Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Southern Lord

Pushing black metal into further left field regions, while keeping it firmly rooted in it’s origins can’t be an easy feat. But Wolves in the Throne Room seem to do it just fine, perhaps even making it an easy feat after three albums and two demos before Celestial Lineage.
Musically, this album is beyond what many people would call black metal. WITTR are taking cues, it seems, from Isis (whose own Aaron Turner makes chanting appearances on “Subterranean Initiation” and “Permanent Changes in Consciousness”), Xasthur, Leviathan, and even touches of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Junius with some classic American rock leanings, as well as Darkthrone, Celtic Frost, Emperor, and even Dimmu Borgir at times.

The artwork for Celestial Lineage is amazing. Photographs, presumably taken near Calliope, depict a peaceful, beautiful rural setting, with Nathan and Aaron in the distance in a falling-down forest on the back cover. The sleeves for the records are equally photographed, featuring mountains, forest, and a deforested area as well. The vinyl itself for both records is some of the blackest I’ve ever seen, the sheen on it is magical, and at 180gm the platters have a good weight.
In all, it really meshes together, the physical beauty of the records and the auditory beauty that is on the records.

“Thuja Magus Imperium” is in many ways a classy black metal song. It starts off ambient-infused and has Jessika Kenney singing wonderful vocals, then Nathan takes over with his blackened lungs and riffs. A wonderful solo happens in it, which in the notes is called the “Black Acid Solo” (a perfect name for it), and it’s performed by Milky Burgess. The main riffs are reminiscent of slower Darkthrone, with a very haunting quality to it that brings Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk to mind.
“Permanent Changes in Consciousness” is very much an ambient track, with wind and meditative chanting being the main sounds. There is a wonderful underlayer of percussion and windchime-esque sounds. Lovely, but far too short for such a great ambient gem.
“Subterranean Initiation” starts off fast and hard, keeping the wind sounds but turning them into a gale rather than a breeze. If the more cinematic elements of modern Dimmu Borgir were performed by Celtic Frost, this song might result. Very strong riff structure that moves you along, rather than allowing you to come with it, is combined with beautiful keys. All of this gets stripped away for a short time, however, and we are left with only a bare guitar momentarily, and the song slows right down for about a minute, only to return to it’s Celtic Borgir beginnings. Faith Coloccia does additional chants on this song, with Timb Harris writing and performing the “uprooting string arrangements”.
“Rainbow Illness” is another instrumental, led primarily by keys and possible field recordings. Really good, but again, too short.
“Woodland Cathedral” seems to be the baby of Jessika Kenney, with her taking control of choral vocal performance, arrangement, lyrics, and organ. The woman is amazing, her voice strong and uplifting, while her organ work really brings you down to earth. This is almost in no way a black metal song, other than the undertones of guitar, bass, and drums, which slowly come closer to the fore, which makes it even more of a black metal song, to me. This song really reminds me of parts of the Treasure album by Cocteau Twins.
“Astral Blood” starts off as a total second wave black metal song, with riffing and drumming sounding like a drier Darkthrone, until the keys kick in at least. Then it becomes all Wolves in the Throne Room. Thick vintage tone comes from their amps, and analog synths bubble up; no longer is this dry. Wet with emotion, “Astral Blood” may well be my favorite song on the album. I love the harp/wind section by Zeynep Okyu Yilmaz at the 4ish-minute mark. It’s just so moving, it’s hard to concentrate on anything else. Honestly, this whole song is like that. It definitely pulls at the heartstrings.
“Prayer of Transformation” picks up on the ending of “Astral Blood”, then morphs into it’s own lumbering beast. The entire song moves at a slow pace, bringing a doomy flavor to the occult lyrics. The synths are just brilliant, and what I think is more field recordings make quiet undercurrents throughout. There is nothing extreme about this song, except Nathan’s vocals, but the whole is extremely moving. I could sleep to this, and perhaps have the most pleasant dreams of bringing the dead back to golden life. The ending is great, with the keys and guitars coming up into a crescendo, then dropping off into ambiance for about a minute.

This is where, as the final record begins to click the fact that it is over, you turn off your record player, take off the record, put it back into its sleeve, and put the first one on the turntable again, and take the spiritual and emotional journey once, or even twice more. I could listen to this album, and only this album, for days. It is spellbinding and gorgeous. Beautiful. Perfect.
10 out of 10.

Wolves in the Throne Room on Facebook.

Genre: Blackened Death Metal
Label: Abyss Records

Abyss Records is one lucky label. They’ve picked up Fester, one of the truly original black/death bands from Norway, and are in the process of re-releasing some of stuff, including the classic Silence from 1994.
Reminding me a lot of Cynic’s work, with more blackened elements, there is a reason this album is an underground classic. It kicks ass!
The technicality of the instruments is a lot higher than most black metal, with some gorgeous sounding clean parts and evil distortion.
Vocally, Bjørn “Tiger” Mathisen is one of the most understandable blackened vocalists ever. You can actually hear what he’s saying, he is enunciating, and the style is not shrieked but rather a rough smoker’s voice; a cross between death growls and black shrieks. This has brought him close to the front of my favorite vocalists.
I definitely recommend this for fans of melodic black or death metal, especially fans of Cynic and Dissection.
8 out of 10.

