The striking first full-length from AU CHAMP DES MORTS is a richly emotive, multi-headed manifestation of finest contemporary Black Metal song-craft.
Texturally and musically diverse, this sterling album melds the prime orchestration of predecessors ANOREXIA NERVOSA with an abundant core of atmospheric influences including black-gaze, post-rock, cold wave and post-black metal.
Impassioned vocals from guitarist Stephan Bayle and bassist Cecile G are haunted by the ghosts of internal and external wars, bringing howls of dismay, chants of uprising and clean-sung litanies of personal fragility amidst corroding heritage.
Strident themes alluding to the peopled triumphalism of folk song are wrung for maximum poignancy in the face of accelerating extinction, impossible crises and imminent collapse.
Beautifully produced and mixed at Drudenhaus Studio (ANOREXIA NERVOSA, ALCEST), iridescent soundscapes and shimmering effects-laden guitars transition seamlessly into masterly blast command and powerfully affecting chord-work.
A deeply personal, vital record, “Dans la Joie” is an interweaving of dualities: transience and temporality, fury and fragility, aging and aesthetics, depression and delirium, dreams and dust.
1. The Gifted Medium
2. Astral Darkness
3. Voidtripper
4. Netherrealm
5. Beauty From Wrechedness
6. Verbrannt in altemMorast
7. Wreckage of the Flesh
8. Upturneth the Chalice