Richard HolmesSikth – Death of a Dead Day (Peaceville)
Genre: Progressive Metal
Landmark, blueprint, gamechanger – whatever you want to call Sikth’s second opus, there’s no denying its influence on contemporary metal – and especially the djent scene, which blossomed just a few years after its release in 2006.
To celebrate its tenth anniversary (and linking in nicely with Sikth’s recent resurgence) Peaceville have re-released Death of a Dead Day and thrown in demo versions of Flogging The Horses, Part Of The Friction and Where Do We Fall (the pick of the bunch) in for good measure. Collectors and long time fans may be intrigued by those demos – and the record’s availability in a heavyweight double LP format – but for the uninitiated, it’s a chance to see what all of the fuss was about.
Songs like the twisting, mutant metal masterpiece Bland Street Bloom and the pulsing, weighty Sanguine Seas of Bigotry have lost none of their potency ten years on, while Summer Rain still dazzles with its punchy contorted grooves and unhinged leads, and In This Light, with its grace and elegance, shows what talented writers Sikth were in their first incarnation.
Indeed, many of today’s progressive, über-technical metal acts could still take a leaf out of Sikth’s book, as the Hertfordshire outfit let their imaginations soar – and were never constrained by formulas.
If the name Sikth means anything to you, you’ll probably have these tracks ingrained on your memory. If not, this album still offers a taste of the future… a decade after it was created.
RUSHONROCK RATED: 8.5/10 Afterlife