Review by JD on May 23, 2009.

Norwegian Blackened Doom Metal mixed effortlessly with some real deal Death Metal... that is what we exactly have here. American based The Funeral Pyre are explained as heavy black shrouded metal with the overall ambiance of a funeral home just before a atomic bomb goes off... when they explode, seems like that atomic attack. Extreme, huh?

The Funeral Pyre comes at you from Los Angeles, and has been a breath of fresh air from the stagnancy of that scene. They are ethereal, dark and maximumly heavy. This is not in any way close to the glam metal LA has offered up in the past, or tries to do now... this is pure and malevolent metal at it's maximum output. Their EP is as extreme and fierce as any release that has came out this year... perhaps in the last few years.

"December" Ep has only five songs on it's shiny surface, but each ones are quality slabs of heavy and exceedingly mind numbing music that has the power to reach into the darkest corner of peoples souls, and finds that one horrible place that is better off hidden.... even from ones own self. They then begin to ravage what is left of your spirit from there, and their job is nearly done.

'Into The Soil' is a doomish hell spawned sound that plods your cranium until it cracks into several pieces, while 'Frail And Dying' is a Death Metal classic that torches your mind in one fell swoop. The Ep is exactly like that throughout... and leaves you wishing that this had been a full album instead. It is well assured, The Funeral Pyre will be a band to watch.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7.5
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.1 out of 10

Review by Felix on October 4, 2020.

The chaos theory says that smallest changes of the initial conditions can lead to very big impacts on the whole system. It is a fact that the wing-beat of a butterfly is able to cause a hurricane. The Coming of Chaos, released by Sweden’s Sacramentum in 1997, confirms the theory, but unfortunately exactly the other way round. The entire work sounds as if slight changes during the song-writing process could have resulted in a much better full-length.

Sacramentum’s album shares the destiny of a couple of outputs of Lord Belial. On one hand, it does not appeal to the mainstream. On the other hand, it cannot really suppress its weakness for melodies that take a lot of the otherwise attainable vehemence of the material. Admittedly, from time to time the more or less melodic touch of the compositions helps them to develop a powerful yet catchy appearance. 'Portal of Blood' combines the melodic side and the general force of the Scandinavians in an exciting manner. Nevertheless, it happens too often that the band stops fighting when the battle is only half won. Murderous riffs are missing and unforced errors add insult to injury. It’s actually no big deal that 'Abyss of Time' is nothing else but a useless intermezzo. But located on the fifth of nine positions, it significantly hurts the flow of The Coming of Chaos significantly. Moreover, the title track with a playtime of more than 13 minutes is rather a waste of time than a regular song. It seems as if the band wants to teach us that the chaos has arrived. Thus, the dudes pressed it into the strangest available tones. Honestly, this sound collage just sucks and generally speaking, there are no chaotic elements in Sacramentum's sound.

The vocals are raw, of course, but they lack charisma and any kind of individuality. In addition, the material is characterised by an almost complete absence of atmospheric elements. I know this is not a pure black metal work. It connects elements of the unholy trinity thrash, death and black metal. Nonetheless, I miss a spooky, infernal, nightly or whatever aura. Sacramentum’s songs appear to me like songs of a rock band that have accidentally become too harsh. There is no outburst of energy, no true devotion to the darkest side of metal and no compositional shrewdness.

Yes, the more or less conventionally designed songs (number 1 to 4 and 6 to 8) do not suffer from major defects, but they also fail to whet the appetite for more. Especially Sweden has so many bands that are able to link the sonic form of Armageddon with the most bizarre, most monumental or most morbid melodies - Dissection, Necrophobic and so on. Sacramentum follows these legends with a considerable gap. Perhaps they did so because they had remarkable clairvoyant powers and intended to avoid the Covid 19 shit already at the end of the 20th century? Who knows? The only thing I know is that Sacramentum published an under-average work in 1997. So now it’s time for my personal interpretation of the chaos theory. It does not need more than “Mirror Black”, Necrophobic’s advance track of their new album, to listen to brilliant music again.

Rating: 5.6 out of 10