Turncoat Syndicate has been haunting the scene in Norfolk, Virginia, for effectively over a decade. They launched their debut EP, Mourning Star, in 2013, and their first full-length album, The Life You Wished, in 2018. Seven years have handed, and Turncoat Syndicate has launched their eponymous sophomore effort after saying that they signed with Spectra Music Group.
The band appears content material to take time recording songs. Their Instagram encompasses a reside studio recording of “Angels & Demons” that dates again to 2020 however may be very telling. It reveals the band’s refinement since The Life You Wished in that guitarist Will Clarke has a fatter sound on his guitar, one thing that enhances bassist Pat Maurer’s nasty, chunky growl. The IG recording additionally reveals that Turncoat Syndicate is completely killer reside. Maurer and drummer Mat Talley have a watertight rhythmic connection that fits the extra primitive elements of each of their approaches, and Dan Forlines is a rock-solid vocalist who has landed within the slender house between his influences to discover a tonal territory of his personal.
The IG recording of “Angels and Demons” is so persuasive and open that the album model (referred to as “Angels & Devils”) with keyboards within the background and guitar overdubs can’t assist however disappoint slightly. If there’s room to develop for the following album, it’s to find a studio sound that strikes slightly nearer to their reside sound. That stated, Misplaced Weekend is a unbelievable and pivotal doc of the band’s profession that invigorates one thing I had thought lengthy useless and buried: various rock. What does that class even imply? The argument may be made that various ceased to be so when Billboard made a chart for it. But when that iconic 90s alt-rock sound with all its grungy overtones has something to say past nostalgia, Turncoat Syndicate are the fellows saying it.
“Charmed” opens the album with Clarke enjoying muted straight eights that Maurer and Talley punch the daylights out of whereas Forlines sings a melody line that descends into the turmoil. On the second verse, the boys change it up, letting the bass take the lead with an Arabic scale-tinged riff. However the band is just not carried out with its methods, bringing in a smooth, looking out interlude earlier than ending the track with an ironic cha-cha-cha outro.
The general impact of “Charmed” is of a hard-hitting rocker, however it additionally signifies the territory Turncoat covers within the album. Within the hard-hitting class, “Burn All Of It Down” picks up on the heels of “Angels & Devils,” cheerfully inciting private discovery to normal anarchy as Talley, Maurer, and Clarke drive Forline by the modifications. “Exterior World” slows down the tempo a contact to higher pound and thrash beneath Forline’s highly effective supply of susceptible lyrics.
The band by no means actually slows down, however they do ratchet again the depth. Clarke picks up an acoustic guitar on the seducer “Candy Ecstasy” to create the idea for a three-minute construct, if to not ecstasy, then no less than to a pleasant runner-up. Layered guitars fill in beneath Forline’s charged refrain, celebrating love within the second. “Previous Errors” is, paradoxically, the happiest-sounding tune on the album. Maurer’s driving bassline accommodates a robust melodic element on an equal enjoying discipline with the remainder of the band, making it an awesome function for his expertise. “Falling Ahead” lopes evenly by the chords to a charged and distorted refrain and is a showcase for Clarke’s guitar work, going from gentle, clear selecting to full, distorted chords, and providing intelligent breaks within the interludes.
The final three songs of the album circle again to its gritty, aggressive starting. “Bender” takes one other pulsing bassline that Clarke punctuates earlier than going into a correct solo, and “Grand Phantasm” and “Feathers” clear all the things up with a one-two punch. The previous’s lyricism fades to the latter’s epic pedal tone, darkish theater, and massive sound.
What’s particular about Turncoat Syndicate is that they put all 4 members on a fair enjoying discipline the place everybody is completely important to the music, not simply tonally, however rhythmically. Forline’s hovering vocals provide a rhythmic distinction to Maurer and Talley’s engine room pulsing and weaving. In the meantime, Maurer and Clarke commerce off rhythmic and melodic duties with a supreme effortlessness.
Why this band doesn’t have a bigger viewers by now could be anybody’s guess. One motive often is the apparent debt they owe to their forebears. For my cash, Turncoat Syndicate’s new album is the place they repay the stability and begin staking their very own territory.
Reviewed by Christopher Raley
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