Fester on MySpace.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

It would seem that Matthew P. Davis has created something relatively new in black metal. And I’m liking it.
Picture a little bit of early Cradle of Filth, some Morgul, and some Moloch put into a blender with a flaming Bible and two shots of Jack Daniel’s. Add a dash of Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, and Labyrintheory is a winner.
A nice demo of five songs, In Memoriam is an impressive first start for this band.
7.5 out of 10.

Labyrintheory on MySpace.

NOTE: This is an old review, moved here from the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace.

Candlelight Records today confirms September 28 as the North American release date for In the Absence of Light, the second full-length album from black metallers Abigail Williams. Recorded at Conquistador Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, the album was mixed by Peter Tagtgren (Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Celtic Frost) and features artwork by Farron Kerzner (Nachtmystium, Lightning Swords of Death).

In The Absence of Light is true to the rules of black metal. The vocals are harsh and shrill, sounding like the product of a lacerated larynx. Guitars buzz, rip and roar alongside articulate, rapid licks and blazing solos. Drums slam and crash like exploding mortar shells, whether battering with blast beats, double-bass rolls or syncopated snare hits. And there is just the right amount of haunting keyboard washes, a noted difference to the band’s previous album In The Shadow of a Thousand Suns. Vocalist/guitarist Sorceron notes, “There is a lot less keyboards on the new songs. I like keyboards, but before we started this record we decided to get rid of a lot of them because we wanted to do something different.”

The album presents new band members, guitarist Ian Jekelis and drummer Ken Bedene. Joining Sorceron after Abigail Williams‘ final tour in support of In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns last fall, the trio quickly got to work writing material that would become In the Absence of Light. The album’s eight songs contain far more urgency then the band’s previous material; songs written exclusively by Sorceron.

“We let ourselves have much more room with writing this album, kind of a more open, free environment than any we have employed before,” reveals Sorceron. “We literally constructed the songs as we went. Ken would be in the drum room and Ian and I would be in the control room and we just played for hours. We would listen back and pick out what we thought was good and we put songs together. We recorded everything with much more ease and I think it has helped in capturing a very honest vibe.”

Formed in 2005, Abigail Williams have been called “a buzz band,” and “a band to watch.” They have endured more than their fair share of opposition, including revolving door member changes and in 2007 altogether disbanding. But through it all, the core of the band has kept a level head, a steady eye, and an unbridled passion for what they do. The band’s 2006 Legend EP and 2008 debut, In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns (produced by James Murphy and featuring Emperor drummer Trym Torson) have now sold a combined 35,000 in the US. The band has toured exhaustively including their most recent West Coast headlining dates.

Abigail Williams recently confirmed their first tour in support of In the Absence of Light. Kicking off September 29, the band will perform alongside headliners Immolation and Vader, as well as Lecherous Nocturne and Pathology, for four weeks. Tickets are on sale now.

Abigail Williams w/ Immolation, Vader, Lecherous Nocturne, Pathology
09/29/2010 Sonar – Baltimore MD
09/30/2010 Crazy Donkey – Farmingdale NY
10/01/2010 Club Hell – Providence RI
10/02/2010 Rocko’s – Manchester NH
10/03/2010 FouFounes – Montreal QC
10/04/2010 Mod Club – Toronto ON
10/05/2010 Peabody’s – Cleveland OH
10/06/2010 Blondie’s – Detroit MI
10/07/2010 Rave – Milwaukee WI
10/08/2010 Station 4 – St. Paul MN
10/10/2010 El Corazon – Seattle WA
10/11/2010 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver BC
10/12/2010 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland OR
10/13/2010 DNA Lounge – San Francisco CA
10/14/2010 Whiskey A Go Go – W. Hollywood CA
10/15/2010 Galaxy Theatre – Santa Ana CA
10/16/2010 Ramona Mainstage – Ramona CA
10/17/2010 UB’s Bar – Mesa AZ
10/18/2010 The Rock – Tucson AZ
10/20/2010 Emo’s – Austin TX
10/21/2010 The Warsaw – Houston TX
10/22/2010 Marquee – Tulsa OK
10/23/2010 Uncle Pleasant’s – Louisville KY
10/24/2010 Volume 11 – Raleigh NC
10/25/2010 Jaxx – W. Springfield VA
10/26/2010 Montage Music Hall – Rochester NY
10/27/2010 Emerson Theater – Indianapolis IN
10/28/2010 Reggie Rock Club – Chicago IL

In the Absence of Light Track Listing:
1. Hope the Great Betrayal
2. Final Destiny of the Gods
3. The Mysteries that Bind the Flesh
4. Infernal Divide
5. In Death Comes the Great Silence
6. What Hells Await Me
7. An Echo in Our Legends
8. Malediction

Genre: Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal
Label: Forces of Satan Records

Triumfall are bringing an album full of trve kvlt black metal, mixed with a ton of melody from a thrash-style guitar attack. It’s like Iron Maiden, Hammerfall, and Bathory at a black mass.
The drums blast at a million miles an hour, while the keys elevate everything. The vocals are grim as hell itself, ranging from a scream to a lower, gravely blackened voice. The guitar solos, however, take the cake: traditional, old school metal styled and Metalgasmic.
Really good stuff, and I recommend it for fans of the above mentioned bands, as well as Emperor, Dimmu, Gorgoroth, and Azaghal fans.
8 out of 10.

Triumfall on MySpace.