Funeralis "Gateways To Esoteric Light" CD

Comes with a nice 12 Page Booklet. Limited to 300 Copies

With the weird year 2020 heading towards its dying hours I have the feeling that a lot of top class releases have been saved for these final days to end things with a bang. I have witnessed this development especially with the power/prog metal genre with a lot of outstanding stuff coming out in the last quarter, but this phenomenon can also be seen within black metal. One label which took their time and have been relatively quite so far are Schattenkult. However, this has only been the calm before the storm as per today they have hit with a triple punch. I was lucky to get the tracks a few days earlier, so I am going to talk a bit about each of the albums.
First in line is the Chilean act Funeralis.and their second full length “Gateways to Esoteric Light”. Chilean black metal has seen quite a bit of a hype within the past few years, probably having become the spearhead of the South America scene in that regard. There are quite a few bands from this area, managing to combine traditional black metal aesthetics known from the nineties with a certain level of dissonance and an occult atmosphere, defining a distinctive and somehow unique sound. When done in the correct way the end result can be music which is dark and haunting, while offering a dense and mystical experience.
Funeralis are a prime example of this style. Their music actually feels like a horrifying night of tossing and turning, while making sure that a minimum of melodic elements are present as well. The layering of the guitars along with the depth of the vocals provides an encapsulating feel in the first track “The Key of Salvation”. From there, tracks bleed together seamlessly, creating an overlap of fear and terror, while stunning guitar harmonies have been implemented as consistent main factors of the music. There are a lot of moments where a more introverted and experimental sensibility is shown, which is closer to the attitude of more unorthodox acts compared to traditional second wave bands. Ritualistic and hypnotic sections highlight this approach, further proving that this is not just by-the-numbers black metal.
The record clocks in after more than an hour, with a constant interaction between high-speed tremolo passages and extended ambient pieces letting the album soar by without really noticing the overlong playing time. The highlight might come in form of the last two songs, “Nigredo” and “Portal of Life & Death”, where Funeralis show all their strengths over the course of those 20 minutes. Blast beats and eerie melodies keep the intensity high, as the vocals are delivered in growly and roaring fashion and the guitars thicken up. A relentless display of craftsmanship closes out the chaotic portion of the album, leaving the listener back exhausted yet full of adrenaline.
The production has the characteristics of similar genre works, coming with a buzzy guitar tone, a deeply humming bass and quite a bit of distortion and reverb effects – at least this is my guess, as I am not an expert when it comes to this kind of recording technics. I really like the sound, as it is powerful, a bit quirky yet modern, while keeping a pure and primal character. From what I saw “Gateways to Esoteric Light” will be available as vinyl version as well, which is quite rare for Schattenkult releases. This might be another indication for the quality on display here, and fans of the genre owe it to themselves to not sleep on this album.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...