Excerpta Funebris

Malmort is a four member band coming from France and two years before (2012) they had made a quite good impression to me with their first full length album. Almost after three years (November of 2014), they return with their second full length work which has the title “Excerpta Funebris” and it contains seven compositions and one secret track, cover of “In the shadow of the horns” of Darkthrone, of overall duration of about forty three minutes. Musically, here the band has a clear direction to the traditional Scandinavian sound, the harsh, straightforward, cold and dark one combined with a lot of elements of depressive Black Metal.

The older fans of the band, you will notice immediately the changes. Firstly the sound has become darker and more threatening. The speed of the riffs has become faster while also some of the elements that you had previously come across into older releases such as the beautiful rhythmic parts that remind of Celtic Frost. Surely the riffs create a very intense, thick and absolutely dark atmosphere while they present quite large variety. The listener will come across fast chaotic riffs, slower but also of medium speed, threatening and depressing ones while the compositions don’t lack of the beautiful Celtic Frost – like parts too. Finally, we find also references to the French scene. The tracks have a satisfactory duration (from 4 to 8 minutes) and I say satisfactory because on one hand, their structure is very well with a lot of changes and smart passages. On the other hand the tracks create the impression of a complete offering without surpassing the limits and without becoming tedious to the listener apart from two or three parts, something which does not affect the overview of the album.

The instruments are played with passion and accuracy while they create the atmosphere that the band wants to create through its music very easily. The guitar is the instrument that excels as with its dark but at the same time clean sound, the full of passion style of playing and generally the flawless, with no mistakes performance rules and leads the compositions. The bass is clear and audible but it is quite distinctive mainly it is filling the sound. The drums are somehow lower in the mixture, giving the leading role to the guitars. Their lines are interesting, they have a lot of changes, turnings and outbursts but their role is somewhat secondary. The vocals are harsh Black Metal vocals, very expressive and with a brutal tone which absolutely fits to the style of the compositions. The production is bass and clean delivering a heavy and dark sound. The mixture is very good as the listener can distinguish each instrument and at the same time the tracks are as solid and massive as the compositions demand. The lyrics are written in French and they are contained in the cd.

Generally “Excerpta Funebris” gives the impression that the band has matured a lot since its previous release. They show that they have many different feelings and images that they want to offer to the listener and they manage to do it well enough. I believe that it is one of the bands which surely have talent but at the same time they are trying to evolve, to mature and to improve into each of their release. The fans of the traditional, dark Black Metal buy it. It worth to listen to it.