Funeral Mist - Salvation (2003)

"I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear I judge: and my judgement is just: because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."
-John 5:30

Funeral Mist's debut, 'Salvation' was a a benchmark of unparalleled excellence within the religious black metal sub-genre that flawlessly redefined what was adequate within black metal music back in '03. This album took the familiar blasting sound of Arioch's previous band Triumphator and blended it with a highly original take on Satanism and various other non-metal aspects and ideas and utterly blurred what was black metal before it. Salvation did away with the abysmal production values, the primitive and simplistic Darkthrone approach to writing and the often uninspired and dull vocal performances that had begun to plague and ruin the genre by the turn of the century.

The music hits as a turbulence of relentless devilish violence that's mind numbing and oppressive in its delivery. The riffing is chaotic and sometimes completely incomprehensible, though there's often underlining melodies of the most sinister quality emanating below that seizes my attention and pulls me deeper down. Some brief slower tempos do make an appearance, likewise some repetitive droning atmospheres emerge as well, though the malevolent mood hardly fades and in fact certain points of this album even reach a point of epicness. Amongst all that the drums are endlessly blasting within and underneath but never become too overbearing.

Live through me, O seditious star

One of the things that characterizes this release even more so is the ample usage of samples, ranging from the sounds of dogs barking, explosions, babies crying, monks chanting, people screaming in terror and even sounds of outright oddness. 'Sun of Hope' features the procession of black plague victims sample from Ingmar Bergman's, 'The Seventh Seal,' and even though Abigor used it nearly a decade earlier it sounds much more fitting within this album, while The outro to 'In Manus Tuas' I can only guess is lifted from a movie from the silent era of cinema, and whatever it may be it really, really is creepy sounding in that vintage cinematic way.

Arioch's vocal approach is one of the absolute most unique and malignant ever committed to tape, not content to go for the simple rasp the genre is known for his voice often twists in its style and pitch almost like a fervent preacher man on Sunday morning. In fact, some of the lyrics remind me of one of the many forced church visits from my childhood, and having once watched a Catholic priest conduct an entire mass in Latin it has sort of always left me with an uncomfortable though curious feeling towards the language. Combine those pre-existing feelings with the bands occasional tendencies to use Latin lyrics as well as the overwhelmingly dark and torturing nature of the whole record and its not hard for me to say that this is an album to admire for life.

The cover artwork is also a thing of pure horror; featuring a crucified Arioch, thus representing Jesus, and alongside him are two crucified babies (the thief's) with their chests lacerated open as well an unexplainable host of bedlam beyond them. The booklet also features all the lyrics in an archaic font as well as various grisly and occult images, thus making the album an absolute must buy and not simply something you can steal from the internet!

I can admit that when I originally heard this album it was so too much for me, it was also during a period of lesser black metal interest, but all these years later I've purchased the Season of Mist re-release and have marveled at its innovation and extremeness since. It must be understood though that this is by no means an everyday sort of release, it takes a certain mindset to appreciate it due to its walloping, evil and hate filled nature.

In the end I dare you take this journey to oblivion, because simply put, black metal doesn't get much better than, 'Salvation.'