Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Doom, Progressive
Labels: Battle Kommand, Candlelight Records

This is kind of a complicated album to describe, which for me is odd.
It reminds me of Wintersleep, Deftones, and Dillinger Escape Plan all hanging out together and jamming with Rwake crashing the party.
The title track alone has elements from all four of these bands, classic rock solos, and a doomy riff structure. The song after (“Grey Wolves”) has some nearly blackened vocals going on, with a fast snare that’s a little jazzy at the beginning of the song.
I don’t know what the fuck to call this. Other than great of course.
If you like odd metal, check out these guys. If you like normal, standard verse-chorus-verse metal, I strongly advise you stand back a little.
9.5 out of 10

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

The intro for this demo is awesome. Gorgeous piano, with a deep bass rumble, nice and simple and nice and short.
Then the metal kicks in.
Obviously, Ravenfrost have broken the bass and damaged the mid-range knobs on the amps. This is a slightly high-pitched black metal assault, with a bit of a claustrophobic feeling. Tremolo picking out the ass and super grim vocals with a shallow snare in the percussion section round out the sound. This is a very angry sounding album, perfect for those that wish Darkthrone were still making records like it was 1994, or hope that unreleased Mayhem tracks with Dead on them were found. Granted though, people into Naglfar, Genocide Winter, and a fair amount of Moribund Records’ releases would like this as well.
7 out of 10.

Ravenfrost on MySpace.

Genres: Brutal Death, Doom, Progressive Death
Label: Independent

These guys asked me if I’d do a review of their demo like a million years ago. I said sure, downloaded the .rar and kind of forgot about it in the clutter of my computer.
But alas, in burning myself a promo-filled disc, I saw Corpsex waiting patiently in the To Review folder. And so today these sick bastards are blasting my ears.
Now, naturally, in today’s metal world if you play brutal death with occasional technical flourishes, you’re going to be compared to Cannibal Corpse. But at the same time with these guys I can hear some Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, and Cryptopsy influences, as well as tons of doom and stoner influences too, like Candlemass, Pentagram, and of course the big daddy of metal, Black Sabbath. The second song, “My Dear Killer”, especially shows these doom influences, and it’s my favorite track on the demo.
Overall, these guys are playing a very wicked blend of various metallic influences, turning it into a great listen. If you haven’t had any Corpsex today, I recommend you give it a try.
8 out of 10.

Corpsex on MySpace.

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Independent

Quick history lesson on how I got this CD to review: I saw Fenriz had posted his Band of the Week blog and it was these Canadian metalslingers. The quote that made me want to hear them specifically is: “They sound ANCIENT and have cool influences like Thin Lizzy and probably Diamond Head. And they are alive and playing NOW.” (Read the whole blog.)
And so I sent an email to them, and the gents were happy to send me a copy of Wasteland for review.
And what an easy review to do.
Basically, if Judas Priest were formed now, and in Canada rather than England, they’d be called Metalian. This is true, pure heavy metal, and it does sound ancient.
There seems to be quite a bit of Iron Maiden influence going on too, especially in the title track.
I love it. I’ve taken a few trips through the Wasteland, and I’ll be taking a lot more.
10 out of 10.