THE SYNN REPORT, PART 19: WAR OF AGES

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Nov 162011
 

(Andy Synn returns with another SYNN REPORT, comprehensively reviewing the discography of Pennsylvania’s War of Ages.)

Recommended For Fans Of: Unearth, Nightrage, Protest The Hero

Metalcore really has become a dirty word in these uncertain times. Although we’ve seen a whole host of new pseudo-sub-genres appear out of the woodwork to take the (often well deserved) hatred of the metal people, there are those who continue to use the word “metalcore” as an insult. So what exactly is it that War Of Ages, undeniably a metalcore band in style if not always in substance, have to offer that makes it worth giving them a shot?

Well, primarily the sheer love of excessive fret-board twisting guitar work is the primary argument for their continued relevance and for my own continued enjoyment of their well-refined formula. Indeed, the group seem keen on raising the art of the impromptu and improbably epic solo to new heights of excess and emotion.

However, the self-belief and honest expression of this band also shines out like a beacon of integrity in a sea of populist, lowest-common-denominator swill, striking a chord with their direct and passionate approach. It does help, though, that the group can also all play their instruments to an impressive level, particularly the band’s two guitarists, who peel off an array of stunning riffs and shining solos with recognisable passion and fury. In addition, for all their metalcore fire and fury, the group remain pleasingly trend-free, continuing to play a stripped-down and aggressive form of the style in which the focus is clearly on the guitarists and their fleet-fingered playing, rather than attention-grabbing gimmicks or pseudo-brutality. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 18: EMETH

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Aug 312011
 

(I fancy myself a death-metal aficionado, and yet I am learning something new today, thanks to Andy Synn’s report on the discography of Emeth. Allow me to say, FUCK YEAH!)

This Belgian death machine will most likely be new to a lot of you, having spent most of the dark years since it first burst from its cadaverous womb subjugating the scum and villainy of Belgium’s metal underbelly beneath its heel.

Though Belgium does seem to possess an untapped hotbed of bands from all across the genre spectrum, the butchers of Emeth deal solely in a violent trade of brutal death metal that shifts back and forth between incisive hooks and nigh unlistenable, raging mania.

The group’s name means “truth” in Hebrew – a fitting epithet indeed, for a band whose aim is to plumb the depths of the human condition and expose these dark, often disgusting, truths about our fragile existence.

Yet far from being simple death-obsessed goreophiles, the men of Emeth choose to follow a more enigmatic path, delving into themes of insidious terror and shadowy mental torment, as brutal and horrific as any nightmarish concoction of their cannibalistic brethren.

Each album deals with its own terrible truth, the tormented facts and elusive fictions of the physical, the mental and the existential, whose faceless vehemence and formless horror weigh heavily upon our lives. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 17: LIGHT THIS CITY

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Aug 112011
 

(Andy Synn returns with his 17th edition of THE SYNN REPORT and a look-back at the discography of the late, lamented Light This City. Of course, we’re streaming songs from the albums, too.)

Now sadly deceased, Light This City were shaping up to be prime movers and shakers in America’s metal scene before their unfortunate dissolution. With a back-catalogue of four albums of thrashing, raging, melodic death metal, the 5-piece, fronted by human whirlwind Laura Nichol, took the Gothenburg sound and moulded it into something distinctively American, without falling into the rut of metalcore imitation, becoming darlings of the underground scene in their short time together.

One of the strongest comparisons that can be made of the Californian quintet, in the most positive sense, is of a less dark, more thrashy variant of The Black Dahlia Murder’s specifically American brand of melodic death metal, with the latter’s scalpel-sharp Dissection influence replaced with a stronger focus on flowing At The Gates melodicism and chunky Bay Area guitar rhythms, accented by forays into explosive blast beats, soaring Maiden-esque leads and heroic displays of guitar pyrotechnics.

Frontwoman Laura Nichol possesses a powerful voice that shifts organically from a blackened, wounded screech to a rumbling, guttural growl redolent with primal ferocity and sheer, overwhelming presence. The guitars, primarily stemming from the mind and fingers of band co-founder (and drummer) Ben Murray – who switched purely to drums after the band’s second album, allowing new-found guitar wunderkind Brian Forbes to step forward – thrash out a hurricane of molten, distorted riffs and blazing guitar leads, matching their soaring melodies and shredding solos with a crushing delivery of down-tuned devastation.

Although the band are unfortunately no more, they left behind them an enviable legacy of instrumental talent and impressive compositional skill. With a laser sharp focus and a tightly co-ordinated line-up, the group were able to take their influences, many of which have since become standard fare for today’s less-inspired metal groups, and meld them into something wholly individual, using their influences to achieve something greater for themselves; re-interpretation, rather than rote imitation.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 16: COMMUNIC

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Aug 052011
 

(Time for another SYNN REPORT. Today, Andy looks back at the discography of Norway’s Communic, and on Monday we’ll have his review of the band’s brand new album, “The Bottom Deep”.)

