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: Deathcore
Label: Earache Records

Right from the start of Maniacal Miscreation a drill begins to quickly enter my brain, taking the route through my ears. But rather than being completely sharp, there are sections that are blunted, adding a punching force to the fast spinning, oversized bit that is turning my headmeats into mush.

This must be where the band takes their name from.

“Epileptic Strobe Entrapment”, the opening track, doesn’t let up once, and it isn’t until the second song, “The Bald Cadaver” that we’re afforded a small breather, right at the start. For three seconds. Then the carnage begins again, the blood flowing from my skull rather nicely now. Thankfully, “The Bald Cadaver” has a couple spots where one can take a breath, but “Open Casket Priapism” starts up and the real pummeling begins. There are sections of the track that remind me a bit of newer Cannibal Corpse, with some pig squealing sections tossed in for fun, and there aren’t much slower spots until after the four minute mark. Definitely some moshing sections though, if that’s your thing.

“Entombed in Butchered Bodies” begins with a slaughterfest, filled with Cookie Monster and Miss Piggy in a bear trap vocals, and surprisingly their singer is pretty understandable throughout. Any death metal fan can generally attest to needing a few listens or a lyric sheet to get what’s being said, but for much of this song it wasn’t needed. The track middles and ends with a slaughterfest, followed by more slaughterfest in “Mangled Post-Burial”, which has a more groove-based section, a welcome respite from the pure speed displayed in the first four songs. It’s also the shortest song on the album, not even three minutes long.

“Flesh Reflects the Madness” has some furiously fast riffing and blasts that for whatever reason give a feeling of horror that makes you want to run. In a good way. Think good horror movies, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or House of 1000 Corpses, when victims are getting chased by the psychopath and you, the viewer, don’t want them caught. But in this song, you’re the victim. Cerebral Bore are the psychopath. But, like the movies, you get caught. And you die.

The title track “Maniacal Miscreation” starts off with a more classic death metal sounding riff and growl, stripping away the ‘core for pretty much the entire track. There are still elements with a pig squeal delivery of some vocals and a slow ass breakdown that is far too short for my liking, but for the most part it’s straight up DM.

The final song, “24 Year Party Dungeon” starts fast and stays fast, keeping more of the classic death metal delivery from“Maniacal Miscreation” but adding more deathcore to it, which makes for a really good track. A suitable closer for a pretty fucking good album.

In the end, my cerebrum has been well destroyed, as have my ears, but not once did I get bored. Cerebral Bore, despite being a genre that I normally don’t like at all, have created a disc that I do like, and will probably return to for listening pleasure.

7 out of 10.

Cerebral Bore on Facebook.

Genre: Deathcore, Nu Metal

Label: Century Media

My second review in a row that might cause the bile rise to the back of your throat if you’re one of those people who hates deathcore with a burning passion. Yep, Suicide Silence refuses to listen to public opinion and kill themselves just so that they can release their third Century Media release, The Black Crown.

That first paragraph may be a little misleading since I actually dig Suicide Silence. I own all three of said albums and loved The Cleansing and liked No Time To Bleed. But this album… I don’t know. There is something about it that became clear after a few listens that may shock some of you and make other go, “Fucking duh! Moron.”

Upon listening to The Black Crown one night in bed, I had a flashback to my junior high days, when I used to listen to what I know now as Nu Metal. Why? Why, when listening to this album, did I suddenly remember what it felt like to listen to Korn and Stabbing Westward? Well, let’s go down the list:

1) It’s uber popular by way of high schoolers and the MTV type masses.

2) Gratuitous swearing.

3) Overly repetitive, clean hooks that only appear to differentiate from one another by a note or two.

4) That incredibly stupid vocal style where the vocalist whisper-whines/half speaks into the microphone in a pseduo-seductive or possibly in his head, artsy manner.

5) Teenage poetry slam-esque lyrics.

“Slaves! To substance, eeah! That makes you a slave!
You’re fucking worthless!
I’m gonna sit back with my shades on
watching you make all the same mistakes we all went through.
Everything that I’ve been through that I regret,
I’m watching you use now ever since we met.” – taken from Slaves To Substance

6) For fuck sake! Johnathan Davis does guest vocals on Witness The Addiction. (NOTE: Having not listened to a single Korn song since 2001, the sound of Davis’s voice was a shock to the system. “Fuck, I used to think his voice was appealing?”)

If any of you are still reading after all of that, I think you should know that there are still some positive things about The Black Crown. Mitch Lucker’s vocals are still brutal as hell if not a little grating after the halfway point of the album. Alex Lopez is consistently a fucking beast on the kit. At least when he can be, since a lot of the songs don’t actually let there be a whole lot of pick up and/or are played mid-paced. Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun have a few interesting licks that are sandwiched between lazy string scrapping effects and non existent solos… shit. Everyone of those complements were backhanded, weren’t they? Man, I was actively trying to find nice things to say about this album and when I finally found some, I still ended up shitting on it!

