Sep 182024
 

(Come and learn why the new album from Typhonian, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity, has reaffirmed Andy Synn‘s love for Death Metal)

Do I like Death Metal?

It seems like a pretty dumb question – I mean, I’ve toured with Hour of PenanceBlood Red ThroneThe Monolith Deathcult, opened for CryptopsyMithras, Darkane, and more – so of course I do!

But I get where people are coming from when they ask this question, because when it comes to many of the current “big” bands in the Death Metal scene… well, I’ve generally been a little more guarded with when, where, and how I dole out praise than a lot of other writers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thrown a lot of love at artists like Tomb MoldUlthar, and Bæst, and am eagerly awaiting new albums from both Tribal Gaze and Ingurgitating Oblivion (though, spoiler alert, I’ve already heard the latter and will be reviewing it later this month), but I can’t help but feel like a lot of the more notorious names are playing it far too safe, happy to regurgitate the same recycled riffs and second-hand song ideas with only the most minor of variations (if any), because they know their audience will eat it up anyway.

Luckily, for every derivative disappointment that comes across my desk there’s almost always someone else doing something a little bit more interesting (to me anyway) – and while it was Typhonian‘s previous album (which you can, and should, read more about here) which initially piqued my curiosity, with The Gate of the Veiled Beyond they’ve really grabbed my attention.

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Aug 052024
 

Shakespeare famously had one of his characters ask, “What’s in a name?”, suggesting that the naming of things is irrelevant. In the underground domains of metal where many of us spend our listening time, a band’s music is indeed vastly more important than the name they choose for themselves. And yet the name Typhonian is one that seizes attention, at least for some of us who are also drawn to the worlds of mythology — and monsters.

That name most prominently refers to the monstrous serpentine giant Typhon. One of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology, the hundred-headed winged creature sought to overthrow Zeus in a cataclysmic battle, but failed and was cast into deepest Tartarus, or in some accounts buried beneath Mount Etna where it subsequently caused devastating eruptions.

And so, choosing the name Typhonian inevitably sends signals (as you’ll see, so do the names chosen by the band members for themselves in their Typhonian union). But of course the music matters most, and it’s the music of the German band Typhonian that we turn to now. Continue reading »

Aug 252021
 

(Andy Synn would like to remind you all that only Death (Metal) is real)

I was doing an interview recently where I was asked “what makes a good Death Metal band?”

And, you know, for a moment I was stumped.

You see, they weren’t just asking about tuning, or tempo. Nothing so prosaic as that. They wanted something fundamental, something that transcended styles and sub-genres, something beyond technicality or brutality or melody.

But, eventually… it hit me.

It’s not about how fast you can blast, how low you can go, how huge you can groove… it’s all about love.

You heard me right. Underneath it all Death Metal is driven by love. Specifically the love of Death Metal.

And it’s the ability to convey and communicate that love, no matter what forms it takes, how technical or brutal, how melodic or symphonic, how dissonant or discordant or slam-tastic, which makes – or breaks – a band.

So let it be written, and let it be known… these three bands really love Death Metal.

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