Dark Funeral

In the Sign… (Necropolis)
by Paul Lee

All hail the Satanic forces of Swedish rock’n’roll and thank Lord Sathanas that you can get Dark Funeral‘s debut MCD! According to legend, this is a brutal black metal classic from this quartet of sinister Swedes that was given birth to in 1994. I have to agree with this declaration: Dark Funeral are one of the premier crafters of cruel black metal on the planet. Even though they’ve only released two full-lengths since this EP and have had many line-up changes, they’ve managed to carve their unholy imprint onto the imaginations of metal freaks worldwide. Originally, In The Sign… contained four songs (three of which – “Shadows Over Transylvania,” “In the Sign of the Horn” and “My Dark Desires” – were re-recorded for their full-length) of unrelenting black metal (the fourth being “Open the Gates” which didn’t make it). Bonus tracks are two Bathory covers from a tribute to Bathory, “Equimanthorn” and “Call From The Grave,” that are killer. If you crave the nastier side of the blackened spectrum, you’d be well-advised to appropriate a copy of this CD and stay in Hell’s favor.
(Box 14715 Freemont, CA 94539)