Band: SUFFERING SOULS
Country: Germany
Title: In Synergy Obscene
Label: Schwarzdorn Production
Year: 2019
Style: Symphonic Black Metal
Review:
The band name makes you think of a full line-up band, isn't it? At least it did to me, but instead Suffering Souls is a one man band (at a certain point in time the line-up was bigger, indeed) founded back in 1994 under a different moniker and active under this name since 1996, and since then it released 3 full-length albums and this new one, the fourth, after 10 years since the previous. There is a lot of work on the compositions of this album, but 10 years aren't justified by that work for sure, I guess Lord Esgaroth simply had no inspiration for a portion of this decade. Anyway, what we get here are 9 excellent tracks in a bit over 50 minutes of playing time, a kind of Symphonic Black Metal that made me think of Dimmu Borgir and even more of The Kovenant (their Covenant years), with a high emphasis on the guitar work, the main attraction on this album. The guitars are luxurious on both riffs and leads / solos, very inventive and complex, and supported by the subtle but bombastic keys in the background (plus the occasional hooks pushed in the foreground) and the energetic, well produced rhythm section are building up an epic, grandiose atmosphere, well curdled and catchy from the start till the finish line. The vocals are mostly throat scratching Black Metal shrieks, but from time to time clean male and operatic female vocals are in to help building the symphony, all comprehensive and all with their little catchy passages. Hell I've played this album that much that I even have a fave song (this doesn't mean the other are not as good), In Death Reborn. Excellent album, a highlight of the year in this genre, no doubt, I can find it no faults, except for some clean male vocals that may sound dissonant at first, but kind of give the album an original flavor.
Reviewed by Adrian
Rating: 10/10
Contact:
facebook.com/SUFFERING-SOULS-Official-155361931188672