NO CLEAN SINGING

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 194): BLACK BREATH

Apr 302026

Recommended for fans of: Entombed, Wolfbrigade, Fuming Mouth

One week from today I’ll be back in Seattle attending another sure-to-be-awesome edition of Northwest Terror Fest, where you’ll find me getting a much-needed neck workout courtesy of the likes of Nightmarer, Kylesa, Wayfarer, Oranssi Pazuzu, Barren Path, and Pig Destroyer.

One of the biggest draws for me, however – and, I’d imagine, for a lot of other people too – is the returnm for one night only, of legendary Death/Thrash/Crust Punk crossover crew Black Breath who’ll be performing live for the first time since the untimely death of their bassist Elijah Nelson at the end of 2019.

And so, to celebrate this – as well as to give the festival, which still has a few tickets available here (though that won’t be the case much longer), one last push – I thought I’d use this edition of The Synn Report (which is dedicated to my good friend Joseph, who is not only the biggest Black Breath fan I know but also the guy who introduced me to the band in the first place) to remind us all just how good these guys are.

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND REVIEW): EVEALE – ENTER THE WOODLAND REALM

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Apr 302026

(Andy Synn is here to guide you on a journey… into the woodland realm)

There are lots of different factors one can use to analyse, criticise, and appraise a band… ambition, execution, innovation, intention.

But the one that’s more important than any of them – in my opinion, at least – is passion.

And make no mistake, Eveale is very much a passion-project for its members (whose work you may have heard in bands like Am I In Trouble? and Ashenheart) whose goal on Enter the Woodland Realm – which releases on Friday but we’re premiering exclusively here today – is to channel their love of Black Metal, in all its forms, into nine rich, evocative songs that pay tribute both to the history of the genre and to the glory of nature.

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GROND

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Apr 302026

(Today is the day when Xtreem Music releases a new album by the band Grond, and to coincide with that long-awaited event we’re publishing Comrade Aleks’ in-depth interview with Grond frontman and founder Kist. Below you will also have a chance to stream the album in full.)

Moscow-based Grond are stalwarts of the death metal underground and dedicated worshipers of Lovecraftian Horrors. After a huge break the band returns with a new full-length album, and needless to say it’s their most mature, most sophisticated, and most cold-blooded work to date.

Xtreem Music gave Grond the green light, and The Temple, a concept album based on Lovecraft’s story with the same name, but the guys are true to themselves and they offer you their own interpretation of the master’s classics. We interviewed Grond’s frontman and founder Kist, and I’m excited to share this interview with you. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOREWORM — “NO REPRIEVE”

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Apr 292026

(written by Islander)

Today we’re a bit like a caboose pulled along at the end of a powerfully surging freight train, the train being the Canadian death metal band Goreworm rushing forward to the June 12 release of their second album Miasmic Solitude by Transcending Obscurity Records.

We’re a bit like the last car because three songs from the album have already debuted and we’re now premiering the fourth one — “No Reprieve” — though of course Transcending Obscurity might release more before we hit the June 12 mile marker.

On the other hand, the surging freight train analogy doesn’t completely fit the picture, because Goreworm’s music isn’t a straight-ahead, all-wheels-on-the-rails kind of affair, as you’ll soon witness if you haven’t already. Continue reading »

TERROR: “STILL SUFFER”

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Apr 292026

(Here’s Wil Cifer’s review of the latest album, released last week via Flatspot Records, by the L.A. hardcore band Terror.)

Yeah, I know this is a metal blog, but Terror crosses over enough to give hardcore-leaning headbangers what they are looking for. The focused intention this album (Still Suffer) hits you with is something that would be amiss to not recognize. Ten albums into their career, the band’s origins date back to the band Buried Alive from the ’90s. The caustic elements in motion here are well-balanced for all the thrash metal embraced by the guitar riffage; there are more than enough gang vocals, and the attitude of the lead vocals makes it clear these guys are hardcore.

This band is perhaps even more harcore than most of the bands claiming that title in 2026. Taking you back to the ’90s, when that scene had a vital energy that made you feel like you were a part of something bigger than music. The title track sets the tone with a more groove-driven riff. When you hear it from the safety of your home, you still know this would be a brutal pit. The songs are concise one-two punches, rarely feeling the need to venture over three minutes. Continue reading »

SERPENT ICON: “TOMBSTONE STORIES”

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Apr 292026

(DGR has a new discovery he wants to share with you from the still-growing realm of melodic death metal, a German trio whose debut EP was released in March of this year.)

