Andy Synn, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Andy Synn

AN ABSTRACT ILLUSION – WOE

Sep 082022

(Andy Synn lavishes praise on the new album from Sweden’s An Abstract Illusion)

This Friday is a big day for Death Metal fans, especially fans of the more Prog/Tech side(s) of the scene.

We’ve got new records from Fallujah (an even flashier version of The Flesh Prevails, for better or worse), Warforged (a much more coherent and consistently rewarding record than their debut, albeit one which still doesn’t feel like the band’s “final” form) and Revocation (which… I already reviewed and, spoiler alert, it’s great), as well as several more which I don’t even have time to mention here, let alone review.

But one album I feel compelled to write about is Woe, the upcoming second album from ultra-talented Swedish trio An Abstract Illusion.

Because while other bands might be getting the lion’s share of they hype and headlines this week, these guys could (and should) very well steal the show.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Sep 062022

(What albums did you miss last month? Andy Synn is here to tell you about a few of them)

August was… a pretty shitty month for me, all in all. For a variety of different reasons.

That’s probably why today’s edition of Things You May Have Missed is such a dark one – sometimes you just need a dose of darkness to help put things in perspective.

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 149): HEXIS

THE SYNN REPORT 2 Responses »

Aug 312022

Recommended for fans of: Dragged Into Sunlight, Celeste, This Gift Is A Curse

Heed this warning: Danish dynamos Hexis are… not exactly easy listening, let’s just say that.

In fact, their abrasive amalgam of Black Metal and Hardcore – liberally dosed with enough sickeningly sludgy moments to ensure that the listener never becomes too comfortable or complacent – has, if anything, only gotten harsher, heavier, and just generally nastier, as the years have gone by… as you’re about to discover.

REVOCATION – NETHERHEAVEN

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Aug 292022

(Andy Synn gets to grips with the new album from Revocation, due out 09 September on Metal Blade)

It’s always seemed odd to me that some people seem to equate “being a fan” of a band with “never, ever criticising or questioning what they do”.

Maybe it’s because they’ve invested so much of their identity into their fandom (which is never healthy), or maybe it’s because that’s just what they’ve been told by “the internet” and don’t want to rock the boat, but some folks act as though even entertaining the mildest of criticisms about a band is tantamount to a full-blown betrayal.

That’s obviously not the case, of course, and I’d argue that it’s not at all helpful for a band’s fans to just blindly praise them, since honest feedback from their audience potentially provides one of the best ways for an artist to learn and improve (but that’s an issue for a whole other article).

Case in point, while I think most would agree that Revocation have at least two top-tier classics under their belt(s) – namely 2011’s tech-tacular Chaos of Forms and 2014’s bombastically burly Deathless – it’s worth acknowledging that not every one of their seven (soon to be eight) albums hits quite the same heights (the self-titled in particular is a real clunker), and the band definitely aren’t perfect (nor do I think they’d claim to be).

But if all that has you worried about what I’m going to tell you about their newest album… don’t be, because this preamble has actually just been a clever bait-and-switch, since Netherheaven is easily on par with the band’s very best, and might even be the new standard by which all their work will be judged going forwards.

AB·EST – MOLTEN HUSK

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Aug 232022

(Andy Synn has words to share about the new album from Germany’s Ab·est, out now on Monument of Collapse Records)

Here’s a little fact that “they” don’t want you to know… all the very best Sludge/Post-Metal bands (a distinction which, at the apex of both sub-genres, largely dissolves into nothing) are Hardcore bands at their ~~core~~ root.

That’s right, in a scene awash with pretentious Post-Rock pretenders (most of whom seem to think that buying a distortion pedal and learning a few dischords makes them “the future of Metal”) it’s at the uglier, uncompromising end of the spectrum where you’ll mostly find the real gems… and Ab·est are more uncompromising than most.

So strap yourselves in, my friends, this is not going to be an easy ride.

