Band : Sonic Syndicate
Album title : We Rule The Night
Label : Nuclear Blast
Distributor : PIAS
Release date : 27/08/2010
Release : CD

With the Burn This City single already out since November of last year (review posted the 23rd of that same month – directions to previous releases/ reviews, and also the band's history can be found there), anticipation was running high for the next full-length album! Indeed, 2008's Love And Other Disasters not only saw the band tour with Nightwish (US), In Flames (Europe) and Deathstars, and break the seal on many country's charts, but also brought a change in the line-up at the most prominent position of the clean singer. I can now tell you that Roland Johansson, the fellow whom had held that position until April 2009, left because of personal reasons (actually, the 10-year older singer couldn't keep up with the band's pace touring-wize). In October of the same year he announced his participation in a new musical project with former In Flames member Jesper Strömblad, with hopes of releasing their album in early 2010. Thus far, I haven't found any additional news on that!

But of course the anticipation was primarily about Johansson's replacement Nathan James Biggs. The preceding single and EP Rebellion already put some people's hearts at ease, I suppose, but the waiting was for the first full-length with the new frontman. Originally the album was slated to be released in May (and in fact a first version was already presented to a select audience of the European press in March), but the waiting was then prolonged due to the fact that the band was not quite completely satisfied with the mix done by Toby Wright (whom had taken a very clinical stance towards the material during pre-production...something to which the band certainly was not used). Somehow they felt the music came through a bit too rough, and a smoother sound was really what they were looking for, something which could be achieved through the addition of some more backing vocals and keyboards. To incorporate those elements in the final mix, the band used producer Roberto Laghi (played an important role in the last In Flames album).

But the end result stand as a concrete wall with more than sufficient foundations! And Wright's clinical method helped the band to make a further progression in the way they look upon their music. The sound is fat where needed, and smooth at the same time. Among the 11 songs on the album, you'll find the two calmer tracks “My Own Life” (the calmest, without even a trace of rough backing vocals)and “Miles Apart” (mixed rough and clean vocal backings, and also some electric guitar) incorporating acoustic guitars, even being dominated by the keyboards. As it so happens, you can get acquainted with each and every song on the album at myspace.com/sonicsyndicate, because the band posted the album there in its entirety! On September 15 (which should be a couple days after this gets posted) the band sets off on a European tour, starting in Scandinavia. Since there's no concert yet in Belgium, those among you better check the band's MySpace page for appropriate places to go see the band. Meanwhile, let's make this a year-list entry again!

98/100

Tony.