Review: Seyr – Flux

Style: Progressive Metal, Post-Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: The Ocean, Cult of Luna
Review by: Christopher
Country: Germany
Release date: 12 August, 2022

Post-metal. It comes either with emphasis on the ‘post’ or on the ‘metal’. Personally, I’ve never been fond of the formulaic ‘lay it all on the crescendo’ approach of post-rock and some post-metal. Fortunately, post-metal is more versatile, so when I order mine, I go easy on the post, heavy on the metal, and can you give me a shot of prog? And when the barista looks at me like all this is above their pay grade I hastily say “just filter coffee please”. 

Flux is the debut release from Seyr, a German-Syrian quintet working within the heavier echelons of progressive post-metal; think along the lines of The Ocean and Cult of Luna, bands where prog comes first, post-metal second. A lot of your post-metal standards are on display: airy plucked chords and high-tremolo leads against enormous atmospheres, restrained rhythms building in intensity until the anticipated monstrous crescendos invariably arrive.

But Seyr offer a little more: vocalist Sebastian Elm moves from sombre cleans, to guttural harshes, to spoken word sections enunciated in the manner of a fire and brimstone proselytiser. His timbre in clean sections at times recalls, of all people, Lou Reed; certainly an unusual vocal style in metal, and one that allows Seyr to stand out a little. His harshes have an Akerfeldtian balance of brutality and clarity, but occasionally move into an even heavier sphere, beyond the realms of comprehensibility, as on “Resonance”. 

The other distinguishing feature that allows Seyr to shine a beacon out of the post-metal sea is the bass work of Max Krüger, probably the highlight of the album. He solos more than the guitars, and the bass is rendered lovingly high in the mix throughout, which is a big plus as bass is often neglected by mixers; hell, it’s often neglected by bassists. It’s surprising how radically this affects the compositions—when treated with the love and focus it deserves, bass can be a very dynamic instrument: more staccato than guitar, its lower tone conferring a different vibrancy to the overall sound.

With that said, however, these relative highs are counterbalanced not by lows, but, rather, by a lack of peaks. There’s a lot to like here, but there aren’t many stand-out moments to write about. “Wassukanni” is easily the best track because it stands out against the pack. Seyr have the chops to consistently write good songs, and, indeed, great moments, but they need to push further to capitalise on their obvious potential. 

I can find little to complain about on Flux, but structurally, placing the two interlude tracks, “Satori” and “Dust”, next to one another doesn’t make much sense (“Dust” leads into “Wassukanni” neatly, but “Satori” is somewhat homeless within the record), and the two longest tracks overstay their welcome a little—Seyr are at their compositionally tightest and most effective on the aforementioned “Wassukanni”, and “Resonance”. Although I’m rarely wild about spoken word samples, one of which appears on “Resonance” to tell us about the relation between space and the self; it’s a little trite, guys! But these are nitpicks, overall Seyr have few, if any, lows for a reviewer to grumble over.  

Flux is a satisfying debut which at its best demonstrates some impressive creative flourishes and a knack for composition, and at its worst can be a little uninspired. Seyr are accomplished musicians who have crafted a worthwhile addition to their genre, and they likely have a bright future ahead of them, but a focus on composition and structure is needed to bring their sound to fruition. Flux still achieves a high level of quality for a debut and absolutely earns your respect.

Recommended tracks: Wassukanni, Resonance, Fi:l
You may also like: Sikasa, Hippotraktor
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Seyr is:
– Sebastian Elm (vocals)
– Levon Khatchatrian (lead guitar)
– Omar Meli (rhythm guitar)
– Max Krüger (bass)
– Levin Wießner (drums)