Before we get started, I’d just like to take a moment to appreciate what an absolute belter of an album title we have here. All of the age-old stereotypes (that are generally unfair, but also not necessarily inaccurate) about how grim and gloomy metal is – is it any wonder when we have cheerful little numbers out there like this album? I love the name, don’t get me wrong, but even by metal standards it sounds miserable as sin, and I’m wholeheartedly here for it. I’m a fairly cheerful person in my day-to-day life, but I do love the sort of abject, unapologetic, and entirely unselfconscious misery that metal revels in and excels at.

So: is it as wretched and disconsolate as the title would suggest? For starters, Praise the Plague are all about black metal, with hefty doses of post, doom and sludge, which bodes very well, and it’s also their third full-length offering, so they’ve had a good few years to hone their unhappy craft to perfection.

The opener, Veil of Tyrants, begins with a vaguely menacing atmospheric build-up, which then fades out almost completely before the rather abrupt onslaught comes at you out of left field. The shimmery posty component fades in and out as the track goes on, contrasting with fierce trad. black and a superb vocal thread that sounds suitably hoarse and fuzzy round the edges. It’s 7.10 minutes long, and I can honestly say it doesn’t feel a second of it. The Tide follows a similar format, but makes something very different out of it – the lead-in is a heavy, staggering mix of post and sludge, behind a set of vocals that don’t sound entirely human. This time what kicks in a few minutes later is closer to blackened thrash with melodic elements, but again the faster and slower parts of the track alternate to create something that’s constantly moving and avoids sounding samey at any point.

[Thus far, I’d lean more towards anger and loathing than misery, but maybe the misery arrives later on?]

Astray from Light throws itself wholeheartedly into the doom end of Praise the Plague’s modus operandi. The vocals continue in much the same vein and link it to the previous two tracks, as do the thrashy interludes, but the ungainly melody rolling around in the background is quintessential doom, and it plods towards its own conclusion, unencumbered by the faster, more urgent thread in the foreground. Which is essentially the thing here: the faster, thrashy black that pulses furiously over the top exists in its own world, away from the whirl of post, doom and sludgy influences that are writhing away in the background. The next track – A Serpents Tongue – comes the closest to marrying these two threads together (and is thus probably the most accessible track on here), but bringing them together isn’t actually the point here. At least, I don’t think it is. But more on that later.

Devourer oozes into life with hypnotic, repetitive riffs, that as before are very much doing their own thing, as the now-familiar scuzzy vocals howl and lament over the top. The end result isn’t catchy as such, but it’s firmly stuck in my head in its own peculiar little way, and personally I think it’s the best thing on here. Also this, and A Serpents Tongue are The Singles, which makes sense – the best and the most accessible are always solid picks to get people interested in an album.

Talking of interesting, at the end of an album that has both flown by and seems to have going forever, Throne of Decay emerges so quietly and gently that even on my third listen, it’s taken me a few minutes to realise it’s even done so. Even when vocals and other harder, faster elements kick in, this has more in common with the heavier end of Ameseours or Les Discrets than it does with the rest of the album, and yet it fits. Not how I expected this album to end by any means, but then Praise the Plague seem to be very deliberately subverting expectations throughout this album.

And talking of expectations, while I have reference points for the individual elements of this album, I’m struggling to come up with anything that fits the album as a whole. The vocals are evocative of pretty much any example of good black metal vocals you care to name (personally my closest reference is Altari, who released their superlative debut into the wild last year), and the doomy, sludgy backdrop correlates to any number of bands of the same ilk – the interest is in having both on the same album with so little intermingling between the two. It’s a bit like a magic trick where you can see both sides of the same coin at once, and much like Suffocating, that statement is far, far easier said than done.

Also: the exact mood of the album is similarly difficult to pin down. I expected outright misery based on the title alone, but it’s more nuanced than that, with layers of anger, bitterness, frustration and desolation all heaving together like the aforementioned current(s) of time. And while it’s not really my usual thing, I kinda like it. It’s unlikely to be in my top ten come December, but I do keep going back to Devourer in particular, and letting it forcibly chuck everything else out of my head. And that’s easier said than done most days.

(8/10 Ellie)

https://www.facebook.com/praisetheplague

https://praisetheplaguelfr.bandcamp.com/album/suffocating-in-the-current-of-time