Frank Holby takes a listen and a chat to a New Austrian metal machine…
Austria isn’t a country you would normally associate with the metal fraternity. Formed in 2016 under the guise of Black Void by friends Markus Antoniol (drums) and Gernot Weber (bass) after previously playing in other bands together, they were soon joined by guitarist’s Christian Gallmayer and Andreas Fahrleitner to add the line up. The fledgling band was soon put on hold due to the national service requirements of their homeland. Six months later they were all back in the rehearsal rooms ready to hone their skills and create music. At this time the final piece of the puzzle was added in the form of vocalist Manuel Kirchleitner. After a rethink Cyrox was chosen as the name to replace Black Void. At which time the band started making a name for themselves playing gigs on the local scene.
Beyond Control is impressive for many reasons, not withstanding that it is a fully independent release. Released March 2020 it was recorded and produced by Michael Dreschnig in his home studio on and off over the course of a few months between spring 2018 and the later part of 2019. As Gernot told me: “So it was not a typical recording session for about, lets say three weeks or something.” For a home grown record it sounds big, bold and polished.
Doomsday being the opening track starts of with a melodic acoustic intro which then transcends into a very European style guitar riff and pounding drum work. With the main vocal duties in the style of Randy Blythe they are backed with a more melodic harmony to accompany. Next up is Broken which from the opening riff lets you know that it is a thrash metal number. The rest of the record takes you through a constant change of style, keeping you interested . Blackened Mind is the stand out track and it has a maturity that you might expect from a band that has half a dozen releases under their belt, you can see why it was released as a single. Cyrox are clearly open minded to lots of different styles, to quote Gernot on a recent Q & A I had with him:
“We are five guys who love metal music. But we have quite different tastes. We try to combine them as good as possible. But of course there are bands we all love, which have a big influence on us like Lamb Of God, Gojira, Pantera, Metallica and so on. I think you get the picture in which direction this is going.”
Overall as a debut release, Beyond Control is impressive especially with the DIY ethic in the recording and mixing process, but also has mature lyrical content and very good musicianship. I am sure we will hear more of Cyrox in the coming years.
You can buy a digital version of the album via Bandcamp
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