CROSS BRINGER – HEALISMUS AETERNUS

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Feb 192025
 

(Andy Synn has a busy week, but had just enough time to write about Cross Bringer‘s new album)

It’s funny how things sometimes line up, isn’t it?

Case in point, just as last week I had no prior intention of writing about three killer Death Metal albums in a row – it just happened that way – this week I’ve ended up writing about not just one, but two Black Metal/Hardcore crossover outfits.

But although the Blackened Metalcore of Bleeding Through and the crustier, punkier sound of Cross Bringer certainly possess a few superficially similar features those similarities are rarely more than skin deep, with the former obviously opting for a more polished (these days, anyway) and cinematic sound while the latter keeps things that little bit rougher and gnarlier, and derives its darkness not from sinister symphonics but from layers of rough-textured distortion and ragged, raw-boned emotion.

Anyway, seeing as how this will probably be the last thing I write/publish this week (I’ve got a short run of shows with my own band I need to focus on) let’s not waste any more time and dive right in to see what Healismus Aeternus has to offer, shall we?

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BLEEDING THROUGH – NINE

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Feb 172025
 

(Andy Synn continues his murderous, on-off, love affair with OC Metalcore crew Bleeding Through)

It’s entirely appropriate that the cover for Bleeding Through‘s new album features a solitary figure standing at a crossroads… because that’s pretty much where Bleeding Through have stood their entire career.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a fan of the band for a long time – I think it was their seminal second album, Portrait of the Goddess, which first brought them to my attention, right before they had their big breakthrough with 2003’s This Is Love, This Is Murderous – but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to their flaws.

In particular they’ve always seemed torn between two competing urges – whether to double down on the more blisteringly aggressive and abrasively “blackened” side of their sound (as they did to such great effect prior to their hiatus with their 2010 self-titled and 2012’s blazing The Great Fire) or to take the poppier (and, inevitably, more popular) path by following in the footsteps of some of their more radio-friendly peers (as they did in the aftermath of This Is Love…’s unexpected success).

Their 2018 comeback album, Love Will Kill All found them trying to split the difference (which, to be clear, doesn’t have to be a bad thing) but ultimately resulted in a rather compromised record that didn’t leave much of an impression, and since then the only real insight into the band’s musical direction has been 2022’s Rage EP… all of which means there’s a lot of questions, and a lot of expectations, to be answered by NINE.

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CONTINUUM OF XUL – VORATORE

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Feb 142025
 

(Andy Synn keeps his review streak going with a another killer Death Metal album that just came out)

Death Metal, as we all know, is a global phenomenon these days.

And, if that wasn’t already obvious, our travels this week have taken us first to Scandinavia then to South America and now to Southern Europe where we’re about to discover what delights the debut album from Italian hellions Continuum of Xul (featuring both current and former members of Ad Nauseum, Defacement, and Antropofagus) has to offer.

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STORM DEATH – CHAOS WILL REIGN!

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Feb 122025
 

(Andy Synn has a storm of praise for the new album from Storm Death, out now)

One of the great things about writing here (and, trust me, there’s a lot of them) is that we aren’t beholden to anyone or anything – not PR firms, not labels, not advertisers, not deadlines, etc – when it comes to what we cover, or when we cover it.

Case in point, we have the freedom to cover, say, a pretty big name like The Great Old Ones or the highly-anticipated (and much hyped) debut from a band like Retromorphosis, only to then pivot entirely to a much less well-known, but no less deserving, band like Chilean death-dealers Storm Death, whose new album, Chaos Will Reign!, came out just last week.

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RETROMORPHOSIS – PSALMUS MORTIS

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Feb 102025
 

(Andy Synn discusses questions of legacy and rebirth while singing the praises of Retromorphosis)

Look, there’s no way to talk about Retromorphosis without also talking about the elephant in the room.

After all, a lot of people feel (with good reason) that Psalmus Mortis is basically the long-awaited 4th Spawn of Possession album in all but name, especially since four out of five of the people behind the recording are ex-Spawn alumni (although only guitarist Jonas Bryssling and vocalist Dennis Röndum are SoP originals).

This, however, creates two potential problems for any budding reviewer.

