Album Review: Funeral - Gospel of Bones
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in Norway back in 1991, Funeral would take their inspiration from the likes of Black Sabbath, Cathedral, Candlemass and others, and create a sound so full of loss, melancholy and emotional pain as to define – and give name to - the whole genre of Funeral Doom.
Their output has been rather sporadic, with the sophomore album, In Fields of Persistent Grief emerging seven years after the Tragedies debut; and 2012’s Oratorium needing to wait nine years before being superseded by Praesentialis in Aeternum.
Luckly, album number eight, Gospel of Bones took a mere three years in the making and is set for release later this month. The personnel responsible for the previous record have reconvened for another bout of operative doom death despair, that somehow both depresses and invigorates in equal measure.
Perhaps taking a cue from Sabbath’s debut, album opener Too Young to Die begins with the tolling of a bell, and Ingvild Johannesen’s slowly drawn violin, invoking a hauntingly morose classical sound. Some artists are referred to as being symphonic, but few embrace the overtly classical nature of their sound in quite the way Funeral do.
Eirik Krokfjord, a professionally trained baritone opera singer, shows restraint in his performance, resisting his specialism in the works of Wagner, and delivering a series of laments, enough to break the stoniest of hearts.
There are times when you’re left to wonder whether this is actually a metal record or a classical one; but don’t think that as being a bad thing. Where some bands have shoe-horned the orchestra into a live performance, Funeral’s music is specifically written to accommodate both aspects.
Procession of Misery begins with a wailing violin and the combination of classical instrumentation conjures images of stone passages illuminated by flaming torches. There’s something demonic about this, the scratching of infernal strings, brings to mind the inhuman playing of Niccolò Paganini or a grand danse macabre; the short interlude piece, Ailo’s Lullaby, is dark pastoral poem in musical form.
My Own Grave is a windswept gothic powerhouse; To Break All Hearts of Men uses mournful cello and a church organ to supplement its dirge, and the dark, foreboding strings of the epic-sounding Når Kisten Senkes brings us full circle as it concludes with the tolling of a bell.
All of this isn’t to say Gospel of Bones is an album destined for Radio Three or Classic FM, as there are ample examples of where Funeral get down and dirty with the most metallic of their morose metal brethren. Too Young… finds original member Anders Eek creating huge walls of sound from behind the kit, with slow, monumental hits; Guitarists Stian Kråbøl and Morten Søbyskogen alternately wring howls of pain or massive chugs from their instruments, allowing both styles of music to co-exist.
The bulk of the tracks on Gospel of Bones are length compositions, yet some eschew the bombastic orchestration in favour of a shorter run-time. Both Yestertear and These Rusty Nails focus more closely on the rock elements, the former ebbing and flowing within parameters defined on many a My Dying Bride record; the latter somehow making its doom sound uplifting, through booming percussion and searing guitar solos.
Gospel of Bones is a lengthy record and should ideally be experienced in one sitting. It’s not the sort of thing that can exist in the background, either as, like most dense music, attention is greatly rewarded. It’s an album that doesn’t use either of its defining sounds as a prop for the other one and can be enjoyed equally as a metal record or a Classical one; all that’s needed is an open mind.
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