Hailing from Kristiansand, Norway, yet bucking the common trends one associates with Norwegian music – no rotten, corpse-painted fury or leather-clad, aggressive sleaze to be found here – prog-metal 3-piece Communic pursue a huge, multi-faceted sound that takes in recognisable elements from a multiplicity of metal sub-genres, swallowing up thrashy rhythms, soaring vocals, labyrinthine song structures, adaptable string-work and elaborate, eloquent drumming, melting them down to their constituents in order to re-forge them anew into a whole far greater than the mere sum of the parts.

Each of the three members is a vital component in crafting the complex and convoluted mini-epics which make up Communic’s various records; Tor Atle Andersen’s drums are a sheer delight to experience, over and over again playing subtle rhythmic shifts off against pounding artillery fire, Erik Mortensen’s flowing, liquid bass lines adding both depth and power in equal measure, while frontman Oddleif Stensland draws from a seemingly bottomless well of scything riffs and piercing, emotional solos. The way these three individuals play off one another is mesmerising, creating a vast soundscape of progressive instrumentalism one second, locking into a devastating metallic groove the next. The breadth of their sound and the sheer array of sonic textures they are able to conjure is a testament both to their striking individual personalities and to their collective focus and the musical identity they have built.

For all their soaring, epic compositions, the band are careful to maintain a strong foundation of armour-plated riffs which make their layered, expansive sound a legitimately heavy concern. At times soft and soothing, at others hard and pounding, these Norwegian progsters have perfected a precise balance between melancholy clarity and crushing power that serves as a perfect foil to their dark, often wilfully complex, subject matter. (more after the jump, including tracks to stream from each album . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 15: LUDICRA

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Jul 302011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn devotes his 15th SYNN REPORT to the late, lamented Ludicra, who called it quits earlier this week.)

Loyal readers, it is with a heavy heart that I compose this edition of The Synn Report. The recent untimely demise of progressive black metal act Ludicra has prompted me to push back the article I was writing in favour of a tribute to a band that ended its career all too abruptly, brimming as it was with future promise and potential.

Ostensibly a black metal act, although one difficult to pin down precisely, between their inception in 1998 and their recent lamentable dissolution, the San Franciscan group provided four albums (and one EP) of scintillating riffage and caustic vocals, laden with progressive tendencies and a thrashy, punky energy. Laurie Sue Shanaman’s distinctive screams are wounded howls of passion with a restrained berserker frenzy, using her ethereal cleans to add an extra dimension of morose expression, ably supported by the harsh backing vocals of Christy Cather, a skilled and impressive guitarist, responsible for composing the group’s jagged riffs along with her partners in crime John Cobbett and Ross Sewage.

Unlike the icy, bleak naturism of many of their peers, the crisp, cold exterior to Ludicra’s sound evokes memories not of ice but of cold concrete; stark monoliths silhouetted against a dying sun, empty wind-swept streets once bustling with activity but now devoid of life – these are the images which come to mind when listening to Ludicra’s “urban sprawl” black metal, matching breathtaking beauty with cold and chilling clarity. (more after the jump, including tracks from each of Ludicra’s releases . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 14: INSISION

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Jul 212011
 

(NSC scribe Andy Synn turns in his 14th SYNN REPORT with a focus on the discography of Sweden’s Insision.)

The grotesque, mutated beast calling itself Insision was expelled from the womb in 1997, an unnatural combination of blood-soaked Floridian death metal violence and Swedish death metal malevolence. Since that time they have unleashed upon the world one EP, 3 albums, and numerous split releases with like-minded deviants. Though perhaps some of you may have heard their name due to the presence of renowned metal author Daniel Ekeroth on bass (although he has recently departed due to his hectic publishing schedule), the group have also shared stages with death metal royalty like Suffocation and Vader, tightening their vicious live show through a hectic and extensive touring schedule, leaving a trail of devastation across Europe.

Yet for all their straightforward, blood-drenched barbarism, to dismiss the group as merely another in a long line of Cro-Magnon misanthropists, eager to express their own bile and misogyny through the medium of down-tuned  brutality, is to miss out on the subtle, insidious growth the band have demonstrated since their inception. From their early years where an unfocussed, yet unrelenting attack was the key to their sound’s success – giving their audience little time to think and inspiring a visceral, instinctive reaction from their willing victims – the band have steadily developed their technical prowess and compositional skills, constructing an ever more warped and twisted vision of angular, incorporeal guitar work and bone-cracking drumming.

Their sound evokes ungodly visions of towering monoliths of mangled flesh and distorted bone sculptures, their progression from thuggish nihilism, through psychotic, serial killer chic, to the possessed ravings of their current, demonic incarnation evident in the channelling torrents of iniquity and incoherent horror which flow through and tie together each album they have regurgitated from the depths of their decaying souls.  (more after the jump, including sample songs with which to wreck your ears . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 13: ELITE

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Jul 062011
 

(Andy Synn is back with his lucky 13th SYNN REPORT.)

