Funeral Rain Press Corps

A long overdue split release, Sri Lanka’s psychotic auditory terrorists and the legionaries of the 666th battalion of the Raavan cult have congregated to create, manifest and aid world spiritual warfare. Released on limited edition vinyl by Dunkelheit Produktionen in December 2011, the seven deranged and trance inducing hymns of tantric mantras – collectively known as Astral Mantras of Dyslexia – are now being released by Dunkelheit on Digipak CD on February 25th with different artwork and a huge booklet!

Included are not only the infamous Stoned Guru Ramblings by Plecto Aliquem Capite and “Buddhang Saranang” by Funeral In Heaven recorded as a tribute to an ancient Sri Lankan cult, the album also contains the byproduct bastard progeny “Crestfallen: Immolating Shakthi” purged into existence by fusing ancestral possessions inherited by both projects. Astral Mantras of Dyslexia is 50 minutes of ominous Sri Lankan ritualistic auditory therapy for mentally deranged ancient worshipers of astral energy. Limited edition hooded sweatshirts featuring the album’s artwork are currently available at Dunkelheit Produktionen’s webstore.

Genres: Doom, Sludge
Label: Anthropic Records

One of my favorite labels has sent me a shiny new record! And it’s on transparent green vinyl! And it’s a fucking MONSTER of a record too!

Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to give this a spin, even on my asshole of a record player that doesn’t seem to want to send sound to the speakers properly. And for some reason, maybe because it understood the awesomeness of the vinyl, the speakers were sounding great. Thank you record player. Thank you.

Now, on to the review!

Side A is Philly’s Sadgiqacea, facestomping their way through two tracks (“The Great Divide”, “Avianizer”). Doom as doom can doom, these guys are so fucking awesome. I thought their older tracks on Bandcamp were great, but these two songs throw those into the mud. If you’re into stuff like Five Will Die, Black Tusk, Fight Amp, Bison B.C., and the Side B band Grass, you should check these guys out. If you don’t know what I’m talking about when I mention those bands, think of an angry Black Sabbath with Henry Rollins getting punched in the face by Justin Broadrick as the vocalist. 10 out of 10.

Side B is another Philly doom as fuck band, who continue to kick the shit out of their listeners and amps after Sadgiqacea leave off, who they also follow in the same vein musically. I feel sorry for stages and moshers that these guys play for, because if this is indicative of all their stuff (my first time hearing Grass), they destroy shit. Bleeding ears, noses, and knuckles all around. 10 out of 10.

Math should be obvious here. 10 out of 10.

Sadgiqacea on Facebook.
Grass on Facebook.

Genre: Death Metal, Grindcore

Label: Comatose Music

Ah! Out of the mainstream and back into the… well, whatever level of non-convoluted, true to the cause, fucking awesome Comatose Music is!

What we have here children, is an old-school, down and dirty, balls to the wall, punch yourself in the face death metal compilation! There are five bands from across the globe, each with two songs at the ready to catch your attention and threaten you with meathook sodomy if you don’t track down their LPs! I don’t care if I consistently bitched about having to review these inventions that rival torture devises used by the Inquisition to render critics of the time to quivering masses of flesh! I’m stoked as fuck to have this one sitting in front of me! So let’s cut the bullshit and dive head first into Split Torso Trauma!

Antropofagus – Consumed By A Lacerating Desire / Eternity To Devour -  Italian death metal in the vein of pretty much any American death metal band from the late 80′s or early 90′s. Most noticeably, Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation. These songs are fast, beastly and pretty much the way you wish Cannibal Corpse sounded today. The perfect way to start of a death metal compilation!

Putridity – Zombie Oral Sex / Necropedophile – If you took all of the Schwarzeneggerness out of Goretorture, what you’d have left would be Putridity and a decent Cannibal Corpse cover. Walk away from this review taking that however you want.

Prion – Losing Itself In The Infinite / End Is Near – I’d bet a night with my fiancee’s asshole that each of the three members of this band sleep with a copy of Altars Of Madness under their pillows. Prion offers the purest death metal this split has to offer! Both of their songs have the aforementioned Morbid Angel influences with dashes of originality that blare out like a klaxon! If I were to choose one band from this comp to hunt down and buy their back albums, it would easily be Prion!

Infected Flesh – Daeformaldehyded / Ancestors Of The Scalpel – I can sum up Infected Flesh’s contribution to this compilation in one word: BUUUUUUURRRRRRP! But, I think you’d want a little more than that, huh? These two tracks are pretty much the vocalist letting out one long seven minute belch that shakes the snare a bunch. Not exactly entertaining or… well, anything really.

Mass Infection – Beholding The Throne / Beyond Perpetuation – The word “classic” comes immediately to mind as soon as Mass Infection interrupted Infected Flesh’s belch (so did the word “thankful”). Think Greek Obituary and replace the weak vocals with brutal growls that I’d imagine hurt like hell after all is said and done and you’ll be on track with Mass Infection’s brand of killer death metal! Ah, ending on a high note! Always nice.

8.5/10 (the highest score I’ve ever given a compilation, EVER!)

Antropofagus On MySpace

Putridity On Facebook

Prion Official

Infected Flesh On MySpace

Mass Infection Official

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Independent

Not only are these guys carrying my favor for sending me some ultra-depressive, ultra awesome black metal, but they also drop a little something extra in the envelop. In the past, I’ve received buttons, patches, stickers, photos, signed posters, t-shirts and on one occasion a pair of voodoo dolls. This time, incense. I love incense! And the stuff they sent (I can’t place the fragrance and it’s driving me mad!) complements this split perfectly! I can still smell it as I’m listening to it again while writing this review! It’s crazy!

…so. Two fiendish, hooded individuals from Santa Cruz collaborated on a wickedly evil piece of metal and set it free among the general populace? Seems a bit reckless all things considered, doesn’t it?

At Dusk – Slow to start, like a frustrating joint… but once it hits, you’re on your way to a wonderful evening. Muddied and bleak, At Dusk presents a gripping audio journey through the overgrown forests, burning churches and empty solitude. The music simply cannot be described here. It’s epic on a grim scale. Easily some of the best black metal I’ve heard from 2010. It gets a little static-y (lots of hissing and feedback, NOT the music) as The Profaned Temple begins around five tracks in, but I think I can forgive that due to the overwhelming awesome.

Idolater – The Idolater serves up two tracks of Black Sexual Blasphemy on this split and he hardly wastes anytime ramming it down your throat! Idolater’s form of black metal is more traditional than heard from the previous contributor, but rad none the less. Evil, low production, fast paced with raspy as hell vocals, blistering riffs and maddening snare abuse! That’s about as close to the good ol’ tape trading days as you can get! These two tracks also suffer from some annoying static. But again, whatever. The blasphemy bleeds through.

Overall: If you can manage to get your hands on this split, I STRONGLY urge you to do so.

9.5/10

At Dusk On MySpace
Idolater On MySpace

Genre: Death Metal
Label: Independent

I bought this CD from Auroch forever ago at the last show they played in Edmonton. Finally gave it a spin (I’m so lazy sometimes), and here’s what I heard: awesomeness.
Ancient Obliteration play a cool death metal with extremely crunchy sound with a fast speed and a voice that reminds me a little of David Vincent. Really good.
7 out of 10.
Auroch play an odd death metal that mixes in a little bit of black metal and a ton of H.P. Lovecraft. Their cover of “Chapel of Ghouls” by Morbid Angel is just fucking great, and their live sound was grabbed perfectly with “Haunter of Darkness”.
If you get a chance to check this disc out, go for it.
7.5 out of 10.