Seth, the French black metal band par excellence (at least in my opinion) delivers La France Des Maudits and that brings the band’s album count to a total of seven. The previous album with the title La Morsure Du Christ was a grand success for yours truly, as is most of the earlier work of this pristine club.
Their star has been shining brighter on the firmament since the band moved under the wings of Season of Mist. The current album is released in several variations, of which one comes with a guillotine. Members of this band have a history rooted in bands like Vorkreist, Glorior Belli, Griffar, Merrimack and countless more. And equally its ex- members play in other influential French bands. Take Diablation, with none other than Vicomte Vampyr Arkames and the new and upcoming Gravenoire, a band which I am sure we will be hearing a lot more of in the near future.
Whereas the special edition of the previous album came with a tiny bag containing the ashes of the then recently burnt down Notre Dame, this new one thus comes with a guillotine. But beyond iconography it is the story and the message behind the music that is paramount.
According to Seth the time has come for a new war. A war to free the soul. At least that is the message the band would like to convey, based on the idea that in the Paris after the destruction of the Notre-Dame, quite like the period after the French Revolution, the souls of many rightly and wrongly convicted are still restlessly wandering around. Waiting, and longing to be freed. We are bare witnessing the true nature of man that emerges through the loss of grandiosity and splendour: a crude, raging raw rebellion against years of divine oppression among other things. It is worth mentioning that this entire epic is penned by Saint Vincent in French Alexandrine prose, a poetic writing formula that was also used by Molière, among others, if I’m not mistaken.
I invite you to hoist yourself in rags and join me on a stroll through the rugged and bumpy streets of a newly awakened Paris. Dark, dirty, filthy and not nearly what you are used to of this city. You find yourself surrounded by small alleys and squares where guillotine’s are being risen for yet another execution. It seems that as the dawn settles upon the city, many souls long to regain their freedom and escape their mortal prison. This brutal depiction of Parisian life captured in time comes best to life in a particularly captivating way in Paris Des Malefices. It is in the typical cadence and vocal phrasing that we recognise the quality of Seth. Add epic keyboard arrangements, heroic soloing and excellent riffs and I can guarantee you that it takes only one song to awaken ones own rebel soaring within.
What comes next is certainly impressive. Take La Destruction Des Reliques for example. At first it appears like a slow rhythmic flow, but a few moments later the sky is torn open through gut-wrenching, precise blast work. Or listen to the quiet, perhaps almost lighthearted, slightly dusty instrumental Marianne. I’d almost forget the stirring Ivre Du Sang Des Saints. A song in which you are floating on the Seine, for once not filled with dirty sewage water but with liters of the blood of the fallen instead.
A stunning album! This La France Des Maudits by Seth is one for the album year lists and a record to keep close to your record player.
Vertaling: Leoarachka
Score:
90/100
Label:
Season Of Mist, 2024
Tracklisting:
- Paris Des Maléfices
- Et Que Vive Le Diable !
- La Destruction Des Reliques
- Dans Le Cœur Un Poignard
- Marianne
- Ivre Du Sang Des Saints
- Insurrection
- Le Vin Du Condamné
Line-up:
- Pierre Le Pape – Keyboard
- EsX – Bas
- Drakhian – Gitaar
- Saint Vincent – Zang
- Heimoth – Gitaar, keyboard
- Alsvid – Drums
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