Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Death Metal, Hardcore

Label: Independent

After a shaky start with their citywide panned 2009 EP, Second Sight and a few harsh words exchanged between myself, and a couple members of the band about my “mis-categorizing” them in my coverage of their CD release party (F.Y.I. guys: your Metal-Archives page labels you as metalcore as well, so you might want to edit that), I was honestly ready to just toss this EP in the giveaway pile. A shitty EP, lukewarm live performance and drama, for me at least, do not an interesting metal band make.

But that would being playing dirty pool, wouldn’t it? So in the interest of fairness, let’s take an unbiased look at Under The Ashen Empire.

Immediately, I prefer Under The Ashen Empire to the earlier release due to the vocals alone! Frontman Jason Hooker’s (Hooker? V.D.? It was meant to be!) burly pipes belt out some top notch hardcore shouts ‘n’ screams that were severely missed in Von Doom’s earlier career. Also on the thumbs-up side of things is guitarist Billy Serocki innovative and aggressive riffing. The only time I didn’t catch myself going, “sweet fucking licks!” was to the opening of The Fade, which sounded like a discombobulated version of Amon Amarth’s The Pursuit Of Vikings. Von Doom also serves up a re-recording of fan favorite, The Human Condition that‘s an obvious improvement in everyway. Helped out undoubtedly by the crisp and clean mixing and mastering, courtesy of [BAMF] Studios.

Unfortunately, there is a fly or two in the ointment. While the re-recording of The Human Condition was welcome on one front, it felt like it took up space on this EP. If you’re flaunting a new line-up, stick to new material to help showcase the new sound. (But hey, at least they didn’t try cramming one of those lame, four minute atmospheric intros and/or outros into a five track EP!) There are also some pretty uninspired beats in here as well. While I have heard a lot worse (A LOT worse), it manages to drag the overall appeal of Under The Ashen Empire down a smidge.
Overall: While Von Doom isn’t the best metal band that Portland has to offer (in my opinion, that don’t mean shit by any means to most of you) they are galaxies away from being the worst. Under The Ashen Empire is a step forward for these guys and is definitely an EP to share with your friends if you want to show them why you think they rule.

8/10

Von Doom On Facebook

Von Doom On MySpace

Genre: Power Metal, Metalcore
Label: Punishment 18 Records

Let’s see here… how to describe what it is that you hear when you’ve got Exeence’s “Hystrionic” blaring at full blast… Melodic power(-ish) metal with progressive/aggressive with a black metal meets metalcore vocalist. Yeah, I listened to “Hystrionic” a dozen or so times over already and I’m still scratching my head. Luckily for Exence,  the plethora of genres and noises blend relatively well together. Lyrically, “Hystrionic” deals with the usual stuff: insanity, ethereal happenings and general weirdness. Instrumentally, this album is tighter than Megan Fox’s ass! Guitarist Pule, managed to create a sound that bleeds experimentation while still holding some semblance of familiarity.

My only gripe with this album/band is the vocals. Yes, it must take a lot of discipline (or lack of concern for your vocal chords) to keep up that kind of harshness. But a little bit of variety wouldn’t kill you either, you know?

Overall: Vocals aside Hystrionic is a great find and excellent addition to Punishment 18’s already awesome roster!

8/10

Exence On MySpace

NOTE: This is a REPOST from E-MetalSpace

Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Metalcore
Label: Independent

Blood Of The Prophets boarders on melodic death metal and metalcore, to a degree that the fans of the latter may not take kindly to the elements of the former and vice versa. I however, have nothing but mostly good things to say about Blood Of The Prophets and “A Prayer For Vengeance” (except that they have one hell of a tour lined up that DOESN’T stop through Oregon at all… jerks…) The instrumentation is tight and leaves open plenty of opportunities for the crowds to jump along, while the vocals keep up their style swapping verse after bloodily brutal verse! Lyrically, “A Prayer For Vengeance” stomps all over organized religion, morality and the general shit storm that it life.

Overall: A band that’s plenty new, full of talent and ready to take over a stage near you… unless it’s on the West Coast… *grumble*

8.5/10

Blood Of The Prophets On MySpace

NOTE: This is a REPOST from E-MetalSpace

Genres: Doom, Metalcore
Label: Independent

Yeah, I said it. I don’t know exactly if I mean it, but this wicked fucking disc has elements of metalcore in it. Picture traditional doom in the ways of Black Sabbath, Orange Goblin, and the like mixed with a touch of Killswitch Engage.
But I can’t even quantify how much KSE is in it. It’s an odd fucking listen.
And I love it!
But I don’t understand it. This is going to have to take some serious repeat listening.
If you want your doom to make you wonder if it is in fact doom and not doomcore or whatever, get some Mordant Soul in your CD player. Cuz wow.
9.5 out of 10.

Mordant Soul on MySpace.

NOTE: This is an old review, moved here from the Funeral Rain Zine MySpace. Mordant Soul have unfortunately split up since it was first posted back in December 2009.

Genres: Metalcore, Metallic Hardcore, Progressive Metalcore
Label: Listenable Records

A brutal beatdown of extremely talented proportions, The Eyes of a Traitor’s Breathless is a metallic hardcore assault on the senses. Well, assault on one sense at least. Auditory receptors will become scarred with the high volume and repetitive listening that this album will cause.
Sing-along parts that are not full of whiny vocals, but rather strong emotive ones are coupled with screams that sound like come from the soul, not the lungs. Simple guitar parts are followed by fingerburners with great solos and killer blasts from the drum kit. In other words, it’s progressive metalcore, pushing the often stale genre to a new height, seeming to take what Killswitch Engage and their contemporaries all brought to the table and combining it into something else to make it their own.
I definitely recommend getting this into your collection.
8.5 out of 10.

The Eyes of a Traitor on MySpace.