Band:	Funeralium
Album:	Deceived Idealism
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	February 2013

Disc I
01. Blood, Phlegm And Vomit
02. 21st Century Ineptia
03. Deceived Idealism

Disc II
01. Hang These Bastards
02. Don't Hope For Any Better Things Now
03. The Higher We Climb, The Harder We Fall

This ain't no pussy thing. It's colossal, uncompromising and it's one of those ferocious, filthy ones that makes you crave for a constant rough aural satisfaction.

A steady rise, development and expansion of the French underground extreme scene in the last few years is evident and has definitely built firm fundamentals and put out many diverse high-quality releases (especially in the black and doom metal territory). One of those bands that, without a doubt, belong to this field are the heavyweights of death doom metal, providers of extreme crushing music? the mighty Funeralium.

After almost 6 years of draught, their second full-length, a double CD release - Deceived Idealism - is out. Well, it had been released already, a year ago now. Justified or not, it might have been difficult to expect that Funeralium could surpass and upgrade their devastating self-titled debut (at least in my thoughts), but I came to a firm and simple conclusion after several listens to this product - they have nailed it.

The first part (CD 1) of this double album begins with a short-lived screaming intro "Blood, Phlegm And Vomit", followed by two 20+ minute opuses - "21st Century Ineptia" and "Deceived Idealism", which will suck you into the mind-blowing journey and a vortex through a blissful atmosphere of crushing doom. These two tracks contain a couple of radical changes, which can be spotted from one aspect as powerful slow hard-hitting drums and tortured resounding guitar riffs, and, from the other aspect, as "impatient" whipping (sometimes double-bassed) drums, combined with expediting and tireless roughness of the riffs. Those can, on some occasions, turn to the more emotional side, which normally leaves no trace behind. The introduction into the second part of this release belongs to the track "Hang These Bastards", probably the most accessible one within this set. Closing this monster are the slowly penetrating "Don't For Any Better Thing Now" and "The Higher We Climb, The Harder We Fall", which share a resemblance with the aforementioned tracks "21st Century Ineptia" and "Deceived Idealism". From time to time, filling the space in between, some easily balanced light parts can be heard, calming down the spine-chilling agitated ambience.

Despite this being a more than stable and compact death doom output, it still has occasional tendencies toward the funeral doom zone (which was more present in their debut), with some enviable and damn-well executed death metal passages. All this flavoured with deep, horrifying growls and asphyxiating, tortured screams on the other side.

Funeralium's Deceived Idealism offers 88 minutes of pure organic and ominous sound. Unequivocally it's a well-produced effort that represents the French romance in its own way and it may not bring the instant gratification for some, however the final erection is granted. Explore it, consume it and be charmed.