Dekatherion: Ten Years of Hate & Pride

Celebrating over a decade in darkness, Venezuelan black/death horde Funebria recently released their sophomore full length album, Dekatherion: Ten Years of Hate & Pride through the combined effort of Satanath Records and Darzamadicus Records. Funebria bring a heavy handed style that leans heavily towards the Polish blackened death metal scene while retaining just enough of that classic, abrasive South American sound.

While the band's South American origins may bring thoughts of sweltering, Sarcófago-tinged primal morbidity, Funebria's sound hearkens more to the militant blackened death metal of Poland and Russia. The crunchy, often bulldozing riffing is set to a hawkish tempo, offering a bevy of chugging steamroller rhythms and trem-laden bursts of blasting depravity. Even if the humid blackness of the band's scene is lost on the technically proficient music, the vocals are rapacious, snarling screams, that would make any Wagner Antichrist protege proud.

Dekatherion: Ten Years Hate & Pride is a dense album. From the opening notes to the bitter end, Funebria does not let up, at all. The production is rather clear, yet the band's style is suffocatingly heavy. The album runs about forty-two minutes, which is quite a lengthy ordeal for such a heavy handed and abrasive album, but the band's tendency to approach their militant blackened death metal from different tempos does keep things engaging. A few flailing, yet competent solos and a dash of keyboards wankery are mixed within, giving the listener a little something extra to grasp onto during the ordeal, but they don't take away from the smothering sound of the album.

This is an extremely heavy album that should appeal to fans of the Behemoth and hate school of blackened death metal. While the band does bring is a dash of South American depravity, their sound belies their origin. Dekatherion: Ten Years of Hate & Pride is a solid, if slightly overlong, album that crushes most of the competition. Funebria covers a variety of tempos and rhythms with aplomb, yet remains steadfast in their delivery of heavy hitting blackened death metal.

Written for The Metal Observer.