The Funeral Years 1994-1998

Kristallnacht has historic importance to the subgenre - and a lot of bands still cover their songs today. However they were never able to record a full LP, so the best way to listen to them is through these compilations. This is early work from when the band was using the name Funeral and I enjoy it a lot.

They play melodic tremolo riffs throughout. The first few songs (from the "Black Flame" demo) have fairly lo-fi production, the kind of growling vocals the band would use later once they changed to Kristallnacht, and really awesome, raw, fucked up drums. The production is just so bad on those drums it becomes awesome - it sounds like someone's playing a bongo, like hitting a leather drum with your hands, it's so bizarre and brought to the front the production it really defines that segment of the compilation. Those songs are enjoyable due to their groovy, ridiculous drumming and melodic old school black metal riffs.

The rest of the compilation is a change of sound and takes some getting used to - but once you can appreciate it, it strongly evokes Gorgoroth's Pentagram. It's really, really raw production - it was a demo tape after all. There's a different vocalist here and he does the extremely high banshee shrieks that sound just like Hat from Pentagram. I love it. The band also uses synthesizer heavily on these demos, which was not present in the first part of the compilation. They can be kind of overpowering at times though.

Overall the wirey tremolo riffs, the interesting drumming, and the great vocalist on the second half make this compilation worth a few listens - not to mention the historical value. Very low quality, expected from demos, and too-loud synth may annoy listeners though.