Not an uncommon name in the grand scheme of things but this particular Beholder are identifiable for being part of the fertile Québécois noir scene. With three members of the quintet previously active in the short lived Grande Pointe this is their second album and follow up to ‘Arcane Subreptice’ of a couple of years ago. Apart from the obvious French vocalisations, on playing this there is not a huge amount to identify country of origin from its European counterparts although it does have that vociferous and urgent clamour from singer Mécréant (Saccage, Sulfure).
Guitars and thudding drums get the first voice though on opener ‘Le vassal de la profanation’ as they provide a brackish and crusty sense of turmoil. The singer follows with raw throaty hollers and the thrashy tumult has a bouncing almost punky etched groove about it. Not a bad start and certainly an invigorating one. Following this is the title track and its similarly chaotic and furious before slowing with an orthodox and somewhat grim sounding atmosphere perhaps illustrating the duality of the title. Combining elements of ritual and malice both facets are competently presented and it retains a sense of both the sinister and atmospheric along with a sense of malign venom. ‘Vers le pandæmonium’ is much easier to get to grips with. Starting with a drum solo of all things it bolsters into a gritty black n’ roll flurry and unleashes its inner pandemonium via fiery riffing that have an occultist Swedish sound very much at their heart. Add a tasteful death belch to things and it all hits the mark although perhaps not in the most original ways that one may have first anticipated.
Still, there’s plenty of force and power on display here through the album’s mainframe half an hour or so. Short attacks such as ‘Hexenaat’ provide a solid battering complete with an incessant clamouring guitar urgency which really does get your attention as it adds timbre towards the end of the album. I mentioned the mainframe earlier and this is due to the inclusion of an ambient piece at the end, the five minute ‘Credo Fractal’ apparently composed by Thisquietarmy. You could approach this and think it is nice of the band to include and give you a chance to calm down after the previously provided barrage or equally just think it is padding to bring the running time to a suitable length. This choice and judgement is inevitably yours. I have a feeling this album is not going to particularly stick out or demand repeated plays in the future but there’s plenty of scope here for future growth.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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