Channelling Ancient Shadows

Why did this talented band leave us so soon? Funeral Fog knew the whole range of true black metal and they were able to execute this style excellently. Their debut was already great, but the masterpiece of their brief yet resounding activities bears the name "Channelling Ancient Shadows". Dreary soundscapes like "Dawn of the Equinox" remain a minority, while relentless bombardments such as "Discordance" characterise the work. However, let's enter the cold regions where the art of Funeral Fog grew.

"Nocturnal Realm" opens the gates. Flattening guitar leads send thousands of icy breezes while the conjuring voice adds a monotonous yet charismatic touch. Tempo changes evoke different moods and the solemn chorus contributes a small dose of grandeur. "Nocturnal Realm" constitutes a great introduction, but there are even better songs. In terms of mercilessness, the rigorous "Curse of the Immortal Tyrants" or "Land of Eternal Darkness" are a step ahead. They illustrate that the Canadians made a correspondence course at the University of Bergen or Oslo, the old Norwegian school shimmers permanently through their approach. Yet this does not mean that Funeral Fog offer second tier black metal. Back in 1992, many Norwegians would have burned a church for a song like "Land of Eternal Darkness". Despite a pretty tough competition, this is the absolutely outstanding track of the here reviewed album. Straight, uncompromising, sinister and desperate, the masterpiece shines with fanatic verses and an overwhelming chorus. Its lyrics express the mood of the entire song perfectly:

"Land of eternal darkness under the nocturnal winter skies
Land of eternal darkness past the ancient forest
Land of eternal darkness on top of the freezing mountains"

Funeral Fog only roam through regions of total blackness. Their approach is devoid of foreign influences, at least if one does not take the ambient, non-metallic closer into consideration. "Under a Cold Trance" delivers a meditative calm, but to be honest, this is by far the least impressive track and it prevents a higher rating for this well produced jewel. Indeed, the album has a powerful, dark sound which is dominated by the dense guitars and the rasping voice. Occasionally it seems as if the drummer - please note his glorious pseudonym Shithammer - has problems to keep the beat, but all in all, the rhythm section delivers a solid backbone and the rarely appearing keyboards add a gloomy feeling every now and then.

With the exception of the overlong and insubstantial closer, the songs have exactly the right length. They give space for the musicians to build seven craggy monuments and the guys fulfil this job meticulously without boring the audience. Of course, the union of blockheads will moan that the majority of the fast-paced tunes hardly differ. But come on, this is black metal and no rock opera. I do not need surprising twists and turns in abundance. Moreover, the relatively pronounced similarity of the songs is probably the crucial factor for the pretty intensive sound experience. And by the way, the tunes are not interchangeable. The ponderous, accusing second half of the mighty title track, for example, cannot be confused with other parts of the album. With that said, the verdict is clear. Funeral Fog do not achieve the brutal omnipotence of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" or the technical perfection of Emperor's first two full-lengths. Nevertheless, those who worship these works will love Funeral Fog's legacy as well.

Never having heard anything from this band before now, and knowing they were Canadian, I didn’t have high hopes (in my opinion, little noteworthy black metal has originated from said country, other than the great Blasphemy, or maybe Frozen Shadows). Yet, this is one consistently evil-sounding assault of black metal, in the vein of the old-school masters.


Mainly inspired by the ferocious, fast-paced thrash of ‘De Mysteriis’-era Mayhem, or maybe old Dark Funeral, the album speeds forward with a constant guitar fury, audible bass, and simplistic yet effective drums. Nokturnis’ rasping vocals are somewhat high in the mix, and the hollow, cavernus production is perfect for this sort of vocal attack. Lyrically, things seem to be the typical black metal rantings about eternal grimness and cold-themes, but it fits the music. The guitar has a thick, heavy feel (maybe it’s the bass that’s helping?) for BM tremolo-picking, but does not stand in the way of creating a cold, desolate soundscape.


Stand-out tracks include “Curse of the Immortal Tyrants” and “Channelling Ancient Shadows”, but the album is very consistent in that all of the tracks, except the melancholic and ambient final track, “Under a Cold Trance”, are faster songs with just a few slowish breaks, offering sparse variety. This creates a uniformly evil feel to the album, one which I think most black metalheads will appreciate. Boredom, however, never entered my mind while listening to Funeral Fog …intense metal was my overall impression. I might note that there are no keyboards or samples present, and I imagine they might have destroyed this fine release if included.


Overall, highly recommended for those that like old-school inspired, fast and sick black metal. Just a few points knocked off for not being original, but originality isn’t always necessary to create a good black metal album. \m/