Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Brutal Death Metal
Label: Metal Blade
Format: Digital Promo (Earsplit PR)

I’ve listened to this album a couple times now in the past two or so weeks, and I’ve come to realize something vital about it: it’s awesome. It’s not going to break ground in the genre; it might not ever achieve classic status, and even past albums from Cannibal Corpse might overshadow it for some fans (Kill comes to mind first). But right now, at the beginning of 2012, Torture is exactly what I want to listen to, and the more I do hear it the more I love it.
The band claimed, and has backed up, that they were going to keep the sounds of the past few albums while going back to the more frenetic approach of the first two albums. Every single note is crystal clear, every chord struck is nuanced, but there is a little bit more of a chaotic feel to the structuring of the riffs and many of the solos are just off the registers for intensity. George’s trademark clarity of enunciation is perfect for this album, because he is able to achieve disgusting speed with his vocals while still being intelligible, which matches the insane speeds of some sections in these songs and their crisp production.
The album will appeal to most Cannibal Corpse fans, and it will be a good way for people who aren’t into death metal to get into the genre. It follows the path of CC’s evolution perfectly; it looks at the older albums for inspiration while keeping the more accessible sound of The Wretched Spawn, Kill, and Evisceration Plague. There are some seriously solid tracks on this album, including the lead-off single “Demented Aggression” (listen to it below) and its follower, “Scourge of Iron”, the mid-paced “Followed Home Then Killed” and the manic “Crucifier Avenged”.
8 out of 10.

Torture Tracklisting:
1. Demented Aggression
2. Sarcophagic Frenzy
3. Scourge of Iron
4. Encased in Concrete
5. As Deep as the Knife Will Go
6. Intestinal Crank
7. Followed Home Then Killed
8. The Strangulation Chair
9. Caged… Contorted
10. Crucifier Avenged
11. Rabid
12. Torn Through

Torture Personnel:
Alex Webster: Bass
Paul Mazurkiewicz: Drums
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher: Vocals
Rob Barrett: Guitar
Pat O’Brian: Guitar

Genre: Metalcore
Label: Metal Blade

As I Lay Dying. (Still with me?)

Yes, we all know them. Some of us LOVE them. Some of us HATE them. But I know that we can all agree on two things:

1) Tim Lambesis has a ridiculously funny last name, and…
2) Decas is a cash grab created to rake it in on the coming of their tenth year as “that band that has no business being on Metal Blade”.

Yeah, there are three brand new tracks, all of which are decent in their own rights. The melodic guitars, built on the foundation that An Ocean Between Us laid down and The Powerless Rise (supposedly) perfected, are pretty much the only thing that stands out as “exciting”. Other than the three new tracks, we have four remixes (club/dub-stepy bullshit) and a re-recorded medley of Beneath The Encasing. Ugh… I promise, I’m trying really hard to be fair here!

But the main focus here are the abysmal covers of Slayer’s War Ensemble and Judas Priest’s Hellion (Why?) and Electric Eye! (There is a cover of the Descendents’s Coffee Mug, but do you really care?) While the instrumentation isn’t bad at all, the vocals, both bellows and clean, just fucking kill any redeeming qualities I could muster.

Is this review even necessary? Those of you who hate As I Lay Dying weren’t going to buy it and were already ragging on them for covering Slayer and Priest, while those of you who love them already have your pre-orders in. Oh well… at least now you know what I think.

Overall: I just can’t help but think that there just wasn’t a whole lot of effort put out by As I Lay Dying in Decas. Like I said earlier, it’s a cash grab for gullible (or supremely dedicated) fans to blow their money on. I’d avoid it if you could help it.

3.5/10

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Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Label: Metal Blade

I have been following The Black Dahlia Murder since Unhallowed and they have yet to truly disappoint me (they came close with Deflorate).  Sure, I can go on for ages about Miasma is their best album to date just to despite the nay-sayers, but that’s not what we’re all here for, is it? We’re here for Ritual.

As soon as the atmospheric swell at the beginning of album opener, A Shrine To Madness finished and the band ripped to life, I had to make sure that I was on the right page. I thought I stumbled back onto Job For A Cowboy’s page and I was listening to Gloom again. But after a few seconds, all was right in the world. I was seriously afraid that The Black Dahlia Murder was going to revert to a simple deathcore band for some unknown reason. Thankfully, this is not entirely the case.

Vocalist Trevor Strnad ditches his goblinish screeches ion favor for his superior growls for most of the album. In case you can’t tell, I’m all in favor of this. Long time guitarist Brian Eschbach must not sleep much. I come to this conclusion based solely on the fact that he has consistently for the past eight years continued to astound me with his ability to write masterfully melodic pieces that simultaneously light me ablaze with scorching awesome! Pick a track at random and it’ll be the best work of his career. Guaranteed.

