UNSUNG HEROES OF 2020: HVRT / KRUELTY / KVLL

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Oct 082020
 

 

(Here’s a trio of enthusiastic reviews penned by Andy Synn, accompanied by a lot of crippling music)

Those of you who’ve been with us here at NCS for a while will, possibly, know that I usually do these “Unsung Heroes…” articles in January/February as a way of catching up with bands who I didn’t get around to reviewing the previous year.

You also may have noticed… it’s October 2020. Which means I’m kind of jumping the gun a little. But damn, I didn’t want to wait until January to get these three artists/albums written up because they deserve all the love and attention I/we can muster right now. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ALTERI / MINUALA / MOROKH

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Oct 062020
 


Minuala

 

(Here’s a triptych of EP reviews by Andy Synn.)

One of the (many) great things about writing for this site is that, free from the concerns of having to sell ad space or keep to print deadlines, we’re basically free to write about what we want, when we want to.

So, for example, if I want to dedicate an article to reviewing three releases all situated somewhere along the Blackened Crust/Hardcore spectrum… then I can do!

And if those three releases all happen to be EPs, and not albums… it’s all good!

And then if one of them was, in fact, originally released back in February, even though I’m only just getting to writing about it now… well, that’s not a problem either! Continue reading »

FAWN LIMBS: “SLEEPER VESSELS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Oct 052020
 

 

(In this review Andy Synn catches up with the new album by Fawn Limbs, which was released on September 18th in various formats by Roman Numeral Records, Wolves And Vibrancy Records, Dark Trail Records, and Sludgelord Records.)

While many sites, zines, and publications (especially print publications) have already transitioned into “End of Year” mode, we here at NCS are still out there, scouring the interweb for new bands and new albums to bring to your attention.

And it’s a good thing too, because while the release of Sleeper Vessels (the second album from the trans-Atlantic Tech-Grind trio Fawn Limbs) may have flown a little bit under the radar, its bastardised blend of squalling metallic noise, unsettling ambience, and distorted electronic effluent has the potential to throw a major wrench into the works when it comes to deciding what/who belongs on this year’s many “Best of…” lists.

As discordant, as demanding, and as defiantly difficult to categorise as this record is, there are certain points of reference – from the mind-bending technicality of Car Bomb and the pneumatic angularity of Ion Dissonance to the abrasive intensity of The Red Chord or the experimental extremity of Pig Destroyer – which, superficially at least, might make it a little bit easier to take in.

But the truth is that Sleeper Vessels is an album that positively thrives on sowing chaos and confusion at every possible moment, and there’s no real way to fully prepare yourself for this record’s catastrophic, kaleidoscopic assault upon the senses.

But I’ll do what I can. Forewarned is forearmed, after all. Continue reading »

TOADEATER: “BIT TO EWIGEN DAOGEN”

 Album Reviews  12 Responses »
Oct 022020
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Germany’s Toadeater, which is being released today.)

When it comes to the ongoing discussion about how/whether to separate the art from the artist I tend to err towards the idea that, ultimately, it really comes down to a matter of personal choice.

Sure, we can do our best to engage, discuss, and inform one another on the (not so rare) occasion it turns out that one of our favourite bands or artists turns out to have some… let’s say “questionable” views (or is just a reprehensible, irredeemable piece of shit), but ultimately it’s up to each of us, individually, where we draw the line.

Your circumstances will also affect how you act/react in response when an artist/band crosses that line – for myself there are bands I’ll still listen to but whom I choose not to use my platform here to promote, for example – but the one argument that doesn’t hold any water, not with me anyway, is that you can’t/won’t stop supporting a band “because there’s no-one else as good out there”.

The truth is there’s never been more great music out there. Sure, there’s a lot of dross. But there’s more opportunities now than ever to discover someone/something new when one of your old bands betrays you.

So if you’ve been struggling for a new Black Metal fix to replace your old one, Toadeater have you covered. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 125): FERAL LIGHT

 Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT  4 Responses »
Sep 302020
 

 

(For the September 2020 edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn focuses on the discography of Minnesota-based Feral Light, including a review of their 2020 album Life Vapor.)

Recommended for fans of: Tombs, Cobalt, Wolvhammer

So while these guys weren’t my original choice for this month’s Synn Report, the truth is I’ve been itching for a chance to write more about them for a while now, particularly since we didn’t manage to publish a review of the band’s third album, Life Vapor, (although we did host a premiere for it) when it was released back in May, so I’m more than happy that things worked out this way.

Hailing from the grim, snowbound wastes of… Minneapolis, Minnesota… Feral Light (who comprise the dynamic duo of Andrew Reesen on drums and Andy Schoengrund on guitars/vocals) deal in a gritty, gruesomely groovesome brand of Black ‘n’ Roll which has, over the years, also developed an increasingly savage-yet-sombre (not to mention ever-so-slightly proggy) edge to it.

And with three full-length albums now under their belt, I felt it was high time that more of our readers got to know (and love) them as well as I do. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SERPENT COLUMN – “WIND AND FOG” (AND A REVIEW OF “KATHODOS”)

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Sep 292020
 

 

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere of “Wind and Fog” from the new third album by the U.S. black metal band Serpent Column — and reviews the album — in advance of its September 30 release by Mystiskaos and Iron Bonehead.)

