With Marduk’s Devo mastering/engineering and now only assisted by session drummer Lars B (formerly of Marduk), the sulfuric Marduk scent is still lingering in the air, but as with the prior albums, Arioch has taken that back bone and made it a little more atmospheric, unhinged and disturbing.  And as with the last 2 albums, the centerpiece of the vitriolic sound if Arioch’s twisted, pained vocals which add to the already unnerving black metal salvo.

The album actually starts with 2 shorter, more experimental, though till vicious numbers in “In Nomine Domini” and “Naught but Death”  the former with an unnerving, nails on a chalk board main riff and build that’s unsettling and the latter with some cool tribal chants interlacing with the steady militant march. Its these little touches that separate Funeral Mist from Marduk, and keep things slightly more interesting, unpredictable and disconcerting.

But then the album truly unleashes all hell. First with “Shedding Skin” a scorched earth, tremolo picked assault and then the album’s arguable centerpiece the 7+ minute “Cockatrice”. Remember that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the Nazi guy opens the Ark and his face melts? “Cockatrice” starts playing when he opens it. The opening riff is a literal swarm of bees attacking your tympanic membrane. On steroids, with swords. And PMS. Even with a creepy, late song atmospheric interlude, which then blends with the poisonous blasts for a nightmarish mix.  The track then percussively seams into another 7 minute number “Metamorphosis”, a more patient slow burner with effective use of monk-ish chants.

The short sharp burst off “Within the Without”  brings back the nasty, with a swirling, dare I say ‘unique’ take on black metal riffing then “Hosanna” renders the albums most traditional, Marduk sounding straight up black metal track, with a sneering, searing melody.  The 6 minute “Pallor Mortis” teases the albums endnote the album with typical patience and menace, a moodier, more atmospheric bookend  before exploding and  forth and delivering some sort of feral female child’s screams and shouts that’s truly unsettling- especially in the middle of the night with headphones on….

Once again, Arioch has delivered a landmark album, and arguably what is likely to be one of 2018s most critically acclaimed black metal albums, proving quality over quantity theory.  Funeral Mist continue to be a sheer force in black metal, and if not for output and longevity, out class Marduk.

Admittedly, Maranatha isn’t on the same Marduk levels of continual speed, but that is what makes Maranatha far more interesting and disturbing. While seething, traditional slices of tremolo picked savagery like opener “Sword of Faith” and vitriolic epic “Anathema Maranatha” will still appease the fans of Salvation, it’s the albums more varied, lengthier and atmospheric tracks that gloss Maranatha with a sense of sickly menace and while these are arguably the sticking points for the spike clad naysayers, for me, they make the album and take it to new levels.

It’s not like the album is drenched in cheesy synths or long wandering ambient tracks, but rather well placed moments of experimentation or atypical black metal structures. For example the slow lurch and choirs of “White Stone”, majestic, droning closer “Anti Flesh Nimbus” and the 11 minute repetitive mid paced march and horns of “Blessed Curse”, the likely reasons of all the fan boy hate, give the album some dread and character amid the searing black metal moments (of which there are plenty- trust me). Then closing moments of the otherwise scorching “Jesus Saves!”, the church choirs of “A New Light”, the haunting female chants in the mid section of “Living Temples” when migled with the razor sharp black metal, simply drip with and paranoia and nervous ambience rather than piecemeal injections.

Of course, Arioch’s performance has also been the subject of criticism I’ve seen. Again, I don’t see why. His deviation from standard rasps that veers into groans, screams, wheezes, shouts, squeals, spoken words and just flat out vocal demented histrionics all add to the overall presence and occult, mystical, esoteric yet poisonous feel of the album, and album that shows Arioch rising above the usual black metal paradigms and delivering his own unique take on black metal regardless of expectations of past glories.

My gut feeling tells me that after this initial negative buzz dies down, and people take Maranatha on its own merits and let it sink in,  in a few years we might be looking back on Maranatha with the same reverence and dare I say ‘classic’ status as Salvation.