Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: CynNormal Lab Recordings

If the guys from Cynic and Gigan took a truckload of Ritalin before hitting the recording studio, I believe that the end result would sounds something like Abnormal Thought Patterns’s debut EP.

Since I brought it up, I think that if you were able to transmute Abnormal Thought Patterns music into pill from, you’d be left with a highly addictive psychotropic narcotic. Eases the pain by passing through the aural barrier and into the blood and brain barriers. Effective for clearing up a shitty day at work or whatever else is ailing you. Unfortunately, you can’t just stop listening to it. You’ll have to finish the seven track dose or else you’ll go through horribly horrible withdrawals! So do yourself a favor and listen to the whole damned EP and pass over the pain.

Getting back on track, Abnormal Thought Patterns is technical. The two aforementioned bands are decent comparisons in terms of overall sound. But ATP does it all with a certain panache. Primarily the kind were you decide to be an instrumental four piece technical/progressive metal outfit. (Where’s the marketability?  <— F!O!A!D!) Luckily for us, these guys know what they’re doing and who their audience is and they show it by playing with a gusto reserved for hardcore veterans of the genre with finger breaking tech riffs and hyper hammering drumwork exploding out of every track! Even the bass gets it’s fair shot at glory! That just doesn’t happen enough nowadays, am I right?

Unlike other EPs where I always end up bitching about how I was teased with only a little bit of what is to come in the future, Abnormal Thought Patterns went ahead and made sure that you not only got a pretty damned good taste of what these guys are all about, but also that you wouldn’t be teased at all. Sure the EP runs around twenty minutes or so, but there’s enough meat on the bones to slate your progressive hunger.

As for the Cons tally, we have an oldie but a validie: the EP tends to get a little on the repetitive side. The end of each track (minus the bass solo track, Ulnar Nerve Damage which is amazingly good!) sounds enough like the beginning of each track to trigger deja vu. But when they’re playing mind melting progressive riffs throughout, is a little repetition gonna kill ya? …didn’t think so.

Overall: Abnormal Thought Patterns debut EP is a mircoburst of progressive genius! I don’t normally use the word “fun” in my reviews, but it’s hard to deny that there is a whole lot of fun to be had in this offering. And even though it’s a relatively short outing, there is more than enough evidence on these seven tracks to let you know what the inevitable album will be like. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Scott Mosher had a hand in this somewhere…

9.5/10

Abnormal Thought Patterns On Facebook

Genre: Stoner Metal
Label: Independent

I’d just like to start of this review by saying that a lesser band would of wrote me off as a hack or complete ballbag for labeling them as “Brutal Queercore” while questioning what the band’s moniker, “Pinkzilla” meant. (Thanks for the second chance guys!) After blowing my mind with their 2010 demo, Pinkzilla has set the bar pretty fucking high for themselves. Can this big gay lizard make the leap? Let’s read on…

It should be noted that only three of these songs are made up of new material. The other three are re-recordings… holy shit! They’re good ones too!

All the old influences are present in this debut, self-titled album: Black Sabbath, Orange Goblin, Blue Cheer (the colors man! THE COLORS!!!) and the like. So basically, you’ve got yourself a smorgasbord of slammin’ stonery-sludge metal! Vocalist/Guitarist Skyler Wells does an outstanding job at the front of the line, barking out chemically induced insanity with the efficiency of a cattle auctioneer while slinging some pretty wicked riffs ad nauseum! The same can be said about Nate Overholser’s bass work. There is just enough funk in between these slammin’ lines for all of his material to be deemed, “Stonerific” (according to my fiance). And then we come to the drums… yes. Simply, yes. I swear, every time I listen to this album, my heart finds a way to match the beat to each song!

Gah! Gastronaut is the worst song ever! C’mon guys! You’re seriously gonna put a song about the tastiest stoner snacks in the whole of existence at the end of your album that you practically dare people to puff, puff, pass to!? FUCK YOU PINKZILLA!!! This costs you half a point!

(…I have no food in my house at the moment)

Overall: An improvement in every conceivable way! Pinkzilla is easily one of the best unsigned acts that I’ve heard all year and I’m sure you’ll agree once you pick up this album!

9.5/10

Pinkzilla On Facebook 

Finnish death metal outfit Corpsessed has signed with Dark Descent Records for the CD release of their self-titled debut EP. Scheduled for an early 2011 release, the EP features six tracks of bludgeoning old-school death in the vein of Entombed, Incantation, Deicide, Immolation and Grave. Select tracks from the EP have been posted on the band’s official MySpace site, while more information on Corpsessed can be found on their Facebook page.

Corpsessed was spawned from putrescent slime in 2007, after the dissolution of an earlier project Skullfucker. Vocalist Niko Matilainen (Skullfucker), guitarist Matti Mäkelä (Tyranny, Wormphlegm) and drummer Jussi-Pekka Manner (Skullfucker, Pohjoinen Kuri) were joined by guitarist Jyri Lustig (Cardinals Folly) and the (de)composing of morbid death metal tunes began at the rotting houses of the Järvenpää delta-area.

The group’s original bass player Mikko Mäkelä disappeared in unknown circumstances, but was replaced in 2009 by Mikko Pöllä (Azure).

Look for Corpsessed‘s debut EP out soon on Dark Decent Records (CD only), with vinyl treatment coming courtesy of French label Ostra Records.

Genre: Deathcore
Label: Candlelight

Opening with a pretty sounding instrumental (“Lux Et Tenebris”), Viatrophy’s self-titled debut sounds like a band that’s been seasoned with years of experience in the underground.
In other words, it sounds pissed off.
Mixing a gentle amount of prog and black into their deathcore, Viatrophy throw some chuggy riffage with snare-riding blasts in your face, creating a deathcore that is engaging and interesting. It’s definitely one of the most memorable deathcore releases I’ve heard in awhile, and I’d recommend it to people that are into multiple scenes the most. Straight deathcore fans might not like the subtleties as much as more diverse fans.
In the end, Viatrophy’s self-titled brings a pain to my neck and scars to my eardrums.
7 out of 10.

Genre: Thrash, Hardcore
Label: Slaney Records

The Greek, thrash entities known commonly as Convicted, have been causing heads to bang and fists to pump since 1998. Their sounds attests to this since it’s full of a heavy grooves and gruff, hardcore vocals (much akin to that of Derek Green. Like eerily…). So, they’re thrash, but not that classic 80’s stuff that’s like a drug to most of us. More of a Gothenburgy-thrash/core mishmash.

I’m not going to mince words with Convicted sophomore album, it’s pretty mediocre. None of the tracks really standout and the album itself seems less energetic than a thrash album should be. There are a few fun parts, namely the gang vocals in Fuck Off And Die and the chorus in album opener Cop killer (and no, it‘s not a Body Count cover… *shudder*). Other than that, this album is pretty forgettable.

Overall: I don’t know. Maybe I can’t get past the fact that this album reminded me of shit era Sepultura… I believe that Convicted as a band have some thrash in their soul. It’ll just take a little bit more time to pull it to the surface.

5.5/10

Convicted On MySpace
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