(written by Islander)
The black ‘n’ roll band Funeral Dancer came together at the end of 2019 in Long Island, New York, rising from the ashes of the blackened death metal band Locus Mortis. Since then they’ve released a pair of demos and a 2023 EP (The Nightmare) and played well-known venues in the New York area (including opening for Devil Master and 200 Stab Wounds at Necrofest at Saint Vitus Bar).
Now Funeral Dancer have signed with the revived Dark Empire Records (the Cleveland-based label started back in the ’90s by Integrity‘s Dwid Hellion) for the April 4 release of a new EP called Fiends of the Outer Wave. As a taste of what’s coming, today we’re bringing you the official lyric video for a song from the EP named “Manananggal“.
“Black ‘n’ roll” is a fine shorthand name for the music of Funeral Dancer, but it still leaves a lot unsaid, as you’ll discover when you listen to the song we’re now premiering.
The song’s name appears to refer to a mythical vampire-like creature in the Philippines, a hideous bat-winged thing usually depicted as a female that is able to separate its upper torso from the lower part of its body, with intestines trailing out.
Like that creature and the frighteningly macabre cover art for this new single, as well as the vampiric and otherwise diabolical clips in the lyric video, Funeral Dancer‘s song is a fiendish concoction — feral, fierce, and steeped in classic traditions of horror and ’80s heavy metal — but it’s a hard-rocking, head-hooking, and increasingly delirious affair as well.
The vocals are especially fiendish, gnashing the words in gang-bared snarls and blood-lusting shrieks. As the bass bubbles like a cauldron and the drums pop the listeners’ necks, the riffing diabolically slashes and rises in devilish fanfares, with a witchy guitar solo in the mix. And before the song ends, Funeral Dancer kick up the pace and bring in heated punk-like riffing and an even more deranged dual-guitar solo that sounds like the cavorting ecstasies of the possessed.
(To my ears, it brings to mind the likes of Motörhead, Thin Lizzy, and Discharge, with a black metal screamer at the front and a love of horror in their brains.)
FUNERAL DANCER:
Tony Melio – Vocals
Nick Luisi – Lead & Rhythm Guitar
Devin Stracuzza – Bass
Nick Winkler – Lead & Rhythm Guitar
Joe Reynolds – Drums
For more info about the band, their upcoming live performances, and of course the new EP, follow them and Dark Empire at the locations linked below.
FUNERAL DANCER:
https://funeraldancer.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/funeral.dancer
https://www.facebook.com/funeraldancerforever
DARK EMPIRE:
https://www.instagram.com/darkempirerecords/
https://darkempire.bigcartel.com/
https://darkempirerecords.bandcamp.com/