ALBUM REVIEW: The New Flesh – Sylosis

Somewhere around the turn of the decade, SYLOSIS upped their game and evolved into a remarkable band. The Berkshire four-piece were always good, but you can trace a gradual, upward trend in quality right from the start of their career, and it arguably peaked in 2023. A Sign Of Things To Come was a stunning record. It took the technicality and warp speed aggression of their earlier work, sharpened up the song writing and was among the best British metal albums of the year.

It was also a great example of how to do modern thrash. Even in their earliest days, SYLOSIS were a rare case of a thrash band that wasn’t beholden to the genre’s glory days. They loved the eighties Bay Area sound, but they also weren’t ignoring every post-Nevermind development. Like their contemporaries in BLEED FROM WITHIN, SYLOSIS enter 2026 as flagbearers for the wider UK scene.

And while The New Flesh isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, it is nonetheless very, very good. It’s another collection of precision-engineered, guitar-centric metal songs with a few banger choruses chucked in for good measure. Cuts like Mirror Mirror and All Glory, No Valour are designed to wreck necks and break noses, and they’re stuffed with mosh calls and furious riffage. The more mid-tempo Lacerations finds them easing into a stomping slice of modern groove metal, while the title track is a thinking man’s fight song. Roughly a minute in, Josh Middleton peels off one of the best guitar riffs that Gary Holt never wrote, and it turns into a gang-chanting, full impact barnburner.

The album ends strongly too. The climactic Seeds In The River showcases everything that SYLOSIS do well; it’s a beginner’s guide to razor sharp riffage, there’s a keen understanding of dynamics, some killer melodies and a skyscraper vocal line. It’s a fitting ending and rounds off a very impressive album.

So, why the lower score than the last one? Simply put, it isn’t quite as good as The Sign Of Things To Come. The songs are ace, but they’re a slim margin behind their older brothers from 2023. Every SYLOSIS record up until now has felt like it took a few steps ahead of the previous one, but The New Flesh doesn’t. It’s not going backwards either, but this is more a case of holding the line than pushing forward into the fray.

Plus, they’ve included a track that’s likely to be one of the most divisive of their career thus far. Everywhere At Once is a momentum-stalling ballad that while atmospheric, doesn’t feel like it’s up to their best. At times, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the glam rock scene, and while we’re sure SYLOSIS have a terrific ballad in them, this one isn’t it. It’s more like a warmup. Turns out Josh Middleton is a much better singer than we realised though.

It’s the exception rather than the rule, and The New Flesh’s main focus is on sending moshers home with cracked ribs and bloody noses. But simply put, it isn’t quite in the same league as The Sign Of Things To Come. The New Flesh is killer, it’s not got that insta-classic spark. It is absolutely worth checking out, but SYLOSIS set lofty standards that anyone, themselves included, would struggle to reach. At least half of the material here is going to crush it live though, and if Beneath The Surface doesn’t turn your local venue into a charnel house, we’ll punch Lenny right in the back of the head.

Rating: 8/10

The New Flesh is set for release on February 20th via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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