Abandoned by a questionable god, devoured of all souls and left to stare upon the vast tomb-scape of the fallout all gloria fades to altars of passing, works built and enshrined by the hands of Chambéry, France-based blackened death metal quartet VIANDE who’ve managed a heavier, bleaker-still creation within this sophomore full-length album. Rallied into densely groove-bitten action up front and machined into dissociative spiritlessness by its end ‘Monument Aux Morts‘ dissolves its own rigidity over the course, an unhinging of the psyche within its walls. Throat-clenching in space on approach yet appreciably readable in its blackened death riffcraft and atmospheric metal floated progression the band’s movement across and within these spaces is enough to constitute a successful abysm-bound narrative.

Viande formed as a duo circa 2013 by way of vocalist J. (ex-Swarms of Darkness) and guitarist B. (Nahar) intending to create something imposing, maximal and overpowering in its impact on the psyche. For their first EP (‘Viande‘, 2015) this made for a suffocating, drum machine beaten form of blackened death metal sound per their self-recorded and apparently partially improvised execution. The bestial death aspect of that recording bled into a more militant, noisome second EP (‘À la mort!‘, 2017) where the band’s interests seemed to course from Teitanblood and early Beherit styled throttle to unhinged, doomed Immolation-esque groan amidst some experimental infusion. The unveiling of that lo-fi homebrewed “laptop metal” sound came with their debut LP (‘L’abîme dévore les âmes‘, 2022) where they’d onboarded a human drummer and clarified their martial stance, crafting a more practical sound which was live-capable and less frenzied. This made for a total effect I’d compared to stuff like a less riff intensive (later) Bloody Sign b/w the headier verve of Grave Miasma when I’d written about the album.

The cavernous atmospheric reach and martial brutality of Viande‘s first LP came from a point of havoc and distress, a bestial mask upon a machine order. For this second album the band welcome greater dissonance, heavier groove and lessen the cacophony of the space rendered for the sake of impact, embodying their intent of austérité maximum. This change arrives beyond onboarding two Switzerland-based fellowes: Bassist O. (Abyssal Vacuum) and drummer I. (Serpens Luminis, ex-Lykhaeon) who act to flesh the lineup’s rhythm section in accentuation of their dissonant, miserable writhe and lumbering death groove (re: “Sacrifice Ardent”). This makes for more compelling rhythmic play in general, something willing to meander and doom about the realm beyond the bestial spanking of the prior release.

As I’d suggested in preview of “Monolithe de Chagrin” atmosphere is the “main scourging threat within this second album” and I say this despite the riff count tripling, the attack of the album as a whole intensifying and a reasonable overhaul of the way they approach their tempo map taking effect. It is a louder, moodier and deeper cut experience than the last where Viande‘s hand leans into both exaggerative Incantation-esque burrowing and groaning dissonant death grooves for motion. Not all pieces are so directly cut in this sense but those points of brutal lucidity create enough contrast that when a searching and tumbling-apart piece like “Cercueil de Vase” hits it intoxicates, bends away from the bestial punish and into spaced and surreal volleys. Back in the day we’d call it some kind of caverncore adjacent craft, today it is well enough to suggest their work brings together a doomed form of bestial death metal.

The ~6-7 minute chunks of warp and weave cracked off between the first five or so songs on ‘Monument Aux Mortes‘ are all texturally inciteful, sporting nihilistic temperament generated in ash-blanketed space, ringing feedback and a punishing high fidelity pulse. That glom of groove and harrowing crawl was entertaining enough, a step beyond the previous album in every sense, but it wasn’t until the Godflesh-like sludge heavy command of “Une Cage d’Os” hit that I began to better view the context of Viande‘s work here. The band’s cold and bleak vision had been clouded in my mind by likeness to the French black/death of the mid-to-late 2000’s. As I’d taken closer listen the band’s choices, and increasing starkness in approach of sludge-handed closer “L’espirit cachot”, their work spoke to something increasingly post-apocalyptic in tone, a depiction of existence fully corrupted and irretrievable. Not a huge revelation on my part all things considered but a broader, wider window into their viewpoint all the same.

Without a doubt ‘Monument aux Mortes‘ presents a more complete and severe vision from Viande this time around, offering a harrowing yet richly realized feat which smartly leans into higher-rate action rather than the usual atmospheric metal frothing. They could probably lean heavier into noise, old industrial, and even sludge elements for further distinction in the future per my own taste but here and now the reach for heavier abyssal death metal groove and psyche melting dissonance does well to follow-up on the most promising elements of their debut. The total effect is engaging as it is damning in spirit. A moderately high recommendation.

---