Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Moribund Records

It kind of sucks that I gave a 10/10 to Away From The Haunts Of Man. I mean, I don’t regret it on a journalistic level. Just a personal level since there is no way in Hell that Thrall is going to be able to top themselves. It doesn’t matter fucking awesome Vermin To The Earth is, I don’t see it being better than their 2010 release.

…and this is the part where you expect me to say something like, “Welp, looks like I was wrong derpa-derp!” Well, this time I was serious. Vermin To The Earth remains in the shadow of it’s older brother Away From The Haunts Of Man.

…ha! But only by ::holds fingers incredibly close together without them touching:: thiiiiiiiiis much! Thrall’s 2011 outing is surprisingly phenomenal! I say surprisingly since I honestly thought that, like most fresh acts nowadays, Thrall was going to fizzle out immediately. I’ve said it once before and I’m sure I’ll say it a bunch more, I love it when I’m wrong!

Thrall comes at ya with an all out doom en-”crusted”, black metal barrage! Keeping the patent fresh on their exclusive brand of whip smart riffing, songs like Disease’s Maiming Carcass and Plague Of Man are filled to the brim with “Whoa! Lemme hear that one again!” moments. Vocally, Thrall is where they were last year, so there’s no need to repeat how awesome these vocals are… d’oh! Lyrically, what do you expect? Evil shit about how awful humanity is and the like? Yeah, it’s all here and it’s all put in a way that makes me hate myself…

The only thing I’m going to waste your time with here would be the awkward pacing and jerky tempo changes. I mean, these are those “Look what I can do!” nerd-tech, mathcore tempo switches or anything. In face, I can’t even tell if they were done on purpose or not. What I do know is that they break the fluidity that I enjoy in my metal. I frown at this.

Overall: Other than the oddly placed tempo changes that break the flow, Vermin To The Earth knocks it out of the park once again. I told you in my last review to keep your eye on these guys. (F.Y.I. – I also love it when I’m right.)

9.5/10

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Genre: Thrash

Label: Heavy Artillery Records

It’s always fun to hear about a band that you picked up a demo from at one of their shows has been signed to one of your favorite labels. Even better is when they finally release that much anticipated debut EP. Better still? When their nine track full length album finally hits your ears! Best of fucking all?!  It ends up being the best goddamn thrash album you’ve heard all year!

If the album cover doesn’t give it away, Excruciator play on the darker side of thrash. (Less Tankard more Kreator, you know?) The kind of thrash that can boarder on death metal if one is only kind of listening to it in the background. So it’s no real surprise that Devouring is as fucking fast and fucking vicious as you would expect an album called Devouring by a band named Excruciator to be! Also note that eight of these nine tracks are original songs, the one exception being the immortal Nuclear Exmortus.

Lyrically, Devouring is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Excruciator: Booze, violence, war, glory holes, cheese graters and catheters! Instrumentally, Excruciator  plays tighter and more focus than ever before here. Every solo sounds like it wasn’t a first take “fuck it”. The vocals sound better than previous efforts as well. I mean, I dug the vocals in past releases too. It’s just that here, they sound like true, menacing thrash vocals!

Disciples Of Menace is easily the best new song on the album. It’s got everything! Rage filled lyrics, hot handed thrash riffs, classic drum beats and a wildly driving bass line! Not since the first time I heard Peace Sells have bass chops like that been stuck in my noggin.

And what’s this? Devouring closes with a cover of Onslaught’s Metal Forces?!?!? …no? Oh poo. Nice tease dickholes!

…still and awesome song though.

Overall: Devouring is a 100% thrash attack!!! And you know that Excruciator is only going to get better from here.

9.5/10

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Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Label: Metal Blade

I have been following The Black Dahlia Murder since Unhallowed and they have yet to truly disappoint me (they came close with Deflorate).  Sure, I can go on for ages about Miasma is their best album to date just to despite the nay-sayers, but that’s not what we’re all here for, is it? We’re here for Ritual.

As soon as the atmospheric swell at the beginning of album opener, A Shrine To Madness finished and the band ripped to life, I had to make sure that I was on the right page. I thought I stumbled back onto Job For A Cowboy’s page and I was listening to Gloom again. But after a few seconds, all was right in the world. I was seriously afraid that The Black Dahlia Murder was going to revert to a simple deathcore band for some unknown reason. Thankfully, this is not entirely the case.

