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Dark Funeral Concert Review
It should have been obvious. Thus far this winter, our allotment of snowfall has been (minus one large storm) essentially nil. And I had resigned myself to it, expecting nothing but bare, frozen ground for the rest of the season. But after three straight days of enough snowfall to turn things back from brown to white, it seems more likely that the winter was simply waiting on Enslaved, bringers of ‘Frost’, among other albums. The climate changed from mid-30’s and damp to freezing and snow-coated precisely the day they arrived in Chicagoland, and it has remained so since.
So, dealing with this unexpected weather, I was a little late arriving at The Pearl Room in Mokena, which has become a fairly familiar haunt for both myself and the metal tour circuit. This was my second consecutive show falling on a national holiday, but my luck with traffic was missing today, and the jams were bad enough to balance out the breeze of a time I had driving to Blind Guardian in November. However, being blessed by a large local scene, there were still a couple of local acts left to go on before Enslaved, so I had some time for interviews. Tour manager Erin was very helpful, if a little frazzled and understaffed, and guided me backstage for the first chat.
The backstage of the Pearl Room, or the VIP Room, really, is still as pristine a place as it was the first time I saw it, replete with red upholstery and leather, pool tables, wide screen TV’s, a wet bar, and everything else one could hope for but the buxom, willful groupies. Those are downstairs. Literally.
My first talk was with Ivar, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of Enslaved. He was sitting with a couple others, but after snagging his beer and a brief introduction, he amiably led me to one of the changing rooms for our interview. When I had first entered the ‘VIP Room’, I had thought that there were at least as many Americans as Scandinavians, simply by listening to them speak, but as Ivar and I chatted through the first couple minutes while I set up the recorder, I realized that the bands were simply that well-versed in American English, Enslaved in particular. We spoke for the next half-hour, with only two brief interruptions, the first from Erin as she introduced me to Lord Ahriman, and the second from a tech member looking for his lighter. Ivar jokingly asked him for some champagne, provided him with a light, and we went back to our talk.
We covered the usual topics—how the tour’s been going, what it’s like stateside, Enslaved’s progress since the early days—but also got into some more interesting topics I had seen a little spoken about elsewhere and wanted to develop. Most significantly how Enslaved see Enslaved as a part of the metal genre, where they fit, their ideology, and how their array of members has affected their songwriting and progress. Ivar displayed a wealth of knowledge and humility, as well as a rather clever sense of humor that was, while not really surprising, a little unexpected.
As we sat, I noticed the bracers and leather pants hung up rather delicately over the door, and then another pair laid over the chairs, and I couldn’t help but think about the reality of band lifestyles, and their contrast with the stage personas. However glamorous and timeless things look under the limelight, these performers still just a bunch of guys pulling on leather chaps every night and painting up their faces (at least, in Dark Funeral’s case). It was an unusual thought, a little disconcerting, and I hoped that I wouldn’t be put off by it when I saw the performance itself.
My interview with Ahriman followed, and while it, too, lasted about 30 minutes, the atmosphere was completely different. Whereas Ivar had been easy to talk to, laid back, Ahriman was intense, guarded. Not that he didn’t talk much—for he certainly did that—but just that what we ended up talking about were rather unhappy topics, some of which have dominated the band’s existence for a number of years now. Their issues with No Fashion records, most significantly: that label has been abominable to them and others, and I don’t think people realize quite how bad it’s been.
On another note, this was the first discussion I’d had with a genuine black metal band face to face, without the make-up, and while Dark Funeral certainly don’t speak for the entire black metal community, the experience gave a little perspective on the personalities behind the corpsepaint. Too, I think made watching their theatrical set a little easier to enjoy, when it came, as I was not so skeptical of their misanthropy, knowing what inspired it.
After wrapping up this second interview once Enslaved started setting up their photo shoot just in front of us, I descended the stairs again to get my spot for their set. I had lost track of time a bit and didn’t realize that all the local bands had finished, along with Abigail Williams. While I was not attending the show for them, I would have liked to have seen even just a song or two. Their perplexing mix of black, core, death, and symphonic metal is one that I think will make or break my opinion based on their live show. From what I heard from some others up front, they had a good stage presence, but not everyone was sold on their music.
And just like that, Enslaved was next. Their set-up was fairly simple, consisting of a few amps, the keyboards in the back corner, logo decals on the bass drums, the usual. What really made their atmosphere was the array of ‘Ruun’-themed banners draped over their amps and in front of the keyboards. Some were runic, others the cover of the album, but all consistently black and white, as per the color theme of the new record.
