Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Gothic Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Midnattsol is another band I’ve never listened to before, but after giving The Metamorphosis Melody a listen, I wish I had gotten to hear them earlier.
A mournful, slower gothic metal seems to be The Metamorphosis Melody, a haunting album full of strong guitar riffs, great leads, and a woman who can sing a great tenor. There are faster songs on the disc (“A Poet’s Prayer” is one of them), but for the most part the album doesn’t move much faster than a walk. It’s perfect for the Discman and a forest on a spring day. The keys are more of a background element, supporting the guitar and voice. Drums and bass are even further in behind, holding everything up, occasionally coming closer to the fore during choruses.
Favorites are “Spellbound”, “A Poet’s Prayer”, and “Goodbye”.
7 out of 10.

Midnattsol on Facebook.
Midnattsol on MySpace.

Genres: Gothic Metal, Symphonic Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Truthfully, I’ve never checked out Leaves’ Eyes before, but with this album I was quite excited to. They are legends in their musical realm with a huge following, but it was the album artwork that really caught my eye at first, as it’s a gorgeous piece of art. Naturally, it seems to follow the symphonic/gothic metal conventions that some bands have taken with having a hot chick on the cover, but this hot chick is surfacing from underwater amid Celtic cross gravestones. Really cool looking.
The music is just as good as the cover art, with a wonderful singer backed up by a killer band. Heavy riffs put a strong backbone to the music with some really deadly leads overlaid. The keys aren’t just boring drones or background noise, or being used as an annoying weapon against the listener, but actually taking a major role inside of the music, working in concert with everything else. One of the biggest bonuses for me is songs that aren’t sung in English. I don’t know if that’s a usual thing for Leaves’ Eyes, but some of the songs on Meredead are in Liv Kristine’s native Norwegian. The use of traditional instruments (violins and the like) is a bonus too.
My favorite songs are “Kråkevisa”, “Meredead” (great guitar solo and keyboards in this song), and “Sigrlinn” (there’s some serious death growls in this song with the most vicious riffing on the album).
7.5 out of 10.

Leaves’ Eyes on Facebook.
Leaves’ Eyes on MySpace.

The Hawthrone Theater – Portland, Oregon – 3/19/2011

Ok, it’s late so I’ll make the introduction quick: Tonight was the CD release party for local act Von Doom and their EP Under The Ashen Empire. But that’s not all. It was a gathering of some of the most talented and fun loving group of musicians that Portland has to offer.

Quick enough for you?

Beyond The Red Horizon - I was surprised to see these guys in the opener slot. I really was. I figured they’re be second to last seeing as to how fucking popular/hard working they are. Now, I haven’t seen or heard anything from BTRH in over a year or so and I assumed that they’d have some new material.

They did.

And I’m enthused to tell you that their new material is TITS! Big, huge, bouncy, ready for motorboatin’ tits! The lads from Beyond The Red Horizon were as always, full of contagious energy and pros through and through. Their mixture of full on aggression and melodic musicianship is a sight to behold and to be heard.
I was sure to pick up their new EP, Into The Cosmic Realm. (Review to come shortly!)

Intermission - Between sets, the house played music to pass the time. Sounds pretty standard, right? And since this is a crowd of teenage metalheads (no offense) I was astounded to see how many of them actually knew the lyrics to Holy Diver and Rainbow In The Dark! Granted those are two of Dio’s mainstream hits, it was still refreshing to see none the less.

Dusk’s Embrace - I was particularly excited to see Dusk’s Embrace since I was supposed to see them twice before but they bowed out both times. And with no offense to Dusk’s Embrace, I was a little under whelmed. Maybe it was because the stage was a little big for only three guys to be on it. Maybe it was because none of members were moving around at all. Or maybe it was because Dusk’s Embrace seems like more of an “album band”, where their music is more enjoyable when you’re kicking back in your Lay-Z-Boy, joint hanging out of the corner of your mouth and lights dimmed.

But that’s just my opinion. And to be fair, they performed well enough. Maybe my expectations were too high for a band that I hold in such high regard. Sorry guys. But on the plus side, I picked up their new album, The Twilight Enigma. (Review to come shortly!)

Othrys (formally Our Own Blood) - Since their vocalist was out with a 102 degree fever, Othrys played as an instrumental three piece. Now, I’ve never actually heard these guys play before, but I’m practically foaming at the mouth to hear them as a full band! The three dudes on stage KILLED! Tons of energy, mountainous riffs with mosh pit pleasing breakdowns and machine gun drumming poured out of this temporary trio of titanic thrashers!

