In
the midst of the cold Labrador current, a dark mist shall appear. As
the wind lays his grasp on the fir trees outside, the windows of your
frail little shack are frozen, the candles are laying on the floor,
fire can't survive here. Grab the snowshoes on the wall, yeah, the
ones just beneath these antlers. There's nothing synthetic about this
winter, nothing. The cold grasp of the white danger will attack your
sanity and it will destroy your will to live. Your naked skin, victim
of the howling wind is getting blue, the door opens, you put your fur
coat, a gritty warmth traded against mirrors and you search for your
flask in the inside pocket, you twist the cap and drink a sip of
whisky. Despite the snow storm, you step forward, seeking, drinking,
it's freezing but it's rewarding. Your beard full of shattering
icicles is moving, it makes a strange sound buried under the sound of
the cracking sound, but there's another sound coming from the middle
of the frozen river in front of you, there's a man wearing a checked
shirt with no sleeves singing his life, his face, bloody and dark
appears lifeless. You approach him, his screeching voice resonates,
the ice, albeit being thick starts to split. The icy cold water
welcomes your soul, your breath stops as the liquid penetrates your
lungs, intoxicating, deadly.
That's
how the demo made me feel like, but here's the actual non pretentious
content ! Neige Éternelle's first demo is a very promising
delivery of fast paced aggressive black metal from Baie Comeau, a town
located
approximately 420 kilometres north-east of Québec City
and near the Saint Lawrence river. This maritime identity is
reflected in the demo title "Forêt Nord-Côtière" or north-coast
forest in English. Just like many coast villages in Norway, this
region of the province has many fishermen and the comparison with the
Scandinavian brothers doesn't stop here, this 4 songs demo is a
really strong black metal release in the vein of Gorgoroth and other
Norwegian black metal bands. It's fast paced métal noire in French
and for a first release, it's fucking promising. The main thing I
liked is the Sti's vocals, they're the traditional black attack, but
they're very in your face and even understandable at time and that's
something fun for a French speaker, the lyrics are about patriotism,
sadness and hate. The snippets I understood were well written and I'd
like to read them, sadly the band was out of tapes when I told them I
wanted to write a review the demo. The good vocals are complimented
by the production who puts them in a very graceful place, not too
buried, not too loud, simply the right amount of venom and hate.
 |
| Sti, the front man of the band |
Their
style of black metal is very well produced and it almost sounds like
a professional album and I had to remind that I was listening to a
demo throughout my first listening, I was quite impressed to say the
least. The production fits both the 2 fast paced songs and the 2 more
atmosheric ones and the band succeeds at being emotional and
pertinent in both of these style. The atmospheric side of Forteresse
is definitely comparable in both themes and sound. Don't get me
wrong, it's not ambient or Darkspacey, it remains aggressive and fast.
Also, there's a cool raw epic edge in Neige Éternelle's music, it
makes things interesting without the need of technicality or
complexity. While the riffs remains simple, the drums are quite
dynamic and gives a very natural feel to the adequate songwriting and
musicianship of these guys. The drums on "Fier patriote" are quite
awesome and it's one of the highlight for me and I'm usually not
quite listening to the percussions.
While
not as ground breaking as Neige et Noirceur, the atmosphere of their
music is convincing, no frills, keyboards and droney atmospheres,
this is pure coldness created by fast snowstorms, eliminating all
life forms. Pure coldness, pure black metal. Check this band, they'll
release their first full length album this autumn and they'll play
Sepulchral production's fest, the second edition of Messe des Morts
in November !
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