Andy Synn Archives - Page 2 of 160

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 198): MINDWORK

Aug 312026

Recommended for fans of: Sadist, Cynic, Obscura

Sometimes it’s a real struggle to decide what band to focus on for the next edition of “The Synn Report”… and sometimes, like this one, it’s an easy choice.

One thing that made it pretty easy was that so far this year we’ve had editions focussing on scorching Screamo (Ostraca), brooding Doom (Todomal), pounding Post-Metal (Erdve), riff-tastic Death/Crust (Black Breath), and a host of other genres to boot, but not really much that touches on the “thrashy” side of things… so this felt like a prime opportunity to tick that particular box.

Of course, the fact that Czechia’s Mindwork are such excellent purveyors of prodigiously proggy thrashery – one whose heaviest moments ably blur the lines between Thrash and Death Metal, while their willingness to indulge their proggiest proclivities often push their sound into more free-form, jazz-fusion inspired places – also made it a pretty simple decision, especially since their new album (their first since 2012) is such a killer comeback.

PRIVATE PRISONS – THEO LACY

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Aug 262026

(Andy Synn condemns you all to suffer with the new album from Private Prisons)

You know us here at NCS (and if you don’t, why not?)… when it comes to writing about new music we’ll almost always favour writing about lesser-known bands over bigger and more notorious names.

It’s become almost a perverse sort of compulsion at this point, letting other sites (for the most part, anyway) handle the “big hitters” while we focus on the weirdos, freaks, and underdogs (not always in that order).

And today’s review is a prime example of this, because nothing says “underground” than the visceral, venom-spewing blackened sludgery of Private Prisons.

DREAMWELL – HYMNS FOR THE DENIAL OF GOD

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Aug 252026

(Andy Synn has a few thoughts about the new Dreamwell, out on Friday, to share today)

Change is one of the few, reliable constants in life.

All of us change – sometimes drastically, sometimes subtly – whether we want to or not, and the same goes for bands… especially when they undergo any sort of line-up shift.

Case in point, after releasing two extremely well-received albums – 2021’s Modern Grotesque and 2023’s In My Saddest Dreams… (which landed on my “Critical Top Ten” for that year) – Providence-based “Post-Screamo-core” crew Dreamwell parted ways with long-time guitarist Aki McCullough (A Constant Knowledge of Death), transforming them from a quintet to a quartet for the first time since their formation.

Understandably then, I was intrigued as to how this might effect the group’s sound… after all, McCullough‘s absence inevitably leaves a gap, and just as nature always seeks to fill a vacuum so too will the rest of the group’s members have instinctively moved to establish a new equilibrium to fill this gap.

And now, with the imminent release of their third album (out this Friday), we finally get to hear just how much has changed for the band.

YOU’RE NOT HARDCORE UNLESS YOU LIVE HARDCORE: CHICO / DEAD TIRED / R.O.S.A.

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Aug 202026

(Andy Synn is a punk rocker… yes he is… for today, at least)

There’s been some interesting discourse – and for once I do actually mean “interesting” and not “irritating” – about the difference, if there is one, between the terms “Hardcore” and “Hardcore Punk”, and what the use of either (or both) of these terms says about the person using them.

You see, even as someone who prefers their Hardcore on the more “Metallic” side (including a lot of the current wave of Death Metal/Hardcore crossover) it feels like the “Punk” side of the scene is getting a little boxed-out (with one or two large exceptions, of course) in favour of breakdowns, beatdowns, and chunky-chuggery.

Purely by coincidence, however, I recently stumbled across a trio of albums that definitely err more towards the punkier end of the spectrum, and it’s these I want to talk about today.

BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACK: BJES / GROUSE / PETRICOR

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Aug 192026

(Andy Synn has three more albums for the more Black Metal inclined among you)

I’m a busy, busy man at the moment, both in my personal life (it turns out selling a house is hard), and my musical one (did I mention we’ve got a new EP out?).

But I’m still making sure to find time to listen to – and, just as importantly, to write about – new music that I think our readers might appreciate.

