Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Nu-Metal, Industrial, Rock
Label: Independent

I’ll admit it… that’s one creepy looking album cover.

Other than that, what can I really say about this album? Well, it’s definitely an album. There’s music on it. When you put it in a device that plays CDs, sounds come out of the attached speakers. That’s good, right?

Man, I really don’t want to be mean or to rag on these guys because I can tell that they poured their hearts and souls into this album, but I just can’t get into it. Everything about Another Failure In The Making just seems like it missed the boat by about ten years. I have a feeling that if this came out around 2000-ish, I might of been in to it and/or knew some guys that would of been into it.

There are moments of fun and whatnot hidden between the banal song writing and repetitiveness. The vocalist really seems to enjoy his style of screaming. You can really hear the boiling anger just seething behind every word. And I can’t really complain too much about a band that writes a catchy jump riff like the same three or four recycled through this album… argh. I guess I can. Sorry.

I should note that the only reason I gave this album/band the multiple genre distinction, is because I just couldn’t pin down what these guys were aiming for, not because they took three different genres and melded them together coherently. Because they didn’t. Each track sounds pretty much like a carbon copy of the track before it. Well, there is the exception of I Hope You Die In A Car Crash. There’s a bouncy, upbeat tempo and blues guitar portions to it that makes it the standout track of Another Failure In The Making.

Overall: While Another Failure In The Making isn’t exactly that, it isn’t really something I can get behind either. The whole angsty, angry at everything mentality isn’t really my thing anymore. But if it is yours and you enjoy albums that contain the same song played about eleven times over, then Another Failure In The Making is custom made for you!

5/10

Another Failure Official
Another Failure On Facebook 

Genre: Electronica, Nu Metal
Label: Dirthouse Records

Man. It has to of been at least ten years since I last heard a Static-X song and longer since I heard one that I enjoyed. Yeah, I was a fan of Wisconsin Death Trip (and Machine to a lesser extent) back in zee day. But that’s were I drew the line. The X-men just kinda fizzled out on me around that time. And since I stopped paying attention to them around that time, I was amazed to find out while researching Pighammer that they released an album as last as… 2009?! Seriously? Wow… color me impressed that there was still an audience for monotonous  three chord repetition, grating vocals and nonsensical lyrics.

But hey, that was a long time ago. Maybe the Super Sayian haired frontman’s solo project will make me want to search the dollar bin at my local Buybacks for their discography?

Well, it still sort of sounds like Static-X. Thumbs down on that end. Okay, that’s not entirely true. Sure, the riffing is simplistic but this time around, I hear glimpses of catchiness! Other than that though, Wayne’s voice is the same as it ever was and his lyrical metaphors are no deeper than the g-spot on a midget hooker. Some advancements, but not many in that realm.

However, the parts of this album were Wayne focuses his attention on the electronica/”industrial” end of things; sampling and the other bits of technical shit that I don’t fully understand how it all works, this album resembles something listenable! I’m shocked that I’m actually going to have something positive to say about this album since I assumed it wasn’t going to be any good at all (shame on me for judging and album by the creepy looking guy on the cover). He made all sorts of creative choices in Pighammer that paid off: toning down the over-distortion that plagued past albums, integrating samples and adding vocals from his wife (porn hottie Tera Wray) in areas where they actually seemed needed instead of cramming them in wherever, etc…

Overall: A slightly different variety of shit delivered in a slightly different way. There is enough of the old Static-X school of music to keep the original diehards interested, but like more of us, some of the old guard will turn their noses up at this offering. In all honesty, Mr. Static was going for something relatively new and creative here to varying degrees of success and failure and the parts that are more industro-lectronica are actually fairly decent.

5/10

Wayne Static Official
Wayne Static On ReverbNation
Wayne Static On Facebook

Genre: Deathcore, Nu Metal

Label: Century Media

My second review in a row that might cause the bile rise to the back of your throat if you’re one of those people who hates deathcore with a burning passion. Yep, Suicide Silence refuses to listen to public opinion and kill themselves just so that they can release their third Century Media release, The Black Crown.

