Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Oct 012024

(Andy Synn presents a collection of ~~four~~ six killer cuts from last month you may have overlooked)

Today’s edition of “Things You May Have Missed (But Shouldn’t)” is a little larger than usual – six artists/albums rather than the normal four – because it was utterly impossible to keep up with the overwhelming torrent of new records that came out in September (and I’m not just talking about all the “big” releases).

Hell, just to get it down to just six bands I had to leave the likes of Ars Veneficium, Convictive, Glare of the Sun, Servant, Ubiquity, and more on the proverbial cutting room floor… so if you’re still looking for stuff to check out after listening to all the albums in this article then there’s a few more names to lend your ear to!

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 175): STAMPIN’ GROUND

THE SYNN REPORT 4 Responses »

Sep 302024

Recommended for fans of: Earth Crisis, All Out War, Living Sacrifice

If you’re not aware – though it’s been well-documented here over the years – Hardcore was the first genre of “alternative”, non-mainstream music that really spoke to me as a kid.

And although I’ve grown apart from “the scene” over the years – I’m sure there’s still good parts of it still, but trying to navigate all the different cliques and their increasing obsession with “mosh style” just isn’t for me any more – I’m still always keen to find and feature new albums and new bands (perhaps you’ve even read about some of them here?) that I think best represent the sort of Hardcore that I want to hear more of.

At the same time, however, I’ve also still got a lot of love for the bands who first got me into the genre back when I was just a dumb kid (as opposed to an equally dumb adult), which is why today I want to (re)introduce you to the thuggishly thrashy Metallic Hardcore of British bruisers Stampin’ Ground.

GIVER – THE FUTURE HOLDS NOTHING BUT CONFRONTATION

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Sep 272024

(Andy Synn looks to the future with the new album from Germany’s Giver)

Don’t you love it when you stumble across an album that just hits you, out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning?

It’s a fantastic feeling, and one I hope I never lose… especially when it leads me to discover the electrifying Metallic/Melodic/Post- Hardcore of a band like Giver, whose latest release – the powerfully prophetic The Future Holds Nothing But Confrontation – absolutely blew me away the first time I heard it.

SHORT BUT SWEET: ASPHALT GRIEVING / IFRIT / WALKING WOUNDED

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Sep 252024

(Andy Synn presents three fresh flavours of heaviness for you to – hopefully – enjoy)

In light of how long and wordy my write-up of the newIngurgitating Oblivion was yesterday I decided that today I’d focus instead of a handful of shorter, and simpler, releases from recent weeks – both as a way of giving my brain a little bit of a rest and because I’ve been pretty lax about covering EPs this year.

So, let’s not waste any time and get right to it, shall we?

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND REVIEW): INGURGITATING OBLIVION – ONTOLOGY OF NOUGHT

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Sep 242024

(Andy Synn engages his inner art critic as he plays host to the premiere of the brand new album from Ingurgitating Oblivion, set for release this Friday via Willowtip Records)

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating – the word “masterpiece” doesn’t mean what you think it does.

While it’s often (all too often, in my opinion) used as an almost throw-away term to hype up whatever the latest flavour-of-the-month album happens to be getting the most buzz, the reality is that a true “masterpiece” is just that – it’s a piece of work demonstrating your mastery of your chosen artform, one which your peers all agree earns you the right to call yourself a “master” of your medium.

And, by any measure, Ingurgitating Oblivion already unveiled their masterpiece, in the form of 2017’s career-defining Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light, quite a few years ago.

But here’s the thing they don’t tell you about producing a masterpiece… once you’ve done it once, you don’t have to do it again.

Sure, some artists do, but a lot of them take the opportunity, now that they’ve proved themselves, to take more creative risks and experiment with both form and function, to push the boundaries and expand their horizons, with an almost devil-may-care attitude as to what might happen.

And that’s exactly what Ingurgitating Oblivion have done with their new album, Ontology of Nought.

DÖ – UNIVERSUM

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Sep 232024

(Andy Synn drinks deep from the cosmic cauldron with the new album from Finnish doom-lords DÖ)

Have you ever seen the movie Mandy?

It’s a Prog Rock Stoner Doom Death Metal revenge story that seems to exist on an alternate plane of reality just widdershins to this one… and is easily one of my favourite films of all time.

And something tells me that Finnish audio-freaks DÖ would definitely love it (in fact, I am willing to bet they’ve seen it, and loved it, already) because their new album, Unversum, possesses that same sort of psychoactive, synaesthetic, widescreen intensity… albeit with significantly less Nicolas Cage.

