(Andy Synn turns his attention today to the recently-released new album from New Jersey’s Replicant)
There’s a hoary old cliche – perhaps you’ve heard it – that “good artists borrow, great artists steal”.
And Replicant‘s new album is a prime example of this.
(In Vain‘s is out next week, and Andy Synn decided it deserved an advance review)
Scores, huh? What are they good for?
Absolutely nothing… well, most of the time anyway.
Let’s face it, when so many sites/zines are giving out nothing but 8s and 9s out of 10 (and don’t get me started on the ones who seem to think that adding a decimal point somehow makes them look better) the whole idea of assigning an arbitrary rating to things has been rendered even more meaningless than it already was.
I get it though, writers don’t want to lose access to promos and interviews, and a flashy score and an equally splashy feature quote (more often than not using the word “masterpiece” so as to even further dilute its meaning/value) is a great way to get yourself featured in PR emails and social media posts.
But is any of it actually good for the fans, let alone the bands themselves? Wouldn’t it be better to actually focus on providing some useful insight and analysis and, yes, even some actual criticism, so that the readers (and prospective listeners) actually take something away from what you’ve written beyond just the rating at the end?
Well, let’s find out, shall we?
(Andy Synn presents a wake-up call in the form of the new album from Gvillotine)
For whatever reason, I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the last few days. More specifically, I’ve been having trouble getting to sleep, because my brain just won’t switch off.
The knock-on effect of this, of course, is that it’s been getting more and more difficult to drag my tired, sleep-deprived carcass out of bed each morning, because both my brain and my body just don’t want to wake up.
But, let me tell you, Gvillotine‘s particular blend of blistering Blackened Grind contains more chemical energy than 1,000 cups of the blackest coffee – with none of the associated carcinogens – and a quick burst of it to start the day definitely helps blast (and I do mean blast) away the cobwebs.
(Andy Synn embraces the pain with the new album from Russian riffmongers Minuala)
One thing you may have noticed about us here at NCS is that we are loyal (sometimes to a fault).
Once we find a band we like (which, you may have noticed, happens a lot) we try to keep abreast of everything they do and, where possible, write at least a little something about whatever they release.
Of course, with so much music coming out all the time, and so much else going on in our lives, it’s still easy for us to miss stuff – for example, I only managed to give Minuala‘s previous album a passing mention in my year-end round-up (though you can read all about their first four full-lengths here) – but we try our best to stay on top of things, which is why I was so excited to see В Агонии suddenly pop up out of nowhere last week.
(We forced Andy Synn to listen to the new album from The Monolith Deathcult)
Our long-running relationship with Dutch deviants The Monolith Deathcult has been well-documented by now,
We’ve been friends, we’ve been enemies… and then there was that unfortunate incident where we all swapped brains… but our love for the band’s music has never waned.
The problem, of course, is that this means it’s impossible for us to be objective, or even pretend to be objective, about their new album – no matter what we say or do, whether we praise it or criticise it, someone is always going to find a way to dismiss what we say, regardless of whether it confirms or refutes their own biases.
But, as you may already have guessed, I still really wanted to write something about The Demon Who Makes Trophies of Men (which officially comes out tomorrow)… so what was I to do?
(Andy Synn presents four more handpicked morsels of metallic goodness from the last month)
I don’t think anyone is going to disagree with the following assertion, but… March was absolutely packed with new releases, any number of which could (and perhaps) should have been featured here.
Sadly, between the three of us (and our various (ir)regular contributors) we only have a limited number of hours in the day which we can dedicate to writing and reviewing… especially when you consider that we’d rather, wherever possible, provide some proper insight and analysis instead of just churning out a bunch of superficial – and largely interchangeable – puff-pieces just to get our numbers up.
With that in mind, here’s a short-list (ok, not that short) of artists I wish I’d written about… Apparition, Clarion Void, Convulsing, Horresque, Kollapse, Merrimack, Sacrificial Vein (absolutely love that one), Schattenfall, the flawed but fascinatingly ambitious debut from Waidelotte, Wounds… and which I hope you’ll still find time to check out.
Still, best not to focus on our regrets, eh? Especially since the four artists/albums I’ve selected for this edition of “Things You May Have Missed” – all of whom err on the more esoteric and/or unorthodox side, to a greater or lesser extent – represent some of the best that March had to offer.
(Andy Synn takes some time to smell the flowers with Artificial Bouquet, out now)
If I said you had a Frail Body would you hold it against me?
Wait, no, let me try that again…
If I told you that Frail Body were practically a Black Metal band these days, would you listen to their new album?
Recommended for fans of: Svartidauði, Panzerfaust, Rites of Thy Degringolade
New Zealand’s Verberis have been one of those “if you know, you know” bands ever since the release of their debut album, Vexamen, back in 2016.
It was the addition of Ulcerate drummer Jamie Saint Merat during the writing and recording of their Vorant Gnosis EP in 2018, however, that really helped put the band on the map, and there’s no denying that his impressive abilities behind the kit certainly helped elevate them to a whole new level.
But to focus too much on JSM’s contributions would be to do a huge disservice to the rest of the band (who, while no longer totally anonymous, prefer to go by the initials NH, DA, and MP) as it’s their collective contributions – combining the face-melting fury of the Antipodean Disso-Death scene with the bone-chilling bleakness of Icelandic Black Metal – which gives Verberis their monstrous, multi-headed sound.
And with the group having just surprise-released their new album, The Apophatic Wilderness, last week now seemed like the perfect time to give these particular devils their due.
(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?
(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.