Syzygy – Final Show
Newport
Sunday 5th June 2005
Review by Leo Abbs
It’s always sad to hear of bands announcing their final show. Disappointing maybe, but it allows one last gig, a celebration of what they set out to achieve – to write music that they loved and were passionate about.
How much they enjoyed their music was clearly evident tonight when looking at the stage while Syzygy played. Grinning, nodding along to the music, at times head banging to their beloved tunes that would be best described as progressive metal in the mould of Dream Theater. With Metallica, faith No more and virtuoso guitarists Satriani and Vai also showing influence.
Despite popularity in the metal scene – the band struggled to gain recognition of the rest of Perth. I can remember a review of a band competition final, which said:
‘Syzygy sounded loud and painful – so I went outside’.
Bad review for the boys – but the irony is Syzygy outlasted the street press, Hype, that the review came from.
Tonight, despite being the 2nd of the final shows for the weekend for the group, there was a decent turnout easily equal that of touring bands. It was also a nice gesture for the band to make it a gold coin donation and the cds were only 5 dollars with entry so I picked up a copy.
The four core members all had cut their long hair over the past few years . Tonight there was a fill in player on bass – Jon, (or Bass Bastard to the people who visit internet message boards) many years younger than the rest – who more than just played his part, he was brilliant.
While the band were amazing musicians perhaps the only drawback was at times the music lacked melody that a singer would have provided. Not to say they need a singer but the guitars could have provided a stronger melodic presence – in the way Satriani/Vai hold an instrumental together
My favourite part of Syzygy has always been the keyboards and tonight Mili on Keys, was playing his instrument with it tilted 90 degrees towards the ground – what inspires him to play it like that I’m not sure but boy he knows what he’s doing. The highlight were his solo parts particularly the piano sounds.
As the night drew a close there were two things to do. For Damo to play a drum solo that left many crowd members amazed. Leaving after the show I heard one punter ranting to Damien about how he was one of the best drummers he’d seen and he’d seen the greats – mentioning names such as Ginger Baker.
And the last thing was to play one last tune. An emotional moment for their supporters . There were thank you’s and cds thrown to the crowd and then a few last band photos. No world domination for this band, but sheer musical brillance and a fine turnout tonight should leave Syzygy feeling very proud of their accomplishments.
PerthSounds.com 