Metal Funeral
From Dxx
| Metal Funeral | |
|---|---|
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| Background Information | |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres(s) | Doom Metal, Death Metal |
| Years Active | 2003 - Present |
| Label | Peaceville Records |
| Associated Acts | Katatonia, Apocolyptica, Leaves Eyes |
| Members | |
| Vocals/Guitar | Assassin |
| Guitar | Kataklyst |
| Vocals/Bass | Massacria |
| Drums/Percussion | Synn |
| Album Releases & Ratings | |
| The Other Side (EP) | Rating: Unknown |
| Into The Asylum (EP) | Rating: Unknown |
| The Dirge | Rating: 
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Metal Funeral is a death (and earlier doom) metal band originally formed in London, England in 2003. The lineup has been stable from the very beginning, and after the release of two EPs they released their first album, The Dirge, on March 21st 2009. They recently completed a tour of The United States of America to promote the album, finishing in Washington DC at WrestleMania III on March 29th, 2009.
Contents |
The Beginning
Metal Funeral first came to light in the summer of 2003, when brothers Kataklyst and Synn wanted to create a doom/death metal hybrid band. They'd been involved in several underground metal bands since the mid 1990's but nothing serious ever materialized, and they were generally unhappy with the style of music they were being forced to play. After forming Metal Funeral they immediately auditioned for a bassist and vocalist and soon added Massacria to the lineup after an impressive showing of her skills, but a good vocalist seemed hard to come by at first.
The Addition of Assassin
While wrestling the indy circuit in the south of England Assassin happened to come across an advert in a local newspaper regarding a vocalist for Metal Funeral. At the time he was struggling to make ends meet as wrestling wasn't making him much money, so he decided to audition out of desperation more than anything else. He wasn't expecting to land the role of vocalist, in fact he was hoping to land a roadie job if all else failed because he knew about how that worked through being a semi-keen musician as a child. To his surprise he landed the role of vocalist after all, although it was later revealed (allegedly in a joking manner) that it was either him or the band would have to call it quits before they ever got going.
Gaining Popularity
Like most new bands Metal Funeral had to start from nothing, so much so that they played their first gig at a nightclub in exchange for an evening of free beer. The audience of about 100 people enjoyed them much to the delight of the band who had to inform several people hoping to collect an album or EP that one had yet to be made. After that they decided to record a now very rare EP, The Other Side, and for their next gig they negotiated more free beer with the addition of a stall to sell the EP. To the surprise of the band they sold all fifty copies in a matter of minutes, earning themselves £250 to be split between the four of them. From there Metal Funeral were paid for the gigs and sold more and more EPs, the estimate is that around 500 are currently in existence from these early gigs.
Putting Wrestling First
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| Metal Funeral performing live |
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In mid-2006 Assassin got his break in wrestling and signed a contract with DXX: The Rebirth. Metal Funeral was still thought of as a hobby and side project as it always had been, but with a full time wrestling career for their lead singer the project took more and more of a back seat. They still played gigs when they could and earned just enough to keep the rest of the members living comfortably, but the plug was nearly pulled the following year due to not enough effort being put into it. Fortunately (in a way) Assassin was miserable in DXX and decided to retire, and one again the band hit the road, putting together a whole host of new songs and releasing another EP at the same time. Into The Asylum was even more successful than The Other Side, mainly because Metal Funeral used more of a death metal sound over the previous effort that primarily consisted of doom tracks and they added an extra dimension to the overall sound by using Assassin as a backing guitarist which hadn't been done before. Kataklyst and Synn were particularly pleased with the outcome of the new EP because they wanted a hybrid mix of death and doom from the very beginning, but because the doom image had taken off so well they lacked the ambition to expand on it.
Perhaps rather unfortunately for the band Assassin simply couldn't stay away from wrestling for too long and eventually returned to DXX, however this time he guaranteed he'd split his time equally between his Friday Night Mayhem brand career and Metal Funeral. This worked well for a while until Assassin was hospitalized by Christian Cage in August 2008, but during this time the group signed a record deal with Peaceville Records to produce their first album The Dirge, and work began the following month. Because the death metal aspect of their songs had become so popular they decided to stick with it after the success of their previous EP, however the name 'The Dirge' is a nod to their earlier doom roots.
Rubbing Shoulders With The Greats
Before work on the album started and Assassin was scheduled to return to wrestling the band decided to try their luck outside of the UK and attempted Scandinavia in between recording sessions, the place where their unique brand of metal had every chance of success. It succeeded in a way nobody thought possible. After several weeks of pulling off the tried-and-tested method of selling EPs Metal Funeral were noticed by Jonas Renske of Katatonia, who was drinking in a nearby bar and overheard them playing. He invited them to support a gig he'd put together which the band gladly and gratefully accepted, and that performance was the one that got them notice from the masses.
Once the band had returned home they were flooded with all kinds of requests from record labels, clubs and venues across the country, but their primary concern was The Dirge. Jonas Renske was so impressed by their earlier performance he offered to lend his vocal ability to the album, and also said he'd 'bring over a friend or two.' These turned out to be Liv Kristine of Leaves Eyes and Eicca Toppinen of Apocolyptica, who lent vocals and cello to the album respectively.
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| Album cover of The Dirge |
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Forging A Legacy
Once the album was compete Assassin again left wrestling, but not due to Metal Funeral's new found success as he's maintained many times. His wrestling career had reached a standstill due to General Manager Nabeel Nawaz not knowing what to do with him despite him being Trans-Continental Champion, so he vacated his gold to concentrate primarily on Metal Funeral and also on blogging for DXX.com once a month. The Dirge was released on March 21st, 2009, a little later than scheduled for unknown reasons. Anticipation was "through the roof" according to several sources leading up to the release, with fans across Europe eagerly expecting what has been said to be "the most significant metal release of this decade."
World Domination
The band have stated on more than one occasion that they want to be known across the world, and named this idea "World Domination." On the special edition release of The Dirge the song by the same name by Naildown has been covered as it is a personal favourite song of theirs, presumably the "World Domination" initiative follows from this.
Because Assassin still has strong ties with DXX rumours circulated regarding a possible performance at WrestleMania III in March 2009, coinciding with a United States tour to promote The Dirge at about that time. General Manager of Mayhem Lucas Mitchell completely ignored these rumours as well as a prominent piece of writing on DXX.com, preferring to concentrate on the annual performance of country music singer Jimmy James instead. Massacre General Manager Joel Cardaci did pay attention to what the band wanted and granted them a slot at the event.
Discography
Studio Albums
| Title | Release Date | Sales | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dirge | March 2009 | Unknown | • First Studio album, featuring several re-mastered tracks from both previous EPs | • Peaceville Records |
EPs And Demos
| Title | Release Date | Sales | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Other Side | September 2005 | c. 500 | • First released material | • Self-released |
| Into The Asylum | October 2007 | c. 4,500 | • Took a more death metal approach to their songs which was well received by fans | • Self-released |
