Liste der Bands Sludge Metal Celeste (FRA) Morte(s) Née(s)

Celeste along with British acts Anaal Nathrakh and Fukpig are another of those bands who fuse Black Metal with the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk (crust & grindcore). Basically this music is intense, chaotic, dissonant, there's no attempt here to be melodic, accessible and catchy, everything has been constructed to be as intense as possible. Although it's not as intense as Anaal Nathrakh it's still intense enough to shock those unprepared for this type of music.

Although this is a good album there is one major flaw that is almost impossible for me to look past; the lack of variety. I'm not lying when I say everything on this album sounds exactly the same, all the songs seem to blend together and it all ends up feeling like one long drawn out song. Even though I'd consider myself quite an easy guy to please when it comes to music, I listen to a wide variety of the metal spectrum and I'll even listen to some non metal genres you may find suprising; Drum n Bass, IDM (intelligent dance music), Techstep, Trance, so yeah I'm pretty easy to please but if you can't make the songs diverse at all then I'm sorry but you're going to get marked down, I don't care how good your music is but a full album of the same god damn thing can get extremely taxing to listen to and I often find my attention wavering throughout the album (good albums shouldn't lose my attention!). The music is intense, brutal and chaotic so if you're a fan of the most extreme varieties of music then this will no doubt spark your interest but a full album of the same skull crushing music will begin to wear thin on even the most seasoned listeners of extreme metal.

Rant over now onto the instrumentation. Celeste's music is unwaveringly brutal in its delivery. Everything is pummelled into you at a frightening velocity, the whole atmosphere is dense and claustrophobic there's no clean interludes to give the music room to breathe. The guitars are extremely harsh, I heard Celeste were intense but I was surprised when I first listening to them, I expected harsh but no where near the dense, noisy wall of sound present on this album. Some guitar sections reminded me of the French band Blut Aus Nord in how some of the melodies are structured e.g. tightly packed, oppressive, noisy. The fourth track in particular has a definite Blut Aus Nord vibe going on within it, the melodies sound an awful lot like the track Odinist off the album Odinist- The Destruction of Reason by Illumination. This is by no means a problem however, I don't mind when bands take influences off of one another as long as they're not a carbon copy!

The bass is completely buried within the mix, I don't know why so many Black Metal bands favour inaudible bassists, it kind of negates the whole point of the instrument and I don't see why they even bothered having a bassist in the first place. Drums, I'm not a drummer, I have no interest in drums so I can't exactly comment simply because I never focus on them anyway.

The vocals are a major let down for me, the vocalist favours a shouted hardcore delivery that simply just doesn't fit in with the noisy chaotic music. The vocals just sound underpowered when you take into consideration how intense the music is. Another gripe with the vocals is that they are extremely one sided, there's no change of pitch, no different types of delivery used, there's not even any clean vocals present. I wouldn't have minded so much if the vocals were better performed, I would much prefer it if the vocalist utilised a demonic shriek akin to V.I.T.R.I.O.L off Anaal Nathrakh, hell even monotonous rasping would have been better than the hardcore delivery utilised. I just don't understand why they were attempted to be mixed in with this type of instrumentation, I just don't get it.

Overall I give them credit because they've no doubt succeeded in what they were trying to do, that is making intense music and to be honest they've done a really good job at it. The music is very cathartic and works as great rage release. Also it's a good album to play if you want to thoroughly piss someone off but considering the lack of variety it eventually begins to wear thin. Although I love intense music a full album of the same skull crushing does begin to lose its appeal. If you want intense, dissonant Black Metal then you're better off sticking with Antaeus, Anaal Nathrakh and Liturgy's first album. Celeste have potential there's no denying that and they can craft some great music. I'll keep an eye out on this band to see if they've finally progressed but considering the fact they've had three albums of doing exactly the same thing it doesn't look hopeful. I give Morte(s) Nee(s) a 15/20.

The seven demanding compositions on Morte(s) Nee(s) feature an eerie as well as mighty stomping atmosphere.
CELESTE use the stylistic device of hypnotic impacts by sound spaces and multi-layer acoustic collages. As a result, this album can only be understood through its overall impression. There are no catchy refrains or wonderful melodies. Most of the time, the speed comes across in moderate mid tempo. One exception shows up with the throttled and cryptically entitled track (S), which misses out vocals. Apart from that, the French lyrics are performed in hysterical or desperate manner.
In some way, the album’s intensity seems intoxicating; the tracks find their way like a cumbersome wave-breaker. At the same time, the monotony is also the deficit, only some unloading gatherings of sounds can enthuse.
Sometimes the speed is changed very efficiently like in the slow part of the concluding tune De Sorte Que Plus Jamais Un Instant Ne Soit Magique. This song got the certain something because of this tactics. A wonderful melody is attached by piano and cello.

The cumbersome and hypnotic way of composing demands a lot of time Let you fall into the sound cosmos, it is not possible to consume this music only as background. For me, the mighty presentation is way too monotonous and less melodic to win me over completely. Morte(s) Nee(s) is hard to swallow and digest!