Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Southern Lord

Reformed with a mostly new line-up, featuring Blake Judd from shithot black metal band Nachtmystium, Twilight return to the scene.
A true supergroup of black metal, and mostly from very different styles of black metal, progressive metal, and doom, Twilight is more than the sum of its parts. Because these are all guys that are very knowledgeable as to what they are doing, and considering this was written as a truly collaborative effort, unlike the Twilight debut, this is a much stronger album too.
The music takes at times more rock structures, but with very blackened overtones. I think this comes not from black metal thinking but the progressive thinking of the FOUR guitarists (Blakemystium, Wrest, Aaron Turner from Isis, and Stavros Giannopolous from The Atlas Moth) and the vocals are throat destroying and amazing. I honestly do not know how N. Imperial does such work. The drums and bass are done by Wrest himself, and are done amazingly.
All told, Monument to End Time is a gorgeous piece of work, and truly is genre defining and breaking at the same time. If you don’t get it, you’re missing the fuck out.
10 out of 10.

Twilight on Southern Lord.

Next week begins WITTR’s next rigorous stretch of tour touring which takes them through more than fifteen countries by the beginning of June.

The festivities kick off with the band’s week-and-a-half long West Coast US tour alongside Earth and Lori Goldston. Following that, for all of May and into June the band will be forging their way through much of Europe on a headlining tour.

WITTR with Earth, Lori Goldston:
4/14/2010 The Oak Street Speakeasy – Eugene, OR
4/15/2010 Noctrum – Eureka, CA
4/16/2010 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
4/17/2010 Brookdale Lodge – Santa Cruz, CA
4/19/2010 Ché Café – San Diego, CA
4/20/2010 The EchoPlex – Los Angeles, CA
4/22/2010 Rotture – Portland, OR
4/23/2010 Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
4/24/2010 Capitol Theatre – Olympia, WA w/ Mount Eerie, Ô Paon‏

WITTR Headlining European Tour:
5/01/2010 Ragnarok Festival – Rieden, Germany
5/05/2010 K4 – Nurnberg, Germany
5/06/2010 Matrix Club – Prague, Czech Republic
5/07/2010 Friction Festival – Berlin, Germany
5/08/2010 Beatpol – Dresden, Germany
5/10/2010 Durer Kert – Budapest, Hungary
5/11/2010 Channel Zero – Ljubljana, Slovenia
5/12/2010 Szene – Vienna, Austria
5/13/2010 Neudegg Alm – Abtenau, Austria
5/14/2010 Rock Planet – Pinarella di Cervia, Italy
5/15/2010 Koko Club – Castelletto Cervo, Italy
5/16/2010 Le Kab – Geneva, Switzerland
5/17/2010 Jubez – Karlsruhe, France
5/18/2010 Glazart – Paris, France
5/19/2010 AB Club – Brussels, Belgium
5/20/2010 The Fighting Cocks – Kingston, England
5/21/2010 Engine Rooms – Brighton, England
5/22/2010 Hare And Hounds – Birmingham, England
5/23/2010 Islington Mill – Manchester, England
5/24/2010 The Underworld – London, England
5/25/2010 The Croft – Bristol, England
5/27/2010 Trix – Antwerp, Belgium
5/28/2010 Lakei – Helmond, Netherlands
5/29/2010 Tivoli – Utrecht, Netherlands
5/30/2010 Gleis22 – Munster, Germany
5/31/2010 Hafenklang – Hamburg, Germany
6/01/2010 Loppen – Copenhagen, Denmark
6/02/2010 Sticky Fingers – Goteborg, Sweden
6/03/2010 Garage – Oslo, Norway

Stay tuned for more details on WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM throughout the year.

Salem, New Hampshire’s Trap Them have posted a new song on their MySpace page.
Entitled “Carnage Incarnate”, the 3 minute, 27 second long track is a taste of their upcoming 12″ EP Filth Rations. And it’s tasty, if you ask me. Southern Lord will be releasing the one-sided record. The other side will feature etched artwork by Justin Bartlett.
More info on the release will be made available by Trap Them “soon”.

Southern Lord is proud to announce the newest members of its coven, brutal Italian group THE SECRET.

