Released: August 21, 2026
Dark Funeral called their second live album A Beast to Praise, yet “A Beast to Praise” is nowhere in the set. It is an odd detail to build a record around, but it raises the question that makes this performance intriguing: if the title is not pointing to one song, what exactly is being praised?
Recorded at Fållan in Stockholm on April 16, 2022, the concert was the release show for We Are the Apocalypse and Dark Funeral’s first performance after the pandemic shutdown. The new album supplies only four of the thirteen songs: “Leviathan,” “We Are the Apocalypse,” “When I’m Gone” and “Let the Devil In.” The rest of the set reaches back through nearly three decades, from the band’s 1994 EP to Where Shadows Forever Reign.
Lord Ahriman has said Dark Funeral avoids studio additions that cannot be reproduced onstage. The songs here need little rebuilding. On “The Arrival of Satan’s Empire,” the two guitar parts remain separate even when Lord Ahriman and Chaq Mol are picking at full speed. Adra-Melek’s bass thickens the underside of the riff without fighting for its own melodic line. Jalomaah’s kick drums register as individual strikes, while the snare marks the changes instead of disappearing beneath the cymbals. Heljarmadr sits high in the mix, but the guitars still have room around his voice. The audience surges between songs and recedes once the band starts playing.
The move from “We Are the Apocalypse” into “Open the Gates” puts songs written almost thirty years apart beside each other. The newer track uses broader chord movement and sharper rhythmic breaks. “Open the Gates” runs on a narrower tremolo figure and the direct rush of early Swedish black metal. This lineup gives the older song a thicker low end and more exact drumming, though its raw construction is still easy to hear.
Pacing becomes important when “Open the Gates” gives way to “When I’m Gone.” Clean guitar tones, a slower pulse, and longer vocal phrases open the music after the older song’s compressed attack. The lyrics turn inward as well. Earlier material calls outward to Satan and treats blasphemy as a public declaration; “When I’m Gone” deals with ghosts, death, and the desire to leave the body behind. Heljarmadr adjusts without changing voices, stretching his phrasing across the slower sections while keeping the words clear.
“Let the Devil In” creates another break later in the set. It begins with a measured groove that gives Adra-Melek more room beneath the guitars before Jalomaah works back toward the faster sections. Those changes stop the album’s 69 minutes from becoming a single block of tremolo picking and blast beats.
The back half of the record pulls heavily from established live material. “Goddess of Sodomy,” “Vobiscum Satanas” and “Nail Them to the Cross” appear in succession before the set returns to “Let the Devil In.” “The Secrets of the Black Arts” comes second-last, its clipped central riff still cutting cleanly through the faster drumming. “Where Shadows Forever Reign” closes the show with slower passages and long melodic guitar lines, allowing the concert to come down gradually after so much tightly controlled speed.
So what is being praised, exactly? The five musicians onstage and their ability to make songs written across nearly three decades belong to the same performance. The absent title track sharpens that idea. A Beast to Praise is the name given to Dark Funeral playing live: two guitars locked to Jalomaah’s drums, Adra-Melek filling the space beneath them and Heljarmadr pulling several eras into one voice.
A ThisDayIn Metal Exclusive: Written by Rob Joncas
Founder of DeadNoteMedia—album writing built on music, memory, and meaning.
