Andy Synn Archives - Page 138 of 160

VIRVUM: “ILLUMINANCE”

Sep 162016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by the Swiss band Virvum.)

There’s been a lot of great Tech Death albums released in the last couple of years (and a lot of widdly, weedly, directionless dross too), so much so that it’s become far too easy to accidentally overlook or underplay something that later turns out to be a real gem in the constant rush of the new and the intoxicating pleasure of discovery.

As a matter of fact, I frequently find myself (re)discovering artists and releases whom I remember initially appreciating but ultimately never quite had the time or the impetus to really dig into the way I should.

Simply put, there’s just not enough time in the day/week/month/year to give everything the attention it deserves, and some things are always going to slip through the cracks.

And that’s not what I want to happen to Virvum, because their debut album Illuminance is one damn fine slab of scintillating progressive extremity. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2016, PART 3: XII BOAR / INVOCATION / UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION

Album Reviews 8 Responses »

Sep 142016

(Andy Synn turns in a trio of reviews for three recent albums of quite different styles and genres, united by their country of origin.)

Well ladies and gentlemen, here we are again, another opportunity for me to fly my nationalistic colours (which don’t run, let me tell you that) and gab on about a triptych of recent (or recent-ish) releases from my beloved motherland. As is traditional, we’ll be starting off the column with a rousing rendition of “Rule Britannia”, so if you’d all please be upstanding…

All joking aside of course, most of you will know by now that I don’t really care that much for nationalist sentiment or blind patriotism, particularly when it comes to music. I like a band because I like their songs, not because we happen to have been born in the same country or geo-political sphere, and I have very little time or patience for the vagaries of scene politics or the type of person that thinks you have to support a band just because they come from the same place as you.

That being said, however, I do realise that such factors as geographical proximity and general exposure mean I’m much more likely to stumble across bands from the UK who are worth blogging about than someone living elsewhere on this big blue/green marble, so I feel a certain sense of responsibility to cover these bands when they pop up on my radar.

So here we go again, once more, into the breach! Continue reading »

OBSCURE SPHINX: “EPITAPHS”

Album Reviews 5 Responses »

Sep 122016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Poland’s Obscure Sphinx.)

In my November 2015 edition of The Synn Report, I wrote about how Obscure Sphinx had been mostly “underrated and underappreciated by the metal-loving public at large.” Despite having two fantastic albums to their name (particularly 2013’s nigh-untouchable Void Mother) the Polish quintet have spent the majority of their career thus far flying under the radar of most metalheads, with only a small, but dedicated, cadre of disciples (hi Brett!) scattered across the globe who truly appreciated the band for their talents and uniqueness.

I have no idea whether their third release, Epitaphs (complete with suitably esoteric Mario Duplantier cover art), will do much to change that, but I have to hope so. Because OS are exactly the type of band – distinct, complex, captivating — that the Metal world needs more of. Continue reading »

DEVIN TOWNSEND: “TRANSCENDENCE”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Sep 092016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Devin Townsend.)

The man, the myth, the legend, known as Devin Townsend is certainly a creature of many contradictions. And, over the years, his various attempts to integrate and incorporate the many different facets of his nature have certainly produced some of the most compelling, creative, weird, and wacky wonders of Metal’s modern age.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny that he’s one of the genre’s most distinct and idiosyncratic personalities.

He’s also never been one to rest on his laurels, or try and go backwards. He’s said as much in interviews himself. And though there are doubtless going to be those who feel like he’s been playing it a little too safe recently (an accusation I wouldn’t necessarily refute, since the majority of Sky Blue felt like a poppier reworking of similar themes and ideas from Epicloud… which itself had its fair share of generic filler), he’s never consciously tried to resurrect or repeat his previous work. Each album is a unique statement reflecting a specific place and time, and a specific state of mind.

Which is why you might be surprised to learn that Transcendence is the closest thing to the Accelerated Evolution days that Devin’s produced since… well, since Accelerated Evolution! Continue reading »

THE ISOLATION PROCESS: “THE ISOLATION PROCESS”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Sep 082016

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the self-titled album by The Isolation Process from Stockholm, Sweden.)

Wow, my current slate of potential reviews for NCS is pretty packed. Alcest, Obscure Sphinx, Mesarthim, Départe… a triumvirate of awesome British bands you guys might not have heard yet… the new album by the prolific An Autumn For Crippled Children… another edition of The Synn Report on a band who not only just released their fourth album, but who ONLY sing clean… the last quarter of 2016 is looking pretty packed already, and that’s not even taking into account all the other releases – big and small – set to hit the (digital) streets in the next few months.

So why the hell am I pushing all that aside to cover an album that’s now over two and a half years old?

Because I’ve fallen head over heels for it, and just can’t stop listening to it. That’s why. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SINGULARITY — “VOID WALKER”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Sep 062016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Arizona’s Singularity.)

By now you should be at least peripherally aware of Singularity, Arizona’s leading purveyors of Blackened Tech-Death, as we (and by “we”, I am mainly referring to regular contributor Austin Weber) have covered them several times before, most recently when premiering the band’s lyric video for “The Refusal”, the second track on their just-released new EP Void Walker.