BLACKBRAID – BLACKBRAID I

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Aug 222022

(The highly-anticipated debut album from Native American Black Metal artist Blackbraid is set for release this Friday, and our very own Andy Synn has some deep thoughts to share about it)

Hype… whether it’s the organic, grass-roots, free-range variety, or the artificial, astro-turfed, paid-for by your parents, kind… is a major part of today’s media landscape, whether we like it or not.

It’s not always a bad thing, by any means, but it sometimes becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy where, once a narrative about a band is established by an author or an outlet (or, increasingly, someone with sufficient twitter influence), that becomes the only story that gets any traction.

Case in point, Blackbraid I is not – as some have claimed, and even more have amplified – the “best Black Metal album of the year”, but it is a very good, occasionally unabashedly great, example of how Black Metal can serve as the perfect medium for anyone with a strong enough vision to express themselves.

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE – CHILDREN OF THE GREAT EXTINCTION

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Aug 162022

(Andy Synn has not forgotten Becoming the Archetype… but will his faith be rewarded?)

Be careful what you wish for… that’s what they say, right?

And, let me tell you, I’ve been wishing and hoping for a new album from Becoming the Archetype ever since the group (at the time a very different entity from the one they started as) disbanded nearly ten years ago.

Well, now it’s finally here, reuniting the core trio of Seth Hecox, Jason Wisdom, and Brent Duckett, for the first time in over a decade, and it’s fallen to me to tell you all about it. And I’m not sure I’m ready.

But I’m going to try my best.

THE HALO EFFECT – DAYS OF THE LOST

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Aug 112022

(Andy Synn gets to grips with the debut album from Melodeath “supergroup” The Halo Effect)

Let’s face it, a lot of people aren’t going to be able to resist pitting the upcoming albums from In Flames and The Halo Effect against one another.

And while that’s understandable to an extent – after all, most (arguably all, if you count Mikael Stanne’s early stint filling in on vocals) of The Halo Effect actually used to be in In Flames – any attempt to position them in direct competition to one another completely misses the point of why this band exists in the first place.

Let’s face it, while the current incarnation of In Flames are essentially a franchise unto themselves – with all the external and internal pressures to produce “hits” which that entails – The Halo Effect is, for all intents and purposes, just five old friends getting together to jam out some tunes that hew a little closer to their roots (though how closely is certainly up for debate).

But while this means that the pressures and expectations surrounding the release of Days of the Lost may not be quite as overbearing, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any expectations riding on it at all… and it’s up to Iwers, Engelin, Svensson, Strömblad, and Stanne to prove that they’ve got more to offer here than just a fleeting hit of feel-good nostalgia.

ETHER COVEN – THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HAMMER AND THE NAIL

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Aug 092022

(Andy Synn gets filthy and furious with the new album from Floridian sludge-slingers Ether Coven)

What makes a band “big” these days?

Is it album sales? Streaming numbers? Social media reach?

Maybe, you might think, it’s being on a “big” label… but if that’s the case then why are Ether Coven, currently signed to Century Media Records/Good Fight Music, such a relatively unknown and firmly underground phenomenon?

The answer, of course, is that the band’s music is so unflinchingly ugly, so unforgivingly abrasive (yet tempered with moments of bleak, brooding beauty) that, no matter who they signed with, they were always going to be something of an acquired taste.

But while Ether Coven might not be “big” in the conventional sense of the word, there’s no denying that The Relationship Between the Hammer and the Nail is anything less than an absolutely massive album… in multiple senses of the word.

BEST OF BRITISH: BASTIONS / GRAVE LINES / IMPERIUM

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Aug 042022

(Andy Synn presents three more fine examples of bombastic British belligerence)

Like I said yesterday… I’m more than a little swamped – both mentally and physically – right now, so I’m not going to waste what little time I have on a long preamble.

Instead I’m just going to urge you all to give each of these three albums – two from last month and one scheduled for release at the beginning of September – a shot. You might just discover something you like!

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