INFERNO FESTIVAL 2015: DAY ONE

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Apr 082015
 

 

(Andy Synn reports on the first day of Oslo’s Inferno Festival 2015 and provides photos.  For Andy’s report on the pre-fest show last Wednesday, go here.)

The first day of the festival proper began (for me at least) promptly at 6:15 when Spellemann Award-winning Death Metallers Execration took the stage.

Down and dirty, with a hint of something creepy just beneath the surface, the band’s blending of rolling, Vader/Autopsy–style death-grooves, Behemoth/Watain-esque stomp and swagger, and touches of eerie, Morbid Angel-ish atmosphere – accentuated here and there by unexpected progressive touches, flashes of surprising technicality, and an undercurrent of lurching sludge – should, by all rights, be an awkward mix. Yet somehow they make it work, taking this amalgam of sounds and using it to whip up an absolute cacophony of ugly, unrepentant nastiness that’s also as infectious as sonic syphilis. Continue reading »

INFERNO FESTIVAL 2015: DAY ZERO

 Concert Reviews  10 Responses »
Apr 072015
 

Svartidauði

 (Andy Synn took in the sights and sounds of the Inferno Festival on April 1-4, 2015, in Oslo, Norway, and this is the first of a multi-part report about his experience. Andy took the photos as well.)

Once again last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend Inferno Festival in Oslo, which this year is celebrating its 15th Anniversary, with a frankly flabbergasting line-up of bands that could almost have been hand-picked for yours truly, including some of my absolute favourites as well as a number of bands I’ve been dying to see live.

For those of you who are unaware, the Wednesday night always serves as a pre-festival “Club Night” and kick-off party, with a variety of different bands playing at different locations scattered around in relatively close proximity to the main venue. With the right pass (which, thankfully, included my fancy pink “Press” wristband) you can wander freely between the different places, picking and choosing what artists you want to see.

I decided (for reasons which will become clear) to focus my activities around the new Vulkan arena, and particularly the smaller Pokalen bar down in the lower level… Continue reading »

DOWNFALL OF GAIA / DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT / THE INFERNAL SEA – THE RAINBOW, BIRMINGHAM 29/03/15

 Concert Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 032015
 

(Andy Synn turns in this review of a show in Birmingham, England, last weekend)

Here’s a fact, true believers — I’d never been to The Rainbow in Birmingham before this evening, but as it turns out it’s a cool little venue, with a nicely-sized band room in the back, equipped with a very powerful PA.

And it’s a good thing too, because tonight’s bands (only three of which I’m going to be writing about, due to one band having to pull out and the other being… kind of terrible) definitely required the sort of system that could adequately handle the raw power they put out.

Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 56: CALLISTO

 THE SYNN REPORT  3 Responses »
Mar 302015
 

 

(In this 56th edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews the discography of Finland’s Callisto, whose latest album was released in January.)

Recommended for fans of: The Ocean, Cult of Luna, Thrice

There’s definitely a small chance, but a chance all the same, that Finnish Post-Rock/Post-Metal experimentalists Callisto might be a bit of a hard sell to our regular audience here at NCS.

Described on their Facebook page as “Metal / Experimental / Rock”, and by their own admission as “Progressive Noise Rock”, although the band clearly learnt much of their craft at the (metaphorical) knee of Isis and Cult of Luna, they quickly took a much different path than their predecessors, borrowing more from the Post-Hardcore and Post-Rock fields as their discography expanded, incorporating many more jazzy-influenced and experimental/ambient touches along the way.

It seems to me that this verve for experimentation – often divisive, yet never anything less than intriguing – contributed to the band missing the boat slightly during the mid-2000s Post-Metal explosion. Where others were (rightly) praised and lauded for their atmospheric expansion of the metallic landscape, Callisto were, in places at least, castigated for not being “Metal enough” as their interests swiftly diverged from those of their contemporaries.

Which is a shame, because I can honestly say that if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned above – or even the more atmospheric approach favoured by Junius and recent Sólstafir – then the Finns definitely deserve your time. And, although it does take a bit of effort and commitment to  get deep into some of their albums, I promise you that effort will be amply rewarded. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DOWNFALL OF GAIA

 Interviews  4 Responses »
Mar 302015
 

 

(Andy Synn presents his interview with some of the members of Germany’s Downfall of Gaia.)

Aeon Unveils the Throne of Decay, the thunderous third album from Germany’s Downfall of Gaia, was, in my estimation, one of the finest slabs of Metal (of any style) produced last year. In fact I selected it as one of my top 10 Critical choices of 2014, describing it as a “slow-motion apocalypse” (though massive, jagged chunks of it are anything but slow) which “shifts seamlessly between styles… to make [it] a fascinatingly multi-faceted and endlessly rewarding musical experience.”

And I stand by those words. In fact I’ve only discovered more layers and depth to the album as the months have passed by.

