Necroeater

Although Burzum have not released a black metal full-length for several years, Varg’s unwavering influence on the scene is still felt as much today, if not more so today than ever before, as it was when he himself was releasing the music under the Burzum banner, which spread itself across the Scandinavian skyline for all to memorise and eventually respect every day since his departure and eventual return to the scene which adores him. My feelings towards Burzum are that Varg only managed to create two memorable records in his illustrious career, the first being ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’ and the second being ‘Filosofem’, with the former being the direct influence of this bands debut, entitled ‘Necroeater’, though it does feature aspects from earlier Burzum records, specifically the likes of ‘Det Som Engang Var’, a record hailed as a masterpiece of the early scene, though I do not look as favourably upon it. Funeral Rites, an obscure band from Japan, are a different breed of Burzum inspired black metal.

As the description of the bands genre might tell you, they play a hybrid style of black and death metal, though the latter comes in more subtle forms, allowing the black influences to reign supreme for the most part. Given that Funeral Rites allow some outside influence into their music, they do not come across as a standard clone band, especially when one takes aspects like the vocals into consideration as they deviate far from the traditions of Varg’s shrieks. Funeral Rites also use two vocalists, one as a backing vocalist to the leading vocalist and this also draws out a different sound to what Burzum deduced many years prior to this record. Songs like the beautiful ‘Lost Misery’ are a good indication of how unusual Funeral Rites are in comparison to the majority of Burzum inspired bands these days. Instead of opting for a straight edge cloning of Burzum’s material, the Japanese four piece decided to jazz things up by implementing aspects of music not normally associated with the Burzum-esque side of black metal into their songs, just as they have done on ‘Lost Misery’, a typical sounding melancholic affair. There are even clean spoken vocals to contend with as Funeral Rites look to dish up an offering worthy of the audiences time, given that we have seen a black metal scene plagued by uninspiring clone outfits.

The band use a keyboard section to increase the sensitivity in the song, and in the record, heightening the sense of melancholy which runs through the blood of this inspired outfit. The keyboards add a unique flavour to a sound which has long since been considered dead. Portraying the sound of Burzum is not a new idea. Varg’s music has been recreated several times, by various different bands who have lacked the punch to really severe the ties of negativity that come with trying to emulate your idols, but Funeral Rites manage to do something most are not accustomed with - add a sense of much need diversity to the sound so obviously inspired by one of Norway’s black metal sons. There are traditional elements in the songs which make it known who the main influence is and without these, Funeral Rites may not seem as original as they are in regards to the style of music they adhere to - which is a style that is based almost entirely on their idols’ sound. The texture of songs like ‘13th Disciple’ is also a direct result of what we feel on Burzum’s inspiring ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’.

Funeral Rites use the hypnotic black metal style to their advantage, creating several fantastic leading riffs and despite the repetitious stance of the songs, there is enough creativity to stop this from becoming stale, or tedious. The vocals are also an area which makes that music sound far more original than the majority of bands doing a similar thing. A lot of the work, including instrumental play, reminds me of what ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’ would sound like if it were crossed with Darkthrone’s ‘A Blaze In The Northern Sky’, with its hollowed out guitar tones and driving bass. Surprisingly, like Burzum influenced bands such as Abyssic Hate, Funeral Rites have seemingly fallen off the face of the planet and disappeared into the shadows. According to their main profile page, they are still active, but have not released anything since this impressive full-length debut in 2000, the only slice of material I have had the opportunity of hearing from the Japanese contingent. A much better offering from this field than the majority are willing to put out.