Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Industrial

Label: Malignant Records

Oh the excitement! It’s another release from Malignant Records! I’ve been thoroughly impressed with just about everything they’ve sent me in the past so I have high hopes for Portugal’s Sektor 304 and their latest album Soul Cleansing.

From the very beginning, Soul Cleansing is an entirely different animal from past experiences with the dark ambient genre… oh wait. Industrial? OH! I guess that explains the power tool noises and the overall more dense sound. I guess it also explains why they sound a lot like the only other real industrial band I’ve ever heard: Godflesh.

At first, Soul Cleansing sounded to me like I was standing outside of a college metal shop building: power drills, muddled speech and general noise ricocheted out from my speakers, confusing me and my neighbors. I ended up explaining to them that this is considered to be music by some people. When asked if I myself considered it music… I gave a reluctant sigh, followed by a quiet, “Yes.” They then scratched their heads and left me alone

A loud, booming atmosphere envelops the area that you’re listening to this album in at the start of Body Hammer and then slowly starts to lead you away down a path of broken glass, mangled bodies and sudden sulfuric eruptions. But from out of the chaos comes voice. You follow it through Pulse Generator and Power Exchange, hoping that it will show you the way out of this post apocalyptic fourth world. But alas, you find yourself face-to-face with Final Transmission, an eleven minute and sixteen second behemoth of twisted metal and no conscience. It crushes you, leaving you a helpless pile of quivering half-mass. Soul Cleansing now owns you.

Sektor 304 is easily one of the more “edgy” sounding artists on the Malignant Records roster (at least, that I’ve heard) and from where I’m sitting, that gives this band and this album a bit more character. Sure, industrial music isn’t my forte and it sure as hell isn’t anything that I’m deeply versed in. But I’ve gotta tell you that Soul Cleansing is an album worth listening too.

Overall: The obvious fact that I’m not an expert on anything related to industrial music (or anything else at all) aside, my opinion that this album will chew you up and spit you out remains an inarguable fact.

9/10

Sektor 304 On MySpace

Sektor 304 On Facebook

Label: Metal Blade

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

To you, Amon Amarth needs no introduction. You own everything they ever put out, including a badly damaged original copy of their debut demo, Thor Arise. You’ve memorized every lyric from every song from Friends Of The Suncross to No Fear For The Setting Sun. You have even been quoted to say that their cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, “wasn’t that bad.”

You’re a fan.

I say this because… you have to be. Amon Amarth is one of the only bands out there that I have NEVER heard anyone say anything truly negative about. (In my review of Twilight Of The Thunder God, I refer to it as merely a “meh” album. I didn’t shit all over it since it was actually a fine album, it just wasn’t anything we hadn’t heard from them before) On top of that, come on! They kick ass! They manage to integrate incredibly violent Viking imagery, beautiful tales of Norse mythology and some of the most fluid and breathtaking melodic death metal into a compact disc every two to three years (on average) for thirteen years! Therefore, anybody who reads this must be an Amon Amarth fan since everybody IS an Amon Amarth fan! (WOOT! LOGIC!!!)

Surtur Rising is Amon Amarth’s eighth full length album and… you know people say that something is exactly like what they expected? Surtur Rising is that. Now, that may sound like a slam to some. But I assure you that it is not since Amon Amarth have a very distinct sound. If you were to play a few seconds of Destroyer Of The Universe to room full of metalheads, guaranteed, all of them will know that that was Amon Amarth even though they never heard the song before. It’s simply a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Johan Hegg’s vocals remain the same earth rumbling growl, barking out tales of lumbering giants and the ongoing fables of Loke’s treachery (seriously, they finally continued Hermond‘s Ride To Hel – Loke‘s Trechery, Part I from With Oden On Our Side. Did you think they just forgot about it too?). The riffing bleeds a melancholy ferocity that only Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg can produce. Believe me, I’ve actively searched for a better melo-death duo and failed every time. Meanwhile, the drumming on Surtur Rising is one of the few things that’s a noticeable improvement. Not that Fredrik Andersson needed to improve his trade at all, but goddamn it he did. The drum work in album opener War Of The Gods alone is awe-inspiring! But then it just keeps getting better until it plateaus in Live Without Regret.

Apparently, if you pre-ordered Surtur Rising, you get two bonus tracks (both of which are covers): War Machine (KISS cover) and Balls To The Wall (Accept cover). I don’t feel like I missed out…

Overall: Once again, I’m left feeling like I’ve heard this entire album before. I listened to Surtur Rising eight times in a row in order to make sure that I wasn’t just being fickle. But all was for not since even though it sounds like every other Amon Amarth album, it’s still 100% badass!