I squeezed up to the front just in time for the lights to go down, and after perhaps a minute or so of building anticipation and smoke, the band came out one by one, starting with Cato Bekkevold the drummer and ending with Grutle Kjellson, bassist and lead vocalist. They had of course strapped on all their leather and gear, but as they immediately began ‘Path to Vanir’, all thoughts of stage gimmicks were put out of my mind. ‘Ruun’ is by no means Enslaved’s most aggressive release, but the energy it possesses and its consistent, driving momentum translate beautifully into the live environment. Each instrument, too, was very well produced, so everything from Grutle’s gurgling narration to Herbrand’s faint keys to Cato’s cymbal syncopations to the riffs themselves were quite audible and expertly played. They did not sound precisely as they do on record, as some of the more particular clean sections didn’t have the guitar overdubs or thicker keyboards, but I was not disappointed at all. Also, considering how harsh a vocal style Grutle usually has his clean vocals (and Herbrand’s) were both very smooth and had an excellent balance. (Speaking of clean vocals, they did not play ‘Havenless’, which I’d hoped for but had not expected)
Vocal duties were split between Grutle and Ivar, the latter of whom took on the deepest backing growls while Grutle managed nearly everything else. Herbrand, almost entirely unmoving back in his corner on the keyboards, did the clean vocals for a few tracks, such as ‘Return to Yggdrasil’, but not as many as I would have expected.
Directly following opener ‘Path to Vanir’ was ‘Fusion of Sense and Earth’ without a break in between, and I must say the rhythmic breaks in that song sound infinitely better live than they do on record. Not that it’s a weak song, by any means, but the contrast in sound was so profoundly enhanced by their performance. During those more ‘breakdown’ comparable moments, the pit would start up, but not too intensely as most people seemed interested in headbanging, horn throwing, or just focusing on the music.
In a perfect continuation, their third song was the most performance-appropriate cut from ‘Isa’: ‘Bounded By Allegiance’, which was every bit as beautiful and bare as it is on record. Other tracks played throughout their set sampled heavily from both ‘Isa’ and ‘Ruun’, but they also reached back to the ‘Frost’ album for one (which probably explains why the only shirt themes they had other than ‘Ruun’ were for that album) and ‘Monumension’ for another, both of which fit very well into the set’s energy, despite their quite different styles. Ivar had said that it was difficult, choosing which era to play from, and that they would like to come back again sometime soon and play more from those earlier albums, which I think would be just as rewarding. My only disappointment in their setlist choice was not hearing more from ‘Below the Lights’, which contains some of their finest work.
On stage, they were an interesting blend of personality. Ivar stood rather stoically, not moving much at all that I recall, between songs downing almost entire beers at once. Grutle would survey the audience from time to time, looking quite the part in his vest and bracers. Arve, the relatively new lead guitarist, was the glamorous rock-star, often arching backwards with his guitar outstretched, shirtless and with hair dangling. Herbrand and Cato were both visually obscured, but the sound of their talents was not missed, Cato in particular. Ivar spoke very well of him in the interview, and it truly was rewarding to see such a talented and diverse performance from the veteran. Most any metal drummer can blast, most any rock drummer can hit that one-two groove, but few aside from Cato can wrap all these styles into one, and execute them as cleanly as consistently. Enslaved has a number of songs with subtly difficult meters, and he managed them all perfectly.
As their backdrop, they had a sequence of narrative camerawork, including quick cuts of landscapes, psychedelic color arrays, shots of the band, and various other runes and characters all subtly relating to the song being performed at that moment.
Unfortunately, they could only play for just around an hour, so at about 9:30 they left the stage to enthusiastic roars from the crowd, and a few fellows in particular up front who called out each member by name and wrapped up his applause with, “Enslaved fucking rules!” Something every concert needs, really.
During the layover, I chatted with the security guard in front of the stage. It has always been rather amusing to watch them during a band’s set, either nodding their head to the beat or completely ignoring it, and I always wonder whether they enjoy the bands they’re protecting. This young man, Dave, said he was more of a Meshuggah fan, and seemed rather skeptical of Dark Funeral (which he has every right to be, admittedly), but was a pleasant character nonetheless and helped pass the time.
