Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genres: Black Metal, Doom, Progressive Black Metal
Label: Hypnotic Dirge Records

The Foetal Mind hail from France, a land known for depression, oppression, and rebellion, and from all of that comes French art. Whether it’s music, painting, poetry, it doesn’t matter: French art mirrors France in so many ways. And The Foetal Mind are no different.
I would definitely label this mostly instrumental album progressive, as it pushes the boundaries of what so-called black metal and doom are, mixing the two with some drone and DSBM touches. It’s a slow-moving journey through the genres, taking the listening audience through emotions that range from slightly melancholy to outright depressed, leaving a wellspring of catharsis and inspiration at the end.
Instrumentally, Lord Trowe is intensely talented. The Foetal Mind show off some astounding riffs with great leads and solos peppering the album, making it something that fans of many genres will like.
One of my favorite songs, “Instrumental”, has some electronic sounding drums and a hypnotic doomed prog riff over it that just blows my fucking mind. My absolute favorite song on the album, “Big Crunch”, has some of the best funeral doom vocals I’ve heard, courtesy of Segomaros.
I’d recommend the album for fans of Arch Enemy, Legions of Crows, Monarch, Paradise Lost, and more. If you like metal you should like The Grand Contraction.
8.5 out of 10.

The Foetal Mind on MySpace.

Genres: Black Metal, Blackened Dark Ambient, Drone, Doom, Industrial
Label: Crucial Blast

Mories is back with another album full of terror-fueled and terrifying sounds under his Gnaw Their Tongues banner.
It’s really difficult to describe GTT’s sound as far as genre goes, because there is a lot of different things coming together to create the album. There is definitely black metal and dark ambient, but there’s also a little bit of drone/doom going on, and some industrial embellishments, reminding me of Skinny Puppy’s darker stuff at times.
The black metal is not your average Scandinavian fare, nor even American styled. It’s more like True Mories Black Metal, really. His vocals are tortured, his songs all explorations to the shroud of death on this album, and the ambiance throughout is deep, dark, and fucking horrifying, with the keys and strings coming more to the foreground over the vocals.
If you’re into Aderlating and haven’t checked Gnaw Their Tongues yet, or if you’re a fan of GGT already, just get the CD. You won’t regret it.
9 out of 10.

Gnaw Their Tongues on MySpace.

We have been blessed with a massive offering from the gods! For the first time ever the debut recordings of drone purveyours Earth are available in one concise, beautifully documented capsule. A Beaurocratic Desire For Extra Capsular Extraction contains the entire 1990 Smegma Studios sessions which are the debut recordings from Earth.

Previously available scattered via the Extra Capsular Extractions EP and Sunn Amps and Smashed Guitars CD, this essential collection contains every note from the infamous first Earth recording sessions. All 7 tracks have been carefully remastered by Mell Dettmer. It is actually questionable what mastering if any was done on the original tracks so we entrusted the task into the very capable hands of Mell who has mastered all the other Earth releases via Southern Lord. Bearing exclusive artwork by Simon Fowler and package design via Stephen O’Malley, the end result is a burly, mammoth and crushing audio experience that makes this collection a must have even for the diehards that own previous versions of these recordings.

Earth was founded by Dylan Carlson circa 1989, and in its infant stages contained several different members including Slim Moon (Kill Rock Stars label), Joe Preston (Thrones, Melvins, sunn 0))), High on Fire) and even Dylan’s close friend Kurt Kobain. Unbeknownst to Mr. Carlson at the time was that his seemingly simplistic experimentation with heavy music would literally spawn an entire genre, style and sound borrowing from his musical theories. This collection of the very first recordings is an important insight into understanding the birth of this sound; a foreshadowing of the thunder to come.

Track Listing:
1. A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, part 1 7:22
2. A Bureaucratic Desire for Revenge, part 2 6:38
3. Ouroboros Is Broken 18:19
4. Geometry of Murder 7:22
5. German Dental Work 5:20
6. Divine and Bright 3:02
7. Dissolution 1 7:11

Genre: Doom, Drone
Label: Conspiracy Records

A band name never fit so well with the music they produce. After listening to Ausserwelt for about ten minutes, I felt like I was trapped in a pitch black sub basement of some abandoned saw mill for at least a year. Needless to say with my state of depression brought on by Year Of No Light, I didn’t actually want to finish listening to Ausserwelt.

The next day, I gave Ausserwelt another shot. And yet again, it brought me down with it’s heavy droning doom. I guess it goes without saying that this is one powerful piece of metal! I know that music in most if it’s forms can affect the people who listen to it, but Year Of No Light must of discovered some sort of top-secret endorphin draining frequency or something.

As for my actual feelings towards the album go, I’m a bit mixed. Yes, it’s as I said, powerful. And I’m no stranger to droning, depressing doom (thought it isn‘t one of my favorite genres). But there’s something about Ausserwelt that’s just a little… off. And not like a “trendy” or “ultra protools” off. More like an, “I’ve heard this before almost exactly but I couldn’t tell you where from” sort of way. Ausserwelt isn’t bad by any means, it’s just a little reminiscent/familiar for the wrong reasons. For me at least.

Overall: Year Of No Light built a flip switch in your emotional core, called it Ausserwelt and decided to dick with it until you need to come back to it like a drug crazy homeless person, scrambling to score another hit of depressing droningness. Just don’t expect anything ground breaking and you’ll do just fine.

7/10

Year Of No Light On MySpace

Genres: Avant-Garde, Black Metal, Dark Ambient, Drone
Label: Shadowgraph Records

Another new offering from Aderlating, Devotional Hymns is an instant classic. Some of the creepiest soundscapes Mories has ever put onto disc with some extremely violent sounding vocals, and I’m happy. It’s no wonder why Aderlating has quickly become one of my favourite bands.
The ambience is far from boring, but rather atmospheric and unnerving, like Burzum crossed with Mark Snow. It’s fucking awesome. The whole thing is a trip to listen to, an experience I recommend completely.
If only this was available on vinyl.
9 out of 10.

Aderlating on MySpace.