would like to be playing the summer festival circuit in 2010. Notably, Sylosis will be performing in Avalanche, the rock show of Moksha, the annual cultural festival of Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT) in New Delhi, India on 27th March 2010. On August 8th 2010 they played at the Hevy Music Festival held near Folkestone, Kent. They announced that their 2nd album is due out next year, and played 2 new songs: "Sands Of Time" and "Altered States". "Altered States" was later renamed to "Altered States Of Consciousness".
Sylosis replaced Rise to Remain during the UK leg of As I Lay Dying's European tour in 2010.
Sylosis entered the studio in 2010 to record their second full-length studio album, entitled Edge of the Earth. Their words on the new album were as follows:
“We’re extremely proud of the new material. We all know that these are our best songs to date and they are still evolving in the studio. It’s a very different vibe this time around. We’re pushing our producer [Scott Atkins] for a really raw and live sound. We’re making sure we know when to loosen up and let a bit more ‘feel’ creep in so it’s not as sterile.
“The new album is definitely heavier and more progressive… although despite being heavier, it’s still more mature on every level. We know we’re still evolving as a band and I’m sure the album after this one will be different again. These kind of statements can be worrying to the fans but we’re very confident and happy with what we’ve created and we know we’ve taken the high road!”[9]
On January 3, 2011, the band debuted both their new official website and a new song, entitled "Empyreal (Part 1)". In addition to this new song, the site contains the album artwork for Edge of the Earth along with the track names and running times.[10] On March 14, 2011, Edge of the Earth was finally released.