Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

TRESPASSER – יְהִי אוֹר

Feb 252026

(Andy Synn prepares to burn it all down again with the new album from Black Metal anarchists Trespasser)

Despite what you might think, I don’t necessarily have to agree with a band’s beliefs in order to enjoy and appreciate their music (the sheer number of Christian, Satanic, or otherwise religious bands I’ve written about and recommended over the years is testament to that).

Don’t get me wrong, there are certain ideologies, etc, I choose not to engage with or support – and that is very much my personal line to draw – but, for the most part, there’s just something about a band who truly believes in what they’re singing/screaming about which makes them far more engaging to me.

And, make no mistake about it, Swedish anarcho-philosophers Trespasser have never been afraid to wear their beliefs and ideals right out on their sleeves.

ROSA FAENSKAP – INGENTING FORBLIR

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 242026

(Andy Synn recommends the new album from one of the most vital new voices in the underground)

If you’ve been in this game for a while, like I have, chances are you’ll have come across quite a few sites/zines/writers who only really cover “big” name bands (usually signed to well-known labels) in the hope of receiving some reciprocal attention and/or access in return.

And while we’ll occasionally cover some “bigger” (relatively speaking) names here at NCS – no-one’s going to be accusing Kreator of being “underground” any time soon, after all – that’s never been our primary focus.

I’ll grant you, in the past we’ve occasionally had a guest writer or two who’ve crossed the line from honest advocacy into outright sycophancy, but when it comes to the core cadre – myself, Islander, and DGR – we at least try to provide some context and justification for our recommendations, rather than just regurgitating the provided press-release materials and calling it a day.

But, let me tell you, as hard as we may try to maintain this self-imposed sense of pseudo-objectivity, it’s not always easy to do so, especially when it comes to an album like Ingenting Forblir… but I’ll try my best.

BEST OF BRITISH: CRYPTIC SHIFT / GOOD TIGER / SIDIOUS

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 232026

(Andy Synn serves up three more examples of high-quality British beef for your ears)

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating all the same… the UK Metal scene is as vital and as vibrant and as varied right now as it’s ever been.

And one of the reasons this particular column exists is to help highlight that variety – and today’s post is particularly diverse in its stylistic scope – beyond the borders of this green and pleasant (though currently quite wet) land.

Obviously I can’t cover everything that issues from these shores every year – for one thing, there’s some albums that I just don’t want or feel the need to cover – but hopefully I can help out at least a few of my fellows by exposing their music to a more international audience.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it… shall we?

INGRINA – NÅVÆRENDE LYSS

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Feb 192026

(Andy Synn is here to encourage you to lose yourselves in the new album from French Post-Metal collective Ingrina)

Here’s a funny story for you.

Recently, quite out of the blue, we received an email asking us – and I swear I’m not making this up – to stop using so many words in our reviews and to just boil things down to a score out of 10 at the end of each article so that they were more “useful”.

And while you almost have to admire the sheer gall it takes to contact us directly and ask us to change who we are and what we do purely for someone else’s convenience – as if that was ever going to elicit a positive response – it got me thinking about the power of expectations (particularly the wrong expectations) and how important it is to approach things on their own terms.

Which brings us, nice and neatly, to the new album from Ingrina.

KILLING PACE – HCPM

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Feb 182026

(Andy Synn burns down genre boundaries with the new album from Killing Pace)

Did you know that I did my disseration on the concept of “categorical perception”?

In particular I was looking at the ways in which your (for want of a better term) perspective – dictated by your social, cultural, and even geographical, influences – affects your perception of things like language (specifically speech sounds), colour, and more.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, it’s because the way we categorise sub-genres also seems to follow a lot of the rules of “categorical perception”

Let’s face it, Death Metal that becomes increasingly more “blackened” until turns into “Blackened Death Metal” can easily just tip over into straight up Black Metal (and vice versa)… Hardcore combined with Metal becomes “Metallic Hardcore”, which in turn, at some point, becomes “Metalcore” (a term which itself means different things to different people, depending on their background and history), and so on…- to the point where even if the sonic spectrum appears pretty continuous we generally choose to draw some pretty hard lines and separate it into discrete little areas, if only to help us more easily manage the sheer wealth of music we’re exposed to.