Norway’s Elite have a lot to live up to. With their chosen moniker, they have set themselves up to be seen either as foolish pretenders to black metal’s mystic might or as battle-hardened warriors whose very skill with their chosen muse makes them truly worthy of the title they have chosen.

Just as challenging, no matter their own prowess, is the fact that their sound treads ground already bloodied by the storms and sacrifices of some of their country’s greatest warriors. This battlefield was once walked by giants such as Immortal, Enslaved and Emperor, each of whom left blood and chaos in their wake, before moving on to new worlds to sow their seeds yet further.

For Elite, however, there is no thought of following Immortal into the halls of myth and legend, no desire to lose themselves in eldritch contemplation and progression like their forebears Enslaved, no sense of legacy and majesty that might make them challenge the rule of the Emperor. No, Elite are happy only on the battlefield itself, running rampant over their opponents and challenging the mightiest of warriors to single combat, for death or for glory.

Where their forebears have abandoned the battle, moving further away from the bleakness and blackness of occult warfare, Elite remain yet upon the field, collecting the weapons and the bones of the fallen, paying tribute to the lost and the damned, honing their skills over and over to perfection. Their ambition is not to carve out a kingdom for themselves as their ancestors did, but to prove themselves in combat, to face all challengers and crush them with metallic power and primal ferocity. This is not a lack of ambition, merely a different form of it, a form where bloodshed and brotherhood remain more important than majesty and acclaim. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 12: THE WARRIORS

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Jun 082011
 

Recommended for fans of: Pro-Pain, Downset, Sick of It All

The last edition of THE SYNN REPORT was a real mental workout for me; listening to that much horrific, hellish noise, over and over again for such an extended period left me completely and utterly drained. So, for this edition I sought out something more positive and uplifting that, without sacrificing aggression or integrity, would provide me with the perfect antidote to the toxic poisons I had ingested, which is why this iteration of THE SYNN REPORT is going to cover fiery Metallic Hardcore quintet The Warriors.

This Californian 5-piece have to date produced 4 albums (the latest See How You Are having only recently been released this year) of hardcore bite and vicious metallic chuggery, blended with funky, elastic grooves and delivered with a rolling, rock n’ roll swagger.

The harsh, intense vocals of Marshall Lichtenwaldt are perhaps the thing which most people will pay attention to, his distinctive, throat-rending snarls and rapid-fire delivery providing an obvious talking point to any lovers of the genre. Yet the musical abilities of the rest of the band are just as important, the guitars heavy yet far from primitive, the drums taut and punchy, and the bass agile and flowing. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 11: THE AXIS OF PERDITION

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May 182011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn turns in his latest SYNN REPORT. It’s safe to say this is the most unclean of Andy’s reports yet.)

Decadent filth-mongers The Axis Of Perdition have been on an unholy mission for many years now, spreading their terrible gospel of sickness and depravity to all those disturbed or lost enough to listen to their ravings. Over the course of 3 albums and 1 EP (with a new record, Tenements, imminent) they have mutated and corrupted the minds and souls of their listeners, displaying a nauseating growth and spread which is as fascinating as it is disgusting.

Comparison to fellow British urban blackened grinders Anaal Nathrakh is inevitable (particularly comparing early AN and early Axis…) but whereas Anaal Nathrakh epitomise the superiority of the urban predator, perfectly evolved for maximum carnage, The Axis Of Perdition occupy the opposite end of the spectrum, the imperfection of urban decay, the collapse of progress into inevitable decline and pestilent rot.

The band also dabble and delve into occult themes and sickening blasphemies, stealing widely from Lovecraftian lore and the modern day computerised horror of the Silent Hill mythos to express their deep-seated antipathy towards the surface of things, beneath which lies another world of indescribable repugnance and shit-covered, drooling madness. (more after the jump, including disgusting songs from each of the band’s albums . . .) Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT: SPECIAL COVERS EDITION

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Apr 292011
 

(I swear this was a coincidence. I wrote a post that went up earlier today on metal covers based on a single by Anachronaeon we received yesterday, and then our UK contributor Andy Synn delivered this special edition of THE SYNN REPORT about . . . covers. This is the kind of occurrence that sends me back to the dictionary once again to figure out the difference between synchronicity and serenditpity. Or maybe it’s both.)

Covers are a strange breed of song – they’re the equivalent of a parallel universe, an alternate history, a What If? Comic, an adaptation of your favourite book starring an unexpected actor, a Shakespeare play set in an average American high school…

Seriously though, they have a huge amount of potential, both to be intriguingly inventive and woefully horrendous. Their success (or lack thereof) depends on many factors, but mainly on the song-choice itself – is it a natural fit for the band? Do they have the intelligence to re-work it in a distinctive manner? Or is it simply enough to tear through it in their own inimitable style, making few changes, but relying on sheer power to see them through?

I have chosen 15 artists who have produced some of my own personal favourite covers, showcasing a variety of approaches, some fully traditional takes on the original, others totally reworked variations. If there’s one thing that these covers show however, it is the subtle threads that inter-link all different sub-genres of rock and metal, which allow bands to re-work them organically. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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