Sordide - Ainsi finit le jour (2024)

I had already run across Sordide's last record a couple years ago, but even with an expectation of their style this one started off so spiky and chaotic that it spun my head around a few times. They've got a similar dissonant approach to some of their better known peers like Blut Aus Nord and Deathspell Omega, but in a different context where it's more like straight-ahead black metal tempered with these odd chord choices, swerving bass lines and vocals that feel pretty turbulent and organic, not only incorporating the rasps typical of the genre but some other raving barks that feel more vicious and sporadic. But what I like about this record more than its predecessor is just how much more they lean into these differential chords consistently across the material as if they're starting to adapt them into their own nasty language.

Perhaps not as much as those other bands I mentioned, or like the mighty Canadian sci-fi thrashers Voivod who pretty much wrote the book on how do to that, but there are some similarities in style, and they piss out enough unusual writing that Ainsi finit le jour compels through much of its 53 minutes. Structurally, it's got your basic variety of blasting and then some slower, grooving chords almost like Darkthrone or Hellhammer, but then they clamp on that strangeness and it becomes just left of center. The slower tunes like "Sous vivre" are murky and offsetting, while the up-beat stuff like "Banlieues Rouges" has these great guitar licks sliding all over with a freakish disposition. The bass seems much more grounded than the roiling rhythm guitars, and that helps anchor the festivities to give them an occasional 'warm' vibe despite how tormenting the chords can feel.

As a result, I think this record (like their last) can have some crossover feel to fans of weirder post hardcore bands or dissonant jazz-fused black metal stuff like Imperial Triumphant, in addition to the groups I mentioned before. But the skeleton of the music itself is much more obvious, and if you'd fused together these riffs a little differently you'd have something approximating more traditional BM. At any rate, while this isn't always that interesting, it's a solid step past Les idées blanches and if they continue to develop this uncanny atmosphere being sloshed around by the guitars they might really be onto something. Cool disc.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

https://sordide.bandcamp.com/