OSSUAIRE "Premiers Chants"




OSSUAIRE

"Premiers Chants"

The recent flood of excellent black metal continues with this unrelenting cracker of an album. Information about the band is sparse, but since they are on Sepulchral Productions and their lyrics are in French, I'm guessing they're from Quebec. If so, they might just be the best BM band I've yet heard from the Acadian realms...

Imagine taking off all your clothes and running through a night-time forest during a blizzard. That's what listening to "Premiers Chants" is like...scary, freezing cold and absolutely thrilling. This is very traditional black metal done by people who know the form. The initial title track and "Les Procession des Flagellants" are howling blasts from the heart of winter...blistering speed but a beautiful understanding of sad melody and the power of treble riffing. Great songs! "La Flamme Noire de Ge'henom" maintains the intensity but throws some slower, more powerful moments into the mix...a mixture of Marduk brutality and the majesty of early Satyricon, perhaps.

"Exhortation" is a sparse acoustic tune that is brief but effective, with somber French spoken lyrics that I can't understand but imagine are not very cheerful or friendly to the church. Then Ossuaire really shows its power by finishing with the two best tunes, both epic in scope. "Saints Cephalophores" has one hell of an awesome catchy mid-paced hook blended perfectly with more high velocity BM. This is pretty close to untouchable. "La Grande Apostasie" is the 11 minute plus magnum opus that brings this to an end. The length is mitigated because the band is wise enough to break the song into several sections...more blistering speed, some slower epic riffs and finally ending with a very cinematic section making good use of piano.

This is a black metal fan's dream and yet another superb effort in a year that has seen a surprising resurgence of this musical genre.


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