I missed the “full-blown cosmic and uniquely baroque” “Ex Cathedra” (2020) and indeed the two previous albums by this band. This album now “strives to bring attention to the beauty in the Ugly, the Sad and the Bizarre”. With Creature being primarily the project of Raphaël Fournier, it’s interesting to see that the drummer here is Leprous’s Baard Kolstad, who spreads his wares across a number of bands and projects.

After a vigorous blackened metal start, “Conscience Mécanique” heads into bombastic thrashing symphonic style black metal territory with neat little guitar interludes. This reminds me a little of the Italian band Stormlord. I think it’s the energy. Creature are not frightened to take us off in other directions with a kind of Devin Townsendesque melodic approach. So far, it’s been quite breezy. “Météorite” suggests something more sombre. Based on a core riff, this track is dark and atmospheric, with an effective menacing vocal line cutting in. The song develops into a progressively heavy style and is nicely put together. “Noire” (Black) is like an anthem, and although dark and menacing, once again has energy and life. As far as I can make out, these songs are about people’s vain and miserable lives, and are set in the context of the night and the moon which is upside down – that’s a nice image.

The songs themselves are very interesting and far from simple without being overwhelmingly complex. The progressively blackened “L’Empire des Singes” (The Empire of Monkeys) is dramatic, theatrical even. “Maussade” (Gloomy) starts in orchestral style before plunging into symphonic darkness. From this the album goes to the synthesised acoustic ambiance of “Alternative”, which it is. One thing I found hard about this album is that no two tracks are alike so I got no sense of continuity. On the other hand it does make for an interesting listen, and it’s to the credit of Mr Fournier that he is bold enough to expand the sound range with limiting himself. “Alternative” is at the dreamier end of the spectrum with its patient and creepy guitar line. The uniting factor is that these pieces are dark, however they’re presented. Gone now are the breezier songs. “Les Fragments” is deep and threatening. It’s like a song is about to break out, but it keeps its morbid atmosphere. I could appreciate the comparisons that have been made between Creature and Solefald and Ihsahn. This album had the quality of oddity about it. Just as I felt myself being plunged into an abyss, the death-thrash n roll “Est-ce que tu danses” (do you dance) comes along and provides impetus. The drama is then restored with the imperious and pumping “Pas le Meme”. Although orientated towards the blacked end of dark metal, the drama of it reminded a little of Omnium Gatherum. So what comes next – trip-hopping dark rap of course in the form of the title track “Eloge de l’Ombre” (Praise from the Shadows). Those shadows are there, and of course they are very dark: (approximate translation) “the sky is shadowy, hatred is contagious, don’t play the victim, this crappy game is unfair”. Then there’s the electronically-inclined melodic metal of “Rétrograde” to bring the album to a close with a nice explosive bang.

Creature can’t be accused of standing still here. “Eloge de l’Ombre” is a mixed bag of predominantly progressive black metal atmospheres, with each song composed independently, or at least that’s how it seems, but always skilfully. It’s a little eccentric, which is good. All in all this is a very interesting album.

(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/eloge-de-lombre