Runemagick – On Funeral Wings (Aftermath Music/Eternal Dark Productions)

By Chris Barnes April 3, 2004

Nicklas Rudolfsson, who’s been running the Runemagick apocalypse machine since it's 1990 inception, couldn’t give two shits about me or my opinions, but I’m such a fan of this guy and all his many projects (The Funeral Orchestra, Deathwitch, Runemagick, et al). He’s one of the true underrated metal geniuses, preferring to reside firmly in the underground in relative obscurity. He’s like the Swedish-version of Paul Chain without the weird baby-talk.

Suffice to say, Runemagick have never disappointed with their sometimes atmospheric Autopsy/Unleashed-on-‘ludes take on heavy darkness. There is something about every album that I find compelling, interesting or just plain hypnotic. While not as unrelentingly crushing as their last release, Darkness, Death, Doom, the dynamic change-up – and pure visceral punch - in the material is more impressive. One of the best features of Runemagick is the ability to put punch in their songs – it’s the magic when guitar, bass and drum (sometimes accented with the ever-doomy church bell) all hit their mark at the same time in a particulary slow doomy passage for maximum impact as a precursor to a mid-tempo Old School Swedish Death romp before coming together again to shake the bats out of the belfry. The title track is a perfect example of the Runemagick craft – menacing negative doom riffs, plodding passages and swingin’ back-in-the-day death metal breakdowns. “In A Darkened Tomb” is sheer uptempo pure metal darkness, the epic “Wizard With the Magick Runes” incorporates some of those unsettling atmospherics familiar to fans of The Funeral Orchestra, deciphered in an Arabic scale before the supah-heavy climatic ending.

I’m a sucker for the build-up.


Purchase On Funeral Wings at the Hellride Music Superstore

Visit the Runemagick website at www.runemagick.se