Few possess the discipline, let alone the grit to author twenty-plus minute dirges of blackened doom cruelty, but Paris' Funeralium do so once again with dread aplomb. On Of Throes and Blight, their third album, and second double-album to date, Funeralium throw four songs of death, doom, and pestilence on the rack, torturously stretching them to upwards of thirty-some minute long affairs. More than just an epic nightmare, Of Throes and Blight is an inescapably enthralling experience not unlike tunneling slowly to your own watery, verminous tomb. Suffer the suffocating crush of four new opuses of absolute blessure de l'ame. In the hemorrhaging vein of looming eidolons such as Worship, Thergothon, Funeral Moth, and Loss, recommended if you hate life. Dark View: These crawl along on all fours at an excruciatingly slow pace, its hands and knees torn to shreds by razor sharp shrieks that would do Bethlehem proud. Each track is a trying, agonizing experience as you drag yourself through riffs stretched out so far its tendons are about to snap, with only pounding drums and unearthly growls to whip you along. Not for vanilla lovers.
