Sonic Syndicate

[jgcable]

These boys rock. I never heard of them until last week. Damn..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bEE8lniFkE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boEypavY46w

[bibz]

Theres a girl in them too! Or atleast was. Loved the first album, had some fresh takes on the swedescene in it at the start, then became a dark tranquility tribute. Not a bad thing. Never got into the second and next albums for some reason

[GinSonic]

I saw this band last year. They were the backup band for Nightwish's North American tour.

Yeah. They're pretty good for what they are. The girl that went with me to the concert had the hots for their other vocalist and I had the hots for Annette!

I got a few Sonic Syndicate songs in my itunes. Good stuff!

[horns666]

Theres a girl in them too! Or atleast was. Loved the first album, had some fresh takes on the swedescene in it at the start, then became a dark tranquility tribute. Not a bad thing. Never got into the second and next albums for some reason

Yep..Have their first. To me, they sounded like a even more commercial, dummied-down, recent effort Soilwork. I'm still big into the whole NWOST thing. My only grievance is they got "Americanized" and not in a good way. In a trendy sorta way..I mean you could plug Adam Lambert (he can sing) from American Idol into this gig.

The test of time will always seperate trends from true..like oil and water. Trends always have an expiration date. Many great Swedish bands made this mistake, quickly realized it and returned "true to form". In Flames' impression of Korn comes to mind. with "The soundtrack to your escape". They never really recovered from that" , The Haunted did the same thing with "he dead Eye". Now "Versus is back on track. Soilwork with "Stabbing tnje drama" then redeemed themselves on "Sworn to the great divide."..Even Dark Tranquility got "weird" and experimental 10 years ago with "projector".

I've been following the metal scene forever. I actually like all the "true" Swedish bands listed on the side much better ..such as Darkane (AWESOME), Soilwork and Scar Symmetry. Sonic Syndicate just dummied down and cross pollenated with with our neo-Glam / Emo stuff. In fact, bands like KSE, Avenged Sevenfold, As I Lay Dying ect, and ect would NOT exist without bands such as Soilwork and they will agree to that to no end. They elvoved from At The gates, Dark Tranquility, Eucarist, In Flames, Carcass, Comecon, Entombed, Gardenian, Arch Enemy ect. ..I always loved this shit.

I know guys like Bibz, Ben and Gary are with me on this...especially guys like Anders who's in THAT very scene and prolly knows SS. Coldworker is great and they're our very own. I haven't seen him around lately tho.

John, I'll find some stuff I think you'll dig and post it here. Maybe Bibz can get a jump on that. I gotta bail and do family stuff this weekend.

I know some of you may be thinking "Bill, who gives a fuck..can't you just enjoy the music and STFU?". It's not that easy..I'm a metalhead.

[jgcable]

Thanks Bill. They reminded my of Killswitch Engage but a little more melodic. I really dig that genre of metal and I am starting to dig the screaming too.

[khabibissell]

I dunno, soungs like generic radio friendly hard rock to me. There's much better stuff out there. Check these guys out http://www.myspace.com/battlecross

They're not Swedes, but are a pretty good local metal band. They are spot on live.

[Davey]

they suck fucking balls. horrible generic emo core. had the displeasure of seeing them live. they can play, but the music is vomit inducing

[bibz]

Yeah I could tell there was an everpresent trendyness to it all, but I thought that was just their age shining through. Obviously they were copying soilwork/dark tran, and adding a bit of swede pop to it. Which I thought may have matured into some more real deal stuff.

Even Jens(?) from carnal forge/scar symmetry producing the 3rd couldn't save it. I mean, the first album was unknown, the second comes out HEAVILY marketed here, plenty of copies and advertising in the metal section etc.

Sad for us swede-addicts, but good on em!

[toejam]

That was good? I couldn't tell. And bands with two "singers" are retarded.

