Line #44 Music/Sylosis


1	Sylosis is a British HeavyMetal band formed in Reading, Berkshire. It was formed by guitarist Josh Middleton (currently also of Architects) in 2000. They went through many lineup changes with little success due to a lack of an underground metal scene, only doing a few gigs and releasing an EP. The band's big break came in 2007, where they were signed by Nuclear Blast. Their critically acclaimed debut album ''Conclusion of an Age'' was released a year later.
2
3	In 2010, their vocalist Jamie Graham parted with the band. Their sophomore album, ''Edge of the Earth'' featured Josh Middleton taking the helm as the band's lead vocalist along with guitar. Their third album ''Monolith'' was released a little over a year later in 2012. Longtime drummer Rob Callard departed in 2014 and was replaced by Ali Richardson (Bleed From Within). ''Dormant Heart'', their first album with Ali on drums, was released in early 2015.
4
5	The band took a hiatus in the late 2010s, due to Josh Middleton joining Architects after the death of Tom Searle. Ali Richardson's other band Bleed From Within also reunited during this time.
6
7	Sylosis reunited in 2019 and released ''Cycle of Suffering'' in 2020. Long-time bassist Carl Parnell left the band just before the album's release, and was replaced by Conor Marshall. Sylosis also released an additional single, "Worship Decay", later in 2020.
8
9	Their musical style can be described as a combination of ThrashMetal, MelodicDeathMetal, and ProgressiveMetal.
10
11	!!Band Members
12
13	Current:
14
15	* Josh Middleton - Vocals, Lead guitar
16	* Alex Bailey - Rhythm guitar
17	* Conor Marshall - Bass
18	* Ali Richardson - Drums
19
20	Former:
21
22	* Glen Chamberlain - Vocals
23	* Ben Hollyer - Vocals
24	* Jamie Graham - Vocals
25	* Richard Zananiri - Rhythm Guitar
26	* Gurneet Ahluwalia - Rhythm Guitar
27	* Jay Colios-Terry - Drums
28	* Chris Steele - Drums
29	* Rob Callard - Drums
30	* Carl Parnell - Bass
31
32	!!Studio Albums
33	* ''Conclusion of an Age'' (2008)
34	* ''Edge of the Earth'' (2011)
35	* ''Monolith'' (2012)
36	* ''Dormant Heart'' (2015)
37	* ''Cycle of Suffering'' (2020)
38	* ''A Sign of Things to Come'' (2023)
39
40	!!Sylosis provides examples of the following tropes:
41	%%* EpicRiff: A good majority of their songs.
42	%%* EpicRocking
43	* CoverSong: "Zero" by the Music/SmashingPumpkins. Apart from the vocals, it barely sounds any different to the original version and it ''works''.
44	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Dormant Heart''. It sounds much darker and rawer than the albums the band's done before or since.
45	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Conclusion of an Age''. Jamie Graham's vocals are quite different to Josh Middleton's. This included the album featuring clean vocals, something which didn't re-appear in the band's sound until ''Dormant Heart'' years later.
46	* EpicRocking: At least once every album since ''Edge of the Earth''.
47	** "Apparitions" (7:15) and "From the Edge of the Earth" (7:37) from ''Edge of the Earth''.
48	** "Out from Below" (6:58), "Paradox" (6:08) and "Enshrined" (19:16) from ''Monolith''..
49	** "Quiscent" (9:02) from ''Dormant Heart''.
50	** "Abandon" (6:06) from ''Cycle of Suffering''.
51	* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: The theme of ''Conclusion of an Age'' is the collapse of civilization and the Earth returning to its natural state.
52	* GenreMashup: They have thrash-style playing, the aggression of death metal, the vocals of modern metalcore, and the melodies of melodic death metal. It's a pretty cool package.
53	* IAmTheBand: Josh Middleton. He's the only original member left, and he writes all the music and lyrics for the band. He has also been the band's producer since ''Cycle of Suffering'', and he even did the album's artwork.
54	** In a twist of {{Main/Irony}}, there are entire songs that Architects have written since he joined that he barely contributed to or didn't contribute to at all.
55	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: After Jamie Graham left, lead guitarist [[StepUpToTheMicrophone Josh took the role of lead vocals]].
56	* LongestSongGoesLast: "Enshrined" is the final track of ''Monolith'' and "Abandon" is the final track of ''Cycle of Suffering''.
57	* MelodicDeathMetal: One of the band's main influences.
58	* NewSoundAlbum: This has happened a few times in the band's career.
59	** ''Edge of the Earth'', as it was the first album to feature Josh on vocals.
60	** ''Dormant Heart'' was much rawer than the band's previous work, and focused more on atmosphere than technicality. It also had some clean vocals, something that hadn't been a feature of the band since ''Conclusion of an Age''.
61	** ''Cycle of Suffering'' has much more polished production than ''Dormant Heart'', with cleaner mixing and more layers of instrumentation. It also returned to the more technical style of ''Edge of the Earth'' and ''Monolith'', while also introducing more progressive elements.
62	* OutOfGenreExperience:
63	** The band's cover of "Zero", because they barely changed anything about the song.
64	** "Abandon" is a doomy PowerBallad with piano and synthesizer parts, acoustic guitars, no technical guitar playing and lots of clean vocals. It sounds more like something Josh's other band Architects would put out than a Sylosis track.
65	* ProgressiveMetal: They've always had elements of this, but they've got stronger since ''Cycle of Suffering''.
66	* TheGrimReaper: A hooded figure, implied to be the Grim Reaper, appears throughout the music video for ''After Lifeless Years''.
67	* ThrashMetal: One of the band's main influences, especially so on earlier albums.
68	* RevolvingDoorBand: Josh Middleton is the only original member left, and the band went through multiple line-up changes before even releasing their first album. Guitarist Alex Bailey and drummer Ali Richardson have remained consistent members since 2008 and 2014 respectively, though.
69	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: After Jamie Graham's departure, [[LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar Josh decided to take on vocal duties himself]] despite never having been a vocalist previously. Not only has he been the band's vocalist ever since, but he's also taken on backing vocal duties in Architects since he joined.
70	* VocalEvolution: Josh went from being a fairly limited vocalist on ''Edge of the Earth'' to being able to do multiple types of screams and clean vocals by the time he was recording ''Dormant Heart''. "Abandon" from ''Cycle of Suffering'' really showcases how far he's come as a vocalist.
71

Context Music / Sylosis