Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Progressive, Groove, Speed, Heavy Metal, Psychedelic

Label: Independent

Must… not… make… anymore… SeaQuest… jokes!

I was introduced to this band through a Battle Of The Bands concert that I attended about a half a year ago. They blew me away with their raw talent and unique approach to progressive metal. Not to mention, they were the only band that night that didn’t even remotely sound like any of the other bands (a big ol’ plus since the rest were mostly Panteracore). Come to find out, the bassist/part-time vocalist Ethan Slayton (that is one METAL name!) is a  counter jockey at my local comic book shop, Things From Another World. After a hour or two long conversation about everything from Venture Brothers to Hawkwind to Identity Crisis, I mentioned that I’d be happy to review any material that The Deep Sea Vents would have floating around out there. Happy to oblige, Ethan led me Into The Deep…

Starting off this four song EP is the song Dead Indian Highway, a song title that I thought I heard them shouting when I was washing the dishes and thought to myself, “Now, that can’t be right?” Sure enough, it was. Into The Deep has a running theme of nautical nightmares and other Lovecraftian/check under your bed related stuff (in case you couldn’t tell by the song titles and whatnot) that fits in very well with their brand of what the fuckery style metal.

The vocals vary in terms of quality. When they’re the straight forward Mastodonic yells, they work a-ok. But when they try to branch off into a more extreme vein, they falter a bit. The guitars on the other hand, do absolutely no fucking wrong! Riff after crushing riff leaps out of those twelve combined strings and deafen the listener with awesome! The same can be said about the bass. These are probably some of the most intricate and ballsy licks that I’ve heard since the last Peter Vink project! Then at last, we come to the kit. Drummer Dakota must smoke a lot of fucking weed! His style is reminiscent of Orange Goblin, Karma To Burn and even a little bit of Six Feet Under, so I digs ‘em! Instrumentally, The Deep Sea Vents have it goin’ on! This EP has about a zillion things running around in every direction, in every dimension. So if you want to run your ears through a (sub)Marine bootcamp that’s 20,000 leagues under the sea, then Into The Deep should be right up your alley!

Overall: The Deep Sea Vents offer up an EP that’s full of innovative riffs, bombastic drumming and shroom inspired lyrics that are guaranteed to make you ask the question, “Who’d win in a knife fight, The Kraken or Sauron from The Savage Land?”

We’re gonna need a bigger boat!

9/10

The Deep Sea Vents On Reverbnation

The Deep Sea Vents On Facebook

For anyone who didn’t read last week’s Conjuration of the Sepulchral, the focus of this column is old school death metal, specifically unlauded releases of the late 80′s and early 90′s. I had a hard time deciding what classic underground act I should place the spotlight on this week, but as of now I’ve picked the Bavarian one-man project Traumatic Voyage. The mastermind behind the band, Mark Astorian, has put out 6 increasingly strange albums since 1992, and is supposedly still active, though nothing has been heard from Traumatic Voyage since 2005.  Right now, I’d like to direct your attention toward’s Astorian’s first effort, entitled “Traumatic…”.

If I had to make a judgement about Mr. Astorian’s personality based on his music, I would say that he is a very sick man. That, or an erudite who has explored the darkest and most primal reaches of the human mind. Traumatic voyage is usually categorized as progressive/avant garde death metal, but in my opinion psychedelic death metal is a more apt moniker. “Traumatic…” is a hypnotic, melancholy journey through the subconscious, paying homage to a broad spectrum of negative emotions, as well as a sense of dark esotericism. This is reflected in the lyrics, which paint a dark picture of reincarnation, out of body experiences, and existential angst. An excerpt from the first song, “Shadowconscious”:

“As I walk among the mental corpses of “god’s” children…
Trapped in a dreamless ghagarious sleep
My hallucinations become reality…
Sleep on, mankind… …sleep on…
…And never awake!

Implated pictures of the future
A golden cage… where the mind decays!
Profanced hands writing the book of life…
The machinery spreads its soulless chimeras!

A etheral shot in the head opens my eyes forever
Shadowconscious… evening falls inside…
The psychic metamorphosis into a life’s-trauma…
Returning to the graves of birth
Shadowconscious… above the fear...”

I think drugs probably played a role in the creation of this music, and not solely because of the nature of the music. As other commentators have noted, song titles like “Cannabis Indica” and “Hallucination” seem to suggest a psychedelic inspiration for psychedelic music.

The music is centered on mid paced riffing, generally focusing on evil tremolo picking and heavier more “lurching” riffs accompanied by drumming that sounds very Swedish d-beat at times. If there were tuned a step lower and had a different guitar tone it might sound like a more cerebral Entombed or Dismember. Both clean guitar and clean vocals are present, but employed properly and not taking away from the death metal-ness of the album. The clean vocals are a pained wail that Astorian seems to use only to interject a forlorn “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH” here and there. The clean guitar shows up occasionally, punctuating the mind altering chaos with an ethereal strain of lucidity. This is progressive death metal, but do not expect Death or Atheist.

Traumatic Voyage’s releases can be bought here, but most of this album can be legally downloaded on last.fm, along with chunks of several other albums. “Traumatic…” is also on youtube in its entirety. If you like it, look into the second album “Traumatized…”. The rabbit hole only gets deeper.

Genre: Doom, Sludge, Hard Rock, Psychedelic, Punk
Label: Candlelight Records

You know how sometimes if you’re drawn to a band because it has a member of another band that you like in it? Yeah. Sometimes you run into that snag. It’s that one where the new band that you’re checking out sounds just like the original band that that guy you like is in. Well, City Of Fire has two or ‘em. Both are from Fear Factory: Mr. Burton C. Bell and a Mr. Byron Stroud.

But as luck would have it, City Of Fire actually stood alone for me, for a while. I listened to their self titled debut album about three time, loving it more and more each time… and then I though, “this vocalist sounds awfully familiar…” A quick Google search later and boom! I found my familiars.

I guess it needs to be said that City Of Fire sounds NOTHING like any of these guy’s affiliated bands, not one iota. City Of Fire makes this album feel brand fucking new, yet all too familiar and simply approachable with it’s memorable melodies and cathartic choruses. Not a single song on this album gets too aggressive at all. It’s a pretty chill throughout (especially A Memory. Awesome fucking song!)

Burton’s voice is distinctly brilliant as always. He stays on the cleaner side of things for the majority of the time and only occasionally dips into his trademark gruff shout. As far as the stings go… they manage to bring the mellow on a level that’s almost overwhelming. There’s a weight to every chord that just crushes you if you aren’t prepared for it… which I guess kind of plays against my “chill” remark. But believe me, give it a second listen and you’ll wish the Q-Tip in your hand was a joint! Remember that bit of info when Spirit Guide creeps up on you. You’ll be wondering what classic family movie this album syncs up with…

Not to mention the all too awesome covers of two heavily influential bands songs:  The Rain (by The Cult) and Children Of The Revolution (by T-Rex).

Overall: Aside from some overly ambitious stuff that just didn’t seem to pan out to me (lots of silent breaks or long bouts of droning that just seem excessive), City Of Fire is hot, Hot, HOT!!! Recommended for fans of everyone from doom to hard rock to psychedelic shit to punk. It’s all here and it’s all great!

9.5/10

City Of Fire On MySpace

Also Posted On E-MetalSpace