Funeral Mist - Maranatha

Funeral Mist took the Black Metal scene by storm with their Salvation album. With an idiosyncratic sound consisting of inhumane growls, howls, moans and groans, disgusting and filthy music, and Latin lyrics in the vain of Deathspell Omega. When the words "him" and "lord" are turned and biblical references are used, it makes for a great listen.

With Maranatha, the approach is different. It's obvious that performing in Marduk has tainted the Funeral Mist entity a bit. A clear production denies any previous filth from being beat, the vocals still remain the same, yet effects seem to be used less. Blessed Curse is a focal point of the album. With a catchy melodic riff and a fanatic's sermon interlocked with Arioch's (Mortuus) vocals embeds itself. Choirs are used extensively giving that very Orthodox sound while dissonance is running through the back. Blast beats are prominent and powerful, the absence of the drum machine sets a new level of dynamics and the music becomes far more organic rather than over processed.

The music isn't as vicious as what the savagery of Salvation had introduced. The production is clear and the vocals aren't as processed which can be good or bad. Funeral Mist attempts to create something easily accessible than Salvation and in doing so, sacrifices a lot of what Funeral Mist had represented. One can listen to Maranatha a number of times but one can listen to Salvation twice that number.

6/10

Like what Funeral Mist has done to Marduk, Marduk has done to Funeral Mist