Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

CROW BLACK SKY – SIDEREAL LIGHT, VOL. TWO

Oct 122023

(Andy Synn offers his thoughts on the new album from South Africa’s Crow Black Sky)

While the whole “two year album cycle” thing is fine for some bands (though I’d say it’s more common amongst bands signed to more prominent labels) not every artist works, or should work, to the same schedule.

Case in point, Cape Town’s Crow Black Sky released their first album back in 2010, but then waited eight more years before releasing the follow-up, Sidereal Light, Vol. One.

In hindsight you almost wonder why the band didn’t change their name in the intervening period (though I can understand why not, since Crow Black Sky is an excellent name) as Volume One represented a significant shift in sound for the group, moving them towards a “cosmic” Black Metal sound that was as rich in atmosphere as it was in aggression… and all the better for it.

And now, after five long years, we finally get to hear where this path has taken them with the recent release of Sidereal Light, Vol. Two.

BODY VOID – ATROCITY MACHINE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Oct 102023

(Andy Synn offers his thoughts on the upcoming new album by Body Void)

Continuing with this week’s theme of posting articles about the most abrasive, horrible music of the year… here’s a few words (and then a few more words) about Body Void‘s most abrasive and horrible album yet.

Consider yourselves warned.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 092023

(Andy Synn highlights four albums from last month you need to listen to)

There’s two things you need to know about this column.

It’s usually done sooner than this but, since I didn’t get back into the country until Wednesday last week, I didn’t have chance to write everything up until now.
I normally try and present a pretty varied grab-bag of albums and artists in each article… but this time I’ve dedicated it solely to some of the nastiest, gnarliest, and most unfriendly sounds from September.

So, with all that in mind, let’s see what this latest edition of “Things You May Have Missed” has to offer, shall we?

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 163): SVALBARD

THE SYNN REPORT 1 Response »

Oct 062023

Recommended for fans of: Alcest, Oathbreaker, So Hideous

First off, I have to apologise for the lateness of this particular edition of The Synn Report – I simply didn’t have time to write very much while I was overseas last week.

However, considering that Svalbard are releasing their fourth – and arguably finest – album today, it seemed like an opportune time to take a deep-dive into their discography (and, potentially, reassess some of the words I’ve written about them previously).

There’s no question that the Bristol-born quarter have proved somewhat divisive at times – their punky fusion of Post-Metal, Post-Hardcore, and Post-Black often causing consternation amongst the “purists”, while their poignant, painfully honest lyrics have sometimes been accused of being a little too on the nose – but the raw energy, and equally raw emotion, underpinning everything they do is something that simply cannot be denied.

So if you’re a looking for a band who wear their collective heart on their sleeve, but also don’t pull their punches – musically or lyrically – then Svalbard should be just what you’ve been searching for.

MERCENARY – SOUNDTRACK FOR THE END TIMES

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 272023

(Andy Synn catches up with a band who we haven’t checked in with in quite a while)

Change, as they say, is the one universal constant. But that doesn’t mean that change is always good. Or, at least, it’s not always perceived (or received) that way.

Case in point, following the departure of the Sandagger brothers in 2009 Mercenary were – rightly or wrongly – criticised for, ahem, metamorphosing from the distinctive Prog/Power/Death Metal hybrid they used to be into a more groove-focussed, Metalcore-ish “Nu-Melodeath” act in the vein of bands like Caliban, Deadlock, etc.

Much of the blame was placed, unfairly, on bassist (and now primary vocalist) René Pedersen – mostly, it seemed, because his singing style was supposedly less “epic” and more “emo” than his predecessor – even though the core guitar duo of Jakob Mølbjerg and Martin Buus (who have, at the time of writing this, now been playing together for over twenty years!) remained unchanged.

But the truth of the matter is that there was no one person responsible for the band’s downturn in fortunes, it’s simply that, for a while, they didn’t seem to know quite who they were, or who they wanted to be, any more.

But on their new album Mercenary sound more like… well, Mercenary… than they have in years!

