Stefano Ferrian of Syk

Italian progressive death metal act Syk create a booming and progressive fusion of djent and death metal. Since 2013, the band delivered a unique and punishingly heavy sound since their debut album Atoma. With the band’s unique vocalist Dalila Kayros and the heavy and complex riffage of Stefano Ferrian, the band broke out of the mold of death metal to create an artistic and unique sound that would help them stand out from the pack. The band returned in 2024 with the band’s new album eartHFlesh. Now without Kayros, Ferrian has now taken on vocals along with guitars on the album, as well as adding new member Alan La Roca on bass. On eartHFlesh, the album picked up where their previous album, 2022’s Pyramiden, left off and continued to enhance and perfect the band’s sound to a heavier, technical and brutal symphony.

I sat down with the band’s vocalist and guitarist Stefano Ferrian to talk about the band’s history, the evolution of the band’s sound. We also talk about the band’s new album eartHFlesh and how he decided to take over vocal duties. Also, we talk about his side project Hanormale and we talk about the rising metal scene in Italy.

FMP: How did Syk form?

Stefano: Syk took place when my previous main project, psychofagist, disbanded on the last 2013 European Tour. Dalila Kayros was opening our concerts every night, and we (myself and Federico De Bernardi Di Valserra, former psychofagist drummer) were very impressed by her vocal skills and talent. So, we basically started Syk right away and published our first record Atoma through L'Inphantile Collective, a Czech label. 

FMP: The band was originally on Housecore Records, the label owned by Phil Anselmo of Pantera fame. How did Phil hear about you guys and what was it like working with him?

Stefano: How things shaped at that time was weird, definitely one of our luckiest days. Let's say a friend, who was writing for an Italian Mag at the time, shipped our first record Atoma to Housecore. He just did that without informing us. One day, I checked the band's mailbox and I saw a new mail from “Philip H Anselmo” himself. At first I thought it was a joke, but then I opened the email and I realize that Phil Anselmo was really writing us to get in touch regarding our first effort Atoma, totally excited about what he was hearing and open to talk about a possible collaboration with Housecore. So, the communication went on for a while. and then we met at a DOWN concert in Italy to talk more seriously about our future on Housecore. We spent almost 10 years collaborating with Housecore and it has been a precious experience. Phil literally spent a lot of time mixing our second record I-Optikon, together with his fellow engineer Stephen Berrigan, at the Nosferatu's Lair. He also did some guest appearances which was a dream for us. I mean, I grew up with Pantera's posters in my room when I was a teenager, so at some point having a metal legend spending time, and so much efforts on our release was totally surreal. You won't find another person with such passion for music as Phil. He knows everything and also he knows almost any band on this planet, he really loves music and still searching for good shit to discover all the time.

FMP: The band’s sound is very djent-heavy in the band’s early records. Now it sounds like the band has added progressive and groove metal elements to Syk’s sound. Do you know where that influence came from and what made you want to add it to the band’s sound?

Stefano: We always had those elements in our music in my opinion. Groove and proggy elements have always been present, definitely evolved and musically bended to serve each album's concept but definitely there already. I'm obsessed by rhythm, so groovy or prog bands are an incredible source of inspiration for us. But there's nothing really intentional in the way I compose music. Everything just comes out naturally from some kind of source that connects with my mind and body, and at some point kinda explode making me feel the urgency to write in words what I see, and record what I hear around me. As for eartHFlesh, I basically heard in my head the 70% of the whole thing for days when the right moment came. So I wrote and record as hell for days...then spent 2 years to do it as perfect as I could. Sometimes the process is kinda depressing and painful too because the world around us is too full of brutality and ignorance. Something really hard to expel and also perform onstage.

FMP: You took over main vocal duties for the band on the new album eartHFlesh. Did you try out other vocalists to join the band before you took over as main vocalist for the band? What made you decide to take over as lead vocals?

Stefano: When Dalila left the band I never thought about trying other vocalists. On one side, you really can't find a substitute for a musician like Dalila, there's not another one out there unfortunately. I mean...her musical skills are crazy. She can play drums very well, piano, sing or reproduce almost each weird sound that catch her ears. Compose a ballad or the most intricate and mental compositions you will ever hear. She has got perfect pitch, and also a very personal and recognizable vocality. And the list could go on, God simply designed her to be a musician. On the other side, her absence gave us the chance to try something more extreme and we all love extreme metal in general. Since I grew up playing/singing Chuck's parts in my Death tribute band when I was 17, I thought the easiest way to go on with the band was to sing myself since finding new people is always a huge pain in the ass. In fact, growls and screams were the last ingredient to fit perfectly in the modern blackened death metal scene for us.

