Füneral Rain Press Cörps

Genre: Progressive Rock
Label: Roadrunner Records
Format: Double Gatefold 2LP (Personal Collection)

Mikael has done it again. A stunning display of technical prowess (which he seems to always humbly undermine in interviews) and a deft hand at good old fashioned songcraft takes an epic win once again for Opeth. Also showing Opeth and their fans love, Roadrunner has put out a great collection for us all. It’s simple, but still wonderfully done.
A double gatefold with beautiful art from Travis Smith containing two black records is what I got. The records themselves are held in old school styled sleeves, plain white paper with clear plastic over the holes to see the record’s label. A lyric sheet is included, with all the album credits on one side and all the lyrics on the other.
The inside of the gatefold is photos of the band in the studio during the recording of Heritage, while the back is a simplistic tracklist. Visually, the album really stands on the front cover, as you can see above.
Musically, it’s quite different from what we’ve grown accustomed to. Gone are Mikael’s death growls, which most people are going to hear this change first. Also gone is the metallic sounds, relying on hard rock and prog rock to take the listener through a sometimes psychedelic journey. There are still Opethian things, parts that remind me of the Ghost Reveries album and even touches of Watershed and Still Life are present, too.
Hammond B3, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, grand piano, and acoustic guitars, all in use by Opeth in the past, are even bigger in the sound now, sometimes taking the song delivery away from the electric guitars and becoming lead instruments rather than just pretty backing colors. Personally, this is a good thing. Growth has always shown between albums for Opeth, and between Watershed and Heritage there has been the largest growth for the band, and it’s because of their desire to just write a prog rock album rather than flirting with the idea.
Album highlights for me are numerous, but the songs “The Devil’s Orchard”, “Slither” (written as a tribute to Ronnie James Dio and a killer live song) and “Famine” really stand out as favorites. The only problem, and the main problem for all Opeth albums really, is that there just are not enough songs to hear.
10 out of 10.

Heritage 2LP Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Heritage
2. The Devil’s Orchard
3. I Feel The Dark
Side B
4. Slither
5. Nepenthe
6. Häxprocess
Side C
7. Famine
8. The Lines In My Hand
Side D
9. Folklore
10. Marrow Of The Earth

Heritage Personnel:
Fredrik Åkesson – Electric rhythm and lead guitars
Martin Mendez – Electric and upright bass guitars
Martin Axenrot – Drums and percussion
Alex Acuña – Percussion on “Famine”
Per Wiberg – Hammond B3, Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Grand Piano
Björn J:son Lindh – Flute on “Famine”
Mikael Åkerfeldt – Vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Mellotron, Grand Piano, FX
Joakim Svalberg – Grand Piano on “Heritage”

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 

When: Friday, April 29, 2011
Where: Pawn Shop, Edmonton, Alberta

The final Sonic Band of the Month of the season brought Cygnets back to the Pawn Shop’s stage. For those that don’t know, Sonic is a local radio station and from September to April they have a band of the month, picked from the local talent that fits on Sonic’s programming, and they are given a show at the end of the month.
The openers for the show were Tim Gilbertson et. al., and they were really good. A solid rock, they were about to embark on a Canadian tour the night after the Sonic show. Hopefully it’s a big success.
The second band was Summer Games, and they got a pair of new fans in myself and Mrs. Blaspheme. Two dudes, a drummer and a keyboardist/drum machinist/singer/lots of other stuff, and together they fucking ruled. Reminding me a bit of Apoptygma Berzerk at times, I think if these guys got the right chances, or made the right chances, they’d be able to go far in the EBM scene.
The third group up, Sister Gray, did impress me, but they weren’t my kind of music to begin with, so I can’t really say much about them. 80′s influenced Riot Grrl/indie rock maybe? Either way, not my favorite, but still very talented, and I hope they go far in their field. And not just because they are local, but because they deserve it.
Finally, Cygnets. As any follower of Funeral Rain Zine can tell you, I’ve been a fan of them since Mrs. Blaspheme and myself saw them open up for Apoptygma Berzerk the last time they came through Edmonton. This show is the third time we’ve seen them now, and as usual they do not disappoint. Pretty much everything is spot on, and if something goes slightly off the boys laugh it off and smooth it over, like when Logan loses his voice and ends up tearing the vocals from himself.
I’ll never get over New Wave, and as such, I’ll never stop loving these guys live. If you’re in Edmonton, or they’re in your area, and you get the chance, see Cygnets. You won’t be disappointed.

