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This
two disc live compilation by the Swedish Satanic masters
includes three full live shows all professionally recorded with
multiple cameras and fancy lightning. That’s over two hours of
glossy sheer hyper fast leather clad corpse paint donning
classic European black metal. The first show was recorded at the
Metalmania festival in Poland and shows the band in full force;
blasting and blazing through a very lucid set of fast classics
such as “Hail Murder”, “An Apprentice of Satan”, “My Dark Desires”, “The Secrets of the Black Arts”,
amongst others. What surprises me the most is how mild mannered
vocalist Emperor Magus Caligula is between songs; truth be told
he speaks with respect and with such an elegant tone, it no
longer seems like we are listening to the blasphemous vocalist
of Lucifer loving Dark Funeral. I mean Mr. Caligula could do
some voice over work, maybe a commercial for coffee or for some
sort of financial corporation here and there. Not only that, but
Caligula also seems calmed and under control; a total contrast to the man who spits spiteful lyrics
and screams hateful rhetoric against the bearded one for a
living. It’s clear that here the star is the music and Dark
Funeral wants us to know that. Even the makeup and the black
leather clothing and the succinct but quite impressive light
show seems tamed and void of gimmicks. For black metal standards
anyway. The band members themselves seem mostly concentrated on
dishing out quite accurate versions of their classics instead of
putting out some sort of wild debacherous spectacle. Drummer
Dominator for instance, doesn’t even flinch. He seems to move
his arms but that’s not even clear. It’s the black metal
approach as the drums are banged with such speed, the torso must
remain still and arms and hands
must be kept within inches of the skins for faster beat
execution.
The second
live show also included in the first disc is from a concert in
the Netherlands and the third show found in the second disc is
from a show filmed in Paris, France. Both of this contain the
same exact set list which the band delivers with the same exact
non-chalant and stable attitude, which makes of Attera Orbis
Terrarum a sort of only for diehards type of release as it
basically serves the same dish three times. But what you get
for sure is more bang for your buck. What elevates this DVD
beyond the superficial normality offered by the live show is the
bonus material; over forty minutes of amateur footage of Dark
Funeral; including footage of their first concert ever in Oslo, with a
lightweight original vocalist Themgoroth leading the hordes in
what looks like basements and poorly attended small venue
shows. As is the case with this type of material the quality in
audio and image varies, but the charm is there and the fake
blood too.
Dark Funeral has certainly advanced in the black
metal world, they now tour the world in buses and apparently there is no
blood spewing or impaled pig heads or mock human sacrifices,
deflowering of unwilling virgins and the banter against Christianity
seems to have been left for the younger generation. But there
might be something lost there too. Somewhere between the gritty
charm of an intimate show where the band’s in your face youthful
enthusiasm spills blood over the audience of five just doesn’t
compare to the respectful distance between an elevated stage and
the crowd, the clean floors and the full catering. The former is
much more enticing.
Official Site |
