Formed in 1993 within Indianapolis, Indiana, Michael Ford's Black Funeral is among the first and longest running black metal acts in the US of A. Straying a bit a way from the typical blasphemous and satanic worship Michael has always centered his lyrics around occultism, Luciferianism and Vampyrism and has also published several books on these topics as well as occasionally recording live speeches and rituals. Not to forget he's also participated in no less than eight different bands over the years too. During the near twenty years that Michael (AKA Baron Drakkonian Abaddon) has been working with Black Funeral both himself and various members have released eight studio albums with 1997's, 'Empire of Blood' being his sophomore effort. Musically Empire of Blood is straight forward black metal with raw blood soaked trebly guitars, ominous bass work, fast and mostly solid drum work, hellishly screamed yet distant sounding vocals plus a few dark ambient parts here and there. If I must be honest though the actual recording quality is very, very similar to Emperor's, 'Wrath of the Tyrant' demo tape, and I wont jump to any conclusions, but it really sounds like Mike was trying to emulate that Norwegian classic. Unfortunately though the overall volume is very low as well thus forcing me to crank my speakers to levels I'd otherwise not turn to. However its pretty clear by the time, 'Opferblut' chimes its way into my living room that Mike has no love for anyone and its the whole nihilistic and hate filled feelings that this recording gives off that makes me enjoy it all the more.
The album is amazingly atmospheric and generally just creepy sounding, almost as if his intentions were to commit some sort of violent ritual to tape. The eleven songs whip by in just thirty five minutes too, but not before my ears are treated to a variety of wicked and sometimes even catchy riffs. The vocals are also superb and as I mentioned above this distant quality to them almost like they were recorded in a cellar. Some very briefly spoken female vocals make their appearance as well, but they really don't add much to the whole experience, but variety is never a bad thing either. Not a single word of what Mike screams is decipherable, but if you open the booklet and take a glance you'll see that Mike has written some incredibly detailed lyrics to these songs. And, yeah, not much to the cover artwork either, perhaps he's a Gorgoroth fan?
Empire of Blood isn't for everyone, but if you have a thing for ridiculously raw abysmal music then perhaps Black Funeral's 'Grim Medieval Vampyric Black Metal' will appeal to you.
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Yes! YES!!!
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