Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genres: Black Metal, Crust, Thrash
Label: Abstract Terror Records

Messy blackened thrash seems to be the Modus Operandi on Anicest’s fifth outing. Punk elements abound, and the playing is nicely done.
Ultimately, since I actually listened to the sixth demo first, this stuff reminds me of it, but it should be the other way around.
Either way, Machette has been paying attention to his elders, and listening well to thier lessons. Everything is here, if you want to hear it. Metallica from ’86, Darkthrone from ’93, and a dash of early 80′s Amebix.
Fans of more blackened metals should like this disc a little more than the newer one, but I still give it a 7 out of 10, with standouts being “Barbituates” and “Percieving My Seed Now Past To You”.

Anicest on MySpace.

Genres: EBM, Industrial
Label: Metropolis Records

Assemblage 23′s 2007 album Meta is an amazing album, and it wasn’t until after my wife bought it did we realize that two of our favorite songs that got regular play at the club we go to are from Assemblage.
“Damaged” and “Binary”, those two songs, are amazing lyrically, as is everything Tom Shear does it would seem. He could have a spoken word poetry album and it would kick ass, but thankfully he also has good dancing tunes too. In fact, the music grabs you by the hand and pulls you to the dancefloor.
Like I said, the lyrics are amazing and this album seems to be thematic around aging, and it’s effects on you and the people around you as you age. Also, “Binary” seems to be encouraging humans to be humans again, while “Madman’s Dream” and “Truth” seem to point at today’s modern society’s ills.
My absolute favorite track is “Old”. It’s so powerful lyrically and the music is perfect for it. It literally almost brings me to tears when I listen to it, it’s so relatable for me.
So, after all that introspection on my part, the rating: 9 out of 10. Another flawless victory for Tom Shear.

Assemblage 23 on MySpace