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Symbyosis > Crisis > Reviews
Symbyosis - Crisis

No Phoenix Rises in a Time of Crisis - 76%

bayern, October 30th, 2018

These guys were flung around as the next big thing on the metal circuit for a bit, and since their emergence coincided with the beginning of a new millennium, a lot of looks were directed their way as they could be one of those purveyors who could help the old school rise from the ashes, pretty much like a phoenix, no more no less.

Although they didn’t dance long enough to be considered a household name even within their chosen death metal roster, their short repertoire gave the fans quite a food for thought some of them going as far as praising them as the second biggest French death metal team after Misanthrope. Wow… this last compliment was a good enough reason for me to check them out, especially when coming after just two albums and two EP’s.

Not so fast, ladies and gentlemen; not so fast cause our friends here can only hold a mid-sized candle to the Misanthropes’ superior exploits. They did try, though, including with a gigantic, nearly two-hour long sophomore saga; but right now we’re looking at their debut full-length, an opus that came after a pretty cool EP. Said EP nicely introduced the band’s delivery, progressive death metal served with a lot of atmosphere and melody which received its logical extension on the album reviewed here. Back to the Misanthrope connection: the approach is by all means comparable, think the legends’ discography from 1997 onward, but the symbyosis… sorry, symbiosis achieved here is more contrasting, with more influences embedded, and with a more ambitious layout overall which does hit the mark, but not consistently enough.

There’s this fair utilization of keyboards, but before one starts screaming “Nocturnus!” at the top of his/her lungs, he/she needs to hear how the rest has been pulled out. Said rest doesn’t focus on exuberant technicality ala the Americans; in fact, it doesn’t focus on any particular current as the listener will come across a diverse conglomerate where short brutal black-peppered outrages (“To Decant Souls”) sit (un)comfortably right next to excerpts from the Gothenburg school textbooks (“Quest of The Dolphin”) and more intricate speedy exercises (“Self Mutation”) ala Darkane. The atmospheric undercurrents rise above on the short orchestral instrumental “Kahi Palyn”, and they are invariably present elsewhere although they by all means play second fiddle to the riff-patterns which on “Acrid Nebula” even come close to audacious Theory in Practice-sque wizardry. Such moments are not so frequently provided, though, as the guys are more concerned about the regular use of the “fast aggressive/slower peaceful” alternation which occurs on every track, this contrasting co-existence stitched by the expert performance of the lead guitarist, by far the most proficient musician in the team.

The somewhat random application of brutal blast-beats could be considered a debatable complement as the approach is already quite hectic and restless without them, the short “Little Princess” the only more patiently executed number, without too many ups and downs the instrumental panorama “Synthesis” featuring plenty of those, a bombastic extreme metal concoction with black, death and symphonic metal, to mention the more tangible influences, tied in one hyper-active, perennially shifting knot with keyboards and leads duelling at some stage for the making of the highlight on this larger-than-life album. The screechy, nearly hysterical at times, black/deathy vocals definitely add to the varied carnival sometimes deafening everything around, sometimes absent for an inexplicably prolonged period of time, to these ears for the better.

It won’t be hard for one to see why this opus has fascinated so many fans; it contains a lot of music the latter at times executed in an orderly and disciplined, at others in a somewhat dishevelled overambitious manner. There’s this operatic-like structure that rampantly runs underneath, trying to keep all the nuances together, reminiscent of the way acts like Bal-Sagoth and Hollenthon use to apply it, and it has been achieved moderately successfully, truth be told. Albums of the kind will always find their fans due to their encompassing nature, but it’s hard to see why this particular effort should be on top, or near the top of this list; it’s just another cool progressive death metal recording spiced with the (un)necessary amount of other ingredients, hardly reaching any heights in any department although the lead guitar player again is a wonder to listen to at times.

The guys’ infatuation with the mythical phoenix bird led to one EP and the mentioned gargantuan sophomore later the short format again producing better results. There was nothing technically wrong with this second coming; it’s just that in a two-hour long album one can always find some ballast, and this one was by no means deprived of it. There was no change of style, progressive death metal again served with the mentioned dissipations, the music working better as separate stylish pieces than as one over-the-top whole. In other words, Misanthrope have no reasons to worry that they would be side-lined any time soon, at least by this batch, and not only cause the Symbyosis enterprise has been on hold for quite some time… on the other hand, now that I think of it, they might stage a hell of a return one of these days, pretty much like a phoenix rising, with wings fluttering, feathers blazing and guitars screaming.

To Reinvent Death Metal - 90%

Descalabro, April 9th, 2004

Symbyosis is not just Death Metal. It's Atmospheric, Technical, Blackened and even Progressive Metal.
The first track starts with some synths, as most of the tracks in this album, then it becomes Progressive when the guitars appear, alternating with the drums in some very nice tempo changes and, suddenly, attacks you with a very fast Death/Thrash section where the drums progress in speedness (with 3 very well arranged different speeds), without changing the riff tempo. Finally, it gets slower again in a Progressive and Atmospheric style. All this in 1:15 minutes. At this moment, you have an idea of what you can expect from this release.
Every track in this album is unique, although all of them are played in the same style, the Symbyosis style. As you listen to the cd, you will find very fast and technical guitars, atmospheric and odd/techincal solos (always with a nice rythm guitar supporting them, with very well done tempo changes), you will find Atmospheric synths like Space Soundscapes, Futuristic ''Industrialized'' moments (with machinery and electronic sounds), and even some ''Empty''/Nostalgic moments.
The programmed drums are very good. The sound is quite organic, and all sections have been carefully done to mach up the musical quality.
The vocals are scratched, fierce and do not overcome. This is good, because there is not much variation through the cd.
Also the production is good thanks to Listenable Records and to the dinamic musical visions of the frenchmen.
If you want some original and modern Death Metal, this is a very good choice.