Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Southern Lord

Reformed with a mostly new line-up, featuring Blake Judd from shithot black metal band Nachtmystium, Twilight return to the scene.
A true supergroup of black metal, and mostly from very different styles of black metal, progressive metal, and doom, Twilight is more than the sum of its parts. Because these are all guys that are very knowledgeable as to what they are doing, and considering this was written as a truly collaborative effort, unlike the Twilight debut, this is a much stronger album too.
The music takes at times more rock structures, but with very blackened overtones. I think this comes not from black metal thinking but the progressive thinking of the FOUR guitarists (Blakemystium, Wrest, Aaron Turner from Isis, and Stavros Giannopolous from The Atlas Moth) and the vocals are throat destroying and amazing. I honestly do not know how N. Imperial does such work. The drums and bass are done by Wrest himself, and are done amazingly.
All told, Monument to End Time is a gorgeous piece of work, and truly is genre defining and breaking at the same time. If you don’t get it, you’re missing the fuck out.
10 out of 10.

Twilight on Southern Lord.

When TWILIGHT’s self-titled debut was delivered in 2005 it was an explosive new time for American black metal, where several stateside acts were captivating the world’s attention. It was during these times that a crew of henchmen hailing from said acts covertly assembled to formulate a collaborative album, under the banner of TWILIGHT. Then comprised of members of Nachtmystium, Leviathan, Kreig, Xasthur and Drautran, the album’s gritty and varied content was an instant cult classic for the genre.

Due to personal differences within the unit, TWILIGHT officially disbanded a year later, with no plans of a new record on the horizon. Yet in early 2009 several members resurrected a modified lineup. These alterations would expand this “follow-up release” into a full-blown masterpiece.

TWILIGHT’s massive lineup on the upcoming Monument To Time End includes three founding members – Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker of Chalice), and N. Imperial (Kreig), – and new recruits Stavros Giannopolous (The Atlas Moth), Sanford Parker (Minsk, Buried At Sea) and Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom), as well as vocal contributions by Robert Lowe (Lichens, OM).on three tracks. This wholly forward-thinking alignment of artists presents this TWILIGHT release as an entirely new entity.

Undoubtedly, the harsh and cantankerous black metal underbelly of the foundation of the unit is still intact throughout Monument To Time End, but it’s the visual hell the listener feels personified through the more dissonant, demented and ethereal realms of utter madness explored, where seemingly psychotropic nightmares come to life with an ethereal, beautiful vengeance.