The continuing work of
Harlow McFarlane under the
Funerary Call name produces continuing dividends with 2012's
Fragments from the Aethyr, as the Canadian's particular blend of strong, dark styles from across several musical maps results in the kind of fusion that metal is best suited for, but is not limited to in turn. The opening "Libation" matches a classical structure of metal in its earliest
Black Sabbath and onward sense -- slow tempos, a sense of distinct grandeur -- with the continuing impact of black metal's rampage and dark ambient's gloom, a fusion that's perfectly familiar while carving out a sonic space that lets certain elements thrive. Violin more than anything else could be considering the lead melodic instrument, screeching and wailing as the initial rhythm is further buried under a stuttering molder of cascading noise. "Fragments," at nearly 20 minutes consisting of fully half the album, brings much of the violin to the full center as a series of piercing screeches swathed in echo over irregular low tones and rumbles, accentuated by yet more overall echo, eventually resolving into a series of slow, measured movements as guitar solos echo and cascade over them, further drum rolls in turn. As a soundtrack to something -- somewhere -- that's post-apocalyptic it really couldn't be better, a blend of unsettled suggestiveness. "Transference from the Void" feels like something of a coda to the previous song but a welcome one, an extension in style that stands in its own right. ~ Ned Raggett