Anubis Rising was a US band that has now ceased and "Funerary Preamble" is nothing less than a compendium of their official releases. In their short history Anubis Rising released one EP ("Scales of Truth") and they participated in a split EP with the (now) well-known Uphill Battle. However this release contains another one EP, "Funerary Preamble", which entitles this summary of activities. Unfortunately the band didn't manage to release it, because the band spitted for reasons unknown to me.
So, what's so special in releasing an epitome of a short-lived band? Personally speaking, I can't find anything special in "Funerary Preamble". The band plays a kind of grim death/doom metal with several influences of the claustrophobic and catatonic atmosphere of Neurosis. I admit that the whole atmosphere is almost frightening and I guess that this was a strong feature of the band. But the band hadn't the quality that is needed to compete bands like Neurosis or Isis and to attract the interest of an audience, which is pretty much. The field that Anubis Rising were wandering is extremely demanding, but the band fails to keep up the interest after the few first tunes. Most of the songs are boring and do not evolve. In fact the songs from "Funerary Preamble" EP are probably the most mature ones and until a point and on seem some sort of interest. What is more annoying above all, are the vocals, which range from deep growling to black metal screaming. Regarding the kind of music Anubis Rising, the production is fairly good in all parts (releases) of the CD, so the unpolished sound is legitimate.
As I said I am not aware of the reasons that lead Anubis Rising to disband, but I think that the band until that time, hadn't decided what would like to play and didn't treated the whole case with professionalism. The lack of interesting compositions reveals to me a haphazard approach in writing good songs. I guess that people of Uncouth Industries know where they are addressing and they are aware that they do not releasing some kind of treasure. The devoted fans of the genre may give to it a try, but I think that they will also be disappointed. So the whole record is released purely for archival reasons and such as this it serves its purpose.