Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genres: Death Metal, Thrash
Label: Independent

This CD arrived in my mailbox rather unexpected, but I was somewhat excited to check it out. Mexican death metal is usually pretty good, and when mixed with thrash, it’s even better. Hellsing prove this theory, and have become my second favorite band from Mexico.
The overall sound is a very clean thrash, in the vein of newer Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, or Bullet For My Valentine, but don’t let that discourage you. I know some metalheads would cringe at those comparisons, but when faced with the excellent growls of Jose Luis your idea should change. These guys are the real deal, holding up a ‘true’ metal (whatever that means) flag for the world to unite under.
Opening track “The Rival” opens up with a simple, thrashy intro but quickly turns into a very fistpumping death metal track that strongly reminds me of Canadian thrashers Titans Eve and Trivium, with a bit of 3 Inches of Blood and Cannibal Corpse. Some really awesome solos are in this song, so get your air guitar ready.
The second track, the title track to the EP, is a short song, not even a full minute long. It’s a nice quiet instrumental that leads you into “The Dark Side of the Moon”, a NWOBHM/thrash riff infested slow piece. Iron Maiden meets Entombed? Something like that. Again, solos. These guys know how to do them right; little mini songs that help the main song out. Great stuff.
Bonus track “Razor” is a faster, more evil-sounding vocal track with a fucking killer solo section at 1:28 that doesn’t let up until 2:48, where it goes into the main riff. This thing gallops along like Maiden but just slays with it’s shredding thrashtastic guitar work. Definitely my favorite song on the EP.
The second bonus track, and last song, “The Final Hour” starts off HUGE, reminding me of thrash infected gothic metal. Don’t let that trick you though, as Jose comes in and throws down a vocal that turns this song into a totally melodic Swedeath homage to bands like Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, and Soilwork. Second favorite track on the EP for sure.
If you’re into deaththrash, check out Hellsing MX. These guys are really good at what they are doing, and deserve at least a look at.
7.5 out of 10.

Hellsing MX on Facebook.

Genre: Stoner Metal
Label: Napalm Records

After being fired by Roadrunner Records for firing their singer, these instrumental stoner metal innovators found a fair amount of notoriety. But then without Roadrunner or a singer, they moved onto Spitfire then Napalm and have since (or so it seems) found even more ways to create moving, instrumental metal.
Riff after riff is churned out on V, and not a single one is wasted or filler. Each song (still only titled with a number) is a perfect desert jewel that shines brightly with it’s own strange, sometimes psychedelic light. They could all easily feature vocals, as all have verses, choruses, and bridges. But thankfully all but three have such a distraction from the awesome tone.
I’m especially particular to Rich Mullins’ bass tone and technique. Very classic sounding, but still his own.
The songs “The Cynic”, “Jimmy Dean”, and “Never Say Die” are the ones with a singer, a man by the name of Daniel Davies, also from the band Year Long Disaster. His voice is perfect for K2B’s reverb drenched music, and is a highlight of the album.
And yes, “Never Say Die” is a Black Sabbath cover, and it’s a fucking killer rendition. Faster, with a very different energy. The man sounds nothing like Ozzy (who does, really?) but he definitely owns this song, making it a Karma to Burn track more than a Black Sabbath cover.
V kicks ass.
7.5 out of 10.

Karma to Burn on Facebook.

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.

Genres: Punk, Speed Metal, Thrash
Label: Suffering Jesus Productions

Pistöns bring an album of ten hard hitting, ass kicking, and beer swilling rock songs in the vein of Motörhead and oldschool punk, with some metal riffs thrown in.
A trio if Italians who love to rock out with songs about rocking out, how cool their friends are, and how they are number one, Pistöns is a fucking great listen, and it’s goddamn hard to drive around without cranking the shit out of my car stereo and driving around with my windows down.
Oh, and the speed limit is impossible to obey with this going. They get a 7.5 out of 10.
So if you want to listen to some hard rock that will make you headbang, check out Pistöns. No commercialism, this is a kick to head of rock music.

Pistöns on MySpace.

NOTE: This is an old review, moved here from the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

It would seem that Matthew P. Davis has created something relatively new in black metal. And I’m liking it.
Picture a little bit of early Cradle of Filth, some Morgul, and some Moloch put into a blender with a flaming Bible and two shots of Jack Daniel’s. Add a dash of Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, and Labyrintheory is a winner.
A nice demo of five songs, In Memoriam is an impressive first start for this band.
7.5 out of 10.

Labyrintheory on MySpace.

NOTE: This is an old review, moved here from the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace.