(written by Islander)
We have been avidly following the towering epic doom progressions of Fvneral Fvkk since their first release in 2017 (the Lecherous Liturgies EP). In considering that EP, after first wondering whether it would be a serious undertaking in light of the band’s name, we wrote:
[T]his music is no joke. The largely mid-paced songs are really well-written, anchored by intensely seductive melodic hooks. They’re also plenty heavy, undergirded by a potent rhythm section (you can almost feel those drum strikes gradually cracking your skull like a car windshield crazing under the blows of baseball-sized hail). Compulsive headbanging is the order the day, except when it’s time to crawl like someone who’s suddenly lost the use of his legs, with an anvil on his back.
Apart from those sensations, the band’s lyrical themes further strengthened their appeal in these quarters. Although the music was presented with an often-ecclesiastical solemnity and grandeur, the band’s purpose was to expose and scorch the depravity of the clergy and the “black-robed pedophile ring” many of them have run under the auspices of the Church (to quote from this very interesting and highly informative 2020 interview at our site).
They continued that mission in their 2019 debut album Carnal Confessions, which our Andy Synn named to his year-end Critical Top Ten list, calling it “without a doubt one of the most brilliant albums of the year.”
Sadly, the band didn’t release any new music for quite a long time after that full-length debut. Happily, we now have a second album from them, this one named Indecent Idols. It will be released at the end of this week by Dying Victims Productions, but down below you’ll be able to stream the whole thing today.
A seven-year gap in albums is of course a long one, long enough to leave one wondering how those years might have affected or even altered Fvneral Fvkk’s musical and lyrical themes. But rest assured, Fvneral Fvkk have remained lyrically steadfast in their damnation of the clergy and the obscenities many of them have inflicted on those committed to their pastoral care. The words (augmented by samples) were inspired by, and include references to, documented crimes, abuse, and corruption committed by religious institutions throughout history and into the present day, and measures taken by the Church to further abuse its power by concealing and contorting the truth of those manifold depradations.
A seven-year gap between releases is also long enough to produce changes in any band’s lineup, but the founding Fvneral Fvkk foursome have remained together for the new album, though they have augmented their lineup with a very talented additional guitarist (Pastor Pellex). They have also remained dedicated to presentations of epic doom metal that atmospherically create renderings of heaven and hell alike — the promises of heaven, the hell created on earth.
In praising that debut album our Andy Synn acclaimed “the astonishingly emotive voice of Cantor Cinaedicus“, calling it “one of the most impressively dynamic and dramatic clean singing styles I’ve ever heard”. That remains true within the confines of Indecent Idols, and is evident from the very first song, “Confiteor“, in which Cantor Cinaedicus’ echoing voice, eventually presented in choral terms, rises with monastic devotion and soul-stirring effect.
At first, that brief opening track is almost an a cappella performance, though the slowly swelling tones that surround it become increasingly unnerving, but Fvneral Fvkk ultimately bring down (or raise up) enormous chords, spine-shaking drum blows, and slugging grooves. In doing so, they convert a solemn and reverent-sounding experience into an immensely dark one.
Among the seven songs on the album the words express the pain and bewilderment of people victimized by clergymen and even murdered at the Church’s command as often as they express condemnation and rage in severe terms. Likewise, the vocals and the music also express pain and profound sorrow, combining the soaring, soulful, and spine-tingling tones of Cantor Cinaedicus’ voice and wailing guitar melodies to create viscerally stricken moods.
Those wailing guitar melodies ring with piercing clarity, but sometimes the guitars slither and groan in rougher-toned harmonies, though they are no less-heartbreaking or memorable. Acoustic guitars make “The Beasts of Speyer” an elegant, poignant, and haunting experience – before it becomes staggeringly heavy and emotionally shattering (if the vocals don’t give you goosebumps when they crescendo, we’ll be surprised).
And of course that’s not the only song whose heaviness is staggering. Indeed, you’ll have a hard time finding music this year that’s any heavier than the tracks on this album. The riffing heaves and jolts with tremendous low-end power, and the drums crack and boom like guns and cannons. Speed isn’t what Fvneral Fvkk are after; they want you to feel these songs in your bones as well as your heart, and they know how to make that happen.
Having said that, in “Bishop of the Iron Guard” Fvneral Fvkk do kick up the pace in electrifying fashion, and bring in vicious growls to accompany the surging violence of the riffing and the hard-hitting attack of the drumwork.
To be clear, it’s not the only song in which Fvneral Fvkk slug people silly over the course of the album (they pick their times for that well), and “Leichensynode” is yet another song that proceeds more vigorously; it’s also home to the album’s finest guitar solo and further vocal variations.
In part through those afore-mentioned ingredients of immense heaviness, but in other ways as well, the music also portrays the solemnity and heavenly grandeur of the ancient ecclesiastical institution that is the object of the band’s ire, the grand trappings that adorn and represent its heavenly authority and conceal the moral rot that lies within it (or perhaps you could interpret the music as a vision of what might be, and should be, if the Church were true to its stated missions).
Earlier in this article we quoted from a 2020 interview at our site with drummer Frater Flagellum. In that discussion he said the band chose their name because they conceived themselves as a vehicle for blackest satire, irony, and sarcasm. He also said when the band released their first EP they had no ambitions to record an album or play live. Even after those ambitions changed, of course, they kept the name.
Hopefully their name won’t mislead potential new listeners too much or deter them from delving deeply into this new album, because it’s one of the most remarkable and most memorable doom albums of the year, maybe even the best one (we still have a few months in which to figure that out).
FVNERAL FVKK Line-up:
Vicarius Vespillo – Bass
Frater Flagellum – Drums
Decanus Obscaenus – Guitars
Cantor Cinaedicus – Vocals
Pastor Pellex – Guitars
Dying Victims will release Indecent Idols (which features cover art by Irrwisch) on October 23rd, on vinyl LP, CD, and digital formats. It is available for order now.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.dyingvictims.com
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/indecent-idols
FVNERAL FVKK:
https://fvneralfvkk.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fvneralfvkk/
https://www.instagram.com/fvneralfvkk/