Funeral Rain Press Corps

2/22/12 – The Branx – Portland, Oregon

Anther night, another show at The Branx. After a close call at roll call after the attendee almost didn’t find my name on the press list, I made my way to the floor…

Burning Leather - I made it in just in time to catch this local act’s set. Truth be told, I didn’t know these guys were local and would of guessed that they were from the U.K. based on their down ‘n’ dirty Killers-era heavy punkin’ metal! Unfortunately, their set was criminally short and the only song of theirs that I can remember was set closer Annihilate Us. But you know what? That song ruled and the crowd seemed to agree with me that Burning Leather should feel free to Annihilate Us any time!

Havok –  This was my second time seeing these guys and the other time was at the Branx as well. Fortunately, this time David Sanchez’s voice wasn’t on the fritz, so he was able to sing every song this time around. Just like last time, necks were WRECKED! The thrashin’ that these guys are dispensing is genuine through and through and nowhere is this more apparent than on stage. Havok loves what they do and the audience loves them for it. Case in point: “COVERING FIRE!!!” the cheer for that announcement was probable the loudest I heard all night (though, I personally cheered louder for Afterburner). Bodies were flying off of the stage and into several circle pits that sprang up with the wave of Sanchez’s finger. In short: they came, they saw, Havok conquered.

Toxic Holocaust - I don’t think that there is a band who’s live set inspires a bigger, “Meh.” feeling in me than Toxic Holocaust. Don’t get me wrong though, I sit love Toxic Holocaust on their albums and whatnot, but their live shows are just so humdrum. There is hardly ever any crown interaction, Joel’s voice is almost always tired or lazy sounding and they almost always play the same songs. I made it through about half of their set before *Yawn* fuck it, what’s going on outside…

The Casualties - Gotta be honest, I didn’t give two shits that these guys were on the bill. I was only mildly entertained by them the last time I saw them, so I skipped their set and ended up getting wasted with the Corey Boyd and Gabe Franco of Spellcaster. After a few (too many) belts of vodka, we found our way to a McDonalds were we came across a begger. The dude was standing in mid-thirties weather, asking for money for a McFuckingFlurry. So, of course, Gabe helped a brother out. The guy immediately ran inside and bought a McFlurry, stunning us all… except Gabe. (Love that Franco.) When it was our turn to order, Corey proceeded to inquire about the Cock-Meat Sandwich. “How much for the Cock-Meat Sandwich?” he asked the barely English speaking attendant. (Love that Boyd.) I’m pretty sure that I made the right decision.

English Dogs - Ho-Lee-Sheeeeet am I glad I made it back in time for these rowdy motherfuckers! English Dogs delivered the goods on a seismic scale with their pissed off ‘tudes and “fuck it or kill it” mentality. Vocalist Wakey seemed the sort on sight to be a bit of a loutish oaf… I was oh so wrong! Screaming like a madman possessed by a long since dead madman, Wakey ran and jumped around the stage and even into the crowd on occasion! Guitarist Nick Wynch, engaged the audience with his intense axe slinging and even asked if we’d all be in a picture for him. Yeah, watching the crowd crunch together like that was pretty fun. Even as drunk as I was, I knew that it wasn’t going to end well… but aside from the couple of moonings and a fat girl titty flash, things didn’t go so bad. Suffice it to say, the audience ate up every ounce of what these English Dogs left behind…

Burning Leather On Facebook
Havok On Facebook
Toxic Holocaust On Facebook
The Casualties On Facebook
English Dogs On Facebook 

The ultra-cool dudes from Portland, Oregon based heavy/speed metal act Spellcaster are in desperate need of a drummer! They’ve been spreading their Spells Of Speed, so now it’s time for us to spread the word!

Got some bad news. Yesterday, our drummer Shad decided to quit the band for personal reasons. We have a tour coming up in just under 3 weeks and we DO NOT want to cancel so we need to find a drummer to fill in on the tour. All we ask is that you have your own gear, can learn our songs, live in or near the Portland Metropolitan area, and can tour the US for two and a half weeks. If everyone could please share/repost this and help us spread the word, we would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You!
Cory/Thomas/Gabe/Tyler

Taken from Spellcaster’s Facebook page.

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: CynNormal Lab Recordings

If the guys from Cynic and Gigan took a truckload of Ritalin before hitting the recording studio, I believe that the end result would sounds something like Abnormal Thought Patterns’s debut EP.

Since I brought it up, I think that if you were able to transmute Abnormal Thought Patterns music into pill from, you’d be left with a highly addictive psychotropic narcotic. Eases the pain by passing through the aural barrier and into the blood and brain barriers. Effective for clearing up a shitty day at work or whatever else is ailing you. Unfortunately, you can’t just stop listening to it. You’ll have to finish the seven track dose or else you’ll go through horribly horrible withdrawals! So do yourself a favor and listen to the whole damned EP and pass over the pain.

