It's the Blood!It's the Blood!It's the Blood!It's the Blood!It's the Blood!

Clifford Hoyt, age 31, suffered serious injuries in an automobile accident in 1999. After he regained consciousness, he told a terrified nurse that he had died and visited Hell. He expounded on the tortures and anguish he experienced in frightening detail. He refused psychological treatment and was released.

Several weeks later, Hoyt’s neighbors complained to their landlord that strange music was playing in his apartment at all hours of the night. Upon investigating, the building’s owner found Clifford in this condition.

Mr. Hoyt was still quite lucid and protested when the landlord attempted to call the police. Concerned for the damage done to his property, he took photographs of the apartment, of which the image above is an example. He left and contacted Mr. Hoyt’s family, who contacted authorities.

Clifford claimed that demons from Hell were still trying to capture him. He explained that his body would burn incessantly unless he played music to scare the demons away. He would only leave the house for short periods of time to get minimal supplies, including large blocks of ice to soothe the burning he felt as he tried to sleep.

Doctors attribute Clifford’s actions to brain damage suffered in the accident. He currently resides in a mental rehabilitation facility in Maryland.

From my point of view,another possible explanation for this poor guy's condition could be that(apart from brain damage or demon possession) while he was unconscious-or in a coma-at the hospital, someone put him headphones with Funeral Mist's Maranatha playing at maximum volume...

Funeral Mist may not be as musically and lyrically deep as Deathspell Omega, or as apocalyptic in feeling as Leviathan(for the record, these three are my favorite 00's black metal acts, and i guess i'm not the only one), but they have the most important element for a black metal band:they are fucking dark.

Being a black metal fan for 14 years, i have found out that the most difficult part for a black metal artist is not to be brutal or experimental(though this is not simple either) or technical, but to be convincingly dark.

What i always call for when listening to a black metal record, is to feel like i felt when i first heard this music in the late 90's: this characteristic combination of the audio violence with the dark/unholy feeling, something which is repulsive and attractive at the same time..and i must confess that it gets more and more difficult over the years because, you know, the 'first-time shock' is gone.

Funeral Mist is one of the very few bands that manage to give me this kind of 'first time black metal' creeps even today, and i am sure that-if you haven't checked them yet-they will give them to you too.

Just remember not to hear this album while being-let's say-in a hypnagogic state, because you may end up feeling like Clifford until you wake up....

                         "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha." —1st Corinthians 16:22