There is one thing however, that I must point out: the deathcore element. Yeah, it kinda sucks. There is a tiny one here and it’s more noticeable than in previous releases. Songs like Moonlight Equilibrium and Conspiring With The Damned have a bit of a forced catchiness to them that almost feels like a reach for a broader audience… do they really need one? I don’t know. It might just be me looking for a flaw that isn’t there. Truth be told, it is completely forgivable and only really puts a tiny black mark on an otherwise stellar album.

Overall: So close to being a perfect album it’s painful! Forget what I said in the opening of this review, Ritual is The Black Dahlia Murder’s best album to date!

9.5/10

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Genre: Death Metal, Deathcore

Label: Metal Blade

You know, maybe I was too hard on these lads when I reviewed their live performance with The Ocean and Cephalic Carnage. Maybe I was just put off by the heat and smell of ass that an overcrowded venue tends to permeate. Maybe… just maybe… I’m ready to give these guys another chance at winning me back.

Ok Gloom, let’s see what you’ve got to offer me…

::Fifteen minutes and thirty seconds later…::

FUCK!!! It’s still shit! Well polished, brutal, catchy shit!

…goddamn, I’m confused. I’m pretty sure that I don’t very much like what I’m hearing, but I honestly can’t stop listening to it. Jonny Davy’s vocals are just as mundane as ever and the lyrics all but scream mediocrity. But try as I might, I can’t fault the drumming. That skin punishment (in any of their release that I’ve heard) always gets my head banging. And before I forget (be it on purpose or out of simple retardation) the guitars are pure riff madness! Four tracks, innumerable amounts catchiness. ::Sigh::

Argh! I keep bouncing back and forth from, “Yeah. It’s actually pretty good.” to, “Fuck! Why am I listening to this fucking thing again?!” and it’s about to drive me crazy! I mean, there’s not a single original thing about this release! It sounds like Job For A Cowboy. If somebody was driving down the road, doing sixty while I was waiting for a bus, the bass alone would make me go, “That dumbass speeder was listening to Job For A Cowboy!” What kind of foul magic spell was cast upon this EP to make this review so damned perplexing?

Overall: I’m almost ashamed to say it, but I guess I enjoyed this EP. It’s probably what a lot of you are anticipating/dreading you’ll hear blaring out of Hot Topic as you make your way to Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. But for all its head scratching faults, it was still entertaining. And overall, that’s what I really ask of my metal.

7/10

Job For A Cowboy Official

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Label: Metal Blade

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

To you, Amon Amarth needs no introduction. You own everything they ever put out, including a badly damaged original copy of their debut demo, Thor Arise. You’ve memorized every lyric from every song from Friends Of The Suncross to No Fear For The Setting Sun. You have even been quoted to say that their cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, “wasn’t that bad.”

You’re a fan.

I say this because… you have to be. Amon Amarth is one of the only bands out there that I have NEVER heard anyone say anything truly negative about. (In my review of Twilight Of The Thunder God, I refer to it as merely a “meh” album. I didn’t shit all over it since it was actually a fine album, it just wasn’t anything we hadn’t heard from them before) On top of that, come on! They kick ass! They manage to integrate incredibly violent Viking imagery, beautiful tales of Norse mythology and some of the most fluid and breathtaking melodic death metal into a compact disc every two to three years (on average) for thirteen years! Therefore, anybody who reads this must be an Amon Amarth fan since everybody IS an Amon Amarth fan! (WOOT! LOGIC!!!)

Surtur Rising is Amon Amarth’s eighth full length album and… you know people say that something is exactly like what they expected? Surtur Rising is that. Now, that may sound like a slam to some. But I assure you that it is not since Amon Amarth have a very distinct sound. If you were to play a few seconds of Destroyer Of The Universe to room full of metalheads, guaranteed, all of them will know that that was Amon Amarth even though they never heard the song before. It’s simply a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Johan Hegg’s vocals remain the same earth rumbling growl, barking out tales of lumbering giants and the ongoing fables of Loke’s treachery (seriously, they finally continued Hermond‘s Ride To Hel – Loke‘s Trechery, Part I from With Oden On Our Side. Did you think they just forgot about it too?). The riffing bleeds a melancholy ferocity that only Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Soderberg can produce. Believe me, I’ve actively searched for a better melo-death duo and failed every time. Meanwhile, the drumming on Surtur Rising is one of the few things that’s a noticeable improvement. Not that Fredrik Andersson needed to improve his trade at all, but goddamn it he did. The drum work in album opener War Of The Gods alone is awe-inspiring! But then it just keeps getting better until it plateaus in Live Without Regret.

Apparently, if you pre-ordered Surtur Rising, you get two bonus tracks (both of which are covers): War Machine (KISS cover) and Balls To The Wall (Accept cover). I don’t feel like I missed out…

Overall: Once again, I’m left feeling like I’ve heard this entire album before. I listened to Surtur Rising eight times in a row in order to make sure that I wasn’t just being fickle. But all was for not since even though it sounds like every other Amon Amarth album, it’s still 100% badass!

9/10

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