That first paragraph may be a little misleading since I actually dig Suicide Silence. I own all three of said albums and loved The Cleansing and liked No Time To Bleed. But this album… I don’t know. There is something about it that became clear after a few listens that may shock some of you and make other go, “Fucking duh! Moron.”

Upon listening to The Black Crown one night in bed, I had a flashback to my junior high days, when I used to listen to what I know now as Nu Metal. Why? Why, when listening to this album, did I suddenly remember what it felt like to listen to Korn and Stabbing Westward? Well, let’s go down the list:

1) It’s uber popular by way of high schoolers and the MTV type masses.

2) Gratuitous swearing.

3) Overly repetitive, clean hooks that only appear to differentiate from one another by a note or two.

4) That incredibly stupid vocal style where the vocalist whisper-whines/half speaks into the microphone in a pseduo-seductive or possibly in his head, artsy manner.

5) Teenage poetry slam-esque lyrics.

“Slaves! To substance, eeah! That makes you a slave!
You’re fucking worthless!
I’m gonna sit back with my shades on
watching you make all the same mistakes we all went through.
Everything that I’ve been through that I regret,
I’m watching you use now ever since we met.” – taken from Slaves To Substance

6) For fuck sake! Johnathan Davis does guest vocals on Witness The Addiction. (NOTE: Having not listened to a single Korn song since 2001, the sound of Davis’s voice was a shock to the system. “Fuck, I used to think his voice was appealing?”)

If any of you are still reading after all of that, I think you should know that there are still some positive things about The Black Crown. Mitch Lucker’s vocals are still brutal as hell if not a little grating after the halfway point of the album. Alex Lopez is consistently a fucking beast on the kit. At least when he can be, since a lot of the songs don’t actually let there be a whole lot of pick up and/or are played mid-paced. Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun have a few interesting licks that are sandwiched between lazy string scrapping effects and non existent solos… shit. Everyone of those complements were backhanded, weren’t they? Man, I was actively trying to find nice things to say about this album and when I finally found some, I still ended up shitting on it!

And for some reason, Frank Mullen provides guest vocals on the track, Smashed (by the way, Effigy Of The Forgotten > Suicide Silence’s whole catalog). Umm… does anyone else find this a bit more than surreal? To me, this is like if Bob Kane teamed up with Rob Liefield on a One Shot. The originator of something great and one of the critically viewed, worst things to happen to that same something.

Overall: Everything you really need to know about this album is in the video for You Only Live Once. Sure it’s got a couple of fun aspects but by the end of it, you’ll probably want to shoot a couple of the members too.

4.5/10

Suicide Silence On Facebook

Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy/Nu Metal
Label: Independent

Up next, we’ve got a French band, who’s album I’ve been sitting on for a while. Abinaya plays a mixture of heavier nu-metal akin to the likes of Soulfly (and I’m not just saying that because there are bongos on almost every song) or Tool or maybe even Disturbed and hard rock. Now before the vast majority of you navigate away from this page to go download girl-on-goat porn, Corps isn’t a band that tries to piggyback on bands that were popular ten years ago. Abinaya takes what WAS exciting about a genre that grew incredibly stale all those years ago and turned it into something that resembles metal by adding their own lethal touch to it!

Vocally, there’s a lot of cleans that feels more like the vocalist was just pissed off and used the mic to vent his anger and pour his soul into every word. So even though the lyrics are in French, I still got the feeling that I knew what was being said… As for as the four and six strings are concerned it’s a case Yin & Yang: the guitarist flings a flurry of furious fireballs at the listener while the bass keeps things harmonious with it hypnotic bouncing and booming, calming and just. Well crafted. And then we get to the drum work. It’s pretty damn good… when you can hear it. Now, I don’t know if it was an error or by choice, but I could barely hear them most of the time. I mean, the double bass (when it happened) shot through ok, but mostly all I heard was the vocalist and guitar. Hmm…

Overall: Abinaya is goin’ places. You can quote me on that. I’m sure their next album will be harder and hopefully faster that Corps. And for that, I’m thoroughly excited!

9.5/10

Abinaya On MySpace