So, as a huge (and relatively new) fan of the band, I was lucky enough to be able to grab guitarist/vocalist Dominik Goncalves dos Reis for a quick chat about life, love, and the nature of existence. Continue reading »

DØDHEIMSGARD: “A UMBRA OMEGA”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 202015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the long-awaited new album by Norway’s Dødheimsgard.)

It seems I’ve picked up a taste for the strange recently. Whether it’s Porta Nigra’s latest foray into exotic metallic melodrama, or the burgeoning anticipation of Sigh’s newest musical menagerie, it seems there’s any number of acts ready and willing to delve into the uncharted waters of the weird.

Resurgent Black Metal mariners Dødheimsgard are certainly more than familiar with the pull of stranger tides, as over the years these currents have carried them from their origin point as part of the genre’s eminent “second wave” out to the very edge of its ever-expanding event horizon, dwelling right on the fringe of what might be considered as Black Metal.

A Umbra Omege, their first release in eight years, is undoubtedly a challenging, provocative piece of work, and – true to form – is definitely not an easy listen. It constantly confounds expectations, tacking off on unexpected tangents and swerving unpredictably away from where you think it might be heading in a manner that will surely prove as divisive as it is curiously compelling. Continue reading »

NO! CLEAN SINGING?

 Mosh Pit  24 Responses »
Mar 172015
 


“Prince” by Andrzej Masianis

(Andy Synn has been thinking… and here’s what he’s been thinking about…)

Recently I was chatting with some friends after a show on the topic of clean singing in metal – its history, its use, its place, and its purpose… the how, the when, and the why of it…. and it got me thinking. Thinking hard enough to put together this little piece of persuasive ponderment anyway.

Of course clean singing has been a part of the metal landscape since the genre’s very inception, and despite this site’s (tongue-in-cheek) name we definitely understand and respect it for its importance and its contribution over the years. Heck, I can honestly say that I LOVE a lot of cleanly sung metal, from the majestic melancholy of Primordial and the devastating bombast of Nevermore, through the gritty gallows-humour of Sentenced and the shameless extravagance of Devin Townsend… and that’s not even counting the umpteen bands who intermingle clean/harsh vocals with aplomb!

But when we’re talking about the more extreme styles of metal that we tend to cover here at NCS, clean singing can often be a contentious issue. And I can understand why, as it’s possible to get it very, very wrong when it comes to clean singing. Continue reading »

MELECHESH: “ENKI”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Mar 132015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Melechesh.)

I realise I may be in the minority about this, but as much as I enjoyed The Epigenesis I still felt like there was something missing in the final package. Though it certainly broke new ground in terms of adding an even more progressive, expressive edge to the band’s sound, to my mind it lacked a certain fire, a certain ferocity, when compared with their previous releases.

However it’s now been five long years since the release of The Epigenesis, five years which the band have spent (metaphorically) wandering in the wilderness, losing long-serving members and regaining old allies, perfecting and purifying themselves once more, engaged in a penitent pilgrimage which has led, ultimately, to the creation of perhaps their finest album yet. Continue reading »

EXGENESIS: “APHOTIC VEIL”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Mar 042015
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn reviews the debut EP by Exgenesis, whose members are from Sweden and Columbia.)

As far as I can recall, it’s usually in the first quarter of every year when I discover one of my big new musical surprises. Previous examples of this (admittedly, rather vague) trend were my discovery of Restoration by Amiensus in 2013, and the self-titled debut by Ion last year. So, as you can imagine, I’ve been keenly awaiting this year’s discovery, whatever it may be… and Aphotic Veil is definitely it.

Exgenesis is the fruit of a collaboration between two men, Jari Lindholm (Sweden) and Alejandro Lotero (Colombia), which delivers a fantastically fresh and frankly rather ferocious take on Melodic Death/Doom metal a la Daylight Dies/Swallow The Sun/October Tide, breathing new life into this well-worn sound with little more than a keen grasp of dynamics and superior song-writing ability.

The five tracks which make up Aphotic Veil weave together an enviable series of groaning, titanic riffs and grim, torturous growls with punishing flourishes of bone-cracking drum work and touches of darkly beautiful melody, wrapped up in a claustrophobic atmosphere of brooding shadows and haunting half-light which hints at some blackened marrow in the band’s bones. Continue reading »

PORTA NIGRA: “KAISERSCHNITT”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 202015
 

 

(Andy Synn penned this review of the new album by Germany’s Porta Nigra.)

Inspiration is an unpredictable mistress. You can never be sure when, or how, she’s going to strike.

I hadn’t planned on reviewing Kaiserschnitt, not consciously anyway. Even though I still have a lot of sick love for Fin de Siècle, Porta Nigra’s devilish debut, I initially intended to listen to their latest release merely to satisfy my curiosity. After all, I had other, more important things to be focussing on.

Or so I thought.

As I said, inspiration strikes at the oddest times and in the strangest of ways, and from my first listen to the album I found myself making up the disconnected mental notes and disordered comparisons which, ultimately, have come together to make up this review. I couldn’t have predicted it, I certainly hadn’t planned on it, but here we are anyway. Continue reading »

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