Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genres: Black Metal, Black ‘n’ Roll
Label: Indie Recordings

True Norwegian black metal combined with the progressive mindset of Opeth and the straight forward approach of good old rock results in the great combination that is V (vee, not five).

Strong riffs that evoke black metal as well as some elements of death, thrash, and punk form the basis of the songs. There are even some forays into a folk metal territory, which is just fine by me. I love that stuff.

The songs themselves, unlike Opeth’s epics, rarely make it much past the five minute mark, with only “The Other And The Look” reaching the 10:31 mark. All of them are well crafted, thoughtfully arranged to lead you from beginning to end, rather then start you on a journey and then just drop you off somewhere lame, and all of them follow a great progression through the album as well, meaning listening from beginning to end gives you the impression of something larger in scope, while still having distinct individual songs to listen to. Plus, no riff overstays its welcome, no drum beat is unnecessary, no bassline a third wheel, the keys are always a nice coloring to the music, and Sture’s vocals are always a good overlay. In other words, it’s full of wonderful songcraft. These men know their shit.

If you’re a fan of Immortal, I, Ritual, Morgul, Black River, and their like, then V is right for you.

9 out of 10.

Vreid on Facebook.

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

The Black Dahlia Murder Official

The Black Dahlia Murder On Facebook

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As part of the news of Funeral Rain Records releasing the new Ritual album The Resurrection, I have decided to give FRR another, different, kind of resurrection.

Gone are the days of under-fifty-copies releases, unless the band I’m releasing is REALLY fucking good, and gone are CDRs, unless the band is REALLY fucking good and the packaging is going to be spectacular.
Gone are the days of under-promoted free digital releases. The download stats on my free compilation and the or, ganic E.P. are atrocious. You and I should be ashamed of ourselves, not telling enough people of these free gems!
And gone are the days where the albums I’m releasing have the tag FR##.

Because this is The New Funeral Rain Records. So with the release of Ritual’s The Resurrection there will be a new cataloging system. Ritual’s The Resurrection shall be TNFRR1, while Into the Mouth of Hell, the compilation I’ve been working on for awhile now, will be TNFRRC1.

More details on all of this are coming soon as I continue to rearrange the way things work here. Because this isn’t just about me, it’s about you, the fans of music as well.

It is now official: Funeral Rain Records will be releasing the new album from legendary USBM outfit Ritual, The Resurrection. Look forward to eleven new tracks of blistering black metal at it’s most finest, all penned and performed by Ian Ritual himself. Below is the proposed, NOT FINAL, artwork for the album.

The new album will be coming in a four panel Digipak and each copy comes with an 11″ by 17″ poster. Pre-Sales are coming very soon, so keep your eyes on the look out! The exact release date is not set in stone, but look for a December to January unleashing of this beast.

The Resurrection Tracklisting:
1. A Funeral For My Heart
2. A Perfect Moonlit Night
3. Drowning Into The Sea
4. The Resurrection
5. Executioner Of The Elder Gods
6. This Means War
7. Temples Of Baphomets’ Sons
8. Nightmare
9. Winter Of My Discontent
10. Blinded By Hatred
11. March Of The Damned

For more info on this release as it comes, keep your eyes peeled on the Funeral Rain Facebook page.

The official tracklist for Ritual’s newest magnum opus The Resurrection is as follows:

1. A Funeral For My Heart
2. A Perfect Moonlit Night
3. Drowning Into The Sea
4. The Resurrection
5. Executioner Of The Elder Gods
6. This Means War
7. Temples Of Baphomets’ Sons
8. Nightmare
9. Winter Of My Discontent
10. Blinded By Hatred
11. March Of The Damned