Andy Synn Archives - Page 150 of 160

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SANZU — “THOSE WHO SLEEP IN THE EAST”

Sep 072015

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere of a new song and video from Australia’s Sanzu.)

If you’ve been paying even the slightest amount of attention to our site in recent months, you’ll no doubt be aware that Painless, the debut EP by Australian mechanoids Sanzu, is easily one of my favourite releases that I’ve heard this year. So much so in fact that not only did I immediately order myself a copy of the CD (that’s right… a real, physical copy!), I also plonked down some cash for a pre-order of the band’s at-that-point-untitled debut album.

So it probably won’t surprise you to hear that I’m extremely excited that NCS is able to bring you the debut song, and video, from that very same album, the enigmatically titled Heavy Over The Home.

The song in question – “Those Who Sleep In The East” – is a stunningly heavy piece of relentless sonic intensity… all rumbling, piston-powered guitar work, scorching, blowtorch vocals, and explosive, artillery-fire drumming, designed to simultaneously mesmerise and pulverise the audience over the course of almost six minutes of weapons-grade metallic firepower. Continue reading »

FATHER SYNN’S METAL CONFESSIONAL, PART 11

Mosh Pit 37 Responses »

Sep 062015

(Father Synn returns after 4 weeks of intense purification so that he may once again hear all your disgusting metal sins. Please leave them in the Comments so all that “purification” won’t be wasted.)

Rejoice my children, for I am returned to you from my wanderings! 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness… or at least, it feels like that. Time flies when you’re drinking/carousing/shirking your priestly duties…

So once more I come before you burdened with the weight of truths yet untold and words yet unspoken. Let me be as a light to you in the darkness, a balm to your wounded soul, a… canary in a particularly pungent coal mine.

Let me lead you. And where I go, thou shalt follow, into the arms of metallic salvation! Continue reading »

PLAYING CATCH-UP: UNDER THE PLEDGE OF SECRECY / MAAHLAS / SHELL FROM OCEANIC

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Sep 042015

(Andy Synn looks back at three albums from 2014 that we sadly neglected to review.)

Despite what you all clearly think, even your humble Metal overlords here at NCS aren’t completely infallible. Try as we might, sometimes even we miss out on stuff amongst the hustle and bustle of this thing we call life.

Case in point: I’m still discovering albums from last year (and the year before that… and the year before that…) which we failed to adequately cover properly, and which I’m metaphorically kicking myself for having missed.

So, in the interest of correcting such heinous oversights, I’ve decided to wax lyrical about three albums which went cruelly unappreciated here at NCS during the chaos and confusion of last year, each of which offers something very different to tease your musical tastebuds! Continue reading »

MEPHORASH: 1557 — RITES OF NULLIFICATION

Album Reviews 10 Responses »

Sep 012015

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Sweden’s Mephorash.)

One unfortunate consequence of the way that much of our musical culture has developed over the years, particularly with the rise of digital dissemination and access, has been that many of us are much less likely to allow a band the time to develop over multiple releases before we “invest” in them fully – too often we unfairly demand that a band appear “fully formed” on their first release, or else we end up writing them off before they’ve even had a chance to find their feet.

And while I can see both sides of the reasoning behind this attitude, it’s not always the fairest way of assessing a band’s future potential. Sure, it may have raised the bar for debut albums/EPs (though this is hard to quantify), but it also means we’ve probably missed out on a lot of bands who took a little while longer to really hit their stride.

Case in point, I didn’t really give Swedish occultists Mephorash the time of day until only very recently, as although I’d heard both their previous albums, nothing from them really stood out to me. Those are not bad, not by any means (my advice is to ignore the rather venomous reviews on Metal-Archives), but they just didn’t captivate me. They didn’t have that X-factor that makes an album stand out from the pack.

Thankfully, the times, they are a’changin’… Continue reading »

BITING THE HAND / KISSING THE ASS / PLAYING THE GAME

Mosh Pit 34 Responses »

Aug 262015

(NCS writer Andy Synn penned the following thoughts….)

So this column is something of a follow-up to my piece entitled “The Negative Zone” that was published last week (here), as there were certain issues and ideas touched upon there that I felt deserved closer attention, particularly the complex, convoluted, and sometimes downright chaotic, relationship between humble Metal blogs like ours, and the Labels, PR reps, and bands that we deal with on a daily basis!

Now, I’m not sure how many of you, or indeed if any of you, stop to think much about the various issues that go into running a blog like this, or whether you simply just enjoy reading the articles now and then (which is totally fine!). But it’s not just about making sure the reviews get edited and published on time (or, at least, in a timely fashion), there’s also a hell of a lot of work involved in managing the relationships that keep the gears turning and keep that content rolling in – all the while trying to maintain at least some sense of journalistic integrity and honesty! Continue reading »

ADVENT SORROW: “AS ALL LIGHT LEAVES HER”

Album Reviews 20 Responses »

Aug 212015

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Advent Sorrow from Perth, Australia.)