In a statement by Southern Lord this week, label owner Greg Anderson stated: “These days it’s extremely rare that we receive a demo submission that blows us away. This was the case with the demo THE SECRET had sent us. Their sound is relentless, uncompromising and extremely lethal. Anti-melody, pro-cacophony!”

Born and shaped in 2003 within the motionless city of Trieste, Italy, THE SECRET come to life as an output for rage, darkness and negativity, combining elements of crust/grind, primitive black metal, dark soundscapes and monolithic riffs that take the listener by the hand through a hallucinated trip towards a foggy and yet invisible tomorrow. After their 2003 Goodfellow Records debut album Luce, the band went through countless lineup changes before finding a new incarnation in 2008 when their second full-length Disintoxication was released. Since then the Goodfellow label has unfortunately ceased to exist, and THE SECRET have now found shelter within Southern Lord’s bleak caves.

This April THE SECRET will enter Godcity Studio in Salem, MA with producer Kurt Ballou to record their Southern Lord debut Solve et Coagula, their sonic interpretation of a total loss of faith in social system, religion, personal redemption and every institution.

You are forewarned of an approaching monolithic steamroller whose destiny is to flatten all in its path!

The Secret on MySpace.

While the unstoppable touring duo Black Cobra are currently amidst a California retail in-store mini-tour promoting the vinyl release of their latest album Chronomega, they’ve also just announced their plans to get right back out there as soon as possible. The band will hit the Southwest and Southern US for the second half of March, with a stop at the Tone Deaf Touring showcase at SXSW, joined by Weedeater, Liturgy, U.S. Christmas, Rwake, White Mice and more along the way.

Immediately following that tour, it has just been confirmed that Black Cobra will join the recently announced month-long US tour opening for the massive High On Fire! Also acts on the tour include Priestess and Bison BC, making this one of the grittiest, headbanging rock tours of the year.

Black Cobra California In-Store Performances:
2/09/2010 R5 Records – Sacramento, CA
2/10/2010 Streetlight Records – San Jose, CA
2/11/2010 Streetlight Records – Santa Cruz, CA
2/13/2010 Thirsty Moon – San Diego, CA
2/14/2010 Vacation – Los Angeles, CA

March Tour + SXSW:
3/16/2010 Burt’s Tiki Lounge – Albuquerque, NM w/ Spittin’ Cobras
3/17/2010 The Conservatory – Oklahoma City, OK w/ Liturgy, White Mice
3/18/2010 Channel/Meridian – Houston, TX w/ Weedeater, ASG, Gates of Slumber, US Christmas
3/19/2010 Skillman Street Bar – Dallas, TX w/ Weedeater, Black Tusk, Gates of Slumber
3/20/2010 Encore – Austin, TX – SXSW Tone Deaf Touring Showcase w/ Weedeater, Rwake, Black Tusk, ASG, U.S. Christmas
3/21/2010 Zombies – San Antonio, TX w/ Weedeater, Black Tusk, Gates of Slumber, SBL
3/22/2010 Rogue – Fayetteville, AR w /U.S. Christmas
3/23/2010 Downtown Music – Little Rock, AR w/ U.S. Christmas
3/24/2010 The Muse – Nashville, TN w/ U.S. Christmas
3/26/2010 31st St Pub – Pittsburgh, PA w/ Bison BC
3/27/2010 Mickey Finn’s Pub – Toledo, OH

Black Cobra Tour w/ High on Fire, Priestess, Bison BC
3/31/2010 Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN
4/01/2010 High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
4/02/2010 Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
4/03/2010 Skully’s Music Diner – Columbus, OH
4/05/2010 123 Pleasant St – Morgantown, WV
4/06/2010 First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA
4/07/2010 The Middle East – Cambridge, MA
4/08/2010 Daniel St – Milford, CT
4/09/2010 Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
4/11/2010 Black Cat – Washington, DC
4/13/2010 Tremont Music Hall – Charlotte, NC
4/14/2010 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
4/15/2010 One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA
4/16/2010 Walters on Washington – Houston, TX
4/17/2010 Emo’s – Austin, TX
4/18/2010 The Loft – Dallas, TX
4/20/2010 Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
4/22/2010 Hollywood Alley – Phoenix, AZ
4/23/2010 El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
4/24/2010 Detroit Bar – Costa Mesa, CA
4/25/2010 The Casbah – San Diego, CA

Stay tuned for additional Black Cobra live actions and more updates shortly.