The Antiq label is one dedicated, in their own words, to “sound, image, video and attitude”. Silhouette sound just right to fit right in with their “dreams and visions about distant people” and “fantomatic shapes”. Yet this Montellier-based band plays black metal so the prospect of hearing this stylistic and thematic mix was intriguing.
What I wasn’t expecting, but perhaps should, were haunting and angelic female vocals against a sombre background. “Ascension” took us into the ether through its floaty simplicity. As I listened to the similar start of “La Première Neige” (The First Snow), I was reminded of the pagan tones of Himinbjorg. But then all hell breaks loose and ferocious black metal rains down us before the mood returns to a reflective and haunting hymn. The contrast is stark between the moods. “Au Seuil de l’Oubli” (At the Threshold of Oblivion) starts in an ominous, Burzumesque tone. Again, the angelic voice is superseded by violent, stormy black metal before moving into a trance-like section. The sombre and quiet guitar tone which we heard on “Ascension” returns for “Interlude”, another star-gazing hymn. The title track follows. The main guitar line is hypnotic. This time there’s a male voice not unlike The Old Dead Tree. But while the lingering guitar line remains, the quietude is interrupted by the most ferocious of black metal outbursts before Silhouette play again with our senses with hypnosis, haunting vocals and horror. I couldn’t honestly say what the lyrics were about but I felt a world of melancholy and regret, but also great anger. It’s like something between reflections and a fightback. “L’Étreinte de la Chute” (Embrace of the Fall) represents the anger and fightback. This is harsh. It is black. It is menacing. Dulcet tones spread themselves across the menace. In line with its almost oxymoronic title, this song takes us from extreme harshness and suffering to a mystical and controlled place high up in the clouds. And it is to the mystical and misty heights we go as the melancholic outro plays out.
I didn’t entirely get the thread of the album with its transformations, and for that reason felt I was in the middle of something but not always inside it, such are the extreme and largely unbroken contrasts. But this is clearly a talented band who know how to generate atmospheres from both the depths and higher ethereal planes. I look forward to hearing more from the shadowy world of Silhouette and enjoyed the experiences of “Les Retranchements”.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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