Neige et Noirceur - Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques (2014)

Like fellow Quebec luminaries Forteresse, Gris and Sombres Forêts, Neige et Noirceur inspires a little patience from the listener, which is basically a requisite if Spiritus' music is going to resonate whatsoever. While I don't hold his past works in the same high regard as a few of those others I just mentioned, what I can say for this project is just how much more it exudes a sort of lingering darkness than many of his peers. I've never heard a record by the guy that I haven't liked, and the same can be said for Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques, which offers a contrast of measured, melodic 90s black metal reminiscent of a lot of Swedish or Norse second stringers, with some passages that rely more on ambiance, or some drawn-out, doom-like riffing configurations.

For the most part, though, I feel in listening to this as though I've warped back to around 1996 when the production on black metal records was still quite dark and distant but perfectly audible without overbearing levels of polish. The guitars here, largely driven by tremolo picked melodies over driving programmed kicks, wouldn't be out of place on the first Old Man's Child record or perhaps a better produced Nattens Madrigal, plus a little swagger redolent of Borknagar or older Marduk. But with this album, they're woven into this massive, nearly 60 minute tapestry of triumph and torment, given a lot of space to breathe in, and if you can slow your heart to keep pace with the stuff it's quite effective. Personally I was really happy with the ambient components, too, like the three-part "La Cavern de Glace" sequence which grows progressively more evil on the third movement, when dark chants and droning guitars arrive in a morbid conjunction. Spiritus' is great at coming up with these lower-fi dungeon synth moments where everything seems as if its cast through a black & white lens of creepiness, and I almost regretted that this wasn't just the dominant feature of the whole album...

I say that, because no matter how solidly plotted and well dressed the standard metallic songs are with their percussive backdrops and Spiritus' vile, snarled black metal rasping, many of the riffing progressions here do occasionally border on excessively repetitive and predictable in nature. There is some variation to pacing and he does throw a few more twisted, dissonant curve balls, just enough that it's impossible to write any one song off here, but there are certainly moments where the drifting nature of the songwriting grows a fraction more dull than I might have hoped. It's persistently dark, leering and soul-leeching, but ultimately a handful more unique and compelling riff selections would have made a great difference. However, on the whole I still must say I got 'into' Gouffre Onirique et Abîmes Cosmiques. It's not quite so profound as several of the other Sepulchral Productions releases I covered in recent months, but whenever I see the name Neige et Noirceur I certainly want to listen to what he's written, and am far from disappointed with this, ranking it somewhere between La seigneurie des loups (2010) and Hymnes de la montagne Noire (2012) in sum quality.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.zimondofin.com/neigeetnoirceur/

Neige et Noirceur - Hymnes de la Montagne Noire (2011)

It took all of a single song for me to be more impressed with Hymnes de la Montagne Noire than last year's La Seigneurie des Loups, and this is all due to the marked improvements in songwriting skill and atmosphere that involve the listener directly through the driving, memorable riffs and an excellent, balanced use of synthesizers. Sole instrumentalist Zifond has not exactly created a more complex outlet than his prior full-lengths, but Hymnes is the sort of effort which so successfully infuses the nostalgia of black metal's Golden Age (the mid 90s) of second wave development into a burst of controlled chaos that haunts the Canadian wilds.

There remains a clear Scandinavian undercurrent to this recording, and I was very often reminded of the late 80s Bathory shift towards pagan hymns of myth and warfare that manifest through the steady, marching and crashing guitars; or a bit of earlier Mayhem and Enslaved. The riffs in "Hymne I - La grande faucheuse ouvre le marche" are nothing more than bark-skinned, minimal and sturdy patterns of chords upon which Zifond's salacious, wretched rasp is slathered like an acidic spiderweb, but as they gradually twist their course throughout the six minutes of the track, they take the listener on an obscure, epic cold evening pilgrimage. The slight spikes of screaming synthesizers and distant rasps create an apt, biting atmosphere that fully supports the central rhythm and machine-like drumming, and he never sticks with a particular riff so long that the listener grows tired, even on more expansive pieces like "Hymne III – Là où demeure la sorcière des neiges" or "Hymne V – Le chemin de la montagne noire", both of which eclipse the 10 minute mark.

