Deiform marks the fourth long-player from Swedish black metal stalwart Funeral Mist.

Daniel Rostén is the singularity behind Funeral Mist. Playing all the instruments and vocalizing the performances, Rostén is the master of the creations that result. Working with a black metal foundation, the music on the new album is aptly described in the press release as “… musical pieces contemplating the nature of divinity and mortal existence through the fiery lens of black metal.”

There are seven tracks on the new album, mostly quite long with four hovering around the nine minute mark. “Twilight of the Flesh” offers chants and a solitary guitar as an opening incantation, followed by steady, driving rhythm and an emergent theme. The ritual feel cannot be ignored. Halfway through, the music explodes in rampaging aggression. In the final quarter a dramatic, theatrical pall consumes us as the distant voices come back into orbit. It is a mesmerizing song.

One of the shorter songs comes next, “Apokalyptikon,” and it is delivered at a blistering pace with vocals coming in a manic mechanic voice. It is sharp and biting; industrial. Someone opens a door and the next song is “In Here,” matching the speed of its predecessor. The resolution of the track is very odd and disturbing. The pairing of children’s voices with black metal tropes in “Children of the Urn” destabilizes the ground you stand on, leaving you unprepared for the fury of “Hooks of Hunger.” I needed to sit down after this one.

The final two songs, together running over eighteen minutes, are the title track then “Into Ashes.” The music is at first a doom-soaked journey seeking hoary wisdom, and it is a treacherous path. These two pieces go together in my mind, the earlier one being more discernably narrative and the latter taking on an aura of inevitability. The music on this album is full-strength black metal told in a tongue I have not heard before. Recommended.

Deiform is out now through Norma Evangelium Diaboli. In the US, Bandcamp has the digital, CD, and vinyl versions.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://funeralmist.bandcamp.com/album/deiform

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/funeralmistofficial

NoEvDia, https://www.noevdia.com/