And for some reason, Frank Mullen provides guest vocals on the track, Smashed (by the way, Effigy Of The Forgotten > Suicide Silence’s whole catalog). Umm… does anyone else find this a bit more than surreal? To me, this is like if Bob Kane teamed up with Rob Liefield on a One Shot. The originator of something great and one of the critically viewed, worst things to happen to that same something.

Overall: Everything you really need to know about this album is in the video for You Only Live Once. Sure it’s got a couple of fun aspects but by the end of it, you’ll probably want to shoot a couple of the members too.

4.5/10

Suicide Silence On Facebook

Genre: Deathcore

Label: Century Media

Ah. Once again I find myself face-to-face with controversy. I have been defending Winds Of Plague since 2008… and they have been making it harder and harder to do so since then. But you know what? I like what I like. That’s it and that’s all.

Winds Of Plague (for those of you who don’t know) are a deathcore band that popped up around the same time metalcore kinda morphed into deathcore. So depending on who you talk to, their either a shitty metalcore band or a shitty deathcore band. I personally found their first album (Decimate The Weak) despite all it’s faults, incredibly refreshing, fun and overall an enjoyable experience. Their second album, The Great Stone War was a more mature outing. It gained them a broader audience due to the more technical approach. Let’s see what direction these deathcore trend setters going in with Against The World.

Well, they dropped about 40% of that technical stuff I was just talking about. The drums are still fucking killer, but they sacrificed a bit in the structure department. Songs like Against The World and Drop The Match seem like they were lazily churned out a few years ago. Meanwhile, songs like Refined In The Fire and Built For War boast incredible keys and rippin’ bass sections that eclipse the material in The Great Stone War  tenfold! I’m a bit conflicted…

But once again, Johnny Plague’s vocals are (mostly) top notch. His deathy growls and hardcore belts are still signature, while the blackened screams are still a little iffy. The only vocal choice that I have a real problem with are the goddamn rapcore sections! I swear that if Winds Of Plague dropped this aspect of their sounds, more people would take them seriously. THIS type of thing isn’t helping them at all!

Winds Of Plague has another little quirk that tends to rub people the wrong way, but I don’t mind one bit: guess vocalists. Now, a lot of bands have guest musicians appear in their albums for one reason or another. But for some reason, guest vocalists seem to annoy people. I mean, I can kind of see that here since John Mishima should just fucking join Winds Of plague as their hype-man or something since he’s been on EVERY Winds Of Plague album! Other than that, Martine Stewart (of Terror) makes his second appearance and irritates the fuck out of me for doing so since his only guest work is done in the abysmal track, California (see above link). Drew York of Stray From The Path and For Today’s Mattie Montgomary act as decent reserves for Johnny, but don’t really offer all that much in way of variety. The only guest that adds anything worth giving a damn about would be Jamey Jasta (Kingdom Of Sorrow, Hatebreed, etc…) and his contribution to Built For War.

Oh… and James “The Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig does all the vocals for the track, The Warrior Code. I scratched my head for about an hour after figuring that one out. The track is kinda cool, but it more or less sounds like the ravings of a madman more than an inspirational mantra.

Overall: Against The World is a more than fitting title to this album since Winds Of Plague will more than likely feel like they’re fighting against the world for the rest of their career due to their continuously ghetto metal sections and trendy fashions. But fuck it all if they don’t manage to be entertaining through it all!

7.5/10

Winds Of Plague On Facebook

Genre: Death Metal, Deathcore

Label: Metal Blade

You know, maybe I was too hard on these lads when I reviewed their live performance with The Ocean and Cephalic Carnage. Maybe I was just put off by the heat and smell of ass that an overcrowded venue tends to permeate. Maybe… just maybe… I’m ready to give these guys another chance at winning me back.

Ok Gloom, let’s see what you’ve got to offer me…

::Fifteen minutes and thirty seconds later…::

FUCK!!! It’s still shit! Well polished, brutal, catchy shit!

…goddamn, I’m confused. I’m pretty sure that I don’t very much like what I’m hearing, but I honestly can’t stop listening to it. Jonny Davy’s vocals are just as mundane as ever and the lyrics all but scream mediocrity. But try as I might, I can’t fault the drumming. That skin punishment (in any of their release that I’ve heard) always gets my head banging. And before I forget (be it on purpose or out of simple retardation) the guitars are pure riff madness! Four tracks, innumerable amounts catchiness. ::Sigh::

Argh! I keep bouncing back and forth from, “Yeah. It’s actually pretty good.” to, “Fuck! Why am I listening to this fucking thing again?!” and it’s about to drive me crazy! I mean, there’s not a single original thing about this release! It sounds like Job For A Cowboy. If somebody was driving down the road, doing sixty while I was waiting for a bus, the bass alone would make me go, “That dumbass speeder was listening to Job For A Cowboy!” What kind of foul magic spell was cast upon this EP to make this review so damned perplexing?

Overall: I’m almost ashamed to say it, but I guess I enjoyed this EP. It’s probably what a lot of you are anticipating/dreading you’ll hear blaring out of Hot Topic as you make your way to Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. But for all its head scratching faults, it was still entertaining. And overall, that’s what I really ask of my metal.

7/10

Job For A Cowboy Official

Job For A Cowboy On Facebook