Sonic Syndicate shows their not-so-human side

With newer bands, such as Killswitch Engage, taking over the metal scene today and older acts, like In Flames, seeing a resurgence in popularity, its understandable to see a lot of copy cats. For a band to be both popular and accepted in the metal community, they must push the envelope and take the sound and make it their own. Lucky for Sonic Syndicate, whose album, Only Inhuman, drops Friday, they have been able to do just that.

Sonic Syndicate's influences are quite obvious. Their lead singers rip off the vocal style of Killswitch Engage's Howard Jones, their guitarists have the thrash edge of Trivium and wailing solos of new Avenged Sevenfold, and their drummer, John Bengtsson, sounds like he could fill in for Swedish metallers, In Flames.

While they sound like a mash-up of several bands out today, they chose to combine the best elements of some of the biggest names in metal today.

Almost every track on Only Inhuman is strong. Sonic Syndicate managed to create songs that will keep you bobbing your head for the full-length of the disk. Each song has a chorus that is easy to pick up but hard to resist singing along with. Sonic Syndicate is able to mix their growling and yelling with harmonizing and melody.

Furthermore, they are able to mix the two without sacrificing the quality of the other. And if singing isn't your thing, then there are plenty of instrumental pieces to attach to.

Sonic Syndicate's drums are prominent in many tracks, giving each song a chunky, heavy foundation. Built atop that foundation are guitars that alternate between speed riffs, solos and breakdowns that would make half the hardcore bands out there today jealous.

In addition, several tracks have keyboards at select periods, which lends some ambience to the tracks.

While most of their songs are quite strong, they all seem to follow a formula. Each track has a good sound but they are hard to |distinguish one from another.

This isn't to say that the songs aren't unique or that the CD is just one long song with breaks in the middle, its just that Sonic Syndicate's sound doesn't lend itself well to much variety. They have perfected a sound, and there is no reason for them to stray from it.

One track falls flat on its face. When Sonic Syndicate slows down the tempo for "Enclave," it just sounds forced. They were clearly going for an epic ballad, filled with keyboards and atmosphere. What they got was just another slow song that's been heard dozens of times on rock radio.

Fortunately, the CD's title track vindicates "Enclave," The track takes all of Sonic Syndicate's strengths and pushes them the farthest they can go. The chorus is strong and bounces around your skull for days, the drums will rattle your speakers, and if you aren't doing the spirit fingers to the solo, you either can't hear it or don't know what spirit fingers are.

Sonic Syndicate is not a band that is going to be applauded for creating a new genre or a new sound of metal. But while they may not be innovators, they make music that is simultaneously heavy and catchy. Sonic Syndicate's Only Inhuman is 40 minutes of well-crafted music, and that's all you can really ask for.