Sylar’s Help! is an example of a promising band taking what worked on their debut album and turning it all up to 11. Amongst a crop of nu-metal revival // nu-metalcore bands in the 2010s, Sylar carved out a name for themselves by taking their obvious influences and injecting plenty of personality into it.
Essential to Sylar’s identity is the synergy between vocalist Jayden Panesso and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Miguel Cardona. The key to the record’s success is the sheer number of hooks that Sylar is able to inject into the music. Cardona and Panesso bounce off each other with impressive consistency, particularly on album highlights like the P.O.D. influenced “Dark Daze” and “South Street Lullaby”. The latter is rather impressive because of its songwriting composition and clear passion behind it.
Released on August 26th, 2016, Help! proved to be a success for Sylar. It helped that “Assume” and album highlight “Gambit Rogue Delight” provide some of nu-metalcore’s biggest moments, but the best song might actually be album closer “Maintain Closure”. The song’s progression and structure are both unlike most Sylar tracks – nearly devoid of any screaming, but the emotion is still heavy throughout. It’s an example of what bands in this genre can bring to the table when they try something just a little out of the box.
