What I have here is the audio of the latest release by Sylvan, which has been released on Blu-ray, double vinyl, double CD and streaming on all platforms. It is a record of their performance on 23rd October 2024 at the Poppodium Boerderij, NL-Zoetermeer, and I expect the film is quite spectacular as the music is pretty special on its own. The line-up has been consistent for quite some time, although they often have additional musicians in the studio, but here we have just the core quintet of Marco Glühmann (vocals), Johnny Beck (guitars), Volker Söhl (keyboards), Sebastian Harnack (bass & bass pedals), and Matthias Harder (drums). It had been two years since the release of their last album, ‘One To Zero’, and given it had been sixteen years since their only other official live release, ‘Leaving Backstage’, it was deemed appropriate to capture the night and I am very glad they did.
Sylvan have long been known for releasing wonderfully emotional albums based around great vocals, symphonic layers and melodies, but I don’t think I have ever heard them like this. There are some effects brought in here and there to add some additional flavour and nuances, but what makes this such an essential release is the sheer power and angst they bring to the performance, with “Trust in Yourself” from the last album being totally transformed. They remind me of RPWL crossed with Muse and Twelfth Night, and I was not surprised at all to see Yogi Lang had mixed and mastered this. It is not all bombast, they can be restrained as on “Given-Used-Forgotten” (from their 2004 album ‘X-Rayed’, while we get some songs from the classic ‘Posthumous Silence’ as well and “King Porn” is an absolutely filthy belter.
In the live environment Glühmann is a revelation, always in control and full of passion and angst, while Beck relishes the opportunity to strut his stuff and show his mastery of styles and Söhl happily switches between providing background or taking the lead, with Harder and Harnack always providing the foundation. There are many people who don’t enjoy live albums as much as the studio renditions, but I urge all progheads to listen to this as it is one of the finest of its type in recent years.
