THE BEAST

Phenomy - Syndicate Of Pain - Reviewed by Moshville Times ! Check it out here at this link: https://www.moshville.co.uk/reviews/album-review/2022/02/album-review-phenomy-syndicate-of-pain/

My knowledge of bands from the Middle East is not great. Picking a band badged as thrash and coming from Lebanon seemed a good way to broaden the knowledge about the scene over there and take a temperature check on developments. Enter Phenomy, a four-piece band formed in 2014 with the intention of making groove and thrash metal. Two albums released in 2016 and 2018 received decent reviews. Syndicate of Pain is album number three. A concept album about an asylum run by a mad scientist, Dr Anton Shuman who is manipulating criminals and patients alike. There’s a twist as the patients are eventually revealed to have avoided treatment as part of a bigger project.

Phenomy’s style is not out and out thrash metal as one might expect. Instead, they deliver a much more hybrid style, incorporating groove, thrash, and even industrial elements. It leads to an interesting album that varies in intensity, power, and aggression.

Syndicate of Pain is a ten track 50-minute release which begins with a dark and atmospheric intro of “Noir”. This sets the tone for the album, and the overall concept. The bruising “Ominous” sees thick riffs, plenty of double kicking and Sam Felfly’s strangled roars. It’s a track that matches the topic, that of a paranoid patient and his struggle with voices., with the multiple screams bringing the subject to life.

As the story plays out, the music becomes more expansive. There’s the heavy groove of “The Mute, The Deaf, The Blind”, which has a Machine Head and Lamb of God feel about it, with slower, heavier sections combining with faster sections. The track “Bone Orchid” veers towards a hybrid nu metal and djent feel, the schizophrenic style matching the storyline.

Whilst the music is well played, the songs aren’t particularly memorable. “Temptation” exposes the weaknesses in the vocals, with the cleans whilst honest, struggling in parts. It’s to the band’s credit that they redeem matters somewhat with one of the best songs, “Beyond the Wall of Sleep”. With more than a nod to Machine Head in the delivery, the song is an eight-minute piece that brings in the Lovecraft novel of the same name. It’s a big, heavy instrumental that flows fluidly, dipping into a gentle mid-section passage before building to a crescendo. Maybe it’s the absence of vocals that makes it more appealing, providing a breather and time to consider what has gone before.

The album does finish strongly. The Machine Head links are inevitable when you have a track called “When the Darkness Comes” and the Flynn influence is heard again, although this takes more influences from the heavier side of bands like Sevendust and Disturbed. This doesn’t take away from the quality of the song or the title track that concludes the album.

Whilst Syndicate of Pain is solidly delivered, it doesn’t linger that long in the memory. The songs stand well on their own but tended to blend into each other as the album progresses. Stand out moments include “Beyond the Wall of Sleep” and the title track, although there are some tracks that don’t really stir the emotions. Definitely worth a listen though, especially if you are a fan of the groove and thrash genre. - Moshville Times

Release Date: March 3, 2022

FFO: Inflames, Sepultura, Gojira

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

LEBANESE THRASH TITANS PHENOMY ANNOUNCE BLISTERING NEW ALBUM ‘SYNDICATE OF PAIN’, A TALE OF ASYLUM MANIPULATION, ABUSE & INSANITY, WITH ANIMATION VIDEO ‘LEAD ME TO MY THRONE’ OUT NOW.