SYLVIUM

I don't understand this Dutch band Sylvium. This is their second full lenght album (plus one EP) and the band still has no identity whatsoever...

As in their first album more than half of Waiting For The Noise (2015) is but a copy of Steven Wilson's music and style, then you have a couple of tracks that are basically copies of Riverside's music...

I understand influence, but on Sylvium's case this is more like lack of identity, which one would think that by the second album the band would have solved the issue, guess not!

They actually worked to solve some points I had against them when I reviewed their first album The Gift Of Anxiety (2013), they are indeed working with more vocals and the album in general feels more 'Prog' and less Alternative. But they achieved that by assimilating, as I mentioned before, too much of other bands music and that makes almost impossible for me to enjoy Sylvium's new album.

Not sayinf there's no quality in their music, but for me I can't listen to the album without pointing which songs is similar to what artist and that... is not good for an album.

Sylvium is a band that hails from the Netherlands with a sound proposal that makes it very hard to categorize. Progressive Rock? Yes! But with a feet in each sub-genre within Prog, though they are somewhat categorized as Heavy Prog.

The band was formed in 2010 by Ben Van Gastel (guitars and keyboards) but Sylvium only saw its formation complete in 2013 when Gijs Koopman (bass), Greg Geustsen (drums) and Richard De Geest (vocals and guitars) were added to the band.

The Gift Of Anxiety (2013) was released almost a year ago, last September, by Freia Music and it is the first proper album of the band (they also have an EP called Purified that was released in 2012). The album was a hard listening for me, Sylvium's musical roots are far away from my favorites?

The opening track is an instrumental (as it is 75% of the album) called 'Disposable' and despite the great bass lines from Gijs (moreover, he's the spotlight of the album) it is a track that doesn't really go anywhere. It's an instrumental track that seems to have been written with vocal melodies in mind but the vocals were never recorded. The second track 'Surround' despite being way more interesting than the first one and with good vocals by Richard is too much Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson, which for me doesn't work and doesn't mean anything.

The next track 'Falling' is heavier and more cadenced. In the next songs the album goes down in an instrumental path which is not that interesting. 'Ominous' is climatic in an Ambient line and 'Heaven' is full of space and gaps. The last track 'Weathering' is basically the continuation of 'Heaven' and it's here that we see how much Sylvium's music would benefit from more vocals. But in the end these three last tracks seem to have giant holes in them, which in my opinion are the missing vocals because they give me this impression that they were written with the aim of incorporating vocals ended up without any. And because of that this instrumental tracks sound hollow and lifeless.

The Gift Of Anxiety (2013) certainly has numerous interesting moments and the ones that like their Prog Rock calm will enjoy it for sure. For me the band betting on instrumental themes most of the time didn't work, the album in general feels as if they're missing something. Now, one thing should be mentioned here, the bass player Gijs Koopman shines throughout the album playing interesting lines and with a great sound, he's a musician to pay attention to.

I hope that Sylvium will work out for the next album with more vocals and try to get a kind of unity for their music.

(Originally posted on progshine.net)

Dutch guitarist Ben van Gastel is the main figure behind this project, started in 2010 in Bussum.Under his leadership and with the help of his first bandmate Fred Boks, who played bass, drums and keyboards, he composed and recorded a 3-track EP, entitled ''Purified'' to give the public a first taste of Sylvium's sound.This short CD was self-published in early 2012.

Pretty close to compatriots CASUAL SILENCE and with a vibe from Americans VISUAL CLIFF, the duo played an emphatic and modern-sounding Heavy Prog with some great guitar work and a few symphonic ambiances placed between the more powerful moments.The music is all instrumental, only a few sporadic spoken parts appear actually during the second track, with excellent, atmospheric grooves and angular lead guitars, accompanied by spacey, orchestral keyboards and a solid rhythm section.Echoes of contemporary Prog with the use of some sound effects and loops are also in the menu, while the more synth-drenched parts have a discreet Neo Prog vibe.Melody is not absent either, especially during the dreamy closing moments of the last and longest track, and a good balance has been kept throughout a fresh Heavy Prog album with some very nice guitar parts.

''Purified'' is far from essential, mainly because of its short length time, but anyone willing to get in touch with Sylvium's early inspiration will be delighted to face some well-crafted and basically guitar-driven Heavy Prog with strong atmospheric doses.Recommended.