[jgcable]

How about this one... I think the song is great, the production value it great, the video is cool and the bass player is SMOKING HOT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boEypavY46w

[Endrik]

horrible bland and sterile production, no originality whatsoever.
overpowering horrible cheesy sounding keyboards, no dynamics, vocals don't deliver much emotion, rhythm section lacks power and groove, no real intensity and human-like feel.
there's no space between instruments, everything pushed together, over compressed guitars without tone, over processed vocals, horrible clicky sounding drums without dynamics and power.
I bet they used exactly the same preset on the pro tools as all the other scandinavian or central european modern metal bands instead of really producing the song and making it stand out.
If they have money to hire hot chicks for their videos then they have money to make a good record, to hire a decent producer and record in UK where people know what the fuck they are doing.

[jgcable]

horrible bland and sterile production, no originality whatsoever.
overpowering horrible cheesy sounding keyboards, no dynamics, vocals don't deliver much emotion, rhythm section lacks power and groove, no real intensity and human-like feel.
there's no space between instruments, everything pushed together, over compressed guitars without tone, over processed vocals, horrible clicky sounding drums without dynamics and power.
I bet they used exactly the same preset on the pro tools as all the other scandinavian or central european modern metal bands instead of really producing the song and making it stand out.
If they have money to hire hot chicks for their videos then they have money to make a good record, to hire a decent producer and record in UK where people know what the fuck they are doing.

I really don't disagree with most of what you are saying. When I was listening to the song my daughter walked by and commented on how good the song is. They remind me a little of KSE and Avenged Sevenfold. One of the singers sounds like the guy in Three Days Grace. I like all three of these bands. I like the fact that they actually have melody and harmonies in their songs. I also like the guitar tone. Especially KSE.

[Bert]

Hard to gauge production value from a youtube video -- what sounds clicky on youtube might sound pretty awesome in full fidelity. But I still thought the guitar tones were pretty good for the style of music, and they have decent harmonies as well. Still, a bit too bland for my tastes. I like KSE and Avenged too, but they are a cut above these guys. I liked the stripper video though .

[Endrik]

Hard to gauge production value from a youtube video

no it isn't, Back In Black sounds great even if I'd use sea shells as speakers and pubic hair as a wire

[horns666]

Hey Guys, I just want to show where this "style" came from. To me, the originators are the real heros..who never get the credit or glory.

Here's one of my many favorite Swedish melodic death bands from the mid to late 90's that used clean, dirty and female vocals. I know this music will prolly mean MUCH more to me, unless you actually bought this cd early 1998..11 years ago. The clean vocals sound much like Bruce Dickinson. There is some female vocals too for a bit of contrast. This was done at a time when this was completely unheard of.

This is Gardenian's second '98 effort "Soulburner" and recorded on a meager budget.

Gardenian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0OnD...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6jeo...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfuxG...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT3JX...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRcRt...eature=related ..with female vox

The way this sounds on youtube really doesn't do it justice. Keep in mind this is over a decade cold. This is what I was into when everyone was into Rap/Nu/Grunge...ect. Through the year countless Swedish bands emerged that stayed true to this style, but the production has evoleved which became a double edged sword to much of the reason Endy described. Protools really made things "too easy" for cut and paste, cookie cutter bands. Many bands that I like refused to use Protools or voice pitch correction to avoid sounding sterile, and use analog equip to has that warm, dynamic sound.

One of my favoritie "metal" producers is Andy Sneap. He seems to very consistant to the guitar and drums sounds I partial too. But there's many great player in the game..the one I can't stand is Kelly Gray who killed Dokken, Queenryche and anything else he touches. He's not a bad producer but he does fuck up the band's direction and sound to fit with the trends and he own agenda. He killed the first version of Nevermore's "Enemeies of reality" and had Andy Sneap fix the damn thing and re-issue it, and what a difference! Man, were they pissed with Gray's version. They were venting to me at the BW & BK how much he sucks ass. ..that's true.