Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genres: Doom, Melodic Death Metal
Label: The End Records

Chicago’s masters of gloom return once again with eight tracks of dark, death-tinged metal that I just can’t stop listening to.
Head crushing heaviness meets heart wrenching emotion. Cathartic and depressing at the same time, Aphotic was obviously written in the very Temple of the Riff itself. Or perhaps the Novembers Doom rehearsal area. Whichever.
Some of the songs were actually written with more input from the new bassist Mike Feldman, which gives the bass a very different room to breathe in for this album, and with Paul’s voice seeming to be at it’s strongest ever, Novembers Doom look ready to finally take the throne that they deserve.
My favorite tracks are “Buried”, “Six Sides”, “Harvest Scythe”, and the female vocal filled, almost gothic acoustic track “What Could Have Been”.
9 out of 10.

Novembers Doom 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.

Interview with Dave from Brigantia, an Irish Doom band. One that slays. I found out about them through Five Will Die, and loved ‘em ever since. This interview here is ancient, a time machine entry from Funeral Rain Zine’s first forays on MySpace. It’s lovingly reprinted here, with no modifications at all. Enjoy.

What is Brigantia? Who are you, where are you, and what is that racket coming out of my speakers? Also, where did you get the name Brigantia from?

Brigantia are three grumpy old men, unified by a love of doom and weed. Years of listening to all kinds of metal has inspired us to try something of our own. We are paying tribute to the scene that spawned us by believing in the power of the riff and trying to channel the honesty that the old Gods brought to the fore.
The name Brigantia comes from the Celtic high Goddess of the same name, the Christians then proceeded to steal her for their own fabricated saint!

There are several other doom bands in your area. How is it that several bands in the area can have the same genre, but all have different sounds?

Aye, there are more and more doom bands in this country at the moment, the more the merrier I say, I personally cant see any factors that could be attributed to the bands sounding different to each other though, a lot of the guys I know have said that they intended to start as straight doom metal but ended up taking many other influences on board. I love to see what a varied scene we have here at the moment and long may it continue.

When you’re making new music, how does the process usually go?

Slowly.. Ha ha! It usually starts with me coming up with a riff and a bridge, we take it to the practice room, jam the fuck out of it then one of us will add a little extra like a key change or vocal hook, we like songs that will stick in your head without playing a riff over and over a fucking hundred times!

What bands inspire you to create? Is there anything you listen to that would surprise fans?

Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Cathedral, Celtic Frost, MDB, Anathema, Reverend Bizarre, Candlemass, e.t.c. No surprises.

How about non-musical inspiration?

My other passion is for horror movies (ultimate cliché for a doom band!) I fucking love horror…right from the silent era onward.
Most of the lyrical inspiration comes from horror, the stagnant fear of “Death line”, the decadent thrills of “the masque of the red death” or the simple brutality of a film like “Maniac” Doom metal and horror have been linked ever since Sabbath took their name from Mario Bava’s 1963 movie of the same name.

You’ve been playing tons of shows of late, judging from all the show posters I’ve been seeing online. Any paricular memorable shows recently?

Yeah we like to keep the ball rolling! This year’s gigs have all been great but getting to play with Gates of Slumber was a definite highlight for us! We were the second band on the bill that night, played a good show too. All the bands really stepped up to the plate on the night and made it one of those magical nights! Pints were drank, heads were banged, fist’s were raised….Magic!

Who have you been playing with? Any bands out there that you’d like to do shows with?

Five will die, On pain of death, Castero, Shadowmarch, Haietta, Engines of ruin, Crowning glory, Gates of slumber, Procession, Two tales of woe, This weary hour, Thurisaz are a few I can think of this year. We are looking forward to a couple of gigs after the summer with our Italian comrades Misty Morning.. There’s a band called The wounded kings from England that we would love to cross axes with too..
If I was going to be unrealistic I would say check the answer to question 4 for the list!!

What kind of long-term touring plans does Brigantia have? Any European shows? How about polluting Canadian and American soil?

No plans man but we would jump at any chance to gig overseas, be it England, Europe, Canada, the states…to get the opportunity would be savage! At the moment though we are in the process of recording our second demo “Nostradoomus” we have a tune from this on our myspace page entitled “Time machine of doom”

Is there anything else you’d like to add? Some “last words”, so to speak?

Thanks for the interview and best of luck with the zine and label.
To anyone reading this, check out our myspace, listen to the tunes and make sure to say hello!
In doom……………

Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Progressive Death Metal
Label: Pulverised Records

In Mourning’s newest album is a crushingly heavy but beautifully melodic death metal disc. Bringing in little bits of doom, black metal, progressive metal, and straight up rock, I find it hard to find anything bad to say about this album at all.
I’d recommend it for fans of similar fare, such as Opeth, Katatonia, My Dying Bride, and Anathema. Actually, after writing that sentence, I’d say pretty much think Peaceville, and you’ll do fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if Peaceville ended up working with these gents in the future.
8 out of 10.

In Mourning on MySpace.

Genres: Progressive Metal, Progressive Rock
Label: Armoury Records, Mystic Production

Votum were the first of three CDs I chose to review from this package from Eagle Rock, if for no reason it just happened to be the first one I grabbed. And I’m glad I did. This CD is just fucking awesome. It’s like Opeth and Anathema, who the band cites as big influences, but it’s also got some more going on. Mostly due to Maciej Kosinski’s voice, which is deep and full of power, and also Zbigniew Szatkowski’s keys, which are in part atmospheric and ambient, but also at times more traditionally rhythmic. Sometimes atmospherically rhythmic.
The shortest song is just three seconds short of four minutes, with a pair in the 6+ minute and a pair in the 9+ minute range, but they don’t drag on, which is a relief. There are some bands that can do longer song structures, and some that can’t, but Votum are aces at them. I’d love to hear them do a 15 minute song.
As an added bonus for prog rock fans, it’s a concept album in music, lyric, and art, all tied together to give the listener something not just to hear but something to hold dearly to while the somber, dark tunes drag you to a pit of gorgeous bliss.
8.5 out of 10.