ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS (VOID RITUAL)

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  No Responses »
Sep 122018
 


 

(After a five-month hiatus, we present another edition of Andy Synn’s three-line album reviews.)

For various reasons (which I don’t plan on getting into here) it’s been quite some time since we’ve published a new set of Reviews in Haikus here at NCS.

Today’s edition is a little bit different than usual, however, as it trades-in the traditional format of featuring three albums from three different bands in favour of featuring three albums by one single artist, the prolific Black Metal poet known as Void Ritual, who has quickly (and rightfully) established himself as one of the most vital new voices in the US scene. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: EYE OF SOLITUDE

 WAXING LYRICAL  No Responses »
Sep 082018
 

 

(In this new edition of Waxing Lyrical, Andy Synn posed his usual questions to Daniel Neagoe of the UK-based funeral doom band Eye of Solitude.)

As far as I can gather, we’ve been writing about Romanian/British Doom lords Eye of Solitude for well over five years now, and have featured articles on their work a number of times (such as here, here, here, and here).

This, however, is the first time in quite a while where we’ve had the chance to speak to one of the band members directly – in this case vocalist/lyricist Daniel Neagoe – and learn a little more about what makes him tick! Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: AGRONA / LEECHED / NOMAD

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 072018
 

(Andy Synn brings us another of his periodic columns devoted to metal from his homeland.)

Today’s edition of “The Best of British” features a nice amount of musical variety, from a bunch of different bands at different levels of fame/exposure (although, coincidentally, two of them hail from the same place – my original home town of Manchester), all of whom released their debut full-length album at some time in the last six months.

As a result, even if you’ve heard of one of these three acts before (and with the recent press furore over one in particular there’s a very good chance that will be the case) you should still be able to find some fresh new metallic morsels here to sink your teeth into. Continue reading »

THREE FACES OF DARKNESS: MARE / NACHTLIEDER / OUTRÉ

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Sep 042018
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn presents reviews of three of the best black metal albums released so far in 2018.)

You could perhaps consider this article something of a rebuttal to my “Three Faces of Death” piece which was published last week, wherein I stated that 2018 seems to have been a very Death Metal heavy year so far, and that the Black Metal scene has (arguably) been lagging a little bit behind so far.

After all, while this statement is still generally true, some of this year’s blackest highlights – Funeral Mist, Ordinul Negru, Slidhr, Gaerea, Aklash, Ascension– have been more than capable of going toe-to-toe with whatever their deathly brethren have brought to the table.

It’s really just a numbers game at this point, and while I don’t see this torrent of dominating Death Metal ebbing any time soon, I’m pleased to be able to redress the balance somewhat by featuring the following three albums of blackened brilliance. Continue reading »

THREE FACES OF DEATH: BÆST, INNUMERABLE FORMS, NAILS OF IMPOSITION

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Aug 312018
 

 

(We present a collection of three death metal reviews by Andy Synn.)

If you’ve been paying even a modicum of attention to the digital metalsphere over the last several months then it’s highly likely you’ll have noticed quite a lot of people talking/writing about how this has been a real banner year for Death Metal, to the point where it’s starting to feel like its corpse-painted cousin, Black Metal, is really struggling to keep up.

And while there has been a solid number of truly great Black Metal albums released this year so far (with more still to come), there’s definitely some truth to this assertion. 2018 really is a great time to be alive if you’re a fan of massive riffs and guttural vocals.

So, in that spirit, here are three more ravenous recommendations, straight from my brain/fingers to your eyes/ears. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 100): ANCESTORS

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
Aug 272018
 

 

(We have arrived at the glorious 100th edition of THE SYNN REPORT, which Andy started back in January 2011 with a retrospective about Astarte. In this month’s column, he reviews all the albums released to date by L.A.-based Ancestors, including the just-released Suspended In Reflections.)

Recommended for fans of: Yob, Devin Townsend, Anathema

Selecting what bands to include in the “Recommended for fans of” section of each of these columns is sometimes really easy, sometimes really hard, and sometimes… a little more complicated.

