Andy Synn Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

SHORT BUT SWEET: DESPERATE CRY / PRIVATE PRISONS / SILURIAN

Aug 062026

(Andy Synn offers up three bite-sized bursts of brutal flavour for you to sink your teeth into)

No matter how big of a music lover you are there are always going to be times when you’re just “not feeling it”.

Case in point, I’ve been circling the idea of doing another edition of the “Best of British”, as well as a Death Metal-centric collection, but just haven’t found the right albums/artists yet to fill up a full article of either (a minimum of three is always preferred, and in both cases I’m struggling to find that third band or record that really inspires me to write about them).

Thankfully all it took was a quick shift in focus – away from considering full-length albums towards a trio of recent short-form releases – to get my proverbial juices flowing, so let’s stop wasting time and dig into today’s hand-picked selection of EP-sized extremity, shally we?

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

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Aug 032026

(Andy Synn has four more recommendations from last month that you may not have checked out yet)

They say one of the most important thing an artist has to learn is not just what it put in to their work… but what to leave out.

And, let me tell you… I am no artist, so having to leave so many artists/albums out each month is more something I’ve learned to accept begrudgingly rather than making it a part of my process.

Still, as disappointing as it may have been to have to leave so many potential reviews on the cutting room floor, I can’t help but be excited to (hopefully) introduce you all to these four records from July which may have flown under your radar.

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 197): OSTRACA

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Aug 012026

Recommended for fans of: Orchid, Envy, (early) Deafheaven

What’s in a (genre) name?

Well, quite a lot – to some people, anyway – it seems, as picking the wrong genre tag for a band will mean some potential listeners might choose not to check out their music, under the wrong impression that it’s “not for them”.

Which is why I have to be careful when talking about Virginia’s Ostraca and their chaotic, cathartic, blast-driven, discordantly-heavy (yet also bleakly melodic) brand of Screamo/Hardcore/Crust.

If you’re not familiar with those terms, or if you think you’re familiar with them but not sure if this article is worth checking out, then allow me to assure you that the records highlighted here today – five albums (including the recently-released Thread) plus one EP (that I’ve already written about, as it happens) – are each, in their own way, as vicious and as visceral, as venomous and as violent, as anything else from the more “metallic” side of the scene, and all more than worthy of your time.

SABERTOOTH – BLESSING RAGE

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Jul 302026

(Andy Synn is back with a recommendation from the Indonesian underground today)

It’s perhaps not entirely surprising to note that the majority of bands we write about tend to be located on one of two continents, Europe or North America.

That’s not to say we don’t try our best to cover bands from other locales – though, as of yet, I don’t think we’ve ever written about any bands from Antarctica – but the fact that two of the three core members of the NCS crew are based in the USA, and the other one (me) is based in the UK (which are also the two places we get most of our audience from), means these are the areas which we get the most exposure to.

Of course, the counterpoint to that is we probably should be making more of an effort to cover bands from further afield – and, all credit to him, Islander already does a pretty damn good job with all his various round-ups of new releases from around the globe – which is why today we’re travelling to Indonesia to take in the sights and sounds and savage riffery of Metallic Hardcore crew Sabertooth.

VULGARITY – BECKONED BEYOND

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Jul 282026

(Andy Synn wants you to stop what you’re doing and play this one as loud, and as often, as you can)

We’ve been accused of being “pretentious” here at NCS a few times… which is actually pretty funny if you really know any of us.

True, we do have a lot of love for weird, proggy music, and we certainly have a lot of fun playing around with language and using some of those “big” words certain people find so frightening, but you know what we also love?

Big riffs, big hooks, and bands that just put out banger after banger after banger.

Which is why I’ve been jamming the new album from Missouri Metalcore menaces Vulgarity over and over again recently.

ALTARAGE – COGWHEEL

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Jul 272026

(Andy Synn returns to the darkness with a revitalised Altarage and their new album, out Friday)

There’s an excellent question that Sir Michael Caine once asked, and answered… “why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

And, make no mistake about it, there’s certainly a pretty decent (and vocal) number of Altarage fans who will be happy – well, not exactly happy – to tell you all about how much the band fell off after their opening salvo of three killer albums (Nihl, Endinghent, and The Approaching Roar) in a row.

