Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Industro-Death, Groove
Label: Candlelight Records

Ok, let’s get some shit out in the open here: I am a Fear Factory fan. I own a few Fear Factory t-shirts.  I own Soul Of A New Machine, Fear Is The Mindkiller, Demanufacture, Remanufacture, Obsolete, Digimortal, Concrete, Hatefiles, Archetype and for a brief period of time, Transgression.  I stuck by Fear Factory through thick and thin. I was, at one point in time, ready to get a FF tattoo on my neck. Repeat: I am a Fear Factory fan.

What confuses the fuck out of me is the fact that there are so many people backing this album up! I agree; this album fucking kills! But the people who are agreeing with me are the people that shot down Archetype for being “too trendy”! What the hell man!? I do have a theory though: Gene Hoglan on drums? Dethklok fans are now Fear Factory fans if they weren’t before. Know what I’m saying? And maybe with the reintroduction of Dino, they hooked in some Divine Heresy fans as well…

Anyway, Mechanize is a quarter Archetype, a quarter Obsolete (the good parts anyway) and half Soul Of A New Machine. Burton gives it his all (as per usual) with his half harsh shouting and half clean singing while Gene “The Man” Hoglan busts up his kit like any pummeling pimp of the skins would. Dino Cazares does his thing with the six (maybe seven here) string, laying down hydraulic grooves in a vintage fashion. Lyrically, it’s all the same shit they’ve been preaching about for the past twenty-one years; “Fight the machine.” “Fuck authority.” (shared with G.G. Allin) “No God for me!” etc… Whatever man, it’s Fear Factory.

Overall: It’s only a partial return to Soul Of A New Machine, so don’t believe that part of the hype. If you hated Archetype then you won’t dig Mechanize either. Otherwise, it’s a solid hit for the Fear Factory crew.

8/10

Fear Factory On MySpace

Originally Posted On E-MetalSpace

Genre: Pornogrind, Goregrind
Label: Comatose Music

Scatological humor… check.
Gross-out album art… check.
Unintelligible vocals… check
Raperaperaperaperape… check.
Comedy/horror movie samples… check.
Drum machine… check.
Feed it into the machine and… *beep* *boop* *bleep*… Yep. Pornogrind.

Shitfirsted Superman… The Man Of Stool is your standard poo-poo, pee-pee, ca-ca, doo-doo grind fest, complete with weighty riffs and gurgling “burp” vocals. The programming isn’t too bad either since it took a track or two for me to figure out that is was a machine… (I think I was distracted by a shirtless Echidna, but I honestly don’t remember) Sure it’s all been done before and I’m sure that if you’re a fan of this genre that you’ve got dozens of albums by bands that do it better. But Sikfuk (or Nik Blanton, as he is the only member currently in the band) has a certain something that just makes those sick tunes just “pop” out of stereo speakers and tickle your anus with a red-hot phallus-shaped iron poker.

Overall: If you like your vocals belched, your mom raped, your superheroes perverted,  and your drums programmed, then Sikfuk has an album here for you! Eat shit and die you Sikfuk!

7/10

Sikfuk On MySpace

Originally Posted On E-MetalSpace

Genre: Heavy Metal, Thrash, Groove
Label: Self-Released

Having been a substantial fan of a gift EP entitled We Bleed Disaster, I was practically drooling at the arrival of Stonecreep’s latest effort, The Death March Crushes On. Will it live up to the ridiculously high expectations I set up for it? Only the next few lines of mediocre reviewing will tell…

The Deathmarch Crushes On is the second full-length album from this Portland, Oregon based act and does everything it can to make you forget about everything else in their catalog! Heavy, frantic riffs are scattered about TDCO in equal parts awesome and badass, while the blasty drum work speed along at about a billion light-leagues per second! Vocally, Matt Litton jumps from half-clean singing, to gravelly growling, to deathly bellows, all within the same tune. You’d think that that would be a little much, but no. It’s not. I promise you, it’s just right!

Overall: Living up to my expectations, The Deathmarch Crushes On is a exercise is speed, melody and neck-wreckature! A classic entry for fans of old school heavy metal or anything that will annoy the piss out of your neighbors at three o’clock in the morning.

8.5/10

Stonecreep On MySpace

Originally Post On E-MetalSpace

When TWILIGHT’s self-titled debut was delivered in 2005 it was an explosive new time for American black metal, where several stateside acts were captivating the world’s attention. It was during these times that a crew of henchmen hailing from said acts covertly assembled to formulate a collaborative album, under the banner of TWILIGHT. Then comprised of members of Nachtmystium, Leviathan, Kreig, Xasthur and Drautran, the album’s gritty and varied content was an instant cult classic for the genre.

Due to personal differences within the unit, TWILIGHT officially disbanded a year later, with no plans of a new record on the horizon. Yet in early 2009 several members resurrected a modified lineup. These alterations would expand this “follow-up release” into a full-blown masterpiece.

TWILIGHT’s massive lineup on the upcoming Monument To Time End includes three founding members – Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice), and N. Imperial (Kreig), – and new recruits Stavros Giannopolous (The Atlas Moth), Sanford Parker (Minsk, Buried At Sea) and Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom), as well as vocal contributions by Robert Lowe (Lichens, OM).on three tracks. This wholly forward-thinking alignment of artists presents this TWILIGHT release as an entirely new entity.

Undoubtedly, the harsh and cantankerous black metal underbelly of the foundation of the unit is still intact throughout Monument To Time End, but it’s the visual hell the listener feels personified through the more dissonant, demented and ethereal realms of utter madness explored, where seemingly psychotropic nightmares come to life with an ethereal, beautiful vengeance.