Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Death Metal, Grind

Label: Dynamic Arts Records

Having let Deathbound’s 2007’s We Deserve Much Worse fly under my radar, I’m just going to have to assume that I must of missed something in the evolution to Non Compos Mentis since this album is heavy! I’m not saying that Doomsday Comfort wasn’t, it’s just that the promo disc I received for Non Compos Mentis weighs about a metric ton more!

Deathbound didn’t abound their grind sound at all since most people nowadays seem to equate a “heavy” sound to “gay” or “mainstream” for some reason.  To be more accurate, Non Compos Mentis is three parts grind, two parts groove and one part old school death metal. They must have been listening to a lot of Rotten Sound since 2005…

In regards to the instrumentation, Deathbound’s guitarist “Pete” is a fountain of tweaked formulaic riffs. Like in Death Come For A Visit; classic subsonic grind riffs with a heavy groove influence. Admittedly there are times when I wish he’d experiment some more, but what are ya gonna do? Vocally, you’ve got your standard, sloppy scream/growl hybrid that gets the job done. Percussions? Forget about it! Blast beats out the ass and little more than snare and crash abuse. Live with it!

Overall: A wholly satisfying album for fans of classic grind and newer schools of death infused metal. If I had it my way, all of the little sound bites that litter the album would cease to be, but they don’t really do any harm. I’m just a pickly old miser.

8/10

Deathbound On MySpace

Deathbound Official

Genre: Gothic Metal

Label: Dynamic Arts Records

A lot of people like to make a big deal when there are chicks (or even a singular chick) in a band. Why? The female of the species loves metal just as much as the male! So stop making a mountain out of that lil’ ol’ mole hill! With that being said… OMG! A CHICK IS SINGING IN THIS GOTHIC METAL BAND!!! Har, har, he-uck!

Let’s get this one straight out into the open: Yes. There are definite comparisons to be made to everybody’s favorite, over-hyped symphonic (not to mention “meh”-lodic) goth rock punching bags, Nightwish. The melodic, females vocals poorly if intentionally, poorly if attempting to be original, mirror Anette Blyckert’s. There’s also a half-assed attempt at symphonic pushes throughout Amortean. Most of which come off as forced and end up only breaking the flow, which is odd since that’s how this album even starts off. It takes a special kind of fail to fuck that up!

On the plus side, there’s an occasional growl thrown in the mix that breaks up the vocal monotony. Also, on a less rare occasion, there a some sweet hardcore inspired riffs and rhythms that kick this more or less mediocre album up a notch.

Oh and there are a few segments in The Cradle Of Nameless that is totaly and completely something that Disney WILL sue for if they ever heard them! Something akin to Bambi haphazardly wondering around the forest, right before his stumbles upon Thumper. Oddly enough, they’re some of the better composed pieces on the album.

Overall: While Amortean is exactly a good album, this is enough here to salvage to recommend at least one listen. If you dig synthesized orchestras and she/he clean vocals with sparsely scattered hardcore riffs, then Amortean may just be your thing.

5/10

Silentium On MySpace

Silentium Official

Genre: Melodic Heavy Metal
Label: Dynamic Arts Records

With a name like Masterstroke, you’ve kind of painted (heh) yourself into a corner, genre wise… luckily, Masterstroke realized that and were prepared to rock your socks off with a new album of fresh ideas in the realm of groove laced melody and heaviness!

I was a fan of Masterstroke’s 2007 album Sleep, so I had an idea of what to expect from these Finnish heavy/melodic metalers. Where Sleep came off as sophomoric in some areas, As Days Grow Darker shows definite growth in many ways. Markus Kekoni’s balls are showing with his more aggressive style of riffing, as well as his overall talent with a six string in songs like Walls Of My Temple and Stillborn. Also showing growth in this outing is drummer Janne Juutinen. In sleep, he was on fire. In As Days Grow Darker, he’s a living firestorm of inventive beats, rolls and (thankfully) conservative blasting!Vocally, Niko Rauhala is still sounding pretty good. No real growth or deterioration, so no complaints there.

On the negative side, there is a snoozer of a song that pretty much kills the flow this album builds up for four tracks: Another Step Back. Sure, a ballad can prove to be a nice break from the headbanging and whatnot, but this one just falls flat. It seems forced and out of place. But hey, thanks for thinking of our necks!

Overall: It may be a little melodic-At The Gates-y meets In Flames-y for some of the more snobbish bitches out there, but As Days Grow Darker is all aces in my book!

9/10

Masterstroke On MySpace
Masterstroke Official

Genre: Modern Thrash, Metalcore
Label: Dynamic Arts Records

Hey! Dynamic Arts Records! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? So how’s every little thing? Yeah, yeah. Man, it’s great to hear from you again! What’s that? You’ve got something for me? Really?! Thanks a ton! I’ll jump right on it!

*And scene*

After sorting through the veritable mountain of promos that I received from Dynamic Arts Records, Dead Shape Figure caught my attention with their odd name. Ok, in the player you go…

Yes! The Disease Of St. Vitus bolts straight out of the gate with some killer thrash riffs and fly into some pretty brutal screams (a la Tomas Lindberg) in album opener Suicide Continental. It builds from there with some metalcore-ish structure and more forward momentum with Seraphim. Along the way, Dead Shape Figure jumps from thrashy-aggressive headbanging metal to melancholic pseudo-metal with little to no notice, rhyme or reason. It’s a good way to keep ‘em guessing while simultaneously alienating your audience.

But then you come upon songs like Face On The Nails that just kill the flow that was building up. The cycle just keeps on repeating itself: Cool song, same kind of cool song, *fart*, etc…

If you really want to break it down, Disease Of St. Vitus just kind of sits there. It doesn’t really try anything new and it doesn’t really leave a lasting impression. I like it. It’s definitely good as a workout album or something to have on in the background when you’re blasting away some Geth or whatnot. Just don’t except many people to be clamoring to hear Idiopolis or Madonna Of Seven Sorrows (although that is a cool name).

Overall: If you’re a fan of Dew-Scented (like me) then you’ll dig Dead Shape Figure’s The Disease Of St. Vitus. Sure it’s far from perfect and it’s not anything special at all… shit. I forgot were I was going with that. Anyway, Disease Of St. Vitus… it’s an album!

6/10

Dead Shape Figure On MySpace
Dead Shape Figure Official

Genre: Hard Rock, Progressive Rock
Label: Dynamic Art Records

I’m not going to lie here… this album was difficult to review/listen too. The songs on Babies Of Revolution are either one of two things: Either 1) Genius or 2) Complete Crap. Seriously, this album probably holds the strangest state of perfect homeostatic symmetry between auditory gold and musical horse shit! Tracks like Panda Girl, Wash My Sins Away and End Of The World are fountains of joy, containing catchy licks, fun vocals and intricate synths. But on the flip side, tracks like Fake, Cherry Pit and Sweet Revenge are rife with junkyard leavings. The vocals sound… off, like during the recording of those tracks, the vocalist had a huge lump of phlegm in her throat and never bothered to hack it out or something. Even the synths sound lacking (which sucks since those are my favorite part of this album), as if the keyboard itself knows that this album has potential, but it’s already been doused in other areas. “So fuck it,” it thinks.

Overall: A mixed bag of entertaining neo-gothic, The Gathering-esque rock/metal and “what the hell were you thinking” garbage. Luckily, it still manages to be entertaining in a couple of ways.

6/10

Manzana On MySpace