9/10

Amon Amarth Official

Amon Amarth On Facebook

Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal
Label: Stormspell Records

YES! From the ashes of 80’s powerhouse thrash outfit Sentinel Beast comes a juggernaut of equal fury and greater presence, Fischel’s Beast! Formed by ex-Sentinel Beast guitarist Barry Fischel with the intent to (finally) produce the material that would have been Sentinel Beast’s follow-up EP to “Depths Of Death”, “Commencement”. Each song on this six song EP was either written of partial put together by the old Beast, but was tweaked and completed by the new Beast. “Commencement” is a heavy, power/thrash outing that is more than deserving of your attention if you’ve even heard of Sentinel Beast!

“But Typhon,” you ask, “how does it compare to ‘Depths Of Death’?” Well, it’s a completely different animal. Not better or worse, just different. Of course, “Commencement” was recorded twenty-two years later so it has a more polished (i.e., better quality) sound. Throw a pair of balls on Debbie Gunn and teacher her to carry a tune and you’ve got new blood vocalist Anthony Cross. Helluva guy, this one is! Six string slinger Barry Fischel is in top form as he shreds the shit out of these five (plus an intro) tracks! Add on to this splendidly wonderful package a guest spot from world renowned guitar virtuoso Chris Caffery and “Commencement” blows it’s classic semi-predecessor out of the goddamn water!

Overall: Commencement fucking kills! It’s hard, it’s fast, it’s the natural evolution of metal! Check it out NOW!

9/10

Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal
Label: Heavy Artillery Records

Spellcaster? I LOVE Magic: The Gathering! …oh.

Take 2: Spellcaster? I LOVE Heavy/Speed Metal! And if anyone out of the new wave of bands playing old school metal has this shit down to the letter, it’s Spellcaster. The proof is in the pudding…

Vocalist Thomas Adams is a wrecking ball of NWOBHM style baddassery, showing his potential best in opener (and fan favorite) Chainsaw Champion. Also climbing the ladder straight up to legendary status is guitarist Cory Boyd. Some people say he’s a face melter. That’s only the half-truth. Cory’s so bitchin’, his solos will melt your skin clean off your skull, pick it up, reshape it into a new visage and then reapply it! And while that’s all well and good, second guitarist Tyler Loney refuses to be out done! He riffs and rams this speed metal up your ass (and that’s a painful sodomic event. Have you seen his guitar? Points everywhere!) so hard, you’ll shit molten metal for a year!

I mentioned earlier that Chainsaw Champion is an undoubted favorite of fans of Spellcaster. Well, I’m here to break the norm and proclaim Locked On as my favorite! It’s a song about a space battle for fuck sake! It’s like if Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone was written for Star Wars, not Top Gun… and not lame! Plus, it’s where drummer Shad Covert really gets to show his shit on the kit!

Gripesville: I know that Gabe Franco is in there somewhere. I also know that he’s a beast of a bassist, so it’s a fucking shame that I can’t hear him at all! Also; It’s a five track EP (three studio tracks and two live tracks, one of which is Chainsaw Champion again and neither of which are of good quality) of material that you can’t exactly just listen to once. It does it’s job of wetting your appetite for the full-length album (coming… soon? Hopefully…?), but until then, you’re losing sleep over your hunger for more of Spellcaster’s brand of metal!

Overall: “Ripping and roaring, your head will go soaring…” need I really say more? No. You’re goddamned right I don’t.

9/10

Spellcaster On MySpace

Genre: Melodic Heavy Metal
Label: Dynamic Arts Records

With a name like Masterstroke, you’ve kind of painted (heh) yourself into a corner, genre wise… luckily, Masterstroke realized that and were prepared to rock your socks off with a new album of fresh ideas in the realm of groove laced melody and heaviness!

I was a fan of Masterstroke’s 2007 album Sleep, so I had an idea of what to expect from these Finnish heavy/melodic metalers. Where Sleep came off as sophomoric in some areas, As Days Grow Darker shows definite growth in many ways. Markus Kekoni’s balls are showing with his more aggressive style of riffing, as well as his overall talent with a six string in songs like Walls Of My Temple and Stillborn. Also showing growth in this outing is drummer Janne Juutinen. In sleep, he was on fire. In As Days Grow Darker, he’s a living firestorm of inventive beats, rolls and (thankfully) conservative blasting!Vocally, Niko Rauhala is still sounding pretty good. No real growth or deterioration, so no complaints there.

On the negative side, there is a snoozer of a song that pretty much kills the flow this album builds up for four tracks: Another Step Back. Sure, a ballad can prove to be a nice break from the headbanging and whatnot, but this one just falls flat. It seems forced and out of place. But hey, thanks for thinking of our necks!

Overall: It may be a little melodic-At The Gates-y meets In Flames-y for some of the more snobbish bitches out there, but As Days Grow Darker is all aces in my book!

9/10

Masterstroke On MySpace
Masterstroke Official