Band:	Symbolyc
Album:	Engraved Flesh
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	October 2008

01. Dead Inside
02. Within The Realms Of Human Awareness
03. Wingless
04. Suffering
05. Denied
06. Livin' In A Cold Lie
07. Oncoming Apocalypse
08. Engraved Flesh
09. The Parasite's Curse

Although they started out as a thrash metal band back in the summer of 2003, Symbolyc recently released their debut, a slice of merciless death metal. With some totally neck-breaking riffs and fantastic mid-tempo performances these Italians definitely know how to get the job done, showing some resemblances to bands like Vader and Decapitated in the process. The right amount of groove, a few melodic solos and some technical finesses round off the package and make Engraved Flesh a very strong death metal album.

Death metal has never been known for its huge amount of innovative bands and Symbolyc are no exception to rule. Although they're one of the best new bands in this style that I've heard since a while, this is nothing that hasn't been done before.

Instead the band just focuses on doing a good job with trusted ingredients. The twin guitars deliver solid and diverse performances with the drumming providing a steady backbone, with a couple of fast outbursts. On top of it singer Diego Laino mercilessly growls his lungs out. The many solos act as short but powerful diversions until the carnage continues in its full glory.

With a very good production and no fillers, Engraved Flesh offers thirty-three minutes of powerful death metal, that mixes some of the more melodic and more extreme sides of the genre. They don't offer anything new to the style, but they definitely know how to get the job done and leave me begging for more.