Theatrical, gothic but most definitely black metal. Le Chant Noir could have been written as an alternative soundtrack to Interview With A Vampire; maybe a biopic of the life and times of Dracula or else piped through the halls of a dreadful castle nestled amidst the forests of medieval Europe where unspeakable horrors are inflicted on the local populace by the resident aristocratic satanists. La Société Satanique Des Poètes Morts is by equal measure kitsch cabaret drama and finely crafted melodic black metal that would give fans of Denial of God, Lord Belial and, yes, let’s just get it out there, Cradle of Filth a good night in and then some.

Despite the obvious grainy cinematic nature of this release, Le Chant Noir manage to display a degree of calculating restraint that others delving into the more theatrical end of the black metal spectrum could learn from, however. La Société Satanique is delivered straight as a die – it never gets distracted from purpose of delivering its dismal drama – it’s not overlong and bloated. The spoken word parts are woven into the music to leverage drama rather than indulging in unnecessary detail in the story telling – which so often defuses rather than infuses the drama. It means that in 39 or so minutes are packed more hooks, rhythmic rasping growls, poetic lyrics and at times just some plain old well executed black metal to ensure La Société Satanique never ends up as a good idea has come out of the recording studio intact.

As well as having more hooks per track than a fisherman’s sack, ballast is provided by chunky, baroque organs that surge with the riffs in the first couple of tracks and evolving percussion which nicely carry along the latter part of the release. Jaunty, almost playful, melodies perforate some tracks and sultry French vampire vocals – at one point nicely bleeding into black metal growls – prove Le Chant are proficient enough in its art that they can take a few kitschy risks and come out on top. The result is something that feels like, if it’s been attempted before, it’s rarely been achieved with such precision.

On top of all that, Le Chant slap some rhythmically astute, well-timed lyrics – the closing dramatic cry of Priére á Satan and the first bars of Eloa, Le Bel Ange (‘This is the tale of a most charming angel.. How she lost her way, and how she fell..’). It comes as no surprise that these guys have form (including some well-known black metal band involvement – the lead singer formerly fronted Norway’s Ancient as well as being a trance DJ) – surprisingly hailing from Rio de Janeiro rather than Old Europe as the tone and content might suggest. But I’ll leave you to do your own research on that as you tread your way through black metal’s pits, traps and wretched dungeons. La Société Satanique is a darkly joyous release that is competently conceived, dashingly delivered and as moreish as a bloody red wine on the darkest midwinter night.

(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)

http://www.facebook.com/lechantnoirofficial

https://lechantnoir.bandcamp.com/album/la-soci-t-satanique-des-po-tes-morts