Black metal de France and this has more than a whiff of the eau de war about it as illustrated on the grim grey artwork and the opening sounds of gunfire and marching boots. Neptrecus debut album ‘L’Aube De Declin’ in 2013 got covered on these pages and was summed up as not breaking any new ground but being above average and to be honest that is pretty much the case again after a couple of years have passed. The band contains past and present members of The Negation, Ishtar and Moonreich among others and are consistent in what they do but although they bomb in after the atmospheric, scene setting intro with the speed and attack of groups like Marduk and Endstille, as things progress it is obvious that killing with extreme prejudice is not their only mode of attack.
Like the aforementioned acts and our own Eastern Front it’s pretty obvious that despite lack of understanding of the French vocals, the group have historically researched and documented their themes. Track titles translated as Verdun: Confessions of a Broken Angel and The Cuirassiers of Morsbronn which is about the battle of Wörth in 1870 prove this. As for the vocals themselves courtesy of Svarga they are thick and raspy and spat out with a Gallic flair and venom as well as at times eerily recounted in a more spoken than sung refrain. Musically this lot are not afraid to take their feet off the pedal either and conjure up a more smoke filled grim atmosphere amidst a song that has formerly been galloping along and maiming everything in sight.
Numbers such as Fleurs aux Fusils (flowers for guns) may hint at pacifism but there is not shred of it here as it gallops away with a good sense of melody jubilantly furrowed out at full charge and swaggering away. It’s easy to head bang along to and has some nifty guitar parts weaving through it. At times I am reminded more of the Quebecois way of doing things here than the indigenous French itself especially on stand out track ‘Chargez’ but I guess that is partly due to themes as well as musical structure as the lot over in Canada are an incredibly patriotic bunch. Another thing that helps enforce this is being suddenly overpowered by a very well placed piece of what sounds like ancient French resistance music at the end of one track, which is particularly effective.
There’s not a huge amount more to say here but if you are looking for a good vitriolic set of battle chants these blood brothers dish up the goods with plenty of flair.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply