Swedish black metal institution DARK FUNERAL have announced their first-ever live album, 'A Beast To Praise', set for release on August 21 via Century Media Records. The thirteen-track set runs nearly seventy minutes and was captured at Fållan in Stockholm in 2022, documenting the band's triumphant return to the stage after the long silence of the pandemic years.
The recording immortalises the live ritual staged in support of 2022's 'We Are The Apocalypse', the album that became one of the most commercially successful chapters in DARK FUNERAL's three-decade history. That record charted across Europe, reaching No. 6 in Germany, No. 13 in Finland, No. 28 in Switzerland, No. 29 in Austria and No. 31 in the band's native Sweden — proof that uncompromising, blasphemous black metal can still command a continent.
'A Beast To Praise' presents DARK FUNERAL at their most ferocious: a relentless, flame-lit assault built on Lord Ahriman's icy tremolo riffing and Heljarmadr's commanding howl. The set draws on the band's full catalogue, threading newer material together with the classics that made them one of the most feared names in Scandinavian extremity.
"This release captures a very important moment in the history of DARK FUNERAL," said founding guitarist Lord Ahriman. "Not only the live release ritual for 'We Are The Apocalypse', but also our return to the stage after years of silence during the pandemic."
The live album arrives at a busy time for the Swedes. The band confirmed they are "hard at work creating new material for what will become our next studio album, planned for release in 2027." Before that, DARK FUNERAL will lay waste to Europe this autumn on a colossal co-headlining tour alongside BEHEMOTH and DIMMU BORGIR in October 2026 — a three-headed black metal beast few continents have ever survived.
DARK FUNERAL's current lineup features Lord Ahriman and Chaq Mol on guitars, Heljarmadr on vocals, Adra-Melek on bass and Jalomaah on drums. 'A Beast To Praise' is available for pre-order now through Century Media.