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 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Fantome De Sang - Desespoir [Vomit Bucket Productions - 2014]

Desespoir is the 4th full length release from Cory Strand’s Les Legions Noire influenced blacked noise/ stark grey ambient project. For those unfamiliar with the French black metal underground scene- Les Legions Noire where a collective of  black metal/ dark ambient projects that existed between 1993 & 1997, and they have built up have somewhat of a cult following due to ultra raw/unsettling nature of their releases.

Desespoir comes in the form of a CDR release on Germanys Vomit Bucket Productions, and it features four tracks which move between pummelling yet stark  blacked noise overloads, & grey/troubled bleak ambient drifts.

Opening up proceedings we have the just over eight mintues of hope sucking ambience in the form of  “Une Douleur Eternelle”. This track is built around a very stripped back & stark mixture of hovering ‘n’ blurred drone sustain, which is edge by this repetitive yet very hazed plucked element( possible some sort of effect drowned guitar texture). To me the track brings to mind the slow advancement of  dawns first light, on a people-less eternal autumnal world- it’s a great bleak start to the release.

Sequenced directly in from the first track(for great jarring effect!) we have the head battering intensity of “Pleurs Dans Le Brouillard”. This just under sixteen & a half minute track brings together a dense & extreme blend of: relentless ‘n’ fixed battering yet stark rapid black metal drumming,  & feasting ‘n’ flesh roast noise layers- which are underfed by this buried & malevolent rumbling drone texture.  For much of the tracks running time the main structure remains fixed & relentless, with some subtle shifts in the dense layers of noise & the malevolent drones. It’s only in the tracks last quarter that the drum elements  sudden shifts out of it’s stark locked structure, and switch to a even more rapid & battering pace as the noise textures take on amassed yet difficult to define mesh of blacked metal guitar like haze.


Next up we have the longest track here “Noire Majeste De La Nuit D'Hiver”, which comes in just shy of the thirty three minute mark. The track opens with a rising mixture of hellish noise churn ‘n’ bay, which is tipped by this drifting ‘n’ eerier yet very distant harmonic/atmospheric sweep.  As the track moves into it’s first few mintues the noise elements seem to get more rapid & intense in their feel- yet the whole thing still remains very undefined & soul suckingly shapeless- also we still get the distant sweeps of buried eerier tone ebb. By around the sixth minute there seems to be slightly more consist structure to the track- as we get a condense & raging mixture muffled blacked metal drum attack & truly seared blacked noise layers. But still just at the edge of the track we get this eerier sweep of chilling yet slightly seared atmospheric tones that are still buried quite deep down.
Around the twenty two minute mark a fixed & battering stark blacked metal drum element sudden starts off, and we get even more sways of searing noise layers added to the tracks truly overloading mix.
The remainder of the track continues with it’s relentless & truly overloaded feel/pace, yet bit by bit you seem to make out more subtle layers of searing tonality & eerier atmospherics sweep. Truly this track is completely engulf in it’s intensity, yet at the same time it’s deeply atmospheric & chilling too-  which is a very difficult balance to get right, but this track nails it perfectly!.

Lastly we have the title track, and this twenty minute piece returns to the stark & grey ambience of the start of the album; yet there’s slight more edginess to this piece. It’s built around a washed out mixture of slowly ebbing brooding ambient textures, which are edged by these taut ,slow-mo, condensed warbling ‘n’ churning church organ like tones. It’s a most effectively moody yet tensioned filled end to the release.


All told Desespoir is another highly rewarding & consistently replayble release from Fantome De Sang- I’ve said it before(and I’m sure I’ll say it again), but this project offers up some of  the most consistent work of Strands many projects. So if your after a very effective ‘n’ ultra bleak mixture of stark ambience & brain battering black metal influence noise, Desespoir really is a must have- but act quick, as it’s only ltd to just 25 copies!.

Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

Roger Batty
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