AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: LEBENSSUCHT – “A HOLE IN MY HEART”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Aug 272020
 

 

(Andy Synn prepared the following introduction for our premiere of a video by the multinational band Lebenssucht for a song from their 2020 debut album.)

Is there any greater joy than discovering a band early on in their career and then following them as they grow, develop, and evolve into something truly special?

I suppose some people might say parenthood but… those people are wrong.

Case in point, we first came across the bleak malevolence of multinational Black Metal coven Lebenssucht way back in 2016, and even ended up hosting a premiere for their first video, “Beloved Depression”, not long after.

In April this year the band released their debut album, -273,15°C, which built upon the potential demonstrated on their EP by going even deeper, darker, and bleaker than ever, and today we’re once again pleased to host another video premiere for the group, this time for the record’s sinister second track, “A Hole In My Heart”. Continue reading »

ULVER: “FLOWERS OF EVIL”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 242020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Norway’s Ulver, which will be released on August 28th (along with Wolves Evolve: The Ulver Story, a 336-page book that reflects on over 25 years of Ulver history) by House of Mythology.)

It’s fitting that, for all their celebrated critical and commercial success, Ulver today are still perennial outsiders – lone wolves, if you will – who don’t really “fit in” anywhere.

No matter what happens – from shimmering cyber synthscapes to improvised orchestral experiments to pulsing prog-pop exhibitionism – you never really know what to expect.

Even at their most instantly, insistently infectious (and here I must pause to point out that this record is very much a continuation of its predecessor’s decadently danceable, 80s synth-pop approach… although that’s not all it is…) there’s always more to what you’re hearing.

More layers to uncover. More threads to be pulled. A bigger picture waiting to be revealed.

Case in point, if The Assassination… was about what it means to keep on dancing, even as Rome is burning, then Flowers of Evil is about what grows from the ashes. A garden filled with both (un)earthly delights and unwanted weeds. A heaven and a hell, one or the other, sometimes both, of our own creation.

And if we’re all still dancing, it’s to a more sombre tune. Because the cracks are beginning to show, and the bloom is off the rose. Continue reading »

AT THE ALTAR OF TECH: ATRÆ BILIS / CYTOTOXIN / DEINÒS / DENOMINATE

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Aug 202020
 


Atræ Bilis

 

(Andy Synn has prepared and packaged together these four reviews for your reading pleasure.)

As every good Metalhead knows, Thursday is the day that the Lord dedicated to Technical Death Metal.

After all, was it not written “and on the fourth day, he shredded”?

So, as the scriptures command, I’ve elected to use today’s column to focus on a handful of bands, each one a disciple of death in one form or another, who choose to worship… at the altar of tech. Continue reading »

PANZERFAUST: “THE SUNS OF PERDITION – CHAPTER II: RENDER UNTO EDEN”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Aug 192020
 

 

(We present Andy Synn‘s lavish review of the new album by Toronto-based Panzerfaust, which will be released by Eisenwald on August 28th.)

It’s been well-documented, several times now, just how much I love Panzerfaust’s 2019 album, War, Horrid War (part one of the still-unfolding “Suns of Perdition” saga).

Not only was it the album which signalled the band’s effective rebirth – transforming them from relative unknowns into “ones to watch” – but it also snagged them a coveted slot at the 2020 edition of Maryland Deathfest, where they were one of my most anticipated bands of the entire festival.

Sadly, as we’re all too aware, this year’s MDF was cancelled/postponed, so it looks like I’ll have to wait a little longer to experience the explosive power of the band’s live show, but, in the meantime at least, I can content myself with the knowledge that not only is Render Unto Eden (arguably) even better than its predecessor but also one of the most outstanding albums, Black Metal or otherwise, of the year. Continue reading »

MESARTHIM: “THE DEGENERATE ERA”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 182020
 

 

(Andy Synn combines two reviews in this post, one each for the latest two releases by the Australian band Mesarthim.)

If you want to upset a wide swathe of the Metal and Metal-adjacent public, just play them something by Atmo-Black Trance duo Mesarthim.

Too spacey and synth-driven for most of the Black Metal scene, too upbeat and dancey for the Dungeon Synth crowd, and too abrasive for the Synthwave crew, the duo’s (incredibly prolific) output has proven to be exceptionally divisive over the years, even as it has also attracted an incredibly dedicated fanbase who can’t seem to get enough of the band’s signature blend of bleeps, bloops, and blasts.

That being said, I know I’m not the only one who felt like the group’s most recent works – most notably 2018’s Coma Wall EP and last year’s Ghost Condensate album – didn’t quite achieve the same sense of balance and equilibirum between the various disparate elements of their sound (although not for lack of trying) which helped define the band’s earlier works.

Which makes the recent surprise release of The Degenerate Era, the fifth full-length Mesarthim album in five years, an opportunity to reset and reassess things… for both the band and their fans. Continue reading »

LAST WEEK TODAY: DEATH BY STEREO / FACELESS BURIAL / IMHA TARIKAT / KRALLICE

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Aug 132020
 


Krallice

 

(Andy Synn wrote the following compilation of reviews.)

