SYLOSIS – The New Flesh (Album Review)

Long live the new flesh!

It is sometimes stipulated that concise songwriting and progressive stylings are opposites, but whoever proposed such a dichotomy likely never encountered the handiwork of British melodic death/thrash stalwarts Sylosis.

Formed right at the turn of the millennium by the then 15 year old guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton and ushering in their earliest studio material during the latter half of the 2000s when metalcore was beginning to rival the Gothenburg melodic death metal craze in terms of cultural relevance, this was a fold that could easily have glommed onto the mainstream sensibilities of the former yet opted for a less travelled road.

Drawing heavily from the extreme and technically charged well that typifies the likes of Revocation and Bloodshot Dawn while maintaining a streamlined songwriting approach in line with the thrash and groove-oriented adherents of melodic death metal such as The Crown and The Haunted, the resulting sound shares a few peripheral commonalities with the 2000s metalcore rage, but is ultimately a far more dangerous beast.

Being no strangers to revamping their arrangement in light of a continual revolving door of lineup changes, Sylosis enters 2026 with a couple of shifts in personnel, yet comes out with the same pummeling blend of raw sonic fury and virtuosic intrigue with their latest studio entry The New Flesh. The exit of long-time guitarist Alex Bailey following the release of the 2024 EP The Path has seen bassist Conor Marshall taking up the six-string alongside Middleton to make room for newly recruited bassist Ben Thomas of the South Wales-based melodic death metal band Venom Prison.

Needless to say, Thomas fits the mold like a glove and proves a key element alongside drummer Ali Richardson in constructing a truly massive bottom end to what can be described as a colossal display of heaviness. Likewise, the battering riff assault that is laid down by Middleton and Marshall sees this outfit’s sound plunge further into the harrowing depths of thrashing death metal extremeness, often rivaling the brutality of bands more readily associated with the old school side of the coin.

Right out of the gate, Middleton and company come out swinging with some of the most intense yet elaborate material they’ve ever churned out. The ambient exposition turned well-rounded blend of bone-crushing thrash and earth-shattering groove metal that is the opener “Beneath The Surface” pulls zero punches in the aggression department, seamlessly shifting between blinding speed and pummeling mid-paced fare as Josh throws down a brilliant blend of Gothenburg-inspired rasp and hardcore-infused grit.

The generally groovy and measured anthems “Erased” and “Mirror Mirror” veer a tad closer to Lamb Of God territory with a more rhythmically nuanced approach as Middleton takes occasions to throw in a few clean-sung hooks amid the post-hardcore and groove metal carnage in the former, while atmospheric keyboards adorn much of the latter. Several other entries in this 11-chapter sonic slaughter session opt for a similarly merciless yet multifaceted approach, such as the almost ambient turned groove-thrashing epics “Adorn My Throne” and “Lacerations”, both of which blur the lines between Sylosis’ signature mode of brutality with the more dreamy quality of Finnish melodic death staples like Mors Principium Est and Omnium Gatherum.

For every time that this outfit opts to combine almost disparate elements into a singular anthem, they also allot for a more straight-up expression of either a consistently impact-based approach or a full-on foray into lighter territory. In terms of ruining the neck alignment of anyone within earshot, the explosive thrasher “All Glory, No Valor” and the meaty groove-thrashing crusher “Circle Of Swords” take the aggression factor to its logical conclusion and feature some of Josh’s most inhuman vocalizations ever committed to recording.

“Spared From The Guillotine” pushes the envelope so far that the line that divides The Crown from Suffocation practically vanishes for its 4-minute duration in a sea of dissonant riffing and machine gun drumming. The acoustic ballad “Everywhere At One” basically throws the whole arrangement for a loop and lands almost perfectly into 2000s metalcore territory, complete with a brooding, clean-sung performance out of Middleton to perfectly match the air of nostalgic melancholy for a time 20 years past.

Nonetheless, the two songs that truly sum up the unique niche that this album rests upon are the measured yet chaotic thrasher of a title entry, “The New Flesh”, and the drawn-out epic riff monster and closer “Seeds In The River”, which mixes more brilliant mid-2000s balladry and even some symphonic trimmings into the death-thrashing mix.

It’s a very safe assumption that those who have already been drawn into Sylosis’ world of uncompromising metallic fervor with a technical edge between their 2008 breakout debut, Conclusion Of An Age, and now will be satisfied with what The New Flesh has to offer. Though it might seem a bit overwhelming to a newcomer to this outfit’s material, which is more accustomed to the stylistically straightforward character of Trivium, Lamb Of God, or The Haunted, it is grounded enough to appeal to said tastes with a minimal level of adjustment.

This album showcases a band that, in spite of having more than 3 times as many former members as it does current ones, has found a greater degree of focus in how they commit their highly eclectic sound into a package that is reasonably concise and accessible. Opinions may vary as to whether this is Sylosis’ finest moment yet, but The New Flesh definitely ranks high among their growing list of studio accomplishments.

Release Date: February 20th, 2026
Record Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal

Musicians:

• Josh Middleton / Guitars, vocals
• Conor Marshall / Guitars
• Ben Thomas / Bass
• Ali Richardson / Drums

The New Flesh Tracklist:

1. Beneath The Surface
2. Erased
3. All Glory, No Valour
4. Lacerations
5. Mirror Mirror
6. Spared From The Guillotine
7. Adorn My Throne
8. The New Flesh
9. Everywhere At Once
10. Circle Of Swords
11. Seeds In The River

Order the album here.