Drink up me hearties, yo ho! For Canada’s SYRYN has just unleashed their debut album ‘Beyond the Depths’. This concept album is for fans of power metal who are brave enough to face the perils of an unforgiving ocean. Founding vocalist Sloan Voxx describes ‘Beyond the Depths‘ as:

a conceptual album that takes you on a journey through the eyes of a siren. Her menacing instincts enticing her to lure sailors/pirates, torture them and kill them. This siren, however, starts to develop humanity, which causes an internal struggle for her.

While I can certainly appreciate an album where all the songs are interconnected, I quickly noticed there was something fishy going on here (pun intended). You see, the album features twelve tracks, but only six of them are actually songs. The other six tracks are short excerpts featuring sounds of a ship at sea, an alluring siren call, a trapped sailor screaming for help, etc. Ranging between 20 and 50 seconds, each excerpt functions as a brief introduction to the upcoming song. From a conceptual point of view, these excerpts certainly fit within the storytelling as they convey a setting and atmosphere. Unfortunately it occasionally breaks the overall flow of the album. It also feels like a cheap way of padding the length of an album that would otherwise be under 30 minutes in length.

Fortunately the six songs we do get on the album are all pretty solid. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but I found it to be a competently executed slice of power metal with catchy riffs, strong vocals and enough variety to keep things interesting.

The first song, ‘Never Ending Nightmare‘, starts off slowly with an alluring siren call. Vocalist Voxx (or should I say Voxxalist?) beckons us like a siren would a lonely sailor at sea who’s longing for companionship. Then, as her singing becomes more ominous, the guitars and drums kick in and the song’s tempo picks up at a galloping pace. Next up we have ‘Three Sheets to the Wind‘, a song about being inebriated after drinking multiple shots of whiskey, rum and brandy. I can definitely see this song being popular with a live audience. Particularly if you’re a fan of bands like Alestorm and Running Wild.

The third song on the album is called ‘Unbreakable‘, which was actually SYRYN’s debut single back in 2017. After a brief melodic intermezzo, ‘Paradise for Demise’ kicks in with a killer opening riff and toe tapping drums. The only thing I’m missing here is a catchy chorus to sing along to. Fortunately ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ is just around the corner. This song is the lead single of the album and rightfully so. It’s catchy, it conveys the overall theme of the album and it’s a perfect showcase of the band’s musical strengths. Finally the album concludes with ‘Through It All‘, a gradually empowering mid-tempo closer.

While the instruments certainly get their fair share of limelight, it’s the vocals that are front and center for most of the album. Voxxalist gets plenty of opportunities to showcase her vocal range. At times her singing reminds me of the late Jill Janus from the band Huntress. The other band members also sound eager to prove themselves, with some excellent shredding and double bass drumming.

Release date: January 3rd, 2020
Label: independent
Tracklist:

1. Song of the Syrynite
2. Never Ending Nightmare
3. Inebriated Outcasts
4. Three Sheets to the Wind
5. Panic Room
6. Unbreakable
7. Bound in Torment
8. Paradise for Demise
9. Prelude to Fatality
10. Dead Men Tell No Tales
11. Adrift
12. Through It All