Nov 192013
 

(In this post, Andy Synn provides updates about five bands who have been the subject of past SYNN REPORTS (and one “proto Synn Report”): Martriden, Astarte, Anata, V.A.S.T., and Persefone.)

Wow, it’s been almost two months since the last edition of The Synn Report! Where does the time go?

In the intervening time I’ve been very busy, both with work, band stuff, and my personal life (yes, I do have one outside the site… erm, kind of…), and simply haven’t had chance to settle down and get to work on things in the more in-depth way that The Synn Report requires of me!

Don’t worry though, a new edition, with an all-new band, is on its way. In the meantime, I thought we might as well check in with a few updates from those bands we’ve featured here in the past. Continue reading »

Dec 052012
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn pauses after the 30th installment of THE SYNN REPORT to take a look back at the first two years of the series.)

Ok, so we’ve now had 30 ‘official’ entries in The Synn Report. I hope that a good number of you have discovered new bands and gone out and shown your support for them, buying music, merch, gig tickets, etc.

I thought, since the year (and the world!!!) is coming to an end, it might be a good time to provide a quick one-stop summation of all the previous entries, for those of you who maybe missed a couple, or for new devotees of the site who have yet to encounter the earlier editions and the bands contained therein.

Did you know that the genesis for The Synn Report was not entirely down to me? There’s a post that I consider ‘The Synn Report: Year Zero” which was written by Islander himself, in response to my recommendation of a particular band. That post is included here, as I think it’s an important foundation stone in the genesis of The Synn Report, and because I think the band in question are utterly phenomenal.

So there we go, after the jump there’s a tiny entry on each band from each edition of The Synn Report, with a short genre description and a re-iteration of the “Recommended for fans of:” section. Which ones did you miss? Which ones should you give another shot to? Click each one to be linked to the appropriate article, where you’ll find the full write-ups and sample songs from each release! Continue reading »

Jun 122012
 

(In this latest edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews the discography of V.A.S.T., with musical accompaniment, of course.)

Recommended for fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Solstafir, Anathema

In a recent conversation with Islander I mentioned some reservations I’ve been having about the format of The Synn Report. Over time they’ve grown a bit lengthy – originally they focussed on key tracks from key albums, but they’ve slowly drifted more toward the track-by-track format I initially reserved just for my album reviews. Now, while each edition of The Synn Report is definitely intended for those of you who have the necessary drive and attention span to sit through something pretty extensive, I feel like they’ve gone a bit too far away from their original intent, which was to simply select the best tracks from each release and use them to promote each album, impartiality be damned.

So today’s edition sees me trying to move back toward the initial intent of The Synn Report, and to do so I’m bringing you the industrial tinged world-music stadium rock Americana of V.A.S.T.

Primarily the brainchild of wunderkind Jon Crosby, V.A.S.T. (Visual Audio Sensory Theatre) have gone through many different physical and musical incarnations over the years. With the key influences being Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, U2, and The Beatles, the group have released a number of records, in a number of styles, over the years, though I’m going to be focussing on the five “core” releases.

So if you’re looking for something with a lot more rock than metal, and don’t mind a host of clean vocal melodies, as well as a shovel-load of musical ambition and progressive intent, this could be the band for you. Continue reading »