Maybe this new DARK FUNERAL album simply got me in a bad mood or something, but apart from the usual aggression and perfection in terms of production and playing, “Diabolis Interium” didn’t manage to move me at all. Everything just sounds too safe, predictable and wellknown already, that it bores me way too quickly. This is nothing but another typical modern mainstream Black Metal release, which will certainly sell big amounts of copies, but musically totally lacks in inspiration, feeling and the right haunting atmosphere to completely convince me. When it comes to the songwriting DARK FUNERAL always more or less stood in the overmighty shadow of their countrymen MARDUK, but while MARDUK invented something fresh, DARK FUNERAL still choose the easy way and follow already established formulars. Don’t get me wrong – the album certainly has its qualities, but considering the fact that there’s hundreds of bands (in Scandinavia alone) these days that do offer the same, I wouldn’t necessarily add another record like this to my collection, but search for something with more soul instead. If you don’t mind, make at least sure sure to pick up the import version as it’s supposed to feature the entire “Teach The Children To Worship Satan” mini album as well.

Basically reissues are a good thing, at least in most cases. Sometimes it sucks, when labels just try to milk the fans, and give absolutely nothing (anyone seen the current KING DIAMOND, DEICIDE or OBITUARY reissues from Roadrunner?) – but in the case of DARK FUNERAL it makes sense, as the Swedish Black Metal machine recently signed papers with Century Media, and finally announced a new studio album. Their previous few albums maybe aren’t ultra rare and impossible to get, but now, thanks to Century Media, all fans will have a chance to buy them in a local store, what is a positive thing. Not only their back catalogue is now easy to get, but the band gets some extra exposure before the new album will be finally unleashed. The Century Media version of "Diabolis Interium" includes the complete album from 2001, all tracks from the "Teach Children To Worship Satan" EP from 2000 (a different version of ‘An Apprentice Of Satan’ and KING DIAMOND, SODOM, MAYHEM and SLAYER covers) – so basically it’s the same as the 2007 reissue made by No Fashion Records – plus at the end we have 3 live tracks, recorded in 2003. The quality of these live tracks could be probably a little better, but honestly – no one cares about live tracks, because when you want live tracks, you buy a live album or DVD, right? So we can skip these 3 and focus on the studio tracks. And these are truly awesome, as within the years DARK FUNERAL didn’t gain the reputation as one of the best and biggest Black Metal bands for free. It would be maybe too much to call "Diabolis Interium" their best, most famous or strongest album, but with no doubt it’s a piece of solid, first league Black Metal. You can choose between a regular CD and limited golden vinyl or black vinyl, but these are available from www.cmdistro.com only. More about the band at: www.darkfuneral.se