To quote the late, great, Arthur C. Clarke:

“All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one prefers to call the powers behind the Universe.”

This was made eminently clear to me when, in preparation for this month’s edition of The Synn Report, I enquired as to whether we’d received a promo copy for the new Serpent Column album Kathodos.

Dutiful as ever, Islander reached out to the band’s label, who responded that they generally don’t do advance promo copies but, if we were really that interested in the band, they’d make an exception in our case… oh, and would we mind hosting an exclusive and unannounced last minute premiere at the same time?

Talk about an offer you can’t refuse… Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN’S BIG GAME HUNT (WITH DEFTONES, ENSLAVED, AND THE OCEAN)

 Album Reviews, Metal News  No Responses »
Sep 252020
 

 

(In this post Andy Synn reviews three albums being released today or in the near future — by Deftones, Enslaved, and The Ocean.)

As anyone who’s been following this site for, ooh, more than five minutes, will know, we tend to aim our collective focus at the more underground and/or underappreciated albums and artists out there.

Not because we have to. Not because we think it makes us “cool” (trust me, we’re not cool). Not even because we’re trying to make some sort of point or big statement. It’s just because we want to, and because it’s generally more fun to write about these sorts of bands than it is to regurgitate the same generic platitudes you can see/read everywhere else about bands who already have more than enough exposure.

That being said, sometimes we like to turn our attention to some bigger game, and bigger names, because… well… because we feel like it, basically. Which is why you’re about to read my short, but sharp, take on three artists/albums who’ve already received a fair bit of praise elsewhere but whom I think deserve a slightly more critical (dare I even say, objective?) assessment.

Think of it as my attempt to restore some balance to the force, as it were. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: BOSPHORUS / SCORDATURA / SVALBARD

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 232020
 


Svalbard

 

(Here’s another edition of Andy Synn‘s continuing series focused on the review of records recently released by bands from his native land.)

Isn’t it great when things just kind of… line up on their own?

Case in point, just last week I was thinking that it was about time to put together another edition of “The Best of British”, especially with new albums from both Scordatura and Svalbard on the horizon.

But, here’s the rub, I didn’t have a third band lined up to round out the article. That is until a passing comment clued me into the fact that Scottish Post-Sludge trio Bosphorus were also set to release their long-gestating debut album this Friday, making for a killer triumvirate of new records all scheduled to come out on the same day.

Like I said at the start – isn’t it great when stuff just falls into place? Continue reading »

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “ENDARKENMENT”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Sep 212020
 

 

(Here’s Andy Synn‘s review of the new album from Anaal Nathrakh, which is set for release on October 2nd by Metal Blade.)

They say (whoever “they” are) that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

But when that dog has been outfighting, outfoxing, and outfucking the competition, cleanly and consistently, for pretty much the last twenty years, then why would you want to mess with success?

That’s the position that the two-headed rabid pit-bull named Anaal Nathrakh find themselves in right now, as while the band’s modus operandi may have evolved and mutated a fair bit since their Total Fucking Necro days, the underlying formula for their sound [grinding velocity x blackened venom + voracious hooks] remains practically unaltered.

The problem with this sort of approach, of course, is that at some point you’re going to run straight into the creative (and commercial) roadblock that is “the law of diminishing returns”, where just doing the same thing over and over again has less and less impact each time.

So, with the release of their eleventh album right around the corner, the big question now is… do Anaal Nathrakh have anything new to offer the world, or is it time to take them out back and put them out of their misery? Continue reading »

SUNKEN: “LIVSLEDE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 172020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by the Danish black metal band Sunken, set for a September 18 release by Vendetta Records.)

The term “categorical perception” refers to a psychological phenomena whereby human beings tend to separate stimuli – sounds, colours, etc – on a continuum into discrete, distinct categories, as well as how the learning of these categorisations influences our ability to perceive them as we grow up.

It’s a fascinating area, and one I can’t go into fully here (for obvious reasons), but let’s just say that CP is why you sometimes hear people from different countries struggling to differentiate between |r| and |l| sounds, and why different cultures sometimes even see colour differently.

As the smart ones among you might already have guessed, this phenomenon is pretty active in music too, especially when it comes to genre classifications.

For example, where you draw the line between Death Metal that’s “technical” and so-called Technical Death Metal, where you decide that something becomes brutal enough to be called Brutal Death Metal, etc, may be an individual choice on the surface, but it’s also heavily influenced by what you’ve learned, what you’ve been taught by others, and what you’ve been exposed to.

It’s particularly noticeable on the Black Metal spectrum, especially when it comes to asking people to define at what point Black Metal becomes Atmospheric Black Metal becomes Post-Black Metal… with the usual answer being defined more by personal preference than any actual sonic or stylistic properties of the music itself.

But there are always artists/albums who transcend or defy easy categorisation, and whether you like your Black Metal to be “Atmospheric”, “Post-” or pure as the driven snow, Livslede is likely to be exactly what you’re looking for. Continue reading »

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