''Monolith'' is the third full-length album released by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

heavy metal band

Sylosis Sylosis is a British heavy metal band from Reading, Berkshire, England. Signed to Nuclear Blast Records, the band has released five studio albums, a live album, two EPs and twelve music videos. Their fifth album ''Cycle of Suffering'' was rele ...

. It was released on 5 October 2012, in Europe and 9 October 2012, in North America.

Background

On 31 March 2012, Sylosis released a teaser on YouTube simply entitled ''Sylosis III'' which featured clips of the band performing in a studio. Later, it was revealed that Sylosis had indeed started work on their third studio album just over a year after the release of ''Edge of the Earth''. Sylosis continued to tease the release of the new album by posting another video on YouTube, it was revealed in the video that the band were recording the new album at the

Monnow Valley Studio Monnow Valley Studio is a recording studio in Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. History In the 1970s, Monnow Valley was the rehearsal facility of the famous Rockfield Studios. It became an independent studio in the 1980s owned by Charles Ward after ...

Rockfield, Monmouthshire Rockfield is a small village in the community of Whitecastle, Monmouthshire, Southeast Wales. It is located beside the River Monnow, about north-west of Monmouth, at the junction of the B4233 to Abergavenny and the B4347 to Grosmont. Rockfield ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Release and promotion

On 7 August 2012, Sylosis provided free download of "A Dying Vine" via their website, and their song 'Born Anew' was first played on "Rock Show with

Daniel P Carter Daniel Philip Carter (born 16 November 1972) is a British musician and radio DJ. He is the former singer and guitarist for hardcore punk band Hexes, the former bassist for A, the former lead guitarist for alternative rock band Bloodhound Gang ...

" on

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

. As of 2 October 2012, the album was streamed on

MetalSucks MetalSucks is a heavy metal music-themed news website. The site features reviews, interviews, information on latest metal releases and blog-like posts from the writers, most notably Vince Neilstein and Axl Rosenberg. History The site was foun ...

in its entirety. As part of the promotion of the album and to celebrate its release, Sylosis played a hometown show in Reading, UK on 7 October where fans could purchase a copy of the album a day prior to its official release as well as perform a few of the songs from the new album live. On 3 December, the music video for "Fear the World" was released.

Reception

The album has received very positive reviews from music critics. A review from

stated that "A little more than halfway through “Out from Below,” the opening track from Sylosis’ Monolith, the band breaks out what must be one of the best

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

riffs that Metallica never wrote; then, just twenty seconds later, the band suddenly-but-seamlessly transitions into what might actually be the best Metallica riff that Metallica never wrote. Fans of thrash that feels traditionalist, but not retro, will find themselves completely unable to turn Monolith off from that point forward; the album has now sunk its hooks into your skin like a Cenobite, and you are just going to have to hang there and go with it."

Track listing

Personnel

;Sylosis * Josh Middleton –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Alex Bailey –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Carl Parnell – bass * Rob Callard –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

;Production and design * Romesh Dodangoda – producer,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, mixing * Josh Middleton – co-producer, art concept *

Jens Bogren Jens Peter Daniel Bogren (born 13 November 1979) is a Swedish record producer, mixer and recording engineer specializing in heavy metal music. He has worked on albums by Opeth, Dimmu Borgir, Sepultura, Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Katatonia, Babym ...

– mastering *

Dan Goldsworthy Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

– artwork * Tom Barnes – photography

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control 2012 albums Sylosis albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Romesh Dodangoda