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Black Funeral – Flames Of Sam​ū​m

black funeral – flames of sam​ū​m

Info

Ever since Drowning The Light’s spiritual father Azgorh took his place in Black Funeral in 2015, the band’s sound has taken a markedly different turn and his distinct signature has become prominent in the Black Funeral formula. Yet with the bands two full-length albums that were released after Azgorh’s joining, ‘Ankou And The Death Fire’ (2016) and ‘Scourge Of Lamashtu’ (2020), his mark was relatively modest, but through Black Funeral’s ‘Wallachian Voivode’-EP from earlier this year his hand was remarkably more tangible. This eleventh studio album continues the spirit of the previous EP and is definitely the most Azgorh-ian Black Funeral album to date.

Especially the first half of the album has much of that typical Drowning The Light blueprint as its core. Melancholic riffs, not sharp in tone but rather mellow, adding much to the overall atmosphere of the music – pretty much in line with the Drowning The Light recordings of the past two or three years. Those who are (too little) familiar with those recordings: this does not at all mean that the music connects with contemporary “Atmospheric Black Metal”. Not at all, in fact.

Black Funeral has always been an entity that more or less had its own spirit and power, like as if it decided on its own in which direction it would go. If you’d decide to go for a deep dive through the bands strong back catalogue, you’d find anything from fiercely Raw or downright Lo-Fi Black Metal to Ambient and influences from cold sounding Industrial/Martial to elements from ancient folk and ritual music. That makes it not at all that surprising that Michael “Akhtya Nachttoter” Ford leads his brainchild through yet another musical phase.

It may take several years to look back properly at exactly where he left the path and which one was chosen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we would conclude that 2024 turned out to be yet another transitional year for Black Funeral and that ‘Flames Of Sam​ū​m’ took a vital role in this musical conversion.

Yet, things should also be seen in the right perspective as the changes in sound or musical identity might be small or only noticeable for those willing to go for a deeper analysis. If we’d choose to skip that whole dissection procedure, then we’ll have just another solid album worthy of the Black Funeral name. In just under 40 minutes we are treated on a raw yet moderately melodic Black Metal record that clearly has all the elements of a Black Funeral album. Again we are being served with basically all of Nachttoter’s musical antics and jaunts, being Folk, Ambient and ritual music. Added to the audible difference between the songs written by Azgorh and Nachttoter it gives ‘Flames Of Sam​ū​m’ a bit of a jumbled character. Nothing to such an extent that it really bothers or extracts from the listening experience as a whole, but compared to the (shorter) ‘Wallachian Voivode’ EP it feels definitely less coherent and consequently less impactful.

While it would be way too dramatic to say that ‘Flames Of Sam​ū​m’ is disappointing, it would be fair to conclude that after the really great preceding EP I hoped a bit more. Yet, with Black Funeral being a band that has always gained very strong and divided opinions over its three-decade career, it might be best to just give the album a spin yourself. People who dropped the band after the ultra-Lo-Fi and noisy ‘Ordog’ (2005) or ‘Vukolak’ (2010) albums might just give the band another shot. Although I personally appreciate these albums too, it is fair to say that with Azgorh’s joining the band has gained quite a lot in musicality and overall musical agility.

Black Funeral

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