Interview With Josh Middleton, SYLOSIS: “We’re staying true to what we do… the closing track is like a ’70’s prog rock song”

Interview By Ali Blackdiamond

English progressive thrash metallers SYLOSIS are busy preparing for the release of their fourth album “Dormant Heart”, which is the much anticipated follow up to 2o12’s “Monolith”. The new album is set to be unleashed worldwide on January 12th 2015 via Nuclear Blast Records. The band have been through a recent change with the exit of their longstanding drummer Rob Callard and the addition of new member Ali Richardson.

So, there was plenty to discuss during my recent chat with front man and guitarist Josh Middleton, regarding the new album and much more. You can read some excerpts and listen to the full chat on the audio player below.

Josh Middleton Sylosis

Discussing “Dormant Heart”, Josh explained how the band are feeling:

“Yeah very excited! It’s been a long time coming in terms of when we started recording, which was back in March. Obviously all the music was written before March, so we’ve been sat on it for quite some time, so we’re excited to finally be able to let people hear it. It’s a bit darker and a bit heavier. I was always a big fan of Pantera growing up and they, to me just kept getting heavier and heavier. It was so exciting to get their album home and be reassured that they’re not gonna sell out writing cheesy pop metal ballads and stuff. In the same way we’re staying true to what we do and just put out the heaviest album that we can.

But at the same time it’s a lot darker, there’s a bit more atmosphere in there and at the same time it is a bit more varied. It’s not all really fast, there’s a bit more groove. There’s a bit more melody in there and the closing track is probably one of the most melodic things we’ve done – sort of like a ’70’s prog rock song.”

On the subject of touring, Josh disclosed:

“We’re trying to do as much touring as possible, nothing’s quite set in stone yet. So we’ll try and do something in the UK and Europe first and then probably go back to America. I think we’re gonna go to Japan, I’d love to go back to Australia but we’re not sure yet. We won’t be touring till February or March. ”