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THE SYNN REPORT (PART 134): ABYSSKVLT

May 312021

Recommended for fans of: Esoteric, Drown, The Ruins of Beverast

As I’ve been enjoying so much music from Russia lately I thought it made sense to keep to that theme by dedicating this month’s edition of The Synn Report to the dense, doom-laden discography of Abysskvlt.

A word of warning, however, the band’s three albums – the most recent of which was released just a few weeks ago – are definitely not for the faint of heart (or those with a short attention span), as each one clocks in at well over an hour in length.

Not only that, but while each record delivers a spine-tingling, soul-crushing, at times almost asphyxiatingly atmospheric, blend of monstrous, funereal heaviness and bitter, blackened melancholy (along with an undercurrent of eerie ambience reminiscent of sinisterly cinematic artists like Lustmord and Treha Sektori), there’s also an even deeper level of mystery underlying the band’s work, which was conceived as a way to explore Tibetan spiritual culture (particularly the pre-Buddhist tradition of Bön) through the use of traditional Tibetan instruments as well as the incorporation of lyrics frequently written and performed in Tibetan or Shangshung.

As you might have gathered then, each of the group’s albums is best experienced as a complete whole, rather than as a simple selection of tracks, so your best bet is to set aside a big block of time – trust me, you’ll need it – and maybe have someone come to check on you every seventy minutes or so, because you’re about to go on one hell of a journey.

SILVER TALON – DECADENCE AND DECAY

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

May 272021

(Andy Synn has decided to break the cardinal rule of our site – again – by throwing his weight, and his words, behind the new album from Portland Progressive Power Metal paladins Silver Talon)

The ability to compare one band with another – or with many others – is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable tools in a writer’s arsenal.

Oh, sure, it can be abused and misused – so can any tool – but being able to say that “band [a] sound a bit like band [b]”, or “like the bastard child of [x] and [y]” or “a more modern version of [z]” is a great way to put your reader in the right sort of mindset, and give them some useful context and perspective, to help them appreciate the music they’re about to hear and/or read about.

Still, even I’m willing to admit that it can sometimes be used as a crutch, especially in cases – such as this one – where there’s one particularly obvious comparison that would be far, far, too easy to make.

So, to challenge myself, I’ve decided to review the new album from Progressive/Heavy/Power Metal posse Silver Talon without explicitly mentioning that band at all.

Will I be able to do it? Quoth the raven…

DÖDSRIT – MORTAL COIL

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 262021

(Sweden’s Dödsrit are back with their first album as a quartet – out this Friday via Wolves of Hades – and Andy Synn has the exclusive scoop right here)

The formula for mixing Black Metal and Crust Punk is so deceptively simple, but so undeniably effective, that it’s really no surprise that the past several years – the past decade, really – have seen such a major increase in bands looking to embrace this particular style and make it their own.

Of course, the crossover between the two styles isn’t a new phenomenon by any means, and stretches back even further than you might imagine, but the fact that it isn’t new doesn’t make it any less devastating in the right hands… and there’s practically no-one else whose hands I’d rather see it in than Dödsrit.

HUNDRED HEADLESS HORSEMEN – APOKALEPSIA

Album Reviews No Responses »

May 242021

(Hold on tight as Andy Synn takes us for a ride with the new album from Hundred Headless Horsemen)

Finnish quartet Hundred Headless Horsemen aren’t the easiest band to pin down.

Mostly this is because the group resolutely refuse to adhere to the normal conventions (or restrictions) of songwriting or genre, going so far as to describe their uniquely unorthodox sound as “Psychedelic Death Metal”, a term which, while certainly intriguing, practically raises more questions than it answers.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a significant strain of Death Metal in the band’s DNA – though careful analysis will undoubtedly show that it’s more closely related to the Morbus Chron/Sweven offshoot than it is anything from the Floridian swamps or the Stockholm graveyards – but, whether due to natural selection or intelligent design, the sound they produce isn’t so easily classified.

Perhaps an even better comparison – or, at least, the best one I can come up with – would be to think of HHH as the Death Metal equivalent of their more “blackened” countrymen in Oranssi Pazuzu, a band with whom they not only share a love of sludgy grooves and psychotropic sounds, but also an almost pathological aversion to playing by the rules.

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: ODRAZA – “ACEDIA”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

May 212021

(It is our privilege to bring you this premiere of the experimental and unpredictable new release from Odraza, out tomorrow on Gods Ov War Productions, featuring a foreword by our own Andy Synn)

Ah, Odraza. Now that’s a name I’ve not heard since… well, since just last year, as a matter of fact, when I heaped praised upon their sublime second album, Rzeczom (an album which only just missed out on a place on my “Critical Top Ten” of 2020).

The band’s latest release, however, is even more unique and unusual than its provocative predecessor, comprising as it does a single twenty-minute track, conceived and brought to term as part of an exhibition to be presented at the Museum of Podgórze later this year.

