Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genres: Deathcore, Hardcore, Metalcore
Label: Independent
Format: CD (Physical Promo)

Marry Me, Murder are a local band, who some will remember were one of the bands at the first Funeral Rain Records show. They have since gone on to press some merch and record themselves an ep proper. Five tracks of MMM’s brand of death influenced hardcore is something I’ve been hoping to hear ever since I saw them live. I wondered if they would be able to pull off their show in a studio, and it would seem that they did.
The heavy Killswitch Engage/Sepultura/Alexisonfire style riffage that I loved from these guys is in full force. Vocals are pretty varied, from death growls to clean singing. I just wish I could remember which dude is Dion and which is Rick! Drums and bass are solid, with some gorgeous snap on the snare, but I would have personally brought the bass up just a bit in the mix, or even just turned the mids up a bit more on the amp.
In all, this is a great first EP. Now if only the band credits were present on it…
7.5 out of 10.

Victimology Tracklisting:
1. Cold Blooded Calibers for Cold Hearted Men
2. Ernie Doesn’t Like the Monsters
3. Crepitus
4. Chivalry is Dead
5. Giant Killer Space Bees Vs. Flying Sharks

Victimology Personnel:
Jaydon Bunney: Drums
Jessey Bunney: Guitar
Dion Amphlett: Vocals
Jake Leggo: Bass
Rick Holmberg: Vocals
Matt Reimer: Guitar

Marry Me, Murder on Facebook.

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Metal Blade

As I Lay Dying. (Still with me?)

Yes, we all know them. Some of us LOVE them. Some of us HATE them. But I know that we can all agree on two things:

1) Tim Lambesis has a ridiculously funny last name, and…
2) Decas is a cash grab created to rake it in on the coming of their tenth year as “that band that has no business being on Metal Blade”.

Yeah, there are three brand new tracks, all of which are decent in their own rights. The melodic guitars, built on the foundation that An Ocean Between Us laid down and The Powerless Rise (supposedly) perfected, are pretty much the only thing that stands out as “exciting”. Other than the three new tracks, we have four remixes (club/dub-stepy bullshit) and a re-recorded medley of Beneath The Encasing. Ugh… I promise, I’m trying really hard to be fair here!

But the main focus here are the abysmal covers of Slayer’s War Ensemble and Judas Priest’s Hellion (Why?) and Electric Eye! (There is a cover of the Descendents’s Coffee Mug, but do you really care?) While the instrumentation isn’t bad at all, the vocals, both bellows and clean, just fucking kill any redeeming qualities I could muster.

Is this review even necessary? Those of you who hate As I Lay Dying weren’t going to buy it and were already ragging on them for covering Slayer and Priest, while those of you who love them already have your pre-orders in. Oh well… at least now you know what I think.

Overall: I just can’t help but think that there just wasn’t a whole lot of effort put out by As I Lay Dying in Decas. Like I said earlier, it’s a cash grab for gullible (or supremely dedicated) fans to blow their money on. I’d avoid it if you could help it.

3.5/10

As I Lay Dying Official
As I Lay Dying On Facebook