Füneral Rain Press Cörps

In celebration of the vinyl release of their latest album Chronomega, gruesome twosome BLACK COBRA will punish several California record stores with several in-store performances early this February. This is not only a great opportunity to get the mammoth new album on wax, but also to see the band for free in a intimate yet primal setting, for free!

02.05.10 – Amoeba Records – San Francisco, CA @ 6pm
02.09.10 – r5 records – Sacramento, CA @ 6pm
02.10.10 – Street Light Records – San Jose, CA @ 4pm
02.11.10 – Street Light Records – Santa Cruz, CA @ 4pm
02.13.10 – Thirsty Moon – San Diego, CA @ 6pm
02.14.10 – Vacation – Los Angeles, CA @ 5pm

The vinyl release of Chronomega will also include the band’s cover of Buzzov*en’s “Behaved”, previously only available on the Japanese CD release of the CD, via Daymare Records. It will be pressed on 180-gram wax, the first pressing forged in several limited color schemes (800 red/yellow splatter, 500 black, 200 red/black swirl). Chronomega is BLACK COBRA’s Southern Lord Recordings debut. It was released in September; the album’s nine tracks brimming with the two-piece outfit’s patented style of crushing groove-heavy, fuzztone doom-metal angst, yet showcase a bit more dexterity and expansion on their sound from previous releases.

The LP version of Chronomega will be officially available on February 10th. More tour actions for BLACK COBRA will be announced throughout 2010, with the band being on the road most of the year.

http://www.blackcobra.net
http://www.myspace.com/blackcobra
http://www.southernlord.com
http://www.myspace.com/southernlordrecordings

Here is another ancient interview from the Funeral Rain Zine blog. Buddhika from Plecto is the man answering the questions.

Being a band from Sri Lanka, a small island in South Asia with a rich past full of religion, war, trade, and tourism, how are you influenced by your surroundings and history?

Our music is influenced by the things that we go through and the things that we perceive. So I believe that most of the above have influenced our music one way or the other.

What is your local scene like? Are there more bands in your area that produce the same kind of music, or is Plecto an anomaly?

Plecto is an anomaly, but the depressive black metal movement seems to be picking up. We have bands like Shokaagni, Dishti and Sons of Fenrir who have released music that is in the vein of DSBM.
We might be from a small country but there’s a lot of diversity when it comes to metal, we have everything from black metal to brutal death metal in Sri Lanka and also a genre called Hela Metal which is mainly based on our cultural heritage.

What is it about the depressive side of black metal that drew you to play it, as well as listen? There are other sides to black metal that exist, so why choose depressive?

DSBM for us is a way of channeling our feelings and there was no other genre or other sub genre of black metal that could do it better.
I love black metal and as I have once stated its a genre of music that I feel, but that doesn’t mean that I stop only at black metal or even metal for that matter. I listen to almost anything that I feel is good.

You stated that you are on a local label, SLUM. How is it to work with a label that can help to distribute your music, rather than just through MySpace and the like to get your name out to the masses?

SLUM offers us a lot of flexibility. The label is in its infant stages so the release of our splits have been set back for a couple of months. But yes it feels good to know that there is a label backing us up. And for the record we will be releasing a split with Yhdarl and also a 3 way split with Necrosadik and Dark Metamorphosis in the near future via SLUM records.

What other bands are your main inspirations, and what are your inspirations outside of music? Also, what do you do outside of music? Are you painters, writers, chefs, etc.?

Musically we are influenced by the likes of Burzum, Abruptum, Stalaggh, Xasthur, I Shalt Become, Halo and Sunn O))).
What inspires us outside of music is what we see and what we go through.
I work for a bank and a radio station and I’m currently studying amongst other things.
Nightmare is a full time student but he is also involved with bands like Raaksha and Battle Axe.
Kasun is also a student but is also involved with local metal acts, Spleen Saint, LOA and is a session drummer for Funeral in Heaven.

Originally published at the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace blog, I’m happy to put this up in it’s uncut glory. I’ve done some minor edits to make it pretty, but other than that nothing is changed. Enjoy, and don’t be afraid to check out this band if you haven’t before. They’re really good.

You’re an American, that much anyone can tell from your MySpace page. But where in the US are you from, and how has this impacted and inspired the music you make?

