Dark Funeral – Attera Totus Sanctus
Dug Out Studios (Sweden)… they produce some full sounding albums, but seem to place too much emphasis on the drums. As found on Dismember’s “The God that Never Was” and now “Attera Totus Sanctus”, the drums are once again clear, but far too loud in the mix so that many of the speed freaking blast beats hurl megatons of sonic earth and debris around to conceal the riff ideas choking beneath the pile of sound. I will say that even though crushing speed all the time often turns me off and Dark Funeral really hasn’t put out an album that I truly have given a shit about since “Vobiscum Satanas” (the bands 2nd full-length), “Attera Totus Sanctus” succeeds in spite of the unrelenting/visionless speed and lop sided production values. One improvement since the last time I heard an album by this band is that bassist/vocalist Emperor Magnus Caligula has adopted more of a throaty/rasp yelling style that just seems a lot more unstable (in a good way) than the more standard black metal shrieks that has been at the core of his delivery for ages. The music remains Dark Funeral formula 101, consisting of track upon track of tremolo riff dominant, inhuman speed assults. This alone makes the tracks, and often times the albums created by this band to come off as sounding interchangable, yet Lord Ahriman somehow pulled some memorable hooks out of his ass yet again to stave off the calling of the death knell for this band yet again. By the time track 5 rolls around we finally get a breather in the form of a double bass dominant, mid-pace structured track that finds some simlistic harmonies creeping out of the mix to finally give the listener a much deserved reprieve. The song is actually quite moving with all the layers and guitar ideas swirling about. Dark Funeral seem to be quite effective at changing up their delivery to bring some new ideas to the table… I wish they would do this more than simply praying to satan that their drummers joints hold out for the recording of the album and the ensuing tour that follows it. I’m actually surprised that I didn’t mind “Attera Totus Sanctus” at all, when the last few albums from Sweden’s Dark Funeral seemed lackluster in every way. I guess I’m just surprised anyone even cares about this stuff anymore. Do you? – Marty
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