Cantique Lépreux | facebook |
Released on March 18, 2016 via Eisenwald
From the brilliant band shots of the three musicians, the blurry black and white forest setting making them look more like wisps of grey smoke than humans, to the album cover image of a strange icy light in the depths of the woods, this album promises and delivers an assured session of distinctive Quebecois black metal.
The introduction is a wonderful three minutes of thickly layered, mournful ambient fuzz, with just the right amount of distortion to give it a little bit of an edge, like a camping blanket with a few scratchy bits of grass and twig stuck in it. Then we’re into the main course, six solid, more-or-less-five-and-a-half-minute treetrunks of atmospheric fury. First up, ‘Le froid lépreux’ is a fast-paced blast with the drums and raging guitar producing a nice vicious hiss, complemented by slightly echoed, indignant but authoritative vocals, which altogether are reminiscent of Mg?a’s cold style.
At times the drums tend towards a cloppity galloping enthusiasm (as in the opening to ‘L’Adieu’), but overall they’re energetic, varied and powerful, a major part of making this an intense and irrepressible black metal record. The lead guitar is so well integrated too, that the melodic ‘solo’ like lines always serve the track rather than stick out, even when it gets surprisingly (and exhiliratingly) widdly on ‘Transis’. There’s a great bit near the end of ‘La meute’ where the piercing guitar line has been insistently ratcheting up the tension, supported by the endlessly on point percussion, all of which is finally overtaken by a wave of the lower guitar riff that’s been there all along, and now sweeps along the vocalist’s roar.
In terms of structure, the final track ‘Le manger d’os’ is the most innovative, with unusual slides between close-together chords giving an impression of howling winds hammering at the windows of isolated cabins. But across the album overall, there’s not necessarily any revolutionary new tricks, nor any need for them, just really effective deployment of black metal components that make for a powerful listen.
