Grim Swedish Metallers Dark Funeral provide a harsh offering
Blasting, frantic drum beats? Shredding guitars? Howled vocals that sound like a cat giving birth quite painfully? Then it can only be black metal, and not just any black metal. This is the fourth release from Swedish genre-overlords Dark Funeral. The real question is with bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Lord Belial and Vesania bringing the innovation and progressive side of the genre out in full, where does this leave bands like Dark Funeral who have stuck with the somewhat simpler 90s style? Well, in this case...with a bloody good record.
From the relentless blast of '666 Voices Inside' to the pained screams of album closer 'Final Ritual' this album has a harsh and unforgiving sound much like you would expect from a band of this genre. Indeed, this is an album that will please genre fans immensely as it ticks all the right criteria whilst avoiding being too formulaic in its sounds, although with the sound they produce, this isn't the sort of album that will be converting huge swathes of new fans to Dark Funeral's decidedly hateful tones. Towards the middle of the album tracks like 'Atrum Regina' and 'Feed On The Mortals' do become rather similar and can wash over you in a blur of grimness. The album as a whole can merge into one harsh black metal blur at times but this isn't too large a fault when standing alone each track manages to entertain and excite. Don't get me wrong, there is some variety. Sometimes the songs are simply blindingly fast rather than really blindingly fast, and rightly so for without that variety this would be a much weaker record on the whole.
More so than many other guitar-based genres of the moment, black metal is more about mood, ambience and impression than it is about any individual part or lyrics. Indeed, if you are looking for an album with unique and inspiring lyrics this most certainly is not it. If instead you are looking for generic hatred of religion and misanthropic hatred towards your fellow man, then by all means this album will tickle you pink. However criticising a band of this nature for its lyrics is somewhat of a futile endeavour and more so than the lyrics it is the harsh screams of vocalist Emperor Magus Caligula (he had me as soon as I saw the name...), that really make this aspect of the album enjoyable.
To use a rather strained analogy, this sort of relentless metal is the marmite of music. You'll either love 'Attera Totus Sanctus' and its apocalyptic stylings or you'll hate it, which after a few listens, you really imagine is what the band are looking for. Next time you want to sit about looking grim in a satanic pentagram in the middle of the woods, let 'Attera Totus Sanctus' be the soundtrack for you to do so!