DESPITE features three guitarists, each playing on eight-stringed instruments tuned a full octave below standard guitar tuning which makes for a brutally heavy sound which is pretty apparent on this crushing album titled “Synergi”.
Their sound and style can be described as a mix of melodic hardcore, industrial and atmospheric metal. Brutally heavy at times like the opening track “Soul Denied” while incorporating melody and anthemic choruses like “As You Bleed” and the rock ballad type song “Time Lapse” and then throw in a bit of industrial metal as heard on tracks like “The Perpetual Weakening” with it’s Fear Factory infused sound and what you have is a fairly wide range of heavy music that is catchy and headbanging at the same time.
The vocals come across more on the hardcore side of things which gives it that subtle feel to the songs but there’s more melodic metal stuff going on here once you get past all that. There’s a ton of dynamics not just between each track but also within the songs themselves, while “The Perpetual Weakening” has that strong industrial metal sound to it, it also brings in an almost gothic vibe with it’s atmospheric melodies swirling around the chugging riffs. There’s even mellower instrumentals like “Triage” but then a few songs down and we get some truly aggressive guitar work in “Chaos Trigger” and “Give Me Life” which really showcases those real low ends of the guitar tones.
The album flows nicely too and while there’s quite a lot of songs on offer, the track lengths are compact enough to not bore you or make you feel it is over extended. By the time the title track comes in, the band take things up a few notches and proceed to take on more progressive elements and massive breakdowns, poly- rhythmic riffs and dazzling drum patterns. By the final track “Awakening” which fittingly titled is an energetic and blazing song to end the album with, you definitely feel you took on a journey in some ways which is becoming a lost art in the making of albums these days. If you love the heavy and technical wizardry of melodic and heavy prog / hardcore metal, Despite’s “Synergi” album is one to check out.
TRACKLIST
Soul = Denied
As You Bleed
The Perpetual Weakening
Triage
Time Lapse
Chaos Trigger
Give Me Life
Sanctum Falls
Synergi
Praedonum
Unexceptional
Square Zero
Awakening