Dark Funeral’s stage set up was rather similar to Enslaved in theme, that being drapes over their amps and such, but instead of a video backdrop they had a large print banner of the cover to ‘Attera Totus Sanctus’, bloody red with the howling demon. Not really intimidating, but appropriate for the mood. They, too, had an intro ambient track, but this one dragged on for perhaps a little too long before they made their entrance. After speaking with the quite sizeable Ahriman and seeing pictures of Dark Funeral’s stage outfits, I had expected something a little more majestic. The first member I saw was their drummer, Matte Modin, who is certainly a force behind the kit, but not really that terrifying in front of it. His performance that night was consistently rather good, if not entirely exceptional; sometimes his blastbeats would stumble just a bit, but he would pick them back up very well and did an excellent job on the fills and rest of the bass kick work. Dark Funeral do not skimp on their drums, anyway, so what small errors he made are understandable. He, lanky and narrow, slouched to his kit, and was followed by the band’s session bassist, B-Force, practically the opposite in every way. Short, quite rotund, hairy, weathered, and tattooed, B-Force would anchor Dark Funeral’s sound throughout the set and lurk back and forth next to the amps, hunched over his bass and nodding slowly.
Fortunately, the remaining three members made up for these two’s forgettable entrance. The first to mention is Chaq Mol, the band’s rhythm guitarist, who was stationed in front of me for most of the set. He is a tall man, easily above 6 feet, with a strong, grimacing face, a double nose piercing on one side, painted grey beard, and sinister smirk. I am generally one not to put much stock in corpsepaint and leather costumes, but something about this man just oozed sardonic power. Between songs, he would nod slowly to the crowd, something many black metal bands tend not to do, and as I took pictures actually looked directly into the lens. Yet, for all these admissions to popularity, he still maintained credibility as a black metal Satanist. Not something easy to pull off and it reads rather amusingly now, but so it was.
The lead guitarist and founding member, Lord Ahriman, looked rather similar to Chaq Mol in garb and stature, but spent most of his time on the other side of the stage, away from my both my eye’s and camera’s focus. From what I did see, he was similarly steadfast, standing tall and imposingly for most of the set. All the members would move from spot to spot now and again, but for the most part, they stuck to their positions. It was not that they needed to move that often, anyway—they commanded a great amount of poise and self-confidence, attracting the eye as much for their stature as their corpsepaint and outfits. This is understandable, really, considering the fact that they (like Enslaved) first toured the states in ’95 and, as was said, ‘have been screaming about this for the past 20 years or so…’
Which brings us to Emperor Magus Caligula. Say what you will about his name, say what you will about his skull corpsepaint; the fact remains, his is a formidable presence. Shaking hands with Ahriman, I had estimated him to be about 3 inches taller than me, putting him at nearly 6’5”, but even he didn’t seem as tall as did Caligula. Even his hands were massive, the thumb nearly as thick as two of my fingers put together. Between songs, he would walk back to the kit and, while the rest of the band drank water or beer from plastic cups, would swig directly from what looked to be a fifth of Jager. In sum, ‘watch out, Johann Hegg’; there is another Swedish titan to be reckoned with.
His vocals, too, were appropriately powerful. I was not entirely impressed with his sound on ‘Attera…’, but in the live setting he did very well. He could have been louder, but his consistency and intonation were all very good, both the highs and his rare lows. After a few songs and a couple gestures to the crowd for enthusiasm (which he got in spades), he loosened up a bit, chatting to us in a surprisingly casual voice, bringing up the Cleveland crowd the night before and how we should be louder than they, introducing songs with a few sentences here and there, etc.
It was also good to see that, despite how inexperienced the band was with their new equipment (their own gear being confiscated by the Peruvian government), they still played very well. There was an issue with Ahriman’s guitar amp once or twice, but not at any crucial moments and it was always quickly resolved. Highlights of their set included the requisite heavy sampling from ‘Attera…’ but also some older surprises, such as a significantly faster (yes, faster) version of ‘The Arrival of Satan’s Empire’, which Caligula introduced as ‘a song about a beautiful day…’ It was already an impressive point in their catalogue, but being sped up as it was made it perhaps one of the top five black metal songs I’ve seen performed live (few as that may be). They also played ‘Open the Gates’, midway through the set, and included a wide variety of songs from both ends of their career as well.
Their first set was an hour, and after another slightly too-long break they came back out for a generous three-song encore, including the lurid ‘Atrum Regina’, a cut from the infamous ‘Teach Children to Worship Satan’, and finally ‘My Dark Desires’, from their eponymous very first release.
Two acquaintances of mine had attended this tour before I did, each having the opposite opinion as to which band outplayed the other. While I came into the night favoring Enslaved, Dark Funeral were surprisingly impressive, and my decision is now harder than I expected it to be—as Ahriman put it, ‘Norway vs. Sweden!’. While I may have laughed at the time, I now think that I might have to follow this tour to its next stop to make the final decision of victory. Perhaps I will.
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