(NOTE: Tons of photos were taken, and I’m still going through them. A post will be made in the future as a photo album of the show.)

Last week Evergrey released their newest album Glorious Collision on SPV/Steamhammer. The band’s latest masterpiece has been met with extremely positive fan reaction and critical acclaim. Glorious Collision entered the North American Independent Charts at #125, the North American “Heat Seeker” Chart at #50, #36 in Finland and # 8 in their native land of Sweden. Additional European tour dates as well as a North American tour announcement are expected soon.

Occasionally a musician has to take a step back into the past to develop artistically. Tom Englund, guitarist and vocalist of Swedish rock group Evergrey, took this risk and reorganised his artistic environment. “The most recent Evergrey line-up had reached a point where we no longer had fun as a group,” he confesses, adding: “So we went our separate ways to save our friendship. There were no angry words, and we’re still friends privately.”

Naturally, the decision to break up wasn’t easy for these long-standing friends, especially for Englund and his remaining keyboardist, Rikard Zander, for whom a continuation of Evergrey was never called into question. Yet they both had to face a new challenge: “In the beginning, we weren’t sure whether we’d be able to write a new album without the wealth of experience that the previous line-up brought in. But after Rikard and I had composed a full three numbers during the first week, we felt that was a real coup.”

Listeners will feel this positive energy throughout Glorious Collision, the band’s eighth studio album, which is due for release on February 22nd in North America, February 25th in Germany, and the rest of Europe February 28th in Europe on SPV/Steamhammer. The album will be released in a dynamic goody bag featuring the most diverse material ever released on an Evergrey album. “This may sound like a contradiction in view of our personnel situation, but Rikard and I have allowed more influences on Glorious Collision than ever before. Some elements on Glorious Collision are classic rock, based on a metal format; sometimes the tracks are quiet and haunting, sometimes wild, demanding and gripping.”

This diversity is also expressed in the instrumentation of this extremely dynamic studio production which presents the new band members Marcus Jidell (guitar), Hannes Van Dahl(drums) and Johan Niemann (bass). “It’s great to hear what a breath of fresh air Marcus, Johan and Hannes have brought into the band,” Englund enthuses. “Although the entire material, except for two songs to which Marcus contributed on the compositional side, had already been decided when we started recording, they all left their own, very personal mark on this album.” The great experience of Jidell and Niemann, who have worked with acts such as Royal Hunt andTherion, among others, and have now contributed lots of positive energy together with the 20-year-old drummer, Van Dahl, can be felt throughout the album.

Check out Evergrey‘s video for their new single “Wrong”:

Genres: Hardcore, Metal, Punk, Rock
Labels: Indie Recordings, The End Records

As anyone who comes along these parts knows, we don’t get much punk reviewed. So when I was offered to review Kvelertak’s debut full length, I jumped at it immediately. Then when I saw it has John Baizley’s trademark style of art for the cover, I was immediately intrigued even further.
I mean, fuck man, it’s an OWL with TENTACLES and FLOWERS and WOMEN!
Anyway, the music. Kvelertak are a strange Norway band that mixes a couple genres together, but mostly it’s hardcore and punk at it’s… hard core. Bad joke. Screaming in their native tongue, which throws the listener off at first, Kvelertak’s self-titled is a gorgeous intro for those that haven’t heard them, and a refreshing change of pace from the standards in punk rock right now, where everything is English-spoken.
The album is full of rifftastic music that reminds me of everything from Black Flag to AC/DC, showing their influences off like it’s going out of style, with a vocalist that sounds like he should be in a nuthouse. In other words, pretty damn sweet. Throw in a couple instances of a blackening touch and some slightly death moments, and it’s a disc full of schizophrenic win; no wonder why Kvelertak has won two Spellmann Awards (Norway’s Grammy Award). It’s hitting North American shelves in eight days (with killer bonus tracks!), so go get it.
8.5 out of 10.

Kvelertak on MySpace.