Fvneral Fvkk - Carnal Confessions

7/10

This is an album worth listening to and if doom is your cup of tea, you will find segments of this album enjoyable.

I presume I’m not the only one who’d have thought that the band’s name, Fvneral Fvkk, is a bit of a misnomer in the doom metal subgenre. Not one to rely only on my own assumptions, I did a quick google search, which led me to an interview excerpt where the band described that the name was intentionally chosen to be a tad tongue and cheek. I was honestly hoping that someone in the band was a fan of Sadistik Exekution and was paying homage to Fukk. But alas, onwards with the review.

Fvneral Fvkk hail from Germany and play epic doom – a subgenre of doom characterized by powerful melodies and operatic clean vocals. ‘Carnal Confessions’ is the band’s debut full length and prior to this, they had released an EP and a split. If you’re new to the band, as I am, you’ll quickly notice that ‘Carnal Confessions’ has a little theme going on for itself. The album art portrays a boy (possibly) confessing his sins to the priest/pope. And with song titles like ‘Chapel of abuse’, ‘A shadow in the dormitory’, it isn’t difficult to discern that the band sings about the lecherous priests who prey on little boys. Musically, the band plays a melancholic variety of doom which often flirts with slow guitar driven melodies. It’s slow and heavy. The heaviness on the record is brought to you by palm muted guitar riffs, the bass and the drums, all coming together in unison. The clean vocals, while not being overly operatic, suits this style of music.

After several listens, there are three songs that I like to revisit time and again – ‘The Hallowed Leech’ being my favorite among them. From the moment it opens, you’d think the vocals were recorded in an abandoned cathedral. Props to the engineer for the good mix. The main guitar riff that forms the skeleton of the track is chunky and totally headbang-worthy. Sign me up for this sermon right now! ‘To Those in the Grave’ has a beautiful mournful guitar melody. It’s a track that perfectly encapsulates the epic doom genre. On ‘When god is not watching’, the vocals shine through magnificently in the chorus making it the best vocal effort on the album. This track is also the album closer and it’s quite a fitting end to the listening session, ending on a high note.

Fvneral Fvkk will appeal to fans of epic doom masters like Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus and their ilk. The only difference is that the band has chosen to go with a clean modern production sound. The songs are polished in that regard, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Apart from that, where I found the album lacking was its inconsistency in quality. ‘Carnal Confessions’ has some really good song-writing but the good songs are interspersed with a few monotonous tracks, which can make the entire 48 minute listen a bit tedious.

All in all, I think this is an album worth listening to and if doom is your cup of tea, you will find segments of this album enjoyable. The band definitely shows promise and I’ll be sure to listen to their future releases.

Originally posted on Tempelores.com