OSSUAIRE "Derniers Chants"

OSSUAIRE

"Derniers Chants"

Now we travel from the First to the Last...

It was only a few months earlier in 2019 when I experienced the righteously true black metal of OSSUAIRE on their album "Premier Chants", which translates as "First Songs". That was a record that was so pure in its sound that it was almost painful...a perfect blast of freezing black metal orthodoxy. Now we have the logical followup "Derniers Chants" or "Last Songs" and again OSSUAIRE graces us with cold fire and evil majesty.

Just six tracks here, but two of them are of monstrous length. "Derniers..." picks up right where "Premier..." left off, with raging black metal completely in the tradition of the early 90's. "Pestilence Rampante" has not only the speed but also the sad and potent melodies of the best BM. For some reason, 2019 has seen an explosion of bands recreating this classic style, but OSSUAIRE remain one of the best. The following two tracks, both completely in French as is the whole album, continue this blazing assault.

Then the album takes a turn to something different. Following the brief classic instrumental "Elevation", we see the epic side of the band for the first time, with two 11 minute plus tracks. I am not quite sure that these are entirely successful. They feature slower riffs and in the case of the title track, a ton of symphonic accompaniment. Neither of these tunes are bad, but the simple fact is OSSUAIRE is just more focused and powerful with the faster and more concise stuff. There is power and atmosphere yet in these two longer cuts, but they just can't sustain the energy of the shorter numbers.

So "Derniers Chants" is still a strong effort, particularly if you like classic 90's style black metal, but I prefer "Premier Chants".

SEPULCHRAL PRODUCTIONS

OSSUAIRE