Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Moribund Records

It kind of sucks that I gave a 10/10 to Away From The Haunts Of Man. I mean, I don’t regret it on a journalistic level. Just a personal level since there is no way in Hell that Thrall is going to be able to top themselves. It doesn’t matter fucking awesome Vermin To The Earth is, I don’t see it being better than their 2010 release.

…and this is the part where you expect me to say something like, “Welp, looks like I was wrong derpa-derp!” Well, this time I was serious. Vermin To The Earth remains in the shadow of it’s older brother Away From The Haunts Of Man.

…ha! But only by ::holds fingers incredibly close together without them touching:: thiiiiiiiiis much! Thrall’s 2011 outing is surprisingly phenomenal! I say surprisingly since I honestly thought that, like most fresh acts nowadays, Thrall was going to fizzle out immediately. I’ve said it once before and I’m sure I’ll say it a bunch more, I love it when I’m wrong!

Thrall comes at ya with an all out doom en-”crusted”, black metal barrage! Keeping the patent fresh on their exclusive brand of whip smart riffing, songs like Disease’s Maiming Carcass and Plague Of Man are filled to the brim with “Whoa! Lemme hear that one again!” moments. Vocally, Thrall is where they were last year, so there’s no need to repeat how awesome these vocals are… d’oh! Lyrically, what do you expect? Evil shit about how awful humanity is and the like? Yeah, it’s all here and it’s all put in a way that makes me hate myself…

The only thing I’m going to waste your time with here would be the awkward pacing and jerky tempo changes. I mean, these are those “Look what I can do!” nerd-tech, mathcore tempo switches or anything. In face, I can’t even tell if they were done on purpose or not. What I do know is that they break the fluidity that I enjoy in my metal. I frown at this.

Overall: Other than the oddly placed tempo changes that break the flow, Vermin To The Earth knocks it out of the park once again. I told you in my last review to keep your eye on these guys. (F.Y.I. – I also love it when I’m right.)

9.5/10

Thrall Official 
Thrall On Facebook 

Genres: Black Metal, Grindcore, Progressive Metal
Label: Candlelight Records

Get your boots on kids. We’re definitely stepping out of the comfort zone here, right into some seriously deep what the fuck?
As usual, these two Brits love to push the envelope, and there’s some pretty huge pushes with Passion. They’ve taken their black metal, made it blacker. Taken their grind, made it grinder. And the progressiveness of the album is just all over the place. Some of my favorite clean vocal performances are on this CD, with some amazing riffs that really amp up the general urgency of this music.
Wait. Urgency? In black metal? What? Yes, son. Shit just got real. If you’ve never listened to Anaal Nathrakh before, and your like your black metal TRVE and KVLT, and as boneheadedly barbaric as possible, continue not listening to Anaal Nathrakh. Because your BM world just got another album deeper into thinking man’s territory.
8 out of 10.

Anaal Nathrakh on Facebook.

Genre: Black Metal

Label: Moribund Records

Picture this: a lone alchemist that’s draped in a dingy, hooded cowl, siting at his work table in a dank, abandoned crypt. His hands are busy as bees; rendering old Dark Funeral EPs in a cauldron and demolishing Under The Sign Of The Back Mark in a mortar. His unholy goal? To distill the most evil of metals down to its very essence and ingest it to gain ultimate domain over all things black metal!

Who is this undoubtedly mad man, you ask? His name is Miasmyr. The lone genius behind Moon and my new favorite black metal anything, Caduceus Chalice. I’m not sure how many times I’m going to say this or even in how many ways, but this album is what black metal has been struggling to become (That being Black Metalus Superius)!

I can hear a bunch of you already, “But black metal was perfected in the early 90′s when it was conceived! Heresy!” Yes and no, I say.

Yes: As many thought, it was the best the genre was to ever be…

No: You’re fucking wrong! Music is supposed to evolve, as Caduceus Chalice clearly demonstrates with its base in all things classic, the Norwegian ways while forging ahead with little progressions in structure and overall atmosphere. I guess you could say that Caduceus Chalice finds new ways of being creepy, evil and metal as hell while not alienating its core demographic.

Songs like Monastery and Beneath incorporate more of an ambient sound into a bulk of the track, while still stuffing them with ripping, black metal riffs and chaotic snare insanity! It’s a perfect imbalance!

Overall: Moon/Miasmyr IS black metal. That is final.

10/10

Moon Official

Today, Moribund Records announces the signing of Spanish black metal inquisition Hrizg. Hrizg is the sole vision of its creator, also monikered Hrizg, and his first record for Moribund shall be Anthems to Decrepitude, set for release on May 3rd. This groundbreaking newcomer possesses a hideous spirit that resounds across times both modern and distant, and his Anthems to Decrepitude is a startling synthesis of sepulchral atmosphere and dynamic songwriting, all housed with an exquisitely morbid soundfield. Respectful of black metal’s past but committed to forging its future – heed Hrizg’s call and sing Anthems to Decrepitude!

Hrizg‘s bio, as explained by the man himself:
“I created Hrizg in 2005 as a one-man band of black metal in the old way, regarding influences from early albums of Satyricon, Mayhem, Dodheimsgard, Immortal, or Burzum – mainly in the old Norwegian vein, but I added my medieval and Celtic background so, Hrizg could sound a bit different, overall, by the vocal lines. I think the vocals are quite different from the typical black metal screams.

“I recorded two rehearsal songs with a session drummer called Misanthate – who played in several bands like Eldereon, Daemonlord, Flowing Crimson, Spawned and Detriment Sorrow – but this collaboration finished in these songs. Just after it, I made some more by myself, and I released it under the name of Oaken Path of Grief in 2006 on Varjot Productions, from Finland. They released 300 copies in tape format. This same year, I contacted Wraith Productions. They offered me to release this stuff in CD format, and that happened in 2007. After that, Wulfrune Rexxx re-released the tape version of this album, but all this stuff is sold out now.

“In 2007, I recorded two demos and one video-clip of the track ‘Si Vis Pacem Parabellum,’ taken from the Enemy of Weakness demo, which was out on split tape with Mortuus Caelum (Greece), through the Spanish label Final Embrace Records. After some other demos with no release, I recorded Anthems to Decrepitude in the last days of 2008. Anyway, the mix sessions took part in early 2009. In 2010, I released this stuff through my own demo label, Morbid Shrine Productions, and I sent a promo CD to Odin Thompson [Moribund label boss], and he offered me to release it in CD.

“This is my official discography:
- Oaken Path of Grief (full length), 2007
- Enemy of Weakness (demo), 2008
- Anthems to Decrepitude (Full length), 2011

“All my demos are still with no release, but some of them will be out this year, I hope.

“My goal is to make music and release it with a serious label. I waste a lot of time writing and producing my songs and writing all my lyrics, which are full of symbolism and meaning in the esoteric and Luciferian way, and taking some influences of religion, myths and Celtic history. I try to exteriorize all my hate and negative feelings through music, too, but not all – I leave something for the daily life! I would like to make gigs, too, but I guess that’s very difficult now, and really, that’s not very important for me.”