BEST OF BRITISH: BATTALIONS / INGESTED / MOUNTAINSCAPE

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 262022
 

(Andy Synn is back again with three more examples of home-grown British talent)

These “Best of British” pieces are a lot like buses… you wait ages for one and then two come along (almost) at once!

Does that joke/reference track? I hope so, because the underlying premise – that these articles were intended to be a much more regular thing, but tend to just come along at relatively random intervals – is pretty accurate.

If you haven’t checked out the previous edition of the “Best of British” from last week – where I covered the new albums from Everest Queen, Terra, and Vacuous – you might want to do so now, otherwise I invite you to settle in and get to know the latest offerings from Battalions, Ingested, and Mountainscape.

Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 172022
 

 

As explained yesterday in Part 1 of this immense round-up, I made an initial cull of 23 songs and videos, most of which surfaced during the last week. I had intended to sift through those more carefully to reach a more manageable number, but due to lack of time I decided to just throw the whole boiling mass at your face. And I actually added another track last night to make the total an even two dozen.

I alphabetized the list by band name and then cut the mass in half, which might have made it a little easier on your senses and your time; we begin today with the letter “I”. Unlike most of my round-ups I also didn’t have time to include the usual links, artwork, or much commentary — mainly just small bits of info about the releases. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH 2020: BULL ELEPHANT / INGESTED / LUNA’S CALL

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 112020
 


Luna’s Call

(Here we have another 2020 edition of Andy Synn‘s series of reviews focusing on music coming out of the UK, with another three albums on the table today.)

This year may have been a real motherfucker in many, many ways, but the music coming out of the UK has, arguably, never been better.

As a matter of fact, my shortlist for my “Critical Top Ten” currently includes three, possibly four, UK bands who’ve raised the bar for themselves, and the rest of the scene, with their latest records… one of whom I’m featuring here today.

So, without further ado, here are three artists/albums who represent the very best of British, two of which will be released this Friday, the other you’ll have to wait until the end of the month to hear in full! Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2): CIRKELN, FACELESS BURIAL, FULL OF HELL, GNOSTIC GORILLA, GRAVE SUPERIOR, INGESTED, SHITANGEL, UMBRA VITAE, VENOM PRISON, VOLTURYON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 272020
 

 

This is a follow-on to another gigantic round-up I posted yesterday, and almost all of the songs and videos below were released during the last five days.

I may have mentioned that although my day-job (which still hasn’t reopened) is in Seattle, I live on an island in Puget Sound. Living here has lots of pluses and a few minuses, one of which is that whenever one of the weather gods so much as sneezes the power and the internet go out, which is what happened this morning.

So, I’ve been using my phone as a hot spot. That has slowed me down, and has made doing this tedious enough that I’ve not only cut back on my words but also largely left these items without the usual purchase links, Facebook pages, and other info about the records. I’ll try to go back and fill all that in when doing it is a less annoying process.

CIRKELN (Sweden)

An epic musical narrative, both gloom shrouded and frenzied, melancholy and murderous, haunting and majestic. Seemingly a Tolkein-esque tale told by an orc bred in the subterranean halls of Utumno and raging against his enslavement, the dramatic song blends numerous heavy metal styles to very good effect. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH 2019: BA’AL / INGESTED / MAN MUST DIE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 092019
 

 

(Andy Synn breathes more life into this occasional series featuring reviews of new releases by UK bands, with reviews and streams of EPs by Ba’al, Lvcifyre, and Man Must Die.)

Chances are a bunch of our regular UK readers will be off in a field in Derbyshire this weekend attending Bloodstock Festival, and so probably won’t get to read this article.

But that’s ok, because one of the primary purposes behind this “Best of British” series is to introduce readers/listeners from other countries to some of our best home-grown musical exports.

So, in that spirit, please allow me to draw your attention to three of the best new (or new-ish) EPs from three of the UK’s best bands. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2018: A YEAR-END LIST FROM GRANT SKELTON

 LISTMANIA 2018  12 Responses »
Jan 032019
 

 

(We present a 2018 year-end list by NCS contributor Grant Skelton, which consists of 15 miserable, mutilating, and mesmerizing titles, not all of which are metal.)

