Coming off the Steve Lieberman live album as the last live disc I’ve reviewed, it is nice to hear something that is recorded better live than most bands can record their studio records. This is doomy metal that never relents in its fury; tracks like “Arrival of Satan’s Empire” move beyond having machine gun drumming and into a speed that individuals only can hear after its’ passed them. All members of Dark Funeral are flying through tracks like “Dawn No More Rises” as if the world was going to end after this song.

For the few seconds that the band does not operate at a break-neck speed, it feels like the world has fallen to silence even if the speed they are playing at is still well within the confines of metal. The audience participation throughout “De Profundis Clamavi” is nothing less than amazing; more than a few times on this disc the audience bubbles up and almost threatens to engulf the miced and amplified band. “The Dawn No More Rises” is not a track that easily fits into any one genre of music; if I was going to unfairly pigeonhole it, I would have to say this verges on thrash-punk more than metal. Even if the vocals are screamed out, the guitar and drums work together to make a rhythm that is pit-worthy as hell; one just wants to start the circle pit up after listening to it once.

“Thy Legions Come” shows Dark Funeral as a band that will never quit; the audience has by and large quieted up by this time on the disc, but this is most likely due to the fact that each and every person at the shows has their jaws open at this point. The disc is well worth its value considering that it has over an hour of music on it; the only other thing that Dark Funeral could have done on this disc would be to add a DVD containing footage of some of these shows. For those new listeners, the high production values on this album really allow this disc to function as a greatest hits, while for those old school fans, this is a great way to hear the band if they’ve never made it to your neck of the woods. For fans of metal, thrash, and even some catchy punk, Dark Funeral is a band that has a burning desire to succeed that rises victorious from the ashes on this album.

Top Tracks: Goddess of Sodomy, Open The Gates

Rating: 7.1/10

[JMcQ]