PHANTOM WINTER: “SUNDOWN PLEASURES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Jan 022017
 

 

(The first week of 2017 has begun, but we still have a few 2016 releases we want to write about, including the second album by Phantom Winter, which is the subject of this review by Andy Synn.)

You’re probably already aware of this, but the fact is there’s simply too much music released each year for any one man, even one as handsome and debonair as myself, to cover it all. There’s always a gem or two (or ten) that slip through the cracks.

As a result I’m going to be spending the next week or so covering some of the releases which DIDN’T make my end of year lists, simply because I:

a) didn’t have chance to give them a full and proper listen, or
b) fell so hard for them that I wasn’t sure I could trust my initial reactions.

Either way, it’s a good opportunity for me to make up for lost ground, before getting fully into the swing of 2017. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: LA TORTURE DES TÉNÈBRES — “CIVILIZATION IS THE TOMB OF OUR NOBLE GODS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 312016
 

 

This last day of an unusual and unsettling year marks the release of an unusual and unsettling album that it’s our pleasure to premiere for you. The album’s name is Civilization Is the Tomb of Our Noble Gods, and it was created by La Torture Des Ténèbres from Ottawa, Canada.

I’ve tried, but I haven’t succeeded, in stitching together my thoughts about the album in a coherent, organized form. The music defeats such efforts, or at least my own. More likely, I just haven’t yet reassembled the parts of my mind that were fragmented but also left spellbound by what I’ve heard. So I’ll just scatter my impressions before you like leaves that are still swirling in the wind. Continue reading »

REVIEWED: NEW ALBUMS BY ENDORPHINS LOST AND THE DRIP

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 292016
 

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(Todd Manning prepared the following two reviews.)

Sometimes you hear a couple of releases and you can’t help but pair them together, and that is certainly the case with the new albums by The Drip and Endorphins Lost. Both of these bands hail from the Pacific Northwest and lash out at the world with Grindcore-soaked fury, and both have new albums coming out less than two months apart. Endorphins Lost even mention The Drip in a press release as one of their influences. There’s probably more connections, but you get the point.

ENDORPHINS LOST:  CHOOSE YOUR WAY

Endorphins Lost released their burner Choose Your Way via Six Weeks Records on November 25th. They draw heavily from Powerviolence with their penchant for abrupt tempo changes and blasting fury. They are simultaneously jarring and intoxicating, and manage to bust out no less than fourteen tracks in roughly twenty-eight minutes. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 80: FALL OF EFRAFA

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  3 Responses »
Dec 282016
 

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(Andy Synn delivers the last monthly SYNN REPORT of 2016, and reviews the discography of the British band Fall of Efrafa.)

Recommended for fans of: Neurosis, Amenra, Downfall of Gaia

Taking in elements of Crust Punk, Post-Metal, Post-Rock, Drone, and Hardcore, and spitting out a captivating conglomeration of pulse-pounding riffs, cascading melodies, and harsh, gritty vocals, Fall of Efrafa were, for a time, one of the most vital and visceral acts in the UK.

The band’s three albums, Owsla, Elil, and Inlé together form a conceptual trilogy inspired by the 1972 literary classic Watership Down (whose author, Richard Adams, passed away peacefully at the grand old age of 96 just a few days ago), with the quintet channelling their political, religious, and social philosophy – particularly their opposition to theocracy and blind faith – through the themes of Adams’ seminal novel.

Following the release of their third album the group disbanded, having completed the work for which they originally came together. In this way, and in many others, Fall of Efrafa were just that little bit different from most bands out there. They had a goal, they had a vision, and chose to both begin and to end things entirely on their own terms, leaving behind an impressive (if still under-appreciated) legacy of passion, ambition, and uncompromising integrity.

Which is why I chose them for this, the eightieth edition of The Synn Report, which I’m also dedicating to my friend Charlie as a testament to her excellent musical taste. Continue reading »

WAR METAL: NEW RELEASES FROM TEITANBLOOD AND DEATH WORSHIP

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 272016
 

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The last gasps of this year have exhaled two poisonous releases that have caused vigorous buzzing within the savage circles of war metal — the first new release by Spain’s Teitanblood since the band’s last album in 2014, and the debut offering of a Canadian band called Death Worship, whose members come from the ranks of Blasphemy, Conqueror, and Revenge. Both releases are available for streaming on Bandcamp, but I’ll add a few words about them as introductions to those streams.

