Funeral Chant: When Death is Coming (2016)

When I picked up the Cynic demo that was reviewed yesterday, I figured I should add something else to the cart in order to make the shipping cost a little more palatable.  And so, intrigued by the album cover of this one, and knowing that Funeral Chant is a death/thrash metal band from South America (Colombia in this case), I figured I would take a flyer on it.

This is Funeral Chant's only release to date and it is pure Possessed worship.  It skirts the line between thrash and death metal as they sounded in the mid 1980's.  The release starts off with a short introduction track that sets the dark and ominous tone for the rest of the release and features what sounds like throat singing, though it is more than likely a sample from something else.  The rest of the release features a barrage of savage riffs and evil atmosphere. 

Funeral Chant definitely does not do anything that has not been done before, but when the music is this good, that does not really matter.  I am not really sure what the band is up to now, or even if they are still active, but another release would be nice to hear.

My Favorite Metal Band from Colombia

I am not familiar with a lot of metal bands from Colombia. Witchtrap is one of the rare exceptions. Witchtrap's sound is unapologetically based in 1980's style metal. It's a mix of early thrash metal and speed metal. The thrash metal influences are mostly of the Teutonic variety. There's not a whole lot of originality in the band's music, but they sound like they are having a blast playing music they love. There is something to be said for that.

HONORABLE MENTION:
Opensight

NOTE: I just recently received an album by Inquisition. It is very possible that my view may change in the next few weeks on this. I have not had an opportunity to listen to the album as of this writing.