Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Gothic, Symphonic Metal
Label: Humid Records

It’s been a while since a musician shoved a link in my mailbox and asked me to review their work. Seriously, when I first started reviewing metal six or so years ago, that was all I ever had in my inbox! Unsigned bands trying to get me to review their material. Nowadays, I have to go around begging bands for that! I’m not sure what changed here. Either people caught on that General Blaspheme and I have no fucking clue what we’re doing here or… something far less logical. Either way, why am I complaining? (Thanks Joan!)

Trocaria plays a blend of gothic, doom-ish and digital-symphonic metal that comes off sounding half vampire love rock, half Draconian (minus the constant female vocalage). The “symphonic” bits sound like slightly better renditions of Castlevainia level themes. It was fun firing up the ol’ NES and playing Dracula’s Curse with The Dark Nears blaring in the background.

8-Bit references aside, Trocaria put up a fierce first offering with The Dark Nears. Everything here (aside from the much too electronic sounding drum machine) is on par with signed bands five or six years their senior. Vocalist Jon S.’s growls are a bit on the Muppet-ish side of things for the most part, but occasionally he slips into a scream that makes you forget that he kinda sounds like a cookie munching toe sock. The rest of the band consists of guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and programmer Joan Palmer. Truth be told, the best thing about this album are the interesting hooks she comes up with. Listen three minutes into the track entitled Suicide, and you’ll hear the bests riffing on the album. It’s damn good and really catchy as a cold.

Unfortunately, her bass work could be fantastic but I’d never know since I can’t really make it out. To be fair, my speakers are starting to take a shit so it could be my computers fault and not hers. Still on the unfortunate side, there’s very little song variation and the variations that are there are so subtle that they will more than likely go unnoticed.

Overall: While The Dark Nears isn’t a particularly great album, it’s still something I’d strongly recommend that you look up for a listen. There’s a lot of heart here and the musician’s bare their souls through every note and that alone is worth a tiny bit of your time. Also, there is A LOT of potential here that you should get on there ground floor for.

7/10

Trocaria On Facebook
Trocaria On ReverbNation 

Genres: Doom, Melodic Death Metal
Label: The End Records

Chicago’s masters of gloom return once again with eight tracks of dark, death-tinged metal that I just can’t stop listening to.
Head crushing heaviness meets heart wrenching emotion. Cathartic and depressing at the same time, Aphotic was obviously written in the very Temple of the Riff itself. Or perhaps the Novembers Doom rehearsal area. Whichever.
Some of the songs were actually written with more input from the new bassist Mike Feldman, which gives the bass a very different room to breathe in for this album, and with Paul’s voice seeming to be at it’s strongest ever, Novembers Doom look ready to finally take the throne that they deserve.
My favorite tracks are “Buried”, “Six Sides”, “Harvest Scythe”, and the female vocal filled, almost gothic acoustic track “What Could Have Been”.
9 out of 10.

Novembers Doom on Facebook.

Genre: Gothic Metal, Doom

Label: Napalm Records

Ah, Draconian. When referring to a law or the application therefor of, it means to be extremely harsh and/or outdated. But when referring to the Swedish gothic doom band, this is most certainly not the case! I wonder if there is an actual correlation between the name they chose and their music? Maybe they sing in the language of the dragons?

As soon as things start moving along, I’m instantly reminded of Battlelore. A tired and overdone comparison I’m sure, but an accurate one at that (Yes, I know that Draconian predates their Finnish label mates by about five years, but I heard Battlelore first so the comparison stands further). Opening track The Drowning Age is a behemoth of steel thorns and rows and rows of severed heads on pikes! Every time I hear the line, “Let’s bring our Gods to the gallows; a new moon will shine on you!” I get the goosebumps!  (Plus, any song that mentions the Chimera is insta-win in my book since it’s my daughter’s name.)

If there’s one thing that Draconian does right in A Rose For The Apocalypse, it’s the darkly romantic mood it casts in both the lyrical and instrumental senses. Elysian Night is an excellent example of this with it’s slow tempo, melodic female vocals (also the best song to just sit and groove on her singing as well) and expertly sectioned synths. The later is something that most bands of this kind of genre tend to overuse or turn into a gimmick. Thankfully, Draconian does not.

However, what they do overuse is they same basic song structure for just about every song on the album. If you don’t mind your gothic doom a little on the repetitive side (and how can you not since it’s another pitfall that these type of bands fall into) then this won’t bug you in the slightest.

Overall: A Rose For The Apocalypse is an extremely enjoyable album. From the depths of the nightmare evoking growls to height of the ethereal lyrics, Draconian drinks from the chalice of awesome!  …even if none of them sound like Sean Connery. (BOOM! Dragonheart reference!)

9/10

Draconian Official

Draconian On Facebook

Draconian On MySpace

Genre: Epic Fantasy Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Finnish fantasy metal pioneers Battlelore return once again to spread their death-infused fantasy metal that seems at times to be based in the gothic metal arena that Napalm Records is famous for.
The album itself is huge in scope, the sound filled to the brim and sometimes overflowing with keyboards and flute with a driving, heavy guitar leading the way.

Kaisa’s vocals are gorgeous and strong, much stronger than many other female vocalists in the genre, even when she’s singing in a softer voice. Tomi’s, however, are just pure strong. His death metal voice is demanding of attention, and he seriously could be in a death metal band by himself if he chose, and I’m sure he’d be really successful.
I think fans of Dimmu Borgir’s majestic offerings would probably like this, same for fans of Eluveitie, Elis, and Draconian.
7 out of 10.

Battlelore on Facebook.

Genre: Gothic Metal
Label: Napalm Records

Midnattsol is another band I’ve never listened to before, but after giving The Metamorphosis Melody a listen, I wish I had gotten to hear them earlier.
A mournful, slower gothic metal seems to be The Metamorphosis Melody, a haunting album full of strong guitar riffs, great leads, and a woman who can sing a great tenor. There are faster songs on the disc (“A Poet’s Prayer” is one of them), but for the most part the album doesn’t move much faster than a walk. It’s perfect for the Discman and a forest on a spring day. The keys are more of a background element, supporting the guitar and voice. Drums and bass are even further in behind, holding everything up, occasionally coming closer to the fore during choruses.
Favorites are “Spellbound”, “A Poet’s Prayer”, and “Goodbye”.
7 out of 10.

Midnattsol on Facebook.
Midnattsol on MySpace.