It is evident from listening to “Somnambulist” that (Sic)monic have no set formula. To say that it is Modern Metal would not be wholly untrue but it wouldn’t do it justice either. There are elements of Rock, Death and Classic Metal, Hardcore in, at times, an avant-garde and almost surreal framework. Such an approach can add interest but if not worked properly, can also lead to frustrating disjointedness.
The first track “”To the Fiendz” certainly made me sit up. Here the band play a piece of lively, Modern Death-orientated Metal with the unexpected refrain of the children’s rhyme “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”. Do they do the gestures in amongst all the violence and headbanging, I wonder? It’s followed by “Till the Morning Light” which also has an interesting blend. It starts like Breed 77 with a sunny Mediterranean Metal sound before mixing into a simultaneously harsher and soulful element. Heaviness follows with “Somnambulist” and “Illumination”. The fast, furious and chaotic Technical Death Metal sound of the former complements the impressive blastbeat-ridden tones of the latter. “Illumination” is at its core a Classic Metal track. The clean vocals were uninspiring and spoilt it for me. “Of Blood and Grace” is a Metal ballad with dual clean/death vocals. There’s a strong background sound which is matched by some ballsy screams, as the track descends into chaos. With feelingful singing and even stronger and tightly controlled guitar work, this is (Sic)monic at their best.
Unfortunately the next two tracks are awful. “”Requiem” is an anaemic Rock ballad. “Oxygen” has a touch of Phil Collins about it. It goes nowhere. In fact there’s more atmosphere on a Phil Collins track. “No Conscience” takes us back to punchy Death / Hardcore. The structure, in common with other parts of the album, is more like an extract from a Rock Opera. The chanted lyrics are all over the place. I was beginning to lose hope but “Just How Far Down do You Want to Go” restored my faith. Although I thought I was listening to the Corrs for a moment, the hard-working violin mix well with the dynamic vocals and exotic sound of Breed 77 again, and make for an interesting and engaging track. And then “Paradiseum” – oh dear, an utterly tedious slow number. “Acidic Epiphanies” signals a complete change of direction. Clean Metal melody meets Metal growls, something like Scar Symmetry, Sonic Syndicate and the like. Then it slows down eerily, the vocalist sounds like the guy from Riverside. The atmosphere is Progressive but with a strong element of Death Metal. This leads into “bonus track” (I don’t get how this is a bonus as opposed to a standard track) “Fist to Throat”, notable for its fast and unusual delivery. The Rock Opera style combines with Death Metal. It then slows down and descends into emotional and atmospheric darkness before a further trip into chaos and Death Metal anarchy. A lot is packed into 3 minutes 40 seconds. “Fist to Throat” is excellent. When (Sic)monic do it well, they do it well. The trouble is that you don’t know what you’re going to get next. In this case, it’s “Seven Inches Deep”, a fusion of the versatile vocalist’s Progressive outpourings with Death Metal brutality and aggression. On “Hypnotic”, plaintive vocals accompany a mix of Death Metal and bog standard Metal. The upshot is that it doesn’t achieve the level of drama which I guess was intended. Then finally another “bonus track” “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” surprises us with frantic fiddling. It’s an enjoyable piece of Metal do-si-do, basically.
So, did “Somnambulist” win me over? Although there was a lot of it that I liked, I can’t say that it did. Over the 75 minutes the disparity between tracks, some of which were downright tedious, did it no favours at all. When the band were going full on and mixing it all up, it was fine and there were many interesting twists. It was just too disjointed to be satisfying.
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