Funeral Whore is a Dutch death metal band, releasing its second album after several line-up changes and a four year break. But was it worth the long wait?

A simple question begs a simple answer: yes. Yes it was. Funeral Whore prides itself on being an old school, no nonsense death metal band, and Phantasm delivers on that promise in spades. At 41 minutes, Phantasm is short and sweet, something that helps immensely in keeping things fresh throughout the eleven songs. These are eleven shots of brutal, shredding death metal, on which the band sounds extremely confident and eager.

From the moment Phantasm kicks off with the title track, this band doesn’t let up until the end of The Mortuary At Night. This means there’s nary a moment for the listener to catch their breath, other than perhaps during the host of B-movie sound bites scattered throughout Phantasm, but the crystal clear production helps immensely here. The sound is crisp and every beat, every lick and every grunt is distinguishable. Phantasm also plays host to a number of very cool, almost old-fashioned guitar riffs, over which Roy belts his grunts, and Funeral Whore manages to pull off one classic death metal riff after another, making it a very guitar-centric album, but without oodles of technical fluff. Phantasm is a simple, straight-forward album, wherein lies its greatest strength.

With forty minutes of pumping, brutal death under its belt, Phantasm is an album very much in the vein of old Asphyx, Pestilence, Grave and Autopsy, and whilst the production values are modern, this is an album which is rooted firmly in the illustrious nineties, and from the sound of it, that is exactly what these guys set out to do. Very warmly recommended for old school enthusiasts and new death metal fans alike.

Label: FDA Rekotz
Release: Out now

Track listing:

1. Phantasm
2. Evil Manifestation
3. Reanimated
4. The Tallman
5. Population None
6. The Graveyard Silence
7. When Life Turns To Ashes
8. Down The Abyss
9. Morningside Cemetery
10. Only The Coffins Remain
11. The Mortuary At Night

Line-up:

• Roy – vocals, guitar
• Kellie – guitar
• Van Dune – bass
• Nick – drums

Further surfing:

• Funeral Whore Facebook
• Funeral Whore Bandcamp
• FDA Rekotz

Review by Ralph Plug