Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Heavy, Black, Doom Metal 
Label: Independent

You would not believe the size of the smile on my face when this little gem materialized in my mailbox. I metaphorically splooged all over Inverticrux’s (formally known as Vintage Flesh) last album, Hour Of The Night Gaunts, so my expectations are impossibly high for their 2012 release, Virgin Reaper. With an album title like that, they’re well on their way to meeting those standards. What mysteries were to behold within? Were there any other changes along side the band name? My mind is racing with the wondrous possibilities…

Immediately, I’m ecstatic to find that the schizophrenic genre melding remains in Inverticrux’s own patented style.  Mixing elements of classic heavy metal, some toned down doom metal and slivers of black metal to make something that’s original and easily distinguishable as belonging to these New Hampshire psychopaths!

Holy… was that a harmonica? Fuck yes! I’ve always said that more metal bands should utilize the power found inside this little magical wind instrument! Granted it’s only found in the song A Cautionary Tale, but I’d rather it be in only one track than in none at all. Personal excitement over discovering the use of an under appreciated instrument aside, the overall instrumentation in Virgin Reaper has a crusty, filthiness going for it that rarely gets the praise it deserves when it’s discovered outside of punk or related versions of black metal. I for one am stoked to find it here!

More praise is to be sent vocalist RayPissed’s way! He changed up his vocal tactic this time around by ditching the constant falsetto (which so many others apparently had a problem with) and replacing it with more variety. Gruff, but not tough guy vocals lead the way while being backed up with the occasional higher end tune and and even better still version of his haunting bellowing! The guy is a vocal genius!

The production is another tally in the positive side of things. Everything sounds much crisper than it did in Hour Of The Night Gaunts while still completely down and dirty. And let’s talk about that cover art! The titular character is clutching his recently used scythe in one hand and a bloody cherry in the other while standing on a pile of skulls, surrounded by blood drenched, big titted chicks! Fucking METAL!!!

Overall: Tinkle me pink to find out that Virgin Reaper holds it’s own against it’s predecessor with it’s stylistic variations and crusty similarities! Inverticrux is a band that knocks down genre expectations and will continue to do what they wish, when they wish on into the future and Funeral Rain will be right there behind them, cheering them on all the way!

10/10

Inverticrux On Facebook 

Genre: Death/Doom Metal

Label: None

Ruminations are a fairly new avant garde doom/death metal band, formed in the winter (of course) of 2008 in San Marcos California. I’m not sure if they’ve been strictly active for three years , but as two members have until recently been involved in the similar-but-now disbanded Morbid Gods, I would hazard a guess at not. Pleasantries aside, on to the morbidity!

Their debut demo contains 3 songs, and is opened by the violently blasting “Leafs”. It’s definitely not especially doomy, and is harmed to a certain extent by the fuzzy lo-fi-ness of the demo; the drums are overpowering and  muffle the riffs and vocals. That said, I don’t hold it against them, it’s a rehearsal demo. I think it would be a pretty evil little number if the production was tidied up a bit. It’s the most overtly death metal song here, and I think it sounds like Portal, though that could just be the fuzzy production. I believe this track was written by former guitarist Nocturnal Holocaust, which perhaps explains why it has a different flavor than the rest of the demo.

From the first contemplative notes of the 2nd song “Emptiness Departured” is where this demo really starts to get going. “Emptiness Departured” and the closing 12 minute epic “Luminescent Twilight Re-Dreamed” definitely display the band’s avant garde characteristics. Airy, ghostly riffs abound, especially in the latter, my favorite song on the demo. Ruminations at times vaguely evoke Thergothon, and in other places Katatonia, but never copy another band too directly. The atmosphere is mournful and and grey, but not too depressive. The best way I can describe it is that this is music for sitting alone and staring at the stars.

Overall, this is a good demo, and I would recommend it to any fan of death/doom, funeral doom, or obscure and strange death metal (and anyone who likes the music I champion in Conjuration of the Sepulchral). However, it would benefit from better production, especially if the band plan to expand on the death metal tendencies explored in “Leafs”. I’ll be waiting for more from Ruminations, and would be delighted to hear more material on par with “Luminescent Twilight Re-Dreamed”.

Ruminations on Facebook

Genre: Black Metal, Gothic, Progressive, Thrash, Doom, Your Mom
Label: Independent (But honestly shouldn‘t be)

Yet another entry in the Funeral Rain archives that start out with “I honestly didn’t know what to expect from _____…” But seriously, the ghastly cover art for Hour Of The Night Gaunts and the rude, crude and full of ‘tude approach that the lads in Vintage Flesh have on their Facebook page immediately paint them out to be wildcards capable of anything under the metal sun!

