WAXING LYRICAL: TURBID NORTH

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  3 Responses »
Mar 312018
 

Photo by Maciej Pieloch Photography

 

(Continuing with his Saturday Waxing Lyrical series, Andy Synn questions vocalist/guitarist Nick Forkel about his approach to the writing of lyrics for Turbid North.)

 

As you may know, Turbid North’s fantastic Eyes Alive was one of my outstanding favourite albums of 2015, and I’ve been singing the band’s praises ever since, and trying to get as many of my friends (and even a few of my enemies) to listen to this three-piece’s unique blend of devastating Death Metal riffage, megaton metallic grooves, and psychedelic progressive melody, as possible.

Unsurprisingly I was quick to get in touch with the band’s vocalist/guitarist Nick Forkel when I first decided to pursue “Waxing Lyrical” as a regular column, and he was kind enough to furnish me with the following information regarding how he first fell into the role of lyricist, and how he’s developed as a writer over the years. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 95):  SACRAMENTUM

 THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Mar 302018
 

 

(In this month’s edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the three albums recorded by the Swedish band Sacramentum before their demise.)

 

Recommended for fans of: Dissection, Necrophobic, God Dethroned

 

Up until a few days ago I actually had a very different band lined up for this edition of The Synn Report but, upon remembering that I was going to be spending this weekend in Oslo enjoying the musical delights of Inferno Festival, I decided to switch things up and dig into the archives a little bit to talk about a band much more suited to my current circumstances, a band who – while perhaps not as famous (or infamous) as some of their more celebrated peers – are still something of a seminal act in the annals of Black/Death Metal.

Operating as a three-piece for the majority of their career, Swedish riffmeisters Sacramentum were contemporaries of (and some might even say friendly rivals with) both Dissection and Necrophobic, and helped form one of the primary pillars of the Swedish Black Metal scene during its early development. And while their fame may have been somewhat overshadowed over the years, in the right circles the band are held up as just as important, just as influential, and just as impressive as any of their peers… and rightfully so. Continue reading »

PRIMORDIAL: “EXILE AMONGST THE RUINS”

 Album Reviews  14 Responses »
Mar 282018
 

 

(On March 30th Metal Blade will release Primordial’s new album, and Andy Synn reviews it below.)

 

Success, or so they say, can be a double-edged sword. And, if the reviews I’ve seen thus far are any indication, this is something that Primordial are finally discovering with the release of their ninth album, Exile Amongst the Ruins.

On the one hand are those people who have seen fit to declare this album a “masterpiece”, a “superlative triumph”, a “stunning success”, before they’ve even properly heard it, content as they are to blindly believe that the Irish quintet can do no wrong, while on the other are those whose reaction to Exile… can perhaps best be summed up as “slightly unhinged”, castigating the album as a titanic disappointment because it fails, in their estimation, to live up to the extremely high standards of their very best work.

And, of course, since so much of today’s music press is dedicated to the pursuit of exaggeration and excess over clarity and nuance, these voices have been amplified to the point where you’d be forgiven for being convinced that this album is either the best thing ever written, or the absolute worst… and nothing in between.

But the truth, unsurprisingly, is more complicated than that. Continue reading »

SLAVES BC: “LO, AND I AM BURNING”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 262018
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Slaves BC from Pittsburgh, which was released digitally and on vinyl on March 16th.)

Those of you who have been following the site for a while may be aware that Death Mask, the third (and, ultimately, final) album by blackened metallic filthmongers Lord Mantis was one of my favourite releases of 2014, and remains one of my most listened to albums to this day.

But the acrimonious collapse of the line-up which gave birth to that record, followed a few years later by the sad passing of drummer Bill Bumgardner (and the subsequent final dissolution of the band) meant that any hopes of ever receiving a similarly scathing and spite-fuelled follow-up were dashed forever.

In the intervening years between then and now I’ve kept my eyes and ears open for a band/album capable of hitting that same sick spot (with Phantom Winter coming closest), but had never found anyone capable of sending that same sadistic shiver down my spine… until now. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: WITHERED

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  No Responses »
Mar 242018
 


Withered 2018 – photo by David Parham

 

(In this week’s edition of Waxing Lyrical, Andy Synn elicits thoughts about lyrics from Withered guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson.)

 

If you don’t know the name Withered by now, stop what you’re doing and go listen to their latest oppressive opus Grief Relic (which I hailed as one of the best albums of 2016) right now.

Then, if you want to delve further back into the band’s discography, go check out Memento Mori, Folie Circulaire, and Dualitas, which I have fortuitously collected together for you here.

