syrach a dark burial

Released: 27 July 2009 Label: Napalm Records

This is this Norwegian band’s third album to date and may be new to many readers, especially in the U.K where they haven’t had much coverage it seems. Syrach have actually been around for about sixteen years and have been through a number of line-up changes within that period, but this incarnation has been in force since 2006.

To set things straight this is the sort of Doom that just uses guitars, bass and drums and includes growling vocals as opposed to clean vocals. Some of the album has the same sort of atmosphere comparable to My Dying Bride’s heavier and faster parts.

The album is very riff based and but does have a few moments where the pace quickens. The track A Mourner’s Kiss stands out as it is very varied throughout its eleven plus minutes and has some interesting melodies mixed together but also a more epic feel to it compared to some of the other tracks.

This album isn’t groundbreaking by any means, things do tend to get a trifle samey at times and could do with something just to give it a bit of extra oomph! On the plus side they don’t sound like a copycat of any other band and most definitely have their own slant on the genre which they can hopefully utilise in the future.


by Claudia Glazzard