Last year we opened the floodgates on a great volume of words when we premiered and reviewed a new album named Black Bile by the Israeli band Sinnery. We were delivering a full stream of the album, so what was the point of all those words?
The point was to try to wake people up and get them to look past the simple genre descriptions of “thrash” or “death/thrash” that seemed to follow the band around like lost dogs. The point was that Sinnery‘s music is much more multi-faceted and thus much more interesting than the labels might suggest — and also even more riotously exhilarating.
Black Bile was so damned good that we’re very damned fortunate Sinnery have quickly followed it up, releasing three singles this year and now a new EP named Below the Summit that includes those, plus two more tracks. Once again, we’ve got a full stream for you, and once again a torrent of words.
L-R: Idan Kringle (Lead Guitar), Saar Tuvi (Bass), Alon Karnieli (Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar), Liam Fine (Drums)
All photos by Or Shenkerman
Sinnery‘s lineup now includes new drummer Liam Fine, and we’re told that he participated in writing and recording the EP, all while learning the band’s older material. The band comments:
“We are thrilled to get our new EP Below the Summit out to listeners! This record marks another important milestone in our lives and careers as we continue to explore further and expand the horizons of what Sinnery’s music can be.
“BTS is a moment in time when we didn’t know exactly how things would turn out for us, we were isolated in our homes when we began writing this, sharing ideas from afar. It was a special experience for us to write this record like this and we feel like we really put that into it.”
As we’ve come to expect from Sinnery, the EP is an electrifying high-speed romp, packed to the brim with blistering and bludgeoning drumwork, earth-moving bass-lines, blazing and eviscerating riffage, and strikingly intense vocals that manifest in different ways, from hardcore screaming to death metal roars and wrenching singing.
But, also as expected, Sinnery switch things up as they fly. The opener “Somber“, for example, is a full-throttle and heavy-grooved assault, and a great example of Sinnery‘s incendiary intensity, but when the tremolo’d riffing and glittering lead-work take a bleak and even anguished turn, you understand the song’s name.
It’s also a vivid example of why no one who’s heard Sinnery would ever brand them as “party thrash”. There’s too much passion in the music that’s born of difficulty and dismay.
And while “An Ode (Knife Of Erato)” includes grooves that punch through walls and guitar madness that swirls, pulses, and blares, it’s also a very sinister experience that sounds both exotic and infernally haughty and grand — and in the middle the music changes again, channeling a kind of mesmerizing delirium. It’s another prime example of how multi-faceted Sinnery‘s songwriting is, delivering not only visceral power but also head-spinning variations (and lyrics that are heartbreaking and hopeless).
Well, one of the previously undisclosed tracks (“We Just Want You To“) isn’t really a song, just a brief vocal sample that may make you scratch your head in puzzlement. But you won’t have much time to wonder what’s going on before “Share This” punches adrenaline levels again with probably the most pure-thrash riffing on the EP.
Of course, Sinnery also inject “Share This” with twists and turns — fast changes in the riffing and the grooves, jaw-dropping drum maneuvers, and shifts in mood that range from madhouse frenzy to hulking monstrosity.
To conclude, Sinnery bring us “Serene“, but the rabid and wrenching vocals are never serene, the rhythm-section are punishing, and the sizzling and scissoring fretwork and wide-ranging vocals (which include stridently sung harmonies) in some ways return us to the dark, emotionally turbulent moods of “Somber“. On the other hand, when the song hits the guitar solo (which is a hell of a spectacle), the music sounds… exultant.
Okay, enough words. We’ll leave you to the full stream of Below the Summit, and hope you enjoy it as much as we have.
Below The Summit is due out on September 29th (tomorrow!), via Exitus Stratagem Records, on vinyl and CD formats. It was mixed and mastered by Arie Aranovich and the hellish album artwork was done by Xul1349 and inspired by a famous Japanese painting called “Thunderstorm Beneath The Summit” by legendary artist Katsushika Hokusai.
The EP is recommended for fans of Sylosis, Metallica, and Power Trip.
ORDER:
Vinyl – https://www.exsrmusic.com/store/p/sinnery-below-the-summit-ep-vinyl
CD – https://www.exsrmusic.com/store/p/sinnery-below-the-summit
SINNERY:
https://www.facebook.com/SinneryBand/
https://www.instagram.com/sinnerybandofficial/
https://linktr.ee/sinnery