For some inexplicable reason this Dutch band has never crossed my path in over three decades of its existence and is the solo project of Hellchrist Xul whose real name is Maurits Jansen apparently. During those three decades he has released seven albums, a handful of demos and a few EPs which have received mostly decent reviews over the years when I had scoot around the internet. This is his eighth full length and second consecutive album on French label Osmose Productions, which at one point was the go to label for all things black metal.
The album’s title ‘333’ is the number assigned to the demon Choronzon in Thelema occultism when I checked and this album encapsulates everything that black metal gave us when it first appeared in the late 80s and early 90s. It has a raw lo-fi approach but not to the point that the music is bereft of any signs of production and mixing, instead he has everything balanced but piercingly effective as opener ‘Sovereign Of Shadows’ so ably proves when it kicks the album off. The short intro section that leads the song off submits to a mechanised onslaught of shrill guitar work and a penetrating high tonal sound that listens like glacial shards stabbing at your skull. Comparably I felt his work is similar to Carpathian Forest and Urgehal due to its bleak unflinching ethos that continues into ‘Eternal Nightmare’. Being slightly longer the song is slightly more atmospheric but mark my words this is embittered black nihilism at its finest created by the uncompromising primal guitar work but also the harsh inhuman vocal performance that I particularly liked about the album.
Slowing down is ‘Cast The Gauntlet Of Doom’ which has doom like pacing and a thudding kick drum sound that produces a ritualistic approach to the songs outright frozen styling. I also appreciate the use of cymbal work to highlight different elements of the songs as they progress, adding to the tension as ‘The Damned Ones Shall Rise’ really caught my ear. The slightly chaotic opening affords a dread filled build-up before the piercing guitar hook thrusts into the mix with subsequent blasted tempos to follow. There is a barbarity to the album that black metal has always had and here he ensures every song is as heinous as possible even when the velocity is reined in on tracks like ‘Forever Cursed And Bound’ which uses abrupt changes in speed for great momentum.
The closing couplet starts with ‘Birthed By Pure Malevolence’ where a straight forward unannounced detonation ensues. The vitriol unleashed is like molten sulfur/sulphur (delete as to your preference) being poured down your throat as the acerbic causticity of the vocals offer a frenzied nihilism that continues into the closing longest song of the album, titled ‘Conjuration Of The Blind One’. At seven minutes the tune is typical of freezing black metal and even thought the opening sequence of whispers, bells and wind noise is slightly clichéd it gives the song a potent foundation from which the guitar filters in with despairing terror. When you listen to a lot of music you can usually predict the direction a song is going to head in as the song channels its obsidian malfeasance down much slower more melancholic avenues. The slight lull is excellent as the song unleashes a firestorm of blast beat annihilation to hurtle the song into its second half. The fluid tempo changes make the song epic in nature as it steadily intensifies again towards its conclusion of background noises similar to how it began.
A fine eighth album from Funeral Winds, one for the purist black metaller who thinks acts like Marduk are overproduced and favour the primal unfettered approach.
(8.5/10 Martin Harris)
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