Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Ex-Dimmu Borgir and The Kovenant member Nagash brings his brand of black metal insanity from the cold Norwegian mists once again, this time with a world-wide deal with Napalm Records (thanks Napalm!), and is ready to kick your ass.
And kick ass this album does in spades. It’s a fantastic disc for those that want to hear TNBM with keys, a distinctly lacking element in a lot of Norwegian black metal right now. Think Dimmu (for some obvious reasons), roughly the Stormblåst era. It’s a lot of things I know I’ve been wanting to hear from the genre for awhile.
The guitars are heavy as hell itself, with no muddiness to them. Everything can be heard wonderfully clearly, and they are almost a star in themselves in songs like “Hvor Taken Ligger Sa Trist Og Gra”.
Another great thing about it is that the album is in both English and Norwegian, another element I’m missing from lots of black metal right now, and it’s truly a collection of hymns to Satan, not just lyrics about the weakness or lameness or whatever derogatory comment about Jesus a band can think of.
Not just thanks to Napalm, thanks to Troll. This fucking rocks.
8.5 out of 10.

Troll on MySpace.

Genres: Heavy Metal, Power Metal
Label: AFM Records

I love German metal. And so, it’s no surprise that I love Axxis’ Utopia album. Right from the start it’s full of powerful riffs, nice keyboards, and an amazing vocalist. Bernhard Weiss is his name, and he’s got a strong set of pipes that register a little on the high side.
The album itself is a fantasy story about finding Utopia, and for the first time in Axxis history, features a song sung in German (“Fass Mich An”).
If you’re down with traditional heavy or power metal, or you just want to try it out for the first time, or if you’re even a fan of Axxis already, I definitely think you could do yourself a favour with picking up this album.
My favourite tracks are “The Last Man on Earth”, “Fass Mich An” (which makes me want to find more power metal that’s all in German), and the slower “Father’s Eyes”.
8 out of 10.

Axxis on MySpace.