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Funebrarum

Cyclone Empire

Funebrarum is a goddamn heavy death metal act from New Jersey. Totally the kind of death metal I like. Their career is a bumpy ride but now a new album has been released I got in touch with guitarist Nick to get to know as much as possible about this great band.

Hey Nick, how are you guys doing?
Hey Pim, this is Nick. I’m doing pretty good. No job, not much money, car is falling apart…but I’m still alive and handsome as ever!!!! Haha! Seriously though, I guess I can’t complain too much. The rest of the guys are ok as well…as far as I know anyway.

First of all let’s talk about the new album, “The Sleep of Morbid Dreams”. You guys already started working on the material for this album in 2004. So the logical question is: “Why the hell did it take so long to get it out?”
As with anything we do, it takes an epic amount of time before we get it done. We had gotten a new drummer in 2005 (Shawn) and a second guitarist (Matt) later that year. So, with new members now involved, more time was needed to learn and perfect the songs. Matt, immediately contributing to the songwriting process, felt that the songs needed a bit of work on the compositional side of things. So, it became a marathon of rewriting and reworking most of the songs. Basically just getting the material to flow smoothly and making the album as a whole much more cohesive. I think there were a lot of positives to this; maybe a few small gripes but definitely for the most part very positive in the final result. I can honestly say the song writing took a giant leap forward and you can tell by listening to the album the 1st time that there is a precise flow to each song and nothing feels awkward or out of place and it does not get boring.

One thing I noticed on the album that you incorporated more variation when it comes to pace. It’s not all that doomy anymore when you compare this album to your earlier releases. You now have some pretty fast parts as well. How come?
Because our drummer Shawn is a machine….a cyborg actually. And he was custom fitted for only 2 speeds….grind & hyper grind! Actually, it was a group decision to pick up the pace a bit from the previous material. We love the slow, doomy stuff but also wanted to incorporate some sick grinding on the new album and create a better balance of tempo as opposed to the older albums…which were mostly slow/mid tempo. That’s not to say the new stuff won’t have some heavy-duty doom parts…as we write whatever we feel works for each song.

The album is released by Germany’s Cyclone Empire. How did you hook up with those guys and how is the cooperation so far?
It was Daryl who had started contact with the guys in Cyclone Empire. We had been searching for a quality label that would be active in promoting our album and getting it into the hands of all the maniacs out there. Well, so far I must say Cyclone Empire is doing extremely well and have really created a buzz about the album. There’s been good communication on both sides; and hopefully when we get our shit together once again they will be able to help with possible shows across the pond.

Nick, you moved out of state, from New Jersey to North Carolina. I understood you left Evoken. But did you also leave Funebrarum? Tell us a bit about the decision you made and the consequences for your musical endeavors.
Well, this one is going to be long but I’ll try to keep it as to the point as possible. Basically, I had been thinking of getting out of New Jersey for awhile. I wanted a change of scenery and to see what things were like actually living somewhere else. I was fed up with existing in such a stressed out, dirty, miserable state. Maybe it’s just a mid-life crisis, but what’s done is done. I guess I didn’t think about the consequences and the effects it would have on my life and the people around me….which is selfish, but if I did take everything into account I would’ve never gotten up the balls to do it in the first place. So far, I love it here but the job market completely sucks and I miss being in bands much, much more than I thought I would...which was a lot to begin with. It’s very difficult…and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better so I guess my life will soon become complicated once again as I will have to make some tough decisions regarding my future. It really depends on what my status is financially. Of course, emotions will also play a large part in any decisions I make. Anyway, regarding the bands….Evoken is doing very well without me. They are back from their successful European tour and are now playing shows in the US. The new split with Beneath the Frozen Soil has already been recorded and should be out soon. So, they’re well off without me for now and the foreseeable future. I’ve already made it clear that I still consider myself part of the band and would help in any way I can for as long as they want me to. Evoken is my life; its been part of me for 17 years now. I couldn’t possibly just let it go completely THAT easily. My help would most likely be in writing some of the material, as I was the main songwriter. I do feel however, that eventually, they could function without me at all. They are a talented bunch of guys and know the ins and outs of how to make a band work and what is brutal and what isn’t. As for Funebrarum, we’re going to keep it going. It’ll be difficult but we’re going to try like hell to make it work. I really miss Death Metal; and the energy we had in the rehearsal room when we were a full, tight-knit band. As soon as I moved down here it’s like I went into a time-warp back to 1990/91 and now the old-school is reigning once again. Right now, we’re basically just trying to plot out what we’re going to do and writing some new material. This summer I will be up there a couple of times to get the songs tight with the guys and then we should be recording sometime later in the Summer/early Fall. From there, I would love to play this stuff live so shows are a definite possibility and there is talk already. Let’s just say, Funebrarum is far from over and you have not heard the last of us!!

