As the notorious Norwegian Black
Metal scene continues to wane, the proliferating French Black
Metal bands continue to come out of obscurity, and recently into vogue in
North America. But obscurity is the essence of darkness, because it's easier to see in the light. French Black metal is gradually gaining a reputation for some of darkest music, that's available on the market today.
No, a sacrarium isn't a special place for human sacrifices, to enhance your black magic spells. A sacrarium is a storage place, in Latin churches, for the safe keeping of sacred relics like the mummified bodies of dead priests, that the pious use to strengthen the power of their prayers.The band has been around the French underground scene for about 10 years now. Consisting of 2 members, with David Mariteau on bass, Steve Renard on vocals, guitars, drums, and synthesizer. This must be a studio band, with limited capacity for performing live gigs. They released 2 demos within their first 6 years. Almost 4 years later they've signed with the Italian Black
Metal label, De
Tenebrarum Principio, for this debut album.
The album consists of 9 tracks, clocking in at about 47 minutes of playing time. The recording quality is crystal clear and clean. The only factor of filth is the grim vocals, as can be expected with any Black
Metal album. The music plays through with mid-paced songs, with an almost cheery ambiance, instead of a hateful, or depressive atmosphere.
Most songs feature tremolo guitar picking with technical precision, but it sounds upbeat, with the character of French fried pop music. It doesn't impart a spine tingling chilliness, like
Burzum, or
Dark Fortress , that conjure images of demons or murderers. Instead of that, it exudes a glittery sound of gaiety, that invokes the images of mythological fairies.
Underneath that are musical structures that mostly resemble
Temple Of Baal and sometimes resemble songs from
Orcivus . There are occasional breakdowns that heavily borrow from the Rebel Extravaganza era of
Satyricon.
This disc lacks the unholier than thou attitude, that most of us Black
Metal fans want to hear. Many of these tremolo melodies are used repetitively and are mixed into alternating tracks with the same rhythmic formula, to make it hard to hit the replay button.
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