Funeral Rain Press Corps

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Candlelight Records Cult Series
Format: Digital Promo (Earsplit PR)

In all reality, I didn’t think that Wodensthrone would be able to match their work with their debut album Loss. As it turns out, I was wrong. Not only have they matched Loss, but with Curse they may have even surpassed it.
The band takes traditional, old styled black metal like that of Bathory, Darkthrone, etc., and infuse it with folk-like elements and a serious sense of true British-ness. They remind me of a prettier (but no less vicious) Kampfar, really, but if one were to take the time and truly listen to this album, they would hear a touch of death metal at times and even some classic stuff that brings Judas Priest to mind.
Favorite songs are “Wyrgthu” and “The Name Of The Wind”.
10 out of 10.

Curse Tracklisting:
1. The Remaining Few
2. Jormungandr
3. First Light
4. The Great Darkness
5. Battle Lines
6. Wyrgthu
7. The Storm
8. The Name Of The Wind

Curse Personnel:
Wildeþrýð – Vocals/Guitar
Rædwalh – Vocals/Guitar
Árfæst – Keys/Atmospherics
Gerádwine – Bass
Hréowsian – Drums/Vocals

Wodensthrone on Facebook.

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Candlelight Records

Eastern Front have been around for awhile, and up until now I’ve never heard them, nor have I even heard OF them. Sure seems I was missing out.
When I first started playing the album I was immediately impressed by the pure ferocity of the playing; there is a lot more than just passion being pushed through these guys’ amps.
Extremely aggressive and still retaining a large amount of melody, Eastern Front’s ‘War Torn Black Metal’ (as they call it) brings some elements of death metal, doom, folk, and classical to the blackened aspects and create a new beast.
I was ready to give these guys a high rating, then I saw their MySpace page, and now they’re getting an even HIGHER rating. It’s wonderful to see a black metal band with this kind of professionalism with their MySpace. Band member shots, past shows, band history, reviews, videos, and more, and it’s all so nice and neat. Must be the English in them.
Straight up, this is some of the best black metal I’ve heard out of the UK; right up there with Wodensthrone (but very different), Primordial’s old stuff, and Intra Tenebrae.
8.5 out of 10.

Eastern Front on MySpace.

Genre: Pagan Black Metal
Label: Bindrune Recordings

After two split 7″ releases, these historic black metalers have finally released a full length album entitled Loss. A what a loss it could have been had I not received this demo for review or for you (the reader) for not stumbling upon this review, for I have such wonderful things to tell you! Loss harkens back to the days of yore, both in terms of style and in lyrical content. Style: Remember Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism? Yeah. Place that here and add a hefty dose of melody, better production and sharper vocals and you might start to get an idea of what’s going on there. Lyrics: Loss is all about the darkest era of England’s past. A beautiful culture, fraught with war, disease and tyranny (oh my!). You start to develop a feeling of woe for the sick characters/gnarled landscapes that populate Loss. But then, the metal hits ya and you find new way of contorting your neck to the sinister riffs that are spilling out of you speakers! If you like feeling ravaged (in the only good way there is… umm… you fill in the blank there…) then pick up a copy of Loss.

Overall: Wodensthrone have unleashed one hell of an album here! Loss is just about as good as it gets when it comes to black metal… fuck, metal in general.

9.5/10

Wodensthrone On MySpace

Originally posted at E-MetalSpace

Genre: Pagan Black Metal
Label: Bindrune Recordings

From the very beginning of this album, Wodensthrone set themselves apart from everything in black metal.
Full of big sound and wonderful yet savage melodies, Loss truly does hearken one back to the late 1980′s, early 1990′s black metal, the pure stuff that still allowed experimentation and individuality.
But even more than that, after Wodensthrone shows you the past circa fifteen to twenty years ago, they keep rewinding further and further into the past, showing you (and making you live) 700 years ago.
The England that is now immortalized in beautiful fairy tales and fantasy is shown for what it is: beautiful still, but also a place of hard living, of battles and oppression. The sound, the lyrics, everything that Wodensthrone is, is this dichotomy of beautiful and dangerous.
And it’s amazing, and also inspiring. It’s a breath of fresh air in a genre that can become stale fairly easily.
Wodensthrone’s Loss for me is an instant classic.
10 out of 10.