Northern Heritage, 2016
Genre: Black Metal
Ativisme...
1. Le ver Immonde
2. Perdition de l'Ativisme Cristallin
3. Souveraineté du Maudit
Ostara:
4. Immanence
5. Trahison Fratricide
6. Nécropole
If you missed out on the wonderful tape editions by Nécropole then you finally have a chance to get the material on CD from Northern Heritage. I tend to listen to a lot of my music via mp3 these days and even though I have the original tapes, I picked this up as well because the file transfer is much cleaner!
Anyway, Nécropole presents a well done CD edition compiling all their music thus far. The booklet is a minimalist approach, but it really works well with the overall music presentation found on here. If you haven't had a chance to check out Nécropole I highly recommend it, especially the "Ostara" tracks!
Résilience, 2015
Genre: Black Metal
1. Immanence
2. Trahison Fratricide
3. Nécropole
After "Atavisme" I was quite eager to hear "Ostara". Now, the samples of Nécropole I first heard from this release, but they were so excellent, that I had to track down the first demo as well. "Ostara", essentially, continues down the "Atavisme" journey with their particular blend of the French and Finnish sound. "Ostara" feels a little more thunderous and intense than "Atavisme" at times, so it has a more vicious feel rather than what heard on "Atavisme".
"Ostara", certainly, maintains that melodic Sargeist/Horna induced riffing style, but things feel faster and more intense this time around. There are times when I feel like influence from the Québécois shows up and this is a pleasant inclusion into the Nécropole sound. On this release, I realized that vocally they remind me a lot of the vocal style from Malleus Maleficarum, which is another excellent band from France if you haven't heard them before. I usually don't go for the higher pitch vocal performances, but like Malleus Maleficarum, it really works and it's pulled off quite well. It has enough mid-range in the overall tone to not screech through the tape. The drums feel far more varied this time around as well, I felt like on "Atavisme" they mostly just blasted their way through every section, but here we get a bit more of a diverse performance and it really helps the music feel more dynamic. Even though this material is rife with blast beats galore, it adds in that slight variation to make it special amidst all the blasting. Don't get me wrong, blasting is essential in this style and I wouldn't have it any other way, I just appreciate the variation with fills and patterns.
Even though "Ostara" has a bit of a different feel to it than "Atavisme", it's still an excellent follow-up. I can only hope that a full-length is imminent at this point since three songs just isn't enough to slake my interest in the project. So, if you're looking for some very well performed Black Metal, I highly recommend looking into this project sooner than later.
Résilience, 2014
Genre: Black Metal
1. Le ver Immonde
2. Perdition de l'Atavisme Cristallin
3. Souveraineté du Maudit
I feel like I haven't been watching the French scene nearly as much as I used to and I'm always surprised to get recommended some of these wonderful little gems turning up in that scene from time to time. Heritage aside, I have always considered France to have one of the strongest collection of bands and musician, but lately I've been more entranced with Poland, Germany, and Québec as of late... then Nécropole showed up and I find myself looking into the French scene and missing the days when I paid rapt attention waiting for the next amazing band. Nécropole sets up a strong group with members of Caverne and Angmar. I haven't gotten my Caverne tapes yet, but if Nécropole is any indication of the writing, I'm looking forward to them quite a bit.
Reading reviews for Nécropole leads a lot of references to Finland and early Deathspell Omega. These aren't too far off base to me, but I think Nécropole's riffing style is more in line with Annthennath than early Deathspell Omega. Nécropole has this glorious underlying epic quality to their riffing, which makes the experience a bit more expansive than the raw hate that early Deathspell Omega material evokes. They definitely draw from the realms of the Finnish greats like Sargeist and so forth, with the way their riffs wend their way through raw melodies. There are times when the usual French ugliness shows through, which is one of the draws for the French style. There's this interest in dissonance and tense or ugly riffs that show through. In Nécropole this is rather minimal, but it does show up from time to time and it stands in rather stark contrast to the exceptionally melodic Finnish style. Even though the songs rand in the near nine minute mark on average, they stand as being good lengths and I never really got tired of the song or felt that it really dragged on, instead I was rather sad that it had to end. That being said, with the closing track clocking in at over ten minutes, it is the perfect closer. It's varied and haunting, and just all around an immense listen.
"Atavisme" serves as an incredible debut foray for this project. The songwriting is already top notch, as far as I'm concerned and if you like harsh and well written Black Metal, Nécropole may be a new project to pay attention to. They certainly bear a lot of qualities similar to the early days, but they really do it justice, in my opinion. I really look forward to hearing more from this project and after hearing this, I hope a full-length would be on the horizon for us.
