Funeral Rain Press Corps

Ah, Cianide. The classic Chicago Death Metal band that’s so crushingly, lurchingly heavy they’re like Obituary on steroids. This was definitely an album I was looking forward to hearing, along with various other Old-School Death Metal comebacks and New-Wave-of-Old-School-Death-Metal (NWOSDM?) releases.

I never actually heard their last “comeback” album (2005′s  ”Hell’s Rebirth”), so my only frame of reference for Cianide is their 90′s golden era, which spawned evil, monolithic, and fucking DOOOOOM albums like “The Dying Truth” and “A Descent Into Hell”. “Gods of Death” isn’t quite as slow as the classics, and the small change of pace subtly shifts the feel of the music away from the band’s former death-doom majesty. The riffs tend to sound a little bit more generic, and at times the band employs galloping motorhead-inspired style very similar to that of fellow Chicago natives Master. That’s not necessarily a negative thing, and I like the adrenaline charged, testosterone powered shenanigans of Motorhead and Master, but this isn’t really what I wanted from Cianide. There are still doomy passages in every song, but the dead, abysmal sound of  ”Second Life” and “The Undead March” is no more.

Don’t get me wrong, there is enjoyment to be found in this album, but whether their dynamic shift was a conscious decision or just natural progression, it does not deliver on the level Cianide have been capable of in the past. In short, this is far better than Morbid Angel’s latest, “Illud Divinum Insanus”, but it has nothing on Autopsy’s 2011 instant classic “Macabre Eternal”. I’d give this a 6/10, worth a listen for Cianide fans or dedicated Old School Death Metal junkies like myself.

 

Renowned siren, Sarah Jezebel Deva has recently inked a deal with French label Listenable Records. After spending 14 years in Cradle Of Filth as a backing singer, she also spent 6 years in Therion and Mortiis. Sarah has sung on over 35 albums with bands including The Kovenant, The Gathering, Mystic Circle, Trigger The Bloodshed and many others. In 2005, joined forces with Chris Rehn and created Angtoria and received an amazing response in Europe.

Although under her solo name, Sarah Jezebel Deva is a full-fledged touring band and a tight one at that. Her follow up to last year’s A Sign Of Sublime, titled The Corruption Of Mercy, will be released in late June on Listenable Records.

Sarah comments:

“We are extremely proud and excited to announce that we have signed a 3 album deal with the mighty Listenable Records. We have slowly been writing the new album The Corruption Of Mercy over the last 12 months, in between shows and other musical priorities at Escape Route Studio’s in Essex, England. A majority of the album was written by myself and Dan Abela but further down the line, we enlisted the help of Pzy Clone from The Kovenant for his amazing orchestrations and programming. Pzy Clone truly was the icing on the cake for this album. In our eyes, this album should have been the first cd released under the SJD name and we feel its totally on par with Angtoria’s God Has A Plan For Us All. The release date will be June 20th and it couldn’t come sooner for us! “

LINE UP :
Dan Abela – Guitars,
Jamie Abela – Drums,
Jonny Gray – Guitars,
Ablaz – Bass,
Sarah Jezebel Deva – Vocals

More info and new album songs will be posted shortly on SJD’s Official Site.

For anyone who didn’t read last week’s Conjuration of the Sepulchral, the focus of this column is old school death metal, specifically unlauded releases of the late 80′s and early 90′s. I had a hard time deciding what classic underground act I should place the spotlight on this week, but as of now I’ve picked the Bavarian one-man project Traumatic Voyage. The mastermind behind the band, Mark Astorian, has put out 6 increasingly strange albums since 1992, and is supposedly still active, though nothing has been heard from Traumatic Voyage since 2005.  Right now, I’d like to direct your attention toward’s Astorian’s first effort, entitled “Traumatic…”.

If I had to make a judgement about Mr. Astorian’s personality based on his music, I would say that he is a very sick man. That, or an erudite who has explored the darkest and most primal reaches of the human mind. Traumatic voyage is usually categorized as progressive/avant garde death metal, but in my opinion psychedelic death metal is a more apt moniker. “Traumatic…” is a hypnotic, melancholy journey through the subconscious, paying homage to a broad spectrum of negative emotions, as well as a sense of dark esotericism. This is reflected in the lyrics, which paint a dark picture of reincarnation, out of body experiences, and existential angst. An excerpt from the first song, “Shadowconscious”:

“As I walk among the mental corpses of “god’s” children…
Trapped in a dreamless ghagarious sleep
My hallucinations become reality…
Sleep on, mankind… …sleep on…
…And never awake!

