Mastiff Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

MASTIFF: “FOR ALL THE DEAD DREAMS”

Oct 082025

(This is DGR‘s vivid review of a new Mastiff EP that’s set for release on October 24th by Church Road Records.)

Have you ever had a band that were perfect for ruining what would otherwise be a good day? A band that could drag you down into the depths of anger, violence, and misery no matter what in the world was happening outside? You could wake up and have everything be sunshine and rainbows, birds landing on your windowsill, all the animals of the forest resting kindly on your shoulder, and your beloved waiting just out of frame – only to put on a release by said group and have the whole feeling be annihilated and the skies darken around you?

What if we pitched the idea that sometimes that actually feels good in its own right? A weird sort of audio-masochism that works inversely to how your personality actually works? That we take this ugly music and it somehow gets us through the day no matter the situation. Propelled by either the sheer force of anger or the more nebulous ‘force of dumb’. That sometimes the artistic expulsion that helps them exorcise whatever demons might be bothering them works equally for us, calming anxiety and settling nerves.

No? Have you ever listened to the UK’s Mastiff, whose brand of sludge-infused hardcore is perfect for bullrushing whatever room you’re in and declaring, “Oh you thought things were going to be good today? Well, not on my watch!” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A FRIDAY: TESTAMENT, EVOKEN, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT, MASTIFF, WEREWOLVES, TERZIJ DE HORDE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Aug 222025

(written by Islander)

The year is almost two-thirds finished, 63.84% done and dusted as of today, to be precise. (I didn’t do the math, but relied instead on this extremely helpful website, which shows that the year will be 66.03% complete on August 29th.) We know from experience that the remainder of the year is going to rush by like a flood, even with a bunch of holidays bobbing along in the froth. We’ll be in year-end season before we know it.

Speaking of a churning froth, this past week included a big surge of worthy new songs and videos, and fortunately I had enough time to get a head-start on the usual Saturday roundup. I seem to be renewing a habit of leading off with some large names most of you will know and then falling down a crevasse into lesser-known territory, comparatively speaking. If you know all these names already, congratulations, you have excellent (though possibly deranged) taste! Continue reading »

BECAUSE WITTY YEAR-END LIST TITLES ABOUT RUINING THE HOLIDAYS ARE FOR SUCKERS — THE DGR YEAR ENDSTAVAGANZA PART TWO: 40-31

LISTMANIA 2024 3 Responses »

Dec 172024

(Here we have the second installment of DGR‘s year-end Top 50 list, counting down the second group of 10, with the next three groups slated for the next three days ahead.)

While we have not achieved critical mass yet in terms of writing for the year-end list, we’re definitely making progress down the line. This is still an area of the list where I often tell people that rankings – useless as they may be since this could be best viewed as ’50 albums DGR liked’ – don’t really start to crystalize in any sense until you start reaching the mid-30’s. So you’re reading the last vestiges of the albums I felt must be spoken about just so I can feel good about saying something about them and also starting to see the ones that I really sunk my teeth into.

They’re not a perfect representation by any means and I guarantee that come January 1st I’ll likely be kicking myself for leaving something off – especially with a late December drop of Frontierer‘s new EP looking like a contender to really fuck things up for me – but at least there’s some confidence in the ten collected before you today.

Tomorrow’s genre-spread will likely be just as silly but you’ll definitely start to see some old favorites popping up there since, much like one of the groups that appears in this collection, I too am a hallmark of consistency. I’m just not nearly as attractive. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: MASTIFF / MIDAS FALL / SLIMELORD

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Mar 132024

(Andy Synn highlights three more home-grown heroes)

Some of you may have noticed (or maybe you haven’t, I don’t know how much attention you all pay to what we do around here) that my “Best of British” articles rarely feature any of the “bigger” names (relatively speaking) from the UK scene.

Partially that’s because, obviously, the site’s general ethos is to dedicate more of our time and energy to the less-exposed, less “mainstream-friendly” bands out there, but it’s also because, to be honest, a lot of the bigger names and famous faces just… don’t really do it for me.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of bands whose “mainstream-friendly” sound still appeals to me – bands who play and perform with just as much conviction and creativity as any of their more self-consciously “underground” cousins – but there’s a certain formula for success, carefully curated and algorithmically adjusted for maximum appeal, that some groups follow which simply sounds hollow to my ears.

