Sonic Syndicate

Sonic Syndicate

Sonic Syndicate is a melodic death metal/metalcore band from Falkenberg, Sweden. They are influenced by other Swedish melodic death metal bands such as In Flames and Soilwork.

Background

Eden Fire

Sonic Syndicate started off as power metal band Tunes of Silence. It consisted of a line-up completely different from the current members until brothers Richard (vocals) and Roger (guitar) Sjunnesson joined. The members of Tunes of Silence eventually decided to disband in order to focus on various other aspects of music. The Sjunnesson brothers started the band Fallen Angels in 2002, began writing songs and recruited their younger brother Robin Sjunnesson (guitar) as well as Andreas Mårtensson (keyboards), Magnus Svensson (bass) and Kristoffer Backlund (drums). They recorded three demo albums, Fall From Heaven, Black Lotus, and Extinction before signing with Pivotal Rockordings in 2005. Bassist Karin Axelsson replaced Svensson in 2004 before the band changed its name to Sonic Syndicate and recorded its debut studio album, Eden Fire.

The band toured extensively throughout Sweden in support of Eden Fire, alongside such bands as Avatar. In early February 2006, during their tour with Avatar, drummer Kristoffer Bäcklund left the band, and was replaced by John Bengtsson. 2006 also saw the departure of the band's keyboardist, and the addition of second singer Roland Johansson. The band completed the tour, then began demoing new material in early March.

Only Inhuman

In the summer of 2006, the band entered into a contest held by Nuclear Blast. They sent in their self titled demo Sonic Syndicate, which included three tracks (all rerecorded for Only Inhuman). Out of over 1,500 competing bands, Sonic Syndicate was chosen as one of three winners and offered a new recording contract with the label. In November 2006, they entered Black Lounge Studios to record their follow-up to Eden Fire with Jonas Kjellgren of Scar Symmetry. The new album was titled Only Inhuman and was released on May 18, 2007. A video was made for the lead single, "Denied", with renowned producer Patric Ullaeus.

The singers of Sonic Syndicate, Richard Sjunnesson and Roland Johansson, also sang for a compilation album, called Nuclear Blast All-Stars: Out of the Dark with former Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers. The band played at the 2007 Wacken Open Air Festival. Sonic Syndicate played several European festivals and, in the winter of 2007, accompanied Amon Amarth as they toured stateside. The band also participated in the "Darkness over X-Mas Tour" with Caliban and Heaven Shall Burn, and toured extensively across Europe with Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork. In late November 2007, the Swedish newcomers embarked on a tour with Himsa and Amon Amarth. Later in 2008, they toured with Finnish symphonic metal band, Nightwish.

Love and Other Disasters

In March 2008 the band began recording their third release in Jonas Kjellgren's Black Lounge Studios in Avesta. In May 2008, Sonic Syndicate returned to North America as the opening act for Nightwish. In the June issue of Revolver Magazine, Karin Axelsson was named one of the "Hottest Chicks in Metal". Love and Other Disasters was released in September 2008. The first single, "Jack of Diamonds", is accompanied by a video again from Patric Ullaeus who has directed all of the bands videos. At the end of the year, the band toured Germany and Scandinavia, and released the singles "Power Shift" and "Contradiction".

On March 30, 2009 it was confirmed that singer Roland Johansson would quit the band because of personal reasons. He finally quit on August 29, after his last show with the band at the Geuzenpop Festival in Enschede, The Netherlands.

In October 2009, HeavyHell.com had an interview with Roland where he reveals why he left the band and that he's working on a new music project together with Jesper Strömblad from the Swedish band In Flames and will hopefully release their first album in early 2010.

Burn This City

On August 24, 2009, British vocalist Nathan James Biggs (formerly of The Hollow Earth Theory) was announced as Roland Johansson's replacement.. Sonic Syndicate released an EP called Rebellion featuring two new songs with Nathan on November 6, 2009. The band has also announced that their next studio album will be out in March 2010. On September 25, Sonic Syndicate released their debut single with Nathan entitled "Burn This City" and also began filming a music video for the track on September 10. The music video for "Burn This City" was released on September 25 to coincide with the release of the single. Shortly after the single release, the band began to stream their other new track "Rebellion in Nightmareland", which was released onto the bands Myspace page. As of October 31, the band has begun to tour with Nathan.

We Rule the Night

Work on the Pre-production of "We Rule the Night" begun, as of January 3, 2010. Sonic Syndicate announced that the producer for the album would be legendary US producer Toby Wright. They also announced that the album will be recorded at Bohus Sound Studios in Kungälv, Sweden. They also uploaded studios report on their days in the studio on their RockSpot blog. On February 11, 2010 the band announced that the new album was almost finished. According to the official website of Sonic Syndicate the recording of "We Rule the Night" is done. On March 5th, the band announced that the title for their new record will be called "We Rule the Night". The album was originally scheduled to be released on May 28, 2010 but was later reset to July 30, 2010.

Band members

Sonic Syndicate Lineups

(2003) Fall from Heaven Black Lotus	Richard Sjunnesson - vocals Roger Sjunnesson - guitars Robin Sjunnesson - guitars Kristoffer Bäcklund - drums Andreas Mårtensson - keyboards Magnus Svensson - bass guitar
(2004-2005) Extinction Eden Fire	Richard Sjunnesson - vocals Roger Sjunnesson - guitars Robin Sjunnesson - guitars Kristoffer Bäcklund - drums Andreas Mårtensson - keyboards Karin Axelsson (shexy time) - bass
(2006-2009) Only Inhuman Love and Other Disasters	Roland Johansson - vocals Richard Sjunnesson - vocals Roger Sjunnesson - guitars Robin Sjunnesson - guitars John Bengtsson - drums Karin Axelsson - bass guitar
(2009 - present) Burn This City We Rule the Night	Nathan James Biggs - vocals Richard Sjunnesson - vocals Roger Sjunnesson - guitars Robin Sjunnesson - guitars John Bengtsson - drums Karin Axelsson - bass guitar

Main article: List of Sonic Syndicate band members

Current members

Name	Instrument	Membership	Additional information
Nathan James Biggs	vocals	2009–present	Former singer of The Hollow Earth Theory.
Richard Sjunnesson	vocals	2002–present	Lyricist
Roger Sjunnesson	guitars	2002–present	Main composer
Robin Sjunnesson	guitars, vocals	2002–present	Only provides background vocals live.
John Bengtsson	drums, percussion	2006–present
Karin Axelsson	bass guitar	2004–present	Provided female vocals on Eden Fire.

Former members

Name	Instrument	Membership	Reason for departure
Roland Johansson	vocals, guitars	2006–2009	Quit due to issues with touring.
Kristoffer Bäcklund	drums, percussion, vocals	2002–2006	Undisclosed.
Andreas Mårtensson	keyboards	2002–2006	Undisclosed.
Magnus Svensson	bass guitar	2002–2004	Undisclosed.

Discography

Main article: Sonic Syndicate discography

• Eden Fire (2005)
• Only Inhuman (2007)
• Love and Other Disasters (2008)
• We Rule the Night (2010)

Awards

In 2008 Sonic Syndicate won the award for best newcommer at the Swedish Metal Awards and at the Bandit Rock Awards. Sonic Syndicate along with Patric Ullaeus won the award for best music video for their music video of "Burn This City" in 2010 at the Swedish Metal Awards. They also won the award for Best Swedish Group at the Bandit Rock Awards of 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Template:MySpace
• Nuclear Blast - Sonic Syndicate e-card