Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Dark Descent Records

Finnish death metal brutalizers Corpsessed are definitely looking to make an impact with this disc. And what an impact indeed.
Picture your face getting ripped off, fucked, then slapped back onto your skull while getting kicked in the nuts. And that’s only the beginning. This is not just some throwback tribute to the old school of death metal, this is a true monster of the old school.
The disc starts off with a slow, doomy intro with growls and some serious atmosphere. It’s menacing as fuck, a feature that continues throughout the CD.
“Crypt Infester” follows, keeping a slightly doomed feel, with some clean lead sections at the beginning, then going for a crushing main riff. Fucking amazing.
“Nameless Cult” is another atmosphere-of-evil covered song, reminding me a little of Morbid Angel’s earliest stuff. It’s definitely slower moving, dragging you along through it’s horrors. When it speeds up the atmosphere doesn’t dissipate, but rather thickens, bringing your head to bang with or without your consent. The only thing I honestly wish was different with this song is it’s length; it’s too short.
“Altar of Worms” is  a heavy assault of metal, picking the pace up a little from “Nameless Cult”, but not by much. The doom feel is a little less pervasive, but still elements are there, which I’m loving.
“Massgrave” is the longest track on the album at 5:15, and it takes over from “Altar…” with barely a pause. It’s so good that even at the five minute mark it’s not getting boring. The doom is back a little, mostly in the vocals, very much reminding me of funeral doom type throatwork.
The title, and final track, starts off all ambient and droning, for almost a minute, then just kicks you down another set of stairs with the fastest, most brutal track on the disc. Pure ferocity, and yet somehow these guys can keep that element of atmosphere, that thick cloud of horror around your ankles. Just great.
In other words, I love this album. I can’t wait for it to be released, I’ve got the CD preordered right now.
9 out of 10.

Genres: Doom, Hardcore, Sludge
Label: Anthropic Records

Philadelphia’s own Anthropic Records lets another free compilation CD out of it’s doors, and it’s chock full of Philly’s greatest doomsayers and sludge masters.
It features tracks from Bubonic Bear (“Throat Cancer Mountain”, 8), Wormrider (“Heroic Brew”, 7), The Green Evening Requiem (“Debilitation Tide”, 9), Ladder Devils (“Pyramid”, 8), Distress Signal (“Untitled”, 7), Thee Nosebleeds (“Fenderhead”, 7), Deathbeds (“Danny Husk”, 9), Vulcan (“Stranger in Black”, 7), and Dirt Worshipper (“The Absence of Color and Light”, 9).
In all, it’s pretty fucking sweet, and a good way to wreck your eardrums. If you’re into doom and sludge, it’s perfect, especially since it has a nice hardcore edge to some of the songs to throw in some variety.
8 out of 10.

The following was issued by California-based death horde Gravehill in regards to their forthcoming album, When All Roads Lead to Hell, and the band’s new label situation.

“Gravehill has spent the past several months in seclusion finishing our new album When all Roads Lead to Hell. We had several songs already written before we undertook the “Campaign Tour” last summer. When we invited Hellfiend (aka Matt Harvey of Exhumed) to join the band full time, we spent the time necessary to either “re-evaluate” or completely ditch what we had. Thankfully most of the music was used and with Hellfiend’s input we felt we had eight songs worthy of recording.
We entered Trench Studios in March 2011 with John Haddad and laid down all drums, guitars, bass and vocals… most of the tracking was pretty effortless and relaxed, we either had an idea of what we wanted or we’re just really good at convincing each other we knew what we were doing? The most common question asked regarding this record is “How does it compare to Rites of the Pentagram?” All bands always respond with “This is the best record we’ve ever done, the last album pales in comparison and blah blah blah…” The best way to respond to that is simply “Ryan Butler!” When we left Trench Studios making the RotP record we were happy with the result, obviously some things could have been better or even worse if you think about it? But the song writing and over all rawness of the band did shine through! However by 86′ing Zyklon-A out of the band last summer and bringing in Hellfiend just offered a wealth of alternatives, one of them being the new Exhumed record All Guts, No Glory! Ryan Butler of Arcane Digital did all the guitar, bass and vocal tracking for that record. Hearing the wall of guitars really made an easy decision to provide the WARLTH record to Ryan to mix and master. We also laid down four guitar rhythm tracks unlike the two we used on RotP! The end result is this heavy as fuck, pissed off, intense, faster and dare I say “mature” record? Considering all the trials and tribulations we had with RotP as well as a less than stellar line-up; up to this point anyway, When All Roads Lead to Hell might as well be our first record! We are that proud of this record, love it or hate it, we have made the best fucking Death Metal record we ever wanted to hear!
When it came to deciding on who would be releasing this album we had an easy decision with Dark Descent Records. Matt Calvert came highly recommended and after a few short discussions we made accordance for a May 20th CD release; right in time for our appearance at The Maryland Death Fest!”

