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The Funeral Orchestra Chants "Negative Evocation Rites"

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Funeral doom metal is generally a Romantic thing — a recreation of the march to the burial accompanied with sombre, Romantic or Post-Romantic music. Sweden’s The Funeral Orchestra, however, sees nothing beautiful in interment, and Negative Evocation Rites, their first album since 2003’s Feeding the Abyss (the surprise Apocalyptic Plague Ritual MMXX notwithstanding), is their most nightmarish depiction of death to date. To put it as bluntly as possible, The Funeral Orchestra is horrifying, their droning, hollow doom anechoic of funeral doom metal’s usual pomp in favor of disgust and apocalyptic visions.

The brainchild of Runemagick and Sacramentum’s Nicklas Rudolfsson, there is an expected heaviness to The Funeral Orchestra, but there is something more ambiance-oriented here — robe-clad priests chanting terrifying annihilation rites, the rot after burial, the nothingness thereafter. The Funeral Orchestra is atypical in a world of “musical” funeral doom, and this trio (plus surprise guests: Blood Incantation’s Paul Riedl and Chthonic Deity’s Erika Osterhout) defies funeral doom’s roots in favor of something different and wholly disgusting. The Funeral Orchestra plays to your demise at the beat of their own (slow) drum.

Negative Evocation Rites releases July 15th on Nuclear War Now! Productions.

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