Got turned on to the German black metal label Van recently, the long running imprint that's operated by the guys behind the mysterious German black metal band The Ruins Of Beverast. Those of you into doomy, offbeat black metal are probably well aware of that band, as their album that came out on Battle Kommand was a big hit (around here at least - we sure weren't able to keep it in stock for long), and some of their music has been released on Van (we'll be listing that disc from Ruins Of Beverast shortly) as well as stuff from their tweaked-out precursor Nagelfar, and the amazing avant-blackness of Verdunkeln. All strange and furious examples of unholy Teutonic blackness. I'll be listing a bunch of these titles here in the very near future, but for now, we have this fierce album on Van from the band Funeral Procession, released in 2006. Funeral Procession have been at it for awhile, releasing their first demo Doom in 1998 and following that with a handful of splits and EPs. It wasn't until 2006 that the band finally released their first full length, but when they did, they unleashed one hell of a ferocious black metal assault with this self-titled disc. Eight tracks, each one a mostly raging buzzsaw blast of intensely distorted, fast-paced blackened fury, razorblade black metal riffs and ultra fast blastbeats countered with awesome stretches of ominous doomy heaviness and slower midpaced tempos. Guitars are bent into spikey jagged riffs, and the songs often stagger into furious stop/start sections or thrashy, super-catchy blackpunk. It's that classic frost-bitten Norwegian sound bent through the idiosyncratic prism of Teutonic black metal, the epic buzzing riffs and grim atmosphere flecked with occasional kosmiche keyboards and tormented, distorted screams, Gregorian-style chants, bits of lumbering midtempo doom, grim dronescapes, all honed into furious majestic blasts. As the band states in the booklet that comes with Funeral Procession, "TOTAL BLACK METAL".