Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

An auditory violence ensues when listening to Entering Hell’s demo. It’s noisy, blackened, and thrashy riffing, with a grim voice that reminds me of Cory Taylor on Slipknot’s self-titled at times. It’s definitely odd, and fairly good, but it’s not my first choice for listening.
If you’re a fan of Necrosadik, S.O.D.D., or similar bands, you might like Entering Hell.
6.5 out of 10.

Genre: Deathcore, Progressive Metal
Label: Independent

Okay, first up, calling these guys deathcore is wrong. But it’s the closest thing out there to what they are doing. They are quite honestly doing something that’s a little too different from a lot of other stuff out there to just tag with a genre. But, that’s the job, isn’t it?
Anyway, Feel The Pain have been around for four years now, spreading their music all over the place, and now finally they have a proper album for the listening ears of their audience. And I’m liking it.
It’s got an almost Mudvayne-meets-Suicide Silence thing to it, but even that’s off too. The guitars are chuggy as a dying Harley with really cool riffs. The drums are somewhat shallow at times, nut busting deep at others, and faster than a speed freak’s tweak. The vocals are brutal throat rippers that don’t let up. And well, the bass is kind of hidden in the mix a little, but what is there is deep.
Like I said, I like this band.
7.5 out of 10.

Feel The Pain on MySpace.

Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Label: Independent

Dethrone the Sovereign sent me this EP forever ago, and it sat on my desk for a couple days, then moved into my CD player for a couple days more. I couldn’t get enough of this disc when I first heard it. It was something I had not heard before, a nice mix of death metal with tons of proggy elements and some black metal touches gracing the edges of it all.
These young Utah dudes are playing tons of shows lately too, getting their names out there, getting some
recognition, and because of that and this EP, hopefully you’ll see them on Deathless Reality Records in the very near future.
10 out of 10.

Dethrone the Sovereign on MySpace.

Genres: Metalcore, Thrash
Label: Independent

Walken have been around for quite awhile, but they are another one of those bands that are new to me. From the San Francisco area, the home of American thrash, it’s only natural to incorporate the genre into your style; and Walken have done it wonderfully.
They remind me of Killswitch Engage a little, and Anthrax a lot. Which is a really cool mix, if you ask me.
Rifftastic and loud, I think the newest self-titled from Walken will be their breakout release, putting them even further into the spotlight of American thrash. And I hope it does too, because these guys are damn good and damn deserving.
8 out of 10.

Walken on MySpace.

Genre: Heavy Metal
Label: Hell’s Headbangers

Keeping the metal flame alive is no easy feat nowadays. A lot of people look at classic 80′s sounding metal as something that should not be revisited, but that is not stopping Finland’s Armour from doing what they want. And judging from this fucking awesome sounding album, they want to “Rock’n'Roll Tonite”.
Riffs are a little bit more technical than the modern ‘classic’ metal most people are getting exposed to at times, which is a nice change. Mind you though, they’re still designed for optimum headbanging. The tone reminds me of a colder sound too, which might be the Finnish in the band getting shown off. It’s like Accept or U.D.O. with more of a slow burning anger underneath.
Favorite tracks are “The Time is Right”, “Sex Demon”, and “Heavy Metal Drinkers”.
7.5 out of 10.