It’s funny what goes on at Wikipedia. Sometimes I don’t think that the article neutrality header comes up often enough. I tried looking up “Norsecore”, as I’ve heard it referenced a few times as a real sub-genre of black metal, however the author of that Wikipedia article seems to have a different definition. I remember a time when “Norsecore” was supposed to mean something about Swedish black metal, but apparently the meaning has shifted. I won’t go into details because I’m sure many people have spoken about it, but I will say that DARK FUNERAL’s name has come up several times in reference to the subject.
To fill those people in who may not be familiar with DARK FUNERAL, they’re one of the bigger black metal bands playing the style without keyboards or orchestras (that would be symphonic black metal.) DARK FUNERAL is pretty typical in the way that every riff is tremolo picked. There’s no if’s and’s or but’s about it. If there’s a guitar being played in DARK FUNERAL, it’s almost always speedily picked. The guitar tone is of course that cold stark, treble-laden tone. Every song has portions with hyperspeed blast-beats, and all the songs are fast, and since I’ve heard every DARK FUNERAL full-length, I think it’s pretty safe to say that if you’ve heard one album, you’ve heard them all. Unlike most black metal bands though, DARK FUNERAL has made the choice to go with good production values.
The real reason to pick up this re-release of “Diabolis Interium” (which orginally came out in 2001) is due to the fact that this reissue comes with the infamous “Teach Children To Worship Satan” EP, which apparently caused some controversy (which was probably the point of the title.) The EP contains five songs, of which four are covers. You get “The Trial” originally done by KING DIAMOND, “Remember The Fallen”, a SODOM song, “Pagan Fears” from MAYHEM, and one of the few cover songs circulated in my circle of friends, “Dead Skin Mask” by SLAYER.
The cover songs are a wonderful change-up in comparison to pretty much all the original songs that DARK FUNERAL plays, due to the fact that they’re not hyper-speed blasting songs. I just wish the SLAYER cover would’ve been done better, because the playing of guitars, drums and vocals goes out of time several times in the song.
Out of all the DARK FUNERAL releases (even compared to the latest one, “Attera Totus Sanctus”) I’d say that the “Diabolis Interium” reissue would be the one to get, because you’re not only getting an album, but that “Teach Children To Worship Satan” EP.
7/10
The Official Dark Funeral Web Site
Dark Funeral at MySpace
Dark Funeral at Regain Records
