Old Funeral

The Older Ones (Hammerheat)
by Paul Lee

Some of you may be well-versed in your Norwegian metal history and recognize the moniker of Old Funeral. For those of you not familiar with this death metal band, they had two members who are now prominent figures in the black metal scene: Abbath of Immortal and the infamous Varg Vikernes of Burzum who needs no introduction. Aside from owning Cadaver’s awesome In Pains, I’d never heard any other death metal from Norway until this disc. Though it bears a striking resemblance to bands like Carcass, early Entombed and Slayer, Old Funeral were far from hacks. Older Ones is actually a compilation of Old Funeral’s demos and tracks that were never released on their ill-fated first album. It has none of the striking melodies of black metal, in fact there’s nary a nascent blackened element to be found. What this album has is 12 tracks of raw and highly brutish metal that showed some incredible promise had Old Funeral continued as a band. Though this Old Funeral CD isn’t a critical acquisition, it sheds some light on the Norwegian scene and is 48 minutes of some bitchin’ death metal.
(PO Box 277, 6300 AG, Valkenburg, Holland)