And with my recent focus being mostly on various forms of Death Metal and/or Hardcore I felt this week it was about time to get back to our more “blackened” roots with a collection of three relatively recent records dedicated to the glory of Black Metal.

WARFORGED – THE GROVE | ALMANAC

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Aug 172026

(Andy Synn courts controversy yet again with his review of the new Warforged album, out now)

We should probably start things out today by laying all our cards on the table, yes?

While many people were impressed by Warforged‘s debut album, I: The Voice, I’m afraid I wasn’t one of them.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s still an impressive number of ideas, and a lot of technical talent, on display across the album’s unwieldy, almost 73 minute run-time (this is definitely not a band who ascribe to the theory of “less is more”, that’s for sure) but I ultimately found the execution to be disjointed and uneven, with too much of it just haphazardy thrown at the wall in the hope that something would stick.

Their second album, however, showcased a darker, more atmosphere-heavy, sound (as well as a new vocalist) that felt – with a few slightly janky exceptions – more focussed and intentional, harnessing the band’s more experimental and unpredictable impulses with a greater sense of direction that made all the various parts, even the ones which didn’t quite work, feel like they were actually contributing to a greater whole, rather than pulling the record in a thousand different directions at once.

And, luckily for me – though this may end up disappointing a certain section of Warforged‘s fanbase – Almanac is very clearly both a spiritual and sonic successor to Sundial, continuing the ongoing story by adding a fresh new chapter to the band’s career.

SHORT BUT SWEET ON A SATURDAY: HELL IS REAL / MOUTHBREATHER / RACETRAITOR

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Aug 152026

(Andy Synn picks up the slack today while the boss is away)

Our beloved leader, he whose eyes are all-seeing and whose arms encircle the sun, is currently off on a scenic break, leaving myself and DGR in charge of the site over the weekend.

And, as consumnate professionals… we have nothing prepared.

Or, at least, I should say that we had nothing prepared, since – as luck would have it – a surprise release yesterday has allowed me to complete another tripartite “Short But Sweet” article (which, thankfully, I already had half written) so as to ensure we don’t go another day without feeding the internet’s constant craving for new content to consume.

BEST OF BRITISH: EXTINCTION OF MANKIND / HAAST / THE SALT PALE COLLECTIVE

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Aug 132026

(Andy Synn tries to beat the heat with three more home-grown recommendations)

It’s another hot one here in the UK right now, and people are definitely looking for something to take their minds off the oppressive heat.

And in the absence of any particularly icy Black Metal to cool us down, I thought I’d instead focus on a trio of recent releases (“recent” being a relative term) all capable of capturing your attention and distracting you from the oppressive weight of the weather, in three distinctly different ways.

ONLY DEATH IS REAL: GODAGAINST / IMPERATHRON / SEPULCRUM

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Aug 112026

(Andy Synn takes us on a trip to the Death Metal underground of Chile today)

It’s been suggested, perhaps not unfairly, that I’ve been neglecting the Death Metal side of things recently.

So to make up for this (while acknowledging that I’ve definitely covered stuff from Carbon Tomb, Altarage, and a bunch of other short form releases all in the last month or so) I decided that today would be the day we’d dive head-first into the Chilean Death Metal scene in all its nasty, blasty brilliance.

PULL THE STRINGS – GRIEFBLOOM

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Aug 102026

(Andy Synn kicks off another new week here at NCS with another new album you may have missed)

While it’s true that some bands spring from the proverbial womb fully formed, generally speaking mosts bands take a little bit of time to achieve their final form.

Influences both internal and external, issues of place and time, evolving line-ups and changing circumstances, all have an impact on a band’s development, and it’s difficult to predict exactly what confluence of factors will inspire a band to produce their best work.

And in the case of Pull the Strings, it was the shift from a pure solo project – masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Alan Brucke (also of Mind Prisoner) – to a collaborative duo (with the addition of the equally talented Gabriel Yadon) which has ultimately allowed them to achieve their full potential.

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