Dark Funeral
Attera Totus Sanctus

THE REVIEW

Squalid and irritating just like its own cover, this latest effort by the Swedish band Dark Funeral is practically the perfect antithesis of my expectations regarding black metal. I am aware that I am very critical and picky towards this niche genre (not so niche in recent years), always contested for its frequent references to Satanism in its most common and immediate meanings.

Now, this is a review and I don't feel like writing a treatise on this rather delicate and controversial subject, but let me briefly say my piece: I am always willing to listen to everyone's opinions, the pros and cons, the reasons, the beliefs, and the ideas, provided they are expressed with discernment, logic, and especially intelligence, and this last one in the musical realm gives a certain aura of originality as well; a certain type of music can arouse a bit more interest if the (possible) ideas are expressed with class and acumen and for this reason the lyrics and atmospheres created in the tracks assume a particular yet inseparable cohesion that makes the music even more enjoyable to savor. But I can refer to the most disparate genres without too much distinction, like pop, Celtic, and even black metal, because there are also black bands that know how to go far beyond the classic "satan satan oh satan I give you my soul," and I really appreciate and admire those.

Yet, putting the disc in the player and proceeding (with difficulty) with listening, the first questions I asked were:
"Is this it? Can't they do better? Where is the acumen in this band and in this album in particular?"
Nowhere. The first aspect to evaluate is obviously the music itself and I could end the discussion here by saying that "Attera Totus Sanctus" is the fourth album (not counting the live albums and various EPs) in the studio of DF and they have not moved an inch from their first full-length. Sure, the production and sound have improved considerably compared to twelve years ago, but in terms of technique and "creativity" the band has not budged from the beginning at all.

So, listening to "King Antichrist", "666 Voices Inside", the title track, "Godhate", "Angel Flesh Impaled" and all the other songs with embarrassing and perhaps a bit childish titles, you will come face to face with the extreme obtuseness of black metal that has made this genre so much an object of disgust and clichés. Songs with wicked riffs, fired up to the max and with an Emperor Magus Caligula (that's the singer) who screams, splashes, vomits various blasphemies, now at god, now at jesus, now at various saints and so on, just to appear PureFuckingUglyNastyGrimSatanicEliogabaloDamnatioMemoriae and thus tarnish a genre that I believe does not deserve to be ridiculed by all these logically and coherently void antics. If you want to do black metal, it's more advisable to do it in a convincing and interesting way, perhaps changing the way certain themes are presented, modernizing the style, and adding something that can surprise the listener, because with albums like this people tend to stay away more and more and are pushed to lump everything together.

This is not black metal, invoking the figure of Satan without even contemplating its nature and true meanings solely and exclusively because one is angry or to put on a show and attract an easy audience is not black, just as it does not mean being black metal to stagnate on one's sound for twelve consecutive years—and I can't believe the band itself isn't tired yet.

I would like to go on and say a lot more, but I would end up dwelling on definitely out of place themes, so since there is very little to say about the band and the album in question, I conclude by giving it two stars. This is nothing but the horrible caricature badly done of black metal, and I almost feel ashamed myself. I am sorry for those who appreciated the album in question, but I just can't stand certain things.

P.S. I may be an atheist but that does not mean I necessarily have to promote gratuitous and senseless blasphemy.