Andy Synn Archives - Page 141 of 160

OLD CORPSE ROAD: “OF CAMPFIRES AND EVENING MISTS”

Jun 082016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Old Corpse Road.)

I suppose one of the reasons I’m so… selective (some might say “picky”, some might say “elitist”, some might say “hey you, just get on with it!”) when it comes to what bands from the UK I choose to write about is my distaste for the unfortunate sycophancy and self-regard which infests much of our home-grown Metal media.

After all, we’re a small nation, with a disproportionately large influence (particularly historically) on the Metal world, which inevitably breeds a certain parochialism and provincialism. Everyone has to be nice to everyone else, whether they truly mean it or not, because no-one wants to end up ostracised or shut out of the various clans and cliques, or construed as a traitor to the cause of “True British Heavy Metal” and its blinkered sense of national pride.

Indeed, sometimes it seems almost like a point of honour to show that we can produce just as many generic Machine Head/Pantera clones as our American cousins, or keep pace with our European brethren in the race to release as many half-baked Melodeath or interchangeable Black Metal albums as possible each year.

That’s why I’m always happy to throw my weight behind any band who demonstrates that extra flash of intelligence, intensity, or integrity I’m looking for. Bands like Wode, King Goat, and The King Is Blind (to name but a few)… bands like Rannoch, The Infernal Sea… and Old Corpse Road. Continue reading »

BLOOD RED THRONE: “UNION OF FLESH AND MACHINE”

Album Reviews 18 Responses »

Jun 072016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s Blood Red Throne.)

Eight albums in and it still feel like Norwegian wrecking crew Blood Red Throne never quite get the respect they deserve. I mean, by this point the band are effectively a Death Metal institution, and even their lesser albums (of which there aren’t many) are still more than capable of levelling a small town.

Maybe Union of Flesh and Machine will be the album to change that. Or maybe it won’t. Only time will tell. But it’s hard to deny that the band’s latest album is yet another top-tier terminator of crushing, grooving, blasting belligerence and cold, calculated aggression. Continue reading »

MDF 2016: HAZY HIGHLIGHTS AND FUZZY RECOLLECTIONS (BY ANDY SYNN)

Concert Reviews 16 Responses »

Jun 022016

(photo above by Levan Tk; all other photos by Islander)

(Andy Synn journeyed from England to the former proprietary colony of Lord Baltimore to take in his first ever Maryland Deathfest and now provides these reminiscences.)

MDF 2016… what can I say? Five days of drinking, yelling, headbanging, drinking, meeting old friends, making new friends, drinking (starting to see a theme here?), public intoxication, semi-public urination and, above all else, more Metal than you could shake a severed spinal column at.

Here’s the thing though, when I go to festivals it’s usually based on a calculation of if there’s enough bands I really want to see in order to make it worth my while. I go for the music, not to socialise.

But this year was different. This year it truly was the camaraderie and the friendships which made the weekend such a blast. And you can’t teach that…

So, instead of writing up some long-winded review of the whole affair, I thought I’d just pick out and categorise a few of the highlights (and lowlights) for you all. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2016, PART 2: FROM SORROW TO SERENITY / KING GOAT / LUNA’S CALL

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

May 272016

(Andy Synn brings us Part 2 of a series spotlighting new recent releases by UK bands.)

Ok, so I may have gotten sidetracked in Germany somewhere along the way, but I promised you a second edition, and here it is.

This time around we’ve got another varied crop, featuring the burgeoning Deathcore delights of From Sorrow to Serenity, the expansive doomery of King Goat, and the indulgent Prog-Death of Luna’s Call.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it! Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WILDERNESSKING (KEENAN NATHAN OAKES)

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 252016

photo by Eckardt Kasselman

(We present Andy Synn’s interview of Keenan Nathan Oakes, vocalist for South Africa’s Wildernessking, whose new album Andy reviewed here.)

Spoiler alert: Mystical Future, the second album by South Africa’s most majestic of Metal exports, Wildernessking, is likely to feature very prominently on either my Critical or Personal lists of favourite albums at the end of the year (if not both). I’ve loved this album since the first time I heard it, and I was lucky enough to hear it far earlier than most.

