Although the opening track on Sole Syndicate‘s new album, Into The Flames, sounds suspiciously like an offcut from American prog metal doyens Symphony X, the track as a whole is interesting enough to draw you in to see what else might be contained within the album’s grooves…

And this is a recurring theme throughout the album; the quartet are clearly a talented unit, but the tracks that comprise Into The Flames never quite escape the ‘that sounds like…’ comparison attempts that each one prompts. That needn’t necessarily be a reason not to listen, of course, and if you’re prepared to simply listen to what’s put in front of you then it is quite likely you’ll have a fine old time in the company of Into The Flames. The band promises in it’s publicity blurb to marry traditional Euro metal to it’s more modern-sounding American cousin, and you can certainly see that juxtaposition in action on muscular tracks like Brave Enough, which has a whiff of Alter Bridge about it (or at least Alter Bridge with Ronnie Romero moonlighting on vocals); This might not be a marriage made in heaven in your opinion, but when confronted with a fully committed performance by the band and a superb, opulent mix from Simone Mularone, I’m prepared to bet that you’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. And so you should. By the time you get to the anthemic Dust of Angels you might even consider yourself a fully paid up Sole Syndicate convert…

Jonas Månsson is a capable vocalist and a fine guitarist – some of his solo work on this album really is out of the top draw, and his riffing on Miss Behave is sure to prompt outbreaks of frenzied air guitar whenever it’s heard – and he is the mainspring around which everything works; Henrik Zetterlund‘s drums are prominent in the mix and he lets no-one down with an accurate, hard-hitting performance, and if bassist David Gustafsson and keyboarder Katja Rasila aren’t given much of a chance to star, they both fulfil the roles delegated to them stylishly and skilfully.

Actually, some of Rasila’s ivory work – particularly in the intro to Shadow of My Love – is reminiscent of Magnum/Grand Slam man Mark Stanway, which of course is fine by this writer – and a bit more of a lean in that direction might have yielded dividends as far as creating a point of difference for the band is concerned. Certainly the proggier material offered up here seems to fit the band best.

So, despite the overall familiarity of the sound, there are plenty of kernels of promise here – certainly enough to suggest the band has a bright future moving forward. Have a listen and see for yourself.

Into The Flames releases on June 17th.