The stones of a long decimated temple grip the ancient spiritus of vengeance, a haunting presence stirred into sentry by way of auld curse and a lingering hatred willed by horrifying injustice past. The dregs amidst the rubble include a numbed-over soul of now feral vampiric predator, the similarly desperate blood-hunger of the wolfen changeling, and the presence of a cursed ghast draped over the settled-in brick and ‘crete as if dust. Lain across the crushed cemetery stones and cenotaph spires at the bottom of the hill we find Montréal, Quebec black metal duo Sacrenoir on no certain quest to free the ruins of their deathly purlieu but rather to soak in the torment of the place. Their debut full-length album ‘Comme des Revenants Parmi les Ruines‘ embodies the creep of ghouls, the stirring lament of captive monstrosities as a point of atmospheric scenery where a cursed place and its nightside glow are captured in a mélange of black metal anciency. When the accomplished pair aren’t focusing on their collective most obvious strengths, fluidly achieved master strokes of melodious upheaval and inspired rhythmic lilt, there is an old stoking of grey coal herein which otherwise surprises and enriches their feast of supernatural suffering.

Sacrenoir officially introduced their craft to the polis circa 2019 as a collaboration between guitarist, bassist, drummer and main songwriter Athros (Forteresse, Starlight Ritual) and vocalist Monarque (Sanctuaire, Monarque) both of whom have long been key voices within their oppressive sphere of Québécois black metal. This is not the first time they have collaborated as they’d both featured in Déliquescence some time ago and the vocalist was a live member of Athros‘ main project for several years but this duo threatens to be something entirely different, a stab at the raw and most stern classicism of the early 90’s Scandinavian headspace fused with the muscle memory of each members signature and sensibility. So far we’ve gotten a small handful of songs on two minor releases in introduction of the intent and inherent sophistication of the band’s work with a split 7″ with French duo Ende (‘La Gueule du Loup / Liber Damnatus – Psalm I‘, 2019) featuring a satisfyingly rehearsal level burn to its reeling melodic focus, a cold scene set. A decidedly more Darkthrone-esque dirge and kick feeling struck their follow-up cassette EP (‘Leur temple brûle‘, 2020). Between those two releases the duo had more-or-less hinted at the general target in mind and we find this debut LP touching upon an ancient feeling without feigning naivete in terms of their songcraft.

Beasts at the mouth of the cave. — Moderately raw, apprehensive but not obscure production values leave all blanketed with the damp chill of the evening, a cavernous but not yet grotesquely mold-ridden space allowing for both thumping-slow and thrashing movements. Distorted guitars lacerate the available sky, groaning synth/keyboards create a miserable undercurrent of fog, and the bass guitar seats itself at the root of the rhythm guitar within the distanced clamor the somewhat contained space of the drums. The effect is perhaps too richly defined in its space to sound referentially “classic” but the distantly set drum resonance is yet effectively organic wherein the cymbals shimmer upwards, granting a hypnotic din which serves as the general surface tension for the guitars to settle upon. The vocals have some dynamic presence in terms of volume though they seem to intentionally not overpower the voice of the rhythm guitar work, ensuring a broad chested sound when all cylinders are firing together. It isn’t always a fresh-out of the 80’s/into the 90’s black metal feeling which is served by this sense of space but when primitive and thrashing pieces do begin to spark up interest this sound design sounds entirely natural, fittingly dark and distant without losing key precision.

The way I’ve taken this album in comes with a bit of admittedly unnecessary segregation between the charged and melodious gust of Athros‘ genius signature, a result of original scene-building talents formed over the last couple of decades, and pieces which have clearly targeted an ‘old school’ late first wave/early second wave bluntness. I separate these two modes for the sake of their tonality being quite different and only just finding merger on a few choice songs within this nine song ~44 minute LP. Most of the album delivers its running order with sense and with strong variation in mind but these two worlds do not fully integrate in such a way that it feels like an “angle”, or, pandering so much as this debut reads like a collecting of similar mindset producing different types of songs per varietal classic inspiration.

The first four songs on ‘Comme des Revenants Parmi les Ruines‘ all strike out with a very classic sense of semi-melodic movement, pure class in terms of these long-standing professional knowing exactly what they are doing, but it was “Portail vampirique” that’d specifically delivered upon the nausea and disgusted spirit of a certain classic era of black metal for my taste. Tempestuous as the surrounding pieces are this was the one to pour gloom upon the scenery, to wipe its blade with poisonous oil and begin hacking away at the faunae; Most all of the first half of the record manages some notable melodic hook, stunningly threaded motions and a general showcase for the mastery of black metal rhythm guitar interest which one would expect. The piece to first begin showing signs of breaking away from that consistency for a moment, “The Blade of Satan”, strikes the mind with a familiar shape of melody to start, an arc which takes an impressive darker turn within a couple of minutes as Sacrenoir begin Leaning into a kicking circa 1993 feeling beat which fully develops around ~3:03 minutes into the song. This is basically the first unmissable spike of the old ways creeping into their composition and this is leaned into even deeper on the direct to bludgeon harass of “Épuration”.

Sacrenoir do well to take it as far as a late 80’s Bathory-esque stomp with “Le puits du diable” a hit of evil speed metal/80’s black metal that surprises out of nowhere with a blunt instrument set within the finessed cloak-and-dagger mainline of the album otherwise. I’d like a lot more in this style in general. It should be no surprise that my favorite moment on the record ends up being a riff with a bit of an ‘Obsessed by Cruelty‘ feeling rub to it, and I believe this more ruthless, mid-paced thrashing hiss could blend well with the otherwise serious, severely set zephyr winds presented within the rest of the album. One could argue that “Vers d’autres mondes” does so but in a very heavy metal sort of way, another point of interest which speaks to the variety of sensations available to a full listen which is not necessarily glued together by design but generally works as a debut statement. Overall I am left with the same level of appreciation I have for the knack and consistent melodious touch of the artist but even more curious to see them explore the more primitive side of black metal in the ‘old school’ sense where I feel they’ve lent a tuneful cut to this style while dabbling within this record’s innards. It all makes a wondrous case for further extrapolation, iteration or whatever may come from this project. A high recommendation.

Sacrenoir – Comme des Revenants Parmi les Ruines Digi

---