Don’t get me wrong, I have some sympathy with this view – as much as I loved the band’s initial trilogy of terror, I was willing to go on record with how disappointed (and disjointed) I felt 2021’s Succumb to be (a position I still stand by), and while I appreciated 2022’s Sol Corrupto a little more than most it definitely still fell short of the band’s usual high standards – but I’m also the sort of person who believes that it’s important for bands to take chances, and that a few experimental misses can sometimes lead to even bigger hits down the line.

Which may well be what we have here, as while 2023’s Worst Case Scenario was clearly informed by the lessons learned from the Succumb/Sol Corrupto sessions, it’s only with the upcoming release of Cogwheel that Altarage seem to have really managed to pick themselves back up again and become the same terrifying force they used to be.

Batman begin.

THE OLDEST HOUSE – THE ART OF ABYSSWALKING

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Jul 232026

(Andy Synn would like to invite you all to enter The Oldest House)

There’s another common phrase – and, boy, do I seem to be using a lot of them recently, don’t I? – that goes something like “better late than never”.

Which might as well be our motto here at NCS sometimes, because if we like something we’ll always try our best to write about it, even if that write-up ends up being a little late.

And, let me tell you, I really like The Art of Abysswalking.

PROTEST THE HERO – WITHIN

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Jul 212026

(Andy Synn has been a fan of this band for a long, long time… but is he a fan of their new album?)

There’s a commonly quoted, but often misinterpreted, maxim which states that as you grow older there comes a time when you must “put away childish things.”

What it actually means is that the process of becoming an adult means growing beyond selfishness and short-sighted, self-serving impulsivity to consider the people and the world around you… but it’s often taken as a claim that one should give up the things you enjoy, your passions, your hobbies, your interests, in order to display some sort of boring, performative “maturity”.

It’s a sentiment that afflicts a lot of bands too, especially when they suddenly decide to throw in an unnecessary ballad or some generically pretentious prog-parts as a signal to their audience that they’ve finally “grown up”.

Luckily for all of us, however, as much as Canadian genre-splicing jesters Protest the Hero have grown and developed over the years I’m happy to report that they still possess that same shamelessly nerdy, Theatre-Kid Pop-Punk meets Dream Theatre-loving, DnD-playing, Power-Prog energy now as they did way back before they could even grow some proper beards.

SALLOW MOTH – HYDROPHILOUS BROOD

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Jul 202026

(Andy Synn has more words to share about long-time NCS favourites Sallow Moth)

It should be no suprise to learn that we love music here at NCS.

After all, none of us makes any money from this site, or takes any kick-backs – even if bands will sometimes, very kindly, offer to send us music or merch as thanks for a review – meaning we do this purely for the love of it.

And as part of that we also love to support bands who love making music for the sheer joy of it, with little to no regard for current trends or commercial concerns.

Which is one reason – but not, I must stress, the only reason – why we’ve been so supportive of the works of Sallow Moth over the years.

SHORT BUT SWEET: BEYOND DEVIATION / FERAL WOUND / SALT DIVINATION

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Jul 142026

(Andy Synn is a busy man right now, but still found time to recommend three killer EPs today)

Despite the fact that our work here at NCS may give the impression that we’re a professional, well-oiled machine (right?), the truth is that we don’t necessarily plan out everything we do here in advance.

That’s not to say there’s no plan at all – Islander in particular tries to stay on top of upcoming and new releases for his various round-up columns, and we’re all indebted to DGR for putting in the extra effort to produce a plethora of reviews in advance of our blog-break in May – but we do like to leave a little wiggle room in our schedule so we can be spontaneous and adapt to changing circumstances.

Case in point, today’s article includes three EPs (devastating down-tempo Deathcore from Canada, ugly, uncompromising Death-Grind from Indonesia, and vicious Blackened Hardcore from the good ol’ US of A) that I only recently discovered, and decided – pretty much at the last minute – that I wanted to write about.

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