Taumogenesis

This is probably the best form in which to listen to Funereal Moon: murky, archaic, and anything but simple and easy. 'Taumogenesis' is a compilation of Funereal Moon's previously vinyl and tape-only recordings, and it certainly sounds like it: these tracks sound like they would be right at home on a dusty 7" drawn from some obscure corner of your attic; the music itself sounds cracked and gloomy with age. Weirdly enough, I enjoy this as much or even more than the other Funereal Moon release I own, 'Beneath The Cursed Light Of A Spectral Moon'; despite the status of this CD as a compilation, it manages to stand up even to that more 'complete' work due to the strength of the material on board.

There's even less black metal (if you can call it that) to be found here than on 'Beneath The Cursed Light Of A Spectral Moon', and one can expect nothing less than pure, minimal dark ambient. While for lesser bands this would be cause for dismissal, in Funereal Moon's case it's a reason to look closer; the relatively unaggressive but still murkily menacing music on this CD is worthy of note by even mild ambient fans. Funereal Moon's form of dark ambient is deeply occult and ritualistic, generally depending upon field recordings and bare yet intriguing synth melodies, occasionally backed up grumbling, hissing vocals in the black metal style. The elements on their own aren't very remarkable, but a very careful hand has constructed these tracks to really be as effective as they possibly could be. Funereal Moon strikes the careful balance between too many elements splitting listener attention and too few causing boredom, making for decidedly minimal yet still measured and engaging listening experiences which have a much greater weight to them than their elements would necessarily suggest.

A good example of the band's wonderful usage of minimal elements and perhaps the most outstanding track on this release is 'Night Cry'. The elements are very simple: a female voice narrating, providing a winding, occult lyrical presence adjusted by sensual, slowly dancing keys and buried percussion. The elements are as simple as they can be, but the atmosphere created is absolutely awesome; Funereal Moon are excellent at crafting songs based around a core element (in this case the narration) which the rest of the voices dance around like a pillar. Despite how Funereal Moon hits basic elements of occultism and ritualistic Satanism, none of the themes or sounds of this music are bland or generic; a specific style is kept throughout the myriad of varied tracks. If the case in point is still 'Night Cry', thirty seconds will tell you why this is one of the most fascinating groups in the metal-influenced ambient scene. It's as though you've unearthed an early '70s limited run post-Manson murder film about killer hippies; this track is what's piped through the crackling movie theater speakers as the longhairs slowly pass the devil weed around (fading from one member of the group to the other, of course) until the scene changes before the implied orgy. It's fantastic.

This music isn't quite transcendent enough to make a non-ambient listener turn their head, but it is excellent enough to be recommended to any of those who appreciate the darker edges of ambient music. Contrary, to what one might expect from this release, being a compilation, it's remarkably cohesive and a very easy listen. I can't recommend this (or the rest of the band's work, for that matter) enough. If you enjoy your ambient dark and ritualistic, Funereal Moon are masters of the style and 'Taumogenesis' is a very worthwhile release to investigate.

Well, I guess it couldn’t because it’s a “best of” spanning the four EPs that came out between ’96 and ’99. The album commences with a slow and simple atmosphere that evokes nightly imagery but totally drops the ball already on the second track with its lame lyrics and use of gothy sounding female vocals. Track two, “Night Cry” totally hits you in the face, as you’re expecting something raw and cold and maybe ambient, in the ilk of the first track, rather you get some chick talking, in an echoing tone, about the moon, crying and other senseless themes. It completely throws off the atmosphere that the first track introduces you to. The last song off the In Communion with Satan EP, “Hellaxe Of The Witch” is merely badly produced vocals as you can barely hear any instruments, but I guess it was intentionally done so one can at least predict what they were trying to attain.

The next song, however, emphasizes and improves upon what the previous song attempted and you get a song that sounds as if it were played through a fan. I expect that everyone has at least once said something or heard someone speak through a running fan; heard their reverberating sound and felt intrigued at its uniquely captivating vibration. The band utilizes this type of playing and the outcome is “Witchery.” The rest of this EP is repetitive, offers little atmosphere and is once more plagued with the horrific female vocals. It doesn’t match the other music at all, nor does it accomplish what it sets out to achieve, to create imagery through semi-romanticized gothic vocals. It really makes you cringe when hearing out of place vocals in the same manner as hearing, unmistakably, out of place keys. The lyrics are an attempt at pseudo-evil content with a possibility of some intellectual goth babble, which apparently, they missed.

The album somewhat redeems itself with the 11 minute track, “I Came From Darkness To Conquer,” but it is only towards the end that atmospheric consistency slithers out. The rest of the album completely toys with you and is very inconsistent. Songs range from sluggishly paced raw tracks to an almost electronic feel on “Revival of the Evil One,” that further reverts to the “playing through a running fan” method. Funereal Moon continues by covering a song by some ultra-liberal avant-garde female vocalist, which comes out as total rawness but makes one wonder if the female vocals heard throughout the album were influenced by this vocalist.

This release is tolerable but definitely not something I will be playing beginning to end as it’s far too inconsistent and contains some horrific songs. There aren’t any truly stand out tracks, just some mediocre ones and listening to it all the way through can become tiresome. I’d give this album a listen if I’m browsing for a semi-interesting underground black metal band that can conjure up an enjoyable atmosphere when their heads are not up their asses. My advice to the band would be to drop the gothy vocals and focus more on creating atmosphere akin to some that is heard on this album.