SINTAX – Nano 3000

Israeli Thrashers Sintax return with their second album Nano 3000, an eight song collection of murky modern Metal packing dropkick drumming and razor blade riffs. Five years elapsed between this album and their 2015 debut, Sway for Another Day, but no evidence of corrosion appears on this brutal set which sees the band engaging in a number of stylistic nuances and enhancements to craft a unique listening experience. Proggy and Voivodian tunings on some of the songs highlight some of the apocalyptic and science fictional thematic elements, showcasing the bands’ overall high caliber musicianship and deft songwriting.

Oddly, the album opens with what might be the weakest cut of the package “Skelaton Scale”, which fails to distinguish beyond the typical after a fantastic whirlwind of drums from that create the sensation of metal garbage cans hurled down a set of concrete steps. Partially redeemed by a superior run on the bass frets by Slava Kishka near the end, the song wounds but doesn’t kill, unlike the seven that follow.

“Reefers Sting and Honey”, a great title by any measure, kicks off with an amazing assault of the skins by a drummer sadly uncredited in the promotional material; the attack ends abruptly with a backmasked effected riff. Singer Yehi Zaken sounds as though he’s ripping his throat raw in the delivery, his gruff growl effectively counterpointed by the bright riffs delivered by axmen Roi Illouz and Yoav Gruper.

“Most Hated Man” begins with a more traditional metallic vibe, with gang vocal choruses and a slower middle section, backdropping a slower divebombing solo with a harmonic riff. “Sight Got Past”, a standout among the standouts, veers sharply from its Voivod opening into a pounding Thrasher.

The title cut follows, and builds in layers, the quiet beginning no indication of the maelstrom to follow. Concerned, as many modern Thrash bands are, with the dangerous downsides of the proliferation of technology, the song utilizes to great effect shifting sections to create an air of growing menace, so by the time one gets to the mechanical public address system overdub near the end one imagines that the death drones are already on their way.

“Shooting Stars” alternately gallops and trots over its five minutes and seventeen seconds, the longest of the tracks on the album. It’s chief highlight lies in the interesting bass and guitar harmonics of the instrumental section halfway through the song. Next up, “Lethal And Armed” begins with a strange little guitar figure sounding not unlike an Irish jig; after that initial surprise the song proceeds at a Thrash pace interspersed with some Classic Metal phrasings.

Syntax close up the Metal shop with their lead single “Lunchtime Funeral”, an uncompromising smack in the head built around their heaviest riff thus far. Nano 3000 impresses overall, an angry and expertly rendered slab of modern Thrash Metal.