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Info
- Band(s): Funeral Winds
- Label(s): Death To Mankind
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, CD
- Release Year: 2003
- Review Date: November 18, 2002
- Author(s): Manuel Boss
Rotterdam (a Dutch city) is well known for its Black Metal scene and of course for ‘Baroeg’ for its numerous occasions to witness various Black Metal artists. Funeral Winds is – particularly in this area of our vast country – no stranger when it comes to Black Metal. For more than a decade they exist with the intention to produce that great ’80s Black Metal and bear their cult name to this day. After shifting line-ups several times, Hellchrist XUL is the only remaining member as he is now joined by three members whom each have a Metal reputation – considering the fact they play(ed) in several bands well known to Dutch Black Metal fucks. The interesting thing about the special promo CD I’ve gotten my hands on, is that the material has been recorded and divided in three different time-lines, namely from ’94 to ’02 whom are respectively entitled ‘Screaming for Grace’, ‘Godslayer XUL’ and ‘promo 2002’ thus three different albums. Though some songs appear twice – due to these separate time-lines – it’s great to hear improvement, different line-up and a totally different overall sound. This review is strictly about ‘Godslayer XUL’ however as the rest will be taken care of in an interview with Funeral Winds.
As said before, Funeral Winds is inspired by the greats of the 80’s such as Venom, Hellhammer, Sodom, Mayhem etc., and this is exactly the reason why the songs have that thrashy vibe here and there such as on ‘A Diabolical Meeting’, ‘Thy Eternal Flame’, ‘Screaming for Grace ‘ and ‘Night of the Utterdark’. The variety in the drums plays a big part in this aspect and has definite roll in their interesting style they master. When starting of with ‘For the Glory of XUL’ the ancient tones of Sodom’s ‘In the Sign of Evil’ enter my hearing-equipment, but this time with furious Black Metal chants. The opening-riffs of ‘Resurrection of the Five Winds’ remind me strongly of the eerie feeling Covenant’s ‘In Times before the Light’ had and flashes from the older work of Immortal and Marduk also sweeps by from time to time. Needless to say there aren’t any female cries nor any of these related elements on the CD, but an overall fast tempo maintained throughout ‘Godslayer XUL’. The sound-quality is unlike most Black Metal bands use as it is a heavy bass-like production, thus in contrast of melee Black Metal band whom tune their treble and middle open wide. By adding more bass the sound is much more heavier and has more power this way.
So if you’re up to some well played Black Metal 80’s style you definitely should check this CD out as Funeral Winds re-releases this CD probably this year. Rumour has it this will be along with some bonus tracks from Inferi. We can only hope they’ll play soon (in Baroeg for instance) to behold their holocaust live on stage. Hail the Dutch Black Metal!
Funeral Winds
- Country: Netherlands
- Style: Black Metal
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube
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Death To Mankind
- Country: Spain
- Style: Death Metal, Black Metal, Thrash Metal
