Andy Synn Archives - Page 22 of 153

KANONENFIEBER – DIE URKATASTROPHE

Sep 102024

(Andy Synn goes back to the front with the new album from German fusiliers Kanonenfieber)

War… war never changes.

And neither, in some ways, do Kanonenfieber, whose long-awaited and highly-anticipated second album, Die Urktatastrophie (transl. “The Original/Primal Catastrophe”) comes out next week (September 20, to be exact).

And yet… and yet… those of us who’ve been marching alongside the band over the years, slogging through the mud and blood of Menschenmühle (2021), then going on to join the Yankee Division to fight against Der Füsilier (2022), only to find ourselves staring deep into the abyss as a U-Bootsmann (2023), will know from experience that although the band (strictly speaking a solo project, I know) may not have changed, their tactics have definitely, albeit subtly, evolved with each new engagement.

In particular, there’s been a slow but steady shift in focus to incorporate more of Death Metal’s riff-centric heft and rhythmic hookiness with each and every release, with the result being that the group’s career has, up to a point at least, followed a similar arc to their Dutch cousins (and similar WWI scholars) God Dethroned.

But whereas the latter’s most recent album ended up falling a little (or, more accurately, a lot) short of achieving its objectives, the anti-war anthems of Die Urkatastrophe have no such problems hitting their target.

THE HOWLING WIND – THROUGH THE EYES, PAST THE SUN

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Sep 092024

(Andy Synn is ready to be swept off his feet again by The Howling Wind)

Look, by now I’m sure we’re all aware of the big surprise revelation of last week… that’s right, I’m talking about the unexpected, world-shaking return of ~~Linkin Park~~ ~~Pyrrhon~~ The Howling Wind!

Sure, it’s only been two years since their last release – 2022’s Oak EP – but it’s been eleven years since the duo of Tim Call and Ryan Lipynsky actually created a full-length album together (with 2019’s Shadow Tentacles being a solo effort by Lipynsky under the THW moniker).

So, with that in mind, the pair’s new album, Through the Eyes, Past the Sun, has a lot to live up to.

NORNA – NORNA

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Sep 042024

(Andy Synn has a new favourite artist/album he needs to share with you, in the form of Norna)

The phrase “Post Metal” is one of those genre terms which doesn’t necessarily have an agreed definition.

Some people use it to refer mostly to what are, in essence, Post-Rock bands who’ve decided to use certain more metallic elements (usually meaning a more heavily distorted guitar tone along with the occasional burst of blastbeats) while others reserve it for bands who exist on the more atmospheric end of the Sludge/Hardcore spectrum (most of the big names in the scene started out like this, for example).

For Swedish trio Norna, however, their approach to “Post-Metal” is all about attempting to refine things down to their raw essence, beneath and beyond the flashy technicality and mindless machismo so often still associated with the genre, to achieve the Platonic ideal of pure auditory weight and distortion-driven emotion.

And while their debut didn’t quite manage to achieve this – admittedly impossible – task, the band’s self-titled second album comes closer than most to achieving artistic apotheosis in molten metallic form.

OCEANS OF SLUMBER – WHERE GODS FEAR TO SPEAK

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Sep 032024

(Andy Synn dives deep into the new Oceans of Slumber album, out next week)

It is, quite frankly, borderline criminal that we haven’t all helped make Oceans of Slumber a bigger commercial and critical success.

Sure, the group has had issues with maintaining a consistent line-up, and they’ve yet to create an absolute classic that’s consistently awesome all the way through, but the highlights of their back-catalogue – combining the always stunning vocals of Cammie Beverly and the punishing percussive power of her husband Dobber with a visceral and vibrant variety of progressive riffs, cinematic synths, and lithe, limber bass-lines – have always, in my opinion at least, outnumbered their occasional musical missteps.

Hell, the gloomy Southern Gothic glamour of 2022’s Starlight & Ash could – and should – have led to some serious mainstream crossover success… but somehow the band still didn’t get their due.

Well, it now looks like all that rejection (ok, it’s not like the group are total unknowns by any means, they just have yet to receive the push they properly deserve) has come home to roost as, for better or worse (but mostly for better), it’s clear that Where Gods Fear to Speak is the sort of album that was written solely for the band’s own enjoyment and artistic fulfilment.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Sep 012024

(Andy Synn somehow manages to pick just four albums from an overloaded August to talk about)

I feel like August was even more jam-packed with new releases than any other month this year so far… right?

And I don’t just mean all the “big” names – of which there were several – I’m talking about all the cool, more underground records and releases which came out during the last 31 days.

