FT-17 (France): “Verdun!”

This is an interesting band from the French scene, FT-17, French melodic black metal band formed in 2015 in Nantes and with already two full-lengths released. Those who know history might have already understood what the favourite themes of the French band are: the FT-17 was a powerful tank used by the French army during the First World War. In fact, the band's themes revolve much around war, but strangely their music has nothing to do with the sound assault of Marduk, who are also familiar with war-related themes. On the contrary their album sophomore Verdun! It is rather melodic, sometimes even mawkish. A peculiarity of this band is that there is a lot of spoken narration in their album; I have always thought that spoken parts, especially if long, break the fluidity of an album, but FT-17 do not seem to think this is a problem, as they even have a band member whose only task is narration (see lineup below).
 
Notes:
Verdun! was independently released on February 21 2018.
 
Personnel:
Zymurgh - Bass
Janus - Drums
Hrothulf - Guitars
Khorto - Piano
Soazig Couëdel - Vocals
Misein - Vocals (lead)
Damned - Guitars
Marcellin Trouvé – Narration
 
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com