Salutations fellow metalheads! My choices this year were a bit more of a mixed bag than in previous years. Per our usual MO here at No Clean Singing, I tried to focus on bands whose albums seemed to slip into the proverbial cracks. I hope you find something you like here, and by all means leave me recommendations in the comments. Continue reading »

ABORTED / CRYPTOPSY / INGESTED / UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION – LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM 27/11/18

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 282018
 

 

(Despite having spent last night in Nottingham running a gauntlet of especially vigorous sonic punishment, our Andy Synn still had sufficient remaining wits about him to deliver this report of the event, with video documentation of the beatings.)

Those of you who know me well, and probably some of those who barely know me at all, will be aware of my general distaste for the whole “brotherhood of Metal” shtick that frequently gets bandied about by certain publications.

Don’t get me wrong, the power of music to bring people together and unite them behind a common cause, a common feeling, still astounds me at times, but the whole cliché about Metal being a “brotherhood” is one that’s too often deployed as a disingenuous disguise for arrogant elitism or a flimsy excuse for chasing the lowest common denominator (and, occasionally, both at the same time).

Still, there are times when even my well-documented cynicism has to be put on hold, and the overwhelming sense of camaraderie and positive energy of last night’s show was certainly one such occasion. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH: ASCARIS / BLACK TONGUE / INGESTED

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 022018
 

 

(Andy Synn again compiles reviews of new records from the British Isles.)

Just as I said in my previous column (which you can, and should, check out here) the fact that there’s just so much music out there means that it’s impossible for anyone, even someone as smart, debonair, and erudite as myself, to cover all of it.

What this means, at least in regards to my ongoing “Best of British” series, is that if you haven’t seen a band featured here the most likely reason is that I just haven’t heard them yet – either through sheer ignorance, or because of simple time constraints – although there’s always a chance that I honestly didn’t rate them as anything particularly special or worth writing (at) home about.

Today’s feature includes a band who’ve just released their debut album alongside two much more well-established acts (one of whom I’ve only recently taken a shine to), who all deal in weighty, megaton riffage and nuclear-level rage, making this one of the most brutal write-ups I’ve put together all year. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HEXIA, CYNIC, SUNN O))), ULVER, INGESTED, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 112013
 

Hope you had a good weekend. And if you didn’t, hope you have a good week. And if you don’t, I apologize for the feebleness of my hopes. At least your life will be enriched by seeing and hearing these things I saw and heard over the weekend (and yes, I had a good weekend, thank you).

HEXIS

When last we wrote about this Danish band it was during 2012 in a review of their three-way split with As We Draw and Euglena. They’ve now recorded a new album entitled Abalam which is projected for release on January 11, 2014. Over the weekend I saw a music video released earlier this month for one of the new songs — “Tenebris” — which was made by London filmmaker Craig Murray. Murray’s video is an homage to a certain unforgettable scene in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, with a bit of a twist in its finale.

As for the music, it’s a storm of razors, thunder, and vocal lightning, a ravaging assault of fused black metal and hardcore. Continue reading »

INGESTED

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  18 Responses »
May 082011
 

We fucking loved Surpassing the Boundaries of Human Suffering, the 2009 debut from Manchester, England’s Ingested. We raved about it here. That was a long time ago. Time passes, and one of two things usually happens. You read the depressing news that a band you liked has split up, or eventually you read that, lo and behold, there’s a new album on the way.

In the case of Ingested, the news we just saw is of the latter, happy variety: There is indeed a new album — entitled The Surreption — scheduled for release on June 6 by Siege of Amida. Within the last few days, the band has displayed the eye-catching cover art you see above — created by Colin Marks, who has created similarly arresting artwork for Whitechapel, Suicide Silence, All Shall Perish, and many others, in addition to Ingested’s first album. It’s not exactly an uplifting image, but neither is Ingested’s music.

In addition to the album art, we have more details about the album. For example, it was recorded at Studio 6 Swindon with Stu Mckay and Cherrywood Studios Bristol with Rob Purnell, Jonny Burgen and Dave Purnell (Trigger the Bloodshed), and it was mixed in L.A. by Mick Kenney (Anaal Nathrakh, Bleeding Through). Yeah, so far so good. Also, the album will feature guest appearances by Alex Erian (Despised Icon) and Mathew Jones (Martyr Defiled).

On top of all that, Ingested has recently released the first song from The Surreption. It’s called “Castigation and Rebirth”.  (stay with us after the jump to hear that song . . .) Continue reading »

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