Now I’ll admit up front that I was never quite as taken by the group’s debut (self-titled) album as some of our other writers and readers. It definitely had its fair share of stand-out moments, that’s for sure, but the band’s slightly scatterbrained, “kitchen-sink” approach to songwriting often left a fair bit to be desired in my opinion. And the less said about the perplexingly flat and affectless clean vocals the better…

Still, although the quartet didn’t quite manage to sustain the highest level of quality (in my opinion anyway) for the entire 51:30 run-time of their debut, the more restrictive confines of the EP format seem to have put the spurs to their creative juices, as (mixed metaphors aside) Void Walker is by some margin the best thing they’ve put their name to. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 76: APATHY NOIR

Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT 3 Responses »

Aug 312016

Viktor Jonas // Vidar Wetterhall

(For the August edition of The Synn Report, Andy compiles reviews of all the releases by Sweden’s Apathy Noir, including the band’s 2016 album Across Dark Waters.)

Recommended for fans of: Opeth, In Mourning, October Tide

By my current reckoning I’ve got at least another two years’ worth of entries for The Synn Report lined up, and I don’t doubt that I’ll end up discovering even more bands worthy of inclusion during that period, so we’re in no danger of running out of potential candidates just yet. Hell, I’d hazard that there’s probably several other bands in my current collection who’ll be eligible by that time as well. So there’s no need to worry. This particular column won’t be ending any time soon.

For today’s entry we’re off to Sweden to touch base with Prog-Death duo Apathy Noir (formerly Apathy), the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Viktor Jonas, who have so far produced one EP and three stand-alone albums, the most recent of which, Across Dark Waters, was released in January of this year.

Now, to address the elephant in the room, I’ll acknowledge that the solemn Swedes owe a very heavy debt to early Opeth – particularly around the My Arms, Your Hearse period. But I’m confident you’ll find that there’s more to them than just that, particularly when they delve into the doomier, gloomier side of their repertoire.

Still, with Akerfeldt and co. treading ever further down the path of pure retro-proggery, there’s something of a vacuum out there right now, and Apathy Noir seem to be doing their damnedest to fill it! Continue reading »

KHALDERA: “ALTERATION”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Aug 302016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by the Swiss band Khaldera.)

It was just over two years ago when I stumbled across Relief, the debut EP by Swiss instrumentalists Khaldera, and was immediately captivated by its distinctive blend of meditative calm and perfectly proportioned power. It quickly became one of my “go-to” EPs, and has remained in regular listening rotation for me ever since.

As you might imagine I was thrilled when, earlier this year, I discovered that the band were hard at work on the follow-up, to be titled Alteration, and seeing as how said follow-up was finally released on Bandcamp last Friday I felt compelled to at least write a few words about it, in the hope of introducing some fresh ears to the group’s signature brand of what I have chosen to call “Progressive Mood Metal”. Continue reading »

HEAVEN SHALL BURN: “WANDERER”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Aug 242016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn.)

Recipe for success: one part Bolt Thrower, one part Earth Crisis, one part Swedish Death Metal (of the more melodic variety), and a heavy helping of Germanic thrash. Garnish with relevant philosophical and socio-political themes and roast for 15-20 years in a blaze of righteous fury.

It’s a recipe which has served Heaven Shall Burn extremely well over the years, and, though there have certainly been some valid criticisms of the band for sticking too closely to their own formula at times, it’s one that’s been responsible for keeping the German firebrands right at the forefront of the European Metalcore scene (which, with its slightly more raw and Death Metal influenced sound, I’ve often considered to be subtly distinct from its eventually more commercialised American cousin).

So I don’t think it would have surprised anyone if, on their eighth full-length album, the band had simply elected to continue with the same sound which made Iconoclast, Invictus, and Veto so successful. Why fix what isn’t broken, after all?

But… unexpectedly… that’s not exactly what happened… Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: DAWN RAY’D — “A THORN, A BLIGHT”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Aug 222016

(Andy Synn reviews the debut EP of the UK band Dawn Ray’d, which is out now on Bandcamp.)

As our contributor Wil Cifer wrote recently, “Crust seems to be a hot buzzword when it comes to underground metal these days”, to the extent I’m even starting to see it edge out the near-ubiquitous over-use of the terms “blackened” and “Black Metal” in certain places (but don’t you worry, I have a whole other column percolating in my head about THAT particular topic).

It seems to be one of those terms designed to bestow instant underground-cred on a band, whether or not it’s actually reflected in any aspects of their music, and, as such, I’ve seen it crudely co-opted multiple times by bands and writers who don’t seem to know (or care) what it means, they just want the artificial credibility and cultural capital it bestows.

I’m saying all this as a preamble because I want to make it clear right away that – even though their unwavering anti-NSBM, anti-fascist stance and sharp, punk-edged sound certainly gives them more claim to the term than some others I’ve seen – gritty Black Metal three-piece Dawn Ray’d don’t seem to care one way or the other whether you call them “Crust” or not.

They’re just happy to let the music speak for itself. Continue reading »

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