DARK FUNERAL: Reissues Of Classic Albums To Include Rare Bonus Material

Three re-mastered releases from the catalog of Swedish black metal masters DARK FUNERAL — "The Secrets of the Black Arts", "Vobiscum Satanas", and "Diabolis Interium" — will be reissued with bonus material July 31 by Regain Records.

"I've always been proud of each release we have put out and I still am," said frontman Lord Ahriman. "Considering the fact that these albums more or less have been out of print for the past few years, I'm really glad we've finally been able to bring them back to the record shelves. It's also great to be able to offer, especially to our newer fans, re-mastered versions of these albums. Ever since the beginning we have stayed true to the core of our music. So what these albums offer musically is what would become what we play today."

"The Secrets of the Black Arts", the group's 1996 debut full-length, will include a bonus CD containing the previously unreleased and now-legendary Unisound recording from January 15-21, 1995. "This recording is surely a valuable history of the band," said Ahriman. "I'm glad that we've managed to bring life into a recording I honestly thought would be lost forever! Thanks to today's studio technology, we managed to transfer the original analogue tracks into digital tracks, and from there digitally re-mix and master it for optimal sound quality. The result is killer, yet suits the era of time it originally was recorded."

"Vobiscum Satanas", originally released in 1998, will be augmented with live versions of four of the album's tracks, recorded at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden in June of the same year. Released in 2001, "Diabolis Interium" is the most recent of the reissues and contains four additional tracks of DARK FUNERAL covering songs by perennial dark metal favorites KING DIAMOND, SLAYER, SODOM, and MAYHEM.

DARK FUNERAL will embark on a month-long U.S. tour beginning October 9. "We can't wait!" Ahriman said. "We have always had a blast when we've played the U.S., but the most recent tour we did was also the most amazing U.S. tour we've done so far! The venues we played were great, loads of people came out to the shows, and their response was phenomenal. I'm sure the next tour will be even better, at least from our side!"

The tour will be the first for the band with its recently-announced new drummer, Dominator, who made his live debut with the band at the Hellraiser Open Air and Rock Hard festivals.

"It feels just great," said Ahriman. "Sometimes you need to bring in new blood into a band to get that extra energy kick yourself. And that's exactly what we all got when we started to rehearse with Dominator."