Sinoptik — From Nothing To Forever (2019)

It was in 2015 when I heard SINOPTIK for the first time. It all began with the track "White Cats", which was later included in the "Interplanet Overdrive" LP. I was struck with their powerful, thick sound and some kind of supernaturalness. In a heartbeat I realized that I needed to watch them live. Next summer I was lucky to see SINOPTIK – by then already the acclaimed winners of GBOB in Berlin – performing at the Impulse Fest in Kharkov. It was written in the stars that the guys deserved great future and huge acclaim.

In 2016, the trio from Donetsk won GBOB in Berlin thus earning the status of best new band in the world. The release of the album "Interplanet Overdrive", the performance at Woodstock Ukraine and the start of the European tour followed the same year. In 2018, the band released their full-length record, a rather heavy and somber "Fields on Fire".

This year saw the change in the band`s rhythm section. 19-year-old Alexander Savin from Luhansk took the role of a bassist, and Ruslan Babayev (ex- Marauder, Crusher, Spikers) joined as a drummer. 

The changes resulted in the songs` lighter sound and structure of which the band say that that was their conscious decision. This means that there are no 12-minute Interplanet Overdrive-like opuses on the record (with an obvious Pink Floyd-ish reminiscence even in the title), either it does without somber Fields-on-Fire-like songs, those with a grungey and garage vibe, undoubtedly similar to Alice in Chains (which you will surely recognize if listening closely to the riff of "Holy Smoke"!).

The lineup change could not but affect the melody and the whole spirit of "From Nothing To Forever". Misty psychedelics of interplanet trips gave way to almost California sun-scorched atmosphere, nevertheless the new short record of the Ukrainian six string samurais is literally swarming with strident, ecstatic guitar riffs.

It was after the release of the previous full-length record when Dima Sinoptik jokingly (but, well, who knows) said that "Fields on Fire" is the music for the "white trash grown old". As for the title track on the short EP record, it can prove to be an ode to the old rockers, but perhaps a signpost for the younger generation. Or a hymn to grown-up hipsters who have finally stopped using beard wax, giving up their conformity stance.

"Donbass", for which there is a music video, left me ambivalent. On the one hand, it`s really cool that the guys remember their roots, that they made the anniversary gift for their city, and that Dima directed and edited the video by himself, which is undoubtedly a great job, but… Hopefully taking an old Soviet hit is not the sign of the crisis.

Women. Since they are a universal theme, with their "Angeless Woman" the guys found a place for serenades to the beautiful lady in their new EP record. In general, everything is simple, with no extra experiments and exaggerations, fitting in the attention span of the modern Instagram-educated listener. 

For me there wasn`t enough of adrenalizing, thick and hooky riffs from the previous record, as well as guitar solos with that otherworldly vibe, but Sinoptik is Sinoptik and he is the one who knows better than anyone where the wind blows, with whom and where to sail. It's nice that in the era of rap domination, these guys ain`t playing around with an alien genre. As for the target audience, as Dima said, "this record is made for those who have overgrown their white-trash-panties and their hipster panties, this record is made exclusively for those who give music a chance. FNtF has no target audience."

From nothing to which kind of forever are we going to get? After all, each of us will have the kind of forever he or she deserved. There`s plenty of things to think about when listening to the new EP by SINOPTIK. Listen carefully and enjoy!

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Sinoptik in social networks:

https://www.facebook.com/SinoptikBand
https://www.instagram.com/sinoptikband/
https://www.youtube.com/user/sinoptikband
https://thesinoptik.bandcamp.com/