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Funeral Harvest - Malum in Se
Out now via Amor Fati Productions - Issued through Amor Fati Productions on October 31, this six track mini album reaffirms the Norwegian collective’s command of occult black metal as spiritual praxis. It follows Redemptio (2022) not as continuation but as inversion, where the earlier work invoked divine wrath, Malum in Se exalts Lucifer, the morning star, as the sole light worth seeking.
Across its 22 minutes, the Trondheim quartet moves with deliberate violence. “Draco Nequissime” opens in full with Nathas’s guitars grind through ritualistic cadence while Wraath’s guest vocals turn invocation into frenzy. “Angel of Violence” tightens the energy into cold propulsion, its tremolo runs and blast beat stamina recalling the early Scandinavian archetype without mimicry. “Djævulen” and “Terminal Sleep” slow the tempo, layering synth textures from Nordr beneath corrosive chants that border on liturgical collapse.
The closing cover of Celestial Bloodshed’s “Truth Is Truth, Beyond the God” completes the cycle. It’s not nostalgia but devotion with Funeral Harvest resurrecting their lineage through fire rather than imitation. The production, engineered through Haugr and Nordstern Studios, balances density with clarity with all elements remaining serrated & the atmosphere, unbreathing.
Malum in Se is less performance than invocation. Its language is rebellion and its pulse submission to the adversary. Funeral Harvest sharpen old forms into new ritual, proving defiance can still sound sacred.
8/10
Words by Fuego Casa
In collaboration with Headbangers Australia