Let me be clear, I don’t nearly wear nearly enough corpsepaint or am nearly kvlt enough to extol the virtues of Dark Funeral. Needless to say that these Swedes have been central to the black metal scene and have been pushing records out for as long as I have been alive, so any preamble of introductory praise will severely fall short. Anyone who is even a drive-by fan of Black Metal have heard of if not heard Dark Funeral, and they can be safely included among the progenitors of the Swedish Black Metal wing. And here they are, well into their 50s, with their newest devil worshipping offering: We Are The Apocalypse.
We Are The Apocalypse opens with “Nightfall”, also a pre-release single. From the name and the position on the record, expectations were heavy for an instrumental intro-lude, but was greeted with a razorkick to the throat. To open a record with a five minute bomb of blackened aggression is a ballsy move, but one that paid heavy dividends. Adding a catchy easy-to-singalong call-to-action chorus is also a great way to kick off a record. People who were cagey about the direction Dark Funeral were taking with the more atmospheric approach of 2016’s Where Shadows Forever Reign may rest easy; We Are The Apocalypse is all octane, all the time.
Over the next forty-five minutes, we are treated to Dark Funeral as we remember them best: straightforward black metal with plenty of blast-beaten aggression, tremolo-picked rhythms, minor chordal melodies with heavy handed melancholy, and rasped vocals spewing blasphemy and prophecies of humanity’s doom, with all their delicious goodness! “Let The Devil In”, is heavily reminiscent of one of the most acclaimed tracks in their catalog, “My Funeral” (from 2009’s Angelus Exuro pro Eternus), with its lumbering melodies and slower verses, as close to a high-tempo ballad, as oxymoronic as that may sound. Dark Funeral’s guitarwork continues to be unique in that it balances “evil” and “melancholy” with mature heft, giving both moods plenty of room to flex and breathe without stepping on the others’ toes.
Songs like “When Our Vengeance is Done”, “Nosferatu” and “A Beast to Praise” lean heavier on the kvlt side, with more of everything we like in our Black Metal palettes. However these songs tend to blend together and become formulaic. As an example, more than half the tracks on this record, begin with a tremolo picked section, with a roared vocal lead-inb: enjoyable the first time, but with quickly diminishing returns with each repetition. Moreover, Dark Funeral excels when they emphasize the Ahrimanic melancholy in their songwriting. “When I’m Gone” and “Leviathan” join “Let the Devil In” as the “ballads-that-bite” on the record.
Dark Funeral has suffered (or benefited, depending on your leanings) from a revolving door of members, the only cornerstone being founder and guitarist Lord Ahriman (Jan Michael Svanberg) who is Dark Funeral. The trademark melancholic/melodic guitarwork is in large part his unique flair. Dueling with his melodic lines, rhythm guitarist Chaq Mol (Bo Anders Nymark) is also a relatively longtime member. Having the guitarists stable over the course of several records has greatly benefited the Dark Funeral machine plugging on with rewarding consistency. Vocalist Heljarmadr (Erik Andreas Vingback) continues his tenure following Where Shadows Forever Reign and fills longtime vocalist Emperor Magus Caligula (Carl Magnus Broberg) spot admirably, although there is always a need for more innovation in terms of vocal variety, as difficult as that may be within the confining walls that define black metal tropes. . In direct contrast, We Are The Apocalypse is the first outing for bassist Adra Melek (Fredrik Isaksson) and drummer Jalomaah (Janne Jaloma, also of Aeon).
The production is pristine on We Are The Apocalypse (other than one aspect covered below), and Dark Funeral has relied strongly on modern production, as opposed to the more lo-fi, DIY soundscapes that are commonplace in the grim and frostbitten corners of the genre. This “sleek production” has turned away many from Dark Funeral with accusations of selling out and moving away from the core ideals of the genre, but this reviewer is partial to well-produced records, so Dark Funeral is always near the top of black metal artists, and We Are The Apocalypse continues to be at the top of the curve!
Unfortunately, it is the drumwork on We Are The Apocalypse where this reviewer begins to bristle. The way the drums are mixed on the record strike me as particularly, odd! In particular, the blast-beats on the record are muffled to oblivion, taking away much of the jagged bite that blast-beats add to the overall arrangement. In addition, the snare and tom tones are rounded off so extremely that they become difficult to discern, especially during the busier sections, where Black Metal veterans like Dark Funeral, even with their melodic bent, do their best work. In contrast, praise must be made to drummer Jalomaah for continuing the streak laid down by Dominator (Nils Ake Fjellstrom) who is arguably among the heaviest hitter in the black metal scene. His reluctance to rely on overt monotonous blastbeats colored Dark Funeral riffs in an intriguing way without compromising its heaviness or sinister motif. Jalomaah brings a more death metal approach flavor to the riffs while still setting the kit on fire with his rampage laden bomb blasts. Sadly, the production choices with regards to the drums took away large parts of the more enjoyable sections!
‘We Are The Apocalypse’ is MORE Dark Funeral. A LOT more Dark Funeral, for better or worse. If melodic black metal with plenty of blast beats and modern production values are your cup of tea, then grab a mug, paint your face, grab your spiked bands and inverted crosses as we bow down to the pentagrammatic gods!
2 comments
Thank you for the great review. I am curious, about the following: the two singles released so far sounded with really inaudible guitar melodies, with the solo guitar buried deep in the mix and the vocals and drums too loud.
Is that you impression as well, because you didn’t mention it. Maybe it was the case with early mixes of the singles…..
Sorry for the month-late reply, I just saw your comment.
But I tend to agree with you, the guitar melodies tend to be subdued in most Dark Funeral releases and this is no exception. That said, youtube and spotify does a terrible job with its compression thereby further muting nuances. Fortunately, my reviewer copy were high-quality wav files and I was using studio headphones while assessing the record, so I fared just a bit better!
I do hope you enhoy the record when it releases at higher qualities!