Implated pictures of the future
A golden cage… where the mind decays!
Profanced hands writing the book of life…
The machinery spreads its soulless chimeras!

A etheral shot in the head opens my eyes forever
Shadowconscious… evening falls inside…
The psychic metamorphosis into a life’s-trauma…
Returning to the graves of birth
Shadowconscious… above the fear...”

I think drugs probably played a role in the creation of this music, and not solely because of the nature of the music. As other commentators have noted, song titles like “Cannabis Indica” and “Hallucination” seem to suggest a psychedelic inspiration for psychedelic music.

The music is centered on mid paced riffing, generally focusing on evil tremolo picking and heavier more “lurching” riffs accompanied by drumming that sounds very Swedish d-beat at times. If there were tuned a step lower and had a different guitar tone it might sound like a more cerebral Entombed or Dismember. Both clean guitar and clean vocals are present, but employed properly and not taking away from the death metal-ness of the album. The clean vocals are a pained wail that Astorian seems to use only to interject a forlorn “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH” here and there. The clean guitar shows up occasionally, punctuating the mind altering chaos with an ethereal strain of lucidity. This is progressive death metal, but do not expect Death or Atheist.

Traumatic Voyage’s releases can be bought here, but most of this album can be legally downloaded on last.fm, along with chunks of several other albums. “Traumatic…” is also on youtube in its entirety. If you like it, look into the second album “Traumatized…”. The rabbit hole only gets deeper.

After reviewing their debut The Spirit of Warfare, I had the oppurtuniy to interview the vocalist of Swedish melodic black/death act Hyperborean! So, loyal FRZ readers, enjoy!

 

Morbid greetings and welcome to my brand new specialty segment for Funeral Rain zine! I’ve wanted to do this for a while, and I just recieved the okay from the powers that be at FRR (aka General Blaspheme). So without further ado, allow me to present Conjuration of the Sepulchral: Buried Treasues of Old School Death Metal!

Do you like bands like Morbid Angel and Autopsy? Do you like that crunchy vintage HM-2 guitar sound? Do you like raw, ancient death metal all but lost to antiquity, condemned to the catacombs of the early 90′s? If you answered yes to any of the above, then this is for you! Here I will unearth and discuss unrecognized  and underappreciated gems of the archaic death metal underground of the late 80′s and early 90′s. I love this stuff, and I’m quite excited to have a platform to force it down our readers’ throats!

To celebrate my debut, the first band I’d like to bring to your attention are one of my all time favorites, the mighty Timeghoul. Formed in Missouri in 1987, these guys really got the shaft in terms of recognition, especially since they were one of the most innovative bands in the history of death metal. They played an epic, avant garde, brand of sci-fi/fantasy themed death unlike anything else I have ever heard. Progressive, technical, and utterly old school all at once, I cannot think of another band like Timeghoul.

Their two demos, 1992′s Tumultuous Travelings and 1994′s Panaramic Twilight (pictured above), display epic scale songwriting (not just long songs, these are textured, memorable compositions), and an aural motif of cosmic horror precisely defined through eery leads and muddy rhythms from the murky depths of the galaxy. The music alternates between calculated death metal violence and slow, atmospheric ungulation that will send a chill down your spine. Any of the 6 songs split 4 and 2 between the pair of demos can hold itself up as a masterpiece, and yet, they all sound like pieces of a whole, even though the demos were release two years apart.

Perhaps the most unique thing about Timeghoul is their sparing use of clean vocals. Now, before you make any judgements, I must stress how goddamn creepy said clean vocals are. They’re a gregorian chant sung by forlorn zombie cosmonauts damned to wander among dying stars for eternity. I hope that makes sense, because that is really what they sound like.

If I’ve piqued your curiosity and you’d like to explore Timeghoul for yourself, I would recommend starting with Panaramic Twilight. Because it contains only two ten minute songs as opposed to four six minute songs, one might assume it is less accessible than Tumultuous Travelings, but I assure you the opposite is true. Panaramic contains two pieces of absolute genius, and its strong sense of melody (though I will note this is definitely not melodic death metal) makes it much easier for a listener to dissect than many foggy old demos.

Before I go, I must reiterate my belief that Timeghoul deserved fame and success more than almost any of the death metal giants. They were truly ahead of their time, and this wonderful, bizarre music should not be allowed to fade into obscurity. Both Timeghoul demos can be legally downloaded for free here.

Check back every Friday for more Conjuration of the Sepulchral!