It seems to me that, over the years, the constant cascade of new albums has swollen into a never-ending, unrelenting, flood, to the point where it often feels like we’re almost drowning in new releases.

The only way to cope, I’ve found, is to simply accept that you’re not going to be able to cover everything. There’s just not enough hours in the day to properly preview, review, analyse, and criticise, all of it, especially if you also want to try and maintain some general standards of quality and insight (which, let’s be honest, isn’t necessarily a concern for everyone…).

That being said, a bit of catch-up coverage never goes amiss, which is why I’m dedicating today’s article to four artists who each dropped their newest record – in one case with little prior warning – last Friday. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH 2020: BULL ELEPHANT / INGESTED / LUNA’S CALL

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 112020
 


Luna’s Call

(Here we have another 2020 edition of Andy Synn‘s series of reviews focusing on music coming out of the UK, with another three albums on the table today.)

This year may have been a real motherfucker in many, many ways, but the music coming out of the UK has, arguably, never been better.

As a matter of fact, my shortlist for my “Critical Top Ten” currently includes three, possibly four, UK bands who’ve raised the bar for themselves, and the rest of the scene, with their latest records… one of whom I’m featuring here today.

So, without further ado, here are three artists/albums who represent the very best of British, two of which will be released this Friday, the other you’ll have to wait until the end of the month to hear in full! Continue reading »

TERMINAL NATION: “HOLOCENE EXTINCTION”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Aug 062020
 

 

(On August 7th 20 Buck Spin will release a new album by Arknasas heavyweights Terminal Nation, and in anticipation of that calamitous event Andy Synn wrote this review.)

I don’t know how things are where you are right now, dear reader, but here in the UK people are finding lots of different ways to cope with the uncertainty and upheaval caused by this goddamned pandemic.

Personally I’ve been lucky enough to be able to ride things out (so far at least) with relatively little disruption, and right now my plan is simply to go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

In the meantime I’ve been alternatively amusing/tormenting myself by speculating what bands, and what tours, I’d most like to see when normal service finally resumes (whenever the that might be).

One line-up which I think would really bring the house down (possibly quite literally) would be if someone could pull together a triple-header of Misery Index (headlining), Xibalba (main support), and Terminal Nation, especially since the latter’s new album, Holocene Extinction, seems like it was purpose-built to deliver the sort of in-your-face impact that can only truly be appreciated live. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND AN INTERVIEW): EXITIUM SUI – “THE SINISTER BUSINESS OF SELLING HOPE”

 Album Reviews, Interviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 052020
 

 

(Andy Synn introduces our premiere stream of a new EP by Exitium Sui, the solo project of ex-Deadspace frontman Chris Gebauer, and presents an interview of him as well.)

Exitium Sui may be a relatively new name, but if you’ve been paying attention to this site over the last several months you’ll no doubt have spotted our coverage of the band’s debut EP, Nuclear Sundown, as well as our preview of “Eviscerate My Withered Soul”, the first song from their upcoming album, Ad Personam (which I’ve heard in full, and it’s a suffocatingly dense and doom-laden slab of grim, blackened filth, make no mistake).

Today we’re bringing you an exclusive stream of The Sinister Business of Selling Hope, which finds the band’s sound pivoting away from the more doom-inflected approach of their first EP in favour of something more closely related to the pulsating blackened belligerence of Leviathan or Blut Aus Nord.

That’s not to say that these four tracks are a total departure from what has gone before – in fact, when the full album is released you’ll likely gain a much better appreciation of  …Selling Hope’s role in the band’s overall development – but suffice it to say that those looking for some seriously oppressive, shockingly aggressive, and crushingly claustrophobic Black Metal will do well to check this one out at the earliest opportunity.

So, please, read on for a full stream of the entire EP accompanied by a short but illluminating interview with band mastermind ES. Continue reading »

SELBST: “RELATOS DE ANGUSTIA”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 042020
 

 

(Andy Synn wrote the following review of the new album by Selbst, a band that originated in Venezuela and is now based in Chile. The album will be released on August 7th by Debemur Morti Productions.)

For a while now I’ve been trying to put into words precisely what the difference is between Death Metal and Black Metal.

Oh, I know there are lots of physical, practical differences between the two genres (despite what some people might think) but I’ve often struggled to express what I feel is the fundamental difference which separates and defines the two.

The best way I can think to put it is this – if Death Metal is comparable to another form of art, it would be sculpture. It’s all hammer and tongs, chisel and awl, structure and form. It’s about making a plan, holding it in your mind’s eye, and then beating things into shape, chipping away at the excess, to forge something with real, tangible physicality.

Black Metal though… Black Metal is more abstract. It’s about letting whatever’s inside you (for better or worse) pour out onto the canvas in wild, expressive strokes and lurid, hypnotic patterns.

That’s not to say there isn’t a clear sense of vision behind it – there often is – but this willingness to just cut loose and see what flows out is, in my opinion at least, what makes the genre so utterly visceral, so unexpectedly versatile and, every so often, so breathtakingly vulnerable.

And it’s also what makes Relatos de Angustia one of the best Black Metal albums of the year. Continue reading »

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