Andy Synn Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE PERSONAL TOP TEN

LISTMANIA 2024 13 Responses »

Dec 132024

(Andy Synn finishes off “List Week” with his personal favourites of the year)

Well, here we are, finally at the end of “List Week”… and, let me tell you, I am ready to take some time off and recharge/reset my mental machinery.

Oh, I’ll probably end up writing one or two more things, here and there, before the end of the month – there’s a handful of Black Metal albums I really want to write more about, for one thing, and I’ve got to do my end of the month Synn Report, of course – but for the most part I’ll be turning the site back over to Islander, DGR, and whatever guests posts we have, for the rest of December.

Before then, however, I’ve got one more list up my proverbial sleeve… and this one, thankfully, is a lot easier and more laid back, seeing as it’s basically just the ten albums which “clicked” with me and monopolised my listening the most this year.

It’s not the “best” albums of the year, by any means – though many of them appeared on my “Great” list – it’s just my favourite full-lengths from the last twelve months (and you can see what my favourite EPs were here), and should give you some idea of where my personal tastes lay these last many months.

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE CRITICAL TOP TEN

LISTMANIA 2024 13 Responses »

Dec 122024

(Andy Synn does his best to remain objective while selecting his “Critical Top Ten” of 2024)

Out of everything I’ve written and published this week, this is the closest to a traditional “Best Of” list.

But, even so, it’s still a little different, as while it’s ostensibly a “Top Ten”, it’s purposefully not ranked… rather it’s meant to be a snapshot of the ten albums (drawn from yesterday’s “Great” list) which together form the best representation of the year in Metal, across all the different styles and sub-genres which make up our beloved scene.

I’ll grant you that ten albums isn’t enough to fully represent the sheer variety and vitality of the year – you’ll notice for example, that both Blood Incantation and Job For A Cowboy are notably absent – but I’ve still tried my best (while also trying to be as “objective” as possible, despite that being ultimately an exercise in futility, as there will always be some sort of subjective bias involved) to provide a hand-picked cross-section which hopefully illustrates the very best-of-the-best from the last twelve-ish months.

As always, in recognition that many of our readers may already be familiar with some of the albums selected for this year’s “Critical Top Ten”, I’ve also included a few “honourable mentions” – whose primary purpose is to highlight a few extra albums which, while they may not have made it into the Top Ten, still deserve more recognition and attention – so even if you think you know what to expect (and, hopefully, there’ll still be a few surprises) you might just discover a brand new favourite artist/album while you’re here!

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GREAT

LISTMANIA 2024 10 Responses »

Dec 112024

(Andy Synn continues his ongoing round-up of the year with his selections for the top tier albums)

We’re halfway through the week now and it’s time to take a look at the albums I thought represented the creme-de-la-creme of the year.

Before we get into it, however, it’s worth stating that if you don’t see an album listed here, or on yesterday’s “Good” list, then the most likely explanation for its absence is… that I simply didn’t get around to hearing it (or, alternatively, I didn’t have time to listen to it enough to form a proper opinion).

Case in point, I bounced off the new Inter Arma pretty hard when it was released, and never found time to go back to it, so you won’t be seeing that here (some people seem to love it, while others hate it, which is pretty par for the course with the band, actually), and I still haven’t heard a single note of the new Fleshgod Apocalypse (so I’m going to be relying on DGR to let me know more about that in his list).

Similarly, while I’m still enjoying immersing myself in the Hardcore scene all over again (musically, at least) I have to say that – while I don’t begrudge the band their ongoing success – for some reason everything by Knocked Loose just goes in one ear and out the other with me, and never seems to stick around long enough to keep my attention, and when it comes to Nails… well, they’ve just never really done it for me (and get more than enough press elsewhere anyway, so I doubt they’ll be harmed by their omission).

I am, however, particularly mad at myself that I never found (or made) the time to properly dive into the new one from Thy Catafalque, and I just realised that The Foreshadowing have a new one out as well… and I’ve completely overlooked it.

When it comes to what did make the final cut, however, I think you’ll find a lot to love here, from phenomenal first albums from brand new bands to riveting new releases from a variety of exceptional artists from across the Death/Black/Doom spectrum… and beyond (with members of the 20 Buck Spin and Transcending Obscurity rosters putting in a particularly good showing, both here and in the “Good” list, this year).

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE GOOD

LISTMANIA 2024 14 Responses »

Dec 102024

(Today we have Andy Synn‘s mammoth second article rounding up the year that was 2024)

Ok, so this is where “List Week” really gets going.

Before we get stuck in, however, a quick explanation for those of you who are new to the site at this time of year.

The following article is not a normal “Best Of…” list, nor is it intended to be treated like one – instead, think of it as a resource which rounds up all the albums I’ve heard this year (well, almost all of them, there’s a few that got cut simply because I didn’t feel strongly enough about them to include them at all) which didn’t make it onto my “Great” list (which will be published tomorrow).

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check them out, however, as there’s a lot of good stuff here (including some of my personal favourites), and the list itself runs the gamut from “it’s pretty good, you might like this” to “this is really fucking good, bordering on great, and needs to be heard”.

It’s not, of course, in any way definitive, because:

I’ll obviously have forgotten to include some things
there’s a few big names I just didn’t have time to get around to
some of what isn’t here will appear on tomorrow’s “Great” list
some bands we purposefully don’t feature/cover (for a variety of reasons)

And, obviously, there’s going to be more albums than I can count that I won’t even have been aware of… but it’s still a pretty big collection of records and releases, split up by style and sub-genre, which I hope you’ll find useful as a way of catching up on stuff you might have missed.

