Yet the reason why I keep listening to this gem of an album is because it’s so diverse, or ‘eclectic’.  (Sic)monic themselves describe it as “heart crushing sound fused with melodic integrity that is pushing modern musical boundaries into an extreme new territory.” Offcourse bands will never sell themselves short in their descriptions, however my description “A progressive fusion of nu-metal with grind/death-core” isn’t too far off “an extreme new territory”. Expect a vast range of vocalstyles listening to this album, including rap-core, growls, screamo, pigsqueels, melodic verses and something I never heard before but could describe as “rap- or scat-growling” (scat???).

The instrumental work isn’t much less diverse. At one point a song is sounds as a radio-friendly nu-metal track to then explode into a brutal assault on the eardrums you’ll probably never hear on radio (except on some metal-specific internet-radios). But this isn’t a pattern that you will find in every song on Somnambulist, nearly every song has it’s own unique atmosphere, the album contains heavy as dark-matter facemelters as easylistening acoustic ballads (only two ballads, don’t worry…).

Mixing and production quality isn’t the best I heard but the musicianship of each member in (Sic)monic is of great quality, this version of the album I aquired has 11 tracks. However it has recently been re-released with 4 bonus tracks as the band singed to Aural Music. I haven’t heard that one yet but am eager to, if the production is improved upon, and the obvious bonus of… bonus-tracks it won’t be a waste by the least bit.

It’s quite hard to explain just how great I find this album, especially in its whole it is a must-have if you like bands that are one, refreshing and two do not shy of experimenting with combinations of different subgenres.

Tracklist:

1. To The Fiendz…
2. Till The Morning Light
3. Somnambulist
4. Illumination
5. Of Blood And Grace
6. Requiem
7. Oxygen
8 . No Conscience
9. Just How Far Down Do You Want to Go?
10. Paradiseum
11. Acidic Epiphanies

myspace page
www.sicmonic.com