Sylosis is a British melodic death metal band, from Reading, Berkshire form… Read Full Bio ↴Sylosis is a British melodic death metal band, from Reading, Berkshire formed in 2000. They have used various genres in their music over the years, previously basing their sound on 1980s thrash metal crossed with modern styles of music like melodic death metal and metalcore, blending the genres seamlessly into one coherent and unique sound. With their 2023 LP, "A Sign of Things to Come," and the singles preceding it (Worship Decay; Immovable Stone; Heavy is the Crown), the band moved away from their previous mix of genres in favor of a more mainstream modern metalcore style, similar to Middleton's other band, Architects.

Sylosis was formed in late 2000 by original member Josh Middleton when they were back in school, as a bunch of kids who just wanted to play metal; mainly old school thrash and death metal. Their first two EPs were released on In at the Deep End records, entitled “Casting Shadows” and “The Supreme Oppressor”. The band has been around since 2001; founding member and lead guitarist Josh and bassist Carl are the only surviving members from the original lineup.

In November, 2007 Sylosis got an email from Nuclear Blast saying they'd love to work with the band and signed to them a month later, in which their debut album was released on October 24 2008. Their debut album Conclusion of an Age has a lot of themes, but is generally not a concept album. Lyrically, the album deals with the end of the human race, in how nature reclaims the earth again. The artwork shows a world living with the human race. There are no religious beliefs behind the writings however. After recording their debut album, guitarist Gurneet Ahluwalia quit the band to rejoin his old band Viatrophy, also from Reading. In his place ex-guitarist Alex Bailey of Viatrophy joined Sylosis, ready for the early 2009 European tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, Cephalic Carnage and Psycroptic.

The band has had many members over the years, many of which have played with, or gone on to play with, other Reading bands such as Exit Ten and Viatrophy.

According to an interview Josh gave to Stream of Conciousness, there's no meaning for the name of the band: "the band name was just something we randomly came up with when we were kids and it doesn't carry any significance".

Edge of the Earth, Monolith and RV Accident (2010–2013)
Sylosis replaced Rise to Remain during the UK leg of As I Lay Dying's European tour in 2010. Sylosis entered the studio in 2010 to record their second full-length studio album, entitled Edge of the Earth; it was released in March 2011. They recorded a third studio album titled Monolith with Romesh Dodangoda in Wales at Monnow Valley Studio. Monolith was released on 5 October 2012 in Germany, 8 October 2012 in UK & Europe, 9 October 2012 in USA, and 10 October 2012 in Japan via Nuclear Blast Records. Since January 2013 the band have headlined a UK tour as well featuring on the Soundwave Festival in Australia. They also carried out a tour with the bands [arist]Hellyeah, In Flames and, headliner Lamb of God in late 2012. The band had a main supporting role on a tour with Killswitch Engage in Europe during April and May 2013. Sylosis was announced as the opening band for the Trivium and DevilDriver North American co-headline tour with After the Burial as another supporting band. The tour was scheduled for October and November.

On 25 September, the members of Sylosis were involved in an RV accident, the injuries from which resulted in the withdrawal of their shows supporting Trivium and DevilDriver.

Dormant Heart, departure of Rob Callard, and hiatus (2014–2016)
After the members of Sylosis had recovered from their respective injuries, they embarked on a tour of the UK and Europe as main support to DevilDriver with Bleed from Within. On this tour Sylosis drummer Rob Callard was unable to play on the tour due to other commitments. Ali Richardson, drummer of Bleed From Within, filled in for the remainder of the tour.

In late September 2014 it was announced that Rob Callard was stepping down as drummer of Sylosis after nine years of playing in the band. His replacement was announced at the same time, in the form of Ali Richardson. Richardson's relationship with Sylosis was started on the DevilDriver tour earlier in the year.

At the start of October 2014, Sylosis announced details of their fourth album Dormant Heart, which was released on 12 January 2015 through Nuclear Blast Records. During the second half of May 2015, Sylosis started a European tour with the band Wovenwar. They also played at several festivals over the summer, such as Graspop Metal Meeting and Hellfest among others. In October 2016, Sylosis announced that they would be going on hiatus as frontman Josh Middleton would be filling in for the British metalcore band Architects on guitar due to the passing of their guitarist Tom Searle, who was also a close friend of Middleton's. After 11 months of touring with Architects, it was announced that Middleton would be joining Architects as an official member, stating he would still remain in Sylosis.

