“Givre” means frost in French, which gives an immediate clue as to what to expect. The band from the French-Canadian black metal factory have released two previous albums.
I don’t know what the longest ever track title is but the opener here could be a contender. “La Sainte-Vierge intervenant en faveur de l’armée française à la bataille de la Monongahéla (9 juillet 1755)“ (The Blessed Virgin intervening on behalf of the French army at the battle of Monongahéla, 9 July 1755) indicates historical context for the album, which serves as “a musical documentary of the early 20th century spiritual mission of Québec”. The battle encompasses the resistance of the French with the support of Native Americans against the advancing British, as General Braddock and his men sought to gain new territory. Stylistically it is a subtle opening as the scene develops initially in melancholic mist before continuing in a tragic vein with piercing screams representing the horror as the powerful and epic gloom fill the air. This a scene of human tragedy. Here we are not in the blizzards of Cantique Lépreux, but as with their fellow Québecois, the atmosphere is vivid and intense. A howl is heard before we move on to the desperate screams and merciless riff of “Le Christ aux Oliviers” (Christ in the Olive Trees). In the background we hear a haunting, echoing moan. The guitar work is stripped down, hard-hitting and uncompromising. The spoken word adds dark context – even if you don’t understand French, you would get the impact of the words as the song reaches its epic finale.
The overbearing tones of “Erable Rouge” (Red Maple) strike up. The tormented vocals match the grim tones. The church bell rings. The tempo increases and with it the sense of furious hopelessness. It is disturbing. To end there is a brief excerpt of a traditional folk song. This acts as a prelude to the overwhelming tragedy and melancholy of “La Voix” (The Voice). The spoken narrative again adds power to this already powerful and mystical piece. Expansive black metal returns for the short “Cantique pour la Canonisation de la Vénérable Jeanne d’Arc” (Hymn for the Canonisation of the Venerable Joan of Arc). It’s a bit of an interlude, but given the title and the subject, it would seem thematically to be more relevant than that. “Le Laboureur” (The Ploughman) captures a mood of hardship and sadness with its gloomy tones, a violin section and its mix expansive and reflective guitar work. In keeping with the album, reflection turns to raw black metal but it is never simplistic. “Dernier Martyr” (Last Martyr) has an alluring and mysterious ring as the instrumentals signify death and the vocalist as ever represents suffering. To finish pomp and ceremony mark the words of “Consécration à la Vierge” (Dedication to the Virgin) as spoken by Maurice Duplessis, the nationalist former premier of Québec. And again whether you understand French or not, you will understand the pride and patriotism, but also the sense throughout the album of struggle and suffering. It makes for a strong message but also a fine black metal album.
French-Canadian history is a subject that I’m interested in, but I have to say I get more out of reading about it than listening to this album. What this album does do however is convey hardship and dark times in evocative and atmospheric ways. And this is the appeal: “Destin Messianique” is fundamentally a black metal album but one which captures human torment in different musical styles, transcending language barriers in doing so.
(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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