Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Depressive Black Metal, Progressive Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal
Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records

It’s quite unreal the amount of quality work that is coming from Hypnotic Dirge as a record label. Skog has been signing such great bands that really are different from the standards in depressive black metal (which is HDR’s primary bread and butter along with more ambient sounds), and Funeral Fornication is not a change of his general attitude.

FF’s newest album, Pandemic Trangression, is at it’s core depressive black metal but it has so many facets to it that it almost immediately steps out from the shadow of generic one man closet DSBM. Clean guitars and pianos, true singing, and symphonics that would make Dimmu Borgir proud are brought together with a real rawness that you could only get from the mountains of British Columbia.

This is Canadian black metal like no other, and I definitely recommend it for fans of the aforementioned Dimmu Borgir, old Cradle of Filth, Spectre, and the shoegazing black metal that is seeming to be taking over the world (Alcest, An Autumn for Crippled Children, etc…).

8 out of 10.

Funeral Fornication on MySpace.

Genres: Doom, Progressive, Sludge
Label: Relapse

The first album in four years from these Arkansas gents yields a set of mixed results. And all of them are good. There is some seriously bone crushing and ear damaging music held within Rest, and with songs that breach the sixteen minute mark, you better be bringing your attention span to this headbanging contest. On the other hand though, there are some seriously mind expanding (but still ear damaging) parts to Rest. For example, “The Culling”, the sixteen-minute-plus song I mentioned, features some gorgeous acoustic/electric riffage that enables one to space out and relax before the storm renews itself. The same goes for “It Was Only A Dream”, the final track.

If you are a fan of Rwake’s other work, then this is a definite must for you to get. If you’re interested in listening to some proggy doom, then you should get your hands on this album.

8 out of 10.

Rwake on Facebook.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Nekrogoat Heresy Productions

2010 saw the release of Prayer of the Dying’s newest fist to the face of the world. Entitled In Silence and Grief We Decay, the album sees Prayer growing in their signature sound, showing Martin’s greater assuredness to his own abilities.

The biggest showing of growth, to me, is the vocals as well as the general arrangements of the songs. Martin’s voice is much stronger on this CD, with a greater range of tonality and emotiveness. The riffs are coming together a little more fluidly as well, making the disc seem less like a patchwork riff collection and more of a planned out album.

If you’ve heard Prayer of the Dying before, and liked it, definitely check out In Silence and Grief We Decay. It’s more of what’s great for the band. If you’ve never heard them, this is a perfect place for you to begin your journey into Martin Ciappara’s vision of black metal.

8 out of 10.

Prayer of the Dying on Facebook.

Genres: Black Metal, Grindcore, Progressive Metal
Label: Candlelight Records

Get your boots on kids. We’re definitely stepping out of the comfort zone here, right into some seriously deep what the fuck?
As usual, these two Brits love to push the envelope, and there’s some pretty huge pushes with Passion. They’ve taken their black metal, made it blacker. Taken their grind, made it grinder. And the progressiveness of the album is just all over the place. Some of my favorite clean vocal performances are on this CD, with some amazing riffs that really amp up the general urgency of this music.
Wait. Urgency? In black metal? What? Yes, son. Shit just got real. If you’ve never listened to Anaal Nathrakh before, and your like your black metal TRVE and KVLT, and as boneheadedly barbaric as possible, continue not listening to Anaal Nathrakh. Because your BM world just got another album deeper into thinking man’s territory.
8 out of 10.

Anaal Nathrakh on Facebook.

Genre: Doom
Label: Peaceville

English doom masters Anathema’s classic 1995 album The Silent Enigma was remastered and rereleased by Peaceville in 2003, and as a wicked bonus, it comes with a DVD with four promo vids and a 1996 concert in Krakow.
The album itself is rifftastic, slow moving doom with astonishing vocals from Vincent Cavanagh, who at the time the album was recorded was brand new to the microphone. It’s very British, with comparisons to My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, the other two bands that along with Anathema make up the Peaceville Three, but it’s different in ways that defines Anathema from the rest of the doom metal pack.
For The Silent Enigma, I award a 7.5 out of 10.
The DVD, entitled A Vision of a Dying Embrace, is really good. The promo videos are pretty much what you’d expect, the same vids you could have caught on MTV, MuchMusic, or any other music video TV station back when they still existed. As it is, you can probably catch these videos on YouTube now. The concert, however, is a different story.
It’s a very well filmed show in what looks like a fair-sized venue with a pretty big and supportive crowd. The audio is exceptional, with many camera angles to enjoy the concert from. In many cases the view is much more intimate than what the concertgoers themselves could attain, which is pretty damn sweet. This is the kind of show that could be put onto it’s own DVD without being included as a bonus to an album.
A Vision of a Dying Embrace gets itself an 8 out of 10.

Anathema Fan Page on Facebook.