Rain Paint: Nihil Nisi Mors

Rain Paint hail from Finland and play a style of gothic metal that incorporates elements of death and doom. The element of their sound, however, seem to be more sporadically used, appearing more individually, as opposed to infusing those elements into a single sound. For instance, the song “Forbidden Love” is deeply rooted in the sad, gloomy nature of gothic metal, but the following track “Rain Pain” is an almost, doom/death metal song with hints of gothic metal added. This formula, seems to persist throughout the album creating a struggle for which genre the bands wants to play and can sometimes become off putting. The kicker here is, both their goth sounds and doomy death sounds are quite good and if they could have merged them into one cohesive sound, it would have made for a very interning listen.

 Aleksi Ahokas has a nice range he displays on vocals. His gothic style elicits emotions of sorrow and regret, while at times he’s able to reach a higher pitch, which adds a nice variety to both the sound and atmosphere of the songs. He also has some very deep growls and guttural tones, that really remind me of Jonas Renkse’s from October Tide. The best showing of his vocal combinations is brief, but can be heard on the track “Death Drive & Fear”. For the most part it is a quicker paced song, with slower gothic passages and near the end, a thick, doomy death metal passage kicks in and adds a nice punch to the song, but sadly in ends shortly after its introduction.

The guitars are generally on the slower to mid-tempo side of the scale, chugging along and creating a depressive mood for each song. The riffs offer a blend of groove and slow plodding chords that give way to some nice solos and guitars fills. At times, the guitars add a sudden burst of melodic overtone, which almost adds a little cheer to the sound, but then, in true gothic fashion, the slow pace returns and the worlds darkness once more.

The drums have both an almost hard rock sound to their makeup as well as a more traditional doom metal sound. At times, they play with an up tempo pace, pounding and crashing away, while at other times they are slow and plod along with a sludgy pace. In any case, they provide an adequate rhythm for most songs and have a nice crisp overall sound. The bass also carries a nice sound throughout many of the songs. The low rumbling of bass chords can be heard bouncing away behind the leads and rhythms, which adds a nice complementary sound. Keyboards are indeed present on many of the songs, but I find they do not overtake any of the songs, nor do they stand out. They simply add a little depth to the overall atmosphere.

Overall, “Nihil Nisi Mors” is a nice little find for Gothic metal fans, but there's enough death/doom to satiate one's hunger for such. It would be interesting to see what Rain Paint might accomplish if they could manage to blend their sounds together a little more harmoniously, but at the end of the day, there’s some potential to be heard on this album.

Highlights: "Forbidden Love", Rain Paint" “Death, Drive & Fear”

Rating: 3

Type O Negative: World Coming Down

I remember my first experience with Type O Negative. I was on one of my usual hunts for metal down at the second hand music shop, when I came across as strange looking, green album from a band I had only heard about in the past; Type O Negative. The album in question was, "World Coming Down" and to be honest, the only reason I picked it up was because of the Roadrunner Records label, so I knew it had to be some form of metal.

When I first listened to “World Coming Down”, I’ll admit, I thought it sounded boring. I was about 16, so metalcore and death metal were my bread and butter at the time, so my I my appreciation for the sound was unrefined. A few years would pass and I would learn more about Type O Negative as a whole discovering more about the band. Of course, "Bloody Kisses" was the album everyone was suggesting, but I had this green looking album, so I figured I’d start where from there.

By this time, my ear for metal had grown to appreciate a wider variety sounds and genres, so I was able to digest what I was about to hear. Still, I did a little research and read a few reviews before doing so as to do my homework on the album and discovered that this was going to be a depressing and hopeless experience. And that is not a bad thing. This is, after all, Gothic metal, so one should expect some sort of doom and gloom, but it’s one thing to act and dress the part, but it’s another to actually convey that through your music. “World Coming Down” is filled with emotions of sorrow, pain and mourning. Emotions that can be felt through both the music and Peter Steele’s vocals. The album as a whole carries a certain burden to its overall atmosphere, while the individual songs simply give off the notion that each track is a cry for help to the listener. Tracks such as "Everyone I Love is Dead", "Everything Dies" speak volumes to the misery Type of Negative set out to create however, it gets even more morbid. I learned that the segues "Sinus", "Liver" and "Lungs" were suggestive pieces that paint a picture about the possible demise of one or more of the band members. Talk about dark. (They also did a good job pissing me off with the track "Skip It" before realizing what was going on.)

As for the music, after a few listens, I would quickly become a fan of this album. The riffs churn out slow brooding doom style madness, taking advantage of the very distorted sound. The guitars ooze with gloom and misery as the plod forward painting the dark imagery surrounding this album. Like many doom acts, the drumming is not meant to blow your mind away with speed and power, but rather their slower tempo and crisp sound is meant to help create an overall morbid atmosphere. I would say the bass is on a similar level in that their groovy, yet distinctive sound is not meant to be a highlight of the album, but rather compliment the tone and mood created by the guitars and vocals. The use of keyboards also adds to the doomy atmosphere, especially the organ sounds, which always helps with feeling of despair.

With that said, the highlight of “World Coming Down” or any Type of Negative album in my opinion, would be Peter Steele's icon voice. His deep, low voice has an immediate ability to put you in a dreary mood. The amount of emotion that Steele put into his vocals speaks volumes as to why his voice is highly regarded as legendary. He has to power to conjure mental images of regret, sadness and misery, which help transport you into the very mood the band set out to create on this, or any Type O Negatvie album for that matter.

To sum it up, it took a few years after I purchased “World Coming Down” to be able to appreciate not only the album, but also atmosphere this style of music can create. The music, combined with Peter Steele's vocals are enough for me to really enjoy this album on its own. However, like any underlying story line in an already excellent movie or book, the mood Type O Negative creates adds another level of enjoyability, albeit at the cost of any joy you’re experiencing at that time.

Highlights: "White Slavery" "Everyone I Love is Dead" "Creepy Green Lights" "World Coming Down"

Rating: 4