Funeral Leech – The Illusion Of Time

When death and doom come together, very beautiful or downright ugly things often emerge. A repulsive, dripping audio manifestation is often enjoyable in a completely different way compared to the cleanly produced variant that also includes ethereal chants. Thus, we find extremes within this genre, or spectrum, as you prefer. Well, you can guess only once which category Funeral Leech falls into. Right, the filthy category, complete with dripping horroresque riffs, pounding drums and exceptionally deep vocals. In a way, we’ve all heard it before. But on this second album, The Illusion of Time, by these Americans, I also hear several other points of reference. Allow me to explain below.

…And the Sky Wept already starts out as a very eerie track, with fairly traditional enjoyable death/doom. But then suddenly the mood changes, and electronic (synthesizer?) effects are added to a musical part where every drum beat is thickly echoed. I feel like I am finding myself in a pitch-dark forest, unable to find my way back, just after nightfall. This lasts until the song returns to the traditional death/doom from the beginning. Goodness me, what an insanely cool opener.

Ceaseless Wheel of Becoming grabs me by the throat for the second time within a minute when the vocalist, besides growling, rather unceremoniously vomits on my face. It reminds me of just a few too many glasses of whiskey. And damn, what a sinister atmosphere arises then. Funeral Leech doesn’t need tempo to impress but creeps in unexpectedly through the backdoor to literally spoil the fun. After three and a half minutes the music slows down fantastically, bringing the doom elements to the surface in optimal fashion. The keys enhance the intense atmosphere even more, and slowly but surely, the gentlemen tear my throat out. Like a headless chicken I am wandering around the room, trying to maintain some semblance of balance amidst the total chaos. Towards the end church bells ring demonstratively, announcing the end, or the illusion, of time. Penance makes me shake my head slightly (well, that’s not really possible anymore, but anyway…) and makes me bounce up and down with its intricate riffs. The insane vocals spiral into a screaming frenzy and duel between low and high. It’s as if hundreds of whispering voices penetrate my no longer physically present auditory organ before the angry vocals express their displeasure. Absolute orchestrated madness!

As if it hasn’t been violent enough so far, Chronofixion hits hard and brutally. It’s a shorter track with more up-tempo parts, something the band seemingly effortlessly alternates with slower work. It’s worth noting that despite the brutal vocal eruptions, some lyrics are surprisingly intelligible. Quite nice actually, as it adds something to this album. The closing, over eleven minutes long The Tower completely annihilates your humble reviewer. After a spherical eruption, my bones are crushed under the heavy onslaught, my carcass stripped of skin and flesh, leaving me as a collapsed heap of misery, barely perceiving the keyboard parts. The sharper vocals are partly overlapped with primal grunts during this track, causing the scavengers to quickly come for my remains. There’s no stopping it; the death mass is imminent, the illusion of time remains, and once again, I realize that it’s a concept created by humans to cling to some semblance of stability. After a short break, the band simply continues with the onslaught, showcasing some breathtaking guitar work. The final minutes are gruesomely awesome. No, Funeral Leech doesn’t mind stepping over corpses, if you hadn’t realized that after reading this review… The Illusion of Time is a highly commendable album.

Score:

92/100

Label:

Carbonized Records, 2024

Tracklisting:

1. …And the Sky Wept
2. Ceaseless Wheel of Becoming
3. Penance
4. Chronofixion
5. The Tower

Line-up:

• L – Drums, vocals, synthesizer
• Z – Guitars
• A – Guitars
• K – Bass

Links:

• Funeral Leech Facebook
• Carbonized Records