Peste Noire La Sanie des Siècles - Panégyrique De La Dégénerescence
De Profundis August 2, 2006
By Rodrigo Escandon
From the beginnings of the infamous Les Légions Noires (Black Legions) bands such as Vlad Tepes, Belketre and Mütillation to the recent like Blut Aus Nord, Antaeus and Deathspell Omega, the French Black Metal scene has seen some highly touted acts for quite some time. Let me now introduce you to Peste Noire, a new French Black Metal band that completely deserves your undivided attention. La Sanie des Siècles - Panégyrique De La Dégénerescence is Peste Noires debut album after several demos that apparently garnered them very high praise from the black metal underground.
Peste Noire play a raw, melodic and refined brand of black metal that invokes a more underground atmosphere of lurking around dungeons rather than the more traditional atmosphere of walking around in nature. The album slowly draws you into a disconcerting world of despair and anguish since the music is relatively not fast, chaotic or unrelenting instead it usually stays at a mid-tempo featuring plenty of melodic passages thanks to both the acoustic and electric guitars that can be usually be heard side by side. The addition of the acoustic guitars is simply brilliant because in many occasions they enhance the overall song and in fact they become the main star as it can be attested with the phenomenal Dueil Angoisseus [texte de Christine de Pisan, 1362-1431]. The majority of the rasp-like singing is handled by frontman Famine but in this song it is handled by Neige, who also plays the rhythm guitars, and I swear that I get goose bumps just hearing the tortured screams that comes out of the voice of this man.
A few of the songs found in this album have been re-recorded from their previous demos and without hearing those demos one still has to be impressed with the ideas, maturity and refines that Peste Noire uses in this album. For example, Phalènes Et Pestilence - Salvatrice Averse is close to 12 minutes long but it goes through a myriad of tempo changes that each time I hear this song it still sounds very fresh. It begins with a slow acoustic intro and then it jumps into one of the fastest parts of the entire album and then without warning it slows down to a more melodic section. Of note in this song and throughout the entire album is the amazing drumming by Winterhalter because he is able demonstrate a wide range of dynamics since he is able to exuberate a great deal of energy and aggression but he is also able to show subtlety and restraint when needed. Spleen is another re-recording and another gem of a song that features a completely addictive main riff that fades in during the beginning and it also has some amazing solos and melodies.
Peste Noire deserve all the hype that was garnered to them with their demos because with this debut they have come out with a captivating, mature and engaging album that should be enjoyed by all black metal enthusiasts. This is one not to be missed!
8.5/10
UMs Review Rating Scale
De Profundis August 2, 2006
By Rodrigo Escandon
From the beginnings of the infamous Les Légions Noires (Black Legions) bands such as Vlad Tepes, Belketre and Mütillation to the recent like Blut Aus Nord, Antaeus and Deathspell Omega, the French Black Metal scene has seen some highly touted acts for quite some time. Let me now introduce you to Peste Noire, a new French Black Metal band that completely deserves your undivided attention. La Sanie des Siècles - Panégyrique De La Dégénerescence is Peste Noires debut album after several demos that apparently garnered them very high praise from the black metal underground.
Peste Noire play a raw, melodic and refined brand of black metal that invokes a more underground atmosphere of lurking around dungeons rather than the more traditional atmosphere of walking around in nature. The album slowly draws you into a disconcerting world of despair and anguish since the music is relatively not fast, chaotic or unrelenting instead it usually stays at a mid-tempo featuring plenty of melodic passages thanks to both the acoustic and electric guitars that can be usually be heard side by side. The addition of the acoustic guitars is simply brilliant because in many occasions they enhance the overall song and in fact they become the main star as it can be attested with the phenomenal Dueil Angoisseus [texte de Christine de Pisan, 1362-1431]. The majority of the rasp-like singing is handled by frontman Famine but in this song it is handled by Neige, who also plays the rhythm guitars, and I swear that I get goose bumps just hearing the tortured screams that comes out of the voice of this man.
A few of the songs found in this album have been re-recorded from their previous demos and without hearing those demos one still has to be impressed with the ideas, maturity and refines that Peste Noire uses in this album. For example, Phalènes Et Pestilence - Salvatrice Averse is close to 12 minutes long but it goes through a myriad of tempo changes that each time I hear this song it still sounds very fresh. It begins with a slow acoustic intro and then it jumps into one of the fastest parts of the entire album and then without warning it slows down to a more melodic section. Of note in this song and throughout the entire album is the amazing drumming by Winterhalter because he is able demonstrate a wide range of dynamics since he is able to exuberate a great deal of energy and aggression but he is also able to show subtlety and restraint when needed. Spleen is another re-recording and another gem of a song that features a completely addictive main riff that fades in during the beginning and it also has some amazing solos and melodies.
Peste Noire deserve all the hype that was garnered to them with their demos because with this debut they have come out with a captivating, mature and engaging album that should be enjoyed by all black metal enthusiasts. This is one not to be missed!
8.5/10
UMs Review Rating Scale
