Xasthur
The Funeral of Being
Blood Fire Death 2003
By Nathan Pearce
As a fan of totally sick, black, grim music, I practically crapped myself when I first heard Xasthur in 2002. And when I found out about 2003s release The Funeral of Being, I was all over my browser, ordering it immediately.
The Funeral of Being does not disappoint. It retains the totally grim blackness of Nocturnal Poisoning, but it also manages to conjure a few new, improved ideas. The vocals are possibly slightly more forward in the mix. This is great because these vocals are chilling. As I think my review for the 2002 effort described, these vocals sound like a beast being tortured deep, deep, deep within a dungeon. Total darkness engulfs every venomous scream. The drums are also better, Im still not sure whether they are programmed or not. Either way, they sound more professional, despite being drowned in the black soot that this entire album is drenched with.
The production has pretty much remained the same, with the exception of the above-mentioned improvements. Im not sure, but I would bet that the final mix of this CD was done on a four or eight track tape machine. This is a good thing in terms of the grimness felt throughout this release.
The instrumental album opener is absolutely excellent for setting a terrifyingly dark mood. Its not majestic, its not glorious, and its definitely not Dimmu Borgir. Xasthur is the modern incarnation of everything that the second wave of Norwegian black metal set out to achieve. With all the major labels snatching up the remaining torchbearers of grimness, Xasthur is set to march the new wave of black metal terror back into the depths of darkness. This is probably the best black metal release of the year.
9/10
[url="http://www.redstream.org/"]www.redstream.org[/url]
The Funeral of Being
Blood Fire Death 2003
By Nathan Pearce
As a fan of totally sick, black, grim music, I practically crapped myself when I first heard Xasthur in 2002. And when I found out about 2003s release The Funeral of Being, I was all over my browser, ordering it immediately.
The Funeral of Being does not disappoint. It retains the totally grim blackness of Nocturnal Poisoning, but it also manages to conjure a few new, improved ideas. The vocals are possibly slightly more forward in the mix. This is great because these vocals are chilling. As I think my review for the 2002 effort described, these vocals sound like a beast being tortured deep, deep, deep within a dungeon. Total darkness engulfs every venomous scream. The drums are also better, Im still not sure whether they are programmed or not. Either way, they sound more professional, despite being drowned in the black soot that this entire album is drenched with.
The production has pretty much remained the same, with the exception of the above-mentioned improvements. Im not sure, but I would bet that the final mix of this CD was done on a four or eight track tape machine. This is a good thing in terms of the grimness felt throughout this release.
The instrumental album opener is absolutely excellent for setting a terrifyingly dark mood. Its not majestic, its not glorious, and its definitely not Dimmu Borgir. Xasthur is the modern incarnation of everything that the second wave of Norwegian black metal set out to achieve. With all the major labels snatching up the remaining torchbearers of grimness, Xasthur is set to march the new wave of black metal terror back into the depths of darkness. This is probably the best black metal release of the year.
9/10
[url="http://www.redstream.org/"]www.redstream.org[/url]
