The Funeral Orchestra – Negative Evocation Rites

Band: The Funeral Orchestra
Title: Negative Evocation Rites
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Release date: 15 July 2020
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

So, Priest I, Priest II, and Priest III and responsible for this week´s pick “Negative Evocation Rites”. The three fathers preach from Sweden and have since 2002 paraded until the group name The Funeral Orchestra. Funeral doom metal was in fact on the menu and for me, it was a rather large step away from the usual of doom metal I’m used to.

“Negative Evocations” started out the album with some chanting male voices in the background. The guitar feedback together with the big sounding toms makes the setting unsettling and you have to have a lot of patience because the speed is of course none. I suppose that’s what funeral doom is all about. The chanting and dark music mix produce a certain séance feel instead of music feel as if you are rather watching a movie than listening to an album. It’s not the most progressive music, that is for sure.

Next in line was “Flesh Infiltrations” which I felt immediately was better than the first track. It still is very much like the first one in the form of style and with the haunting overall feel to it, however here the feel of music being performed is more apparent. The vocals reminded me of Nick Holmes a little bit, at least what he would sound like coming back from the dead.

“Negations I” makes you really see the reason why this group seems to get good reviews and reactions to their work, they do what they do very well, and for anyone who is into this genre, this is a top band. They put you in some sort of a apathy state so they surely nailed the atmosphere, like being stuck in limbo trying to find your way out. Sort of like watching a horror movie, you might enjoy it but you might want to keep your eyes shut.

“Negations II” wraps up this work and does so with a familiar slow pace and super tunes down guitars and I was surprised by the fact that what I had heard so far was in fact funeral doom. To me personally, I guess I was expecting something that was about being respectful and getting closure. I thought this rather made me feel like graveyard-after-midnight doom. But hey, I don’t come up with these genres but the track does towards the end turn into a tribute to Am I Evil.

It is safe to say that this album and The Funeral Orchestra is not for everyone. You certainly need a trained ear and a strong longing for this genre in order to be able to appreciate it to its fullest. And I believe that for people who do that, this group is solid gold. 7.5/10 Julia Katrin

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