FMP: The band’s original vocalist Dalila Kayros does appear on the album on a couple songs. Does it feel different that she is a guest and not lead since she has been the band’s front woman for so long?

Stefano: Yes, it felt very strange and weird at the beginning of this process. But since nothing changed at a personal level, we thought that having Dalila as guest on some parts would have been very cool. For the music at first but also to make this huge change a little more easy and smooth.

FMP: EartHFlesh is such a chuggingly (not sure if it’s a word) brutal album, but complex in the instrumentation. When the band was writing the album, what inspires you to mix and combine so much complexity in the music?

Stefano: I think that a musician should always work to evolve and push his musical perspectives and language. There are thousands way to develop a musical idea, unless you're closed into some kind of musical box. Well we're not and we're not afraid to change ourselves in order to create a precise perspective of what we hold inside. That being said, if there's a certain level of complexity in our compositions they always solve into something more groovy or sludgy. So 'complexity' is another way to give 'tension' that resolve into something more simple and catchy the most of the times. But, the real structure of every songs comes from the lyrics. Music just support what we got to say, and some times what we got to say might be harsh, dissonant, melodically intricate or hopeless. Some others can also be gentle, delicate, relaxed or even lighter. Unfortunately, we always have to communicate about something that hurt us badly...and the world is our first input on that side, so we're deliberately trying to give all that shit back through our sometimes complicated mentality. At an arrangement level, we love to build layers of sound sometimes, so we try many different ways to do the same riff. Some parts have just 2 guitars and some other got maybe 8 up to 10 guitars and some ambiental guitar pads on top...I love to do this in order to give more sense of movement into the compositions. This also keeps the music fresh at every next listening because you can always find or put your attention to something different that you missed the previous time.

FMP: Do you have a favorite track on the album? If you do, which one and why?

Stefano: Personally I would say “eartHFlesh” is the track I love the most. Quite stupid and simple in its constructions, but I don't know why the opening riff just got that '90’s 'in the face' taste to it that brings me back to tracks like “Arise” from Sepultura, “Heartwork” from Carcass, “Unhallowed” from Dissection, “Symbolic” from Death, and “Roswell '47” from Hypocrisy an so on...it just make me feel like when I was 15 listening and discovering Extreme Metal bands. Definitely a good feeling. On the other hand, “eartHFlesh” is the real core of the album in terms of mood and lyrics.

FMP: While researching for this article, I found you are involved in another project Hanormale, where you play saxophone on the album. How did your involvement in the project come together? What was that experience like?

Stefano: Yeah well, I've actually been involved in so many projects in the last couple decades! Hanormale is just one of the last I did in the recent years where I found myself focused just on Syk. I accepted their request because Carlo, the man behind the project, is a good friend and we crossed our path so many times in the last 10 years. So it just came normal for him to contact me in order to do some Zorn(ian) kinda saxophone parts. I did some essential lines and parts and the whole thing really reminded me to project as Ground Zero or Naked City which I love, so I was pretty excited to be part of it. It was fun! He just sent me out some parts and I recorded some saxophones in my home studio. So kinda easy and a no rush situation.

FMP: The band Is from Italy, and with acts like Fleshgod Apocalypse to Lacuna Coil to Mind Control to Rhapsody of Fire, does Italy have a burgeoning metal scene? Are there bands from the area you think people should be checking out?

Stefano: I believe there's a lot of great Italian acts around and many of them are getting some kind of hype at the moment that is totally deserved. But I do not think the scene is burgeoning because we always had great music around here. Now, it's a little bit easier to stand out than before for some reasons, but at the same time, there are so many bands that you really can't keep count. For my age, I'm really more connected to the old Italian scene that was incredible. Natron, for example, was probably one of the most ferocious and brilliant death metal bands I ever listened to. Unfortunately, around 2000, Italian bands were not really considered, even less if that extreme. Nowadays, they would have a huge recognition I think. But before “the scene” was a real one. People used to go to local concerts to discover new music. but that's something that got lost. And between bands there were a real collaboration attitude, everyone knew and helped each other sharing gigs for example. Today, it seems most of the people are running alone and sincerely I do not feel there's the same scene that was present 15-20 years ago...Nowadays there are definitely killer acts around, that's for sure but all the names I could mention are already doing very good in the worldwide scene and almost everyone knows them already.

I want to thank Stefano for taking the time to talk with Frozen Moon Promotions and talking about the band and their legacy. Syk’s new album came out May 10th of this year. If you would like to buy the album, you can buy it from the band’s Bandcamp page HERE . Their music is also available on Spotify HERE.