![Orphique – Consécration Cadavérique [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]](https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Orphique_Consecration-Cadaverique_01.jpg)
“Consécration Cadavérique is a relatively brief album, clocking in at just over 38 minutes, but that’s across only five tracks, meaning it boasts both a tight runtime and lengthy compositions. I generally avoid the latter in my black metal, as trem-heavy, blast-beaten repetition can quickly grow tiresome, my mind begins to wander and the unrelenting wall of sound quickly becomes indecipherable background noise. Yet Orphique make it work.” Long and short of it.
“Some black metal bands are sheer aggression and violence, while others are all about slow-build atmosphere and ambience. Lurking around the fringes, just outside these respective circles of firelight, are the folk black metal bands, crooked harps and battered lutes clutched in their claws. By far the most interesting – to me at least – are the black metal acts that dip their bucket in multiple wells, and we have one such specimen on our hands today. Quebec’s Serment is the one-man side project from Forteresse’s guitarist and bassist, Moribond.” Folk in the eye.
“Beginning with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the atrocities brought forth from the first World War were heinous and grotesque. People getting killed in trenches (sometimes mistakenly by their own allies), the introduction of chemical warfare, and the starvation of both prisoners of war and civilians rounded up by the Central Powers would make for some fertile ground for metal bands to sow. One such band, Quebec’s Neige et Noirceur, decided to take one of the bloodiest battles in the history of the world and create a 40-minute tale of war, death, and various repressed emotions in the form of their fourth album, Les Ténèbres Modernes.” War metal from Canada? That just seems weird.
“The French-Canadian province of Quebec has a rich black metal scene, and Canadian black metal label Sepulchral Productions has strung together a real gem in the form of Légendes, a four-way split EP of proud Québécois darkness. In keeping with each group’s dedication to Québécois cultural and national identity, the split unites some of the scene’s more well-known groups – Forteresse, Chasse-Galerie, Monarque and Csejthe – to explore Quebec’s folklore.” Ready for a rare four-way split of French-Canadian blackness? Wendigos unite!
