A good album cover should draw your attention to what lies within and have you both gazing at it and asking questions. It’s hard to pull off in these days of photoshopped skulls and all the stereotypical accoutrements that litter the heavy metal world and it is something here that Germans Décembre Noir have excelled at. It looks as though someone else is getting a veritable baptism in doom-death on first glance although the theme of euthanasia and the martyrdom of devotion are, we are informed, the subtext of the group’s 4th album. It has definitely done a good job of catching attention. Luckily the music is very good as well! I should probably have paid more attention to this lot whose 1st couple of albums were released among the normal bludgeoning death-metal fare of F.D.A. Records but somehow they passed me by. Now with their second via Lifeforce, thankfully that all changes and I have been well and truly immersed in this album for the last week or so.

The six hefty tracks weigh in with the cleverly entitled ‘A Swan Lake Full of Tears’ and immediately prove this ain’t gonna be no wafty ballet. This black swan is borne on a weighty and extreme ballast of thudding drums, weeping guitar melody and gruff growling vocals. The swans are very much turned loose and yes there are similarities to a certain band during the course of the album partly due to the trembling tumultuous guitar work summoning similarities to Halifax’s finest. It’s far from a carbon copy though and with some clean narrative and background noises it is evident that amidst this very proficient sound Décembre Noir are telling a story of sorts. This is unveiled somewhat obliquely with Hope / Renaissance and the corresponding video of the song which is both one of the best and most imaginative I have seen in a long time and essential viewing in correspondence with the album. It may not provide any definite answers to what the story is but it is a visual feast somewhat reminiscent of exorcism folk horror films and striking me as a fantastical universe somewhere between the opening segment of Michele Soavi’s The Church and a Medieval Mouth Of Madness. Seriously I would pay to see the full-film and wish someone would give them the budget to develop it. As for the song itself its equally powerful, drummer Kevin beats a rigorous tattoo on his kit, throaty leonine roars from Lars are full of distemper and the guitars bring drama and melody that are full of emotional impact. Pretty much everything anyone into the genre could “Hope” for basically and a ‘Renaissance’ back to its glory days.

Tracks can be as long as nine minutes here but develop from grace as per ‘Ritual And Fire’ and move full of grandiosity into compelling page-turning cut and thrust. Yep there is no escaping from those story-book metaphors and this is a great tale here. Perhaps you will find moments of romance and fragility amidst it but the development to the next action-packed surge is never too far away. ‘Streets Of Transience’ has a catchy almost Katatonian / Novembre like guitar jangle amidst it’s thickening roots and the music impetuously drives off, the drums again being particularly formidable as it twists and turns away. Suddenly it heaves into one of the album’s most extreme salvo’s and the doom and the death are perfectly co-ordinated giving lovers of both a clearly defined meeting point.

It’s difficult amidst the rigid structures of the sub-genre to find something original about it all at times but Décembre Noir have overcome the odds here and developed the template into something full of unique trappings despite never moving that far to make it anything but clearly identifiable. The album is one that had it come out in the early 90’s could well be considered a classic by now yet by today’s standards still has a freshness far from withering flowers about it. As we move into an uncertain darkness in the world and longer colder winter nights it’s one to savour and maybe even one to find some hope in…?

(8/10 Pete Woods)

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https://decembrenoirlfr.bandcamp.com/album/the-renaissance-of-hope