Dark Funeral - De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te Domine 2LP Review

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2004-07-01 : The Metal Observer : Link
Dark Funeral - De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te Domine-Live In South America 2003
(9/10) - Sweden - 2004

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Regain Records
Playing time: 61:49

It was a long time silent around the Swedish Black Metallers DARK FUNERAL. But with “De Profundis Ad Te Domini”, there’s a new sign of life of the band. The record is a live album (by the way, the first one in the band history), they recorded on their South America tour in 2003. The most material, as you can hear on some passages, was played in Santiago de Chile but also at some other places in Brazil, Chile and Colombia.

The guys around Lord Ahriman (guitars) and Emperor Magus Caligula (vocals/bass) thrash through altogether 14 songs, which comprise the whole creations of the Northern ones. They deliver a real best-of set, because „Goddess Of Sodom“, „Vobiscum Satanas“ or „Shadows Over Transylvania“ belong to the best, the band every recorded. But the same goes for the rest of the material, of course. Musically, DARK FUNERAL walk along the same path as MARDUK. Brutal and frenzy fast Black Metal dominates the sound of the Swedes, but there are also some melodies underlying and despite all heaviness, there’s never a lack of variety. The sound of “De Profundis...” is decent. The songs come out beautifully rough and natural, that leaves the impression, that they had not to rework much in the studio. But unfortunately, there’s nearly nothing to hear from the fans during the songs as the band unleashes a real inferno.

Okay, there are surely also no sing along parts in DARK FUNERAL’s music, whereby I can even imagine that on the totally fanatic South American fans. But between the songs, the atmosphere is always frenetic. The announcements of screamer Emperor Magus Caligula are a bit monotonous, he’s mostly not able to say more than the song title and a little Muchas Gracias. But what finally counts is the music and the music blows everything away, that’s one thing for sure.

„De Profundis…“ is a real pleasure in terms of Black Metal live records. When Black Metal bands decide to record a live album, the sound is mainly bad but that’s definitively not the case on DARK FUNERAL. Together with EMPEROR’s “Emperial Live Ceremony”, “De Profundis...” is the best live album of a Black Metal band until today.

So, what shall I tell you longer, fans will buy it in any case and to all others, I just recommend it. Because there’s no better overview over the works of DARK FUNERAL.