The French scene is not certainly one of the most publicized and not much is known about it. Yet it is a wide and very interesting scene; the umpteenth demonstration comes from this demo that I have received from Cepheide, an atmospheric black metal act from Paris. Cepheide are a trio formed in 2013; their self-released first demo De silence et de suie was released in 2014 and has been very well received.
The production of this demo is very essential but effective; Cepheide create a very thick and dense sound, I would say. Their black metal has in my opinion also influences from depressive black metal; the depressive take comes from the desperate scream, especially in the last two songs, but also from the cryptic and eerie melodies. A remarkable feature is that there is no form of intro or outro, and that, although the genre is halfway between atmospheric and depressive, the use of acoustic guitars and keyboards is minimized, and this gives the demo a restless atmosphere, and above all a great deal of concreteness. Besides, the songs are not very long, being the longest one only eight minutes. I always appreciate when bands are concrete and go straight to the point.
The lyrics are in French, unfortunately for those who do not know the language. They reflect the general gloomy atmosphere of the demo: contemplativness and solitude, as in “A la croisée des ames”; the lyrics make me think even of a kind of existential solipsism. One thing is sure, that is Cepheide take a great deal of care of the textwriting; the lyrics are wonderful and can be considered as real poems.
De silence et de suie is an excellent product from the black metal underground, especially if we think that it is the first demo of the band. You should definitely listen to it!
Notes:
De silence et de suie was self-released on July 22, 2014 as cassette and CD.
The production of this demo is very essential but effective; Cepheide create a very thick and dense sound, I would say. Their black metal has in my opinion also influences from depressive black metal; the depressive take comes from the desperate scream, especially in the last two songs, but also from the cryptic and eerie melodies. A remarkable feature is that there is no form of intro or outro, and that, although the genre is halfway between atmospheric and depressive, the use of acoustic guitars and keyboards is minimized, and this gives the demo a restless atmosphere, and above all a great deal of concreteness. Besides, the songs are not very long, being the longest one only eight minutes. I always appreciate when bands are concrete and go straight to the point.
The lyrics are in French, unfortunately for those who do not know the language. They reflect the general gloomy atmosphere of the demo: contemplativness and solitude, as in “A la croisée des ames”; the lyrics make me think even of a kind of existential solipsism. One thing is sure, that is Cepheide take a great deal of care of the textwriting; the lyrics are wonderful and can be considered as real poems.
De silence et de suie is an excellent product from the black metal underground, especially if we think that it is the first demo of the band. You should definitely listen to it!
Notes:
De silence et de suie was self-released on July 22, 2014 as cassette and CD.
| Tracklist: 1. A la croisée des ames 2. Là où les idoles demeurent 3. L'homme ruine 4. Deluge | 07:46 06:44 07:46 08:02 30:18 |
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com