DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT / HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY / THE GREAT OLD ONES – LIVE AT THE BLACK HEART, LONDON, MAR 12, 2016

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Mar 172016
 

Der Weg-Harakiri-TGOO-flyer

 

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the performances in London on March 12 by Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Harakiri For the Sky, and The Great Old Ones — with videos recorded by Mr. Synn himself.)

Look at that line-up. Just look at it. That is one hell of a triple-header, if I do say so myself.

As a matter of fact, two of those bands, Der Weg Einer Freiheit and The Great Old Ones, were (separately) responsible for two of the best gigs I went to last year, whilst Harakiri For The Sky are one of those bands I’ve been itching to see live for years now, though the timing has just never quite worked out. So to say I was a little excited when this show was announced would be something of an understatement. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SCHAMMASCH, THE GREAT OLD ONES, LVTHN, OMNIHILITY, ONTOGENY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 232016
 

Schammasch

 

Well, today isn’t going quite the way I planned. To follow my musings earlier today about last weekend’s Famine Fest, I had planned to bring you the premiere of a full album stream for a hot-as-hell new release. However, Soundcloud decided to block all of the song streams under a notification of copyright violation. I’m too stupid to realize this is always a possibility, and therefore I didn’t upload the tracks a few days ago to allow time for that to happen, to file my protests, and to have the blocks cleared. Now I’m sitting around waiting for the tracks to be released from bondage.

In the meantime, I thought I ought to whip something else up to pass the time away. So here are a few things I noticed this morning, beginning with a couple of exciting announcements.

SCHAMMASCH

No secret that we are big fans of this Swiss band. Also no secret that we’ve been very curious about the contours of the band’s next album. Andy Synn tried to pry some details from the band’s main man CSR in this interview last month — and received these cryptic answers: Continue reading »

THE GREAT OLD ONES / BAST / CONJURER – THE BLACK HEART, LONDON 21/03/15

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 262015
 

photo by Sinmara

(Andy Synn reviews the recent performances in London by The Great Old Ones, Bast, and Conjurer.)

Sometimes life hands you difficult choices. Case in point, Saturday I was torn between two fantastic shows down in old London town… Vader/Hate at The Underworld and The Great Old Ones at The Black Heart. What is a boy to do?

Seeing as how I selected Tekeli-li as one of my top 10 albums of last year (Critical Edition), and acknowledging the fact that I’ve seen both Vader and Hate before, I chose to plump for France’s acolytes of the great unknown, at the risk of my sanity and my very mortal soul.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here… Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEWS IN HAIKUS — EARTH CRISIS, GOATWHORE, THE GREAT OLD ONES

 Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus  8 Responses »
Jul 212014
 

 

(Andy Synn delivers another installment of his irregular series of album reviews in haiku. Two more reviews come after the jump. With music, of course.)

EARTH CRISIS – SALVATION OF INNOCENTS

Still angry, still raw

Still destroying the machines

With big riffs and rage

http://candlelightrecordsusa.bandcamp.com/album/salvation-of-innocents
https://www.facebook.com/earthcrisisofficial
Continue reading »

THURSDAY THROTTLING: PILGRIM, MASTIC SCUM, THE GREAT OLD ONES, KUOLEMANLAAKSO, SHROUD OF THE HERETIC

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Feb 202014
 

As you can see, I’ve decided to forge ahead with alliterative titles for the daily music round-ups this week. Lucky for you, there are only two more days in the week after today. Also lucky for you, I have found five pleasurable new songs over the last 24 hours that will put you in a chokehold, kind of like erotic asphyxiation.

PILGRIM

This Rhode Island duo’s 2012 debut album Misery Wizards turned a lot of heads, and now Metal Blade is primed to release their second album — II: Void Worship — on April 1 (a few days earlier in Europe). I was attracted to this news by the colorfully killer album art by Adam Burke, and that in turn led me to explore the album’s first advance track, “The Paladin”.

Whereas Misery Wizards was largely a crawling, bludgeoning behemoth of classic doom, “The Paladin” rocks very fuckin’ hard, driven by utterly filthy and utterly irresistible riffs. It’s a smoking, chugging steamroller of a song, with The Wizard’s wailing vocals riding over the top like a ring-wraith. The doom isn’t gone, but it’s been super-charged. This one is already on my list of candidates for 2014’s most infectious songs. Continue reading »

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