I’ve always failed to give Germany’s FUNERAL PROCESSION a decent listen in the past (blame it on too many releases that we get here within a way too short period of time), so I finally had to set things straight with their self-titled debut full length album now. No matter if I missed out on anything special or not by successfully ignoring them for so long (hehe), fact is that this 8-tracker is really an impressive statement within todays Black Metal genre! The band easily captures the grim old school vibe of all those pure Black Metal hordes that put out their material before a whole movement was washed-out by the mainstream. The guitars deliver a lot of destructive riffs and dark melodies, yet avoiding to use the typical rehearsal type Black Metal tuning. They in fact sound really brutal on here! The album as a whole comes across very aggressive and Thrash inspired, whereas keyboards only get used in order to create creepy atmospheres whenever needed. The drums have a voluminous, thunderous sound and the vocal delivery is definitely true to the roots of this genre, which means you’re about to get them as raw and dark as requested. So, there’s really not much to complain from my side, except for the packaging maybe which not necessarily reflects my taste in style (the frontcover just features the band’s initials F & P in black on a grey sleeve)… Apart from that, indeed a really positive surprise for an ignorant old fart like yours truly… For all further info check out www.funeralprocession.net or the label at www.van-gbr.de