TEITANBLOOD: ACCURSED SKIN

On the 13th of December, with virtually no advance fanfare, the Spanish duo Teitanblood released a new 12″ vinyl EP named Accursed Skin, with the assistance of their usual allies Norma Evangelium Diaboli and The Ajna Offensive. The EP consists of two long songs — the title track and a second song called “Sanctified Dysecdysis”, which also appeared on the band’s 2012 EP Woven Black Arteries in a CD edition. Continue reading »

THUNDERWAR: “BLACK STORM”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Dec 262016
 

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(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the impressive, just-released debut album by the Polish band Thunderwar.)

Alright. One more review for 2016.

Thunderwar are a rookie melodic death metal quartet from Warsaw, Poland, who bring something of a blackened take to the style. It’s unfortunate that their album was released late this month, as it won’t have a fair chance of being recognized on year-end lists. Maybe sometime in Q1 2017 I’ll do a “Top 10 albums in 2016 left in the dust because they were released in December and therefore came in too late for top albums of 2016 lists because these lists need to be published ASAP for clicks instead of waiting ’til 2017 to give a 100% informed account of 2016’s musical landscape” list.

The timing is unfortunate because for me Black Storm is the most impressive debut of 2016 in this style, alongside Betrayal’s Infinite Circles. Continue reading »

KRALLICE: “PRELAPSARIAN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Dec 232016
 

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(Andy Synn has pounced with alacrity upon the just-released Prelapsarian by Krallice and prepared this timely review.)  

Oh you poor, deluded fools… did you really think we were done with reviews, simply because we’re currently mired in the depths of Listmania? And did you really think that I was done writing, just because my week-long list-stravaganza, was finally done?

Perish the thought.

In truth I’d actually intended to get more writing done this week, but I ended up being busy practically all day (and all night) Tuesday, and somewhat hungover on Wednesday… so this is my first real chance to sit down and get my brain back into gear. Worry not though, as I have at least one more review, and this month’s edition of The Synn Report, planned for next week.

But, in the meantime, let’s cast our eyes (and ears) over Prelapsarian, the latest dose of extravantgarde extremity from the ever-prolific Krallice. Continue reading »

BRUTAL UNREST: “TRINITAS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 202016
 

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(TheMadIsraeli prepared this review of the new album by Germany’s Brutal Unrest, coming in January from Hammerheart Records.)

I don’t demand originality or diversity of sound when it comes to my metal. All I ever ask of you is that if you aren’t going to do something interesting or experimental, write good riffs, show that you have a fundamental understanding of what makes metal great. And so I tend to like only super-out-there experimental/avant-garde/progressive extreme metal, or super-meat-and-potatoes, tried-and-true metal that pays homage to the roots and legacy of the genre.

Brutal Unrest definitely fall into the latter category, a majestic German death metal behemoth that listened to too much Aeon, Deicide, Suffocation, and Dismember and came out sounding exactly like the above album cover looks. Continue reading »

MYSTICUM: “PLANET SATAN”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Dec 202016
 

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(We welcome back guest writer Lonegoat, the Texas-based necroclassical pianist behind Goatcraft, whose latest album Yersinia Pestis was released earlier this year by I, Voidhanger. In this piece, Lonegoat provides a different kind of review for the latest album by the Norwegian band Mysticum.)

Synopsis: Mysticum goes on a raging binge, warps to Planet Satan, dies.

Slowly and unwillingly, Mysticum recovered consciousness. He lay on his back, eyes tightly closed, trying to postpone the inevitable awakening. But conciousness returned and brought sensation with it. Needles of pain stabbed at his eyeballs, and the base of his skull began to pound like a giant heart. His joints seemed to be on fire, and his stomach was a deep well of nausea. It was no relief for him to realize that he was suffering from the absolute embodiment of all hangovers. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CRYPT OF SILENCE — “AWARENESS EPHEMERA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 192016
 

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The deepening of winter in the northern latitudes provides an auspicious setting for the release of one of the year’s most staggeringly powerful doom/death albums, Awareness Ephemera, by the Ukrainian band Crypt of Silence. It is being released today by the prominent Russian doom label Solitude Productions, and to commemorate the release we’re bringing you a full stream of its four immense songs.

This is Crypt of Silence’s second album, following 2014’s Beyond Shades, and it is far and away their most accomplished release to date. It draws inspiration from the early albums of such esteemed progenitors as Mourning Beloveth and My Dying Bride, creating a listening experience that is emotionally wrenching and stunningly heavy. Bodies are being broken upon the rack, and hearts have broken as well. Continue reading »

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