Since their inception in 2013, SYK have set the extreme metal scene ablaze with their mind-bending compositions and ferocious sonic prowess. SYK wasted no time in forging their unique path after their previous project disbanded. With "eartHFlesh", SYK embarks on a new chapter. Their new lineup of untamed warriors is ready to unleash the full force of their anger and sonic progression. Bursting with blistering riffs, complex dynamics, and cataclysmic rhythms, this album will take you on a journey through the darkest recesses of the metal realm. As the earth shakes beneath your feet and the very flesh quivers with anticipation, SYK delivers an unrelenting sonic assault that will leave you breathless.

The album has eight songs, and “I Am the Beast” is first. The opening tones are dissonant, and ominous, and something is brewing. It comes out in the form of a long scream with an aggressive bed of guitars and drums, and the band is able to exhume a pure form of power from just a few notes in the riffs. “Where I am going there is no Light” is every bit as aggressive and powerful as the previous song but it also has some subtle and eerie melodies floating in the background like an apparition. “I’ll Haunt You in your Dreams” sounds exactly what the title suggests…a grotesque figure that you only see at night while you are sleeping. He smiles coyly, and his face drips with blood.

“eartHFlesh” is another dirty and filthy offering. The drums roll forward at a machine gun pace, the riffs are brutally contentious, with dissonant chugging accents and deep rhythmic grooves. and the vocals are deadly. “The Sermon” showcases some of the band’s outstanding musicianship. The groove in the dissonant guitars is held in perfect timing with the drums, and the rhythm is one that is just hypnotic. “The Cross” is shorter, and faster, and has an ugly and deplorable riff, and I mean that in the best way possible. The sound is just so compelling and authoritative that the listener can’t helped to be sucked beneath the heavy undertoe.

“For to Themselves I Left Them” is merciless and savage. All the time that the riff is punching you, beating you, and kicking you in the teeth when you are down, the heavy rhythms and harsh vocals are plucking out your organs. The lengthy “The Passing” closes the album, and it’s another bruiser. Soft, ethereal vocals float over a bed of razor sharp nails and measured rhythms. So far this year, I haven’t heard an album that is this punishing, but also as intelligent as it is. Much of the album is reflective of formidable and burdensome guitar rhythms, and the band melds these bloody and raw abstract shapes into energetic omnipotence, with the hands of a skilled alchemist. This has to be a contender for “album of the year.”