:: Synastry - Blind Eyes Bleed

Synastry

The experimental mix of death metal and industrial elements have produced some really interesting results over the years, with some of the best examples coming from Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, The Berzerker, The Amenta and Zyklon. But there’s also been a fair amount of failed attempts at fusing together the two genres, with Canadian based outfit Synastry the latest act to fall into the latter bracket. Despite having been around for a number of years, and independently releasing their three track E.P. ‘Pallets Of My New World’ a couple of years ago, Synastry fall short of delivering anything truly outstanding on their debut full length effort ‘Blind Eyes Bleed’.

The band offer up quite an interesting introductory instrumental piece for the album which promises an onslaught with its dark and foreboding atmosphere. Unfortunately, the impact of the track is abbreviated with its short running length. And for all the drama the instrumental builds, it amounts to nothing with the start of the opening track ‘Pallets Of My New World’. Musically, Synastry seem to lack a little bite and sharpness that’s commonly associated with industrial death metal acts, with the industrial influences dominating over the song itself. The single/first promotional video clip ‘As The Dust Settles’ is certainly one of the stronger songs featured on the album, but it’s the Static-X like ‘Precious Time Bomb’ and the Coal Chamber sounding ‘Beast Of Myself’ that drag down the early half of the album. Both ‘Betrayed By My Flesh’ and ‘Psychosocial Constructs’ show a little more imagination from the band, while ex-Arch Enemy vocalist Johan ‘Liiva’ Axelsson’s contribution to ‘Visions Of Anger’ and The Agonist’s Alissa White Gluz’s duet on the ballad like ‘In Your Eyes’ are by far the album’s stand out cuts. The song writing is solid for the most part, but the vocal and industrial elements leave the album feeling inconsistent, with both areas needing a lot of work in order to balance the mix out for the future. Overall Synastry’s debut is good, but it’s hardly what I would call a masterpiece.