In the case of Progressive Stoner-Doom sorcerors Ancestors it’s really not sufficient to like just one of the bands recommended above, you have to appreciate all three of them – the gruff vocals and expansive grooves of Yob, the dynamic soundscapes and soul-stirring riffs of Devin Townsend (particularly circa-Terria), and the melancholy moods and soaring melodies of latter-day Anathema – and be keen to hear what a crossover between these artists might sound like.

You also need to be open to some calmer, more introspective experiences, particularly since their two most recent albums – 2012’s In Dreams and Time, and the just-released Suspended in Reflections – find the group pushing even further down the Prog/Post-Rock pathway.

But if all that sounds intriguing… then this will definitely be the band for you. Continue reading »

MANTAR: “THE MODERN ART OF SETTING ABLAZE”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 222018
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the German duo Mantar, which will be released by Nuclear Blast on August 24th.)

There comes a moment, in every band’s career (ok, not every band’s career) when they need to decide whether to “go big or go home”.

And it looks like that time has finally come for Mantar, as The Modern Art of Setting Ablaze is easily the biggest, boldest, and most shamelessly bombastic, album of their short but celebrated career, and is practically crying out to be performed on bigger stages and in front of even bigger crowds. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HADAL MAW / IRON FLESH / TAKEN BY THE TIDE

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Aug 212018
 


Hadal Maw

 

(In this post Andy Synn has assembled three reviews of three new EPs that deliver diverse forms of metal extremity.)

Not much of a preamble today, I’m afraid, apart from affirming that you should really check out these three EPs if you’re after a short, sharp fix of sonic savagery.

‘Nuff said. Continue reading »

THE PERFECT IS THE ENEMY…

 Mosh Pit  2 Responses »
Aug 202018
 

 

(Here’s an opinion piece by Andy Synn.)

…of the good. Or so we’re so often told. And a chance encounter on Twitter this weekend only reaffirmed this particular factoid to me.

Allow me to set the scene a little. As part of my duties monitoring and managing the Beyond Grace twitter account, one of the bands I frequently interact with is Allfather (whose new album you can read about here), as I like their music, their ideology, and their general outlook on life (although I do sometimes question their taste in beer), and have enjoyed several productive discussions about music, politics, and other related topics, with them as a result.

Cut to yesterday, when I see that they’ve become involved in a thread about how anti-fascism is now becoming the “in” thing for a lot of bands, with the original poster asking for more recommendations of artists who are consciously and explicitly rejecting the current geo-political shift towards authoritarianism, while also asserting that, if we want this to be more than just a passing trend, we need to really get behind and support the movement.

So far, so good, right? Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: ALLFATHER / GARGANJUA / JØTNARR

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 162018
 


Allfather

 

(As he is want to do from time to time, Andy Synn has selected three new releases by three UK bands to spotlight in this collection of reviews and streams.)

While the main purpose of this column – to highlight and hype up some of the best and brightest bands in the UK Metal scene – is pretty obvious, the process has also forced me to take a long hard look at its many faults and failings at the same time, in particular its unfortunate tendency to favour familiarity and celebrate mediocrity over supporting bands who might actually have something unique or interesting to offer.

Now, unsurprisingly, statements like that are unlikely to endear me to the self-declared gatekeepers and “defenders of the faith” who interpret even the mildest criticism as a sign of disloyalty and grounds for instant excommunication… but then I’ve been considered persona non grata by a lot of them for a while now, so what else is new?

Of course every year there’s a handful of break-out acts who, through a confluence of fortunate timing and hard-fought graft, manage to win over the hearts and minds of the record-buying public without pandering to the lowest common-denominator, but these are definitely the exception, rather than the rule, and the number of painfully generic bands I’ve encountered attempting to (misre)present themselves as “the next big thing” – all without a single interesting or original riff to their name – vastly outweighs the number of artists out there who actually possess a real voice and vision of their own.

That being said, the three bands I’ve singled out here all definitely have that special “x-factor” which makes them stand out from the crowd, and it’s albums like these which makes winnowing through all the sound-alikes and also-rans worth it in the end. Continue reading »

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