It isn’t too often that we get to arrive right at the ground floor of a group’s releases. The number of times we have pulled it off is, frankly, stunning, because we’re in a special circumstance built for discovery and even then… who has the time? The organic act of coming across a project on their first EP feels like one of those mathematical possibilities whose scale is so large that the mind fails to be boggled because it can’t comprehend the numbers to begin with. Yet, it seems like by sheer chance we’ve come across German melodeath group Serpent Icon and their debut EP Tombstone Stories, which saw release at the beginning of March.

This early third of 2026 as a whole has proven to be oddly fruitful when it comes to bands under the melodeath tent; perhaps the planets and nostalgia cycle have aligned just right that we’ve reached a critical mass of sorts, and the dam was bound to break at some point. That same chance at play seems to have made it so that quite a few of these bands hail from Germany, as if there was some sort of conference held and every musician in that region declared that they too could do well in the world of high-tempo thrash riffs combined with scene-stealing guitar lead and folk melodies.

Melodeath’s blueprint has been passed down through so many generations at this point that where we land feels less like ‘influenced by, influenced by’ and more like groups seeking to construct a monolith of their own, each band contributing one more stone to the still-growing colossus known as melodic death metal. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GRAVEIR — “A FUTILE EXHORTATION”

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Apr 282026

(written by Islander)

For nearly a decade we’ve been recommending the recordings of the Brisbane-based black metal band Graveir, and we’re doing it again today. Their discography to date has included a pair of albums — Iconostasis (2016) and King of the Silent World (2020) — plus an EP and a pair of splits. And now they have a third album named The Festering Triad that’s set for release on May 29th by Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings.

As their label has accurately described, Graveir’s music has proven to be “bleak, violent and uncompromising.” It’s capable of evoking fury, chaos, and degradation, but also creating mind-warping melodic visions that are unearthly and even mesmerizing but also profoundly frightening. And here is how Apocalyptic Witchcraft describes their new full-length:

The Festering Triad, their third album, is a bleak vision of societal decay and corrupted power. Across eight tracks, bile-fuelled aggression surges through anxiety-ridden drums, convulsing guitars, and serpentine basslines—forming a suffocating, venomous descent into rot.

What we have for you today is a startling sign of just how accurate that description is, a song named “A Futile Exhortation“, which arrives with a tremendous video that captures many of the album’s dire concepts. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MASCA — “THE PERSEVERANCE OF SACRILEGE”

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Apr 282026

(written by Islander)

Masca is a new group that unites three long-time friends who have been involved in the Italian and international metal underground, with such names as Beheaded, Adversum, and Daemusinem on their resumes. They have recorded a debut album named Maskerie Filia Diaboli that will be co-released on May 22nd by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Underworld Echoes Records (Greece).

And beyond that we don’t have much other information to share about the band or the album, other than the labels’ recommendation of it for fans of Dark Funeral, Belphegor, Behemoth, and Immortal. That’s potentially useful in pointing the way to some kind of powerful amalgam of black and death metal, but we have a more immediate and tangible sign of what Masca have done through our premiere today of an album track called “The Perseverance of Sacrilege“. Continue reading »

EYES OF SALT – COLLAPSE OF THE INFINITE

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Apr 282026

(Andy Synn has found another new favourite and would like to share it with you today)

Every single thing we’ve ever been taught was a lie
The truth we know is the history written by people with money meant to keep the poor weak and preventing us from breaking the barrier between classes
They created the illusion that this country is all powerful and untouchable
Creating the god complex in our minds and being forced to break habits we never want to admit we have
We’re witnessing it first hand
We’re witnessing the collapse of the infinite

This is how Colorado Metallic Hardcore crew Eyes of Salt introduce their debut album, Collapse of the Infinite.

So, obviously, if you prefer music that leans more towards escapism than activism this one may not be for you.

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NON SERVIAM — “DÉESSE MORTE”

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Apr 272026

(written by Islander)

Five years after Le Cœur Bat (2021), and more than a decade after Un petit peu d’amour pour la haine, the genre-blurring French collective Non Serviam are returning with a third album named La Lune Dont Mon Âme Est Pleine, now set for release on June 12th.

The new full-length is described as “a symbolist concept album centered on the myth of Diana and Actaeon, exploring themes of the desire for the absolute, the violence it engenders, and the melancholy that follows.” And further:

Beyond the metamorphosed and tormented figure of Actaeon, the album also invokes Émile Henry, the late-19th-century French anarchist, as well as the apocalyptic goddess Kali, voiced by Mirai Kawashima (Sigh) in a powerful homage.

Those excerpts from the album’s press materials should create a sense of intrigue among listeners, even listeners who haven’t already been exposed to the shape-shifting musical nature of Non Serviam’s previous releases. They remain shape-shifters on the new album, and even more so, as you’ll discover from the new song and video we’re now premiering. Continue reading »

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