France's Peste Noire [Black Plague] released their debut The Plague of the Ages - A Panegyric to Degeneration limited to 2000 copies. Many of its track are rerecorded from previous demos. Since its release, it's gained a reputation as their best album and a defining release of the 2000s for Black Metal. Most of the lyrics are in French, with a few songs in Latin.
Nous sommes fanés [We are faded] is a short acoustic intro, sounding medieval in sound which fits with the band's aesthetics. Besides it there's a few other acoustic interludes during songs that help build the atmosphere a lot, often tying well into the main course.
Le Mort Jayeux [The Joyful Dead Man] is a great song, quickly showing the strengths of this album. Production-wise it's solid especially in the riffs department. The musicianship in general is great, giving a power to each instrument along with the undeniable atmosphere present here. It's mostly themed around the black plague of Europe, lyrics often mentioning the sickness. In regards to the lyrics, I decided to actually read them off Metallum which I don't usually do for BM. I was pleasantly surprised seeing how well-written this album is, often alluding to French writers like on the 6th track beginning with:
"There is no other hell for man than the stupidity or wickedness of his fellow human beings.",
-Marquis De Sade
As usual just a very cynical album overall, separating itself from its peers with the strong atmosphere which still maintains plenty of good riffs. The vocals and guitar are both done by Famine, who has a memorable presence on this album with his raspy shrieking. Concerning their debut, Famine in this album's booklet says:
"[It's] a parallel between mediaeval and modern apocalypse; the decline of the current world and the desire to see it die out since it cannot be saved; vengeance and the fantasized return of our Own (our Own: a fallen nobility socially, psychically and physiologically humiliated). Annihilating the world which has annihilated us. It invites people to do so."
The 11-minute epic Phalènes et pestilence - Salvatrice averse [Moths and Pestilence - Redemptive Storm] is obviously the centerpiece of this album. During its duration it builds such an atmosphere that rivals full albums in the genre of similar popularity, accentuated by the occasional acoustic playing throughout it. The drumming is also notable as it's some of the heaviest-hitting percussion I've heard on an album in the genre while still maintaining that repulsive gunk every main instrument has.
A defining work in their discography, staying their most beloved even after eight more albums. Everything about it is sharp yet repugnant. It contrasts just as the acoustic and electric guitar on it do.
9/10
See also: Goatmoon
Listen here: YouTube
- kreyzi
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