Raw, unflinching and strangely transcendent, 333 is the wonderfully compelling new album from Funerla Winds, a band who consistently find exciting and thought provoking ways to push their take on frostbitten black metal to new depths. There is something mesmerizing about the endless tremolo picking, gnarled, animalistic vocals and unrelenting drum assault of 333. This is a record that speaks to the depth of Funeral Winds understanding of black meta land which, while certainly not reinventing the steel, manages to crawl into a more twisted pantheon of music.
There is something to be said for the straight Bathory and Mayhem worship that finds its way into this record. It's truly fun stuff, and it's hard not to be thrilled by the bleak visions they represent. 333 is a crusher any way you slice it, it's a record that is enamored with the most monochromatic side of black metal, but at its best is strangely triumphant and undeniable. The Celtic Frost-esque riffing on a track like "Cast The Gauntlet Of Doom" is just another example of this - a band who understand the bleeding edges of blasphemy and who are certain to keep you coming back, thrilled with the vision that they represent to us all.
333 is a potent offering. It's not an album that's going to change your opinion on the bleakest and most frostbitten black metal, but if you are someone who goes in for this sort of thing then it's hard not to be enamored with it. Funeral Winds understand the power of black metal and deliver it at a million miles an hour, with few surprises but a wonderful sense of what makes the genre so great in the first place. What more could you really ask for from a record like this?
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