Moonreich - Wormgod EP (2019)

Moonreich might not stand out like some of their trendsetting French peers, and they don't pursue quite the same level of avant garde in their compositions, but they've been on a tear with their last few albums Pillars of Detest and Fugue, rich and roiling exemplars of aggression, evil, and atmosphere that would sate not only fans of higher end European black metal but I think also a lot of black/death fans, of say, Behemoth or Belfegor. The Wormgod EP is not as robust an effort as those two annihilations, but it does a serviceable job at sweeping up the ashes with some largely blasting, blitzing material that highlights the extremity that beats at the heart of main-man Weddir's soul like a crack-addled drum.

Basically a way to think of tracks like "The Swinging Noose" is as hyper Euro blasting circa Marduk or earlier Enthroned, but with a bedrock of faster Morbid Angel-like riff patterns, shifts into slower and dense groove riffs, atmospheric bits like samples, dissonant higher guitars ringing off into the vaulted darkness beyond the blasts and rhythm tracks. But then they'll throw on a slower, more melodic and somber cut like "They Burn Without Wings" and change up the formula, where you can hear the bass-lines and the incandescence of the higher strings a lot. They definitely tease a little dark ambient/industrial around the corners and shadows of such material, but the bulk of this EP does consist of the faster material, performed with neck-breaking certainty. I was most surprised by their cover of Depeche Mode's "Broken" to close out the release, where the vocals are switched towards a more loyal, lower pitch clean, but they still include little periods where the drums are blasting away to make it feel like a more original rendition of the tune, and it's quite wonderful, my favorite part of this alongside "They Burn Without Wings".

I do feel like the French scene is still dominated by its mysterious or outspoken, controversial luminaries like Peste Noire, Blut Aus Nord, Glorior Belli or Deathspell Omega, but really there is this substrata of bands who are all extremely talented and ready to burst forth from the crust at any moment if the world would just give them a listen. A number of these are focused more in recreating a Medieval, atavistic feel, but others like Moonreich are just exceptionally good at marrying just enough of an obscure gloom to blasting extremity, while possessing an aptitude at the broader range of dynamics when desired. If you're new to the band, then I'd probably nudge you over towards one of the prior two albums for a fully immersive, destructive experience, but the new material here will certainly serve as a good balance if they were to mix it into set lists, and the cover tune is sweet.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

https://moonreich.bandcamp.com/

Moonreich - Fugue (2018)

The phrase 'criminally underrated' is a cliche all too fit for Paris' Moonreich, a black metal band with such a capacity for delivering a 'total package' of well-written, well-produced, interesting, and re-listenable music, that is simultaneously capable of actually sending a shiver up your spine with a particular riff, or surprising you with a choice they make somewhere in one of their generally 6-10 minute compositions. As a slightly jaded, 40-something listener of the genre as a whole, I can tell you that this is not something which happens on a regular basis, and as much as I sang the praises of the group's prior effort Pillar of Detest back in 2015, these shadowy individuals have struck yet again with what is handily one of the better black metal efforts I've yet heard this year.

They waste absolutely no time proving themselves, with a delicious, driven, riff-packed opener in "Fugue Part 1: Every Time She Passes Away" which should satisfy a modernist black metal audience's craving for blasting footwork, volatile guitar progressions and tempo shifts between the traditional charging melodies and a more mid-paced, dissonant groove. The song even breaks into a near-tranquil passage of cleaner guitars near its mid-point, and proves a good qualifier for the range you're going to get throughout the album as a whole. It's also an exhibition of what is the most huge and 'accessible' studio production the group has yet achieved...perhaps not quite as absorbing for me as the more haunted Pillar of Detest, but certainly the most likely to pique the interest of those into modern black/death metal mixes liked you'd find on records by bands like Behemoth. The rhythm section is a virtual storm of energy, the bleeding tremolo picked guitar lines bright and sharp, and the vocals front and center, as they rasp and growl over the aggressive tectonics below.

