From the bleakest and coldest corner of Canada comes Neige et Noirceur’s fourth album, not to mention a brilliant compilation of ambient blackness released last year called “Natura Mortis Sonoris”. The material has varied from eccentric black imaginings to eerie and discomforting sound waves. I’d say I don’t know what to expect, but the giveaway is in the name: Snow and Blackness is the translation of Neige et Noirceur. It’s all based around that. The key is the level of creativity.
Fuzzy sounds of reluctant progress and of the cold, bleak winter form the initial statement. “Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques” (Dreamlike Gulf and Cosmic Abysses) is in the spirit of Burzum. A suffering voice screams through the cold haze. The slow pattern marks out the funeral march. There are inescapable visions of horror and suffering. The impenetrable struggle only gets worse. The suffering voice battles against the merciless and unsympathetic guitar rhythm. Finally it comes crashing down violently. The blizzard continues, unaffected by other goings-on. A croaking voice then takes on an increasingly powerful and dispassionate guitar line, which of course reflects the cold of winter. Mid-way through “Future Torture” there’s an uncontrollable outburst and the one-sided struggle resumes. It’s not very illuminating.
The problem I have is that the scene is constant. Statements are made in this monotone world. “Echo des Abysses” signals a chaotic black metal world of violent chords and imploring screams. Insistent and penetrating, there are no echoes. It would have been interesting if there had been but it is just relentless. The fury and violence increase. The drums beat manically. It’s black metal and that’s about it. It seemed a lot of effort for no great gain or message. The music of “Le Portail de Kadath” conveys turbulent drudgery. We get the atmosphere – it’s cold and unforgiving, and we are witness to human torture. Hostility is expressed in the form of desperate screams. I was developing immunity to the monotony. I was after all in the comfort of my home and there was nothing here to shake me out of my reality and transport me from Cambridgeshire to Quebec. The black metal ferocity continues. Always relentless and stormy, this is like a war of attrition. The cold winter has no variety. The music reflects it well but it does not make it interesting. This needs another level. As if on response to this request, a cosmic wave runs through “La Marche des Astres Noirs” (The March of the Black Stars). It’s hypnotic and goes beyond the pure grey world.
We’re now behind the grey world. The last three tracks are part of the same: La Caverne de Glace (The Ice Cavern). Huge cosmic footsteps can be heard a if the landscape is opening up and revealing a still bleaker landscape. The image suggests a lunar scene or space. Humans aren’t even dots. Winds blow. To throbbing waves, a voice speaks in French before being engulfed in an explosion and overwhelming majestic chaos.
The final section was impressive, but this didn’t all add up to a satisfactory whole. I missed the eccentricity of “La Seignerie des Loups” (2010), and the people-free aura of “Natura Mortis Sonoris”. Everything hinges here on the overall bleak ambiance, but as a listener you need something different or unexpected, something to make you jump out of your skin, keep you alert or send you into a deep trance. “Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques” meets the specification of creating a cold, bleak and latterly a cosmically hostile environment but I didn’t find that I was fully engaged with it.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
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