Unfortunately, they don’t have any recorded material out at the moment, so we’ll have to wait this one out… damn it!

Titarius - At the risk of sounding biased, Titarius fucking owns! Hearing that many people shout “D..O..A!!!” at once was almost surreal since I’m used to just hearing myself trying to layer my voice in an attempt to make it sound like there are three other people shouting it with me in my car… ::is ashamed::

Titarius makes a habbit of blowing the crowd away with awesome metal covers… and this one was a doozy! I have to admit, seeing five guys that aren’t Iron Maiden play Powerslave was almost unsettling… ALMOST unsettling. In actuality, Titarius fucking nailed this cover! I’m positive that the crowd shared my beliefs since the applause was deafening.

Intermission - Hey! Remember earlier when I said that they played house music between sets? Well, this time they tranced it up a bit… yeah. Eighty pound teenage girls trying to bump and grind on guys wearing Death and Iron Maiden t-shirts. It was kind of creepy to say the least.

Von Doom - While I was a moderate fan of Von Doom’s Second Sight, (barring the vocals, of course. Yech!) I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. Was the vocalist going to make me cringe? Were these guys going to be able to perform up to the task of being in the headline slot? Did anybody hear me when I shouted “Reed Richards is a pussy?”

1) The vocalist actually sounded great. 2) Yes and no. 3) Probably not since I didn’t get punched.

Von Doom had their fans in a frenzy before they even finished setting up their equipment. A most impressive feat for a local band, no question.

But I gotta be honest, they lost me around their cover (that was for the ladies) of Rod Stewart’s If You Want My Body… yeah. I was officially pooped so I bowed out for the night. But not before picking up their free demo… (Review to come shortly)

Beyond The Red Horizon On Facebook

Dusk’s Embrace On Facebook

Othrys On MySpace

Titarius On Facebook

Von Doom On Facebook

Genres: Blackened Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Belphegor’s blackened death is much more death this time around, taking a huge step towards Morbid Angel worship (especially in the second song, “Rise To Fall And Fall To Rise”), but still full of blackened atmosphere and Satanic intent.
Technicality in the instruments is pushed, while production of the album as a whole is catapulted. Each instrument is heard as it’s separate little whole within the whole, and Helmuth’s voice is even more evil, sometimes taking on a more David Vincent/Domination underwater sound effect to affect the listener more. Melody is present, even in the vocals, and wonderfully used to obtain some of the most catchy blackened death ever recorded.
The art, like all Belphegor albums, is gorgeous. Nudes, animal heads, and Photoshop are all used wonderfully to create a perfect companion to the listening experience.
This one is for fans of Morbid Angel, Behemoth, and Lucifer himself.
8 out of 10.

Belphegor on Facebook.
Belphegor on MySpace.

Genre: Death Metal, Grind

Label: Dynamic Arts Records

Having let Deathbound’s 2007’s We Deserve Much Worse fly under my radar, I’m just going to have to assume that I must of missed something in the evolution to Non Compos Mentis since this album is heavy! I’m not saying that Doomsday Comfort wasn’t, it’s just that the promo disc I received for Non Compos Mentis weighs about a metric ton more!

Deathbound didn’t abound their grind sound at all since most people nowadays seem to equate a “heavy” sound to “gay” or “mainstream” for some reason.  To be more accurate, Non Compos Mentis is three parts grind, two parts groove and one part old school death metal. They must have been listening to a lot of Rotten Sound since 2005…

In regards to the instrumentation, Deathbound’s guitarist “Pete” is a fountain of tweaked formulaic riffs. Like in Death Come For A Visit; classic subsonic grind riffs with a heavy groove influence. Admittedly there are times when I wish he’d experiment some more, but what are ya gonna do? Vocally, you’ve got your standard, sloppy scream/growl hybrid that gets the job done. Percussions? Forget about it! Blast beats out the ass and little more than snare and crash abuse. Live with it!

Overall: A wholly satisfying album for fans of classic grind and newer schools of death infused metal. If I had it my way, all of the little sound bites that litter the album would cease to be, but they don’t really do any harm. I’m just a pickly old miser.

8/10

Deathbound On MySpace

Deathbound Official