Enslaved by the hope of primacy and driven to acts of desperation the clawing hands and hungered mouths of the polis speak and act without purpose, hurling their absurd din and damage directly into the fuming mouth of the underworld for the sake of tactless existential commune. Assailing the tormented inner-dead as they lift the veil upon nihil Brussels, Belgium-based black metal trio SOLFATARE delight in turmoil as passage, boiling up with dread-angst and coursing it into a bristling dance between dissonant and melodious phrase on this carefully crafted, poetically rich debut full-length album. ‘Asservis par l’espoir‘ may very well pull from well-trodden terrain for its central rhythmic action, and in this sense the band’s work is familiar, they escape a rote experience per their own driven authorship which already reads as wizened beyond its years. Held on the verge of the flame and yarning an old-world maze of despair within their first grand statement these fellowes aren’t lacking in their umpteenth generational European nihilistic existentialism as foundation, every word and riff drips with it as they arrive upon both their own disenchantment and the greater doom of the species.

Solfatare formed at some point nearby 2019, likely around their time in university, and with interest for the properties of Icelandic and French black metal scenery of the 2010’s the trio’s muse centers around avant-garde/dissonant and melodic traits in fluxion and trade. In interviews they’ve expressed appreciation for everything from Emptiness, Misþyrming and Blut Aus Nord as well as interest in traditional heavy metal, death metal and more atmospheric black metal a la Drudkh. This level of eclecticism (or, finer taste) in exploration of underground metal and its abstractions naturally fed the trio’s first demo (‘Prémices‘, 2019) as the awakening of the fruiting body but not yet the primal hedge-maze of the mind relayed. The nearly nine minute “Ontogenèse du malheur” is probably the best precedence set for what to expect of ‘Asservis par l’espoir‘, a long and winding path with strong immersive qualities. If you’ve any interest in checking out their formative work it is worth noting the preliminary form of “Ozymandias” found on that demo as it is the one song to make it on this first album, albeit a much shorter version of the song, and this should allow the best direct indication of growth in the ~four years since their first release.

The inertia that shakes humanity’s death rattle only grows more intense in the whirling thoughts of Solfatare‘s lyricist as mass anhedonia, endless mourning, increasingly lifeless skies all gnaw in mind with consideration for past mythos and present reality. The futility of empire, and civilization for that matter, greets us throughout the full listen ‘Asservis par l’espoir‘ starting with opener “Des Monarches Anhedoniques” a grating brush through dread-toned flexion of their rhythmic hand(s) and the straining of muscles against increasingly defeated will, ringing ‘dissonance’ hangs in the air rather than shapes it, leaving the phrasing of these events largely to the vocals, an act of clangorous drift that resolves in descent via its dark channel. If you enjoyed the blunt and restless ache of Forsmán‘s album back in 2021 this sound should feel complimentary to some degree, particularly the vocalist’s range of barking narration and exclamatory outburst. It isn’t an absolutely plain opening even but rather an appropriate induction, one which prepares the ear for extensive and verbose treatment to match these ~7 minute on average deliberate, seething mid-paced black metal pieces to start.

“D’Hommes et d’Isopteres” more-or-less continues the conversation to start ebbing toward the ~4 minute mark with declarative and buzzing strength before the band’s interest in atmospheric coincides with a few choice melodious outbursts, not complete phrases outright but slowly compelled call-and-response between the two main rhythm guitar voices. At this point I’d begin to make the argument that this album is a slow-growing stream of consciousness, a dissertation that isn’t complete ’til we’re all the way downstream of its impact. In this sense the major action of the record will be its guitar work and yet not every song will reveal its distinction outright, if at all, to the passing ear. The point that I was most stricken by Solfatare‘s work and the progression of skill beyond their 2019 demo arrived within this new version of “Ozymandias” which amounts to their most contained guitar work, bounding grooves and retains the greater tension of the album even within its most “relaxed” and swinging movements.

Have we moved at all? Again, the consistent voice of this album does flow downstream in dramatic swathes of action but the core device which drives Solfatare is unflinching even within its most poignant and melodious upsurges. The conversation remains tactful, blustering but focused as we strike upon what I’d consider the true peaking gloria of the album, “Sous des Cieux Absents”. The impact of the song and its unfurling second half is all the more effective in the context of a full and uninterrupted listen versus skipping right to the heat of it all but either way it is the prime mover on the record from my point of view. Not to undersell album closer “Quand ton Cerveau te Surine le Crâne” but it is more of a cumulative, riling endpoint beyond the spire-and-collapse of “Sous de Cieux Absents”.

While the full listen may very well provide something the dedicated black metal fan has heard before on some level there is no denying the energetic conviction which heats these pieces to a boiling sense of action. For my own taste Solfatare are somewhere in between a “for fans of” recommendation via clearly expressed points of inspiration and an impressive debut which already speaks with a voice of its own. I’m not sure I can convince the average black metal fan to apply themselves to soak up lyrics à propos du nihilisme en français but in my case the combination of their poetic license and the Jean Delville painting excerpt they’ve used as the album cover was an inspired joy to parse and marvel over as an immersive, well-formed and serious debut LP. A moderately high recommendation.

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