Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 158): LO!

May 012023

Recommended for fans of: Conjurer, Soilent Green, (early) The Ocean

Australia’s Lo! are a difficult act to pin down.

That’s not to say their methods are totally unrecognisable – comparisons to the punchy/proggy Sludge-core of Burst or the harder-hitting side of Amenra are definitely valid (though not definitive by any means), as are any correlations you might observe to The Ocean circa-Fluxion/Aeolian, and there’s even a fair bit of Soilent Green‘s gut-heaving heaviness and venomous intensity (especially in the vocals) – but tagging them with just one genre, and then expecting them to stay within those boundaries, is a veritable fool’s errand.

Let’s just say that their sound sits somewhere between the darker, proggier end of Sludge, the heavier, more aggressive side of Post-Metal, and the harsher, more metallic form(s) of Hardcore, and let their music – including their fantastic new album, The Gleaners– speak for itself!

NIGHTMARER – DEFORMITY ADRIFT

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Apr 272023

(Andy Synn embraces the suffering with the upcoming new album from Nightmarer)

For some people the entire Dissonant Death Metal scene can be summed up by one band: Ulcerate.

It’s understandable. After all, not only did they effectively set the template for the style (at least in its modern incarnation) with 2011’s Destroyers of All, they then re-defined it once more with Stare Into Death… in 2020.

But I’m here to tell you that there’s far, far more to the Disso-Death movement than that, from similarly foundational records such as Flourishing‘s The Sum of All Fossils and Ageless Oblivion‘s Penthos, to genre-expanding albums from Ingurgitating Oblivion and Light Dweller, to promising debuts from potential future-leaders like Growth, Barús, and Aeviterne.

And then there’s Nightmarer, whose name should already be on your mind whenever you think about the best and brightest of the new wave of dissonant dissidents… and if they weren’t before, then they definitely will be after you hear Deformity Adrift.

PORENUT – MISLIVES

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Apr 252023

(Andy Synn continues his streak of brilliant Black Metal bands/albums with the “new” one from Porenut)

Some of you may have noticed a trend over the last several weeks, where I’ve almost exclusively written about Black Metal (most frequently erring towards the weirder end of the spectrum too).

Looking ahead, however, I can see a lot more Death Metal and/or Sludge-related content coming down the pipeline, so it looks like I’llbe switching things up sooner, rather than later.

It would be remiss of me, however, not to take this opportunity to write something about the recently-released new album from perennial outsiders Porenut, especially since it happens to be a real dark-horse candidate for best Black Metal album of the year (so far).

CHROME WAVES – EARTH WILL SHED ITS SKIN

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 202023

(Andy Synn continues our long-running relationship with Chicago’s Chrome Waves, whose new album is set for release next week)

It’s crazy, when you think about it, just how long we’ve been writing about Chrome Waves, publishing our very first post about the group – then made up of The Atlas Moth‘s Stavros Giannopolous, ex-Nachtmystium guitarist Jeff Wilson, and former The Gates of Slumber drummer Bob Fouts (RIP) – in December 2011.

And while things have certainly changed quite a bit since then – the group essentially began all over again in 2018, with Wilson and Amiensus vocalist/guitarist James Benson forming the new core of the band’s ever-evolving line-up, which now also features bassist Zion Meager and drummer Garry Naples – we’ve continued to follow their career with both fascination and appreciation aplenty over the years.

But what’s particularly fascinating about their upcoming fourth album, Earth Will Shed Its Skin, is the way in which it attempts to weave the two most distinctive aspects of the band’s sound – the cathartic “Post-Black Metal” side that appeals to fans of Tombs, Deafheaven, and the like, and the shoegaze-y Alt-Rock side that recalls the best of acts like Hum and Catherine Wheel – into a single, coherent whole.

Does it succeed? Or does it shatter under the weight of everything it’s trying to achieve? Let’s find out!

CISZA – SHE YEARNS FOR OTHER WORLDS

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Apr 192023

(Andy Synn breaks his silence on the first full-length album from Poland’s Cisza)

Ok, I promise… this is going to be the last of the Black Metal oddities that I write about for a while.

Probably. Maybe. Almost certainly.

That being said, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass by without writing about Cisza‘s intriguing debut album.

After all, while it may not be as overtly “odd” as most of the releases I’ve covered recently it is, however, a record which certain people are more likely to deny actually is Black Metal, due to the fact that its blend of echoing tremolo melodies and rigid rhythmic patterns errs closer towards the punchy, Post-Black approach of bands like Agrypnie, Downfall of Gaia, and Harakiri for the Sky, than it does anything remotely “trve” or “kvlt”.