But what’s really interesting about all that – to me, anyway – is the fact that while these sub-genre categories can be a useful tool, sometimes how you choose to categorise a band says more about you than them.

Which, of course, brings us to the new album from self-declared “Hardcore Punk Metal” crew Killing Pace.

SHORT BUT SWEET: GLASSBONE / KANONENFIEBER / MUDTOOTH

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Feb 172026

(Andy Synn has three more bite-sized blasts of brutality to share with you today)

As we all know, short-form releases (splits, EPs, and the like) tend to get the… ahem… short end of the stick when it comes to coverage (especially amongst the larger and/or more mainstream publications, who tend to prioritise full length albums, for obvious reasons).

Last year, however, I managed to reverse this trend a little, covering more EPs than I did the year before that… and in 2026 I’m hoping to continue expanding our coverage of releases best described as “short but sweet”.

BEST OF BRITISH: 1986 / MOLOCH / UNMOTHER

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Feb 122026

(Andy Synn compiles three more albums from his “local” scene that he’d like you to check out)

As the resident Brit here at NCS, I’ve made it my mission to highlight as many bands from these green and (un)pleasant lands as I possibly can each year (with last year in particular being a big one in that regard).

And while this process hasn’t always gone smoothly – there have been at least a handful of bands over the years who haven’t taken kindly to my coverage, even though it always skews positive, because they didn’t think I praised them enough – generally speaking I’m proud of the fact that I’ve helped spread the word about our vibrant, versatile “scene”… even if that “scene” hasn’t always been kind to me in return.

Today’s triptych of recent and/or upcoming albums features a promising, if imperfect, debut (1986), an extremely ambitious second album that serves as something of a creative reboot/rebirth (Unmother), and the latest release in a long-running, uncompromising career of unrepentant ugliness (Moloch), all of which come with my personal recommendation.

PONTE DEL DIAVOLO – DE VENOM NATURA

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Feb 112026

(Andy Synn crosses the devil’s bridge once more)

It was almost exactly two years ago that Italian diabolists Ponte Del Diavolo released their debut album, Fire Blades From the Tomb, and although I didn’t catch up to it immediately I did manage to pen a review as part of that month’s “Things You May Have Missed“.

This time around, however, I’m (just) ahead of the game, as their new album, De Venom Natura, is set to come out this Friday, meaning I get the chance to help set your expectations ever so slightly in advance.

So, without further ado… let’s see where this bridge takes us, shall we?

OMINESS – OMINESS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Feb 092026

(Andy Synn offers up a litany of praise for a brand new band you definitely need to check out)

Is there anything better than discovering a new band that you immediately want to start recommending to everyone else?

Well, yes, obviously… and if you said “no” then you’re probably just not doing it right… but that doesn’t make these discoveries any less special or enjoyable.

Case in point, the self-titled debut album from California Sludge/Doom quintet Ominess didn’t take long to grab my attention – I think it was less than a minute into opener “Cathedral” – and not much longer than that (probably around the time the first absolutely massive chord came crashing out of the speaker) for it to become clear that this was an album that more people needed to know about.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Feb 052026

(Andy Synn offers up 4 more albums from last month which you may have overlooked)

As I may have mentioned in yesterday’s article, it feels like I missed more than the usual number of albums in January… and while I know that it’s impossible for anyone to properly listen to, let alone review, everything that comes out each month (despite some hyperbolic claims to the contrary by certain online clout-chasers) this has still bothered me quite a bit.

After all, we’re only a month into the year and we’ve already managed to overlook the likes of Blackwater Holylight and Pâro, Ultima and Stabbing, Dagger Threat, Gavran and Juodvarnis (the latter two possibly being lined up for a future edition of The Synn Report each)… and countless others I’ve probably forgotten about already.

At the very least, however, the four vibrant and varied and (in their own way) visceral artists and albums I’ve selected to talk about today should keep you all busy while I work out what I’m going to write about this month!

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