While this album is stylistically consistent, it retains the band's general unpredictability. Overall, it seems like there is a lot of progressive rock or metal influence through some of the guitars, constantly merged to the faster drums or fits of intensity that break out all over the track list. But the two are so neatly intertwined together that they lack any sort of disparity or unpleasant contrast, it simply feels like these things have always been intrinsically linked. Atmospheres throughout are achieved solely through the guitars, without need for flighty orchestration or synthesized bombast...walls of spacious noise provide a backdrop when the band isn't bulldozing forward, and while the blackened extremity at the core of this experience is a constant, there's just no guessing exactly what is going to happen. I thought Moonreich really excelled here with the monolithic, middle-paced, lurching, dissonant rhythms in tracks like "With Open Throat for Way Too Long", or the thrilling "Heart Symbolism", melded seamlessly to the unforgiving blast beats, and with atonal, interesting notes flung all over the grooves to keep them compelling and not just banal mosh material.

But if you want something a little more patient, there's the incredible "Rarefaction" with its thick bass lines, hideous and evil harmonies, perhaps my single favorite cut on the whole disc, although it's hard to choose when they're just so on-fire. At points this album even has the potential to appeal beyond the black metal crowd into fans of progressive, heavier sludge, or dissonant metallic post-hardcore, sort of in the way Mörk Gryning's excellent, underrated, eponymous 2005 'swan song' came across; the riff selections are just that massive and open-minded, without betraying the band's blacker roots. Not every string of notes here is very memorable, but in terms of structure and balance this is just an expert exercise, with some killer lyrics to boot, and very cool Digibook packaging through Les Acteurs de l'Ombre Productions. Mildly less atmospheric than Pillar of Detest, and I might rate that album just a small fraction ahead of this one, but so much of that has to do with the production, which will appeal to some more than others. Fugue is straight to the face, high level French black metal that is well deserving of a nod alongside contemporaries Merrimack or Blut Aus Nord, and surely superior to a lot of the bigger name genre bands releasing records this year.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (inhale the vapor of lie)

https://www.facebook.com/Moonreich/

Moonreich - Pillars of Detest (2015)

Although Moonreich could hardly be considered as eclectic and bizarre as countrymen Peste Noire, Deathspell Omega or Blut Aus Nord, there is a peculiar specificity to how they compose black metal music which goes above and beyond the predictable tropes to a more focused selection of riffs, production choices and atmospheric ingredients combined into a sum that is not quite like any other singular entity in the genre's heavily saturated canon. Truly this is a French act which puts together music and gives fuck all about an audience's predisposition. From beginning to end, their third full-length Pillars of Detest seems intent on embellishments of rhythmic versatility, contrasts of intensity and contemplation, and 'jumping' genre for death and thrash metal components whenever it suits the imagination...and never suffering for it. Having heard both their prior albums, I can say with certainty that this was the most compelling and listenable, while never cheapening itself with undue sentiment or fits of happiness.

By which I mean it's dark, but strangely accessible. Riffs can crawl through a morose landscape, as  pitch as blackest night, glinting of melodies while the drums jam along at a prog rock pace, and then the band can explode into atypical blasted rhythms in which they still manage to embed a little nuance and distinction. They can lay out an excellent chord groove ("All Born Sick") and lunge into overdrive within the span of seconds and yet the musicianship is flawless and taut. The vocals are meted out through a rich, barking rasp that performs enough syllabic deviance that it never flirts with monotony, and has just the right level of reverb and sustain to match the riffs in effectiveness. The guitar tone is excellent, both the precision of the tremolo picked notes and the atonal bliss which is always drawing the ear above the deeper fret progressions. Special credit should also be given for the bass lines, which are sultry and swerving and contribute heavily to the hazy, bleak emotional space into which this album shoved me. Moonreich is extremely well-rounded for such a jagged sound... with no ingredient out of balance or league with the remainder.

There are slight touches of ritualism and expansiveness captured through chants and percussion, but the narrative of guitar-and-drum-driven black metal is forever at the fore, and Pillars of Detest is quite simply one of the better examples of its form I've heard in 2015, especially coming from outside of Norway which has had an impressive showing from a number of its veteran acts. Sure, this is not a band which entirely delves into or benefits from the eccentricity and strangeness of many of its local peers, but for those seeking something more sanely sinister, I'd rank this easily alongside a number of overlooked gems like Spicilège or Of Entropy and Life Denial. Fans of Merrimack, Satyricon, Temple of Baal or even the recent works of Belgium's Enthroned will find it easy to submerge themselves into this meticulous monstrosity, and not escape without leaving a trail of tar.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moonreich/147222865350244