Drummer Thorgrimm had this to say about Dark Descent Records:
“We are very lucky to find one of the hardest working labels out there right now! They may be a small upstart label but Matt’s work ethic and care in his bands and his label is impeccable! We are very confident that this release will reach far beyond our previous work and are very glad that Dark Descent Records is leading the way! HAIL HELL!”

Matt Calvert of Dark Descent Records had this to say:
“I was extremely intrigued to hear the new songs the band had come up with when I was approached by them to release the new album. What I heard was dedication to not only produce great songs but the ability to capture the true spirit of metal. Dark Descent Records is very excited to be a part of When All Roads Lead to Hell.

Mike Abominator continues: Gravehill are also very happy to announce that When All Roads Lead to Hell will also see a 12″ vinyl release with Chaos Records! Our friend Victor Hernandez Gil made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, and seeing this release on vinyl is very important to Gravehill! Look for its release in early July 2011!”

Mike on Chaos Records: “We needed a connection that could help us outside the U.S. So the plan was to build a strong team of death that could help us spread our plague worldwide. Victor and Chaos Records were our first choice to attack down in Mexico. We have the utmost respect for the Mexican metal fans and look forward to infecting even more down there! It was a great surprise that Victor also had connections set up in Europe as well, so we killed 2 posers with one stone so to speak! Europa will also be infected now! Hail Victor and Chaos Records for being a part of our Horde of Death!”

Victor Hernandez Gil of Chaos Records states:
“It’s great to welcome Gravehill to the Chaos Records Familia, we cannot wait to release the vinyl version of When All Roads Lead to Hell. Gravehill have developed themselves over the past few years as one of the most exciting live acts in the American Metal scene. Many thanks to Gravehill for their trust in Chaos Records! Horns up!!”

When All Roads Lead to Hell will be out on May 20th (with the vinyl treatment coming in July).

Genres: Progressive Death Metal, Technical Death Metal
Label: Willowtip

In the span of forty-five minutes and forty-one seconds Gigan not only push their own envelope, but the envelopes of pretty much all of technical and progressive death metal bands.
A mindblowing (fuck bending, it’s outright gone) adventure through the cosmos as only these Chicago natives can do, Quasi-Hallucinogenic Sonic Landscapes is perfect for many reasons, most notably that you can hear it in the background, driving, or you can listen to it, with headphones and a darkened room. It’s not a one-way road with Gigan, it’s a multi-lane highway of listening choices.
It’s also perfect because it’s just a solid fucking album. Sure, it’s prog and tech, but it’s also got songs in it, which is what ultimately makes or breaks an album. If you have no songs, just a bunch of wankery, that’s all you have. If you, like Gigan, have songs, you have albums, fans, and the thing that keeps you in the music business, sales.
Which brings me to my final point. This is gonna be on colored vinyl, as well as CD. So don’t be an ass, and buy this album. I ordered the vinyl before I even heard the promo tracks.
10 out of 10.

Gigan on Facebook.
Gigan on Myspace.

Genres: Doom, Metalcore
Label: Independent

Yeah, I said it. I don’t know exactly if I mean it, but this wicked fucking disc has elements of metalcore in it. Picture traditional doom in the ways of Black Sabbath, Orange Goblin, and the like mixed with a touch of Killswitch Engage.
But I can’t even quantify how much KSE is in it. It’s an odd fucking listen.
And I love it!
But I don’t understand it. This is going to have to take some serious repeat listening.
If you want your doom to make you wonder if it is in fact doom and not doomcore or whatever, get some Mordant Soul in your CD player. Cuz wow.
9.5 out of 10.

Mordant Soul on MySpace.

NOTE: This is an old review, moved here from the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace. Mordant Soul have unfortunately split up since it was first posted back in December 2009.