Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

USBM is such a strange beast. There’s a lot of permutations inside of the general genre, and Wolvhammer are purveyors of such a permutation. Blackened vocals over a somewhat punky, crusty music, with touches of death metal and a little bit of old school Scandinavian black metal are tossed together to form what these guys are doing. And it works.
The one thing I think I would have done is put a couple more songs on here. It’s good enough with only six, but it leaves me wanting more.
Fans of fellow USBM bands Blood Cult, Misanthropy, and possibly Bloodthrone should like this,
7.5 out of 10.

Wolvhammer on MySpace.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Moribund Records

One of the oddest USBM bands, right up there in the strange with Tjolgtjar, Blood Cult are very kvlt. Only a handful of people really have a Blood Cult release, and most of those are splits with other bands, released in a very limited number (I think the ‘largest’ B.C. release so far is 200 copies; I might be wrong), and barely marketed. But now, thank fuck, Moribund are releasing a Blood Cult full-length.
If you’ve never heard Blood Cult before, imagine if Ted Nugent, Jimi Hendrix, and Joey Ramone hung out with the guys in 1987 era Mayhem, and recorded their jams.
Yeah. Like I said, strange.
This is not music for everybody, and even the most intensely grim of grim black metal maniacs might not understand what’s going on on this album. I don’t know if I get it, really. But I know I fucking love it. Classic rock solos over blackened rhythms, with grim vocals? Yeah, that shit is here, and now due to Moribund, it’s not going anywhere but to the hardened hearts of the hardcore.
If you’re into strange experiments in metal, you should find this release interesting at the very least. If you’re fucked up like me, you’ll love it too.
9.5 out of 10.

Blood Cult on MySpace.