The reaper’s scythe sits frozen aback, halted mid-swing as the hollowed black eyes of Death stare dazzled, thrilled to stars by the infinite quietude sure to follow the end of his work. Left to sludge about between makeshift coffin walls ’til battered enough to seep back to soil this fifth full-length album from Longueuil, Québec-based black metal duo INCANDESCENCE once again embraces nihil on the trickle-down. Here the grave has been dug, (most) every last eye is shut and time returns to its work of cessation sans observation as ‘Hors Temps‘ announces the hourglass’ finale with storms which embody both melancholic tragedia and latent furor. Through the myriad guile of Québécois black metal-adjacent plume the endtyme is parsed amidst seeming unfinished business, a wrestling apart of sentimental and beauteous strands from imaginative bursts of destruction ’til the rift between is stretched into ungainly flexion of forms.

Incandescence was founded as a duo back in 2011 during a period of time when drummer, guitarist, bassist and key songwriter Philippe Boucher had signed onto several technical death metal and black metal projects with Beyond Creation and Chthe’ilist being the best known on his resume. Until 2016 the project would include vocalist/artist Dystre Fjell and generate two albums before current vocalist Louis-Paul Gauvreau (Helzgate) would join, naturally in that period of time and beyond the exchange of seats their style would pass from existentialist yearn-tones toward a (perceived) somewhat more nihilistic outlook. That is what I’d noted in review of their fourth LP (‘Le Coeur de L’Homme‘, 2022) suggesting that it offered something like a paradigm shift as their work began to take on steadier-flowing melodic black metal properties. The hype I’d felt when ‘Hors Temps‘ landed in my inbox primarily came from an appreciation of bitterness of tone (re: lyrics for “La spirale de l’échec”) found within that previous album, a mixture of fantastical imagery and affected scorn.

Though the dramatic tonal sweep of that previous album is upheld, exaggerated even, within the ever forward pressing movement of ‘Hors Temps‘ this time around variance has been lifted as to void any chance of obstructing flow. That is to say that Incandescence have cut away some tendencies for sidelining rants for the sake of a more focused and painterly sway facilitating throughout its ~41 minute assail. To the piecemeal song pecking fandom it’ll appear samey in some regard as they cut through but for those keen to follow along a thread within the context of a full album spin it should prove doubly immersive by comparison. Beyond thoughts of tone and flow the voicing available to this album heavily features nigh conversational buzz between two or three major rhythm guitar tones which we find most tangled and engaging early on via “Confluence” but featured throughout the majority of the album.

While key early album pieces like “L’Enfer Existe” do well to show the beauteous, wilting gnarl of their hand the energy of their output is additive and only ramps as the album throttles on. For my own taste the first illustrative peak of this again hits around “Confluence” and “Le Vide” mid-album, where the crest of the arc would naturally be, yet their efforts do not necessarily relent only stall a bit within the languishing piece which follows (“Sécheresse”). Side B doesn’t fully re-engage beyond that point until closer and standout piece “Inexorable détérioration” pushes some extra speed to start while featuring some of my favorite melodic black riffcraft on the full listen. This finale not only feels like it was built into a grand endpoint but features as a surge of energy in conclusion, rather than summing Incandesence‘s greater action it rallies toward a destination with galloping force, especially the stride beyond the ~third minute or so.

Though I’d like to suggest brilliant parity between ‘Hors Temps‘ and the band’s previous album via most criteria I’ve found this fifth effort from Incandescence more immersive, a black pool of radiance which had a much easier time gripping my attention and hurling me through. Despite one or two pieces muddling the despairing run they’re on here it’d been hard to deny the whole of their efforts here amounting to a satisfyingly melancholic crystallization of their sound and an engrossing ‘epic’ (or, dramatic) black metal whorl overall. A high recommendation.

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