This band is not what comes to mind when I typically think of French Black Metal, which tends to be left of center from the more traditional storm of fury that marks Scandinavian Black metal. The first four bands that come to mind when I think of French Black Metal are Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, Alcest, and Peste Noire, granted four of my favorites. They all have their own odd touch. Why is this an issue you ask? Well it's not, but it does mean that I am going to this album listening for what these guys do to set themselves apart, so scowled vocals and blast beats are not going to do it.
The market is plenty saturated with black metal at this point so we have to have standards. In this case regional standards. It is a well-produced album with a big guitar sound. They are also not just trying to blast their way through the songs. By the third song, it is beginning to all run together for me as they continue to sound like they are from Sweden. By the fourth song things begin to take a somewhat darker turn, the question then becomes can they use the restraint to maintain this? "Marianne" is an instrumental interlude and while I appreciate the melodic nature I think it is something that would have been better intermingled in their other songs to give them more depth.
It was not until "Insurrection" that I checked back into the album and paid attention, but what I heard was just another band getting caught up in a storm of blast beats. The last song is a cohesive continuation of what they have been doing for the entirety of the album, so depending on how impressed you are with that will determine how you feel about this song. These guys excel at the execution and decent arrangements, but in terms of bringing something new to the table, this church has already been burnt I will give this album a 7.It drops July 14th on Season of Mist
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pst213
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