Album Review: Dark Funeral - We Are The Apokalypse
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
It’s odd to think that even though Dark Funeral are elder statesmen of the Black Metal scene and fast approaching their third decade of musical blasphemy, We Are the Apocalypse is only the band’s seventh studio album. As usual, the song writing on this new record is led by guitarist and band leader, Lord Ahriman, and is very much a continuation of the sound of their previous album, 2016’s Where Shadows Forever Reign; not least as this is the second disc to feature vocalist, Heljarmadr.
Although all of the familiar Dark Funeral tropes are present on We Are the Apocalypse, that does not mean to say the album is in any way predictable or is going over old ground. Here, the band demonstrate they know exactly what Dark Funeral is all about and manipulate the entity, bending it to their collective wills.
Fans of the blast-beat will rejoice in Jalomaah’s blitzkrieg drumming across the more traditional sounding Beyond the Grave and A Beast to Praise, both have those dirty Dark Funeral riffs front and centre and blow the listener away with the unrelenting bludgeoning power of the ferocious delivery.
Mixed in with the brutality are periods in which the band explore their more melodic side: the chorus to Nightfall takes a turn away from the intensity and revels in corrupting a tuneful progression; When Our Vengeance is Done combines the blasts into a full, rich sound that, while still dripping with evil, gives an epic and widescreen view of the conjured Hellscape.
Rhythm guitarist, Chaq Mol plays off Ahriman, giving a platform for the leads to twist around the drums; while bassist, Adra Melek, creeps menacingly around in the shadows of the album, an unnerving, ominous presence that rears its head occasionally to scare the b’Jesus out of the unwary listener.
For all of We Are the Apocalypse’s expanse, it also features moments of introspection. Let the Devil In follows Nightfall, moving to a more intimate and inward-looking track. Less frenzied than its predecessor but no less intimidating, the solitary nature of the song is encapsulated in the demonic vocal lines. Nosferatu reclaims the vampire myth and returns the dark energy to the subject matter through tight, grim execution.
Sitting at the album’s centre is When I’m Gone, an intensely melodic piece which combines whispered voices and acoustic guitar with slow and heavy instrumentation and drawn, pained vocal-lines to demonstrate Black Metal is as comfortable generating darkness through atmosphere as it is through break-neck speeds. It also gives a window into Dark Funeral’s creative process as Lord Ahriman explains many of the band’s riff are conceived on an acoustic guitar. This is bourn out in Leviathan’s use of haunting strings during it opening bars.
The closing title track is a monstrous conclusion to the proceedings. Gargantuan riffs, rumbling bass and precision drumming, with Heljarmadr’s hellish vocals atop provides a dissertation in the art of Black Metal and gives the perfect coda to what is a very fine album indeed.
It would be easy for Dark Funeral to rest on their laurels and bang out a record every two or three years; instead, the extended period between albums means their new releases are events to be savoured. We Are the Apocalypse is another record more than worthy of baring their name and sets the marker down for the Black Metal genre in 2022, and is a record so evil sounding that I now have to get my speakers exorcised.
