(Andy Synn offers up three more prime Brtish exports for you to enjoy)
Like I’ve said before, we like to keep you guessing here at NCS, which is why after spending the start of the week covering riff-happy ragers from At The Gates and Inherit the Curse I’ve decided to dedicate the end of the week to three UK-based bands who err more towards the expressive, progressive, and/or atmospheric side of the musical spectrum.
(Andy Synn goes from a long-term favourite to a brand new one from German Metalcore marauders Inherit the Curse)
If there’s one thing we try to avoid doing here at NCS, it’s repeat ourselves.
So since yesterday was all about a legendary, long-running band and what could possibly be their final album, today I’m going to shift my focus to a much, much younger band who just put out their first full-length release.
Sun rise, sun set.
(It’s with a heavy heart, and a deep sense of responsibility, that Andy Synn sets out to give the new album from the one-and-only At The Gates – featuring the final recorded performance of the dearly-departed Tomas Lindberg – a proper eulogy in advance of its release next week)
Ever since I first received my copy of The Ghost of a Future Dead I’ve been struggling… not just with what to say about it, but how to say it.
After all, any time a new release from a seminal, life-changing band like this one – I’m sure that a fair few people reading this now probably owe their Metal awakening to the seminal Slaughter of the Soul – appears people are inevitably going to come at it with a whole host of preconceived notions, opinions, and expectations, and the last thing some of those people want to hear is any actual criticism.
And when you add in the fact that not only is this the last At The Gates album featuring their much-loved, and much-missed, vocalist Tomas Lindberg, but it also might even be the last At The Gates album ever (as the band, understandably, have acknowledged that they have no idea if they’ll want or be able to continue without their fallen frontman) that makes it even harder to know exactly how to approach things.
But, thankfully, messrs. Lindberg, Larsson, Erlandsson, Björler and Björler were kind enough to make at least one part of my task easy… as The Ghost of a Future Dead is the band’s best album in over a decade.
(Andy Synn presents a quartet of recently released Black Metal recommendations)
For reasons we may never understand a huge percentage of the Black Metal scene decided to release their new albums last week – including a surprise drop from long-time NCS favourites Ultha – and, despite our best efforts, we’re probably not going to be able to cover all, or even most, of them here.
But I’ve chosen four visceral examples from this veritable smorgasbord of blackened delights to highlight here today all the same, as I refuse to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
(Andy Synn finds love in the hyperdrive all over again with Witch Ripper)
Let me begin by telling you a little story I don’t think I’ve shared before.
I’ve been a big fan of Seattle-based Prog-Metal maestros Witch Ripper for some time now – I first wrote very positively about their first album, Homestead in 2018, and lavished even more praise on 2023’s outstanding, album of the year contender, The Flight After the Fall – but, due to the exorbitant postage costs involved in shipping anything from the US over the last few years, getting a hold of either of these albums in physical form proved to be prohibitively expensive.
Thankfully I’d become friendly with the band’s vocalist/guitarist, Curtis Parker during this time, and while I was in Seattle for Northwest Terror Fest in 2024 (tickets for this year’s edition still on sale, btw) he very kindly offered to hand-deliver copies of both record’s to me at my hotel, an offer which I duly accepted.
But here’s the thing – and the thing that Curtis himself didn’t know (but absolutely will after this) – I thought I was getting CD version of both albums, so when he walked around the corner with two LPs in hand, well… let’s just say I was very surprised, but tried not to show it, even though I had no idea how was going to get these two pieces of vinyl back to the UK without breaking them.
Thankfully I was ultimately able to transport them both home safely (and then, not long after, track down affordable copies of both albums on CD as well) and they now sit proudly on my vinyl shelf as part of my small, but much-loved, LP collection, and I’m hopefully going to add their excellent new album, Through the Hourglass, to the shelf right alongside them very soon.
(Andy Synn presents another round-up of cool stuff you may have missed last month)
A couple of days ago I promised you a second one of these “Things You May Have Missed” articles… and here it is.
Of course, even with double the usual number of bands to cover I’ve still barely scratched the surface of what March had to offer, so if you have any extra time on your hands I’d recommend also checking out the new releases from Alkhemia, Cult of Occult, Defacing God, Dionysiaque, Dollhaver, Gorenado, The Oldest House, Qwälen, and Rivers Ablaze.
Before then, however, here’s four artists/albums – including two debuts – that I’ve personally selected as being particularly worthy of your attention.
Recommended for fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Deftones, Death Grips, Godflesh, clipping.
The thing about blending genres is – just like mixing together too many shades of paint – what you often end up with is just… beige.
But when you get it right, not just sloppily blending together all the most generic and familiar aspects of different styles but relying on the clashing, kaleidoscopic contrasts between them to create something weird and provocative that smashes through all the established boundaries… that’s when you get Doodseskader.
And with their third album set for release on Friday, now seemed like the perfect time to shine some light on the duo’s unique amalgam of Electro-Industrial-Hip-Hop and Nu-Punk-Sludge-Metal.
(Andy Synn presents the first of two articles covering some of the many things he missed in March)
There were just SO many releases during March that I wanted, but didn’t have time, to cover, that you’re getting two “Things You May Have Missed” articles this week, rather than the usual one.
Of course, even with twice the usual number of entries I’m still having to leave a horrifying number of bands on the proverbial cutting room floor, and some (but not all) of the bands also considered for this article include Bedrängnis, Circle Back, Deadnate, Egocide, Funeral Pile, Mammon’s Throne, Mariner, Poison the Well, and Teratoma… with many more still on the short-list for the next article as well.
I’ve also got another edition of The Synn Report to somehow squeeze in before then too, so I’d better stop wasting time with this preamble and get to the music, which once again features a quartet of bands, all from different genres, that I would take it as a personal favour if you all checked them out.
(Andy Synn takes on the titans in Immolation for the start of a new week here at NCS)
One of the things we love doing here at NCS is pushing new and up-and-coming bands and helping them find their audience.
This, however, is not one of those times.
Because what we also love doing is celebrating seminal artists undergoing a well-deserved career-resurgence, and few bands deserve recognition in that regard more than Immolation.
(Andy Synn has a long history with Lantlôs, and that continues on their new album, out 03 April)
As we have seen so far this week, there are Black Metal bands, and there are Post-Black Metal bands… and then there are bands like Lantlôs who used to belong to the second category (and were, in fact, a seminal part of its genesis and evolution) but who are now truly “post” Black Metal, in the most literal sense of the term.
Though, to be fair, that’s been true for a while, with 2014’s Melting Sun (still a huge favourite of mine) and then 2021’s even more provocatively poppy (but still absolutely stunning) Wildhund (which earned a spot in my Critical Top Ten) demonstrating that Lantlôs, aka Markus Siegenhort, have long since shed any remnants of their old skin in favour of a kaleidoscopic rainbow of shades and colours that has more in common with – among others – the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, Foo Fighters, and Devin Townsend.
And, wouldn’t you know it, on Nowhere In Between Forever they’re at it again.