Sylvatic Black are Christopher Labi Rance and Miriam de Silva, neither of whom sound particularly Swedish but I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation.
They started their project after completing a duet in 2022 (‘That Rocking Thing’), discovering they got on well and being asked for more of the same.
While they will persevere with mainstream rock they decided to focus on making melodic metal songs that tell dark stories about creatures of the night like vampires, witches, northern-mythological figures and more, with a ‘fun’ twist. Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ meets Nightwish I suppose.
‘Deadly Kiss’ is their debut single.
When you make a tune like this, which is a consistent chorus with only occasional interruptions from verses and a short guitar bridge you’ve got to sustain the melody and make sure the listener hangs on in there, something they do very well.
It’s highly atmospheric and I particularly like the way they vary the volume on the vocals. It acts like a sudden shock to the system and is very effective.
There’s a brilliantly amateurish video for ‘Deadly Kiss’, I’m sure they’re sending themselves up but it actually goes very well with the song.
Silvia Miehl plays the deadly Vampiress, fresh from the dental surgery with her new implants and Yannic Becker, the victim.
Incidentally I had to look ‘sylvatic’ up. Sylvatic plague is an infectious bacterial disease caused by the plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis) that primarily affects rodents, such as prairie dogs. It is the same bacterium that causes bubonic and pneumonic plague in humans. Nice to know.
Sylvatica is also the name of a tree but I suspect the plague reference is the more apposite one! If I’m wrong I’m sure they’ll let me know.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091071416690
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sylvatic_black/
