‘World Funeral’ was the follow-up to ‘La Grande Danse Macabre’, and has also been reissued by Nuclear Blast with additional material (including a rehearsal featuring many of the songs that were on the album), a new cover, and remastered sound. This was the first album to feature Emil Dragutinovic on drums, and the last to feature singer Erik "Legion" Hagstedt and bassist B. War (Roger "Bogge" Svensson) so is quite a transitional album in many ways (founder guitarist Morgan "Evil" Steinmeyer Håkansson is still there to this day). In many ways, it is a companion album to the previous one, yet again there was a mix of different speeds and not such a straight-out attack as on ‘Panzer Division Marduk’.
Those who say that Black Metal bands don’t know what they’re doing should listen to “Blackcrowned”, which is an adaptation of “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell! Not many can say that they have been influenced by a composer who was born in the Seventeenth Century. This is tight, powerful, heavy and dramatic, all things I want in a Black Metal band, and although this album may not be revered as some of their other albums it is well worth discovering, especially as it is available at mid-price.
