(Come join Andy Synn as he gazes deep into the oculus abyss, set for release tomorrow)
Ever since I first heard Teitan‘s excellent 2021 EP, Vákuum (which you can read a little more about here), I’ve been looking forward to hearing what they would come up with next.
And while it seems like it’s been a long time coming – even though it’s really not – I can attest that the wait was more than worth it.
The Dutch black metal band Teitan got its start in 2008 as a collaboration of two Dutch teenagers, Devi and Damon. Inspired by chaos, and the antecedents of Marduk, Dark Funeral, and Mayhem, they put out a demo the next year, which Devi calls “crappy”, and then Teitan seemed to die a sudden death.
Devi Hisgen joined other bands, later started Cthuluminati, and got increasingly into aspects of psychedelic music, but it turned out that the love for black metal never vanished. And thus 10 years after the demise of Teitan it was reborn, this time as Devi‘s solo project. 2019 brought the debut album Weight of the Void, and two singles and an EP named Vákuum surfaced in 2021 and 2022. And now a second album is on the way.
The new album reinforces the impression of the other more recent releases that Teitan has become much more interested in experimentation than simply following in the footsteps of BM forebears. And we should note that Void Wanderer and Onism, the two labels that will release the new album In Oculus Abyss, apply the genre label “Psychotic Black Metal”. Perhaps you’ll understand why when you listen to “Insectoid“, the song we’re premiering today. Continue reading »
We seem to pick up new readers every year, even as some older readers finally give up and bid us an adios, with or without middle fingers raised. So I guess it’s still worth telling people what they’re getting themselves into with this series.
This is traditionally the last part of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza, though I do know of one more year-end album list that we still want to post whenever it arrives. This particular series isn’t about best albums or best shorter releases, and it isn’t even about best songs. As the title says, it’s about “most infectious” songs. Some of those might be among the year’s best songs, but in every year there are stand-out songs that aren’t immediately infectious, and actually might never be. Conversely, there are some highly infectious songs every year that most people wouldn’t critically acclaim as great works of art.
The process of compiling this list is a bit bizarre, or at least very poorly planned. Let me explain: Continue reading »
(Next week Andy Synn begins his annual roll-out of year-end lists as part of his ongoing attempt to cover as many different albums from the last twelve months as possible – but, before then, he’d like to draw your attention to some of the shorter, but no less sweet, releases from 2021)
Well, well, well… it’s been a whole year since we last did this little dance hasn’t it?
Sure, it might seem like it’s been longer than that, for a number of different reasons that we really don’t have time or space to go into here, but it’s actually only been twelve months.
Those twelve months have been absolutely packed with music though, and today we’re going to be taking a look, and a listen, to some – not all, of course, just as many as I managed to actually hear, so don’t get too upset when you realise that this isn’t totally comprehensive – of the EPs that were released this year, beginning with a general round-up of everything that I can remember and recommend, and closing with a countdown of my ten favourite short-form releases of the year.
So let us begin… Continue reading »
(Andy Synn takes some time out of his busy schedule to celebrate some short but sweet releases by a variety of big names and new faces)
One unfortunate result of the endless scramble to stay on top of the relentless torrent of new album releases is that the humble EP often gets a little overlooked.
Which, obviously, is a real shame, because a good EP can often be just as fulfilling as an album in its own way, especially when a band uses it as an opportunity to explore a different side of themselves or to create something that works within the constraints of the format to tell a complete and fully realised story.
So while I’m working on a number of different full-length reviews (as well as the next edition of The Synn Report) I thought I might as well take a few moments to jot down a few quick reviews for some of the EPs I’ve enjoyed the most over the course of the year so far.