TYPHONIAN – THE GATE OF THE VEILED BEYOND

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Sep 182024

(Come and learn why the new album from Typhonian, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity, has reaffirmed Andy Synn‘s love for Death Metal)

Do I like Death Metal?

It seems like a pretty dumb question – I mean, I’ve toured with Hour of Penance, Blood Red Throne, The Monolith Deathcult, opened for Cryptopsy, Mithras, Darkane, and more – so of course I do!

But I get where people are coming from when they ask this question, because when it comes to many of the current “big” bands in the Death Metal scene… well, I’ve generally been a little more guarded with when, where, and how I dole out praise than a lot of other writers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thrown a lot of love at artists like Tomb Mold, Ulthar, and Bæst, and am eagerly awaiting new albums from both Tribal Gaze and Ingurgitating Oblivion (though, spoiler alert, I’ve already heard the latter and will be reviewing it later this month), but I can’t help but feel like a lot of the more notorious names are playing it far too safe, happy to regurgitate the same recycled riffs and second-hand song ideas with only the most minor of variations (if any), because they know their audience will eat it up anyway.

Luckily, for every derivative disappointment that comes across my desk there’s almost always someone else doing something a little bit more interesting (to me anyway) – and while it was Typhonian‘s previous album (which you can, and should, read more about here) which initially piqued my curiosity, with The Gate of the Veiled Beyond they’ve really grabbed my attention.

AN NCS PREMIERE: GIGAN – TRANS-DIMENSIONAL CROSSING OF THE ALTA TENUIS

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Sep 172024

(Andy Synn gives his first impressions of the opening track from Gigan‘s upcoming new album, which we are premiering below in advance of the album’s October 25 release by Willowtip Records.)

If you’re not familiar with the extra-dimensional extremity of Chicago’s Gigan then you might want to check out both my Synn Report on the band from way back in 2016 and my review of their fourth album, Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence, from 2017 (which was the last time we heard from them).

Trust me, you’ll want to be fully prepared for what you’re about to experience.

Because going into this one blind could well be hazardous to your health.

MIND MOLD – EROSIVE

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Sep 162024

(Andy Synn highlights one of his favourite new discoveries of the year)

One thing I’m sure you’ll notice, if you spend any amount of time online, is how often people complain that “there’s no good new music any more“.

They’re wrong, of course, but it occurs to me that there’s a cruel (and dispiriting) irony to the fact that the proliferation of streaming services, which should – in theory ay least- grant their users access to a seemingly endless and almost infinitely varied array of new artists and albums, has ultimately, through the use of increasingly solipsistic and artificially-unintelligent algorithms, ended up stifling a lot of peoples’ ability, or willingness, to actively go out and look for new music themselves.

If you’re reading this, however – congratulations, you’re probably not one of those people.

And your reward for that is that you get to listen to the disgustingly doomy, dissonance-drenched Death-Sludge of Canada’s Mind Mold and their new album, Erosive.

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER – SERVITUDE

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Sep 122024

(Today our man Andy Synn steps up to tackle one of the most difficult reviews he’s ever written)

How exactly, let me ask you, does one even begin to talk about – let alone judge – an album like this?

Let me be clear, the untimely demise of the band’s infamous (and seemingly irreplaceable) frontman Trevor Strnad hit a lot of us here at NCS very hard – hell, I was the one who volunteered to pen a few words in tribute after his passing – but it obviously hit his bandmates harder than almost anyone, and I don’t think anyone would have blamed them if they’d chosen to hang up their spurs in the aftermath.

But, as it turns out, giving up wasn’t in the cards for these Detroit death-dealers, who are set to solidify their return with the release of their tenth album – the first one to feature long-time guitarist (and last-remaining original member) Brian Eschbach taking over as the group’s vocalist, as well as the recording debut of the newly-formed guitar-duo of Brandon Ellis and the returning Ryan Knight – in just over two weeks from now.

With all that in mind then, perhaps the best thing I can do with this review is simply set your expectations appropriately, as while many (if not most) of us may have been hoping that the band’s big comeback would be an unqualified success and an unparalleled triumph over tragedy… the truth is that Servitude is not that.

Or maybe it is. Maybe I’m looking at it wrong. Maybe its very existence – it’s still a good album, just not a great one, after all – is enough of a triumph on its own… especially considering that it almost didn’t happen at all!

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