Funerus - Festering Earth

FUNERUS - Festering Earth (DARK DESCENT - LP2016)

Definitely this vinyl pressing of “Festering Earth” was something I really wanted to happen. I never managed to get the CD version of this album, which is a fuckin shame. In the meantime I collected the second Funerus album “Reduced to Sludge” as well as their 7”EP single “Black Death”. And damn, both of them belong to some of the best death metal that I’ve heard this decade. I’m very happy then that finally also “Festering Earth” is released on vinyl (through Dark Descent) and I can fill my collection of Funeral with the last missing piece.

And it’s obviously a great thing to have a chance to hear “Festering Earth” finally. At first I was quite surprised, because when I started to listen to the first song I told myself that I didn’t expect that Funerus will sound so heavy and slow. Only a couple of minutes later it turned out that even though this is a single LP, it should have been played on 45 RPM, not 33,5 RPM haha! And they didn’t even write that on the record haha, so I didn’t expect this. But once I changed the speed, the music started to sound more like what I expected.

And that is a brutal, chunky US styled death metal, which may not be the most impressive thing you’ll ever hear, but it does sound very solid and worthy. I like that heaviness and sheer viciousness that comes with it. Songs are rather short and simple, when speaking for their structures and technical aspects, but it works great, because Funerus makes up for it with aggression and straight forwardness of their sound. I like how Funerus swaps the pace between every song and do not limit themselves to the same monotonous slow parts – and definitely they’re not just a simple Incantation clone. Their riffs and songs on “Festering Earth” may not be quite as killer as on “Reduced to Sludge”, which is definitely a better album, but it’s damn good work anyway. It’s one of those albums, which just give a lot of pleasure to death metal fans. It’s not difficult to get into, it’s very aggressive and memorable old school stuff, so I’m sure you’ll like it.

At first I wanted to write also that the whole album is very even and all songs are equally great. And yes, they are, but one song stands out above the rest in my opinion and that is the title track – which sounds simply the best. I love slow, doomy parts of this song and it even has a touch of melody to make the sound even more brilliant. Damn, I just love this song. And the whole album I think should be a killer recommendation for the fans of Gutted, Morpheus Descends, Banished, Obituary, and such European gods like Bolt Thrower, Grave and Asphyx.

So, summing it all up – it’s great that finally “Festering Earth” is available also on vinyl. The sound is great, the packaging is simple, but it has everything you will need, so you should just grab a copy and enjoy it. There are two colour versions – transparent purple and orange; choose whichever you want, although I think that it doesn’t matter what colour the vinyl is. The music is great, that’s the important thing.

Standout track: “Festering Earth”

Final rate: 75/100