Suffering so you don't have to!
Metalcatto
It’s been a while without Black Metal from the basement. So here we have Taufpatin with an album named Les Malfaisances de la Taufpatin. Ridiculously long title, I know. This should be good, right? It has, in principle, what I’m looking for. However, even I can get a bit fed up with French Metal, but let’s see.
Metalcatto
To say I’m a Gorod fan is an understatement. If you’re into Tech Death and don’t know these guys, then stay put because I’m about to do you a favor. Yes, France also has potent bands in this niche too. The real question is if The Ember Gone is going to be able to top the band’s epic catalog. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible. Let the shredding begin.
Metalcatto
There are days when I wake up and actually don’t feel like putting myself through the most disgusting, inhumane, or nihilist music you people drop on our mailbox. Sometimes I want to feel life has a purpose—even if it doesn’t. So how about a Speed Metal band like Iron Slaught? Metallic Torment should be everything I find cheesy, but this is a French band, and you know Metal is the only thing where we don’t hate on them. In fact, we love their work. So let’s see if we can keep that going—the love, I mean, not the hate.
Pegah
Théogonie is the debut album by the French Doom Metal duo Aetere. Its title refers to Theogony, the epic poem attributed to Hesiod, recounting the origins of the Greek gods. Rooted in a Greek term meaning “the birth of the gods,” it serves as one of the foundational texts of Greek cosmology.
Metalcatto
Here we go again. More French Black Metal that sounds like it was recorded in a fridge by people who should have gone to therapy instead. That’s the cliché, at least. But Véhémence is doing something strange with Assiégé pour l’éternité. It’s a remake of its own first album, with new production, new tracks, and new lyrics. It’s almost as if they said, “This is the way we wanted to debut, but back then we didn’t have the budget.” So how good can this be? I’m completely primed by previous Antiq releases, so you could say I’m pretty neutral about it.
Metalcatto
A band with a name referencing a place where millions of lives were pointlessly lost? It can’t be a relaxing one, right? Well, Verdun is exactly that: Sludge and Death Metal that creeps into you like some chronic pain you can’t shake. Even the album’s title, Abyssal Womb, prepares you for something that has to be nothing but dreadful. Because the label is Transcending Obscurity, I was expecting something incredibly technical or brutally fast, but that wasn’t exactly the case. Or well, it depends on how you see it. Let’s go.
Metalcatto
After yesterday’s dive into the most sellout of sellouts, we had to return to the most kvlt Metal out there: French Black Metal. Malebeste isn’t as weird or abstract as a lot of Black Metal from the baguette land. However, Monestherou is still a listen for the experts. It’s not going to make it easy for you noobs, but don’t worry—that’s what I’m here for. Someone has to hold the flashlight while you navigate this sewer.
Metalcatto
I see the album has five tracks and almost nothing below the five-minute mark. I started sweating, because when a band is this into length, there are only two ways to go: a blast or a bust. Angellore‘s Nocturnes has no easy task to fulfill. It’s going to be hard to make the time count, but that’s why you’re here—to see if you can find that hidden gem, right?
Metalcatto
Here we go again, our favorite guilty pleasure at MER: French Black Metal. You know how it has to be. One-member band, checked. Antiq as label, checked. Harsh production, checked. Lyrics about conformity and consumerism—but please buy the merch—checked. It’s all here, and we’re ready to dive into Tarask‘s Sitra Ahra with high hopes and dreams.
Metalcatto
We still have some fresh reviews out of the oven for you before the holidays doom us all. I’ve loved all sorts of weird French Metal, you know that. However, we don’t get Darkwave Heavy Metal every day. In fact, my real fear is that The Losts’ Venom Within ends up being some kind of cheesy ride just like many other albums in the subgenre, but the season says I should be hopeful. So, I’ll do my best to not be a total snob today.
Metal Eclipse Reviews 