Not exactly the most prolific of bands, Swedish black metal act Dark Funeral have been around for virtually three decades but their latest album We Are the Apocalypse (Century Media) is only their seventh full-length studio release in that time. With more former members than overall releases, it’s easy to see why there has been so much inconsistency over the years. The only remaining original member is guitarist Jan Michael Svanberg (aka Lord Ahriman).
Joining Svanberg for the first time is drummer Janne Jesper Jaloma (aka Jalomaah) and bassist Fredrik Isaksson (aka Adra Melek), both recruited in 2018. The line-up is completed by vocalist Erik Andreas Vingbäck (aka Heljarmadr), back for a second outing, and guitarist Bo Anders Nymark (aka Chaq Mol), the second longest serving member of the band having joined in 2003 – a lifetime by Dark Funeral standards.
Taking zero prisoners, opener ‘Nightfall’ is a tumultuous explosion of throbbing bass, sledgehammer drums and churning riffs. Heljarmadr roars and screams like a demonically possessed man. The song incorporates spoken word with vintage black metal melancholia and a thunderous groove. After an intro of rolling, almost ritualistic drums, ‘Let The Devil In’ breaks into a mid-paced rhythm backed with a classic tremolo-picked melody before ‘When Our Vengeance is Done’ erupts with another bilious explosion of speed and fury, tempered by darker, moodier sections as Adra Melek’s bass rumbles furiously underneath savage Gorgoroth meets Cradle of Filth style riffs.
Disheartened with the way vampires have been portrayed in films recently, Ahriman takes the genre back to its grainy black and white origins with ‘Nosferatu’ before the band throw in the first time surprise of clean guitars with the sinister, melodic crawl of ‘When I’m Gone’. Displaying more than a subtle hint of Satyricon, this continues with the thrashing melodies of ‘Beyond the Grave’ and ‘A Beast to Praise’. Proving you can’t have too much of a good thing, ‘Leviathan’ also utilises clean guitar before being swept away by blastbeats, old school black metal influences and a deviant uplifting melody before the title track ends the album as it began in a whipping flurry of drums and riffs.
Vicious and brutal with an undercurrent of pure evil, the riffs and melodies are razor sharp, Heljarmadr’s vocals – whether whispered, spoken, croaked or screamed – are clear and decipherable, and the intent is as malicious as ever. Originality might never been at the top of Dark Funeral’s To-Do list but legendary Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand gets the best out of the band, We Are the Apocalypse standing as one of their most enjoyable and consistent releases in years.
Buy the album here: https://darkfuneral.lnk.to/WeAreTheApocalypseID
7 / 10
GARY ALCOCK