I’d like to go back a bit in the past of Funebrarum as I think that you’re still unknown to many people out there. You started out in 1999 right? So could you tell us a bit about the formation and the intentions you had (and maybe still have) concerning the music?
We did in fact begin in 1999. Actually, Daryl and I had been talking about starting up a Death Metal band as far back as 1996 when I met him at an Absu concert in NYC. Being that we were both in our own bands, schedules were tight and we didn’t really get things rolling until ‘99. When I met him, he had mentioned that he was also heavily into the Swedish/Finnish death metal scene of 88-92 as was I. This was shocking, as finding people who were actually into the same obscure bands and not your run of the mill bands like Cannibal Corpse or Deicide was a rare thing indeed...even back in 1996. From the beginning, our intentions were to create dark, morbid death metal that was influenced by the old Scandinavian scene that we loved. However, we were never concerned with just being a clone or having no identity other than being a “retro” band or simply coping the 2-3 favorite bands of ours. We added elements of other things as well…some old U.S. death…some U.K. death and smaller elements of Crust/Punk. It started out with just me, Daryl & Dario Derna (who at the time was also in Abazagorath & Evoken) helping us out on drums for the first demo. After the demo, Brian Jimenez became our drummer and David Wagner (also in Abazagorath at the time, and now in Evoken too) became our bassist. Brian left shortly after recording our second demo, and from there we stagnated in and out of existence without a drummer for a few years. We eventually got an offer to record a split 7” with Kam Lee’s band Cadaverizer in 2003, however they broke up and we got to record the 7” on our own with a session drummer. Our recent drummer Shawn Eldridge joined in 2005 and 2nd guitarist Matt joined in 2006. Right now, Matt is the only one who’s not in the line up, but that is still undecided as of right now. We’re trying to get on the same page and open the communications so we can all be part of Funebrarum again. As Therion once said; Time Shall Tell.

As far as I’m concerned I would describe your sound as a mix of the Swedish sound like Grave and Entombed and so on, mixed with the more old-school US sound we got to know from bands like Incantation, Goreaphobia and the likes. As this is my take on your sound I’d like to know what your source of inspiration is.
We are influenced by a lot of different Death Metal from around the globe, however you could say primarily the Swedish and Finnish scenes. I really don’t see the Incantation connection too much; although it is a band we do get compared to pretty regularly. Goreaphobia is a great yet underrated band, but again I personally don’t see too much of them in our music. I think our U.S. inspiration comes mainly from the older bands….Repulsion, Death, Necrovore, Possessed, Massacre etc. Bolt Thrower is also a huge influence on us as well. I could think of a few bands from many other countries that have had some kind of impact on Funebrarum. We all really dig a lot of Crust/Punk as well…my faves are Amebix, Discharge, Anti Cimex, Doom, ENT, Nausea, Citizens Arrest, No Security, etc…

I understood your debut full-length, “Beneath the Columns of Abandoned Gods”, that was released by Necroharmonic actually is your second demo, “Tombs of Sleeping Darkness”. What can you tell about those releases? Did you do a remix or something like that?
It was in fact our 2nd demo “Tombs Of Sleeping Darkness”. We felt that the material was strong, and had some local support from Roy Fox/Necroharmonic Records at the time. He wanted to re-release it on his label, but didn’t have the budget to give us to re-record the entire album. So, we went into the studio and remixed/re-mastered it as best as we could and re-released under the name “Beneath the Columns Of Abandoned Gods”. It really gave the band a needed push too; since we had no drummer and were pretty much dead anyway.

