Review Summary: Unoriginal? Yes. Cliche? Absolutely. Catchy and surprisingly enjoyable album? Hell yes!
What is the cliche that most black metal bands fit into? That would be fast as hell and more Satanic than any other bands out there. Most people write off bands like that just because there's nothing original or interesting about them at all. A lot of the time you would probably be right. A lot of bands that start black metal bands just to be evil and play as fast as they can never really have their albums see the light of day. Well, Dark Funeral is a band that fits perfectly into that cliche. They, however, are a very well known band to come out of Sweden, which is more known for it's Gothenburg melodic death metal bands such as Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, In Flames, etc. Dark Funeral is, to be quite honest, everything that people would hate about black metal. They're not original, all they do is play fast, and they do nothing but talk about Satan and the Antichrist everything like that. Well while most of Dark Funeral's stuff is rather unoriginal, this particular album,
Diabolis Interium, is actually an interesting slab of "hyperspeed" black metal.
First thing's first, most of the riffs on this album are very well done. The most relevant one is probably the opening riff to the second track, Hail Murder. The way the guitars rip through at an extremely fast, yet melodic way is enough to get you to bang your head right from the get go and will ultimately be stuck in your head for quite a long time. That's the best thing about this album. All of the tremolo picked riffs are extremely catchy, more than what could be said about a lot of black metal bands of this brutal nature. Every riff is very melodic too while still retaining that evil, ripping sound. You may not expect the level of technicality from a black metal band, but Lord Ahriman and Dominion know how to play their guitars and the showcase their skills on this album. Drumming by Matte Modin is pretty much only blast beats. You can't really expect anything else from a black metal band that does nothing except play fast. While this may not sound too appealing to some people, it really doesn't affect the album negatively at all. If you like fast drumming then there's no reason why you wouldn't like what's to be found on this album. Another thing is that the production is crystal clear. No
Nattens Madrigal production to be found here. Everything can be heard perfectly.
One thing that I think about this album, and this band in general, is that they have extremely well done vocal abilities. No matter who the vocalist has been. However, their current vocalist, Emperor Magus Caligula, is the best one they've had. He actually was the original vocalist in the very well-knwon Swedish death metal band, Hypocrisy. His approach is a little bit different in Dark Funeral though. As opposed to the death growl, he utilizes an extremely intense, high-pitched scream. The thing about Emperor Magus Caligula's scream is that it's pretty easy to decipher what he's saying. He doesn't have one of those voices where you're just thinking to yourself, "I have no clue what the hell this guy is saying." No, you can usually understand what's coming out of his mouth and that's the most redeeming quality about his vocal style. Plus the fact that this guy can scream with anyone in the black metal scene. He may not have the most original style, but his scream is damn good and it's very fierce and unrelenting. As I sort of touched on earlier, the lyrics are all about Satan and Anti-Christianity. Dark Funeral is one of the more Satanic black metal bands that are around today. With tracks such as The Arrival of Satan's Empire, Hail Murder, Goddess of Sodomy, and An Apprentice of Satan, what else would you expect?
The point I'm really trying to make with this album is that even while it's very unoriginal and something that people have heard a billion times before, it's still really very enjoyable. It's definitely the best thing that Dark Funeral has put out in their entire careers. The memorably riffs mixed with the technical blast beating and the wicked screaming, that gives you a pretty damn good album if I say so myself. The length also isn't a problem at all so it's not overbearing, clocking in at only 36 minutes, which is damn short for black metal nowadays. Hey, if you can deal with a band screaming the word of Satan at you through their music for that amount of time, then this could be an album that you would want to check out. And if you're one for cliche black metal, then
Diabolis Interium is the album for you.