But I think it’s safe to say that none of these three bands – one we’ve covered here before, one we’ve clearly overlooked for far too long, and one making their highly anticipated (and already highly praised) full-length debut this year – are what you would call “formulaic”.

SEEN AND HEARD: ANTICHRIST SIEGE MACHINE, BOTANIST, COUCH SLUT, DEEMTEE, MASTIFF, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Feb 212024

At one time or another almost everyone has found themselves in this situation: You’re starving but too broke or incapacitated to go out and buy food so you throw together shit from your fridge or pantry that no one in their right mind would think belong together but you’re not in your right mind because you’re starving and broke or incapacitated and you devour what you made, consequences be damned.

At the moment I’m not starving, broke, or incapacitated, but the remembered scenario above might still fit the stew of sounds I compiled today, consequences be damned. At least none of this stuff is past its “sell by” date. Continue reading »

CALLIGRAM / MASTIFF / HIDDEN MOTHERS – LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM 30/10/21

Concert Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Nov 012021

(Andy Synn reports back from a recent show – remember those? – he was lucky enough to attend)

I was going to start out this article with a comment on how it feels like things are finally getting back to “normal”… but, to be honest, that’s not really true.

Of course, this is neither the time nor the place to discuss all the ways in which the world is still in an incredibly weird and uncertain place, so instead I’d just like to say how lucky I feel to have been able to enjoy a gig like this, when so many others can’t, and that I hope you guys get the chance to do so yourselves soon too.

THE BEST OF BRITISH – LVCIFYRE / MASTIFF / SUGAR HORSE

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Sep 232021

(Andy Synn would like to remind you that while his country may be regressing, their music scene definitely isn’t)

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the news, the good ol’ UK is currently, well… fucked… especially when it comes to international relations and trade with other countries.

Thankfully, however, our homegrown music scene is as strong as it’s ever been, which is why I’m here today to recommend three recent releases which are well worth importing into your ears.

And I won’t even charge you anything for the privilege.

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2019: ANTRE / ITHACA / MASTIFF

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Feb 222019

(Andy Synn prepared this trio of reviews for new releases by bands from the UK.)

For whatever reason, I’ve really struggled to pull together an edition of “The Best of British” so far this year. Despite receiving numerous suggestions and recommendations, only a few have really stood out to me.

Thankfully the three albums featured here, all released over the course of the last month, have proven to be the exception(s) to the rule, and are all well worth checking out if you’re interested in keeping abreast of current developments in the UK scene.

Two of these records represent a pair of highly anticipated, highly promising, debuts from a couple of new-ish names, while the third is a stunningly savage sophomore release from one of the country’s most punishing purveyors of sickeningly heavy Sludge-core.

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Antre, Ithaca, and Mastiff. Continue reading »

A THANKSGIVING BLOOD-LETTING: BLOOD RED THRONE, ALTARAGE, MASTIFF, GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY, DEAD TONGUE, ECHOES OF DEATH, ROTTEN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Nov 222018

A few other countries besides the United States have a Thanksgiving holiday, but not many, and none of them except the U.S. celebrates it today. So I guess in the vast majority of the world it’s just another day — and so it is at NCS. We do take a certain amount of pride in refusing to take time off for holidays. I mean, we mention them, and some of us partake of them in our non-blog lives, but at NCS they’re all just days, like all the other days, that give us a chance to give thanks for metal.

The following seven new songs flowed together very well in my head last night. Together they make one head-wrecking playlist of slaughtering sound. And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

BLOOD RED THRONE

The Norwegian wrecking crew Blood Red Throne, whose latest album (Union of Flesh and Machine) our Andy Synn called “yet another top-tier terminator of crushing, grooving, blasting belligerence and cold, calculated aggression”, recently discharged a lyric video for a new song from their next album, Fit To Kill, and that’s how we’ll begin today’s blood-letting. Continue reading »