Syrach - Days Of Wrath

Published March 07 2007

*=Staff's pick	Are You Able To Breath Yet? Semper Ardens* The Firm Grip Of Death* Stigma Diabolikum* Come Daemons Nine Fallen Men A Death Tear The Twilight Enigma

Genre	Death/Doom Metal	Kenneth Olsen	Vocals
Tracks	8	Rolv-Erik Berge	Guitar
Runningtime	64 Min.	Noralf Venås	Guitar
Label	Ripper Management	Ørjan Setvik	Bass
Release	09 March 2007	Adam Suleiman	Drums
Country	Norway	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	early Paradise Lost

The new wave of Norwegian metal, as an antithesis to the typical black metal, doom metal has found its way back according to Syrach. The band formed in 1993 in the region of Bergen in Norway that has brought forward bands like Immortal and Burzum among others. Syrach has been signed to labels and released albums earlier but the self-financed Days Of Wrath is being released on vocalist Kenneth Olsen's own Ripper Management. As a related fact, it can be mentioned that the artwork is done by vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe from My Dying Bride and is a painting named Christs.

Heavy, dark, yet melodic doom with harsh, almost growling vocals is the recipe for Syrach. Their album oozes of evil yet they maintain a melodic touch and keep a momentum in their music. The opening track Are You Able To Breath Fire?, is a slow and heavy piece where the melodic line from the guitar keeps the flow going, and it reminds me of the sound of the early days of Paradise Lost.

Syrach has brought with them some guests on the album, and Silje Wergeland from Oktavia Sperati appears on three of them and gives the songs a lighter tone with her voice on top over the heavy doom. In the slow roller Semper Ardens, which is brought forward by a repetitive heavy guitar-line and some explicit guitar leads in the background, her voice really make the song lift, further it gets a feeling of mysticism by her versatile touch. She is also featured on the two epic tracks on Days Of Wrath that are fourteen respectively ten minutes long, The Firm Grip Of Death and The Twilight Enigma. The first of those two is ultra-slow for starters and it takes six minutes for it to kick into action with some really enjoyable metal parts. The second song, which swings from calm to lively, has a strong resemblance with early Candlemass if it wasn't for the growling vocals.

Syrach do a fine job of keeping the music melodic, and as they say themselves, it is a doom record with a devil-may-care-attitude. So they doesn't keep it strictly doom, but is making the album come to life with some tasteful harmony parts and breaks that are purely heavy metal without the doom. Bjørnar E. Nilsen, who is also part of the producing team for this album along with Herbrand Larsen and Arve Isdal from Enslaved, appears on the track Stigma Diabolikum which is grinding its way forward with a slow pace, although this track in likeness with most on the album is carrying a great melodic break, and it is not farfetched to mention early Iron Maiden in the same sentence. Although, the nine minute song could have been shorter in my opinion, but still it is one of the better tracks on Days Of Wrath.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	5	4	4	6

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Thomas