If we will forget for one moment about the amazing first two DARK FUNERAL albums, then probably most fans of this Swedish Black Metal horde will list "Angelus Exuro Pro Eternus" as their favorite release in their discography. Originally released in 2009 as their fifth album, the output brings nine cold and extreme hymns, which in this case are a bit more melodic and classic sounding than what we know from the two previous releases. The production is maybe a bit too sterile (especially the machine guns, sorry, drums), but let’s face it – it’s quite hard to record an album which is so dynamic and intensive, and which will be clear sounding and transparent, so yeah, Peter Tägtgren did a good job once again. Of course "melodic and classic sounding" in the case of DARK FUNERAL doesn’t mean "too melodic" – it’s actually quite interesting, how they managed to hide a bunch of great riffs and melodies between these extreme song structures. Except that we have more classic headbanging rhythms here, instead of ultra fast blasts being played all the time. Lot of people keep on saying this album sounds like DIMMU BORGIR without keyboards, what actually isn’t far from the truth. All in all – if you don’t know DARK FUNERAL yet, you might start your adventure with them from this release, because if you will like it, you will most probably like their entire discography. So what do we receive on this brand new reissue? 5 live tracks recorded in Buenos Aires in 2006 (seriously: anyone likes live bonus tracks…?), and a thick booklet with lot of cool stuff. Like the previous DARK FUNERAL reissues, also this album is available as CD, or limited edition vinyl LP which you can find at www.cmdistro.com. More about the band: www.darkfuneral.se

Three times six – the number of the beast and synonym for all evil in this world could become a more than positive omen for our dear friends from Regain Records. Within 2009 the label released the new MARDUK and GORGOROTH albums which at least counts twice the evil number and which band could close the remaining gap better than DARK FUNERAL. So the circle is complete and after a long break of four years the Swedish band is killing all light, happiness and silence with just one strike. Over the last couple of years I’ve lost in some way the contact to this band mainly due to the fact that they concentrated far more on their evil image than on their evil music but this release feels like coming home. DARK FUNERAL are like an old oak withstanding every storm and every new influence and nobody will expect anything else than 9 tracks of pure evil and hatred. And you get what you are looking for! The release has a enormous powerful sound – the band recorded “Angelus Exuro Pro Eternus” (Angels will burn forever) under the holy supervision of Mr. Hypocrisy – and all tracks can offer the necessary diversity which is mandatory if it comes to high speed Black Metal. The album starts with a 120% typical DARK FUNERAL song and the ‘The End Of Human Race’ could be easily found on any of their former releases. But the next song with a interesting middle riff – really want to avoid of stating the world slow in a DARK FUNERAL review – shows that that the band has really worked on the diversity of their songs. Don’t take me wrong but the aggressive Black Metal has seen – within the last 20 years – so many faces and facets that it’s more than difficult to invent the wheel twice even for such a ‘premium’ act. Nevertheless a more than solid release which is maybe far more interesting for the new Metal generation which has not seen all facets of this band – but nobody could entirely blame DARK FUNERAL for this development because as long as they release such good albums they will remain one of the leading acts. www.darkfuneral.se, www.myspace.com/darkfuneral, www.regainrecords.com