We’re told to expect “8 tracks of primitive and soily sounds”, with the added threat that this will annihilate our nervous system. “Quiétude Hostile” is the Parisian blackened sludge band’s second album release.
The apocalyptic nature of the dark heaviness and prolonged chords distinctly recalls Cult of Luna. We’re in the echoing abyss and the message is that we’re going to be staying there. “Léger Goût de Soufre” (Slight Taste of Sulphur) introduces us to this gloomy world. “Morphème” is nastier and smacks of chaos and hopelessness. There is no quiétude (peace of mind) but it’s certainly hostile. “Éréthisme” starts as if psychological warfare is being waged upon us. Deep tones get deeper and longer. The drum beats menacingly. It’s harsh and creepy. The vocalist roars. The sense is that there’s no escape. The dark rhythm continues darkly and monotonously as the collapsing empire is depicted around it. After the bitterness of the title track, “Perdu” (Lost) reflects its title. For the first part it is bleak, grey and forlorn before it stretches out in post-metal style, reflecting a majestic melancholy. A spoken section intervenes before a ramped up but controlled final section. “Perdu” is as touching a piece of post-metal as you’ll hear. “Bois de Justice” (Wood of Justice) is harsher. More human in its aspect than other tracks, the voices and the rantings and the growls reflect suffering before the final crescendo. It sounds like all’s not well. The mood is carried over into “L’Oubli du Contrasté” but the wall of sound is intensified. Indistinct human utterances can be heard, adding to the air of disquiet, before a frenzied and angst-ridden ending. I cannot give a decent translation of the track but given its psychologically disturbed tones, I’d say that “L’Oubli du Contrasté” equates to something along the lines of The Oblivion of Someone in Two Minds. As if we have found a void, we float about in grey matter at the start of “Expiravit” before the ugly world of strong guitars and a roaring vocalist cut in. In a shape shift, the tone becomes more post metallically apocalyptic, as a desultory drum beat and a suggestive saxophone enhance the atmosphere of decay and nocturnal despair.
There’s little hope to be found in this range of physically and psychologically dark atmospheres. This of course was the intention. I can’t say that musically apart from the sultry saxophone piece at the end I heard anything novel but “Quiétude Hostile” is an impressive album nonetheless.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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