I’ve also been lucky enough to grab the band’s vocalist Keenan Nathan Oakes for this interview, where we get to go deeper into the motivation and inspirations behind Mystical Future, as well as a bunch of other topics which I’m sure you’ll find most illuminating! Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 73: DYING SUN

THE SYNN REPORT 4 Responses »

May 232016

(In this 73rd edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the discography to date of Maryland’s Dying Sun.)

Recommended for fans of: Altars of Plagues, Cult of Luna, Massive Attack

Every so often a band comes out of nowhere and blindsides you with how utterly fantastic they are, making you wonder how in the world you ever managed to get along without them.

Dying Sun are one such band.

The Maryland three-piece deal in a brand of intensely metallic, immensely atmospheric Post-Metal not quite like anyone else I’ve heard (although general comparisons to both Cult of Luna and Altars of Plagues are certainly valid, to an extent), packed full of titanic, weighty riffs, anguished vocals, and cosmological waves of pulsating programming.

Ever since discovering them I’ve had all three of their releases (arguments can be made as to which of them counts as an EP or as an album) practically glued to my playlist, and I’ve just been waiting for the right time to share their moody magnificence with you all.

Well, that time has come. Continue reading »

WITHERED: “GRIEF RELIC”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 202016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Withered.)

Make no mistake, despite the almost six-year gap between albums, and a significant line-up shift in the intervening years — with Primitive Man’s Ethan McCarthy and renowned uber-bassist Colin Marston stepping in to replace the departed Mike Longoria and Dylan Kilgore – Atlantean (shut up, that’s the right word) filth-mongers Withered are back with a vengeance… even though I’ll admit Grief Relic didn’t quite “click” with me the first time around. Continue reading »

BEST OF GERMAN — AST / THRÄNENKIND / TODTGELICHTER

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

May 172016

(Andy Synn assembles a trio of reviews for recently released albums by German bands.)

A couple of weeks back I put together a collection of reviews under the banner of “The Best of British 2016, Part 1”, chronicling three albums, each from a different artist, currently taking the UK underground scene by storm.

And although I’m currently in the process of putting Part 2 together, you’ll note how I’ve gotten slightly side-tracked by a plethora of sterling releases from our Germanic cousins, all with their roots, historically at least, in the general sound and aesthetic of Black Metal, but all of which offer something strikingly different to the more open-minded listener. Continue reading »

THE WRETCHED END: “IN THESE WOODS, FROM THESE MOUNTAINS”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 162016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s The Wretched End.)

So, from one band of Emperor-fixated whippersnappers we move to another group of grizzled veterans masterminded by ex-Emperor guitarist Samoth himself. Sun rise, sun set…

Now I’ve said before that not every band has to innovate to be worth your time. It’s still possible to do something unique, even within the confines of an established sound or style. It’s all about character.

Case in point, you’d be hard-pressed to call what The Wretched End do particularly innovative, but then it doesn’t really need to be… the band have still managed to forge themselves a distinctive identity all their own, firmly rooted in the fertile soil of Death/Thrash and based around the simple ideal of writing kick-ass songs packed full of murderously infectious riffs, humongous drums, and visceral, rib-tickling hooks.

The band’s third album, In These Woods, From These Mountains, does deliver a few surprises of its own, however, the most obvious of which is how much more overtly “blackened” it is than either of its predecessors. It seems you can take the boys out of Black Metal, but you can’t take the Black Metal out of the boys… Continue reading »

OAK PANTHEON: “IN PIECES”

Album Reviews 5 Responses »

May 092016

(Andy Synn reviews the remarkable new album by Oak Pantheon from Minnesota.)

Change is perhaps the only true constant in life. People change. Bands change. And our relationship to them, and to their music, changes accordingly.

And yet, though it’s undeniable that Minnesotan metallers Oak Pantheon have certainly changed somewhat since the release of their first album, 2012’s stirring From A Whisper, the essence of the band, their core sound, still remains fully intact, even as their latest release finds the group expanding beyond perhaps what even they originally envisioned.

Changed, and yet unchanging, it’s precisely this paradox which is at the centre of In Pieces, a compelling enigma which necessitates multiple spins to truly appreciate and comprehend. Continue reading »

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