Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genres: Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Symphonic Metal
Label: Candlelight

Well holy shit. Honestly I figured I’d be throwing on some thrash when I played this but that is a big resounding no. This is some bonecrushing proggy stuff that’s part Meshuggah and part Dimmu Borgir, who Xerath name drop as influences. Thunderclaps and beautiful keyboards drop off into a maelstrom of brimstone scented riffs and you’re tossed around like a rag doll in a tornado, unable to stop banging your head. Until “Interlude” comes in, at least. It’s a gorgeous keyboard tune that really fits with their “chug-score” style of playing.
If you’re into metal that makes you think, you should check out Xerath. And if you just prefer metal that you can beat the shit out of people in the pit to, Xerath fits that bill too. They’re fucking good.
Favorite tracks are “Nocturnum”, “Interlude”, “False History” (watch for a video of this song sometime soon), and “Abiogenesis”.
7.5 out of 10.

Genres: Black Metal
Label: Godreah Records

Old Corpse Road continue from their first demo with growth into an even better, tighter sounding band on this split CD. The Bones of This Land are not Speechless is an awesome batch of English black metal, infused with classic Celtic/English musical styling and some really cool sounding piano. The guitars, drums, and bass are nice and cold, with seriously kvlt vocals. It’s just great.
9 out of 10.

The Meads of Asphodel’s half of the split, English Black Punk Metal, is only two of their own songs, including a creepy/cool intro with pretty sounding piano and some drones, with sampled speaking throughout. The rest of their half is covers of some classic metal songs, and a blackened version of the Kinks “You Really Got Me”, which is super cool to hear.
8.5 out of 10.

Old Corpse Road on MySpace.
The Meads of Asphodel on MySpace.

This year will see the release of “Alternative Matter”, a 10th anniversary collection of rare and unreleased acoustic versions, demos, live versions, remixes and new recordings of Antimatter material. The 24-track double album will be released in two versions – a deluxe digipack and a strictly limited edition 4-disc premium artbook containing a bonus DVD and EP. More details to follow.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

Old Corpse Road sent me this promo, and I gave it a listen. I like what I hear. It’s a keyboard filled, tremolo picked, and shriek infested disc of black metal, but there’s also softer, prettier elements in it too, specifically on the final song, the 11:23 long “The Oakmen of Naddle Forest”.
It’s a longish demo/EP, about 25 minutes long, and it’s damn good. A nice showing of black metal with touches of Viking, progressive, a little bit of death, and symphonic black metal. If you’ve never heard Old Corpse Road, check them out.
8 out of 10.

Old Corpse Road on MySpace.

Genres: Doom, Gothic Metal
Label: Century Media

Another gorgeous album from one of the best British metal bands ever. It’s a doomy album full of nihilism and depression; in other words, classic Paradise Lost. But like classic Paradise Lost, it somehow leaves you feeling relieved after hearing it. It leaves you feeling re-energized to take on the shit that life throws at you. I personally don’t know how to explain it exactly, but catharsis is here.
I remember when the video for the title track first appeared on the Web, I watched it ten times a day for a week, the song is so powerful. I still watch it often, to be honest. It’s one of my favourite songs ever, and one of my favourite videos too. The rest of the album is just as amazing and just as captivating, some songs taking a more hard rock approach to the Paradise Lost sound, some songs delving deep into the doom side, then there’s songs like “In Truth” that start off so fucking gothic it’s unreal. It’s perfect.
10 out of 10.

Paradise Lost on MySpace.