Of course. this isn’t the first time that Odraza have strayed off the beaten (left-hand) path – their 2015 EP, Kir, for example, was a twenty-minute instrumental commissioned and performed live for an event at The Museum of the City of Krakow in tribute to the fallen in the Płaszów concentration camp – but there’s no question in my mind that Acedia is the band’s most unorthodox and unpredictable work yet, as well as a welcome reminder that strange times often breed even stranger art.

PRÉSAGES – PLEURS

Album Reviews No Responses »

May 192021

(Andy Synn continues to ferret out 2021’s hidden gems with this review of the debut album from Canada’s Présages)

You know what they say, ask three different people to describe the same band to you… and you’ll get descriptions of three different bands.

Case in point, if you glance at the bandcamp page for Pleurs, the debut album from Montreal metallers Présages, you’ll see a variety of different opinions about what sort of music the band play, from “Blackened Doom” to “Atmospheric Black Metal” to “crushing Death-Doom”, and more besides.

And while the band themselves describe their sound as “an alloy of Doom, Prog, Death, and Black” that isn’t necessarily all that helpful or illuminating when each of these terms has a slightly different meaning for everyone who hears them.

So how would yours truly describe Pleurs?

Well, you’re going to have to give that “Continue reading…” button a click to find out.

GREY AURA – ZWART VIERKANT

Album Reviews No Responses »

May 172021

(Andy Synn grabs his net and pith helmet and goes on the hunt for that rarest of specimens, the Avant-Garde Black Metal album, by reviewing the latest record by Grey Aura, which was released on 07 May)

The term Aposematism (coined by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1890, and originally referred to, more simply, as “warning colouration”) refers to the way in which certain animals, often (though not always) through the use of bright colours and bold patterns, signal to potential predators that they’re toxic, venomous, or otherwise dangerous, and – to coin a phrase – shouldn’t be fucked with.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, for one thing, it’s always nice to learn something new, no?

And, for another, it’s clear that the new album from Avant-Black artistes Grey Aura, operates using a similar principle, because the record’s fantastically strange and visually striking cover is an obvious and eye-catching warning that what you’re about to hear is not going to adhere to the normal rules.

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT: “V3: VERNEDERING”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 122021

(Despite the somewhat incestuous relationship between Andy Synn and the Dutch “Svpreme Avant Garde Death Metal” band The Monolith Deathcult, he has taken it upon himself to review their new album, which is set for ~~detonation~~ release on May 14th.)

As anyone around here will tell you, The Monolith Deathcult and I have a fairly long and sordid history together.

Not only have I written about pretty much everything they’ve ever done (especially if you take into account the edition of The Synn Report I did on them just over a decade(!) ago), but I’ve also helped them with their promotional materials, and even been on tour with them a couple of times.

All of this, of course, makes me both the best and the worst person to be writing about the band’s new album, as while I’ve definitely got the right background and the insider info, mainline straight from the source, to really dig into the nitty gritty of the record, I’m sure there’s also a fair few people who are (understandably) going to be questioning my ability to be fair and impartial right now.

But, ultimately, there really was no-one else here at NCS who could write this review (and not just because everyone else was too busy).

After all, we all know that the only way for any band – even one as utterly shameless and reliably critic-proof as The Monolith Deathcult – to be truly judged (and, hopefully, convicted) is by a jury of their peers… which is why I swear to you that what you’re about to read is nothing but the truth, the whole goddamn truth, so help me (please help me) god… Continue reading »

MOROKH – ALL THE DARKNESS LOOKS ALIVE

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

May 112021

(Andy Synn dives back into the darkness once more with the new album from Russian Blackened Hardcore bruisers Morokh)

You know what they say… once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

And, as it happens, this is the third album from Russia in just over a month that’s instantly established itself as one of my favourite records of the year, which suggests that either someone out there is purposefully targeting me and my listening tastes… or I’m just being paranoid (or am I?).

HADIT – WITH JOY AND ARDOUR THROUGH THE INCOMMENSURABLE PATH

Album Reviews No Responses »

May 052021

(The long-awaited debut album from Italian Black/Death duo Hadit is set for release this Friday via Sentient Ruin/Caligari Records, and Andy Synn has volunteered to act as Virgil on this journey into the inferno)

After my shameless flirtation with – dare I say it – the “mainstream” (ok, not really, but you know what I mean) earlier this week, it’s high time I got back to the underground, the underdogs, and the underappreciated.

And what better way to do so than with a quick look at the long-awaited, soon-to-be-released, debut album from Italian Death-duo Hadit, whose elaborately titled new album conjures up a sound that is distinctly more occult and “old school” in demeanour and delivery than that of the band’s more popular and blast-happy contemporaries/countrymen?

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