Funebrarum wasn’t dead.
Although their last EP came out ten years ago, the band comprising Daryl Kahan (vocals, Citizens Arrest, ex-Disma, ex-Darkened, ex-Abazagorath…), Winslow (bass, Mutant Supremacy), Charlie Koryn (drums, Ascended Dead, ex-Chthonic Deity, ex-VoidCeremony, live for Incantation and Morbid Angel…), Sam Osborne (guitar, Hulder, ex-Undergang), and Phil Tougas (guitar, First Fragment, Chthe’ilist, Worm…) is back with its third album, Beckoning the Void of Eternal Silence, via Pulverised Records.
We start with The Arrival, a dark and oppressive intro that nevertheless features a few majestic passages before leading into Beckoning the Void of Eternal Silence, the eponymous title track that begins rather slowly, offering an initial wave of gripping darkness before bearing down on us at full speed with the first screams. I had almost forgotten just how heavy and menacing the band was, hammering out its riffs as if its life depended on it and adding a touch of technicality to the final leads before moving on to Sa Nagba Amaru, a mysterious yet equally heavy composition that becomes far more vindictive as it picks up speed. Doom/Death influences are explored in the most haunting moments, but it is violence that truly takes center stage, just as on Through the Barren Halls of Grieving Emptiness, which follows suit and offers a fast-paced, Old School blend of Blackened Death Metal that the band executes with a touch of complexity. All the musicians are called upon to create a hellish sound that leads into Into Dark Domains, a track that bursts into flames all at once and sweeps us away in its torrent of occult fury. The intensity never lets up, except for the final, rather mysterious moments that take us through limbo to Ancestral Manor, a one-and-a-half-minute interlude as soothing as it is intriguing and theatrical, before returning to violence and heaviness on Anhela Odor Mortuorum (The Adepts), which follows hot on its heels and immediately plunges us back into its oppressive atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, the track is devastatingly effective, not hesitating to slow the pace to fuel the natural sense of oppression before picking up speed again for the leads, then moving on to From Rotting Burial Shrouds, which immediately takes over and strikes with full force thanks to its chaotic patterns. The melancholic touch comes as a surprise between two storms, just as the more dissonant tone of Turning the Stones of Torment takes over and effortlessly immerses us in its impressive yet always natural liveliness, as if the musicians had honed their instruments solely for this purpose. The final is much more subdued, but that was without counting on The Whispering Cathedral – Epilogue, which pours out over eight minutes of its occult and at times almost ritualistic sounds, flowing seamlessly into devastating aggression or the imposing keyboard parts that complement them right up to the very end.
It had been a long time since I’d seen the name Funebrarum, but the band knows how to make up for its absence with quality tracks to form Beckoning the Void of Eternal Silence, its new ode to darkness.
85/100