Listening to the latest label sampler from Les Acteurs De L’Ombre Productions, Les Chants De Nihil were a band who stuck out as one I had not previously encountered and their brand of Gallic blackness definitely struck as one needing further exploration. Luckily, I did not have to wait for long before their new 5th full length turned up here allowing me to do just that. Already completely entranced by latest albums from Griffon and Darkenhold last year ‘The tyrant and the aesthete’ as this one’s title translates to has quickly got under the skin and given me a new French fixation. The cover art threw me a bit and I was intrigued by the story laid out in musical prose by band-leader Jerry, something I have not quite got beneath the surface of. I mean where did that tiger come from? It’s a bit Walking Dead and strikes as bunch of rag-tag revolutionaries striving to overthrow and do things by their own means against governmental strictures and the normality of the world. I expect the lyrics help it all make a lot more sense to the French speakers out there. For me though the music will have to do the job in the main and certainly has plenty going on within it to keep the listener occupied.
The album is divided into 4 acts each with several tracks within. The 1st ‘La Confrontation needs nothing in translation, instrumental ‘Ouverture’ taking us into a wild and untamed world. The burgeoning blackness is richly summoned and the ‘ephemeral conquest’ surges in. This is not actually nihilistic blackness as suggested by the band name but a wild ride of triumph and glory. It sounds like a tough battle is being fought but one where victory and overthrowing of oppression is the vitriolic modus-operandi. Musically its dense and incredibly well structured, vocals holler with bloody zeal and the sound is turbulent, going like the clappers with plenty of zeal about it. There’s very much a two fingered salute going on in it and the band seem forthright in doing things on their own terms. The swaggering bravado is impossible to ignore and its very easy to get caught up in it all and wish our fighters every success in their campaign. It seems like they get it quickly to as the folk etched traditional sounding vocal croons of ‘Ma doctrine, ta vanité’ sound very much like a march to the guillotine and one cannot help wondering who has been captured and is up for the chop! It’s still early days though and plenty more battles to come on the album.
I had plumped the album on without really studying things and really got a shock as we moved into Acte II L’Exil. If I had seen the title L’Adoration De La Terre I may have twigged earlier as some underlying classical elements came to the fore in the melody. These earth lovers obviously have pagan attitudes and here they cannily project them by reinterpreting Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite Of Spring’ into the music. It’s done seamlessly too and with respect and ‘adoration’ closing a gap that is never too far away between black metal and classical music in fascinating style. Perhaps a distraction but after the initial surprise one is able to concentrate more on the bands own sound and head back into the melee and the epic sweep of Acte III & IV L’Ultimatum and L’Assault. From a military two-step drumming to exuberantly tempestuous guitar licks the pace continues with fire at heart, those hoary vocals all the more urgent as the title track venomously swarms away. It’s passionate and mature stuff, sweeping the listener along in its glory, the clean vocals the chants of the oppressed perhaps determined to regain control from tyranny. The pace is allowed to slow on ‘Ode aux résignés’ and so it should as it is after all an ode to the resigned. The melody is suitably sombre here with a progressive flow but the rage is never far away as our heroes musically lick their wounds moving towards the final assault.
It’s a case of into glory ride, the classical guitar chops and thundering drums with us every step of the way into a dizzying climax. One that suitably ends on a highpoint and a final thwack allowing you to realise the album is finished without a note having been wasted. The spirit of rebellion is all over this and having quickly established lofty heights Le Tyran et L’esthète is an album that never runs out of steam making it an album that is going to really stay the test of time. Vive la revolution!
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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