(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?
(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).
(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.
(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.
(Andy Synn goes on an epic journey with the new album from Crypt Sermon, out now)
I know what some of you are thinking – “but there’s clean singing in this!”
I know this because, without fail, someone will make some version of this comment on our social media without thinking, a) perhaps they’re fully aware of that, or b) maybe this suggests that the site’s name shouldn’t be taken entirely seriously?
Sure, we’re partly to blame (actually, it’s Islander who’s mostly to blame, as he’s the one who came up with the damn name as a response to the early 2000s trend of bands shoehorning in big clean-sung choruses in a desperate attempt to appeal to the mainstream) but… c’mon folks, if you’ve spent more than five minutes with us here at NCS you must have noticed that we cover a lot of bands who don’t just use harsh vocals.
And one of those bands, whom we’ve covered numerous times, is Crypt Sermon, who just released what might be the best album of their career so far.
(Does the fire still burn, or have Kvaen started cooling off? Our own Andy Synn finds out)
Success, or so they say, can be a double-edged sword. And they’re not necessarily wrong.
It’s something you see even in our beloved Metal scene (where what counts as “success” tends to vary depending on who you ask) – from bands who suddenly get a taste of mainstream acclaim and end up having to simplify and sanitise their sound to satisfy their new audience, to artists whose debut album set such a high bar that everything else they subsequently produce is inevitably judged (and often found wanting) in comparison.
And while Kvaen (aka the solo project of multi-instrumental marvel Jacob Björnfot) haven’t encountered the former issue just yet, there’s definitely an argument to be made that the arc of their career thus far has erred more towards the latter – in the sense that, as good as 2022’s The Great Below was (I even said so myself) it ultimately didn’t quite reach the same heights, or possess the same staying power, as their outstanding debut.
But just because success can cut both ways doesn’t mean that lightning can’t strike twice… so maybe the third time will be the charm?
(Andy Synn recommends making time to immerse yourself in the bleak beauty of Atavist, out now)
Damn, there were a lot of good albums released last week, huh? And I mean a lot.
Just off the top of my head (and not including Oubliette, who I’ve already written about) there’s Umbra Vitae, Terminal Function, Houle, Swelling Repulsion, Lascar, Brazen Tongue, Thanatotherion, Fractal Generator… the list goes on… only some of whom I’m likely to get to writing about before the month is over.
But the reason I picked Cowardice, out of all the aforementioned possibilities (and all the unmentioned ones), is because – in defiance of their chosen moniker – they’re clearly not afraid to take risks.
Why else would they choose to make their new album (their second overall, and their first full-length release in eight years) an absolutely massive double-disc affair, clocking in at just under eighty five minutes of sorrowful, yet spellbinding, Sludge/Doom?
(Andy Synn finds that the new album from Oubliette, out now, is far from torturous)
There are a lot of bands out there that I happen to think are over-hyped and overrated.
But this isn’t about them.
This is about a band who’ve yet to receive anywhere near the attention and acclaim for their music – a stunning blend of scorching intensity, soaring melody, and scintillating technicality which bridges the gap between Panopticon and Insomnium while still adding its own distinctive flair and flavour – which they so richly deserve.
And, I’ll cop to it, some of that is our fault, as although we’ve featured the band here a few times over the years, this is the first time any of us has actually managed to find time to sit down and give them a full write-up.
So let’s make it count, shall we?
(Andy Synn is far from indifferent to the new album from Hippotraktor, out tomorrow on Pelagic Records)
Contrary to popular belief, there is at least some method to our madness here at NCS.
I’ll grant you, said method mostly just amounts to us messaging each other back and forth going “do you want this… I can do it if you don’t have time… ok, you do that one instead…” but it’s a method that mostly/sort of/kinda works.
Case in point, my man DGR originally had Hippotraktor‘s new one pencilled in on his review queue but eventually yielded it to me when he realised that, with everything else going on, he just wouldn’t have time to give it the attention it deserved.
And since it was me who originally wrote about the band here, way back in 2021 when I reviewed their first album, it only made sense that I be the one to pick up the slack.
So let’s see how much the band have changed in the last three years, or whether they’ve just remained… in stasis.
(Andy Synn continues to enjoy the blooming of Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa‘s sound on their new album)
If there’s one thing I can say about NCS, it’s that we are loyal to the bands we choose to cover (sometimes to a fault) and… wait, that’s how I started my last review for this band.
Let’s try this again.
If there’s one thing we love here at NCS it’s discovering new, underground bands and then following them as they grow and change and evolve over the years.
And considering this is the third time I’m going to be writing about French Progronauts Æthĕrĭa Conscĭentĭa I think it’s safe to say that we’re in this for the long haul.
So let’s see what strange delights they have for us this time, shall we?