Review of Symbiontic - Vaya

Back in the prehistoric days of MetalReview, we received a demo that wowed most of the staff, past and present. It was a mystery as to why this band which had a unique take on technical death metal was unsigned. Well it’s been three years since then, but Symbiontic has found a home on Sylphony Recordings, and are back with another solid full-length album. I still don’t hear too much talk about them outside of this site, and that, my friends, is a damn shame.

They refer to themselves as “morbid melodic death metal”, we’ll go with that. Symbiontic don’t play overly fast or brutal, but the way they contort melodies sets them apart from the hordes of doppelgangers in the metal world of today. There is a definite influence from Chuck Schuldiner’s later works. Take for example, the song “Demon”, we have an opening riff of heavy triplets followed by melodic flourishes that just have a gut-twisting quality. They just don’t sound healthy, and that’s fine. Towards the end of the song, there is an instrumental break with Chuck’s playing all over it.

“Bloodpath” encompasses all that these Germans stand for: Stockholmish riffs, acoustic guitar layering in a haunting manner, competent vocals that go from a Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) roar to a standard deep growl. This is probably the best song of Vaya, followed closely by “Psycho” and “A Cold Day in Hell”, which has a very compelling melody in the beginning that sounds like fingertapping and string bending combined. With this band, each song has its own identity. Unfortunately, they take this too far, with three of the ten total tracks being odd intermissions, and while “Calling the Storms” and “The Descending” are both a pleasure to hear, I’d prefer full songs in their place. The production sounds cold and chilling, with a heavy low end. Sometimes this causes the drums to be muted, but they usually break through, while the guitars sound great.

Vaya is an album that needs to be heard by more people. I lean slightly more towards Bioconstruct (their prior album), but that may just have to do with the novelty factor of that album, being an unknown demo that landed on our doorstep. If you like technical, yet melodic death metal that is very well-played and constructed, then Symbiontic is your band.

Release Details

Symbiontic

Vaya

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