Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

AN NCS INTERVIEW: KRALLICE

Jul 082024

(Andy Synn recently scored an interview with Colin and Lev from Krallice – whose new album, Inorganic Rites, is out now)

Somehow, as the years have gone by, I’ve ended up being our “go to” guy when it comes to Krallice.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan (though perhaps not a typical one, as my favourite albums are Ygg Huur, Prelapsarian, and Psychagogue – not necessarily in that order) but I’ve not exactly been shy about being critical about what I think does and doesn’t work when it comes to the band’s increasingly experimental output during my time here at NCS.

That’s the thing with making music of a more “experimental” bent though – it’s not necessarily all going to work, nor will it necessarily give you the results you were aiming for even when it does.

But, like any good bunch of sonic scientists, Krallice have clearly learned something from each and every experiment (especially over the last several releases, which have found them flirting with more and more synth, drone, and ambient elements), with the result being that the band’s new album, Inorganic Rites truly feels like the culmination of everything they’ve been working on for the last 4-5 years.

It is, perhaps, the most “cinematic” of all the group’s records to date, successfully achieving (despite what its title may suggest) an unexpectedly organic balance between the many different elements of the band’s signature blend of kaleidoscopic mathemetallic chaos, as well as an almost seamless fluidity which makes it possibly the band’s most accessible work – despite its inherent darkness – in a long, long time.

So when the band themselves reached out to us to ask if we’d like to talk to them about the record – and not, as I first assumed, to yell at me for what I wrote about Mass Cathexis – you know we jumped at the chance, with the results of my conversation with drummer Lev Weinstein and vocalist/guitarist/engineer Colin Marston now being made public for the first time.

PIAH MATER – UNDER THE SHADOW OF A FOREIGN SUN

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jul 082024

(Andy Synn takes a look at the new album from Brazilian Prog-Death dynamos Piah Mater, out now)

We are, each of us, the sum total of many different things.

I am both my father and my mother, and through them their parents, grandparents, and so on, down through the years.

At the same time, I am also the totality of my choices, my experiences, and a variety of unpredictable epigenetic factors which combine to form my sense of “self”.

But we are also, all of us, more than these things.

As are Piah Mater.

WEREWOLVES – DIE FOR US

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jul 052024

(DGR‘s been killing some brain cells with Werewolves again, whose new album is out July 12)

I’ve discussed this before, and our cohort Andy has also brought this up a few times, but the idea of listening to hundreds upon hundreds of albums a year – as if the larger the number the more impressive it is as a metric of how clever and cultured you are – has always bit at my side a little bit.

Of course, it’s worth noting that I am a fool with bad management skills, so it is therefore feasible that you could actually have listened to 3-4 times as many albums as there are days in the year – and in my younger days I too, would’ve bragged the same.

But focussing on the numbers makes things kind of ephemeral and disposable doesn’t it? As if all music were just a fleeting experiences designed only for your immediate satisfaction and nothing else.

Surely, the artist who has strived for months over songs, figuring out transitions, how to layer and arrange things, chased tones for hours, before finally settling on the specific composition being played before you deserves more than to be added as just one more point on an infinitely increasing bar on a graph?

Early in my writing I used to be proud of the fact that I was on time (or early) with many albums. But nowadays that’s less the case, as I like to deep dive into things and absorb the release for everything it has to offer.

I still do land the occasional early or on-time review but much like a baseball player slowly coming off of ‘roids, those stats are cratering and cratering hard. Everything instead finds room when the olde’ brain machine manages to turn enough cogent thought into something to discuss with you, the reader, when it comes to a new album. I care more about the discussion and experience of a release than I do the timeliness of it.

Which brings us to Die For Us… where absolutely none of this bullshit applies.

VIMUR – THE TIMELESS EVERPRESENT

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jul 032024

(Andy Synn bows down before the timeless Black Metal magic of Vimur)

Now, according to official sources, the new album from US Black Metal warriors Vimur is scheduled for release this Friday.

But, apparently, it’s already available digitally via the group’s own Bandcamp page (with physical copies to follow via Avantgarde Music shortly).