Neige et Noirceur also has this distinct ability to drop out of an aggressive partition into a segue of wintry ambiance or chordal resonance, reminiscent of some of Emperor's better material (In the Nightside Eclipse, for one), without feeling disjointed. This technique can often seem like a cheap ploy to section out longer tracks, but just about every time it happened on this recording I was quite eager to hear just what would explode out of the headphones next. But certain tracks are also adept at a gradual buildup, like the briefer "L'aube des magiciens" as it transfers from scintillating acoustic lines and whispered winds to pummeling, thundered chords glazed in frosted fingers of melody. The only song I wasn't quite feeling was the closer "Les Bûcherons", a cover of a 1983 tune from some French punkers Bérurier Noir, but this is only because it takes on a more sewage like style of vocals, and despite the applied wintry overtones, it snapped me out of the core experience. Then again, it's placed last on the album, so it's hardly an obstruction to the better content.

Hymnes de la Montagne Noire might not be the most novel or unique recording on the Quebec scene, and the riffs might never pass 'quality' territory into that of the profound, but it's an adequately absorbing listen that carefully melds between the aesthetics of darkness and sublime grace and never lets the audience stir despite what might normally seem a bloated sense for composition. The only numbing you'll feel here is the cold clutch of the dead season as it creeps into your joints and freezes your soul, and that's more than acceptable.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/neigeetnoirceur

Neige et Noirceur - La Seigneurie Des Loups (2010)

Like Forteresse, Neige et Noirceur ('Snow and Blackness') is another Quebecois band deeply immersed in its heritage, though the two have notably different sounds. Zifond is the sole member here, performing all of the instruments and the bitter vocals, and La Seigneurie Des Loups is the second full length offering, after last year's Crépuscule Hivernal sans Fin sur les Terres de la Guerre and a series of demos, singles and EPs. Mixing folk elements with thundering black metal in the vein of Norse acts like early Emperor, Satyricon, and Immortal, Zifond creates dark and bleak vistas which lyrically extract historical events from his homeland, and it's packaged with a lovely, poignant cover (first hundred or so copies come with a DVD packaging, so if you're obsessed with this Quebec scene, don't hesitate).

La Seigneurie Des Loups is certainly a dynamic offering, which works in its favor, as you can expect something mildly different around every corner. There are three notable centerpieces: the 13+ minute "Croix de feu Croix de fer", 16+ minute title track, and 11 minutes of "Les plained de Krolok", and these represent the bulk of the material, each a bold narrative that cycles through a number of styles and sequences that twist and turn through dark emotions. Of these, I'd have to award the title track with the prize, a wolfen epic that opens with doom-like certainty before tripping off into turbulent, raging darkness, with a more sparse, psychedelic infusion arriving around 12:00 into its course. "Les Plaines de Krolok" is likewise fascinating, though it's all cerebral ambiance with a bit of vocal sampling. I also enjoyed the brief folk interlude "1834", with some clean vocals and graceful acoustic guitars that, in a short time, manage to transport the listener straight back to the 19th century.

The album is not entirely even, but none of the songs are necessarily bad. I found "Croix de Feu Croix de Fer" to be extremely unusual, with weird electronic sounds and even a mouth harp intro, and the average length "Ancien Folklore Quebecois", which merges traditional uplifting folk shanty with a siege of black metal riffing, just felt too familiar. But neither of these quite submerged me into their aural tapestries like the rest. I find that the guitar riffs are occasionally lacking throughout. Adequately angry, and performed with a fluency, but rarely evoking a sequence of memorable notes that you don't feel you've heard before. Still, the overall effect of the compositions remains successful, and La Seigneurie Des Loups is not only worth a listen, but has served to pique my interest in exploring deeper the Quebec scene.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.myspace.com/neigeetnoirceur