There was the intricate, immersive Prog-Death of Moonloop and the intense, in-your-face Deathcore of To The Grave… the disgustingly dark and devastating double-team of Teeth and Pneuma Hagion… as well as rites, both Vile and Modern in the form of Senescence and Endless.

And then there was the unquantifiable, uncompromising new album from Uniform – which I hope, one day, to get round to reviewing (just as soon as I’ve got my head around it properly) – plus several more which I might just end up covering separately at some point.

Until then, however, please enjoy this genre-crossing look back at the last month!

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 174): OXYGEN DESTROYER

THE SYNN REPORT 3 Responses »

Aug 312024

Recommended for fans of: Vader, Goatwhore, Revocation

Sometimes a band and their theme just go so well together – think Slugdge and their mollusc-worshipping metallic magic, or Sulphur Aeon and their obsessive Lovecraftian occultism – that you can’t ever imagine them doing, saying, or singing about anything else.

Such is the case with Seattle’s own Oxygen Destroyer whose monstrous sound – a ravenous hybrid of Death, Black, and Thrash Metal, designed to take your breath away – has become totally inseparable from their monstrous subject matter.

So prepare yourselves, it’s time for a rampage.

AMIENSUS – RECLAMATION, PART 2

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Aug 282024

(Andy Synn closes the circle with his review of part 2 of Amiensus‘s new double-album, out Friday)

There is, of course, no way to talk about Reclamation, Part 2 without considering it in the context of its already-released predecessor – the two of them forming both sides of a singular (in both senses of the word) coin.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Part 2 is incapable of standing on its own – far from it – it’s just that the group’s decision to release Reclamation in two parts, almost a full four months apart, offers us an opportunity to reassess the latter while analysing the former at the same time.

So, let us begin, shall we?

BLACK BIRCH – BLACK BIRCH

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Aug 272024

(Andy Synn says the new self-titled album from Black Birch is one you need to hear)

Just recently I was chatting online with a bunch of Metal musicians – all far more famous and prominent in the scene than me – about how difficult it’s become, in an age of constant information overload and what seems like an ever-decreasing attention span, to make your band stand out.

Sure, I’ve seen and read all the well-meaning advice about jumping on the latest social media trends, optimising your “content” for platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and so on, but all of it seems so forced and performative and, let’s face it, has less to do with the actual music and is more about turning your band into a “brand”.

Still, there are ways to grab your audience’s attention that don’t involve doing silly dances or otherwise acting like a validation-hungry jackass… and getting yourself some eye-catching artwork is one guaranteed way of getting me to check out your album, at the very least.

And when said artwork (created by Black Birch vocalist/guitarist Gina Wiklund, in this particular case) is accompanied by some absolutely electrifying Black Metal?

Well, then you’ve really got my attention. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ATAVISTIA / HOLY BLADE / SOLNEGRE / TIDES OF ACCRETION

SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Aug 222024

(Andy Synn recommends a quartet of short but sweet recent releases to check out)

We’ve featured a bunch of pretty big and/or up-and-coming bands this week – Spectral Wound, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Leprous – so maybe it’s time to shift focus back on some lesser-known names?

And since I also haven’t covered anywhere near enough EPs so far this year I was thinking… why not kill two metaphorical birds with one proverbial stone and write about a bunch of short-form releases that, perhaps, haven’t gotten enough attention?

LEPROUS – MELODIES OF ATONEMENT

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Aug 212024

(Andy Synn continues his on/off love affair with Leprous, whose new album comes out 30 August)

Being “heavy” is not the same as being “good”. We all know that, right?

But I must admit, as someone who first fell in love with Leprous back when they were still serving as Ihsahn‘s backing band, and who still believes that Bilateral is one of the best and most unique albums of the new millennium, I was certainly excited by the announcement that Melodies of Atonement was going to showcase a “heavier” side of the group than what we’d seen/heard in recent years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve continued to be a fan (to a greater or lesser extent) of the band’s output – Coal and Malina are also still firm favourites, and there’s some great tracks on The Congregation, Pitfalls (including the outstanding “The Sky Is Red”), and Aphelion (whose cinematic highs more than make up for the record’s occasional lows) – but the idea that they might be bringing back some of the edginess and punchiness of their earlier work(s) certainly had me intrigued.

Of course, as any sensible person might have predicted, MoA isn’t just Bilateral, Part 2 – there’s some moments here that probably deserve that comparison, but overall the two albums really share only the most basic musical markers, enough to tell that they’re related but probably not enough to make them genetically compatible – as the Leprous of today is quite literally not the same band they used to be.

Even so, however, I can tell you now that the group weren’t lying when they said that this would be a “heavier” album… even if the story is a little more complicated than that.

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