Progressive Metal from Jena, Germany

 

SYNTENSION means metal with a twist. If the story is extra-ordinary, the song should be. Pain is dissonance, awkwardness is odd beats, repetition legitimizes, but development requires change. SYNTENSION set out to avoid rock clichés, knock people out of their music listening routine, make them think again — and yet, embrace the same clichés when needed, exaggerate them and show people what they are. There is a time for easy-listening, and there is a time for what-the-fuck-was-that?! The heavy influence of modern Prog Metal artists like Periphery and Tesseract can be found alongside the classic sound of progressive bands like Dream Theater and Pain Of Salvation, and there is also plenty of raw metal in there like Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack and Metallica.

 

Members of SYNTENSION:

Biography:

 

SYNTENSION was born from the ashes of Alternative Rock band JUNKSOUND, which was founded all the way back in 2007. JUNKSOUND made 2 EPs with straight, grungy tunes. The remaining members Roy Burkhardt (Vocals), Alexander Rauhut (Guitar, Vocals), Daniel 'Darren' Büttner (Bass), and Fabian Kummer (Drums) regrouped in 2016 as SYNTENSION adding another member Manuel Doppel (Guitar, Vocals) to expand the lineup. The band had progressed, lost 8th and 16th notes left and right, but gained a lot oomph, growls and harmonies, and a healthy amount of djenty street-shredidibilty. Their debut album "WITHIN YET WITHOUT" was undoubtedly Progressive, and that's been the sweet spot ever since. The band took matters into their own hands, self-produced and mixed the album with Jan Listing (Chaosbay) providing the final mastering.

 

SYNTENSION had their live debut supporting The Ocean in September 2016 at Numpfest, and continued playing shows in Germany including Metal Franconia and Bonebreaker Festivals 2017 alongside Ektomorf, Legion of the Damned, among others. In 2018, SYNTENSION supported Harakiri For The Sky, and toured Germany on the Spring Of Steel Tour. The same year also saw the release of their second album "DISTANCE FOR REFLECTIONS" which was fully self-produced.

 

In 2019, drummer Fabian Kummer needed all the missing beats back and had to leave the band to pursue his job as cover musician full time. The search for a new drummer dragged on, Covid hit and concerts became a rarity. The band still supported fellow prog bands The Hirsch Effekt and Chaosbay on multiple occasions, and organized regular Prog Nights in their home town Jena, as well as regularly headlining the growing Jena Metal Festival called Backyard Rock Festival.

 

Finally in 2022, there was a stick-wielding madman who was willing to face the challenge of decoding the arbitrary asymmetry of SYNTENSION's song catalogue. Gilbert Heyne joined the band right on time for post-lockdown headbanging and renewed efforts for a third album.

 

Follow SYNTENSION on their journey and be prepared for everything!