SYKOFANT

SYKOFANT     “Sykofant”

By Dark Starr

This is a new band from Norway with their debut release. It's guitar-oriented rock that sits within the progressive rock zone. I hear influences ranging from PINK FLOYD to RUSH, KING CRIMSON, LED ZEPPELIN, heavy metal and more. It's an intriguing set that is not fully instrumental, but leans heavily on extended non-vocal sections. It's always interesting and it varies enough to keep it from ever feeling redundant or tired. 

"Pavement of Color" starts things off, and the rhythm section brings it in with some particularly compelling bass work. The track takes on sort of a jazz fusion vibe as the arrangement fills out, and it moves forward. Eventually they drop it back to a more stripped back arrangement for the entrance of the vocals. It has a very cool prog meets psychedelic vibe as it continues. There are some seriously hard rocking angles in the mix on this as it drives forward later. It gets into more straight-ahead hard rock territory as it does. This segues into the next number. 

Continuing directly out of the opener, the bass really shines as "Between Air and Water" gets underway and it's the only instrument for a time. There is a definite blues rock vibe as the track continues working forward. PINK FLOYD is a valid reference point in some ways. In fact, that really seems to become more prevalent as it continues, both from the guitar sound and the vocal that seems to fit with the earlier, more psychedelic side of PINK FLOYD. It threatens to turn metallic with an instrumental break after the four-minute mark. As they build on that vibe it does have a definite metal angle to it, but there are proggy things at play, as well. The song keeps reinventing itself in this extended instrumental movement. It seems to run along the lines of a lot modern metallic prog. It works through a number of twists and turns as it evolves. At over 12-and-a-half minutes of music, it is one of the longest tracks here, allowing them to pack quite a bit into it. This again leads straight into the next piece. 

Hard rocking, "Monuments of Old" features some killer guitar work. It also has some interesting twists and turns. There is a definite RUSHish angle to it at times. When the vocals come in, it takes on an almost LED ZEPPELIN sort of sound. The track is intriguing and unique. The guitar prog that is at the heart of "Between the Moments" has some hints of modern KING CRIMSON, but also some of the other references like RUSH and metallic prog. It has some cool changes, and a harder rocking, riff-driven movement later really enforces that RUSH thing with more ZEPPELIN in the mix, too. 

Another that flows right out of the previous one, "Strangers" seems to continue with the same influences we've heard throughout. That hard rocking texture merged with prog and psychedelia works really well. They throw in something that makes me think of the OUTLAWS with its country rock leanings later. It evolves into something that feels like a take on "Rawhide" for a while. They seem to end the track with that section, but then ambient tones rise up gradually as it moves forward in spacey ways. That part holds the track to near the end, when a more balladic approach with the sound of children is heard nearly in the background. That part links it into the next song. This track is more than ten-and-a-half minutes long. 

At close to 14-and-a-half minutes long, the closing "Forgotten Paths" is the epic of the set. It comes with a folk prog motif that grew out of the sounds left behind from the previous number. Eventually this works out to more driving prog from there, but it is still recognizably connected to that which came before. It shifts to something new around the four-minute mark. After an extended movement that feels more like a connecting piece, the track turns out to a driving jam that again feels like PINK FLOYD. That is in full control as the guitar solos around the halfway mark. That peaks after the nine-minute mark, and then picked guitar brings us into a different section. That part feels a little like CAPTAIN  BEYOND to me in some ways with some RUSH and PINK FLOYD in the mix. Eventually it drops to a mellower motif. That works out after a while into a fast-paced prog jam that is really cool. 

SYKOFANT