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Band: Syberia
Album title: Resiliency
Release date: 22 April 2016
Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Tracklist:
01. Desertica
02. Aram Chaos
03. Ashfall
04. Hiraeth
05. Black Olympics
06. Taunus
07. Fortress
08. Resiliency
09. Herboren
10. Hyperion
Syberia returns with their sophomore album named Resiliency, a successor to 2012's debut Drawing A Future, which already caused quite a stir inside the post-rock/metal scene. If you don't know the band already, than don't be misguided by bands name, no, they are not coming from any remote Russian city, but from mediteranean coast, more exactly from Barcelona, Spain. Nevertheless, their sound will take you on a dreamlike journey through the most remote and cold places of your imagination. With Resiliency the band documents a mental and spiritual transformation where darkness and light are both essential to the transmission of ideas. The four members of Syberia don't use any words, just two guitars, bass and drums, ok, that's nothing new for post-"xy" genre, but where some of the bands just sink into mellowness, Syberia enthuses with ability to provoke exceptional emotions regardless of the song´s length.
It would be unfair to say that Syberia are just a typical post-rock or post-metal band, in their music there's a large pallete of different elements, from dreampop, to shoegaze, they go also exploring into ambiental waters, tribalistic sounds, doom metal and to give some additional heaviness to the whole picture there are also traces of NWOBHM to be found, especially in the divergent almost epic "Taunus", the main guitar riff in here reminds a lot to Iron Maiden. The music of this quartet needs your full devotion and relaxation, even though it won't be annoying if played as a background music. Everything is pretty cinematic, Syberia combines swathes of yearning, crashing crescendos with the serene and pastoral. All of the tracks have some kind of a very reliable pathos, everything is well connected, keeping the listener in some sort of a trans and continued suspense.
Guitar job is out of this world, with catchy hypnotic melodies, tremolo octaves, spacey chords, enchanting acoustic lines and some progressive riffs the two guitarist do wonders. Compositions are quite complex, but it doesn't hurt the overall drive, especially when it comes to heartbreaking poignant melodies like in quite intense "Aran Chaos" or in the solemn hymn "Black Olympics" that sounds like a post-rock version of OMD. You must pay some attention to the melancholic, yet sparkling opener "Desertica" and to albums title track which enthuses with its unrelenting uplifting melody, while the groovy heavy hitting "Herboren" can make you headbang. The band makes a proper conclusion with the dynamic and at the same time dark, yet invigorating masterpiece "Hyperion". Drums are tight, mostly technical and bass line is at certain parts turbulent, heavy and above all solid. The band deepens the atmosphere with use of some subtle electronics here and there, but it's not so evident at first glance because it so elegantly pours with the rest of instruments.
The whole ambiance is quite cold, but at the same time it mesmerizes with its warmth. Those ten tracks are adventurous, yet everything is smooth coherent to give some goose bumps. I won't deny that some good soothing vocals won't make it even more interesting, but on the other side with this kind of approach Syberia force the listener to pay attention to every detail, and there are many, with every following spin you'll discover more of hidden things. Resiliency is strongly recommended to every single fan of post rock and metal sounds, yet to all of you dreamers who like to be taken away from this bitter reality with some truly professionaly composed and performed music.
Revie written by: T.V.
Rating: 8,5/10
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