Coldwave, darkwave and black metal are a combination which I find appealing, and that’s what Remah is offering. “Une Main” (One Hand) is the first work to be released by this long-standing Franco-Belgian combo.
Background moaning and shivering atmospheres lace the opening fiery black metal piece “Des Rêves Sales” (Dirty Dreams). It is a dreamworld. To their credit Remah develop this atmosphere rather than leaving it in as a gimmick as some might do. Sweeping, haunting sounds fill the air for a prolonged mid-section, creating coldness in so doing before returning to the fiery score. This is followed by the hissing black metal fury of “III”. The symphonic touches towards the end make it more expansive but whilst recognising that “III” is in two parts, it didn’t really have any soul to it. “Les Marais” (The Swamps) would seem to be a suitable theme for this work. This is exploited in the next piece of that name, comprising three minutes of menacing sound waves and leading into the funeral chimes and ghostly vocals of “La Gueule Ouverte” (The Open Mouth). The languid vocals reminded me a lot of the woozy air of Tiamat. The cold and suffering are not overt, instead coming from the indistinct interior of this melancholic and in part epic metal. Black metal beats return for “Premier Spasme” (First Spasm). As “Des Rêves Sales”, it is laced with a psychedelic wall of moans and sweeping wings.
I never really got what this wanted to be. Behind the scenes there is always coldness and darkness, as represented by the haunting, echoing slabs. Sometimes it is head-on black metal, at other times we are taken into a shadowy and threatening underworld, according to the whim of the band. “Une Main” has different styles and is atmospheric, but I felt I was listening to something whose parts didn’t hang together.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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