Dark Funeral

[Requiem]

Dark Funeral of Sweden is a band well worthy of attention, especially in light of their recent album.

Neither obsessively 'true', nor syrapy and overly symphonic (no keyboards and strings), Dark Funeral have always sat in that space in between. A career band, certainly, with nearly as much merchandise as Cradle of Filth, but there's also a sense of authenticity in the music and Lord Ahriman that gives a meaningful listening experience in most cases. 

At the end of the day I play them as much as any other black metal band, pound for pound, and all releases are present and correct in the collection. Yet they're not perfect. So it is in this spirit that I kickstart a discussion of them with...

 

Requiem's Ranking of Dark Funeral Albums From Cheap Merch to Black Arts

6. Angelus Exuro Pro Eternus (2009)

Damn these bands with their Latin titles. Gorgoroth, I'm looking in your direction. Anyway, like I often say when I do these rankings, there are no Dark Funeral albums that I dislike, but some are less engaging than others. This one is probably my least favourite due to its very dense production and less cathartic listening experience. The guitar tone is a bit painful after a while. 'Stigmata' and the diabolical 'My Funeral' are great songs, and the opener 'The End of Human Race' has its moments, but this was one too many orange albums that really didn't buzz me when it came out, and there feels like too much blasting. Just stop blasting for a while and let the songs breathe. Album cover is yet again orange with yet again a demon. It looks pretty cool I guess but a bit digital. Cool booklet. 

5. Vobiscum Satanas (1998)

The second Dark Funeral album is a very good one, although lacks something to get it any higher in the list. Let's face it, the sound doesn't really change a whole lot between these releases. At just 35 minutes long, this is punchy enough to stay interesting, but it could do with some more variety in my view and again there's more blasting than a dynamite testing facility. Emperor Magus Caligula (what a name) makes his first appearance on vocals. Amazing singer. The album cover with the lion/demon face is good. I like it. 

4. Attera Totus Sanctus (2005)

If you took the first track 'King Antichrist' off this album, it would probably be tying for last spot, but it just so happens that 'King Antichrist' is right here at track one. Let me tell you something about 'King Antichrist': it has the best lyrics of any Dark Funeral song; it contains one of the best vocal performances in metal by the ineffable Emperor Magus Caligula who howls like the devil, and a stunning guitar line that is surprisingly sweet against the fury beneath. Amazing song. I'm sure there are probably some others but I can't remember them due to overshadowing. Kidding. 'Atrum Regina' and the glorious 'Final Ritual', which closes the album are two of their greatest songs. Orange album cover is their worst artwork by some margin. 

3. Secrets of the Black Arts (1996)

A lot of older metal fans claim they like this album and no others, and I get it to an extent, but honestly it's not that different to what follows. What it does have in its favour, is a great set of songs and a production that you can just listen to all day without ear fatigue. 'Where Angels Forever Die' is a great song. Themgoroth's vocals are very good, and Blackmoon is involved in a lot of the songwriting, helping Ahriman to set the precedent for the next 25 years. The Century Media re-release from 2018 comes with a second disk of the original Unisound production which was scrapped by the band. It's interesting to see how it would have sounded with Dan Swano's production. Classic album cover. Beautiful. 

2. Diabolis Interium (2001)

This album and the next one are a fair way in front for me. The first time I heard 'The Arrival of Satan's Empire' I thought, woah here we go. It was, and remains, my favourite Dark Funeral track, and perfects the type of melodicism that Dark Funeral do best. The structure of the song is stunning. Anyway, the rest of the album stands up well, especially the chilling 'Goddess of Sodomy' and 'An Apprentice of Satan' (they like Satan). This is the first of the bloody orange album covers, and it's my favourite and still feels fresh. My digipak version has raised bumps on the chains that are fun to touch and look cool.

1. Where Shadows Forever Reign (2016)

But all of that sort of pales when compared with this, their masterpiece. EMC is out and Heljarmadr is in on vocals. At first I was disappointed as he uses less variety to EMC, but after seeing him live I'm fully convinced. I'm judging the album, though, and not the live show, and the album is stunning. 'Unchain My Soul', 'As I Ascend', 'To Carve Another Wound', 'Nail them to the Cross' and the title track are all some of the best songs of the band's career, and all on the one disk. The production is perfect, including one of my all time favourite drum sounds and performance, with every guitar melody audible while also retaining the symphonic atmosphere that has never worked better. Riffs are brilliant, tone is delicious, you can listen all day. Fucking great to see a blue album cover again, courtesy of Necrolord, with a great booklet and huge fold out cross digipak slipcase. Everything about this album rules. 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

[Vampyrique]

Good band but one that I think never quite lived up to their full potential. They're consistent in quality but too consistent in the songwriting department, effectively monotonizing their sound.

I haven't heard their latest but it seems to resemble their blue period in both colour and sound. I admit I'm more partial to their infernal trinity of the red/orange variety.

