_ _______ _ ...:... _ _______ _ ___ / .:::::::::::. \ ___ | / .. (:::::::::::::) .. \ | | . .:::::.`:::::::::::'.:::::. . | | .::.. `:::.::':::`::.:::' ..::. | _ _______ | .::' ::::':::::`:::: `::. | _______ _ \\ | | :: `' ::':`:: `' :: | | // \ | | `:. .::' . `::. .:' | | / . | | .::::::..::::' ... `::::..::::::. | | . | | `:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::' | | .... | | `:' `::::: :: :: :::::' `:' | | .... | ' | : `. ': :: :: :: :: :` .' : | ` | |.....: . .......: :: :: :: :: : ...... . : ....| . ...................: : :: :: :: :: : : ................. . _____________:_____________ _____________:_____________ _ ___\` __ /_\` _______/_\` __ _/_\` /___ _ // __ / (/ ___/ (/ _ (/ /_______/\ _ _ /_________ ___________ ______/\ _ ______________/\__/_ _ \\\\\_________\__/\_________\__/\_____/\_____/\____________/ /// - -\-\-----------\__/----------\__/-------\_____/---------------/-/- - - -------------------: : :. ..:: :: . :------------------ - : : :......: :: :` ': :: : .....: : : ___ _ | | : ` ' : | | _ ___ _\---------- : | -------- : B E R C : -------- | : ----------/_ /_\ . : . ..:.. ..:.. . : . /_\ /// . . : : . . \\\ /: :\ /:: Artist :: Funeral Winds ::\ :: Album :: Stigmata Mali :: :: Year :: 2023 :: :: __ _ _ __ :: -:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:- :: \ / :: :: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CD . :: :: Label :: Osmose Productions R.date :: 2025-08-10 :: _::__ Cat.nr. :: OPCD463 S.date :: 2023-02-24 __::_ ::// \\:: ::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\:: :: :: /: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\ ..: Bitrate :: avg. 286kbps :.. . Quality :: 44.1 kHz/Joint Stereo . . Size :: 75.37 MB . . . __ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __ .\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////. +/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+ /: . : : . :\ /:: ::\ :: 1. Open the Wounds 5:18 :: :: 2. Stigmata Mali 3:51 :: :: 3. By these Hands, by Your Command 4:16 :: :: 4. Odious Emanations 3:46 :: :: 5. The Angles of Darkness 3:16 :: :: 6. Ferocious Revelations 4:43 :: :: 7. Purified by Acausal Flames 4:31 :: :: 8. The Bornless Forever 5:15 :: :: :: :: :: :: ------- :: .. >> 34:56 .. __ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __ .\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////. +/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+ /: . : : . :\ /:: ::\ :: :: :: "Stigmata Mali" is the seventh album by Dutch black metal :: :: legend, which has existed since 1991. And although Hellchrist :: :: Xul, the permanent leader of the horde and its only member in :: :: recent years, seems to have moved to Prague, Funeral Winds is :: :: by no means a Czech band. Although, who knows, you never know. :: :: Oddly enough, Hellchrist Xul is more productive in recent times :: :: than in the Beginning. Judge for yourself: his albums were :: :: unleashed in 1998, 2004, 2007, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 û as if :: :: being in lonely pride serves him as an excellent stimulus for :: :: songwriting. Well, stop delaying the inevitable verdict: :: :: "Stigmata Mali" is a classic "no compromise" album, there is :: :: nothing else here. :: :: :: :: Funeral Winds means, above all, almost minimalism: the songs :: :: are built on repetitions, any complexity and even more :: :: sophistication of riffs are out of the question. Cold and :: :: thorny, they are perfectly equal to their task at hand without :: :: frills. "Stigmata Mali" is not for lovers of exquisite music. :: :: Although, although, a blasting rampage in the third "By these :: :: Hands, by Your Command" is accompanied by a slow, drawling :: :: riff, in which there is a pronounced dissonance, and what is :: :: more, it is in a quite modern manner. But this is the only :: :: fragment of its kind on the whole album. :: :: :: :: There is no, by any stretch of the imagination, any sort of :: :: melodism in Funeral Winds' music. Quite the contrary, we're :: :: often dealing with the merciless brutality of full blast-beat :: :: battering, even on the threshold of grindcore sometimes ("The :: :: Angles of Darkness"). Another time, the ferocious blasting :: :: rampage with unintelligible vocals can bring back to mind :: :: Blasphemy ("By these Hands, by Your Command"). But much more :: :: often, because of the sharp, rasping guitar sound, an analogy :: :: with diabolical South American black metal movement suggests :: :: itself. From the Scandinavians, if only early Marduk can be :: :: summoned for comparison, and this is where some semblance of :: :: melodiousness can be caught sometimes. :: :: :: :: Understandably, it is not very correct to compare a :: :: representative of the Beginning, i. e. a band that dates back :: :: to the early '90s, with other black metal bands, you know, :: :: "this part is like this band and the other part is like that", :: :: but let's be honest, Funeral Winds' music is not distinguished :: :: by any uniqueness and originality. We all know this and we :: :: appreciate Hellchrist's brainchild not for some kind of :: :: exclusivity. He just knows how to create Black Art, and that :: :: says it all. :: :: :: :: The slow and mid-tempo parts on "Stigmata Mali" suggest that, :: :: definitely, Funeral Winds are one of those black metal bands :: :: that lose at high speeds their originality. The sixth :: :: "Ferocious Revelations" could be called striking and beautiful :: :: piece û unlike other songs, melodism abounds in vitality here: :: :: a magnificent opening riff filled with malicious sarcasm maybe :: :: in the spirit of Xibalba (more precisely, Xibalba Itzaes), it :: :: is accompanied by a tremolo picking lead line, and the :: :: subsequent almost doom metal-ish passage with a drawling solo :: :: is not desecrated even by the intruding uninspiring atonality. :: :: However, an acceleration û probably in the spirit of early :: :: Marduk again û makes this song nothing less than average. There :: :: was interest and then it has gone away. :: :: :: :: On the whole, when Funeral Winds isn't stuffing us with its :: :: blast-beat sections, its music is filled with a Beherit vibe û :: :: the second "Stigmata Mali" is the best example. "Odious :: :: Emanations" is also remarkable in this sense, its main :: :: mid-tempo groovy riff, vicious and rasping like a ritual blade, :: :: can be deciphered as an amalgam of Beherit and Burzum. This :: :: song is also good for its riff on which the fast-paced part is :: :: built û it has something from early Immortal. Perhaps this is :: :: also an exception. :: :: :: :: The last "The Bornless Forever" is more different from the rest :: :: of the songs: it's almost a doom metal piece again (but with a :: :: blasting rampage part, of course), with its mournful solo it :: :: refers, perhaps, to a Varathron manner. Yes, there are also :: :: solos on "Stigmata Mali", although they are, of course, not :: :: frequent guests here û but at least the very first song "Open :: :: the Wounds" offers us a viscous solo. :: :: :: :: It can be seen that from time to time we apply the epithets :: :: "viscous", "doom metal-ish", "drawling", "mournful" to Funeral :: :: Winds' music. Perhaps the intention of "Stigmata Mali" was to :: :: oppose such fragments with boisterous blast beat battering, :: :: but, we must admit, it did not lead to some tangible effect. :: :: For whom it is good and for whom it is bad, it does not create :: :: psychopathic mood swings. Well, the undoubted merit of this :: :: album is the absence of the punkish attitude so loved by many :: :: old-school black metallers. :: :: :: :: . _ _ . :: \: :. \\ ___________ . ___________ // .: :/ __\____ :: ____ ___\ _ / BERC : 2025 \ _ /___ ____ :: ____/__ \\\f3! :: \\\ __ _/_________i_________\ /___/ /// :: cRO/// \ :: :\-\___________\_ ___ / _ _/___________/-/: :: / :: | . . _ _ _/ __/ . \_ _ _ . . | :: : :::::::: | | \\\\\/ _______\____|\ \///// | | :::::::: : :: | | -\-\/____/-------------\____\/-/- | | :: :: | | \ :|: / | | :: : : | . ` ::: ' . | : : . . | : ::: : | . . | :::....:::....::: | : ::::::::::::::::: : . :::''``:::''``::: . : ::: : . ::: . .:. :