SYRON VANES – Property Of…

You notice the front cover straight away. No demons, monsters or even guitars. Just a good old picture of a curvy, scantily clad woman’s behind. At long last, a Metal band has reclaimed booty from the oversaturated Hip-Hop market. They even made sure to brand it in order to make sure the Hip-Hopper’s wouldn’t try to reclaim it. Yep, Syron Vanes has scored a fine piece of meat and made it their property, so at least you immediately know things could have been worse for them. In other words; it’s good to see some exploitation of the female physique on a Metal cover again. With any luck, some militant angry feminist will be exposed to the cover and make a big fuss about it. It would at least bring Syron Vanes some attention.

Syron Vanes have been together for over twenty- five years, but Property Of… is only their fourth release. Things starts of with groove-heavy stomped ”Wild”. The band tries to rhyme here, to much amusing effect. How about ”You set this room, this house on fire, Makes me wonder if your body’s for hire”. Classic, isn’t it? ”Forbidden” is the first of several songs that draws likeliness to AC/DC in their heavier moments.

Listening to Property Of… is like taking a pleasant ferry journey for forty odd minutes; its nice and all, but hardly exciting and though not all tracks keep the same pace, a similar feeling is implied throughout the entire CD and few songs succeed to truly stick out, despite memorable licks and choruses featured. The competent Hard Rock presented leaves your foot tapping along to the beat, but never builds up any particular momentum. This is a fitting release to have in the player when sorting out papers, doing the dishes, chatting with a friend or to spin when you’re having the first beer or two of the evening. To put it in short: good background music. Not in a negative way; Syron Vanes doesn’t lack subtleness in their music, and they demonstrate great soul with Bluesy leanings in tracks like ”Rough Trade” and ”Get Out”, whereas ”Want Me”, a rather slow-paced and relaxed song even in this setting, makes a weird choice to end the release with. With lines like ”Wanna do you ’til you scream and shout”, the romantic spirit is there after all, and any possible feminists can cry out in revelation. Never judge a CD by its cover.

Syron Vanes are a good, and as said competent, band. The vocals are kind of reminiscent of Paul Di’Anno, especially during his tenure with the band Killers in the 90s, melodic but rough, really good and accompanying the band’s direction… unfortunately not something that is all too common with many bands. Not a spectacular release by any standards, but at least makes for an appealing soundtrack to that first pint, as said.