Funerus - Festering Earth

For starters Funerus is an old-school death metal hailing from the early nineties that flaunts some pretty wicked connections. 'The' Guitarist John McEntee hails from Incantation, while Kyle Severn handled the drums for Vital Remains and Acheron. Before you even start thinking that Funerus sounds close to the above bands, you better stop 'cause Funerus is very unlikely to beat away at the same frequency as Incantation or Remains. Playing a very mid-paced variation of death metal that trudges through your ear like bowel movements in your innards, Funerus play on-your-face no-nonsense death metal that melts your senses away with its gravelly bass lines and plucky, clearcut death metal riffs.

In fact the bass in Festering Earth, their only album till date in their 20 years of existence, mildly reminds you off the gargantuan bass sound of Rottrevore. The difference being in Festering Earth the bass sounds as though its sludging through the wayside waters of your neighborhood drain. Songs are structured in a way that the music seamlessly drifts from mid-tempo to high-tempo, walloping through the album showing their command over the music. All without getting too caustic. And credit for that must go to the drummer who pounds on the kit like a warlord waiting to slay lives to quench his blood thirst, without getting too flashy.

As you further proceed along the the album, the doom influences become all too clear when Stagnant Seas or Web of Deceit plays on the list, where the guitarist plays heavily influenced dense doomy riffs that kind of reverberates reminding you of Asphxy style playing as heard in Rack. Now if you are expecting any kind of rapidfire solos to tears your guts apart, then you would be severely mistaken to expect so, 'cause Funerus really masters in playing no-bullshitting groovy death metal without giving a damn to any of the technical wankeries. With most clocking over two and a half minutes, some of them ending rather abruptly, Festering Earth makes an interesting earth where you don't get a single chance to catch your breath.

Production is great in an album like Festering Earth striking the right chord by staying right in between. Higher quality would have killed all the delicate intricacies involved in those riff patterns or bass lines making it too pronounced. Going to the lower end would have make it come off like Rottrevore's Iniquitous whose production is nowhere near good. Festering Earth clearly shows that Funerus is, as I have rightly read somewhere is a clear paradigm of old school death metal: Deep muddy sound that permanently resides in your guts.