Is there anything interesting to tell about the 2003 7” EP “Dormant Hallucination”?
I mentioned it in one of the answers already, but the 7” was actually supposed to be a split with Kam Lee’s new (at the time) band Cadaverizer. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I think they split up before they actually got a chance to record. So, Midnight666 Records had asked us if we wanted to put the 7” out ourselves. They had already gotten some sick artwork from scene legend Dan Seagrave, so for us it was a no-brainer. We were lucky to get help with a session drummer that Daryl knew, and being that we were dormant during that period, we went in and re-recorded 2 old songs since we didn’t have any new material written at the time.

You released a split CD with the godly Interment in 2006. You recorded two covers for this album. Tell us a bit more about the album in general and about the covers as well.
The album came about at a really high point in Funebrarum’s career. For the 1st time in years, we had a full line-up and were no longer wallowing in the dismal swamps of obscurity. We had wanted to do a couple of covers eventually on one of our releases and it just seemed like the right time & place to unleash them. We really had dozens of songs we wanted to do, but we finally cut it down to those 2 and made it our goal to really hail these bands and give them a proper homage. Unfortunately, we hadn’t much time together yet as a full band and didn’t have a lot of original material to record to go along with the 2 covers. I do see some reviews that mention the fact that the last 7” we did was old songs and here we were finally releasing something after 4 years and there are only 2 original songs. However, people have to realize that this band has had its share of problems and near-death status due to major line-up problems. It’s not something we like to use as a crutch, but simply the facts.

I think a vinyl edition of that split album was supposed to be released too. I never saw it anywhere. What happened there? I’m not sure what happened. I think it was supposed to come out on like 2 different labels and both wound up not doing it. I would still love to see that on vinyl though…would be extremely fucking sick. Who knows. Daryl is in correspondence with many people at any given time, so there could be a new deal to resurface any moment to make the vinyl version finally a reality.

So what else have you guys got planned for the future? Do we have to wait for a long time again to hear new material?
The future is still being planned at this point. We’re taking our time and are currently writing some sick new material as well as planning what the future holds for the band. We want the next release to be our best offering yet so we’re making sure everything surpasses the new album before we unleash it upon mankind. I don’t think it’ll be too long of a wait actually…it depends on things moving in a timely fashion (unforeseen delays are usually bound to happen sometime) and of course, how fast the labels work. I would say you could expect some new Funebrarum material before the year is up. I would also say that shows are certainly in store some time down the line…don’t know when but I am quite sure we can make it happen. There is some demand for us, so who knows where that may bring us. Hopefully, to Rotterdoom eventually!!

Most of you guys are also active in other bands, like the aforementioned Evoken and Abazagorath. Anything interesting to tell about the other bands?
Evoken is playing out quite a bit now and they are really doing great. The split with Beneath the Frozen Soil should be coming out very soon. They will also be on the upcoming Thergothon tribute as well….but who knows when the hell that will be out. I haven’t heard much from Solitude Productions at all regarding it (Tell me about it!-PB). As for Funebrarum, things are moving a bit slow but as well as can be expected for now. I was just up in N.J. for a few days and we actually have one song already done. The new stuff so far is really kicking ass and I’m very anxious to get it recorded in a pro studio. The 2nd song is shaping up great, and we should have the split with Winterwolf (ex Demilich) out by the later part of the fall if all goes as planned. After that, there will be another EP and hopefully eventually a few shows.

Okay, that’s it from my side. Any last words?
Thanks for the support, Pim!!!! You fucking rule. I hope all is going well for you and Officium Triste. It was a real shame I didn’t get a chance to see you guys again. Hopefully, Funebrarum will eventually make their way out there one of these days. Also, cheers to all the maniacs out there who support the band and support True Death Metal!!!!! Check out our site http://www.myspace.com/funebrarum for more info on upcoming releases or contact me at thergothon1@aol.com for merchandise (LPs / CDs/ Patches, etc.)

STAY MORBID

Pim Blankenstein