For me it's a toss up between Diabolis Interium and Attera Totus Sanctus, with the latter possibly being my favourite of theirs. It seems to offer the best production and most varied approach musically. But Caligula's vocals are different here and when this album came out I knew not what to make of this. Evidently the result of being pushed to his limits in the studio, he sounds more demented than evil. 

My Funeral may be their best song, outstanding video.

 

 

 

[Requiem]

10 minutes ago, Vampyrique said:

Good band but one that I think never quite lived up to their full potential. They're consistent in quality but too consistent in the songwriting department, effectively monotonizing their sound.

I haven't heard their latest but it seems to resemble their blue period in both colour and sound. I admit I'm more partial to their infernal trinity of the red/orange variety.

For me it's a toss up between Diabolis Interium and Attera Totus Sanctus, with the latter possibly being my favourite of theirs. It seems to offer the best production and most varied approach musically. But Caligula's vocals are different here and when this album came out I knew not what to make of this. Evidently the result of being pushed to his limits in the studio, he sounds more demented than evil. 

My Funeral may be their best song, outstanding video.

 

 

 

As you can tell from my high praise, the latest is well worth checking out and may provide a new perspective of the band. I certainly wouldn’t recommend judging it without hearing it, you verbose vampiric vermin, you. 

[Requiem]

An interesting addendum that I hadn't realised: Tomas Asklund plays drums on 'Vobiscum Satanas' which was unknown to me because he uses a pseudonym, Alzazmon. 

For those who don't know, Asklund is the drumming and production genius (or villain, if you hold an erroneous view) behind the last three Gorgoroth releases, as well as the drummer on Dissection's 'Reinkaos'. Quite a pleasant surprise to discover him on Dark Funeral's 1998 opus. 

 

[Benjaminc81]

I´ve given them plenty of tries in the past and for some reason i do own all their albums. But i can safely say Dark Funeral just isn´t for me with the exception of "Where Shadows Reign Forever". I don´t know if they got lucky with that one or if they finally released that speed and agression isn´t everything. 

Their sound in general is just way to monotonous for me. Like i said it´s all speed and agression but they have zero feeling for melodies or atmosphere. Plus their image is just a little too much with their medieval armors and stuff. They just strike me as a pretty juvenile band at this point. I can stomach one or two songs but they are definitely not my cup of tea.

I´d rank the albums but that would be a pretty useless since i only really like their last and first album. Everything in between is just filler for me.

[Requiem]

On 9/26/2019 at 1:27 AM, Benjaminc81 said:

I´ve given them plenty of tries in the past and for some reason i do own all their albums. But i can safely say Dark Funeral just isn´t for me with the exception of "Where Shadows Reign Forever". I don´t know if they got lucky with that one or if they finally released that speed and agression isn´t everything. 

Their sound in general is just way to monotonous for me. Like i said it´s all speed and agression but they have zero feeling for melodies or atmosphere. Plus their image is just a little too much with their medieval armors and stuff. They just strike me as a pretty juvenile band at this point. I can stomach one or two songs but they are definitely not my cup of tea.

I´d rank the albums but that would be a pretty useless since i only really like their last and first album. Everything in between is just filler for me.

What made you keep buying their albums? Wishful thinking? Eternal optimism? More dollars than sense? 

I think for me once 'Where Shadows Forever Reign' came out and I played it to death, I went back and listened to some of the older albums a bit more and got a lot more out of them. But I've always pretty much liked them and never had a problem with their style or limitations.  

[Benjaminc81]

On 9/27/2019 at 8:41 AM, Requiem said:

What made you keep buying their albums? Wishful thinking? Eternal optimism? More dollars than sense? 

I think for me once 'Where Shadows Forever Reign' came out and I played it to death, I went back and listened to some of the older albums a bit more and got a lot more out of them. But I've always pretty much liked them and never had a problem with their style or limitations.  

I'm one of those collector nerd type guys. I almost always end up buying the whole discography of a band when i like one or two releases. It's just the completist in me and it drives me crazy at times. Plus Dark Funeral had this CD spine gimmick thing where the spines of all their albums form this inverted cross when lined up. But other then that i don't have a good reason.? 

But on a serious note i have been contemplating selling a part of my CD collection because of this ridiculous habit. I just have so many filler albums in my collection that take up way too much place. But on the other hand i doubt i'll be even able to sell them unless i give them away. I can't imagine getting more then 2 or 3 euro's for a CD nowadays.

[Requiem]

One of the (many) great aspects of picking up Heljarmadr on vocals is his ability to write lyrics and to see the bigger picture of the songs. 

Yes, the lyrics aren't Shakespeare, and are very explicit odes to darkness and the one true dark lord, but within the scope of Dark Funeral they're perfect. His ability to phrase and set the metre of his sentences to the flow of the music is really effective. He understands rhythm and flow. 

I'm sure I've also mentioned elsewhere that I found him to be a great showman on stage as well. I hope he sticks around for a while. I can't wait to see what he pulls out of his bag of tricks for the next Dark Funeral album, which is apparently going to be out late next year.