Funeral - Oratorium (2012) (2CD, Limited Edition)

Posted By: apocalipsys2014

Date: Jan. 22, 2013

I have to say that Funeral is one of those bands that always finds ways to impress me. Although my favorite album by them will always be Tragedies, they have still been able to really catch my attention in one way or another on each album. One factor that keeps me so drawn to their music is how no two of their albums sound the same, and yet there is a similar trademark atmosphere that the band incorporates into that sound. The band started playing Cathedral-inspired funeral doom on Tristesse and Tragedies, and eventually evolved into gloomy melodic doom from In Fields of Pestilent Grief onward. The band continued to incorporate more atmospheric elements into their music, from operatic female vocals and weeping guitar melodies, to Gregorian chants and symphonies. On their most recent release, Funeral transcends both their extreme and melodic styles of doom metal, creating a sound that is beautiful, yet downright heartbreaking.

Ultimately, some could see that Funeral has returned to their roots with this album. A majority of the riffs in Oratorium are played in the same crushingly slow pace that made Funeral one of the innovators of funeral doom in the early 90s. When the music picks up the pace a little, the riffs may bring to mind the aggressive, yet emotional, death/doom style that Anathema mastered on their Crestfallen EP and Serenades album. The band also incorporates the aforementioned symphonies to compliment the melancholic guitar melodies, which causes the music to sound particularly majestic, perhaps even Medieval. Another element that adds to the majestic and epic atmosphere of this album is the vocal performance of Sindre Nedland. I have always loved Funeral's choices in vocalists, and to me, Sindre should be held in the same high regards as Toril Snyen and Frode Forsmo for their performances on Tragedies and From These Wounds. However, what differentiates Sindre from these two past singers is that while they sang in a more subtle style that was meant to sound monotonous and Stoic, Sindre's voice is grandiose with emotion. He sounds truly dejected as he sings of heartache and yearning for the unattainable. He is also very versatile, ranging from an operatic tenor style and some angelic choral singing, to some harsh vocals on a few tracks, and even some dark chants that will remind many of Anders Eek's sinister vocal performance on Tristesse. Tying the slow and emotional ensemble together are the drums, which are about as technical as any typical doom metal band. Although the music is slow, they never plod or stick to a certain beat for too long.

In all honesty, I was a little disappointed by As the Light Does the Shadow. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the album, there were even some pretty killer tracks. However, to me, it simply didn't match the brilliance that made me fall in love with Funeral's music. So, I see Oratorium as being the ultimate comeback for the band. Every thing that once made the band great (the monolithic riffs, the tragic melodies, the magnificent vocals, etc.) and even more is present on this album. Since the album itself combines various different styles of doom metal, I could see Oratorium being held in particularly high regards by those who enjoy the funeral doom stylings of Shape of Despair, the emotional gothic/doom of The Foreshadowing, and even the majestic epic doom of Isole. The album is also sure to be enjoyed by those who have tastes for dramatic doom in general, especially Virgin Black, Omit, Ras Algethi, Fallen, Remembrance, Pantheist, and Colosseum. The standout tracks are Burning with Regret, Break Me, and Will You Have Me?

www.metal-archives.com

Musicians:

Vocals : Sindre Nedland
Guitars, Vocals : Mats Lerberg
Guitars : Erlend E. Nybø
Bass : Rune Gandrud
Drums, Guitars, Vocals : Anders Eek

Recorded at various location in 2011
Mixed by Oyvind Voldmo Larsen at Lionhart Studios
Matered by Simen Andersen at studio 1995

Track List:

01. Burning With Regret [11:05]
02. Hate [10:45]
03. Break Me [13:17]
04. Song of the Knell [7:28]
05. From the Orchestral Grave [10:42]
06. Making the World My Tomb [8:05]
07. Will You Have Me? [11:07]

Bonus CD:

01. So Now Scorn Leads the Vessel [5:40]
02. Need [7:23]
03. Eg Ser [6:32]

EAC extraction logfile

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 21. December 2012, 19:14

Funeral / Oratorium

Used drive : ASUS DRW-22B2S Adapter: 0 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 11:05.18 | 0 | 49892
2 | 11:05.18 | 10:45.17 | 49893 | 98284
3 | 21:50.35 | 13:17.37 | 98285 | 158096
4 | 35:07.72 | 7:28.23 | 158097 | 191719
5 | 42:36.20 | 10:41.54 | 191720 | 239848
6 | 53:17.74 | 8:04.52 | 239849 | 276200
7 | 61:22.51 | 11:06.66 | 276201 | 326216

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\GFY\Funeral - Oratorium.wav

Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 6.5 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 0CC4ABEE
Copy CRC 0CC4ABEE
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.4

[CTDB TOCID: 1YJqpLPxZbB968G3yL.k.aHzDFs-] found
Submit result: 1YJqpLPxZbB968G3yL.k.aHzDFs- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
2 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
3 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
4 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
5 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
6 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
7 | (1/1) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 3782E328CE908855ACA0C7586D2F80624E231F6BBF2B6BF6EE237D1ADB1FA3AF ====

=======================================================================================

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 21. December 2012, 19:44

Funeral / Oratorium (Bonus CD)

Used drive : ASUS DRW-22B2S Adapter: 0 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:40.09 | 0 | 25508
2 | 5:40.09 | 7:22.65 | 25509 | 58723
3 | 13:02.74 | 6:31.44 | 58724 | 88092

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\GFY\Funeral - Oratorium (Bonus CD).wav

Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 4.7 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 078827F8
Copy CRC 078827F8
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.4

[CTDB TOCID: yW90Bum7XM_f0d5CiHRANa7Bppo-] found
Submit result: yW90Bum7XM_f0d5CiHRANa7Bppo- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
2 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
3 | (1/1) Accurately ripped

==== Log checksum 8C0F1D2F244235553B18BE426E7B74E9C001C5B489D4E0F5EF614E849395BB74 ====

Not my rip, not my scan-job. Thx very much to the original uploader eld666 [MMT]!
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