Vocalist Trevor Strnad ditches his goblinish screeches ion favor for his superior growls for most of the album. In case you can’t tell, I’m all in favor of this. Long time guitarist Brian Eschbach must not sleep much. I come to this conclusion based solely on the fact that he has consistently for the past eight years continued to astound me with his ability to write masterfully melodic pieces that simultaneously light me ablaze with scorching awesome! Pick a track at random and it’ll be the best work of his career. Guaranteed.

There is one thing however, that I must point out: the deathcore element. Yeah, it kinda sucks. There is a tiny one here and it’s more noticeable than in previous releases. Songs like Moonlight Equilibrium and Conspiring With The Damned have a bit of a forced catchiness to them that almost feels like a reach for a broader audience… do they really need one? I don’t know. It might just be me looking for a flaw that isn’t there. Truth be told, it is completely forgivable and only really puts a tiny black mark on an otherwise stellar album.

Overall: So close to being a perfect album it’s painful! Forget what I said in the opening of this review, Ritual is The Black Dahlia Murder’s best album to date!

9.5/10

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Genre: Dark Ambient
Label: Malignant Records

I’m going to get the one piece of negative shit out in the open about Rasalhague’s Malignant Records’ debut release, Rage Inside The Window: Normally, I love to listen to ambient music when I’m dozing off into night-night land or when I’m floating down a Percocet high… the first time I listened to this album, I was doing both. And I almost shit myself because of it. If this one nasty little bit of coincidence didn’t happen, I’d give Rage Inside The Window a 10/10.

Embarrassing (almost) browning of the bed sheets aside, Rage Inside The Window is a dark ambient outing that’s based on actual events that revolve around an innocent young girl that was neglected and abused by her callous, evil piece of fucking shit mother. The little girl was starved, psychologically and physically tortured and imprisoned in her shit encrusted, cockroach infested room until the proper authorities were altered and came to the rescue… after the girl turned feral.

Every goddamned track places you, the listener, in the urine soaked place of this poor young girl. And you feel it. Rasalhague make damn sure of it with a myriad of tricks: demonic hissing, hellish swells, infernal booms and grating, solid-chunks-of-sulfur-being-bashing-against-your-skull crackles and pops. I don’t think that I’ve liked an album so much that simultaneously make me sick to my stomach…

Overall: Never have I ever been as emotionally jarred by an album… Rage Inside The Window WILL do one of the following things to you: A) It will make you cry. B) Cause you to punch a wall. Or C) Make you question why humanity is allowed to continue thriving when there are people like the monster this album is base on loose in the world.

I did all three.

9.5/10

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Genre: Thrash, Progressive

Label: Sonic Unyon Metal

I’m going to start off this review by saying that I am only a moderate fan of Voivod. Moderate in the sense that I only own three Voivod albums (War And Pain, Nothingface and Killing Technology), but I love them to death! So, the fact that I squealed like a little obsessed fan girl at the announcement of Warriors Of Ice in my inbox should come as no surprise to anyone. “Voivod live… on CD?” I thought. “It’s not at the Roseland, but it’s damn good enough for me!”

Starting off stronger than just about any band I’ve ever heard (be in person or just recorded live) with Voivod, these Canadian thrashers show that time has not, nor will it slow them down! Snake sounds just as pissed off and drunk as ever, stopping between tracks to banter with the audience. Blacky’s opening bass riff in Tribal Convictions is just as bone jarring as anything I’ve heard from him already, as well as any other time we get the privilege of hearing his bass booming through the rest of the band’s super tight performance.

The selection of songs on Warriors Of Ice is a perfect blend of older, more thrashier songs and just as equally old and every bit as cool prog-thrash songs. In other words, they play all of my favorites from the three albums I already own and the others that are new to me are icing of the goddamned cake!

I can’t even really say anything about the quality of the recording! It’s honestly one of the best sounding live albums I’ve ever heard (outside of Nevermore’s Year Of The Voyager). It lets just the right amount of atmospheric pops and feedback bleed through just to let you know that this is, in fact, a live recording. Well, that and the rabid, screaming Canuks in attendance…

Interestingly enough, the song Warriors Of Ice is nowhere to be found on this live album… :(

Overall: Warriors Of Ice is a strong entry in Voivod’s already Herculean library. I recommend this album to anyone who digs Voivod even a little. Please. Indulge.

9.5/10

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