If you have heard of Vanessa Funke, then you have probably heard of her prodigious productivity. The one woman German melodeath act has released four EPs and three full-lengths in the last three years. It’s the sort of scheduling that leads to skepticism from many. People see it and wonder if the artist is really editing their work as tightly as those who work slower. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t one of those people yet — fine, because of this — when I saw that Funke’s latest effort Remains had dropped, I found curiosity consuming me. What would the result of her endless songwriting be?
Vanessa Funke’s style is usually listed as a mix of melodeath and gothic, but I’d describe Remains as the result of someone listening to a lot of atmoblack and then giving it a Gothenburg base. The best of Funke’s work here has a pleasingly bleak atmosphere to it, like early Insomnium or Dark Tranquillity’s more brooding moments. There’s no breathtaking virtuosity or originality on Remains but songwriting wise, Funke gets it. She gets what music for a moody November day should sound like. At least, that’s Funke at her best. Here we reach the editing problem I’d anticipated. Remains clocks in at an hour long and that’s more than enough time for any artist to let a few weak songs slip in. When Funke strays from the atmospheric tracks and writes more straight-up folky melodeath, she’s mostly writing songs that Remains would be stronger without. “Bloodshed Inferno” is an exception and is one of the album highlights, along with the eight minute closer “Festung”, but removing songs like “Demons” and “Eradicate the Enemy” would result in a tighter, better album.
The answer therefore is a mixed one. I enjoyed Remains but also found myself wishing Funke had been more severe with her choices on what to put on the album. Remains is still worth a listen for people whose happy place is slightly sad music but editing this down and leaning into its gloomy strengths could have produced something a lot stronger. Hopefully the next time Vanessa Funke drops a release, that’s what we get.