Return and Cycle of Suffering (2019–2020)
In a March 2019 interview, Middleton confirmed that the band remains a going concern and that he intends to release a new Sylosis album in 2019. On 5 December 2019 Nuclear Blast revealed the pre-order for an apparent new record titled Cycle of Suffering, to be released on 14 February 2020. A day later, the band announced they had returned from their hiatus and confirmed that the new album would be released on 7 February 2020. This was followed by the first single release and music video from the album, titled "I Sever".

In promotion of the album, the band supported Trivium on their "A Light or a Distant Mirror" live concert. This particular concert was held at Full Sail University and streamed online. The concert did not have a live audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 11 December 2020 Sylosis released a new single, titled "Worship Decay". On 8 March 2021, Sylosis announced a vinyl release of Conclusion of an Age and released "Plight of the Soul", a previously unreleased B-side track from the album.

Singles and "A Sign of Things to Come" (2020-Present)
On December 11th, 2020, Sylosis released a new single, "Worship Decay," which represented a hard shift away from their previous music into a more pop-metalcore style played by Middleton's other band, Architects. The following two singles, "Immovable Stone" and "Heavy is the Crown" followed the same suit. This change in sound was met with mixed reactions by the band's fanbase.

On September 8th, 2023, the band released their sixth studio album, "A Sign of Things to Come," preceded by lead singles "Deadwood," "Poison for the Lost," and "A Sign of Things to Come. The album followed in the same direction as their three inter-album singles referenced above, with sparse examples of their previous thrash/melodeath/metalcore style, only present on "Poison for the Lost" and "A Godless Throne." The band also deployed the use of soft rock and electronic elements on certain songs. On January 16th, 2024, the band released the pop-metal track "Absent" from their album as a single, along with a techno version of the song remixed by Zetra.

"A Sign of Things to Come" has received mixed reactions among the band's fanbase on social media, receiving criticism for the shift to mainstream metalcore, or "nu-metalcore," as well as criticizing Middleton for turning the band into a clone of Architects, his other band. The title track has also been accused of ripping off Sad But True by Metallica.

Monolith
Sylosis Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Tired eyes
Shocked into a daze
The monolith rose from the ground
And the sky was red
Like the soil in my grave
The earth shook with the tides
And caused storms through endless seas
Tell the gods to gather their clouds

To amend this broken dream

Dead to the world
Cast a silent revolt
The slaughtered black sheep
No hope comes as I dream of light
I clench my fists as I sleep
I've lived a thousand lives
Seen horrors through a thousand lies
Dig deeper
Through clawed hands you'll find
No end in sight

I'm so tired yet sleep is no redeemer
When every breath hurts I'll breathe even deeper

Overall Meaning

The first stanza of this song talks about a monolith, a massive and solitary rock, that suddenly appears out of nowhere and shocks everyone who witnesses it, leaving them in a daze. The sky turns red, resembling the soil in a grave, making the scene even more eerie. The monolith triggers an earthquake, causing massive storms in the sea. The singer pleads to the gods to gather the clouds to fix this broken dream, but it seems like all hope is lost.

The second verse describes the singer as feeling dead to the world, experiencing silent revolt. The slaughtered black sheep represents the innocent ones who have faced the extreme consequences, even though they were not part of the chaos. The singer has lost all hope and dreams of light, holding onto fists as they sleep. Having lived a thousand lives, the singer has seen numerous horrors and is still unable to find the end of it all. Finally, the last line of the verse states that sleep is no redeemer, and even when every breath hurts, the singer will keep holding on.

Line by Line Meaning

Tired eyes
Feeling exhausted

Shocked into a daze
Feeling perplexed or confused suddenly

The monolith rose from the ground
A huge and ancient statue emerged from earth

And the sky was red
The sky turned red in color

Like the soil in my grave
The dirt is the same color as in a cemetery

The earth shook with the tides
The earth trembled due to powerful waves

And caused storms through endless seas
Resulting in tempests in vast oceans

Tell the gods to gather their clouds
A plea to divine entities to gather gloomy clouds

To amend this broken dream
To rectify a dream that went wrong

Dead to the world
Completely disconnected from everything

Cast a silent revolt
Expressing dissent without words