French Metal

Hasard – Malivore Review

Hasard – Malivore Review

“AMG.com has had mixed feelings about the musical work of ‘Hazard,’ the enigmatic songwriter behind Les Chants du Hasard. Claiming fatigue from this project following its most recent album, Hazard returns in 2023 with something that’s just as experimental but much heavier. Hasard principally extracts the black metal and secondarily extracts the orchestrations from its progenitor’s sound, carefully examining what remains in uncomfortable detail and manipulating it into deformed shapes.” At all Hasards.

Gorod – The Orb Review

Gorod – The Orb Review

Gorod’s assignment with The Orb is to figure out how to follow up 2018’s magnificent Æthra. This album’s predecessor, which followed on a string of excellent releases, is among the best albums that I have ever underrated. But Æthra brought change and continuing on this trajectory, The Orb is the band’s first fully independent release. And that raises the hackneyed, obvious question: is all this change good, actually?” Won’t somebody think of the riffs!?

Sortilège – Apocalypso Review

Sortilège – Apocalypso Review

“My introduction to France’s Sortilège was their announcement for the 2020 70000 Tons of Metal. I’ll give any band announced a fair shake as I look for acts to follow around The Boat. I was pleasantly surprised by a trve 80s outfit channeling the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in their ability to knock out charmingly old-school heavy metal. 1983’s self-titled EP and 1984’s Métamorphose remain in my regular rotation and will undoubtedly please the old farts looking for throwback releases.” Olde dogs, new tricks?

Elyose – Déviante Review

Elyose – Déviante Review

“Why do we find ourselves in the midst of a nu renaissance where bands like The Offering throw down like it’s ’03 and genres like slam can shamelessly quote groove under the guise of gore? Well, it seems that some also grew up to incorporate their first loves into their art. Elyose, an act of that breed, urges you to embrace your inner jumpdafuckup with a French language tour-de-force of alt-rock meets gothy vibes with nu and industrial accouterments on Déviante.” What’s olde is nu.

Inherits the Void – The Impending Fall of the Stars Review

Inherits the Void – The Impending Fall of the Stars Review

“The middle of the Venn diagram of melodic and atmospheric is where I find my favorite kind of black metal. Sizzling with the energy and catchiness of epic tremolo refrains and blastbeating tempos, and shimmering with veils of synth. If it’s a good example at least. Hence, I rushed to pick up Inherits the Void’s sophomore record The Impending Fall of the Stars as soon as I saw the magic adjectives melodic and atmospheric applied to their black metal style.” Void estate planning.

Catalyst – A Different Painting for a New World Review

Catalyst – A Different Painting for a New World Review

“I completely forgot about French tech-death upstarts Catalyst. That seems to be happening to me more often lately, and it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, I get the privilege of experiencing sudden bursts of excitement whenever announcements for a band I haven’t heard from in a while catch me by surprise. On the other hand, it feels like a betrayal by my own mind when a band I was interested in slips out of memory. Nonetheless, Catalyst’s debut The Great Purpose of the Lords was a cool slab of epic tech death, as recent revisits these past couple of weeks confirmed. Let’s see what the follow-up, A Different Painting for a New World, has in store.” Forget me not? Knot?

Ahasver – Causa Sui Review

Ahasver – Causa Sui Review

“Have you ever heard the story of Ahasver, a forsaken quasi-biblical figure who ignored Jesus somewhere along the line? Now, he gets to wander around undying until the big guy comes back. That’s just a bit petty if you ask me, but if you ask Ahasver, the story functions as a much more brutal parable—a man must walk the earth in the face of all the terrors he has witnessed and ever that will unfold. But worry not, this isn’t a 90 minute rock opera nor a 60 bpm post metal languishing. This pedigree of furious Frenchman (including Julien Deyres of Gorod and Zubrowska fame) prefers to pontificate with chunky grooves, textured vocal aggression, and… a Carl Sagan reading?” Grooves and Stars.

Wyrms – Sarkhral Lumænor – La Lueur Contre les Fléaux Review

Wyrms – Sarkhral Lumænor – La Lueur Contre les Fléaux Review

“Let’s get one thing straight with these guys: avant-garde, avant-schmard. Unlike many French compatriots, wacky innovation is not the name of the game here. Wyrms stick rigidly to the melodic template which has been honed to a fine sheen since Dissection and Sacramentum first did their thing. Sarkhral Lumænor is about as modern as a jousting contest, and as subtle and flexible as chain-mail armor.” The wyrm you know.

Animalize – Meat We’re Made Of Review

Animalize – Meat We’re Made Of Review

“Heavy metal. Trad metal. Dad metal. It all boils down to the same thing, really: galloping guitars, soaring vocals, a dose of cheese (don’t forget to take your Lactaid, old timer!) and enough triumphant riffs to get those creaky, arthritic bones a’janglin’. So it was with nagging nostalgia that I picked up Meat We’re Made Of, the first full-length from France’s Animalize, a group who traffic in a form of classic heavy metal firmly entrenched in the 70s and 80s.” Meat is the message.