“La France pue la haine, la France pue le fascism” (France stinks of hatred, France stinks of fascism). This lyric from the opening song “Les Feux Plus Forts” gives us an idea where Sordide are coming from. “Ainsi Finit le Jour” (And So The Day Ends) is the band’s fifth album. Black metal is the broad genre but Sordide’s music goes further.
Indeed, the frantic and raw attack of “Des Feux Plus Forts” (Stronger Fires) indicates that Sordide are on the rampage. It is the music of discontent. The same punkish energy is carried on with “Nos Cendres et Nos Rales” (Our Ashes and Our Ranting). Sordide attack their subject with anger and venom, giving over to a slower section and finally an intense passage. It all smacks of tension. “Le Cambouis et Le Carmin” (Sludge and Carmine) has a languid black metal feel along the lines of Khold. I’m guessing that carmine references its allergic reactions. The song oozes ugliness and hatred. I assume that “Sous Vivre” is a play on “Survivre”, which means survive, and means the opposite. Whatever it does mean, it is the most powerful track so far, delving into deep sludge and taking us to a deathly place. Hanging on is as much as we can do as the vocalist roars through this field of barbed wire. The music is solid and has an element of majesty. It changes course but the ambience doesn’t change. Sordide put us through the mill with this one.
“Banlieues Rouges” (Red Suburbs) pumps out the blackened death n roll and is not dissimilar in style to the opening two tracks. The raw vocals, which have a hardcore edge about them, ooze angry emotion. The title of the next song, given the general theme, is apt: “La Poésie du Caniveau” (The Poetry of the Gutter). Amid hardcore noise and energy with a black metal surround, the vocals emit defiance and disgust. So too the title track with its raw black thrash sends out waves of anger and protest. “La Beauté du Désastre” (The Beauty of Disaster) reeks anarchy, with the guitar taking its own wild and meandering course amidst more black hardcore. About three minutes in, there’s a superb break leading to darker territories and a menacingly tense section. The lads chant as a sinister guitar and bass passage takes hold. Some of the musical arrangements are deliberately raw on this album but here it is tantalising. This masterpiece of structure develops into dark sludge, and so it ends. The final piece is “Tout est à la Mort” (Everything is About Death). The creeping, deathly progress draws direct comparison with Dark Fortress in its style. The vocals become more anguished as the instrumentals reflect the crumbling decay, death and hopelessness that pervade the whole of this album.
Raw intensity can be felt in the music and delivery of the lyrics which at times come across as slogans. Pussyfooting around was never the intention, and through various styles based on black metal, hardcore, thrash, sludge, punk and noise Sordide angrily get their bleak point across.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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