Funeris Nocturnum - From The Aspect Of Darkly Illuminated
Woodcut Records - 2002
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Woodcut Records web site.
Go to the Funeris Nocturnum web site.
Just when I thought I was getting heartily sick of black metal, along come Funeris Nocturnum and to restore my faith in the entire genre. Beginning with some low-end, malevolent ambient sounds, Funeris Nocturnum quickly tire of teasing and with the Hellraiser sample 'No more teasing, no more delays. Time to play. Time to die', the album bursts into life with some frankly jaw-dropping guitar-laying courtesy of the two ridiculously name axe-weilders in the band (I'm not going to even attempt to type the names).
Throughout the album, the relentless pace is maintained, with melodic, complex riffery matching up to a solid rhythmic grounding of crunchy chord progresssions. And going by the pace of the percussive section, the drummer must have thighs like tree trunks to keep the double bass going at such a ludicrous pace throughout.
Keyboards are used to fairly predictable effect, but what's more impressive than that are some of the production tricks used by the band, such as the volume swelling/echoing/phasing guitar in the midsection of the title track.
Overall, one of the best examples of Northern darkness to drop through my letter box in many a winter moon.
8.5/10
Woodcut Records - 2002
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Woodcut Records web site.
Go to the Funeris Nocturnum web site.
Just when I thought I was getting heartily sick of black metal, along come Funeris Nocturnum and to restore my faith in the entire genre. Beginning with some low-end, malevolent ambient sounds, Funeris Nocturnum quickly tire of teasing and with the Hellraiser sample 'No more teasing, no more delays. Time to play. Time to die', the album bursts into life with some frankly jaw-dropping guitar-laying courtesy of the two ridiculously name axe-weilders in the band (I'm not going to even attempt to type the names).
Throughout the album, the relentless pace is maintained, with melodic, complex riffery matching up to a solid rhythmic grounding of crunchy chord progresssions. And going by the pace of the percussive section, the drummer must have thighs like tree trunks to keep the double bass going at such a ludicrous pace throughout.
Keyboards are used to fairly predictable effect, but what's more impressive than that are some of the production tricks used by the band, such as the volume swelling/echoing/phasing guitar in the midsection of the title track.
Overall, one of the best examples of Northern darkness to drop through my letter box in many a winter moon.
8.5/10
