Diabolis Interium [Bonus CD] [Remaster] (CD - 2001)

Personnel: Matte Modin (drums).

Additional personnel: Larsa (guitars); Dee Moe (background vocals).

Audio Remasterer: Peter In Debetou.

Recording information: Abyss Studios, Sweden (01/25/2001-02/02/2001).

Photographer: Michael Johansson.

Arguably one of the Swedish dark metal band Dark Funeral's most powerful releases, this collection of paeans to Satan and his black arts is powered by Lord Ahriman's relentless guitar work and his cohort Emperor Magus Caligula's searing, eruptive vocalizations, on a set of inexorably grinding tracks that includes the demonic fanfare of "The Arrival of Satan's Empire," the darkly erotic "Goddess of Sodomy," and the cataclysmic "Armageddon Finally Comes."

The Swedish dark metal band Dark Funeral's third album is a rotting signpost to their future depravity, containing many sonic blueprints for their later forays into the netherworld. Lord Ahriman's unrelenting guitar style is already in place on a set that also features Emperor Magus Caligula's trademark awe-inspiring sulfurous vocal eruptions, songs devoted to the praise of Satan's hellish minions, in "The Black Winged Horde," and to Beelzebub himself in the ultimate, devastating "Ineffable King of Darkness."

Dark Funeral remains true to its twisted version of brutal black metal in uncompromising fashion on album number four, almost flaunting its unrelenting speed and atonality in the faces of the group's Scandinavian peers, who are generally much more experimental. This is a joy to those for whom corpse paint is not a Halloween costume but a way of life, but Diabolis Interium will do little to garner the attention of anyone but the most devoted fans, even given the band's overly flamboyant stage shows. [Regain's 2007 edition included an additional CD featuring five bonus cuts.] ~ Brian O'Neill minimize