So, here’s a little review to help clear up any confusion and encourage you all to check it out.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jul 022024

(Andy Synn picks out four more albums from last month you may have overlooked)

As always, thinning this column down to just four artists/albums was a hellish job, with the likes of Amarok, Inherits the Void, Perversity, Swelling Repulsion, Umbra Vitae, and Vomit the Soul all ending up (sadly) on the cutting room floor.

But that shouldn’t stop you checking them out… just maybe give the four bands featured in today’s column a look/listen first, and then come back, ok?

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 172): FRACTAL GENERATOR

THE SYNN REPORT No Responses »

Jul 012024

Recommended for fans of: Replicant, Wormed, Afterbirth

There must be something in the water – or the maple syrup – up in Canada that triggers the extreme gene in certain bands.

How else do you explain the existence of acts like Gorguts, Cryptopsy and the subject of today’s article, Fractal Generator?

Taking a heap of inspiration from the aforementioned pair, along with a hefty helping of Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel, and Mithras, this terrible trio have already made something of a name for themselves with their punishingly technical, subtly dissonant, slam-tinged, grind infused, and synth-layered brand of Death Metal, and with their third (and best) album having just been released now seemed like the perfect time to dedicate a full feature to their works.

Look upon them, and despair…

200 STAB WOUNDS – MANUAL MANIC PROCEDURES

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Jun 282024

(Andy Synn sinks his teeth into the new album from 200 Stab Wounds, out now)

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the concept of “meat and potatoes” Death Metal.

You know the type – it’s not flashy or fancy, but it’s filling, flavourful, and satisfies your cravings (at least for a while).

Well, what if I told you that the new album from Cleveland crushers 200 Stab Wounds pretty much dispenses with the potatoes entirely and instead aims to load your plate with nothing but raw Death Metal meat?

ORGONE – PLEROMA

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jun 262024

(Andy Synn is here to tell you to open your minds to the outstanding new album from Orgone)

As I’m sure most of you are aware by now, I consider genre terms to be a useful tool – in the right hands, anyway – to help guide and inform listeners, whether in general or specific terms, about what to expect (or not) when listening to a new band or album.

That being said, I don’t think bands should necessarily be limited or confined by genre traits and tropes if they don’t want to be (even if creativity often thrives within constraints).

After all, bands are just people, and people – in all their infinite diversity and infinity combinations – cannot (and should not) be defined by just a few, simplistic terms.

The human condition, you see, is less of a spectrum and more of an endlessly cascading kaleidoscope, one which looks different to everyone… and so is the art we produce.

Which is why trying to pin down the avant-garde, genre non-binary approach of Pittsburgh experimentalists Orgone would be a mistake (and a disservice to both the band and their audience).

ƁLÓÐ – MARA

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jun 242024

(Andy Synn finds himself haunted by the new album from France’s Blóð)

Let me start by saying that if I hadn’t already decided who I was going to feature for this month’s edition of The Synn Report (which will likely be published at the start of next week) then I very much would have liked to have done a deep-dive into the discography of doomy, devilishly blackened Sludge/Post-Metal duo Blóð.

But since I’m not going to have time/space to fully delve into the depths of their back catalogue here (though you should definitely do so when you get chance) we’ll just have to be satisfied with heaping praise on their recently-released third album, Mara.

CONSTRUCT OF LETHE – A KINDNESS DEALT IN VENOM

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jun 192024

(Andy Synn has some kind, and some unkind, words for the new album from Construct of Lethe, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity)

There’s an argument to be made – in fact, I’m going to make it now – that Construct of Lethe‘s second album, 2018’s Exiler, is one of the best Death Metal albums of the last ten (and probably twenty) years.

But, after releasing such a milestone album (one which you might even be tempted to call a “masterpiece”, at least in the original sense of that word) what exactly was the band to do?

And the answer, it turns out, is to throw caution to the wind and construct an ambitiously flawed, yet absolutely fascinating (not to mention utterly ferocious) autobiographical concept album about the devastating doldrums of depression and suicidal ideation, split into 12 “chapters” (not all of which could be called “songs”), that is intended to be experienced as a singular, uninterrupted sequence.

So, without further interruption or delay… let’s dive in.

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