Review DARK FUNERAL “A Beast to Praise”

Time flies. It’s already been four years since Swedish black metal heroes Dark Funeral released their album We Are the Apocalypse. Since then, the band has spent plenty of time on the road, playing countless live shows. Now, one of those performances is making its way into record stores as the live album A Beast to Praise.

A Beast to Praise captures a show Dark Funeral played on April 16, 2022, at Fållan in Stockholm. It was clearly a hometown affair for the band, who put a strong focus on material from their then-new album. The opening track, however, is “Unchain My Soul” from its predecessor, before “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire” takes us back to the band’s early-2000s era.

Overall, Dark Funeral run through a 13-song setlist, all of which has found its way onto A Beast to Praise. The live album offers a solid cross-section of the Swedish black metal pioneers’ musical achievements so far. Combined with a strong production that perhaps sounds almost too good at times, as well as some authentic-sounding crowd recordings, the result captures Dark Funeral in an aggressive and focused mood. They deliver a thoroughly solid live album—and with that much firepower, you might want to check that your speakers are ready for the musical storm.