Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

BRODEQUIN – HARBINGER OF WOE

Mar 282024

(Andy Synn embraces his inner masochist with the torturous new album from Brodequin)

Let’s be clear about something… if they hadn’t disappeared for almost twenty years it’s highly likely that the name Brodequin would be talked about just as often, and held in as just as high regard, as the “Big Ds” (Dying Fetus, Deeds of Flesh, Defeated Sanity, Disgorge… the list goes on) of Brutal Death Metal.

Hell, some people already put them up on that same level, and with damn good reason, especially since their third (and, for a while at least, final) album, Methods of Execution, was one of the most definitively brutal, and brutally definitive, statements of the early 2000s.

But now they’re back, and the big question on everyone‘s lips is – has time dulled their blades, or are the terrible trio still just as sharp, and as sick, as ever?

VERWOED – THE MOTHER

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Mar 272024

(Andy Synn reminds you all that it’s mother’s day this Friday)

As has been pretty well documented, I’m somewhat of a sceptic/cynic when it comes to “one man bands”.

The reason for this is that – in my estimation, at least – the lack of that collaborative creative push-and-pull which you get in a full band situation all too often results in a rather myopic view of things from the singular solo-artist, who may well have something they want to say (I’m not denying that) but doesn’t realise that it’s already been said, in much the same way, many times before.

There are, however, obvious exceptions to this “rule”… certain artists who don’t just possess the necessary vision, and the voice with which to express it, but are also self-aware enough to know that a big part of getting your message across is not only what you say, but how you say it.

And one of those artists is Erik Bleijenberg, aka Verwoed.

ABERRATION – REFRACTURE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 262024

(Andy Synn adds his voice to the cacophony of praise for Aberration‘s debut album, out now)

If you’re going to describe your music as “light-devouring, abyssal Death Metal” then you’d damn well better be able to back up that claim.

Good thing, then, that Aberration are more than capable of doing so.

LEAVING – LIMINAL

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 252024

(Andy Synn eases us into another week with his take on the debut album from Leaving, out now)

Webster’s Dictionary defines “liminal” as “of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition: in-between, transitional”.

Which is a pretty apt metaphor for Californian collective Leaving, whose sound exists somewhere in the strange, unresolved space between Doom and Shoegaze.

ACATHEXIS – IMMERSE

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 212024

(Today Andy Synn submerges himself in the new album from Acathexis, out now)

In the intro to my review ~~yesterday~~ two days ago (sorry, it was meant to run on Wednesday, but we ended up not having space for it) I wrote about how, at its heart, music is all about communicating something – an idea, an emotion, a sensation – that cannot be expressed any other way.

And, yet, the artist has no control about how their work will be received or interpreted, as what each listener hears and gets out of their work will be – to some extent – entirely unique.

Which got me thinking a little about what we do here at NCS – namely, trying to process our own thoughts, reactions, and emotional responses to music into words in the hope that they resonate with people (or, at least, provide them with some useful context) despite the fact that the essence, the qualia, of our experiences(s) can never be fully transmitted to another person (and, even if they were… how would we ever know?).

But still we try, because we want to share our experience with others and because we want others to have that experience for themselves… and while no two listeners are ever likely to respond in the exact same way to Immerse, the new album from borderless Black Metal collective Acathexis, we have no doubt that those with ears to hear it will come to love it as we have.

HADIT – METAPHYSICAL ENGINES APPROACHING THE EVENT HORIZON

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 192024

(Andy Synn can’t resist the pull of the new album from Hadit, out now on I, Voidhanger)

I recently stumbled across some online… let’s call it “discourse”, to be polite… about how the Metal scene is dying (it isn’t, obviously) because no-one values innovation any more.

Digging deeper, the gist of the argument appeared to be that Metal fans hate anything new and that only the originators of any particular style have anything worthwhile to offer.

Now, glossing over the inherent contradiction in this (as well as the fact that it ignores the iterative nature of musical evolution) what really saddened me about this attitude – in addition to its shamelessly self-righteous nature – was that, despite pretending to be more “enlightened”, it basically ignores the central idea that art is, primarily, a means of expression and communication, through melody, tone, and rhythm, in favour of a view that seems to see music as little more than an extension of the capitalist growth machine, one which must always be “innovating” to provide fresh “product”… regardless of whether it actually has anything meaningful to say.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that bands shouldn’t grow and evolve, it’s just that it should only be done on their own terms and in their own time – as Hadit so clearly demonstrate on their recently-released second album.

DÖDSRIT – NOCTURNAL WILL

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 182024

(Andy Synn kicks off his week with the new album from Dödsrit, out Friday)

There’s a certain type of person – trust me, I’ve encountered them a fair few times – who becomes inordinately angry if you try to talk about Dödsrit as being a “Black Metal” band.

But, of course, I highly doubt that Dödsrit themselves are all that fussed about the ongoing “he said, she said” of whether or not they’re “Black Metal enough” for the purists (surely that would be antithetical to the whole ethos of the genre anyway?) since they’ve been far too busy building an impressive career for themselves, on their own terms, to care about such petty concerns.

However – and here’s where things get interesting – the question of whether or not Dödsrit are still a Black Metal band, or how much of one they are, is actually very relevant when it comes to the release of their new album… though, perhaps, not quite in the way you might expect.

BEST OF BRITISH: MASTIFF / MIDAS FALL / SLIMELORD

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 132024

(Andy Synn highlights three more home-grown heroes)

Some of you may have noticed (or maybe you haven’t, I don’t know how much attention you all pay to what we do around here) that my “Best of British” articles rarely feature any of the “bigger” names (relatively speaking) from the UK scene.

Partially that’s because, obviously, the site’s general ethos is to dedicate more of our time and energy to the less-exposed, less “mainstream-friendly” bands out there, but it’s also because, to be honest, a lot of the bigger names and famous faces just… don’t really do it for me.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of bands whose “mainstream-friendly” sound still appeals to me – bands who play and perform with just as much conviction and creativity as any of their more self-consciously “underground” cousins – but there’s a certain formula for success, carefully curated and algorithmically adjusted for maximum appeal, that some groups follow which simply sounds hollow to my ears.

But I think it’s safe to say that none of these three bands – one we’ve covered here before, one we’ve clearly overlooked for far too long, and one making their highly anticipated (and already highly praised) full-length debut this year – are what you would call “formulaic”.

JUDAS PRIEST – INVINCIBLE SHIELD

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Mar 122024

(Andy Synn has a lot of love for the new album from a little band called Judas Priest)

It’s been well-documented by now, I’m sure, but it’s worth reiterating that – despite our slowly growing profile (and, as an aside, let me say thank you to all of you for continuing to read, and recommend, our various well-intentioned witterings) – our focus here at NCS is more on covering and critiquing (positively, for the most part) less well-known and more underground/under-exposed acts, rather than the big names and famous faces.

So when a little bird told me about a new album from a bunch of up-and-coming young whippersnappers by the name of Judas Priest – great name by the way guys, I’m surprised it wasn’t already taken – I decided to take a chance and give Invincible Shield a listen, since it’s always cool to be able to say you were into a band right before they blew up, right?

ECCLESIA – ECCLESIA MILITANS

Album Reviews No Responses »

Mar 112024

(Andy Synn steps up to take communion with the new album from Ecclesia, out now)

While our site’s name may be a little tongue-in-cheek (even if some people seem to take it way too seriously) it’s true that we don’t write about the clean-sung variants of Metal – Trad, Power, “classic” Doom, etc – very often.

But there are certainly exceptions to this “rule”, and today’s exception goes by the name Ecclesia Militans.

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