On one hand you’ve got the question of how to address the expectations of the group’s fanbase, some of whom have already declared it “Album of the Year”, while others are convinced there’s no way it can live up to the band’s legacy – both prior to actually hearing it, I might add – without pandering to or dismissing their concerns.

Then, on the other, there’s the issue of how to put the album in its proper context – after all, it’s been just under thirteen years since SoP‘s third (and final) album was released, and during that time the Technical Death Metal scene has mutated and metastisized so much, spawning (no pun intended) a myriad of new strains and new variants, that it’s understandable if you’re wondering where exactly Retromorphosis are going to fit in.

Well, wonder no longer, because you’re about to find out all that… and more!

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2024’s MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: THINGS WHAT ISLANDER AND DGR MISSED

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Feb 072025
 

(Andy Synn is here to correct some egregious oversights by the rest of the NCS crew)

Well, I guess it’s finally time to draw a line under last year… in fact, it’s probably well past time… but before we consign 2024 to the great internet graveyard I wanted to get in one last edition of “2024’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs” focussing on some of the coolest and most killer cuts that my buddies Islander and DGR missed.

Credit where credit is due, however, the two of them did end up featuring a couple of tracks I assumed would end up on my list (namely “Dehumanize Me” by Candy and “Blackwater” by Bloom Dream) but the rest of these ten selections (I decided that was a nice limit, considering between them Islander and DGR already highlighted over 100 tracks) come from artists/albums/EPs they didn’t touch in their lists.

I’ve also resisted the temptation to include anything by my own band… although if I had it probably would have been “Until Morale Improves” (which, you know, you should definitely check out)… or any bands I’m too close to personally, but that still left a pretty massive “short list” (short being a relative term) to choose from, so whittling it down to just ten options meant a whole heap of songs were left behind on the cutting room floor.

But, hopefully, what you’re about to hear will encourage you to further check out the rest of these records.

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THE SYNN REPORT (PART 179): RELICS OF HUMANITY

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Jan 312025
 

Recommended for fans of: Devourment, Disentomb, Disgorge

It’s somewhat crazy to think that we’re now on the 179th edition of The Synn Report.

That’s 179 different bands (actually it’s probably slightly more) I’ve dived into since starting to write here, with the first edition – not counting the unofficial “part zero” which was written by Islander following an early recommendation of mine – being published in January of 2011.

Of course, looking back, my initial intention to do these reports weekly seems hopeless naïve – I managed it for a while, but once I became a permanent fixture here I had to scale them back to monthly – but the purpose behind them, to write up and recommend a band’s entire back-catalogue, rather than just their latest release, is one thing which hasn’t changed.

And so, to kick off the 2025 season, today we’re going to be getting truly, utterly, and unforgivingly brutal with the Belarussian blast ‘n’ bludgeon of Relics of Humanity (whose long-gestating third album releases today).

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THE GREAT OLD ONES – KADATH

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Jan 302025
 

(Andy Synn traverses the dreamlands in search of the meaning and measure of Kadath)

My history with the musical cult known as The Great Old Ones is a long and storied one indeed.

Way back in 2014 I selected their stunning second album (and still their finest hour, in my opinion) Tekeli-li as one of the best albums of the year, and not long after that I was enraptured by the band’s headlining performance at The Black Heart in London (a show which, despite them moving on to bigger stages, remains their most iconic performance in my mind).

In the years since then I have written about the band multiple times, offering my thoughts on both their live shows and their subsequent recorded output – 2017’s bigger and more bombastic EOD: A Tale of Dark Legacy and 2019’s more furious and ferocious Cosmicism – and remained a faithful acolyte through it all.

And yet there’s always been a part of me wondering, and worrying, if they’d ever be able to recapture that same sense of magic – that immersive, otherworldly atmosphere – which permeated their early work(s).

But… perhaps the stars have finally aligned once more?

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SHORT BUT SWEET: OBSCURE SPHINX / SLAUGHTERSUN / ΘΛΊΨΙΣ

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Jan 282025
 

(Andy Synn promises to review more EPs this year… we’ll see about that!)

Every year I promise that I’m going to feature and review more EPs here at NCS… and every year I fail spectacularly at this, and have to jam in all the short-form releases of the year into my annual “List Week” instead.

But, mark my words, this year things are going to be different! Although, I might have said that before…

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