Every so often a band you like makes an unexpected shift in sound, transforming that “like” into outright “love”. And that’s precisely what Advent Sorrow have done with their new album, As All Light Leaves Her, shedding the symphonic grandeur that permeated their debut EP in favour of an all-round darker and more desperate form of borderline DSBM-style sonic despair.

It’s not a complete paradigm shift, of course, as this extra layer of grim(e) was already apparent on Like a Moth to a Flame, the stand-alone single they released last year. But As All Light Leaves Her takes things a step further into the murk and mire, resulting in an album of bleak, harrowing melody and torturous metallic agony that errs closer to the sound of Infestus or early Shining than it does the more dramatic Dimmu Borgir-isms with which the band first made their name. Continue reading »

THE NEGATIVE ZONE

Mosh Pit 35 Responses »

Aug 202015

(The author of this piece is Andy Synn. I expect it will generate some critical discussion — I hope it will — and as the editor of the site I expect to join in that discussion.)

Now, don’t worry, this has nothing to do with the (supposedly woeful) new Fantastic Four movie (“Fant4stic”?) that’s just come out. No, it’s just another rambling column by yours truly about the perils and pitfalls of this thing we call “blogging” – in this case on the topic of negativity, or the lack thereof, at this site and others.

You see, there are definitely times when I wish that NCS could be a little bit more negative in its outlook. Not much. Not drastically. But there’s definitely times when I’ve felt like writing about an album in order to point out its flaws more than to praise it, particularly when I see that album receiving what I feel is undue (or, worse, downright suspicious) levels of praise (more on this topic in a subsequent column).

That’s not to say we aren’t critical here at NCS, when the occasion calls for it. Though we try to remain positive and post mainly about music we’ve heard/found/discovered that really kicks our proverbial asses, we’re also willing to say when we think certain aspects or elements don’t seem to be working, or need a bit of polish, or simply aren’t quite up to the band’s usual standards (see my recent Soilwork review for an example of this).

So, I think there’s definitely a time and a place for a bit of negativity, without sliding into full-scale abuse. But where do you draw the line? Continue reading »

MYRKUR: “M”

Album Reviews 17 Responses »

Aug 182015

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by Myrkur.)

Let’s get this out of the way nice and early shall we? Yes, controversy (some groundless, some deserved) has certaintly dogged the name Myrkur since it first appeared on everyone’s radar last year. Barbs were thrown, aspersions were cast… mistakes were made. By both sides.

But honestly, I really don’t care about that. I’m not here to question or criticise anyone’s marketing strategy, nor am I prepared to wade into the sticky mire of “he said/she said” that made up a large amount of the internet’s reaction to the inevitable reveal.

No, all I’m interested in is whether Amalie Bruun, the head and heart and the soul of Myrkur, truly grasps the essence of Black Metal or not, and whether she has the vision and the execution to match her ambition.

Spoiler alert – she does. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 61: IKUINEN KAAMOS

THE SYNN REPORT 6 Responses »

Aug 152015

(In this 61st edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the discography of Finland’s Ikuinen Kaamos.)

Recommended for fans of: Opeth, In Mourning, Daylight Dies

Though their current status is somewhat… up in the air… the Prog Death collective known as Ikuinen Kaamos (seemingly reduced now to just mainman Jarno Ruuskanen) remain, to my mind at least, one of the most singularly impressive and underappreciated acts ever to attempt to step out of the shadow of their own, admittedly weighty, influences.

Though the fingerprints of major luminaries such as Opeth and Emperor are immediately obvious to all of those with eyes to see and ears to hear, Ikuinen Kaamos clearly take great care to invest each track with a sense of their own unique character and voice, never shying away from admitting their influences, yet never being defined solely by them either.

With two full-length albums to their name, along with one rare and hard (though not impossible) to find digital EP, the band’s back-catalogue may not be the most extensive, but it’s still incredibly deep, and brimming with complex nuances and subtle elements that reward those patient enough to unpick the many layers inherent to the music. Continue reading »

CLARET ASH: “THE CLEANSING”

Album Reviews 12 Responses »

Aug 142015

(Andy Synn reviews the new second album by Australia’s Claret Ash.)

Oh, Australia, how/why you’re currently experiencing this upsurge in attention and exposure for your contribution to the world of the Metallic arts I don’t know… but I do know that it’s thoroughly deserved.

I mean, seriously, I don’t even have to think all that hard to come up with a frankly staggering array of all the great things that have come from Down Under in recent years… Be’Lakor, Ne Obliviscaris, Drowning the Light, Orpheus Omega, Whoretopsy, the highly underappreciated Okera, Dawn of Azazel, Stargazer, Innsmouth, my current personal favourites Sanzu, Rise of Avernus, Advent Sorrow, Watchtower, Hope Drone, Spire, Wardaemonic, The Schoenberg Automaton, Caligula’s Horse, Mad Max… the list goes on!

Well, not to be forgotten or outdone, the boys in Claret Ash have just unleashed their sophomore effort, and what a nasty little piece of high-quality sonic darkness it is! Continue reading »

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