Feel free to drop any questions about anything you’re interested in via the comments… and, yes, I’ve provided links for every single album featured here.

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

LISTMANIA 2024 11 Responses »

Dec 092024

Well, here we are again – it’s the beginning of “List Week” again, where I take over the site (barring the occasional interview or premiere) for five days of features rounding up all the albums I’ve managed to listen to over the course of this year.

Now, to clarify, this isn’t about showing off how many albums I’ve heard – I am well aware I am in an unusually lucky position wherein I have access to, and time to listen to, more albums than most (the exception being those people who apparently have time to listen to thousands of albums a year, which… well, let’s say I have my doubts) – it’s about providing a resource for our readers to use to check out stuff they may have missed.

Obviously, there’s also an element of looking back and analysing the year – what was “great”, what was “good”, and (in this particular article) what was most “disappointing” – but there’s no real “ranking” system beyond these three tiers (the exception being my “Critical” and “Personal” top tens at the end of the week, which I’ll say more about at the time).

2024 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): SHORT BUT SWEET

LISTMANIA 2024 8 Responses »

Dec 062024

(Andy Synn kicks off “List Week” a little early with a round-up of all the EPs he’s checked out this year)

As is tradition here at NCS we’re going to tee up “List Week” – where I essentially take over the site in order to round-up the “Great”, “Good”, and “Disappointing” albums of the year, concluding with my picks for the “Critical” (i.e. semi-objective) Top Ten and my completely and unapologetically subjective “Personal” Top Ten – with my round-up of all the EPs, splits, and short-form releases from 2024 (including links) which I think are worthy of your time and attention.

Of course, this isn’t a definitive list by any means – anyone who claims any of their lists represent some sort of “definitive” ranking should be treated with rank (pun intended) suspicion, as it’s a literal impossibility for any writer/reviewer to have heard all the great releases from a given year – but it’ll hopefully serve as a useful resource for you to bookmark and come back to whenever you have the time, or inclination, to listen to something more on the “short but sweet” end of the scale.

And, as always, I’m closing the piece with a slightly more in-depth look at my ten favourite – note that I said “favourite”, not “best”, as I’m not trying to make any sort of authoritative claim here – EPs of the year, if only to give you a glimpse into what I’ve liked and listened to the most since January.

(Obviously, this doesn’t include my own band’s EP, which I’d never be so arrogant as to include on my own list, but… maybe you’ll want to give it a listen and include it on yours?)

BEST OF BRITISH: ANTE-INFERNO / EARTHBOUND / WARPSTORMER

Album Reviews No Responses »

Dec 052024

(Andy Synn presents three more of his favourite home-grown heroes)

Well, here we are… it’s almost time for “List Week” (there might even be a little preview coming tomorrow).

But before we get there I wanted to sneak in one last edition of “The Best of British” to highlight three recently-released albums which are sure to tantalise your musical tastebuds.

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews No Responses »

Dec 022024

(Andy Synn highlights three of the more unusual albums from November)

This time next week we’ll have begun my annual round-up of “The Year in Review(s)” – which means right now I’m elbow-deep in the running document (which I’ve kept mostly up to date over the last twelve-ish months) of every single record I’ve heard during 2024.

There’s no guarantee, of course, that they’ll all end up being featured next week – the “short-list” currently stands at just under 400 albums, although I’m sure that number will come down a bit as I decide that I just don’t have a strong enough opinion about certain releases to include them in good conscience (it’s not about the quantity, after all, it’s about being able to present you, our readers, with some representation of each album’s quality) – but there’s still a lot of work to be done, and not much time left in which to do it.

That being said… I do plan on sneaking in a few more reviews before “List Week” officially commences, including this triptych of unorthodox delights from last month which you may well have missed!

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 177): ALKYMIST

THE SYNN REPORT 2 Responses »

Nov 302024

Recommended for fans of: Celtic Frost, Triptykon, Omination

For my penultimate Synn Report of the year I’ve chosen a band who recently put out one of the best albums of the year (sorry, that probably should have come with a “spoiler warning” for my end of year list-stravaganza).

But to fully understand the inner workings of Danish deviants Alkymist – whose music has been described both as “Progressive Sludge” and “Post-Doom” (with the truth lying somewhere in between) – we have to go back to their self-titled 2018 album and become familiar with how they’ve grown and evolved in the years since then.

Are you with me?

Good… then let’s begin.

ALTA ROSSA – A DEFIANT CURE

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Nov 282024

(Andy Synn hopes you’ve saved some space in your year-end lists for A Defiant Cure)

As we approach the end of the year I should probably think about preparing for my annual “List Week”, wherein I take over the site with five days of posts rounding up the “Disappointing”, “Good”, and “Great” albums of the year (the ones I’ve heard enough to be able to form an opinion on, anyway) culminating in my “Critical” and “Personal” top tens.

But with everything that’s been going on recently I haven’t had the time or the energy to really get stuck in yet (which might be a problem, considering I plan on kicking things off on the 09th).

That being said, not having things set in stone yet means there’s still room for a few surprises to make an impact (and I plan on reviewing new, and upcoming, albums, right up until the start of “List Week”)… and one of those surprises which has the potential to massively shake up my “Personal Top Ten” is the recently-released second album from French firebrands Alta Rossa.

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