I’ve never been so dead on before. Vintage Flesh is (er… was, as they are now known as Inverticrux) capable of ANYTHING and they show it on their very last album! And while I was scanning the ‘net for intel on these guys, I managed to find nothing but iffy reviews about their “played out” and “why bother” style of metal… but what the hell do “they” know? Hour Of The Night Gaunts is a heavily complex album, full of material that any true metalhead/gothic whatsit should be drooling over by the first note!

Vocalist RayPissed chooses to go down a path that you don’t hear very often in metal of this caliber: falsetto. I’m sure a lot of you are thinking King Diamond right about now, but you’re way off. It’s more of a blackened shriek mixed with a woman in a 60’s sitcom who just saw a mouse. Now those of you who thought King Diamond are all frowny faced. But guess what? Fuck you! I like this style. It’s unique and plays off the rest of the band very well. But Mr. Pissed also manages to throw in these over the top, dramatic semi-soliloquies that HAUNT as well as entertain. Oh, and there’s some excellent growls thrown in there from time to time, generally as an accent or background vocal. At any rate, the vocals are top notch!

I’m not really sure how to continue this review since all I’m going to do is verbally jizz all over the tight musicianship and the virtual ghostly opera that goes down from begin to end. The twelve car pile up of genre melding can go from doomy funeral dirges that give way to scorching black metal riffs that make room for pseudo-power metal melodies in just one track! Substance. This album has it.

Overall: Hour Of The Night Gaunts is a fun, haunting ride from Follow Me To The Grave to While I Wandered Away With Death. If you don’t get what these spooky cats are laying down, then kindly remove the stick from betwixt yer buttocks so that I might replace it with my boot!

10/10

Inverticrux On Facebook

Genre: Progressive, Black, Doom, Death, Sludge
Label: Anthropic Records

I was all sorts of overjoyed to receive this particular album in the mail the other day and let me tell you why; The Green Evening Requiem and their label Anthropic Records (which drummer/vocalist Evan Madden runs) were some of the first people to send material to E-MetalSpace. It’s been about two years but still, it’s always nice to have return business!

I first heard The Green Evening Requiem through their demo from 2005. And I was head over balls in love with their sound! It was a sinister mixture of progressive blackened death metal and it left it’s scorched mark on my soul. And since then, a split, a promo and a full length have passed me by, so I’m a little out of touch with the Philly based trio. But as soon as I popped Decomposer in my player, it felt like I hadn’t missed a thing! They’ve built up a complex, progressive tinge to all of their tracks and added a heftier dose of doomy sludge to the mix! I was in metal-geek heaven! While the heavier vocals sit in this weird blackened hardcore limbonic area, there are some cleans that smooth out some of those bumps. Not to mention the progressively sludgy riffs and intriguing drum choices  that are full of hooks and jabs to your genre biases!

Overall: It’s not exactly what a lot of your would expect from a couple of the dudes in Woe and Woods Of Ypres, but it’s pretty goddamned awesome in my book!

8.5/10

The Green Evening Requiem On MySpace

Also Posted On E-MetalSpace

Genres: Black, Death, Doom
Label: Self Released

Anytime the word “Autumn” appears in the name of a band, I know that quite a few people tend to be a bit cautious. Apparently “Autumn” conjurors up images of mallcore or pitcore kids with whiny vocals, trendy tattoos and coke bottle lenses and black, squared geek-sheik rims… *shudder* flopping about on stage like a bunch of seizing land dancing trout.

Fortunately, As Autumn Calls is the furthest thing from any of that. This Canadian duo of melodic metalers bring a frigid arctic chill with them that they packaged, produced and labeled as, Emotionless. Equal parts, melodic, doom and black metals, Emotionless is a tortured, yet beautiful example of musicianship. This EP has an overall dark tone, but you can’t help but feel yourself getting pulled in several mood related directions. Mixing echoes of clean vocals and ocean floor scraping growls with an ethereally melodic guitar, As Autumn Calls did everything they could to make this three song EP anything but Emotionless.

Overall: A powerful piece of melodic metal, cloaked in a black cape and seated behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeled hearse. A funeral procession with a smoke stack!

9/10

As Autumn Calls on Myspace

Originally posted at E-MetalSpace