Getting back on track, Abnormal Thought Patterns is technical. The two aforementioned bands are decent comparisons in terms of overall sound. But ATP does it all with a certain panache. Primarily the kind were you decide to be an instrumental four piece technical/progressive metal outfit. (Where’s the marketability?  <— F!O!A!D!) Luckily for us, these guys know what they’re doing and who their audience is and they show it by playing with a gusto reserved for hardcore veterans of the genre with finger breaking tech riffs and hyper hammering drumwork exploding out of every track! Even the bass gets it’s fair shot at glory! That just doesn’t happen enough nowadays, am I right?

Unlike other EPs where I always end up bitching about how I was teased with only a little bit of what is to come in the future, Abnormal Thought Patterns went ahead and made sure that you not only got a pretty damned good taste of what these guys are all about, but also that you wouldn’t be teased at all. Sure the EP runs around twenty minutes or so, but there’s enough meat on the bones to slate your progressive hunger.

As for the Cons tally, we have an oldie but a validie: the EP tends to get a little on the repetitive side. The end of each track (minus the bass solo track, Ulnar Nerve Damage which is amazingly good!) sounds enough like the beginning of each track to trigger deja vu. But when they’re playing mind melting progressive riffs throughout, is a little repetition gonna kill ya? …didn’t think so.

Overall: Abnormal Thought Patterns debut EP is a mircoburst of progressive genius! I don’t normally use the word “fun” in my reviews, but it’s hard to deny that there is a whole lot of fun to be had in this offering. And even though it’s a relatively short outing, there is more than enough evidence on these seven tracks to let you know what the inevitable album will be like. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Scott Mosher had a hand in this somewhere…

9.5/10

Abnormal Thought Patterns On Facebook

Genre: Heavy, Power Metal
Label: Killer Metal Records

It has been quite a while since I’ve received something even remotely close to heavy metal or power metal. Iowa’s metal maestros Unity manage to cram the two aforementioned genres together with a wee bit of a progressive sound thrown in for a taste of fucking awesome!

Within the first two tracks you can tell that these guys really like their Iron Maiden. The third track erases any doubt of that completely and then raises the flag for fans of Gamma Ray! I’m tingly all over! Especially when a wicked solo erupts out of nowhere and melts your face clean of the bone (a la Raiders Of The Lost Ark). Following your facial reconstruction, vocalist Alonso “Zo” Donoso finishes off what’s left with a voice so perfect for what Unity is doing here. Power vocals that may as well be the voice of God since when Zo sings, everyone listens. Not necessarily because they want to, but because they are compelled to.

Even the obligatory power metal ballad doesn’t suck! Do you have any idea how fucking rare it is to come across a band that decides to write and record a ballad that isn’t cheesy, oversimplified or just plain horrible? Blue Moon rare! Honestly, I don’t know if I can make this any clearer to everyone. Unity is amazing, plain and simple. Check them out if you’re new school, old school or anything between or beyond.

Overall: Seriously, if you’re a fan of European heavy/power metal and wish that there was an American band could sound just as good, look no further. You’ve found them! True American Metal is REBORN!!!

10/10

Unity Official
Unity On ReverbNation
Unity On Facebook  

Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Comatose Music

I’ve always tried desperately to steer away from over using the ever popular descriptor “Brutal” but I believe it will prove to be quite difficult since I’m fairly certain that metal Spaniard Carlos Mejias may have helped write the book on it! I guess it’s no surprise since this one man wrecking project that goes by the name of Thirst Of Revenge resides in the ranks of Comatose Music.

Right off the bat, one this is made abundantly clear: Carlos knows how to work the set. His drumming is impeccable and is easily the best anything on this album. Past that, we have those throat decimating growls. Sure, they’re brutal as fuck and if I ran into this guy in a dark alley and he demanded that I give him my wallet in that growl, I’d give it to him without a second thought, but he may as well just be speaking in monotone since there is close to zero variation in his style aside from the occasion pig squeal. His guitar work consists of wrist fracturing speed riffs that while cogent, manage to get lost in the mix during some tracks.

But let’s hold up for a second and discuss something similar to my introduction for a moment: is there such a thing as “too much brutality”? I didn’t really think so… until I listened to Annihilation Of Races. You read that right folks! This album is TOO BRUTAL!!! Too brutal to be taken seriously. Too brutal to be admired by the snobbish metal elite (I can say whatever I want about them since I know they’d NEVER read anything from this site. Fuckers) and just a bit too brutal to be excellent. For now, I hope that Mister Mejias will be okay with a meager ”great” from this lowly journalist.

The spirit of death metal is clearly present throughout the length of Annihilation Of Races and for that, you can’t really fault this guy. I know I don’t. He poured his being into this project and you need only to listen to a few seconds of this album to know this.

Overall: This album is a practice in understanding moderation. Carlos Mejias either doesn’t quite understand how to or just doesn’t care to cut back on the heavy and low in exchange for some finesse or maybe even some technique. It’s really not a bad album, it just doesn’t take itself seriously, so why should any of you? But if brutality is your thing (you know who you are) then Annihilation Of Races is what you need to scratch that itch.

8/10

Thirst Of Revenge On ReverbNation
Thirst Of Revenge On Facebook