"Salvation" is an interesting album due to two main aspects. The first of these is the vocal attack, and the second is the incorporation of unusual sound effects and atmospheric samples. The vocals on this album make up one of the most chaotic, unique deliveries on a modern black metal CD. Vocalist Arioch (also in Marduk) has a very sporadic style, screaming, yelling, and talking at odd tempi and off synch with the rest of the music. Often his vocals are doubled or slightly toyed with to enhance an effect, but never enough so to disrupt the chaotic wall of noise or draw too much unwanted attention. Overall, he creates a very whirlwind and turbid atmosphere with his vocals alone. The other aspect which helps make "Salvation" unique is the use of samples and sound effects. Far from the typical movie quotes and horror noises, Funeral Mist uses mocking samples of religious prayers and chants, along with disturbing sound effects such as gurgling, dogs barking, and children crying. All of the effects are integrated with the songs quite well, and disturbing as they may be, they often provide a much needed auditory respite between the tumultuous, noisy songs.

At times Funeral Mist can have a sound reminiscent to that of earlier Dark Funeral or Wolf's Lair Abyss era Mayhem (mainly due to the style of the guitar riffs and the songwriting), but the band always maintains a much more chaotic feel than either Mayhem or Dark Funeral. Despite the uproarious and blasphemous nature of the album, Funeral Mist manage to maintain a certain maturity about themselves and their music; more so than bands such as Marduk or Dark Funeral.

The production on the album is decent, but still quite ugly in comparison to any other non-black metal CD you might find. This doesn't really have any bearing on the listening experience of the disc, however, since the production is easily buried by the sheer chaos and noise produced by the drums, vocals, and guitars. Every now and then, however, the storm will relent and the band will fall back on a more easy-going (but still dark) riff. It is in these sections that it becomes quite evident just how distorted and thin-sounding the guitar really is.

Overall, "Salvation" is quite a good album, and Funeral Mist have certainly made a name for themselves in the black metal pantheon with this release. The album features strong vocals, interesting atmospheric interludes, very well-written lyrics, and a natural, organic feeling to the progression of the songs. The band even performs a 12 minute opus – "Circle Of Eyes" – with basically only one guitar riff, and it (surprisingly) doesn't get boring at all, unlike Dark Funeral's "Satanic Blood", which isn't anywhere near that long. Of course, Funeral Mist is not a great band to start into black metal with. They are simply so chaotic and noisy that they would easily drive away an unexperienced listener. This is an album for those who like their black metal fast, loud, and overtly Satanic (in a more intelligent way).

written by Derek Schultz

Playing time: 75.42