This is
probably the most exciting debut I’ve ever had the pleasure of reviewing. Got
your attention? Good, because from here on it only gets better...
While
listening to this “The Mechanisms of Consequence” (TMC) you get the impression
that Synaptik have a universal passport that takes them from one musical
territory to another without border control even batting an eyelid. At its core
the music is an enjoyable Thrash Metal but there are also several hints of Death
Metal, particularly with the style of drumming. Power Metal can be invoked in
some melodies and if you listen carefully you might hear some riffs with the
dark ambience of Black Metal. And of course, when you consider these genre
affiliations as well as the numerous tempo breaks and mood swings, the
Progressive genre is automatically added to the picture. Despite its multi-facetedness
the album feels very homogenous.
Any album having more ideas than skills would fall down
faster than a dodo jumping off a skyscraper. This brings me to another selling
point of TMC: the technical level of all Synaptik’s musicians is impressive (the
unbridled fury of ‘Vacancy of Mind’ is a good illustration of this). The guitar
solos seem to have a neo-classical edge to them, which I really liked, and the
bass lines of Kev Jackson are powerful without
harming the compositional integrity of the songs.
The vocals
might be the hardest to accept at first listen, primarily due to the heavy
musical context within which they lie. John Knight, Synaptik’s lead vocalist,
sings like a young Geoff Tate capable of going from subtlety to cathartic
aggression at the drop of a hat. Give his singing time to grow on you and you’ll
be rewarded.
What more can
I say about this album? Great vocal harmonies, a tightness to die for and
originality aplenty, that’s what. Though I tried, I failed to identify the
band’s Achilles heel.
If Synaptik play their cards right, (Metal) world domination could be within
their grasp.
