Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Progressive Metal
Labels: Armoury Records, Mystic Productions

The third CD in that package I got forever ago, Proghma-C sat, unreviewed (but listened to) for a long time. The reason why I haven’t said anything about it yet is simple: laziness. BUT ALAS!
Proghma-C are another Polish package of progressive perfection that will piss off your parents. Think Tool, with some Meshuggah, Portrait of an American Family-era Marilyn Manson, Fear Factory, and a fair amount of drugs. In other words, it’s out of this world. Throw in a Bjork cover, “Army of Me”, and wow.
8 out of 10.

Proghma-C on MySpace.

Northamptonshire, England: Fear Factory in the early morning hours narrowly escaped fire that quickly engulfed their tour bus while in route to London. The fire reportedly stemmed from a back wheel tire before spreading throughout the double-decker coach. BBC News confirms the fire closed down two lanes of the southbound M1 as Northamptonshire fire officials battled the blaze.

Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares released the following comment moments ago: “We had just finished playing a sold out show in Sheffield and we were on our way to London. Everyone was asleep except for two of our crew. At about 3:30am the bus driver noticed smoke coming from the back right wheel. He stopped, jumped out and noticed a flame underneath the wheel well. He tried to extinguish it but the flames were too much. Everyone on the bus was woken up by one of our crew yelling ‘Get everyone up and out of the bus.’ Everyone grabbed their bags and ran off the bus. We stood on the side of the freeway going ‘thank god we all made it out’ until someone noticed our merchandise guy was still asleep on the bus. A good friend of ours ran back on the smoked-filled bus and got him out just minutes before the bus was completely in flames.”

Fear Factory are currently on tour in the UK continuing performances in support of their latest album, Mechanize. The band completed their most recent American tour on July 27th to a captivated audience in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The following evening the band departed from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport for an additional three weeks of dates in the UK and other various European festivals.

Cazares adds, “our eyes are burning and we were all coughing from the smoke. Some of us lost wallets, money, computers but that’s not important compared to our lives. It only took about 20 to 30 minutes for the bus to be completely covered in flames. The fire trucks and the police finally arrived but it was too late to save anything on the bus. A coach bus picked us up and brought us safely to a nearby hotel. We found out only a short while ago that the trailer was saved where all our gear was. But the bus is just a metal frame on the side of the road.”

When: July 14, 2010
Where: Starlite Room, Edmonton, Alberta

The crowd was visibly excited outside the venue, and people started lining up early. Fear Factory and Divine Heresy on the same bill? Awesome!
So Mrs. Blaspheme and I went and grabbed some coffee after I conversed with Dino and Burton, and about five minutes after getting back into the conciderably longer line, the doors opened up to let the crowd in. Unfortunately for many, the first band Baptized in Blood started playing even before everyone was in the venue. I was still in the merch line to get a couple shirts and a pair of beer coozies when they started.

Thankfully, Mrs. Blaspheme was running the Flip for me while I finished up with my transactions. Unfortunately, Baptized in Blood didn’t impress me much. I know they are going to be one of Roadrunner’s big names this year, but since I don’t like generic ‘core, and BiB are definitely generic ‘core, I don’t remember much of their set.

Divine Heresy, however, were a much bigger difference for me, kicking ass from the first second to last. I honestly don’t know their material well, but from what I’d heard previous to seeing them, I’ve liked a lot. And now I MUST own their albums. And I must also say Travis is one of my favorite singers now. The dude has pipes. From classic metal falsetto to death growls, he does it all. Sometimes in the same sentence. And twenty second long screams? Uh huh. Those too.
Joe Payne and Tim Yeung were slaughtering the crowed with the rhythm section, a deep pummeling that brought a smile to my bass loving ears. And yes, I did just say my ears smiled.
Pre and post Divine Heresy set, Travis and Joe actually ran the merch booth (which the label forgot to stock with CDs!) and so I talked to them and got autographs and demos of their other bands and the like. Both of them are total assholes and really mean to fans, as you’ll be able to plainly see in the photo below:

After the Burial were talked about a lot outside, so I figured they’d be good. But after Chase talked shit about them and their pig squeals, I was also a little tentative. And when they left the stage I was happy. Why are these guys on this tour? Seriously. They don’t fit in. At all. They are not similar in style to Fear Factory, which is usually okay. But it’s like trying to play Pig Destroyer at a barn raising; it just doesn’t work. People are gonna be pissed. But judging by the crowd, I was the only one. Oh, and the Missus and I had a good conversation about their half hour long breakdown. I mean set. Set of songs. All different songs. That sometimes started, and ended, in a breakdown. With a breakdown in the middle. With pig squeals. These guys sucked.

36 Crazyfists was a band with a lot of hype that I’ve wanted to hear but never got around to. And now I know I never have to again. But I did buy a beer coozie with an anchor on it. So did Mrs. Blaspheme who also bought their shirt with the black-light sensative feral bear on the front. Beer coozies kick ass. Feral bears kick ass. 36 Crazyfists’ singer aggravates haemorrhoids with his generic ‘core style. Jumping up and down, getting the crowd who loved the shit out of them into circle pits, and even a wall of death (which Mrs. Blaspheme recorded). If the band got a different singer, they’d kick ass. Or if they went straight death metal (their drummer is a monster with his double kicking). Sucked (due to singer), but way less than After the Burial.

