Trenches Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

TRENCHES – RECKONER

Jan 122022

(For his first album review of 2022 Andy Synn selected a record more than a decade in the making)

Hands up if you enjoyed Zao‘s latest album, The Crimson Corridor, last year?

I did, obviously, since I chose it as the #1 pick on my “Personal Top Ten” list, and I’m guessing that quite a few of you did too.

Well, if you’re looking for something on a similar wavelength – something which combines the bruising bite of Metalcore (or Metallic Hardcore, if that term offends you) with the moody dynamics of Post-Metal – then the long-gestating new album from Indiana’s Trenches should be right up your alley.

SHADES OF BLACK: SPHERE, SETH, EXAVERSUM, ZEIT, TRENCHES

SHADES OF BLACK 2 Responses »

Mar 142021

I think of this week’s column as falling into two parts that I’ve arranged by design. The first part consists of three segments — advance tracks from three forthcoming album. Although I’d be foolish to claim they are completely similar, I think they do share certain ingredients and feelings that tie them together in ways that make for a very good mini-playlist. In the second part I’ve reviewed two albums (though one of them isn’t out yet) which I also think fit together. They are very different from the tracks in the first part.

SPHERE (France)

The first offering here is an 18-minute song named “Invocation” from the forthcoming second album (entitled π) by the French black metal band Sphere. It features a guest performance by Déhà. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): GAEREA, WØMB, APHASIAC, TRENCHES

SHADES OF BLACK No Responses »

Apr 152018

As you can see, I’m going to attempt a two-part Shades of Black this week, because there are so many recent discoveries I want to recommend (not including the new Ghost song and video, which I actually do enjoy, but there’s a limit on how far I’m willing to stretch the musical boundaries of this column).

The second part of this thing’s not finished yet, and the rest of my Sunday is looking kind of crowded with non-blog activities, so I can’t promise Part 2 will go up today. I also can’t promise I’ll be alive tomorrow, but hope springs eternal.

GAEREA

If you follow this column regularly, you’ll have already heard the first single (“Whispers”) from Unsettling Whispers, the debut album by the Portuguese band Gaerea. You’ll also have realized that the band’s music tends to bring out the poet in me, or at least I pretend to be one in an effort to capture sensations I have a tough time satisfactorily describing in more prosaic terms. And I’m afraid it’s about to happen again, because a second single from the album has now appeared. Continue reading »