Funeral Rain Press Corps

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”

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.

Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Label: Southern Lord

Pushing black metal into further left field regions, while keeping it firmly rooted in it’s origins can’t be an easy feat. But Wolves in the Throne Room seem to do it just fine, perhaps even making it an easy feat after three albums and two demos before Celestial Lineage.
Musically, this album is beyond what many people would call black metal. WITTR are taking cues, it seems, from Isis (whose own Aaron Turner makes chanting appearances on “Subterranean Initiation” and “Permanent Changes in Consciousness”), Xasthur, Leviathan, and even touches of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Junius with some classic American rock leanings, as well as Darkthrone, Celtic Frost, Emperor, and even Dimmu Borgir at times.

The artwork for Celestial Lineage is amazing. Photographs, presumably taken near Calliope, depict a peaceful, beautiful rural setting, with Nathan and Aaron in the distance in a falling-down forest on the back cover. The sleeves for the records are equally photographed, featuring mountains, forest, and a deforested area as well. The vinyl itself for both records is some of the blackest I’ve ever seen, the sheen on it is magical, and at 180gm the platters have a good weight.
In all, it really meshes together, the physical beauty of the records and the auditory beauty that is on the records.

“Thuja Magus Imperium” is in many ways a classy black metal song. It starts off ambient-infused and has Jessika Kenney singing wonderful vocals, then Nathan takes over with his blackened lungs and riffs. A wonderful solo happens in it, which in the notes is called the “Black Acid Solo” (a perfect name for it), and it’s performed by Milky Burgess. The main riffs are reminiscent of slower Darkthrone, with a very haunting quality to it that brings Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk to mind.
“Permanent Changes in Consciousness” is very much an ambient track, with wind and meditative chanting being the main sounds. There is a wonderful underlayer of percussion and windchime-esque sounds. Lovely, but far too short for such a great ambient gem.
“Subterranean Initiation” starts off fast and hard, keeping the wind sounds but turning them into a gale rather than a breeze. If the more cinematic elements of modern Dimmu Borgir were performed by Celtic Frost, this song might result. Very strong riff structure that moves you along, rather than allowing you to come with it, is combined with beautiful keys. All of this gets stripped away for a short time, however, and we are left with only a bare guitar momentarily, and the song slows right down for about a minute, only to return to it’s Celtic Borgir beginnings. Faith Coloccia does additional chants on this song, with Timb Harris writing and performing the “uprooting string arrangements”.
“Rainbow Illness” is another instrumental, led primarily by keys and possible field recordings. Really good, but again, too short.
“Woodland Cathedral” seems to be the baby of Jessika Kenney, with her taking control of choral vocal performance, arrangement, lyrics, and organ. The woman is amazing, her voice strong and uplifting, while her organ work really brings you down to earth. This is almost in no way a black metal song, other than the undertones of guitar, bass, and drums, which slowly come closer to the fore, which makes it even more of a black metal song, to me. This song really reminds me of parts of the Treasure album by Cocteau Twins.
“Astral Blood” starts off as a total second wave black metal song, with riffing and drumming sounding like a drier Darkthrone, until the keys kick in at least. Then it becomes all Wolves in the Throne Room. Thick vintage tone comes from their amps, and analog synths bubble up; no longer is this dry. Wet with emotion, “Astral Blood” may well be my favorite song on the album. I love the harp/wind section by Zeynep Okyu Yilmaz at the 4ish-minute mark. It’s just so moving, it’s hard to concentrate on anything else. Honestly, this whole song is like that. It definitely pulls at the heartstrings.
“Prayer of Transformation” picks up on the ending of “Astral Blood”, then morphs into it’s own lumbering beast. The entire song moves at a slow pace, bringing a doomy flavor to the occult lyrics. The synths are just brilliant, and what I think is more field recordings make quiet undercurrents throughout. There is nothing extreme about this song, except Nathan’s vocals, but the whole is extremely moving. I could sleep to this, and perhaps have the most pleasant dreams of bringing the dead back to golden life. The ending is great, with the keys and guitars coming up into a crescendo, then dropping off into ambiance for about a minute.

This is where, as the final record begins to click the fact that it is over, you turn off your record player, take off the record, put it back into its sleeve, and put the first one on the turntable again, and take the spiritual and emotional journey once, or even twice more. I could listen to this album, and only this album, for days. It is spellbinding and gorgeous. Beautiful. Perfect.
10 out of 10.

Wolves in the Throne Room on Facebook.

Genre: Progressive Metal
Label: Season of Mist

This happy little EP is coming out on transparent blue 10″ vinyl and CD. And by happy I mean boner-inducing prog metal happy.
Sing-along choruses are put to real effective use on Carbon-Based Anatomy, especially in my favorite track, “Box Up My Bones”, while crunchy heavy riffs are under the leads that soar and spin with grace, beauty, and perfection. The lush sounds, amazing solos, and beautiful singing that Cynic fans have come to enjoy ever since Focus are even more omnipresent here. Synths bubble and churn, with precise drumming that has a real human hand attached to it, and both are still done by Sean Reinert. The bass work is, as usual, amazing, taken care of by Sean Malone, who is no longer in the band.
There is a real sense of wonder with Carbon-Based Anatomy, a feeling of freedom and exploration heretofore only really glimpsed at with Focus and Traced in Air. It is as if the guys picked up their instruments and said “Play. No matter what comes out, if it’s pushing the Cynic envelope, it’s good to go. No limits, no compromise.” It’s inspiring to say the least, and I can’t wait for my record to arrive.
9 out of 10.

Cynic on Facebook.

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.