Hell – We are from Arkansas, It has a major impact on the way we write. The decline of the USA over the last 8yrs has affected our part of the country very hard and that has helped inspire us to write about the decline and end of our lives as we know it.

What other kinds of art are you into? Are you a painter, writer, etc.? And what kind of day job do you have, or are you one of those lucky bastards that doesn’t quite need a day job?

Hell – For me I am into playing music most of all and performing with my bands. I do not work currently so I am really focusing on music.
DS – All my hatred and time goes into GW.

Musically, what kind of gear does Genocide Winter use for performing, and what kind of recording gear do you use?

Hell - I use BC Rich guitars, Engl Powerball amp, Engl Pro XXl Cab, We record everything on a digital 16 track recorder live then layer guitar and vocals
DS – I use a 8 piece Black Tama Kit and Sabian Cymbals.

For the music writing process, is G.W. a democratic band, or is everything written by one member? Does everything come together organically when writing, or does the music and lyric combination have to be played with over and over again until you get it right?

Hell - D.S. and I write everything as a group effort. All of the music is written and recorded in our studio the same day most of the time. Normally I will have a idea and play it for D.S. and things just fall in place for us. We play off of each of very well.

When was G.W. birthed? And how painful was the birthing process?

Hell – In the Winter 2007. It wasn’t too painful after DS and I kicked out the members that were not true to Black Metal and in the band for all the wrong reasons. For us this band is a outlet of ultimate expression

Finally, a tough question in that it can cause a lot of controversy: What is Black Metal?

Hell – For me BM is a way of life a calling of sorts to the darker side of human nature. A way to explore my inner hatred of all things living. I have been playing BM for half my life now and plan to do so till the very end of my hellish life.

Genres: Black Metal, Punk
Label: Suffering Jesus Productions

Punk with a black metal overcoat, or “100% Ultra Misery Blackout Metal Nekropunk Psychosound”, Aanal Beehemoth burst with intense energy, and are perfect for those with ADD. No song reaches the three-minute mark.
This isn’t my favorite album ever, that’s for sure. It has it’s somewhat weak moments, but there are some parts that are super cool. Riff wise, it’s great, but there is something to it that’s not quite letting it hit the awesome mark for me. And after listening to it for the third time, I realize what it is: Crazy Bömber’s voice, and the effects used on it. And possibly too much ‘mörkness’ in general.
There are, however, some great standout tracks. “Miserability” is probably the best song on the album, followed by “Loaded Head Empty Veins”, “Form of Satan”, and “Sin Tonic”.
I’m giving The Forest Paranoid 6.5 out of 10. Deathly Fightär and Crazy Bömber seem to be able to write really good songs, but I think the mörkness is getting in the way of great songs. Of course, that might be the point.
This is nekropunk after all.

Genre: Doom
Label: Napalm Records

A Dutch/Swedish duo consisting of Ed Warby (of Gorefest, Hail of Bullets, Ayreon) and Rogga Johansson (of Edge of Sanity, Paganizer, Ribspreader), both of whom are better known for their death metal, have come together to create a doom album. The album is an entire story of a man with a terminal lung disease, and in his last days, is haunted by nightmares and must look at his troubled past, revisiting the blackest days of his life, and try to redeem himself.
A bleak concept and a half, man. A truly depressing theme, and the music it is set to is a perfect vehicle to carry it along. Ed has crafted all the music and played all the instruments, and it is some of the heaviest doom I have ever heard. Loud as fuck too, which all music should be really, but among the crushing riffs there is a beauty that tempers it, provided by haunting keyboards and Ed’s clean vocals, giving a serious sense of melancholy.
Rogga, however, helps add hardness and attack to the songs with his deep and intense growling. He helps the depression set into your very bones, as the songs drag you into a pit of misery.
A slow Metalgasmic solo at 3:55 in “Origins of Mourning”, the third track, snakes around and around and made my day upon hearing it.
Older doomers, the ones who were there at the start of My Dying Bride’s career, or Anathema’s or Paradise Lost, or even Katatonia, you’re going to love this album.
People who aren’t into doom, or haven’t heard any yet, I think this epic piece of art might be a good place to begin the journey.
Solid. Perfect. 10 out of 10.