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: RORCAL – SILENCE

Album Reviews, Premieres 2 Responses »

Sep 262023

(We’re honoured to be hosting the premiere of Rorcal‘s new album in advance of its September 29 release by Hummus Records, with words by our own Andy Synn)

Success, or so they say, can be a double-edged sword.

What, for example, do you do after releasing an album which – in my opinion, at least – is both the very definition of a true cult classic and one of the best records of the year? How do you follow something like that?

Some bands double down on what already worked. Others switch things up and try a different approach.

But Rorcal… they just reached even deeper down into that aching, infinitely empty pit of gnawing hunger and nameless horror that exists within their collective soul and tore loose another spiteful slab of auditory darkness that they chose to call Silence.

DEADSPACE – UNVEILING THE PALEST TRUTH

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 252023

(Andy Synn unveils his thoughts about the recently-released return from Deadspace)

Our relationship – and I should be clear that by our I also mean my – with the band known as Deadspace has been a long and rewarding one.

Over the years we’ve seen (and heard) them grow from their disconsolate, DSBM-inspired roots to adopt a darker and more symphonic-laced sound, and then an altogether more aggressive approach, culminating in the release of A Portrait of Sacrificial Scars, arguably their best, and seemingly final, album in 2020.

I say “seemingly” because although, at the time, it did appear that …Portrait… would be the group’s last work – and we were, to be certain, saddened to hear this – it turns out that rumours of the band’s demise were greatly exaggerated, with the release of the Within Haunted Chambers EP (which contained three significantly heavier reworkings/re-recordings of earlier songs) being the first sign that Deadspace were definitely not as dead as they had seemed.

And now, finally, we get to find out exactly what it is that brought them back to life.

OBSIDIAN TIDE – THE GRAND CRESCENDO

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 202023

(Andy Synn rides the waves of Prog-Metal magic with the upcoming new album from Obsidian Tide)

Earlier this year – and several times since – I’ve stated that 2023 has been, for me at least, a very Prog-heavy year. And that’s before I was even aware that Obsidian Tide had a new album coming!

If you’re not familiar with the band you might want to start by checking out our review of their debut album, as not only is it well worth listening to in its own right it also helps provide some extra insight and added context into how much they’ve developed – both instrumentally and artistically – since then.

There’s little to no question, of course, that The Grand Crescendo is even better than its predecessor (which itself was one of the most pleasant, and praiseworthy, surprises of 2019) but just saying that isn’t really enough to count as a proper review, so I should probably wrap up this increasingly-rambling intro and get stuck into what the album actually sounds like!

TOMB MOLD – THE ENDURING SPIRIT

Album Reviews 8 Responses »

Sep 182023

(Andy Synn steps into the fray to try and uncover the truth about the new Tomb Mold album)

If there’s one thing I think we can all agree on it’s that the amount of excessive “hype” that goes on in the more metallic ends of the media spectrum – from professionally written puff-pieces to overly-effusive amateur tweet-fests – has gotten pretty silly.

Every new album is “album of the year”. Every new band is “the saviour of Metal”. And so on, and so forth.

It sometimes seems like there’s just no room anymore for the sort of nuanced, constructively critical analysis that would actually add something to the conversation. Everyone’s just out to be the first to market with the hottest take or the most fawning regurgitation of the provided press materials, which makes it difficult to get a clear or honest picture of things.

And when the buzz around an album is as deafening as it was about The Enduring Spirit it can be even harder to know what, or who, to trust.

BEST OF BRITISH: GEIST / HAAR / THE SALT PALE COLLECTIVE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Sep 142023

(Andy Synn offers up another triple-taste of British steel)

Let me tell you something, the last quarter of this year is absolutely packed with awesome (and potentially awesome) new releases.

And that’s just as true when you take a look at the UK scene too, with a bunch of big names and new contenders scheduled to drop their proverbial bombs over the next couple of months.

As a primer for all that, I’ve selected three albums – two from last month, one set for release next week – that I can practically guarantee are going to end up on several end-of-year lists.

They really are that good, embodying the best of the best of merciless Metallic Hardcore, audaciously unorthodox Black Metal, and dynamcally doomy, drone-inflected Post-Metal, respectively.

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