Now, despite being busy prepping for the band’s upcoming tour with Canadian grindmeisters Wake (which, by this point, will actually have begun), I was lucky enough to grab some time with the band’s long-serving guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson and bully him into answering some questions for the latest edition of Waxing Lyrical. Continue reading »

THE ABSENCE: “A GIFT FOR THE OBSESSED”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 232018
 

 

(Today M-Theory Audio releases the first new album by The Absence since 2010’s Enemy Unbound, and here we present Andy Synn’s review along with a full stream of the album.)

 

Let’s get one thing clear right away – while Riders of the Plague, the second album by Floridian firebrands The Absence, is a bona fide underground classic, the band’s erratic follow-up, Enemy Unbound, singularly failed to capitalise on the critical acclaim and momentum generated by its predecessor, and the subsequent array of label woes and line-up changes certainly didn’t help matters either.

Thankfully, the general consensus appears to be that the group’s long-awaited fourth album, A Gift for the Obsessed, is a more than worthy sequel to Riders…, even if I’ve have seen more than a few writers/reviewers bemoaning the fact that the band haven’t massively changed or updated their style and still sound like “an American version of Arch Enemy.”

But while this comparison isn’t necessarily invalid – their penchant for thrashy, high-octane riffs, adrenaline-pumping drums, and shamelessly infectious hooks certainly shares more than a few similarities with the works of Amott and co. from before they became a toothless parody of themselves – it’s also not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, the overall decline of the Melodeath/Melodic Death Metal scene worldwide has left behind something of a void, which The Absence seem more than happy to fill with their vintage-yet-visceral brand of melody-infused metallic mayhem. Continue reading »

MONOTHEIST: “SCOURGE”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 212018
 

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the debut album by Monotheist, which is out now on Prosthetic Records.)

 

I must admit, until yesterday I was torn between two albums over which to focus my attentions on next, with my choices split between Occultaclysmic, the upcoming fourth album from resurgent South Carolina savages Lecherous Nocturne, or Scourge, the recently-released debut full-length from much-hyped Prosthetic Records signees Monotheist.

And although, ultimately, my decision was made much easier upon finding out that one of our guest contributors had already submitted a review for the former (a review which, at the time of writing, I have yet to read), the truth of the matter is that I was already leaning strongly towards the latter, if only because while Occultaclysmic is easily summed up as a solid (though not stellar) slab of post-Cryptopsy brutality still struggling to define its own identity, Scourge is much harder to categorise in similarly simple terms, making it, paradoxically, much easier (and more fun) to write about. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH 2018, PART 1: AKLASH / GEOMANCER / MY SILENT WAKE

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Mar 192018
 

 

(Our man from Nottingham, Andy Synn, resumes a series in which he focuses on releases from a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe.)

I’m going to keep the preamble short and sweet for this one, as I’ve written quite a lot over the course of the last couple of weeks, both for NCS and for my regular job, and seem to have worn my poor keyboard fingers down to the bone in the process.

Still, I hope you all find something to enjoy in today’s column, which is meant to provide an insight into some of the most promising new albums to have come out of these green and pleasant lands so far this year. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: CONJURER

 Interviews, WAXING LYRICAL  2 Responses »
Mar 172018
 

 

(Andy Synn continues our new regular Saturday series in which he discusses metal lyrics with bands whose music you should also get to know if you don’t already.)

 

Having recently dropped one of the most vital and visceral albums of 2018 so far, an album which I fully expect to make an appearance on numerous “Best of…” lists come the end of the year, Conjurer are currently riding a wave of popularity and critical acclaim which seems unlikely to die out any time soon.

So now seemed like the perfect time to grab hold of the band’s guitarist/vocalist Dan Nightingale and get him to spill the beans about his writing process, inspirations, and all that jazz. Continue reading »

SMASH THE HYPE MACHINE

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 152018
 


Anthony Pilon: “The Fevered Sycophant”

 

(Andy Synn goes on a rant.)

 

I don’t know about you guys, but the amount of fawning hype I’ve seen being bandied about with regards to certain bands recently has begun to make me feel a little green around the gills.

It’s not so much the fault of the bands in question either – both Rivers of Nihil and Conjurer (to name but two) have produced new albums recently which, while overhyped to a frankly ridiculous degree in places, richly deserve the praise they’ve been getting – nor do I blame them for capitalising on it, but the general lack of any sense of professional ethics or detachment and the perceived unwillingness (or inability) to even try to be even semi-objective on the part of many of those who call themselves “reviewers” has really started to get my goat.

And I realise I may be putting the cat amongst the pigeons here, nor do I contend that NCS is entirely innocent in this regard either, but the fact of the matter is that a large number, maybe even the majority, of the reviews that I encounter these days tend to read more like unpaid press releases than an attempt at any sort of critical analysis/assessment. Continue reading »

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