ALTARI – KRÖFLUELDAR

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Apr 172023

(Andy Synn bathes in the pyroclastic flow of the debut album from Iceland’s Altari)

I promise you, at some point I’ll write about something a little more… normal.

Maybe some stupid, stompy Death Metal or some chunky, chuggy Hardcore. How does that sound?

But, for whatever reason, there’s been so many brilliantly weird and wonderful albums released over the last few months – especially on the Black Metal side of things – which I’ve felt compelled to write about that you’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re in the middle of some sort of renaissance in the field of Avant-Garde extremity (and maybe we are!).

And, providing yet more evidence for this, may I present the debut album from Icelandic iconoclasts Altari.

ὉΠΛΊΤΗΣ – ΤΡΩΘΗΣΟΜΈΝΗ

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Apr 132023

(Andy Synn celebrates the latest prolific produce of Ὁπλίτης)

There’s a famous saying… “god doesn’t close a door without opening a window.” Perhaps you’ve heard it?

Now, I’m not a religious man – and, even if I were, that’s patently false – but I can still appreciate the poetry behind the sentiment, the idea that a loss can also be an opportunity for gain, for change, etc.

Case in point, as bereft as I was by the end of Serpent Column in 2021, the unexpected appearance of Ὁπλίτης with their debut EP, Ἡ εἰκών, later that year definitely helped ease the pain a little, and the release of the project’s first full-length album earlier this year more than cemented them as worthy successors in their own right (in fact, as of writing, Ψευδομένη is firmly ensconced on my “Best of the Year” shortlist).

And now, in another move which recalls their equally prolific predecessor(s), Ὁπλίτης are back with their second album in just over three months, which once again affirms their status as a band we should all be watching, and listening to, very closely.

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GRAVES – SHRINES TO DAGON

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 122023

(Andy Synn invites you all to come worship the new album from Out of the Mouth of Graves)

There’s always been something almost inhuman… practically supernatural… about how prolific the members of this band are.

Whether it’s with Acausal Intrusion, Feral Lord, Maggot Crown, Psionic Madness, or Out of the Mouth of Graves themselves (and that’s just a handful of the projects they are, or have been, involved in) it’s hard to comprehend how the trio find sufficient time to keep pushing the boundaries year after year after year.

But Shrines to Dagon finally offers us an explanation – it’s now clear that Vølus, Turner and Moran have made some sort of unholy pact with the ruinous powers beyond this realm. How else could they do what they do?

DØDHEIMSGARD – BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT

Album Reviews 5 Responses »

Apr 112023

(Andy Synn explores the new album from the shapeshifting sultans of strange, Dødheimsgard)

There’s an unfortunate tendency, as I’m sure many of you aware, among some of the more… ahem… self-consciously “Avant-Garde” members of the Metal community to try a little too hard to convince everyone how progressive, how clever, and how creative they are, rather than letting their work simply speak for itself.

Whether that’s due to a lack of confidence – or an over-abundance of it – is always up for debate, but the truth is it’s almost always better to show rather than tell, and if you’re more interested in making solipsistic statements and delivering pretentious proclamations about your own intelligence, then… well, that says a lot, doesn’t it?

Dødheimsgard, however, have always come by their weirdness honestly, and their unwillingness to conform has never come across as contrived or calculated, but simply as an organic expression of their own unique oddness.

And Black Medium Current is a sublime space oddity of a very special sort, no doubt about it, that may one day be held up as the band’s de facto magnum opus.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 052023

(Andy Synn has four more albums to recommend from March that you, and we, may have missed)

For this month’s catch up on “Things You May Have Missed” I’ve elected to cover four bands who – in my opinion at least – don’t conform neatly to any particular genre stereotypes or fit into one specific stylistic box.

That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a heap of other, more genre-specific releases to check out last month – Death Metal fans would do well to check out the malevolent murk of Aphotic and/or the sheer brutality of Thanatophobia, whereas those of a more “blackened” persuasion should give Blaze of Sorrow and Malphas a try (the latter especially), while anyone looking for something moodier and doomier will doubtless enjoy the new Isole and Weight of Emptiness (and I may still try and find time to write a few words about the former if/when I get chance) – but I thought I’d go with a few selections that are a bit harder to pin down.

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