FINALLY! The show I wanted to see! Fear Factory! They took the stage, and then the crowd. Everyone was captivated at first, then the metal began to pour from the speakers, white hot and full of the tense aggression that Fear Factory have mastered at writing, and then the pit went fucking insane. I was right next to it, snapping pictures and fearing for my camera. This was everything I wanted to see and hear from Fear Factory. Well, not quite. If that was the case then they’d still be playing right now…
Running from 1992 to 2002 and then 2009 (Archetype and Transgression were not touched upon for live material), Fear Factory took the crowd through a metal time machine, with a shitload of material from Mechanize, and then ending the set with a facepeeling rendition of their best-known song “Replica”. It was unreal. The whole thing was unreal. But having it on digital film proves that it was in fact 100% real.
Next time they are in town, I’m going to be there again.

Keep your eyes on the Funeral Rain Industries MySpace page for TONS more pictures. I think I took more than 400…

On July 14 I got to sit down with the mighty Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, and he answered a couple questions of mine. Here is the video:

When: 07/09/2010

Where: Peter’s Room at The Roseland Theater, Portland, Oregon, USA

This concert kind of snuck up on me yesterday. I had no idea I was going until about six hours before it started! Lucky me, huh?

An un-incidental ride to The Roseland and and interesting convorsation with an obvious crackhead latter, I was in line and waiting to get my Press Pass. While waiting a met a guy who just moved here from New York and who won both his tickets from KUFO. Nice guy. He eventually gave his spare ticket to another guy who just moved here from France (another ultra cool guy). If the Karmatic alignment of this line was any indicator, then I was in for one hell of a night!

Slowly but surely, we filed in, were frisked, acquired our tickets and… made our ways to the bar. Which is were I hit up the first bouncer I saw for intel on the venue. The security personnel at The Roseland were helpful and were willing to answer every little question I had. A nice change of pace from the small dicked, d-bags that normally run security at these things.

And then, the lights when down and the first band took the stage!

Baptized In Blood - As far as As I Lay Dying/Trivium-ish inspired bands go, this Canadian quartet kick a more than fair amount of ass! Hooks and crazy ass beats shook The Roseland and caused that all too familiar rumble in the empty guts of all who were in Pete’s Room. The vocalist was a funny motherfucker and had a powerful grip on the audience, getting us to jump and pit up at a moment’s notice. Not back for an opening act, eh?

Divine Heresy - Now that the blood was pumping radically, it was time for a little game of “Holy Shit, That Little Dude Can Tear Up A Kit!” (an actual remark I heard while Tim Yeung teased the audience during sound check.) Divine Heresy rocked heavy grooves from both albums, with Travis Neal having a 45% success rate on the clean vocals on tracks from Bleed The Fifth (as expected). Bassist Joe Payne is probably one of the coolest musicians I have ever met/seen perform live! His mastery of the bass and his brutal backing growls make him a valuable asset wherever he plays! …oh, and Dino Cazares was there too.

After The Burial - Killswitch Engage meets Suicide Silence… I guess. The crowd seemed to know who the hell After The Burial was and what they were all about, but man! I just couldn’t get into what they were selling. Lots of bounce ’n’ groove, a basketball jersey on the bassist (Suicidal Tendencies, these guys are not!)  and wiggery hand gestures from the front man (Ok, maybe a little). Oh! New rule! If your vocalist does pig squeals and your band isn’t grind, you’re just plain gay! You’ve really got to be something special to do pig squeals and be lame as hell! And After The Burial is nothing special at all…

36 Crazyfists - Why the hell are these guys placed right before the headliners? They’re so misplaced on this tour! Seriously! I saw these guys twice before and both of those times were because pussy was involved. (I’m not proud of that, F.Y.I.) Emocore, sub-par vocalist, strong fan-girl following for some reason (What‘s up with that? Why are there bands out there that appeal to primarily chicks like this?)… I don’t get it. They didn’t even play the two songs they’re semi-famous for! And the vocalist’s banter was pretty weak as well. “I want to see a circle pit here and here! Make it happen ya’ll!” …ugh. A circle pit to a song about thinking about committing suicide but then seeing the light at the last minute and then dying anyway? No thanks. No thanks…

Fear Factory - Finally! Fear Factory! I waited thirteen years to see these guys live (granted it was a different line-up)! And now that I have… I have to see them again! It was everything I hoped it would be! Burton’s voice was amazing! Dino’s shredding was glorious (on the newer tracks at least)! Bassist Byron Stroud is a mountain of a man that beats all, menacing the crowd with his thunderous bass and scraggly redish hairbread! And what a treat it was to witness Gene “The Man” Hoglan play… at half his talent capacity. (Seriously though, anybody else get the feeling that Gene might just be doing this for a paycheck?) Fear Factory dipped into their new CD for a couple of songs then reached waaay the fuck back to 1992 and unleashed Martyr on, I’m sure, a few unsuspecting concert goers. A couple off of Digimortal. A couple off of Obsolete. A couple off of Demanufacture. And none from Transgression! I was a happy camper!

Overall: Not a bad line-up, but not a good one either. It honestly could of just been Fear Factory and Divine Heresy and it would of sold just as well. On top of that, I didn’t hit a single red light on the way home and I got a free large Slurpee at a nearby 7-11 because the register was busted! Hell of a night!

In Loving Memory Of Ryan Franklin Umbreit. The biggest Fear Factory fan I ever knew.

Baptized In Blood On MySpace
Divine Heresy On MySpace
After The Burial On MySpace
36 Crazyfists On MySpace
Fear Facotry On MySpace