Sylosis - The Path (EP Review)

Sylosos - The Path
Released: October 4, 2024

Line up

Josh Middleton // guitar, vocals
Alex Bailey // guitar
Ali Richardson // drums
Conor Marshall // bass

Online

Facebook
Instagram/X
Website

It’s a pretty great morning when you wake to the news that UK tech metalcore stalwarts Sylosis have surprised released a new five track EP. The Path features songs left from the sessions for their 2023 album A Sign of Things to Come (review here). It’s the sort of release that can be a bit hit or miss since sometimes there’s clearly some inferior material that didn’t make the LP. But this is Sylosis we are listening to and that’s a usually a sign of quality.

Things get off to a thumping start with the title track, ‘The Path’. Led by kick drum, Josh Middleton gets throaty before everything kicks in and it is a headbang-fest. Lyrically it’s about Middleton’s love for heavy music and that passion comes through. It’s a definite mosh pit starter, helped along with Debbie Gough of Heriot dropping her own verse in.

‘The Path’ alone would make a worthy single, but we’ve got four more tracks here. Both ‘Soured Ground’ and ‘As Above So Below’ are immediate and unrelenting. They’re both very intense with killer up-tempo riffing and some cool breakdowns. However, I can see why they were left off ASOTTC because they wouldn’t really add anything to what the album already has. Some fans will jump onto these two tracks as their faves and that makes their inclusion here worthwhile.

The gems for me are the final two tracks. ‘No Saviours’ has fabulous guitar leads that contrast with the song’s groove and chugging rhythm. ‘Disavowed’ also gets some chug going and is blessed with Middleton’s clean vocals as a point of difference. There’s a bad ass breakdown for good measure too. It’s a ballsy anthem song for sure.

Credit to Sylosis for releasing these tracks under their own banner, rather than tacking them to the end of a reissue of A Sign of Things to Come. The Path is a strong five track EP, that doesn’t quite hit the heights of their LP, but will make for bludgeoning additions to their mosh pits. There’s plenty of time to learn the words before they tour Oz in February 2025.

Rating: 8.5 / 10
The Path is out now on Nuclear Blast Records. Stream it here.
Review by KJ Draven (Twitter X and Instagram).