Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Mar 062023

(Andy Synn has four excellent under the radar releases for you today)

Well, it’s that time again… time for me to harangue and browbeat you all for failing to keep up with all the great new releases that came out last month.

Of course, that’s not why I do these pieces at all. In fact, as much as I’d hope they provide a public service – cluing you in to some stuff that may have, understandably, flown underneath your radar(s) – there’s an argument to be made that I do them just as much for myself as for other people.

After all, I enjoy writing, and writing about new artists/albums I’ve discovered is a particular joy unto itself.

So here’s four releases from the last month (and a bit… I’ve stretched things a little this time around) for you to check out whenever you get the chance.

ENSLAVED – HEIMDAL

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Mar 022023

(Andy Synn casts his all-seeing eye over Enslaved‘s new album, out tomorrow via Nuclear Blast)

I almost didn’t write this review. After all, it’s not strictly necessary, is it?

Let’s face it, Enslaved have long-since reached the stage in their career where, no matter what they put out (and, let’s be honest, they do have a few duds in their back-catalogue, at least by their own high standards) the fans are going to buy it and the critics are going to fawn over it in a patently un-critical manner.

But, as has been pointed out to me, I haven’t failed to write about a new Enslaved release for years, so I might as well keep that streak alive with Heimdal, right?

But where to begin…

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 155): REMOTE VIEWING

THE SYNN REPORT 2 Responses »

Feb 282023

Recommended for fans of: Primitive Man, Planks, Phantom Winter

Selecting what band to feature for each monthly edition of The Synn Report is more of an art than a science.

Sometimes I like to provide a primer on a seminal band for those looking for a good place to get started with their discography, other times I prefer to highlight the work of an underrated or relatively unknown act who I think deserves more respect.

Sometimes it’s good to focus on a band who are currently active (and this is the case more often than not), at others it’s fun to provide a retrospective on an artist who may no longer be with us but whose work has stood the test of time (and which, unbeknownst to a lot of us, have influenced many of the bands we know and love).

Really, it all just comes down to what I’m feeling at the time, and I’ll often change my mind at the last minute. But today’s entry – covering all three albums, including their recently released new record, by London-based Sludge/Doom/Noise-mongers Remote Viewing – has been set in stone for weeks.

And you’re about to learn why.

SHORT BUT SWEET: CROWN OF MADNESS / TORN IN HALF / VAMPIRE SQUID

SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Feb 272023

(Andy Synn presents three bite-sized morsels of brutality that you may have missed this month)

After my spectacular failure at keeping up with the various short-form releases which came out last year (ultimately having to relegate my coverage to most of the EPs, splits, etc, from 2022 to the end of year round-up instead) I made a vow to myself to stay more on top of things this year.

Obviously this hasn’t happened but… here’s three you may have missed from February that I didn’t want to wait until December to write about!

AN NCS PREMIERE: HVRT – VERGISSMEINNICHT / NEZABUDKA

Premieres No Responses »

Feb 242023

(Andy Synn presents a new track whose subject matter is painfully relevant on this particular day)

Did you know that today it’s been exactly one year since Russia invaded Ukraine?

If you didn’t… well, I wouldn’t necessarily blame you. It certainly doesn’t feel like the war has been going on that long, even though it somehow also feels like it’s been going on forever.

Let’s face it, the human brain has difficulty processing events like this, especially over long periods of time, and that goes double when we’re not being directly affected (and I won’t even pretend to understand what those actually in the war zone must be going through).

It’s an all too human response, and one which makes it all too easy to grow numb and jaded, to simply accept this as “the new normal” and forget what fuelled our anger and our abhorrence in the first place.

But the song/video we’re premiering today asks us, implores us, not to forget. Not to blind our eyes or cover our ears, but to heed the cries of the dead and the disappeared and to remember those who have been lost… because sometimes that’s all we can do.

HYPNO5E – SHEOL

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 212023

(Andy Synn takes us on another epic journey soundtracked by French Prog-Metal maestros Hypno5e)

There’s every chance that, while you’re reading this article, I’ll be out at the massive Gojira arena show here in Nottingham.

The only reason I mention this is that, for years now, Hypno5e have been (lazily) compared to the Big G, despite the fact that the two bands have little in common apart from their nationality.

In fact, if anything, the two groups have only grown further apart as time has gone by, with Hypno5e opting for the path less-travelled and growing more complex and ambitious with every new album.

Which brings us to Sheol – simultaneously both a sequel and a prequel to A Distant Dark Shore (the two albums forming a closed conceptual cycle) – which finds the band continuing to stretch themselves, and their sound, in ever more compelling, challenging, and unpredictable ways.

HEXER – ABYSSAL

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 162023

(Andy Synn turns his attention once more to long-time NCS favourites Hexer)

To say that Hexer have been on a journey over the course of their career might be considered a cliché, but it would be true all the same.

Beginning with the otherworldly aura of their debut album, the aptly-named Cosmic Doom Ritual, the band then turned their eyes towards the psychic mindscape with the hallucinatory Realm of the Feathered Serpent, and now – on album number three – they’ve shifted the focus of their gaze towards the depths of the abyss.

So let’s see what might be gazing back, shall we?

BEST OF BRITISH: GRIEF SYMPOSIUM / HELLRIPPER / MAN MUST DIE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 142023

(Andy Synn waxes philosophical in this latest edition of “The Best of British”)

I’ve been accused – more than once – of “overthinking things”, especially when it comes to music… or movies… or, indeed, art of any form.

So today I’ve decided that the best thing to do is to lean into these accusations by asking some, ahem, “deep”, philosophical questions during this particular edition of “The Best of British”.

THE SOUND OF SUFFERING

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Feb 092023

(Andy Synn presents three recent releases which might ease your pain)

As some of you may be aware, the last 18 months or so have been a steady stream of set-backs, fuck-ups, and tragic events for me, all culminating (I hope) in my upcoming surgery to remove an infected wisdom tooth.

So… yeah, I’ve been in quite a bit of pain – both physical and mental – for a while now, and this has clearly carried over into my listening habits (especially in the past month or so).

Still, I’ve always found that a good dose of auditory agony can serve as a pretty effective painkiller in other areas of life, so here’s a selection of things that have been easing my suffering recently.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Feb 072023

(Andy Synn recommends four albums from last month which you may have overlooked)

So we’re officially one month into the new year and… my list of artists/albums that we didn’t cover in January is already four or fives times longer than the ones we did write about.

Maybe it’s time to accept that it’s impossible for us to stay on top of everything, and just be happy with what we are able to do?

Hell, usually it’s another couple of months of stress and strife before I/we inevitably come to this realisation, so perhaps this is a sign of what I think they call “growth”?

Whatever… here’s four releases from January that you might have missed (but which, thankfully, we didn’t).

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