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 292012
 

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

Recommended for fans of: Witchery, Belphegor, Hypocrisy

OK, so the last edition of The Synn Report clearly only touched a nerve with a minority of you, and that’s okay. These are all bands that I love that I want to give a shout-out to, I don’t expect everyone else to love them. But I can pretty confidently predict that more than a few of you will fall balls-deep in love with these guys…

Sadly no longer a unit, Devian were conceived in 2006 by ex-Marduk members Emil (drums) and Legion (vocals) along with several other members of the Swedish underground scene (including, at one point, ex-Edge of Sanity and current Scar Symmetry vocalist Roberth Karlsson). Between 2006 and their eventual dissolution in 2011 they produced two killer albums of blackened death metal with a distinctive thrash edge and a keen ear for razor-sharp melody.

Bring on the blasphemy! Continue reading »