Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Black Metal, Depressive Black Metal, Post Metal, Post Rock, Shoegaze
Labels: ATMF

The crushing beauty of shoegaze and post metal combined with the savagery of raw black metal make up the first track off of Everything, “Forever Never Fails”. It’s like a year of pure urgent emotion turned into a five minute and thirteen second long song. And it alone is worth the money for the album.

“Formlessness” comes next, with very My Bloody Valentine sounding music and Sargeist/Craft vocals. If this doesn’t get your heart moving, you’re probably dead. It differs from “Forever Never Fails” primarily in the bass work, lending it less of an urgency and more of a solemnity. Oddly enough, it is also exactly five minutes and thirteen seconds long.

“Absence of Contrast” contrasts nicely with “Formlessness”, it’s piano lines and bass setting off a nice throb to inhale opium to. “We All Fall” takes a more post rock feel despite the savagery of the vocals. Spoken words make an appearance as well, an interesting and nice change up. “Nothing/Everything” takes a more depressive black metal via shoegaze feel. The keyboard work here is exemplary, taking more of a lead then a coloring overlay.

“Her Dress as a Poem, Her Death as the Night” flows with a deep melancholy, deep bass carrying you through an ocean of keys with waves of guitar crushing you down, under. This is utter depression in musical form, and it’s beautiful and cathartic, another song worthy of being worth the album’s price. I just wish it was longer.

“I am the Veil” would feel like an indie rock song if it weren’t for the key drones in the back and the blackened vocals. The keys come forward as pianos and make it even less indie rock and more post metal/depressive black. “Cold Spring” is totally the opposite, going straight for post metal/shoegaze from the start, a heart stopping vocal performance that upon repeat listens continually drags you through varying emotional states.

Despite “Cold Spring” being a great song, the final track “Rain” trumps it easily, and is one of the best songs on the album. Guitar feedback and keyboards blend over a slower, higher pitched bass line, with sung vocals making a brief appearance. The song as a whole has a feeling of a triumphant ending, which it is for the album. Wonderful.

As a whole, Everything is a gorgeous album that takes the listener through many parts of the emotional spectrum. There is joy here, there is sadness, there is anger, and there is even love. But it all takes on a melancholic darkness that is hard to shake off after listening. I highly recommend getting this, especially if you’re a fan of My Bloody Valentine, Autumn’s Grey Solace, Jesu, Darkthrone, The Cure, or Cry.

10 out of 10.

An Autumn for Crippled Children on Facebook.

Genre: Black Metal, Industrial
Label: ATMF

I remember one time I had this really fucked up dream that I was in a similar situation that the cookie cutter, maniac fodder that populated the Hostel movies was in. As I was stumbling around in my drug induced stupor, something similar to the contents of Radikale Randgruppe was blaring over the discothèque’s sound system. Whether or not what I heard in-dream was a product of my genius subconscious or if it was my mind making sense of what European club music would sound like through Roofie addled ears, reasonable men could differ…

Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, Disiplin is the brain child of General K (that guy that was in Dissection, Myrkskog and countless other awesome bands), so you know what to expect; it’s definitely way up there in the (as Nathan Birk put it for me) Mindfuck department. From the get go, Disiplin shows that experimentation is something that is to be tackled dead on! Seemingly eerie soundscapes and other odd atmospheric choices are rampant from beginning to end. Yet, for reasons unknown, they feel completely organic in their occurrence.

I’m not sure if all of the intense distortion is intentional or if it was due to low-fi recording or what. But I can tell you that for the first couple of tracks, it’s pretty cool. Almost innovative in some aspects. But after the fifth track, you just wish it’d stop. I actually started to hear it in the album I listened to after the first play through of Radikale Randgruppe. (I had to make sure that it wasn’t just my speakers. It wasn’t.) Oh well. Small potatoes, I guess.

Overall: Radikale Randgruppe is a head twisting, face first dive into a world of grim fuzziness were society has collapsed and people eat children to survive in a post-nuclear war ravaged world… I think. It may sound different to you.

8/10

Disiplin Official
Disiplin On MySpace

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: ATMF

Apparently their third and final full-length, Semen Datura throw down some very impressive black metal riffing, taking their black metal into far more progressive areas, areas that I have not heard explored before.
Mixing thrash and rock elements inside with traditional black metal and jazz drumming, Einsamkeit is awesome. The vocals are great, ranging from traditional blackened shrieks to spoken passages, while the guitars sway from genre to genre at the drop of a hat. Bass and drums are solid rhythm, switching up the genres as quick as the guitars.
Reminding me of Lifelover and Deathspell Omega, my favorite tracks are “Unter Bleigvanen Wolkenlasten” and the title track.
8 out of 10.

Semen Datura on MySpace.

Genres: Black Metal, Doom, Post Rock
Label: A Sadness Song/ATMF

An Autumn for Crippled Children present a genre-bender of an album that is easy to get Lost in. And I mean it. It’s quite a beautiful sounding album full of post rock passages that flow into crushing doom, then kicks your face in with black metal gladiator boots.
Emotionally, this album is everywhere, just like the sound, but it’s not the type of everywhere that is like forced schizophrenic ideas, but a more genuine sense of the emotional spectrum. It’s got great riffs, spectacular drumming, and a voice that brings my spirits down and uplifts them simultaneously.
If you’re into depressive black metal, this might be your cup of tea. Doom and post rock fans will definitely find something here in AAFCC to bang their heads to. Traditional black metal purists might have some trouble with the album, but those with more open minds should enjoy it immensely. I know I love it, and recommend it totally.
8.5 out of 10.

An Autumn for Crippled Children on MySpace.

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: ATMF

Rarely do I completely agree with a label’s hype machine when it comes to their releases. There may be points within that I’ll agree with, and sometimes I’ll completely disagree with it. But for Nyseius, I agree wholeheartedly with what ATMF is saying about this album. And so, I’ll actually quote what the label says:

“Brimming with a hideous energy born from a true understanding of the occult, cult French black metal band Nyseius make their full-length debut with Militiae. Frightening in focus, pure and total energy harnessed through metaphysical magick, the strict and stoic Militiae wholly evokes its title, deftly balancing ancient Scandinavian classicism with a thoroughly avant-garde approach. Dissonant and twisted yet free-flowing in its iciness, Nyseius create black metal that spans generations, both timeless and modern, traditional yet forward-thinking.
”

This album is truly great. Not perfect, and definitely not for everyone, and this includes hardcore fans of black metal, though I suppose you could say that about a lot of things – not everything has the universal appeal of Foxy Bingo or legendary bands like Sabbath and Maiden. I can see many people talking shit about Nyseius, simply because it’s not completely 100% trve or kvlt. (But then again, I hear “fans” talking shit about their favorite bands all the time, proving that no matter what some people just can’t be satisfied.)
There’s awesome keys happening, with touches of symphonic black metal, and guitar work that is pretty much what I’ve been looking for in black metal for awhile now, and drumming that will drop some jaws.  The sheer speed of the drumming alone is enough, but then the fact that the man is doing things with technicality, not just straight blasting, it’s amazing. The bass is true black metal bass: practically non-existent. But I think the star of the show, if not lyrically, is vocally. How this man has a throat left is defying logic.
Favorite tracks are the title track, “Lueur d’une Lune Morte”, and “Endless March”.
The album drops in April, the 19th to be exact, and I think you should buy a copy.
9 out of 10.