This Athens based Greek Melodic Death Metal/ Djent band was founded in 2007 by current members Al Sinnik (lead guitar, occasional keyboardist, and backing vocalist; also active in Dimeyes, Versus Heaven, and as live musician of Seduce The Heaven, with former tenures with God.Fear.None and I Bow Candles), Chris 'CRS' Nanos (rhythm guitarist and owner of Athens based Growl Studios) and Stelios Nanos (bassist and responsible for most keyboard sounds) along with singer Invoker and drummer Andy Rozz (formerly of Embrace Fire, now active with Wild Machine).
In that original line-up, the band went through the process of endless rehearsals to come up with a sound of their own by combining Metalcore grooves with heavy guitar parts and catchy melodies, topped by a mixture of brutal lead and clean backing vocals. A first sample of that music was sent out into the world at large in the form of an acclaimed EP (gained 8/10 in the Greek Metal Hammer magazine, and 9/10 ratings on the Metal-eagle.com and Rocking.gr websites), which encouraged the five-some to self-finance to recorded and self-release its 2011 debut full-length album Black Core Inn. Mastered by renowned producer Peter IN The Betou (known from working with the likes of Arch Enemy, Bring Me The Horizon, Dimmu Borgir, and Meshuggah to name but a few), the album again garnered positive reviews (8/10 on Subexistance.com), which in turn resulted in the release of three videos : “The Quitter”, “Hell-Kunt Beat Me” and “It's Been So Long”...the latter being re-mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen and also released as digital single. Over the years, the band has played shows all over Greece, and in the course of those ended up playing support to the likes of Descending, Devildriver, Suicidal Angels and W.E.B., among others.
For reasons all their own, the core members split from their original singer and drummer in 2013, replacing them respectively by the Canadian Jon Howard (known foremost as the frontman of Treat Signal, but also from his still-active side-projects Arkaea and I Legion, the man also contributed guest vocals to Demented Sanity's 2013 album Legacy, Reward For A Dead Man's 2014 self-titled EP, T.A.N.K.'s 2012 album Spasms Of Upheaval, and Wretched Pain's 2013's EP The Hell You Seek...and as a producer he worked on Threat Signal's 2009 album Vigilance, as well as on Blinded In Bliss' 2012 album Constancy, and Fall's self-titled EP of that same year) and Joni Moas (previously of Nipenthis,he's currently also the live drummer of Aeon Dust, and provides SlavEATgod with additional clean vocals). The new album's music was recorded at the aforementioned Growl Studios, and then sent off to Howard in Ontario, Canada, where at the Woodward Avenue Studios he not only added the vocal recordings, but also mixed and mastered the whole.
In the past, comparisons of this band's sound were done to that of the likes of Meshuggah, Trivium, Lamb Of God, and Soilwork, but also to Dark Tranquility and In Flames, and quite frankly there's certainly some of those bands present in the current album as well. Generally speaking, one also puts the band in the “Modern Melodic Metalcore” box, and in some ways that also is an applicable description. Still, the guys hàve a sound of their own, what with the lead guitarist switching from pure shred to more melodic play all the time. In essence, in fact, I find it kinda hard to express myself about the band's sound, and would much rather have you go check the available material at (www.) facebook.com/SlavEATgod : scroll down the home page to listen to the album's opening song (follows the instrumental opener “Rumors About Steps Secure”) “The Weakened's Rest”, view the The Slyline Fission teaser video, or even stream the whole album (thanks to Terrorizer – you'll need an updated browser). The band also has a MySpace page, but I still cannot get onto that with the network PC I do my research with.
And if you're asking for my personal assessment of the album...well, I've loved listening to the album alright, but the continuous heavy (vocal) onslaught, in spite of some nice calmer passages in the music, was a bit hard to stomach when listening to the album on continuous loops. Well, I liked the passages where the band focuses on the music much more, and the 8-track album both opens and ends with a full but relatively short instrumental. At any rate...if you're into the more brutal-yet-melodic modern Metal acts, than you will certainly enjoy this offering.