Not really knowing what “baroque black metal is”, I discovered early on that it is a turbulent and frantic adrenaline-related offering at least according to Sühnopfer who throw the kitchen sink at it with odd folksy touches, while adding some mysterious and not especially melodious vocal chorus lines in a bid to create atmosphere. “Nous Sommes d’Hier” (We Are From Yesterday) is the one man band’s fourth album.
The approach is essentially the same: strident and harsh metal, prefixed in the case of the title song with the sound of winds, horses neighing and the trumpet calling the troops to alarms. Then off we go at a rate of knots into the maelstrom. The extravagance of it reminded me to a point of Anorexia Nervosa. What you don’t find in Anorexia Nervosa is choral themes from Baroque composers Charpentier and Cherubini. Such is the sweeping wave of fury that it’s hard to find them here either. “Sermon sur le Trépassement” suggests something perhaps more spiritual but this seems to amount to a haunting choral line, which is indistinct behind the ferocity and which in other circles might be described in style as pagan. “Pays d’Alien” (Alien Country) does start in the style of mediaeval court music but just over a minute in the customary screams and turbulence ensue, and we head off on another frantic journey. I’m not sure if the intention is to be epic but it isn’t and can’t be, such is the fury which batters the life out of everything around it. A mediaeval tune finally works its way into the proceedings but only as an oblique interlude before the next volley of explosive and despairing metal. Subtle this is not.
“Céron” is another rampant attack. The drum proceeds at pace. The guitar sound moves up and down, and the vocalist screams but it’s much of a muchness, resulting in the end product sounding murderous without conveying what Sühnopfer is being murderous about. The choir is in full flow as the instrumentalists blaze away on “Derniers Sacrements”. Predictably this gives away to breath-taking speed and heaviness, infused briefly with choral moans. The vocalist cries and is clearly suffering in all this portrayal of destruction and chaos, but the context isn’t clear even when the choir periodically cuts in. There are seven weighty slabs on this album. The last of them is “Le Bal des Laze”. Although I didn’t know what the vocalist was singing about, this song has more character and emotion than the others. The guitar strikes like a sword, and although heaviness prevails the structure of the song allows greater expression. It’s a pity that Sühnopfer didn’t do this earlier, or I’d have more empathy for this album.
This can’t be faulted for intensity. I’m not sure that more mediaeval or baroque touches would have enhanced as although there’s some attempt to integrate them, the whole thing was just blown away by the furious metal attack, which for me made “Nous Sommes d’Hier” somewhat linear and limited. Atmospherically I expected more.
(4/10 Andrew Doherty)
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