An album that is a living, breathing creature.

Air-raid sirens over and over... buildings crumbling... and strangers running for their lives. The sirens give way to synths, explosions explode into electro-induced shockwaves courtesy of an Industrialised rhythm section with a penchant for chugging bass lines, machine-gun drumming, and defined by fret-work so furiously on fire it well and truly could be alive; alive in chaos, that's what this is... chaos, beautiful chaos.

From the opening air-raid-come-electro-explosion of Italian Symphonic Metal sextet Sinheresy's sophomore effort 'Domino', by way of the title track, it is incredibly clear that this is an album that is a living, breathing creature, a modern-day mechanical Frankenstein, taking the strictly Symphonic-come-Power Metal elements of their debut, 2013's 'Paint The World', and planting them experimentally into an entirely new beast.

As the synth invasion reminisces the golden days of Amaranthe, with hints of Nightwish and Sirenia, 'Domino' coalesces into 'Star Dome', a chugging machine-like rhythm section suffocated in sinister synths secludes you within an interstellar tube, travelling from planet to planet, delicately delivering you by way of vocalists Cecilia Petrini and Stefano Sain, who contrast curiously, creating a surrealistic soundscape to dive into.

Two tracks in out of ten and you're already out of breath, already in an entirely different dimension to the one you began in, already lost in a world unlike the one you've come to know and love. It's effortless, it's experimental and it's everything you could've wanted. Of course, there are never happy endings in the disturbingly dark world of Symphonic Metal, and no matter how Progressively Industrial Sinheresy become throughout 'Domino', they fail to replicate the emotional aliveness which makes their opening salvo so vital – an Achilles heel of giant proportions if there ever was one.

Battering-ram bass lines, brutalising beats and a series of sliding solos soundtrack the Operatic-yet-Gothic expressions of Sinheresy's vocalists, a world of imagination and horror awaiting all who approach it, coming in at a hauntingly average been-there done-that, got the Amaranthe t-shirt pace. 'Ocean Of Deception' and 'Believe' burst colour back into the life this album had at its start, reinvigorating its electro-explosiveness, a fire of titanic proportions in the shape of synthy riffs rattling your brain.

Sophomore Symphonic records are as easy to nail as painting a Vincent van Gogh-worthy masterpiece, and yet Sinheresy approach their judgement day defying all odds, destroying all competitors.

Jack Press